He once was street dealer until he had a great eye opener one day when a family member walked up to him to buy drugs on the corner of which he stood on even though he had a legit job outside of dealing. He found himself in situations where people were very dangerous and some that had nothing to lose.
When asked how he got into the music business he replied “One thing about music is I was always attracted the powers of words and its influence, says Kalasol.” He also states that hip hop grabbed him at an early age and he was influenced by it. Kalasol has been doing music for nearly ten years now. Music became a way for him to do different things and was an expression of power. A friend in the neighborhood had a studio they had done some investments in the equipment and given Kalasol a chance to shine and he was able to express his talent musically.
MsSlim:" Do you feel that hip hop has killed us?"
Kalosol: “Hip hop is global it’s everywhere, but as black people hip- hop, the commercialism and capitalism part of it has not done us any justice. I think there is all kinds of hip-hop and it you don’t like one type of hip-hop you need to go do your research another kind. “Just as there are many forms of expression that’s just as many forms of hip hop.” If your local radio station or local Dj’s or whatever you are tuned into to get your hip hop and all you hear is sex, violence, and drugs. People have to understand that, that’s not all the ecstatic of hip hop. You have to know too that music in general can grow with the person. . So you may have a person today talking about one thing and that knowledge may not have reached them yet so they can grow. Hip hop has a violence part to it also; I’m guilty of it as anybody else sometimes I may talk about violent things that’s life there is violence in life there is sorrow, redemption there is love, human emotions you are going to talk about all the emotions that you go through. The problem today is that we are in an era there are so many singles and mix tapes that you are not given the opportunity to follow an artist, Hip hop has been commercialized.”
MsSlim:" Do you feel that it is the artist responsibility to put out a positive message?"
Kalasol: “I think as an artist you have to do some soul searching and go into yourself and figure out who you are some people don’t know who they are some people are constantly evolving and changing He doesn’t want to be put in the box he talks about what he feels during the moment.
He wants his listeners to follow him through his journey see how he has changed also see his growth and be patient with him. The listener should also have accountability as well when it comes to the music they listen to. They should check the background of the artist and who they are listening to.
MsSlim: "You describe yourself as a social commentator can you explain?"
Kalasol: Important to look at the world around you and be able to change it if you can. Some people want to change it for what they perceive it to be better and some may see it to be worse. I want people to know that I came from where you come from I understand some of the things you go through. I say a lot of things and let people know that I went through a lot of things to get people to understand I deal with similar things. Like to OG’s used to say, “The World is a Ghetto” it’s Ghettos everywhere you go. There is going to be poverty through all kinds of ethnic lines. I think that Hip hop started the franchise of talking to a lot of different people. You’re doing your audience a disservice by constantly talking about the same thing and not evolving.
MsSlim:" What do you think about the hip hop scene now in California?"
Kalasol: “In California, I think that the bay area specifically has been cut off we are not L.A. Much respect to L.A. of course Hollywood has their own style and Bay area has their own unique sound and different places of the bay area have their unique sound. So it’s like the bay area is a trendsetter but never get the credit for being a trendsetter and we don’t get to capitalize on the trends that we do. I think that the Bay area is disorganized in a sense that the spotlight get to come on the bay area if we get a little more organization out here. We always had the talent, it’s going to take some organization and it might take some gangsta shit to really get some people out of the way that’s holding the bay area back a little bit and those people know who they are. I think that it’s a lot of talent in the bay area and we always had different styles some people call it backpack rappers some people do street stuff , some people do all kinds of different things always been a political edge in the bay area specially Oakland the Black Panthers those were actual movements. Everybody music is not a movement I don’t like that term things where people were actually marching on government property opening up breakfast programs feeding kids doing things like that, those were actual movements. So inside of anything that hear out of the bay area even if you just pick one artist not saying that you’re just going to hear that but believe me there are a hundred other artist behind them that can give you a different look and they are in that same area.
