Kasha is an amazing Hip Hop artist from the UK.
His music is like a breath of the freshest air.
Truth be told, Kasha's music is what inspired me to start this site.
I am honored to be able to present to you
"My Time With Kasha"
an interview with one of the best.
Goldenways: What was the first most influential line you heard, and why did it hit you so hard?
Kasha: I would have to say the first influential line I heard was Nas. From the album "It Was Written", track 2,"The Message". In a line at the very end of the first verse,where he says "A thug changes, and love changes, and best friends become strangers".Word up. Definitely that. Because at that time in my life i was kind of full of a lot of politics with friends, so called friends and snakes in the grass and so on and so forth. So it really did hit me and connect with me on more than just one level.
Goldenways: How did your career as an artist begin?
Kasha: The estate i lived in, everyone in the estate was known for being an emcee at the time. We used to listen to people like Marley Marl and Precious and Two Ton, people like that. We used to go to house parties and spit at house parties. It was the vibe of the era.It was more to do with having a name on the road or chicks knowing your name or operators knowing your name for being a spitter, being an emcee. So it was kind of a big thing in my eyes, I was a member looking up to the elders that was doing the emceeing at the time. We was admiring the fame in a way that they had. The fact that everyone loved them and respected them for having the talent.It just seemed natural, a natural path for me to take, because music has always been a huge part of my life.So it all started from really just having fun with the kids and being in with the crowd. Everyone was spittin' lyrics so im'a spit lyrics too. It was very innocent at the time, i didn't realize i wanted to pursue it as a career, or anything deep. It was just literally a lot of fun and it progressed from there.
Goldenways: What are you working on?
Kasha: At the moment the album is finished. I decided to call the first album "The Essence". The reason I wanted to call it that is that I wanted to bring back what i remember of hip hop. When I was a youngster, when I first latched on to it. If you want to go as far back as Snoop Doggy Dog and the Dog pound, you can. It's not quite that west coast sound but it goes back to that era at times. Mostly stays in the 90s era the era of Big Pun, Biggie, Tupac, Nas, Common, even Mobb Deep and The Lox. All those people that I saw was at their peek. Great albums were being released. Classic albums were being released. They had a certain voice, it was the voice of the young struggle. Or the voice of the young poet looking to make something of himself, you know, and just be heard in the sense of he had things to say to his people and just wished that his message and words could be spread and not the voice of the person who just wishes to obtain great wealth. I just wanted to take it right back to the beginning. What I remember. Where it started for me. So its not really a work in progress its already done. But that's the next thing that people will be getting from me.
Goldenways: What do you hope the average listener takes from your music?
Kasha: An understanding of me, an understanding of the journey I've taken from life. An understanding of the knowledge I've obtained. And also a greater understanding of themselves and their life path and journey to discovering self worth and discovering self happiness and peace. Also I hope that my music can be a place of refuge, a place of salvation, somewhere where a listener can go and actually be separate from the world for that moment, you know, they could take themselves to another place as it were. And hopefully give the spirit the little bit of healing that it needs in times of desperation or times of deep pain, also make those times of happiness and sunshine seem that whole world better. So all in all my hope for the listener of my music is just that they take inspiration. Inspiration to live life to the full and to try to achieve a higher greatness in life. That's the main message i hope they get.
Goldenways: Your song "With You All The Way" (my favorite right now) is full of hard hitting intense lyrics. Where did the inspiration for this song come from?
Kasha: The inspiration for the song comes from the basic message of my music. That there's aspects of life that are not right, there's aspects of the way groups of said people are living and carrying out their life. You know its wrong, I know its wrong. I'm not blind to those facts. I feel as an artist i can only tell them it's wrong so many times. I have to try and make them see it from other perspectives, from other view points. Every person has a mother that they love and respect. Not in all cases, don't get me wrong, I realize that some people do have family grievances and that particular relationship isn't always as it should be. But nevertheless we all have or had a mother. I just wanted to make the point of having these situations seen from the view point of those that are losing and those that are suffering the loss of a loved one. I really wanted to highlight the perspective and the pain that they have to go through. A pain that was not caused by any actions of themselves, by any wrong doing on their behalf. They are completely an innocent party within the whole situation. But yet they come off the worst out of it. So the inspiration comes from me wanting to highlight the view point of all people involved. These situations where people do lose life. All in all I just wanted to let it be known that in your little situations, when you're out beefing with each other, you've got to think of the big picture and the people that come away hurt, the people that come away worst off in these situations. It's not always you two or you lot that's just involved, it's the people that love those that fall from these tragic incidents. I just wanted to highlight that.
