We caught up with the brilliant and insightful OTW Kilo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
OTW, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I first knew this when I was a kid. My first time ever recording, all my friends in the studio went crazy! When I was in highschool, I almost got kicked out of school for a music video I did. We were minors smoking and drinking. I did 5k views in one day, that’s when I knew I wanted to do this forever. You can watch that music video on my YouTube of when I was in highschool. It’s called Kilo&Zero – Fucked Up
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m a music artist from Trenton,TN. I make beats, audio engineer, and although I don’t do it anymore, I taught myself how to shoot videos. I’ve been making music since I was 13. I started releasing music on all platforms back in 2017. Before I released any music I made sure to have my paperwork right with BMI, soundexchange and music reports. Those are key elements to being a legitimate artist and that’s how I got to where I am today! I learned the business side before I started releasing music. Which helped me to secure all my royalties and tax stuff. I’m most proud of being an independent artist that can see revenue from my craft. All of it comes to me 100%. You can’t beat that. It’s dope seeing yourself get paid to do something you love. I came from trapping, so to see some legitimate revenue behind your name is a great feeling. I think the most fun thing of this all is the fans. The music heads who love great music. The ppl who contact me to see if I’ll reply back, the kids who study me on YouTube, the younger guys who look up to me and replicate what I do. It’s dope. You can’t help but to like my music. You can’t help but to like real authentic music and that’s all I’ve ever written and released. I also have a solid team of guys who are All on the same page as me. They support me as much as they can and I appreciate that! These are day one ppl though so it’s not like a put together street team. This is real family over here at Off the Wall Clan, these guys I’ve been knowing since before facial hair so you do the math. As far as my services. Beats and mixing. Beats are 2nd nature to me. I started making beats before rapping so it’s nothing to me to produce. Mixing is where my heart is. I love mixing music. I love adjusting and fixing sound and hearing the performer’s reaction. I love tweaking eq, that’s probably my favorite thing to do, it’s also why my music has gotten the attention it has, you can listen to my songs and the mixes are big professional mixes, but I’ve never recorded anything in a big professional studio. Give me a closet with clothes or a corner of a room and I’ll make it work and you’ll never know. My social media following hasn’t been as good, I’m more of an in person kinda guy, that’s always been my downfall to this industry but I’m working on it, so if you’re reading this be sure to follow me on your socials. I’ve had my YouTube channel since 2011 so that’s pretty stable but I could use some love on instagram and Facebook! My Snapchat is lit tho 😂 I just want more exposure for my music! on the other hand. The main thing I want ppl to kno about me is that I’m not going anywhere! As long as I got breath in my lungs, ima keep on dropping classics. Ima keep getting fresh and shooting music videos. That’s just what I do 💯
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My goal is to be an established artist. Use future for example. He came in the game and he’s been established for 10+ years. That’s the kind of career I’ve always wanted. My mission right now is to get the attention of some distributors. Maybe a distribution/marketing deal. Marketing is mainly the one thing I really want. If I could just put my music in front of the right people then I’d have a more successful career. I could put both my feet into the industry instead of being one foot in and one foot out trying to make ends meet and pursue this career. If I could just get someone like Ghazi from Empire or them ppl at Think It’s a Game or just anyone who can help me market better, then things will go smoother. That’s my main goal tho, it’s to be a successful INDEPENDENT artist. Something like young dolph. Independent but standing with major artists.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Well I was born addicted to cocaine. (Another reason I love young dolph) Doctor said I wouldn’t live to see a year old. I’m 29 as we speak. Nothing can stop me. My journey been crazy since the jump. I’ve been thru betrayals, heartbreaks but nothing ever kept me down for long. Plus I got 2 beautiful kids that keep me young and going. But yea, I always kinda felt like I wasn’t supposed to be here. I’m a lil guy from a small town in Tennessee, so to be here doing this kind of stuff is a blessing
Contact Info:
- Website: https://untd.io/a/otwkilo
- Instagram: Instagram.com/otwkilo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/otwkilo731?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Twitter: Twitter.com/otwkilo
- Youtube: YouTube.com/otwkilo
- Other: Add my Snapchat @otwkilo this is where you’ll see me the most!