Fresh-faced rapper and producer Citizen Kay is making waves in the Aussie hip hop scene with his debut EP, ‘The Yes!’.
Alternately described as Australia’s answer to Lupe Fiasco and ‘The White Stripes of hip hop’, the Ghana-born boy has managed to keep his sound honest but moreish. The mixture of his tight lyrics, truth and boyish cheekiness is instantly gratifying.
‘The Yes!’ features four massive tracks, including his single, ‘Yes!’, which has picked up a considerable amount of airtime on Triple J, and with a hefty amount of gigs already under his belt (including a Groovin’ The Moo set), Kay is fast outgrowing his local Canberra hip hop scene.
It’s all happening for the new up-and-comer, though Kay says the most important thing for him is to be known for his versatility.
“I don’t want to get known as a guy with one style,” he insists. “When you hear new songs from Pitbull, you already know what’s coming. I want to be known for having difference in what I do, for showing different sides of myself and that I actually have something to say as well as being down to have a drink and pop champagne.”
Aside from music, it’s the random things in life that make this good-time guy happy.
“Bucket hats make me quite excited, girls with straight fringes — I don’t know what it is about bucket hats and straight fringes. And I have a new love for brass instruments. They all make me a very happy man.”
Inspired by Lupe and Kanye, Kay says he taught himself just about everything he knows, music-wise.
“I grew up playing instruments; I was a singer in a few bands and then progressed into making beats and then rapping. Now I’m rapping and producing, over singing and playing instruments. I grew up around music, mum was the head singer of the choir and dad just always had music blaring. Music for me just happened over time, and it’s still happening now.”
Kay says his single ‘Yes!’ was inspired by the beat, and is a reflection of his personality.
“I need the music first, then I try to fit in with the music, and then I change the music to fit back in with the words. With that beat, I just felt like I should just go all out and just say the first thing that came into my head, just to show the variety in what I like to do, from the serious songs to the high energy songs.
“‘Yes!’ was basically my main personality coming through. Most of it is truth and the other part is me blowing my own horn a bit and getting a little out of control. I love to go out and have a blast and be that random weirdo that always seems to be having too much fun.”
Impressively, Kay wrote three of the four tracks on the ‘Yes!’ EP in half an hour.
“All the songs on the EP were written pretty quickly. The main reason I can smash out the writing sometimes is when I’m really feeling it from the beat. Certain songs, as cliché as it sounds, write themselves. Words just come easy for some songs, when you know what you want to say, when you know what the point of the song is. With other songs you have to think a bit harder about what you have to say which takes longer.”
While songwriting comes naturally to Kay, supporting Matt And Kim on tour recently taught him a lot about connecting with his audience.
“They have so much energy. I picked up so much from them and I learned so much, performance wise, from Kim especially. I learned whatever energy you give off the crowd gives back, real quick.”
Citizen Kay plays BIGSOUND at The Tempo Hotel on Wednesday September 11.