Goldenways: What do you feel the state of Hip Hop in the Uk is right now?
Kasha: The state of hip hop in the UK right now is very very strong. We have got some amazing speakers out there. We've got some amazing people in general. People with amazing insight into the lifestyle we lead, the troubles we face and the traps of the system, so on and so forth. There's so many strong characters we do hold. I think as a unit, as a family we're very strong together. We've got a real good sense of togetherness out here. We're not out there stepping on each other. It's not that any more. We're actually a community here now. I feel the state of affairs out here is a case of the rebirth of hip hop. If they're ever going to say that hip hop died, then they must say it was reborn. And it was reborn in Europe. This is how it all began. The voice of the young people. The voice of the young streets. And all the people that really have something to say, that struggle, that see their worlds tears and just really want to speak out. It's beautiful to see, it really is. I find myself bangin' albums from different people all the time now. I got a Logic album, got Balanzy, got Manic album "Straight From The Heart", I got Frantic Frank album, I have got phalanx, The Heresy that is Triple Darkness, those are the latest albums I've copped this year. Classics, back dating as well but those are the latest ones i find myself bangin'. But I feel it's real strong out here. We've got a lot to offer to hip hop, to the world. To the listener of hip hop, to those that actually want the realness, we've got a lot to offer. I feel it's a beautiful thing that's happening in England right now.
Goldenways: How do you define 'quality hip hop' ?
Kasha: The definition of quality hip hop really can't be spoken or voiced.I can describe the feeling it would bring, but then again you may have a different opinion on it. I feel the definition of real hip hop is that which relates to the listener. So those that want to relate to the gangster image or whatever, to them that's real hip hop. To those that want to relate to the positive image, to the positive speaker, to them that's real hip hop. those that want to relate to the 90s sound and the jazzy sound and the sample sound to them that's real hip hop. To those that want to relate to the hard hittin', the party sound to them that's real hip hop. So I feel that hip hop in general is a case of relations to listener. In what ever sense they want to take it. There's a lot of different dimensions in hip hop. I just feel that at the moment my love has stemmed a far cry from what it used to be, from what gave it that great name. So i would call the 90's hip hop the illest of its' kind. Stemming over into maybe 2001, '02, '03, & '04. Past 2005, '06, '07, and '08, not really getting the real essence. But then there's people that would argue and tell me that the real essence is of today. Because music moves and music changes and becomes anew and forms new life every where it shall go, and it has to evolve. There's people that would argue that point as well. So again I come back to the point, I just feel that the definition of real hip hop is the relationship that it has with its' listener.
Goldenways: What does Hip Hop's Deepest Days mean to you?
Kasha: There are certain people that are like my three fathers. I've got three fathers in hip hop, which guided me, which helped me become a man. So hip hop's deepest days to me are more or less like my childhood. They're more or less like me being raised. That's what they mean to me. They raised me. If i didn't have those voices talking to me at those times, then I would not have gotten through, I would not have seen the light. So hip hop to me is my saviour. It is my one true saviour, my guiding light, my first love, my first and only true love. In all senses of the word it means the world to me. That's what it means to me, the world to me. I could never have become the man I have without being given the knowledge I was at the time I was given it through those voices. Hip hop's deepest days mean the world to me, it's my being raised by it. It's my guidance.
Get to know Kasha better @
www.kashamusic.co.uk
www.myspace.com/vividimageryuk
http://www.youtube.com/
From Kasha With Love
Click links to download 2 tracks from Kasha!
Hustling:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/15435310e80a26d1/
Living For The Moment (Dirty):
http://www.zshare.net/audio/154354453c409433/
Much love and thanks goes out to Kasha and Vivid Imagery. I've been dying to do this interview since before the site was up, thank you for the opportunity.
To all of you reading this, go check out Kasha's Website and myspace,where you'll be able to listen to more music, see more photos, and watch some videos of Kasha performing.
RSS Feed