Downtown Kayoto On ‘Learning In Public’ , Genre Blending and How His Hull, Zimbabwean heritage influences his sound [@DOWNTOWNKAYOTO]

Zimbabwe born, Hull raised – just like his upbringing Downtown Kayoto’s music knows no bounds. Fusing a plethora of genres without limits, his artistry extends beyond the indie rnb haven he’s carved with innovative visuals to match. Having released his latest EP ‘Learning In Public’ a few weeks ago we caught up with him to talk about what inspires his vision and more.

Kat: Where did the name Downtown Kayoto come from?

In secondary school, after school, me and my friends used to stay back and just talk music. I was like, “Oh I need a name,” just randomly one day. I watched a f**k ton of anime and I was super into Japanese culture and Eastern culture. I wish I had a cool story – you know, Donald Glover’s got his Wu-Tang name generator – [for me] it was literally just [that] it sounded cool, and it was better than the first one that I made. I wanted to spell it differently from Kyoto – the actual place so I added an A so that when people Google me, it doesn’t come up with actual downtown Kyoto. I was like, “Wow, I actually ate with that,” but yeah, that’s where it came from.

Kat: How do you feel like growing up in Hull has impacted your sound?

I think it’s made me view things a little bit differently. I have different references for a lot of things and I don’t understand the inside jokes, but I’ve got my own and I just approach things differently – a little more out the box. I’m used to not having tall buildings tower over me and I’m so used to being so close to nature and farms. I just have different references and visuals, different likes and dislikes.

Kat: You have some of the most creative visuals I’ve ever seen, whether that’s album artwork or music videos. What inspires the vision and how do you execute it?

There’s a lot of things that inspire it. My biggest inspiration is just the need to make stuff. I’m selfish in a way because I just want things that are my own – I like being able to personalise everything to me. Everything that I’ve put out, I genuinely really love, so that’s first and foremost. It just starts with me having an idea – that could be trying to get a certain point across about a certain song or evoke a certain emotion. Then, it’s Pinterest boards – for the next few weeks it’s scrolling on Pinterest, watching movies. If something evokes a certain emotion visually that I’ve seen and I’m trying to do the same, I’ll probably start with that reference and then try and emulate it in a way and pay homage to it. Then, it’s just me and my team together. Shout out Joe Howat, who’s done the visuals thus far – linking up with him, brainstorming, talking – just trying to make it happen and taking time to just make sure we can execute it. Maybe sacrificing certain things because I don’t have the money for it, but that just allows me to be a little bit more creative, maybe get outside the box with it. It’s super fun. 

Kat: What’s your creative process like and as a genrebending artist, how do you decide which lyrics and sentiments fit within each genre that you experiment with?

I think the creative process is just like when I started making music. My EP NAVIG8, for example – it was super fun, I was making a resume of sorts, just trying loads of s**t out, throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. It was more like a collage of emotions, experiences and just general stuff that I wanna talk about. As I’ve progressed, especially with this EP ‘Learning In Public’ it’s like “Okay, I have something.”

I went on a gap year and there’s certain things that I learned on this gap year that made me feel all these emotions so I’ve led from more of an emotional standpoint. That started with me just sitting down with myself and realistically asking myself, “How do I feel?” and letting it stream out of me. For example, I was very frustrated about having FOMO during my gap year and I just wanted to put that emotion in there. That’s why it’s a little bit more upbeat, a little bit more grime-y or hip hop-y, and then the transition for it, it just kind of mimics my state of mind at the moment. I employ these various genres and elements of genres to just further support the feeling. When there’s this constant communication between the production, lyrics and visuals, that’s when you’re onto a winner because everything is so in sync -everything influences everything. The finished product is months of those thoughts and those tiny decisions and whatever solidified. 

Kat: In between NAVIG8 and Learning in public, how do you think your sound evolved?

