Southmoor’s Finest… A L-No Q&A with Kayoh

Southmoor’s Finest…A Q&A with Kayoh


Being from South Charleston myself, I’ve been really interested to see the progress of this kid from Southmoor I kept hearing about called Kayoh. When I heard he had gotten down with SoundVizion I, like a lot of people, took notice. His debut album “Fruity Loops and Pro Tools” is out now, and I took a few minutes to get up with Kayoh to let him show the Dub what he’s all about.

L-NO: So, what’s good in the world of Kayoh right now?

Kayoh: Well, I do have my album out, “Fruity Loops and Pro Tools” if you haven’t got it yet. If you haven’t heard it yet, you can check it out at kayoh.bandcamp.com. Other than that I’ve been working on the side with a couple of mixtapes, one is called Leaders of the New School, that features Jodi Jermaine and Ray-P, it’s gonna be us three kinda like a group. I’ve been working on videos and updating all the internet profiles and all that and I’ve been producing ass off.

L-NO: What are you into outside of music?

Kayoh: I’ve got a full time job and I’m about to graduate high school. I’m staying busy doing work and school and planning on moving to Tampa, Florida to attend IADT to study audio production. I’m not really doing much outside of music now man, I used to do sports but I realized that there wasn’t gonna be a future in that so I’m sticking 120% with the music.

L-NO: So, being a South Charleston guy myself, I gotta bring you into this debate I’ve got with a few of the boys down there. Who’s got better biscuits, Suzi’s or Tudors?

Kayoh: Oooooh. I’d have to say Tudor’s man, it’s Tudors. I don’t really eat at Suzi’s much. I think I may have been there a couple of times. I’m not a big biscuit eater, I like cereal.

L-NO: Who are your biggest influences?

Kayoh: All day and every day Jeezy, that’s my favorite artist. He’s inspired me a lot, but I’m way more inspired by local artists than big time artists. ‘Cause that’s someone I can reach out to and they can hear me. Since I was little and started music, Kut (K Kutta) and 6’6 240 was two of my biggest influences and now I’ve gotten to work with both of them.

L-NO: That transitions pretty well into my next question. As an up and coming WV artist, what did it feel like to get down with SoundVizion and work with 6’6 240, Ace Beanz, Paycheck Game and all them on the album?

Kayoh: Honestly it’s really cool. None of my friends that I used to mess with, they never got into the West Virginia movement. I’ve been staying up on the whole scene since 304live.com was around. I used to get on there all the time after school and listen to people and made my decisions about who I liked locally. SoundVizion was one of the labels that caught my eye then and it’s cool to work with them now, it’s real cool.

L-NO: I’ve made a few beats myself, and I’m kind of a production nerd. Tell me a little about your production style…like do you prefer sampling or playing things out yourself? Where do you pull samples, like are you digging through records or are you downloading stuff?

Kayoh: This is gonna be a long one. Recently, how I got my (newest) samples was pretty funny. I went to my girl’s mom’s house and she’s got all this stuff in her basement. We were digging through it and I saw a big box that said music on it. I picked it up and it was just a huge box of CD’s. I haven’t listened to ‘em all yet, but I came back to the crib and popped ‘em in and that’s where I’ve been getting a lot of samples. A lot of times I think of an old song I like from a movie or whatever, then I can Google it and find it. I’m not really a sample guy though; I like to make a beat from scratch. If I hear something on the radio and something rides, then that’s what I’m trying to do in the studio, but I’m trying to make something better than them.

L-NO: So what else can we expect from you in the next few months?

Kayoh: I should have some production on a lot of the new SoundVizion albums that are coming soon. I got a track on the MonstaLung mixtape, we got the SoundVizion “Feed the Streets”mixtapes coming out every month, I produced Paycheck Game on the first one and I have a track from the album (“I’m The Best”)on there…I did some tracks with Cookiehead (Jenkins). I’ve got another mixtape that’s done but I’m just waiting on DJ Prodigy to scratch it up, it’s called “Instrarentals”, so it’s me rapping but it’s all industry beats, songs you’ve heard before.

L-NO: Where can people cop the album and learn more about Kayoh?

Kayoh: You can go to kayoh.bandcamp.com for the album; it’s also in the wvrapscene.com store. The album has been featured on a few websites, it was on buddyfresh.blogspot.com and it was on the Monstalung TV blog too. It was also on another blog called mix206.com. Also, you can check out my MySpace at myspace.com/mrkayoh. I just put a new layout on the page thanks to Dirty Hun. If you need to book me or contact me just hit up Chris Kessell or hit soundvizionbookings@gmail.com

L-NO: I was bumping the “Feed the Streets” CD all the way to Charleston this past weekend, and “I’m The Best” was one of the songs that I really noticed. So I have to ask, and I’m paraphrasing here so forgive me if I get the lyrics wrong….but are you a beast on these beats, sort of like a liger?

Kayoh: Hahahaha Yessir.

L-NO: Alright, that’s all I’ve got for you…is there anyone you want to shout out?

Kayoh: First I wanna shout out you L-No for putting me on this interview, and I wanna shout out the whole SoundVizion crew for letting me be a part of the team. I wanna shout out anyone who likes or hates my music as long as they’re listening. If anybody out there has heard any of my beats and likes them and wants one just hit up Kessell and we’ll work out whatever. I don’t do free beats, but I can work a good deal… and thanks ya’ll for reading