" The Bay area it’s our time, now or never we got something to prove and we need to capitalize on it, hip hop is kind of missing that feel. The golden age of hip hop to me it wasn’t just one region its totally dominant it was like everybody was on the baton was being passed back and forth so fast that you got to feel a little bit of everything but now hip hop has become such a big business that certain things get suppressed and the bay area is being a part of that. The Bay area need to be represented the last time the bay area was on; well people already know what we did with it.”
MsSlim:" Would it be fair to describe your style as a self conscience rapper for me listening and talking to you, your very diverse, poetic and original but in your words how do you describe your style?"
Kalasol: “I really couldn’t describe my style because I am forever changing so and I think that’s what you have to do I worked with the legendary EA Ski have to Shout him out he gave me a track one thing he gave me you have to constantly evolve your style you can’t be stagnant because then your dead. A lot of my stuff that is out right now is totally different than things that I had out a little while before that because I’m in a different place. So when I was talking about a lot of socially conscience issues and dealing with some different things I had a mixtape called Bolt of the Bay, songs about abortions that a lot of people were dealing with. I came with the perspective of the child talking to the mother before it was born. One of things that I was saying at the end of the song was black people need to use contraception to stop from spreading diseases but then we are 13% of the population we need black babies. “Black is beautiful.” It was a way to say we need more Malcolm X, Sister Souljah, we need more soldiers, more poets and emcees. When it was someone that really started talking real conscience they fall off the radar to a lot of situations. I never want to be put in the box oh this is all he talks about and that’s all he does, because Im flexible we can sit in the Decipher and talk about knowledge itself and then there are times put your kids to bed this is X-rated. I guess you can say I’m a walking contradiction.”
What sets Kalasol apart from other artist is he is always trying to better his self and looking to acquire different capabilities in other areas and never satisfied. He has a desire to keep evolving and always another level to reach.
MsSlim: What inspires you when you write your lyrics?
Kalasol: What inspires me is the capability to basically plant that idea and seed in someone’s mind. Like the inception kind of thing a dream inside of a dream. I can remember the best emcees to me would always have me thinking about something where I want to go research that so I can be a little bit more up on it or they said something 3 or 4 months I memorize the song and I say what they say. I think the influences say respect to EA Ski, Ice Cube, Rakim, Rev Run, and 2Pac. 2Pac to me was one of the first to bring the struggle and Big L Big Pun a lot Red influence heavily Jay –Z, Jay Cole, I can look at everyone and I can say I’m a fan of the music first I don’t have to hate on anyone.”
MsSlim:" In what ways do you think your music has changed since you first started?"
Kalasol: “When I first started I had beginners mind I just wanted to be know and get my name out there and get on the radio but I wasn’t concern on the politics of the business. I was just concern about I was just going to out rap everybody and they’re going to give me my respect so I didn’t really trip off the topics I discuss. I would go in a little more on different topics.
Lately I have been going through turmoil, backstabbed, regular life stuff. Recently I have been just going in. I’m moving into a different space now I dealt with the things I needed to deal with. I needed to get some choice words out to let the people know how I feel about some situations and then after that I can deal with some bigger issues.
I am a person of change a little bit I’ve just dealt with a little bit more of life experiences. Like if you read a book one year and if you come back to it 3 years later you’re probably going to get some new information out of that book, the book hasn’t changed but the person reading the book has. Life has its up and downs and you just kind of have to hustle your way through it all.”
MsSlim: "How would you describe your life journey in five words?"
"Epiphany, joy, pain, knowledge and struggle."
You can find Kalasol music, videos, and latest upcoming projects on his website www.kalasolmusic.com. He is definitely a must to check out; his music is definitely neither basic nor simple he represents on a high level than most. He approaches life on another level to get people thinking about real situations you can get a picture of his life journey through his music. His future project coming titled “No Dress Code” coming soon. Kalasol is grinding to make the West Coast Relevant again.
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