March 3rd, 2009 | Author: Jake Paine
Indianapolis emcee Kayo has made a name for himself recently, with a creatively-themed free downloadable album. The Kayo Mayer Experience combines the rapping abilities of Kayo with the familiar songwriting and production of super-star John Mayer.
"I had sampled a joint of John Mayer's, that was going to be on the Get A Haircut and Get a Real Job album, that was called 'I Know.' I just manuevered my way in, and tried to get as close to John's camp [as I could]," Kayo told HipHopDX, referring to his upcoming debut album.
With a little help, the Kayo Mayer project though, took on a life of its own. "I got with DJ Logic, who is his deejay. We got in that record, and sort of bounced around ideas, and decided we were gonna do this whole album. We had them send over a few unreleased accapellas, and just sampled [other things]."
With that kind of legwork, and plenty of support from genre-bending Hip Hop mainstays like Mick Boogie, Kayo says he wants those efforts honored a bit. "One of the things about this project that's been driving me crazy is a lot of the blog sites are calling it a 'mash-up.' It's really not a mash-up. It was created just like an album would be created, it was just all samples. It wasn't accapellas put over John Mayer [instrumentals]. The majority of these joints were fully-produced, they just happened to be sampled."
Another thing that helps make this work even more special is its authenticity. "John Mayer wasn't as involved, obviously, on the creative process. He has heard the project and he has co-signed it," reveals Kayo of the singer who has previously worked with Common and Kanye West.
Kayo says that beyond just creativity, he may be getting a lot of Pop/Rock fans driven towards bars and hooks. "I've put out a couple of projects previous to this that were free download, and I understand exactly how much traffic I get and things like that. We far exceded that [with this], which is purely because of John Mayer's fans downloading it; they're not even familiar with Kayo. It is exposing him to a new audience too, but he's already got a pretty damn big audience."
With the fusion of two genres, Kayo credits his influences as well as says it'll be a recurring theme through his albums and career. "I've been influenced by all different genres forever. It's just my age and where I grew up, it just happened to be Hip Hop." The emcee is also a nephew of Don Von Tress, the songwriter of Billy Ray Cyrus' 1992 smash Country hit "Achy Breaky Heart."
"That's what I love about this Kayo Mayer project more than anything, is that it breaks down boundaries," Kayo continues. "If you make songs that are really just honest music, honest about relationships, honest about anything, anybody can relate to it. That's what I think is beautiful about this project. It's got all different types people [involved]." The release was executive produced by Kevin "Coach K." Lee, presently managing Yung Joc [click to read] and "A Milli" producer Bangladesh. The release was also presented by Animal House, familiar for their production with Rhymefest.
With all the aforementioned help pushing the project as well as the artist to labels, Kayo declares, "I'd like to think I can be successful without the co-signs, but it's 2009, so co-signs always help. I'll take 'em."
Presently seeking both independent and major label situations, Kayo since his debut album Get A Haircut and Get A Real Job is ready. "It goes right along with the Kayo Mayer project," he says of its sound, with help from Sage and Animal House on the beats.
"Get A Haircut" will be the release's first single.
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