The days of an artist needing constant radio play, number one hit songs, and 50 million records sold in order to be considered successful are over. Krizz Kaliko is living proof of that. Signed to one of the most successful independent movements in hip-hop, Strange Music, Krizz has blazed across the country touring and making new fans in every town he stops. It’s no surprise really because despite his underground sensibilities Krizz can write a catchy hook with the absolute best of them. Add to that, the fact that he can rhyme and he and Tech N9ne put on the most exhausting show in hip-hop and you have a successful artist by anybody’s standards. It should be noted, however, that if one of Krizz’ hooks finds its way into the right hands, 50 million records sold is a definite possibility. Mens Mag Daily was able to sit down with Krizz to discuss him possibly lending his hook writing services to other artists, why Strange Music fans are the absolute greatest, and why he and Tech N9ne have very different eating habits.
Mens Mag Daily: Krizz, my first question is this, where did your hook writing abilities come from man?
Krizz Kaliko: I have no idea man. (Laughs)
Mens Mag Daily: I think you need to write everybody’s hooks.
Krizz Kaliko: I do too. My wife keeps getting on me about this because I keep saying I’m going to write for other people but I don’t. Check this out man, T-Pain, who is one of the best hook writers in the world, always tells me he’s my biggest fan. For him to say that means a lot given his level of talent and it definitely lets me know I’m doing something right but to be honest, I have no idea man. I think about more important stuff like how I broke my PlayStation and now I gotta fix it or go buy a new PS4. I ended up fixing it myself and that’s what I do man I find out what’s wrong with something and I fix it.
Mens Mag Daily: See, I could understand your rap style, it makes sense to me but where did that knack for writing these extremely melodic and catchy hooks come from?
Krizz Kaliko: I would say it was from my mom man. She stayed in church and she kept me on that path too, singin’. She would just tell me, “stay on your notes, stay on your notes, you’re flat on this note, you’re sharp on this note”. She stayed on me man. Because of her I sand in front of people so I really have to give it up to my mom. With that knowledge she gave me I developed a real good ear for music so I could figure out what works for this, what doesn’t work for this, and so on.
Mens Mag Daily: Strange music is in a great position in the industry right now. What is it like being a part of that team?
Krizz Kaliko: It’s a blessing man because it wasn’t like this at first. It would just be me, Tech, and Trav and Tech was just trying to start this label. They were trying to start the label out of a basement. We were driving around in Trav’s car to go do shows. We always made great music but Tech knew this was gonna happen and I’ll be honest, I doubted it. I was thinking about getting a job and just keeping the music as my hobby. It’s basically the same I guess only now a lot of people pay attention to it and like it.
Mens Mag Daily: The Strange music fans are known for being very loyal. What is like having the kind of fan base that is just so dedicated to you guys?
Krizz Kaliko: It’s the greatest thing in the world but I can definitely get a little weird sometimes. I was at the merchandise booth last night like I always am just signing autographs and last night was just the weirdest night man. Tech was shouting out a guy last night, a guy who passed away and when I’m at the booth the guy’s brother is there. His brother was like “you shouted out my brother, how comes you didn’t should me out?” and he starts cryin’, just ballin’ and his head is in my lap. He’s cryin’ and telling me that we were all he had and his head is in my lap. I’m just sitting there like, “dammit Tech”. He shouts this dude out and now I have to deal with his brother all night. I’m sitting there with this dude crying in my lap and another dude comes up to me with a chain that had a little velour bag at the end of it and I asked him what it was and he goes, “it’s my boy man, those are his ashes”. He’s telling me I gotta sign it so there I am with the dude cryin’ in my lap and I’m trying to sign this dudes little sack of ashes. I think about this and I’m like what are we saying in these songs to make people react like this? We must be saying something for people to be acting like this and then after that this girl comes up asking me to sign her titties and telling me they belong to me and all that. It’s crazy sometimes man. There was an African lady with a dashiki on and she put a scarf on me and told me it was a welcome scarf to welcome me to Virginia. It was just a night of random things man, totally crazy. This isn’t rare though man, it happens all the time. I’ll have a dude come up to me with his girl and tell me to sign her pussy and tell me that I can fuck her if I want to. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life with these fans man.
Mens Mag Daily: You guys tour constantly, is that rough on you?
Krizz Kaliko: Yeah man, definitely rough. I always say I walk like Kevin Garnett. You ever see Kevin Garnett walk? He walks like those knees are done, that’s how I walk man. And we give it our all on stage every single night, there’s no nights off. We go so hard up there that I’ll be shaking. We’re athletes up there man. Me and Tech argue about what shoes to wear because we gotta look good but they gotta be functional too man. We’re rapping, singing, dancing; we got something to prove up there so we give it our all every night. Jay-Z got those hits; he got those big songs so he can stand in one place and just rap. That’s no disrespect to Jay, he’s one of my favorite artists but we can’t really do that. We have our fans right there in front of us and we want to prove something.
Mens Mag Daily: I liked the Son of Sam album a lot, what was the goal with this album? What was the vision when you first started making it?
Krizz Kaliko: I try to re-create myself with every album and the last album Kickin’ and Screamin’; I thought that was the best album I ever made. My goal was to try and top that. Some songs may sound familiar but others are going to be in a whole other direction and sound completely different. I don’t want people to just like my songs; I want them to love them. I want them to get their tattoos of my logo on their arms and legs. A girl came up to me yesterday and she had my logo tattooed on her leg man. (Editor’s note: Krizz sent me proof of this in the form of a picture.) It was a meet and greet and this girl just showed me her leg and she had never gotten a tattoo in her life.
Mens Mag Daily: It’s a blessing to have these experiences man and meet all these different people and see all these different things.
Krizz Kaliko: It is man. I mean I got a brother, cousin, my boys and they might never get to see the places I see. I have that opportunity and I’m blessed. They love hearing the stories when I get back on tour. I describe the places for them and tell them all the crazy shit that happens. They might see Jamaica because everybody takes a cruise to Jamaica but they’re probably not gonna see Stockholm, Sweden or Switzerland and party there until 7 in the morning. I love seeing the world man. Tech and me always get into it because he’s always ordering a hamburger or something familiar and I order the native type of dishes and I’m always asking him how he’s gonna be in France and order a hamburger. (Laughs) I wanna taste the world man. When I go to Barcelona I want paella. It’s such an opportunity to get to experience another culture.
Mens Mag Daily: What’s up next for Krizz man? Give us the whole rundown of upcoming projects.
Krizz Kaliko: We’re gonna be working on Tech’s album when we get off tour and then I’m gonna be working on an album as well.
Article By: Jon DaBove
