We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Keag a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Keag thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.
I grew up listening to hip hop on the way to school every day. My dad was playing Pac, OutKast, DMX, Biggie, Nelly. That’s what I grew up on. Overtime my interests changed to more R&B, more different types of hip hop as I grew up. It helped develop my style. My lyricism. My story-telling. Everything. I learned from an early age what it takes. And over a lot of time I’ve help perfect everything I’ve worked on. There’s still more to work on and improve on, thankfully I have a good basis
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Since I was a child, hip hop & R&B music have always played a huge role in my development thanks to my dad. Riding to school every day, even as a child, I was listening to the likes of 2Pac, OutKast, The Notorious B.I.G., JAY Z, DMX, and early Lil Wayne. As I grew older and started to come into myself, I began to find music as an outlet for my own issues as well as a way to challenge my brain to think outside the box. When I was 14, I started remixing popular songs and became obsessed with my writing. I’m the type of person who doesn’t ever want to be considered average at what they’re passionate about so I started studying not only the people who I grew up listening to, but also the newer artists of that time such as Drake, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, and ASAP Rocky to name just a few. When I was 16 I made my first song, and ever since then I’ve been obsessed with creating music. When I was 21, I finally got a chance to record in a professional studio in Little Rock. My first session happened on Easter of 2020 and luckily my first ever engineer happened to be a producer by the name of Space who had begun making a name for himself by producing for Little Rock artists such as ZaeHD & CeoHD as well as A1 Nino just to name a few. Though I wasn’t from the city, I’m from a town called Searcy that’s about an hour away from Little Rock, he was surprised at my skill and didn’t believe me when I told him that it was my first time in a studio. From a producer with millions of streams to his name at the time (he has since gone own to produce for the likes of Lil Baby, Babyface Ray, Big Scarr, & Big 30 along with his on No Plans Global Collective), that said a lot to me about whether or not I was really meant to be an artist. So I buckled down and focused in on turning music into a career. Along the way, I started a music group that was known as 5SIDE that was comprised of artists from my hometown of Searcy. These were all artists that I handpicked and helped develop. Eventually, the work put into these other artists paid off as I co-wrote a song called IDGAF with one of my artists at the time, her name is Jaycie, that got a million views on Tik Tok in a little over 24 hours. My words and my ability having that type of power just further confirmed it for me. Eventually the group all went our separate ways, but the experience taught me just how valuable my art was to people. How much it resonated with people who struggle with much of the same things I have in life. Since then, I have started to work on my first solo album which will drop in the first quarter of 2023, I’ve begun executive producing albums for other artists, doing A&R work, and have started venturing into other genres such as R&B and a little bit of pop music to see how far I can push my artistry. My debut single, Don’t Need You (featuring Jaycie & Space), is out now.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
After 5SIDE fell apart, I had lost about 20K of my own money that I had put into the venture. I didn’t get signed to a management deal. I didn’t get any calls from any record labels. It seemed as if everyone had forgotten about me. I was at my lowest point and had contemplated walking away from music entirely. But I felt like I’d invested too much. I felt as if I had too much to give people still. Going from a million views on your work in a day to basically being tossed aside despite your hard work takes a huge toll on you mentally, but as one of my favorite artists Starlito once said, you can’t fail until you quit. I realized that I’m only 24. I’m still young and I still have plenty of time to grow and figure out how to make things happen. I didn’t want to look back at 50 and wonder “What if?”. So with the help of some people who have always believed in me and a lot of self-reflection, I decided to give it a shot again and thankfully I was rewarded. My first single did 12K with no video or paid promotion. Just off the strength of the bonds I’d built over years of working in the industry, working alongside people in various jobs, and telling people about my journey. I tell everyone, it just takes the right person to hear you one time to change your life and that’s something I wake up and remind myself of every day.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Success is subjective. What you consider a failure is a major success for a lot of people. When the first song you put out publicly gets 25K streams and then the rights to the beat get bought by a rapper with a label behind them, then you follow that up with a million views on Tik Tok in a little over 24 hours it sets your own standards unreasonably high. I remember when I was struggling to get 1K streams after the fact and it frustrated me. But I had to step back and look around at my peers and realize that comparatively I’m doing very well for myself. It just took time to humble myself and realize that the numbers aren’t always a direct reflection of your impact.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/chiefkeag?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=ad8fe91b-a4a9-4a82-a2ee-8384bd132816
- Instagram: @ChiefKeag
- Twitter: @Chief_Keag
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChiefKeag
Image Credits
Kayla Young Erick Herrera BCG Studios Olivia Mason