In Part I of the Krizz Kaliko interview, he talked about his work ethic, live shows and his stage philosophy. It wasn't until the end of the interview that he opened up about his skin condition, vitiligo, his inner battle with religion and his belief that "conversation rules the nation." As he gets ready to embark on a sizeable solo tour, Krizz Kaliko sounds excited about the future and the new album, Illuminated, due out in 2016. Check out http://strangemusicinc.net/ for more information and check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4clMlDfU1GY for the "KCMO Anthem" track.
RAPstation (Kyle Eustice): So the KC Royals just won the World Series.
Krizz Kaliko: That was huge.
Then you did the KC anthem. It kind of reminded me of "Einstein." Was that intentional going in?
I don't really know [laughs]. Einstein has the KC, Mo chant in it. I don't know if it was in mind or not. Tech did that song. They approached him about the song. He wrote it that day and recorded it that day. I didn't know anything about it. I was looking through my Facebook newsfeed and it said Tech N9ne had a new song and I was like, 'He does?'
Then he was like, 'Hey we have to perform this song next Wednesday.' I was like, 'You might want to send it to me so I know the lyrics [laughs].'
It looked great. I was just watching an interview where you said you had an inner battle with being Christian rapper or not. Have you always had a strong faith or is this something you’ve discovered as life has happened?
Nah I've had it. I've had more of a spiritual battle as life goes on. I come from the church and I was raised up Christian, but by the time I became grown, I started questioning my faith. It wasn't that I questioned Christianity, I questioned if all of these other religions were right or wrong and who is right? I came to the conclusion that no one is wrong. It depends on what philosophy you choose to go with. However you got to get to God, you get to God. Also, it's made me feel like, 'Am I doing the right thing?' Some of things I've been exposed to and indulged in can be looked at as bad by the Christian faith. I didn't know what I should be doing. The conclusion I came to is God gave me the talent to do this. If God gives talent to a carpenter, he has build restaurants, grocery stores and strip clubs [laughs]. It's a God-given talent, that doesn't mean you have to always be doing it at church. I felt like this is my God-given talent and I need to share it with the world. It helps people through their lives. They tell me this every day on various social media sites. We help them get them through hard times in their lives or talk them out of suicide so it's therapy for me and it's therapy for them. No matter what my faith is or anybody else's faith is, I feel like I'm doing the right thing.
Music can be church. I think it's such a spiritual experience for so many people. Music is so universally important.
It's a spiritual connection with people. We have a responsibly and I believe we live up to it. We talk about our pain, life, happiness; if we're partying, if it's sexual, if it's spiritual, we talk about all of that in our music. When we express that, people identify with it. If they can connect with it in any way, even if it's helping them party or helping them through a depression, I think that's a good thing.
Puts a smile on my face. Your debut album, 2008's Vitiligo, was named after your skin condition. I think it makes you look cool as hell.
Thank you, baby.
Growing up, was that difficult for you? I hear you talk about it in your songs.
Very difficult. I had a lot of friends and I became a very popular guy in school, but that was a difficult thing because i got bullied a lot for it. My mother was a very nice person so she didn't make me tough. She made me nice. She made me a nice church boy. It was tough to deal with. These kids would jump on me and straight up beat me up because of it. I had a good childhood though because I had a lot of support at home. I had a very supportive father who owned his own business. But then when I went to school, I had to deal with these bullies. It made me insecure to a certain point to where I thought I would never have a girlfriend. My brother Joe helped me out a lot, too. I always say a lot of the kids are the way they are because they don't have a father figure or a big homie. I had big homies all around me. As I got older, my father kept me on the right track, gave me plenty of charisma and confidence to be who I am.
Now you can tell those kids, 'Look at me now!'
Even before I did music, I had girls [laughs].
It's the charisma.
Me and Stevie Stone are sitting here right now. We were talking about this earlier. You don't even have to be cute. It's what you say. One of my sayings I say all the time is, "Conversation rules the nation." Conversation can get you into trouble, out of trouble, a record deal; it can get you everywhere. Conversation is king.
That's so true.
Guess what my opening statement would be? I would walk up to a group of girls and be like, 'Hey do you like fat guys?'
[Laughs] That's awesome.
'You like fat guys, baby? Which one of you like fat boys?' It immediately breaks the ice. The ice is broken. If they laugh, I got em.
I tell people that all the time. The most important thing is your sense of humor. If you don't have it, just move on.
Conversation rules the nation.