I’ve started to trust my voice a little bit more. I’ve started to be more emotionally vulnerable. Moving forward, I definitely wanna zone in on this thing of confident vulnerability, this thing of being able to just wear my heart on my sleeve. Being a black boy, it’s kind of hard for us to kind of express our emotions – toxic masculinity being part of the African diaspora, but I’ve definitely started to come into my own and realise that there’s strength to that. [On] ‘Learning In Public’, I just got better, I levelled up, I matured – I knew what I was doing – I had a vision. I was less scared to say no to certain things unless it was an absolute fit. There’s just less sacrifice of my artistic vision and moving forward I feel like I’m gonna be better than ever. 

Kat: Talk us through your new EP, each song sounds different so I just wanted to know what you were inspired by when making the music on the project.

In2you

I think starting off [with] ‘In2You’, the whole PinkPantheress movement of the electronic sound evoked the sound of that song. It’s just super fun. In the future, I lowkey want all the songs to read like ‘Hey Ya’ by Outkast – where the lyrics would be doing one thing – slightly depressing, slightly emotionally vulnerable and then the beat is just hard. You forget because there’s this really cool contrast between the two, but ‘In2You’ is definitely that song. It’s about me, I had a crush [on] this girl, this is me pouring my heart out. The references for that were PinkPantheress, GoldLink, just like some lighthearted garage-y stuff.

Poison

Poison’s a really cool one, because I feel like I’m hopping on beats that are a little bit more swaggy and I think it’s definitely probably one of the most swaggiest beats I’ve hopped on. Being from Zimbabwe, it was cool to have a bit of an Afroswing-y drum pattern to it. I’m really obsessed with drum patterns now and alternative drum patterns, they sound cool. I’m usually on it, but I like to be outside the box when it comes to drums, so with this one [I was] listening to Take Care by Drake a lot. I was listening to a lot of Victony at the time, a lot of Afrobeat, a lot of Odunsi. I jumped into GoldLink’s album, Diaspora. He’s got that song with Tyler the Creator, and that definitely influenced that.

Lite

And then songs like ‘Lite’, I was listening to a lot of Skepta. I Spy by Skepta – I was banging that a lot whilst I was making this. I was hopping into a lot more of the UK scene, went back and listened to a lot of JME, a lot of Dizzee Rascal – Boy in the Corner. I was listening to a lot of Jammer as well, just trying to capture that vibe. And then obviously the second half of it was Kaytranada, I love Kaytranada so much. I loved the bounce. I was listening to Doechii, she dropped ‘Persuasive’ [and] I was like, “Oh, I need that bounce as well.”

Run from you

‘Run from you’ was me going back to the indie sound a bit, ’cause I think that’s something that I really f**ked with growing up – I was listening to a lot of Jean Dawson. I was listening to a lot of Arctic Monkeys, Oasis stuff, I was listening to a lot of Coldplay, Radiohead and then Dominic Fike – he’s a big reference that I have on that song, just integrating the rap and the singing bits.

Only a crush

And then ‘Only a crush’ is just like a super light heartfelt song that pushes that indie [sound] to the max. I was listening to a lot of Smashing Pumpkins and stuff like that, Jelani Aryeh. [The] melody’s really sweet and yeah, [it’s] a song that kind of evokes that summertime crush feeling. 

Kat: As your EP is called Learning in public, what’s been the most important thing you’ve learned on this journey – whether that’s about making music, the industry or yourself.

I think the most important thing that I did learn was genuinely – with the whole me doing music or anyone doing music or the whole uni thing – It was like, “Okay, if I’ve got a dream, I’m the only person that knows my capabilities,” I’m the one that is in charge of my destiny and to take everything that is said to me, good and bad, with a pinch of salt because like I said I’m the only person that truly knows my s**t is me. I can’t really rely on the sweet talkings and the negative comments from people because they don’t get it. I’m the only one that gets it.

Stream Downtown Kayoto’s latest EP, Learning in public below:

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