Hip hop artist Kailo turned his love of words and poetry, along with his lack of direction at school into a music career.
The 23-year-old from Beacon Valley released his first EP, the Fields are on Fire, on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube and “wherever you find your music” last month.
“It was my biggest debut so far. Obviously it’s still on a small scale, but it shows a lot of improvement,” said Kailo about the EP’s performance.
From classroom rhymes to serious music
Kailo, whose real name is Kyle Victor, discovered a passion for music at the back of his English and physics classes at Mondale High School.
“We’d go to the back of the class and everybody would spit like a rhyme or everybody would bring something from home that they wrote,” he explained about how his musical journey began.
Victor, who originally comes from Lentegeur, struggled to find direction during his school years and chose to take all the stronger subjects without knowing what career path to follow.
“When I was younger, I kind of didn’t have any specific direction when I was in high school,” he said. “It started off just for fun.”
While his friends would participate in rap battles at school, Victor initially preferred to watch from the sidelines before eventually taking his talent seriously.
“I fell a bit in love with it and I think at the end of the day, amongst all of them, I’m the only one who probably decided to take this seriously.”
Building momentum with limited resources
The EP, released on Monday 31 March, has led to performing opportunities at open mic nights in Observatory and Cape Town CBD. Victor has also formed a partnership with independent blog KAAPkast Media, which approached him after attending a listening session for his friend’s project.
Due to financial constraints, Victor taught himself multiple aspects of music production, including mixing, mastering and beat-making, while his friend handles camera work for music videos.”I don’t believe you can do anything with bigger resources if you can’t do the most with what you have right now,” he said.
Family inspiration drives his music
Victor, the eldest of two children with a 19-year-old sister, draws inspiration from his environment, community and family experiences, particularly his father’s journey from poverty.
“My inspiration stems from my environment, the things I see outside, my community, my hopes, my dreams, my family,” he said. “My father grew up very poor in poverty stricken areas, and rose above that to give us a better life. If he can do that, I feel like I’m allowed to dream.”
His music style is varied and “unapologetic”, covering different emotions and experiences.
“It’s sometimes hard hitting, sometimes uncomfortable truths, sometimes easygoing, sometimes happy, whichever feeling it invokes,” Victor explained.
Dreams of inspiring others
Looking ahead, Victor hopes to build a fan base and eventually tour internationally while serving as an example for others from the Cape Flats.
“I wanna be an example for the people around me and the examples that we really didn’t have,” he said. “The world is yours. It doesn’t matter if you’re from the Cape Flats or wherever, I believe that you can do it wherever you’re from, just by having a passion and a love for it.”
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