It was a chilly San Francisco night when I met up with KJ and Moya, a fellow artist and DJ, at the Conservatory of Music. It was mesmerizing watching the two artists work. I had never observed a studio session, let alone walked into a studio. However, sessions like these aren’t a rarity for the rapper.
The Oakland-born, San Francisco based artist has done music for the past two years. The passion that he has for the art could be seen by how enthralled he was as he wrote the lyrics to a song he and Moya were working on in his notebook. “I love it, I go broke doing it but I still do it. I’ve had opportunities to do other things, but I still do music.” Everyday is a battle. Stating later in the interview that you shouldn’t expect anything from him next year. “Nothing. Every day’s a struggle, everyday’s a battle. We’ll try our best to put out lots of stuff.”
He still pushes himself to put the best of his work out there for his fans. He said that he inspires himself. “I’m a big fan of inspiring yourself. I believe that you should be your biggest inspiration.” He also says that his mom inspires him. “On the other hand, really, I think I’m inspired by my mom and what she’s been able to do.”
What had inspired me was how much work KJ had put into creating his event at Blue Dream in Oakland. He said that putting on the event was a struggle since day one. “So we had to get the venue changed three times, everything came together last minute.” He goes on to describe the process and how his biggest issue was getting his younger fans and artists to perform at the venue. “I had to negotiate super hard to get my kids in. We had 16 year old performers and Blue Dream was an 18+ venue and so they didn’t want to let the kids rage. All my events are all inclusive, and I hated that so much because we aren’t doing drugs or anything. They just came here to feel free.”
KJ entered the stage for the beginning of his performance at Blue Dream with a mask. This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen the artist obscure his face. It was at DNA Lounge in San Francisco when I had first seen him perform. He had ominously appeared on stage also wearing a mask. Taking it off, he revealed his face with the area around his eyes obscured by black paint. He sees wearing these masks as a metaphor for idol worshipping. “When you’re behind the mask you’re bigger than the person, you’re a symbol. I wouldn’t say that I’m telling people to worship me. I just think it’s cool that you’re more than yourself”
What was also intriguing about his performances was the energy that surrounded them. I noted that a lot of his songs were more on the chill side. But, once he played them on stage those songs took a complete 180. “I almost feel like I’m two different people. I’m a walking contradiction. I like these soft, soothing things like therapeutic songs where everything’s really soft and every come like a sound scape. But I just be mad. Catch me on a bad day and I’ll just be mad, no one wants to fuck with me. So it’s like, that also gets expressed.”
You can find Sad Boy KJ’s music on Spotify, Apple Music, and Soundcloud. Make sure to check out some of his favorite songs that he’s released so far, “for coping with betrayal it’s “To You”. I just like the ending. Dealing with heartbreak that’s “So I Broke It Off” or “When The Stars Don’t Align” and then I also like the ending on that song.”