Krizz Kaliko: The RAPstation Interview - Part Two
In Part I of the Krizz Kaliko interview, he talked about his work ethic, live shows and his stage philosophy. It wasn't until the end of the interview that he opened up about his skin condition, vitiligo, his inner battle with religion and his belief that "conversation rules the nation." As he gets ready to embark on a sizeable solo tour, Krizz Kaliko sounds excited about the future and the new album, Illuminated, due out in 2016. Check out http://strangemusicinc.net/ for more information and check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4clMlDfU1GY for the "KCMO Anthem" track.
RAPstation (Kyle Eustice): So the KC Royals just won the World Series.
Krizz Kaliko: That was huge.
Then you did the KC anthem. It kind of reminded me of "Einstein." Was that intentional going in?
I don't really know [laughs]. Einstein has the KC, Mo chant in it. I don't know if it was in mind or not. Tech did that song. They approached him about the song. He wrote it that day and recorded it that day. I didn't know anything about it. I was looking through my Facebook newsfeed and it said Tech N9ne had a new song and I was like, 'He does?'
Then he was like, 'Hey we have to perform this song next Wednesday.' I was like, 'You might want to send it to me so I know the lyrics [laughs].'
It looked great. I was just watching an interview where you said you had an inner battle with being Christian rapper or not. Have you always had a strong faith or is this something you’ve discovered as life has happened?
Nah I've had it. I've had more of a spiritual battle as life goes on. I come from the church and I was raised up Christian, but by the time I became grown, I started questioning my faith. It wasn't that I questioned Christianity, I questioned if all of these other religions were right or wrong and who is right? I came to the conclusion that no one is wrong. It depends on what philosophy you choose to go with. However you got to get to God, you get to God. Also, it's made me feel like, 'Am I doing the right thing?' Some of things I've been exposed to and indulged in can be looked at as bad by the Christian faith. I didn't know what I should be doing. The conclusion I came to is God gave me the talent to do this. If God gives talent to a carpenter, he has build restaurants, grocery stores and strip clubs [laughs]. It's a God-given talent, that doesn't mean you have to always be doing it at church. I felt like this is my God-given talent and I need to share it with the world. It helps people through their lives. They tell me this every day on various social media sites. We help them get them through hard times in their lives or talk them out of suicide so it's therapy for me and it's therapy for them. No matter what my faith is or anybody else's faith is, I feel like I'm doing the right thing.
Music can be church. I think it's such a spiritual experience for so many people. Music is so universally important.
It's a spiritual connection with people. We have a responsibly and I believe we live up to it. We talk about our pain, life, happiness; if we're partying, if it's sexual, if it's spiritual, we talk about all of that in our music. When we express that, people identify with it. If they can connect with it in any way, even if it's helping them party or helping them through a depression, I think that's a good thing.
Puts a smile on my face. Your debut album, 2008's Vitiligo, was named after your skin condition. I think it makes you look cool as hell.
Thank you, baby.
Growing up, was that difficult for you? I hear you talk about it in your songs.
Very difficult. I had a lot of friends and I became a very popular guy in school, but that was a difficult thing because i got bullied a lot for it. My mother was a very nice person so she didn't make me tough. She made me nice. She made me a nice church boy. It was tough to deal with. These kids would jump on me and straight up beat me up because of it. I had a good childhood though because I had a lot of support at home. I had a very supportive father who owned his own business. But then when I went to school, I had to deal with these bullies. It made me insecure to a certain point to where I thought I would never have a girlfriend. My brother Joe helped me out a lot, too. I always say a lot of the kids are the way they are because they don't have a father figure or a big homie. I had big homies all around me. As I got older, my father kept me on the right track, gave me plenty of charisma and confidence to be who I am.
Now you can tell those kids, 'Look at me now!'
Even before I did music, I had girls [laughs].
It's the charisma.
Me and Stevie Stone are sitting here right now. We were talking about this earlier. You don't even have to be cute. It's what you say. One of my sayings I say all the time is, "Conversation rules the nation." Conversation can get you into trouble, out of trouble, a record deal; it can get you everywhere. Conversation is king.
That's so true.
Guess what my opening statement would be? I would walk up to a group of girls and be like, 'Hey do you like fat guys?'
[Laughs] That's awesome.
'You like fat guys, baby? Which one of you like fat boys?' It immediately breaks the ice. The ice is broken. If they laugh, I got em.
I tell people that all the time. The most important thing is your sense of humor. If you don't have it, just move on.
Conversation rules the nation.
