FAULT Magazine in Conversation With Kyzino

Wickedly talented and wise beyond his years, Kyzino is one of the most exciting talents currently on everyone’s radar right now. His track Family Ties once again proved his ability to create thought provoking music, breaking the mould of UK rap music and delivering a fresh new sound to match his boundless songwriting skills.

We caught up with Kyzino to discuss more about his musical journey, his influences and of course, his FAULTs.

Tell us about your headspace when you wrote “Family Ties”. 

At the time of writing “Family Ties”, my main focus really was to just make a song for me and my guys that we could relate to and turn up to. My manager and I found a beat we liked, I made a hook to it pretty quickly and we both vibed with it a lot. After that, I wrote my verse in the session and recorded it. From then, I just sent it off to my guy RD3 and he pretty much came and put the finishing touches on it. Wasn’t too much thought into, just a nice smooth process.

There’s a lot of hype around you right now, do you feel a lot of pressure on you to live up to the hype?

Not at all. I think the hype is nice and it’s exciting but I don’t even feel like I’ve shown anywhere near what I’ve got to offer so it’s all just timing. I got a lot of music ready to come and there a lot more things I wanna do so, however much hype there is, I appreciate it. However, all I want to ensure I do is continue to grow my fanbase and reach new people with every release whilst comfortable making music I enjoy, so that hopefully there’s people that enjoy it too.

What’s your biggest musical challenge right now?

With all the pressures and stresses in life, including all the difficulties and restrictions caused by the COVID lockdowns, one of my biggest musical challenges is to remain as creative as a can be whilst still being considerate of the limited options available when trying to execute plans and ideas. For example, when trying to shoot music videos, it can be difficult only being able to shoot in certain places, or only being able to have a certain amount of people attend your shoot which overall can affect the productivity of a project. However, we’ve been dealing with this as a team, creating the best within our means, finding the best locations possible from a more limited pool of options and still making a great end product.

How has your upbringing influenced your sound?

Being from west London, and born originally in north west London, I find that a lot of my influence come from west and north west London artists such as Nines and Skrapz, and going back to grime, artists such as Bashy. As well as this, being of Caribbean descent, there are also a lot of cultural influences which have an impact on me and my music, for example, Notting Hill Carnival, which is a celebration of Caribbean culture, in west London. Being a Caribbean man in west London has impacted the way I speak, the way I dress, and the person I am, whilst also providing me with experiences which people from my area and areas similar to mine would relate to. Being a young person in London however, has just allowed me to take inspiration from uk artists across the city when I was growing up such as Giggs, Chip, Blade Brown, Joe Black etc.

Are you an artist that likes to set longterm goals or do you prefer to go with the flow?

I do like to set long term goals, as I think it’s important to plan for the future and have an idea of where you want to go and what you wanna be doing at a certain time in your life or career. However, I think going with the flow is important, because it’s good to not be too worried about what you’re doing, but just doing what you want and what you think is right at the time. I personally make some short term and long term goals just to continuously achieve some things along the way.

You’re very honest in your music, exploring both the highs and lows of finding your way – is it difficult to show that vulnerability?

It can be difficult at times to show vulnerability, especially when talking on topics which are personal to me, like certain things that I’ve been through, as generally speaking I am the type of person who likes to keep personal things to myself more often than now. But at the same time, I like the fact that I can use my music to express these feelings that I generally wouldn’t be discussing to someone in conversation on a day to day basis. Music is a big outlet for me to talk about feelings I have, situations I’ve been in, things I’ve been through, and just provided a way for me to release these thoughts positively.

What’s been the hardest lesson you’ve had to learn?

One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn is that you cannot rush your process! And this is something I’m still trying to keep in mind when I start to get frustrated or impatient about things. Things may take time, some things may go wrong, things may be extremely difficult at times, and some things may just may not happen the way you want them to, or even at all. But at the end of the day, it is all part of the process and is just something that you have to go through and experience when you are trying to work on and develop yourself, especially as a creative. It’s good to have high hopes and expectations of your life and achievements, but it’s also a difficult pill to swallow when you accept that sometimes, things are gonna go wrong and that’s okay, because if you keep going, there may be some things which turn out to be just as good or even better than what you had originally hoped for.

What are you working on right now?

I am always really just working on new music and developing my sound, still trying get myself to my best. I’m currently taking my time to work on a project and hopefully release that within the coming months or so, but at the same time, I’m focusing on my sound and making more and more singles, so that I’m able to reach new people and grow my fanbase. 

What is your FAULT?

I would say one of my main faults is that I generally don’t take enough time out to celebrate some of the things I’ve completed and achieved, as I’m always focused on completing the next great thing, and I know that I’m not yet where I want to be. For me I’d say this is one of my biggest flaws, as being this way can lead to not being grateful for what you have received and achieved, after having worked so hard for it. It’s important to be patient and continue to work towards becoming the best you can be, however, along the way it is also very important to give yourself credit for the work that has already been put in, as well as the progression and milestones you’ve already reached.