“I feel like I’ve got one of the brightest visions in this country” An Interview with [@KishFantastic]

WORDS + INTERVIEW BY: Dwayne Wilks

Since 2017, South London bred creative and self-appointed ‘Underground King’ Kish Fantastic has worked to become a beacon of the UK Alternative Rap scene. Kish sat down with GUAP to talk music, motivation and his efforts to platform the wider Underground scene.

When I first meet Kish to conduct the interview, he speaks in low and quiet tones, having just woken up from a Sunday afternoon nap. But as we start to chop it up about his plans, he quickly warms up. Veering from frustration to excitement and then back again, he’s evidently energised by his passion for his craft. “I felt like I had something to offer when it comes to UK music specifically”, he answers stoutly when I ask about why he started making music in the first place. “I listened to a lot of SoundCloud and Datpiff music growing up, so when I first started making music, I was trying to fuse the charisma of the artists I listened to with the fact that I was very technically sound when it comes to rapping. Adding clean elements with dirty elements and stuff like that. [Growing up] I listened to a lot of Odd Future, Raider Klan, Goth Money – the early pioneers of modern punk rap. And I guess I just wanted to bring my own fusion of authenticity but also extroverted charisma to the music, cos UK rappers take themselves far too seriously. Not taking yourself too seriously doesn’t mean you’re less authentic or less of anything – just have fun. It’s what we’re here for”.

Levity pervades Kish’s music and his videos. Existing fans will be well accustomed to his irreverent sense of humour, and for those new to Kish, the videos to “Sly Cooper”, or the more recent “Wack Pumper”, are open invites to the irreverence of his world. But give a listen to the tender “Be Mine”, or his soul-spilling assist on fellow underground rapper, BXKS’ song, “Work Like”, and the fullness of his range comes into show. The ‘dirty elements’ he speaks of come through in the lo-fi grit of his music, the grainy soundbites pulled from classic cartoons that open many of his tracks, the unbridled energy of his live shows. Scour Kish’s lyrics though, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a filler bar. Instead, you’ll find clever schemes, wit and one of either transparency or bravado – depending on the feeling of the track – and therein live the clean elements. It’s that blend of clean and dirty works as a patent for Kish’s steez.

“My next tape has got Plugg beats, it’s got Drill beats, it’s got 80’s [inspired] beats, it’s got hip-hop beats”, he says in response to my query about the flavour of his upcoming EP, I Feel Fantastic. “I feel like I’m definitely experimenting with my vocals more than I’ve ever done, there’s more vocal work on there. But [at the same time] I feel like I’m going in a bit more of a comfortable direction. But this is also a two-part project, hopefully the second part will come out later on this year. Now I’m kinda just playing with genres – there’s a lot of range. I feel like I’ve matured and I know what each song does: I’ve really thought about my track list. If I’m honest, I feel like it’s a lot better than my last project, I feel like if you listen to them side by side the new stuff is undeniably a lot more musically inclined.”

As an independent artist making alternative music, it’s impressive that Kish has built and maintained a monthly Spotify listenership, 50,000 people strong. Notably though, when I ask him to list the achievements that he’s most proud of in his music career, he doesn’t make mention of the numbers he’s racked up, but the moments where he’s tangibly felt the DIY spirit of the underground scene. Each of the accolades Kish lists – he mentions assisting in throwing a Women’s Day show with fellow 237 clique member, Rada; throwing an event called Bill’s Basement in which the likes of Finn Foxell performed; his 2018 Boiler Room set in which the likes of Louis Culture and Eliza performed – bring into acute focus his motivations. For most musicians, and particularly rappers, the goal is often to be the biggest you can be, to be recognised for your abilities. And as such, not many share the ideals of collectivism and community that drive Kish. It’s evident from the sum of his ventures – from his creation of his tightly banded “237” clique, to the upkeep of Paradoujin, his blog servicing and celebrating the UK Undergound scene – that he’s committed to the elevation of the wider space he operates in, as much as his to own rise. 

“I guess every human has different motivations in their life. It’s something I remember asking myself when I first started making music – I’d be like, “why do I care about certain things so much more than people who have been in music for 5 years do?” I realised I have a bit more of a passion and more of an understanding of what I want. I’ve got a vision and I know what I ultimately bring to the scene, and if I know that if i don’t [fulfil the vision] then there’s potentially some very important things missed from the scene. I have a burning desire, no matter how frustrated I get with the scene, to put that on. I’ve got a few goals I need to reach. That’s the best way to put it”.

A key component in those aims of the aforementioned Paradoujin. Through the Paradoujin Instagram page, (it’s YouTube playlist and the regularly updated Spotify playlists, each one dedicated to a different sound and scope), Kish, Rada and friend Lisa have committed to platforming the wealth of creativity that exists in the shadows of the UK mainstream. No matter how tapped in you are to the underground space, Paradoujin is the place to go to find as yet unearthed gems. So how does the blog factor into his overarching goals? Kish starts by way of explaining Paradoujin’s creation. It turns out that the catalyst was that “blogs never really used talk about me and my friends. I was looking at the scope of [existing] blogs, I realised that everyone just talks about the same people, and that’s why so many great things will be happening on Soundcloud but if I look for it on YouTube nothing will come up. There’s no documentation for anything. So, I started making a point of trying to document that I’d seen that wasn’t mainstream shit”. It then developed into a broader attempt to tend to the soil that the UK underground space is rooted in: “That’s what it was for me, it became: let’s make sure that we showcase what’s being offered here, because a lot of people don’t even know that [the underground scene] exists and they don’t know where to look for it, so you just gotta put it on a billboard somewhere like, “look at that! Bet you haven’t seen that before”, instead of waiting for people to find it.”

The same vision that birthed Paradoujin has now served us up Haters Podcast too, a monthly podcast where Kish and his friends chop it up and the scene that they’re so passionate about. Kish explains: “So with Hater’s podcast, that’s an extension of that [vision]. It’s a place where we can actually have conversations cos again, if you wanted to search there weren’t many places that do these types of things. Everything that’s happening is there to be documented, to be critiqued, analysed, and celebrated. All of the amazing things that have been done; whether that’s Rada putting on a Women’s Day show, or Finch Fetti discussing that his tune with Dreya Mac and FelixThe1st is on 44M plays on Spotify. These are people that are in our scene! There’s a lot things that need to be documented – I’m sat there talking about my personal experiences, can you imagine the experience of someone like Deema, of someone like Sam Wise? Lava La Rue even met Tyler The Creator. These things are documented on IG photos but there’s no place where these things are spoken about freely, and that’s what things like Drinks Champs-” he breaks off his sentence abruptly, gives a coy grin. “You know what, let me not give away the sauce [laughs].” 

In the 5 years he’s been doing music, Kish has done a lot and seen a lot. Through the highs and lows of it all, he arrives at this point, hungry as ever to prove himself and to recognised as the creative powerhouse he knows himself to be. “I’ve got to an age and a stage in my career where I want to start proving I know about shit. Things like that that show that, yo, I belong here or that I’ve got a very good vision. With things I’ve put together that have or haven’t been documented, however anyone might feel, I feel like I’ve got one of the brightest visions in this country, honestly”. With a chip on his shoulder and fire in his eyes, Kish is gearing up to prove it all.