Mom&I Global Reporter / New York
The Hopeless Romantic of Hip-Hop
Kero One
Best known for his interpretation of Jazz-Hop, a meticulous combination of Jazz and Hip-Hop, Kero One sings, “caressing the mic like a newlywed wife, ink flows from my pen in hopes to truly shed light.” While hip-hop is typified by controversial lyrics, rough beats, and rather dark subject matter, the light-hearted yet genuine producer/DJ raps about the depth of love and how he was looking for it ‘In All the Wrong Places.’
Recorded in his homemade studio and funded by his personal credit card, Kero One’s first record was pressed in 2003 on his own imprint, Plug Label. Of the 50 copies that he distributed around the world with no help or experience, one landed in a small record store in Tokyo, Japan. A few weeks later, it was picked up by a Japanese DJ and played at a club where it received dozens of inquiries, including one from a Japanese label executive. Kero One was invited to tour the country just few months after and the rest is history. Kero One was awarded Best Hip-Hop Album of 2006 from Remix magazine in Japan. He has topped the iTunes Hip-Hop charts and received praises from major artists such as
Will.i.am., Stevie Wonder and Jamie Cullum. Somewhat of a testament on ‘how to launch your own music career’, Kero One shares his insights and experience.
Mom&I : Tell us some of your favorite artists and how they affected your music. Kero One: I grew up listening to the early 90s hip-hop pioneers like Nas, Wu Tang, Souls of Mischief, and Pharcyde. Radio was a huge part of my life too. There was a show called ‘The Wake Up Show’ with Sway and King Tech where many artists from the East Coast
58 LIVING & CULTURE August 2013
and also from the Bay would freestyle on air. That really inspired me to start rapping. I think I was about 13 when I called the show myself and freestyled on air for Sway. The recording should be out there somewhere. I hope no one finds it (laugh).
Mom&I : Do you have a message you want to convey through your music? K: It has always been centered on positivity. I don’t want every song to necessarily have a message but when I do tell a story, usually it’s my reflection on experiences I’ve been through. It reflects my attitude when it comes to looking at the bigger picture and I always try to stay positive when I can. I do talk about darker things sometimes but at the end, I try to make an extra effort to convey that even through those rough times, there’s hope. When it comes to lighter and romantic subjects, I just try to have fun. I try to flirt a little with the listeners.
Mom&I : Tell us some of your favorite tracks, and why. K: ‘In All The Wrong Places’ is a very important track for me just because that’s the one people recognize me the most for and it’s also the one that, even when I listen to it over and over again, I never get tired of it. I never get tired of performing it. I also like the collaboration I
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