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Interview With Mr. K.C

December 1st, 2011 | By NepHop

He’s had everyone screaming that they’re proud to be Nepali. The grand daddy of Nephop himself, Mr. K.C gave us an exclusive one-to-one about growing up in London, his musically history and his future entrepreneur career away from the game.

For those who don’t know you, please introduce yourself

I’m Mr. K.C, grew up in London, which was a bit of a struggle being born in the 80s, early 80s (yes I’m old). In my school I was probably one of the few Nepalese people… actually in primary school there was a few people, there was like two or three people that we knew and back then in London it was a small community. Not like there is now, the community now is crazy in London. Back then, trust me, if you saw a Nepali person walking on the street you’d get excited, you’d run up to them to shake their hand. That’s how scarce we were. So yeh growing up there was no form of identity at all of my Nepali roots cause you just blend in with everybody else. Especially being from Harlesden, which is predominantly Afro-Caribbean’s and you just grow up as them, grow up learn their twang. Don’t get me wrong, my parents raised me right (I’m not saying that) I know my roots, I know my culture when you’re at home but as soon as you step outside, then that’s an entirely different culture there.

What is the meaning behind your name?

KC is obviously my surname. Back in the days there was Casey Jones from the turtles (if anybody remembers that) so they used to say KC Jones. When I was in college that’s when I really got into Garage so I used to rap to UK Garage music so it was M.C. K.C that stuck for a while and was known as that for a long time. And then when I started getting into Nephop I dropped the M.C. because I thought that was sounding a bit childish so I put the Mr. which THEN I realized only getting into Nephop, about the caste system which I was so ignorant too. Ignorance is bliss, I wish I could go back to the days which I didn’t know about caste system and stuff… I know it might sound a bit stupid being as old as I am but I thought Nepalese people were Nepalese people and that was it. But as soon as I put my name as Mr. K.C everybody start talking trash and stuff. I’m half-caste that’s why I didn’t understand it. I wasn’t brought up on it. My dad’s Chhetri and my mum was Tamang. All my Tamang family are here (in London) and my Chhetri family is at home (in Nepal). I didn’t understand the caste-system until Nephop which is a shame really. It is what it is, what can you do? So I made the track “Nepali Boy.”

Tell us where your love for Hip Hop comes from

Growing up, my brother introduced me to hip-hop. My brother is a lot older than me so he used to have all the vinyl’s, yeh I’m talking about back in the day vinyl’s, there were no CDs, MP3s, it was vinyl’s man, those things your parents probably used, those big black round things (haha). Yeh so he used to have all the vinyl’s he used to listen to Run D MC, Public Enemy, Rakim, LL Cool J, all them old classics. He used to have them and I used to listen it and I used to sneak in to listen to it. I was too young, I really didn’t understand the meaning behind the words, but you just like it. My brother used to listen to what wasn’t Pop music, as a kid you tend to rebel and like things that isn’t the norm, so I grew up on that type of music. I really got into rap when Deep Cover came out, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre was on the soundtrack to that. Obviously I knew Dr. Dre from NWA and I really got into Snoop when he released his album ‘Doggystyle,’ and that was it, I still listen to that album now. So Snoop was my biggest influence growing up. I’m a big Kanye fan, but my YouTube people inspire me now, I listen to a lot of YouTube rappers, Dumbfounded, Wax and a lot of online people.

How is the Hip-Hop scene in London?

It’s not really Hiphop, it’s Grime now. Back in the day, when I used to emcee, Garage was big in late 90s, early 2000s so 1999, 2000, 2001, those three years Garage was massive and I used to be an emcee. I used to go to shows; I used to be like the warm up act at these big scenes like Garage Nation. Imagine this, you would get a warehouse (it used to be illegal obviously) people come in, set the sound systems up, you go there, you warm up the crowd and it used to go on until seven in the morning. So I used to emcee there, then in 2002/2003 the music started changing, the B-line started getting heavier. You could not go to club without somebody getting shot. So as soon as the police found out it was a Garage rave, the police would just lock it off. And in that Grime started coming out. I don’t listen to Grime. I’m a jolly person, I like jolly rap.

As the first Nepali emcee to perform at the world famous Ministry on Sound, how was that experience at such a young age?

Professionally I started emceeing when I was 18, then I went to university when I was 19 but I already sort of established myself in London doing clubs. The clubs don’t even exist anymore like Hippodrome. I went to university outside London so people didn’t know me and I went to a club and they were playing Garage music there. This was when Garage music wasn’t very popular, it wasn’t really mainstream. I found this place where they were playing Garage and I go to the DJ “give me the microphone, give me the mic.” What was meant to be only one track, he kept me on for 3 hours that whole night, he kept me on emceeing, I can remember that he took my number down. From there I met DJ Benzi, DJ Roxy, Dee and we formed a little clique, Infrared Crew, and we just went up and down the country emceeing. Good times. So yeh that’s my experience. I’ve emceed at Noting Hill Carnival as well. This is what people don’t know about me, I’ve been there, done that, emceed in front of thousands of people but the thing is it’s not Nepalese people I did it with. Its everybody… music is not about who you are, if you get the crowd vibing, that’s what it’s about.

[Mr. K.C - Whatchu Gonna Do]

Why is it rare to see you headline a show even with your popularity?

It’s a simple fact that I don’t work for free. That’s pure and simple. Don’t get me wrong; at the height of my popularity of my YouTube videos, my comedy videos, I used to get approached all the time. My inbox used to be full of promoters promoting and asking all the time. And I performed at two parties only, and that’s because I knew who the promoters were and they were my mates. So that’s the reason why I did it. You know, people that are reading this, you don’t have to perform for free. I know you want to get your name out there and at the beginning you perform for free, but what you have to realize is these Nepalese parties are getting massive. They’re pulling in thousands of people, these people are getting paid and for you as an artist, bringing not only you, you’re bringing your friends as well, you’re spreading the word. It’s your popularity that’s gaining popularity for this party. You should have a percentage of the cut as well. Don’t under-sell yourself. Obviously these promoters approach you for a reason because you have the talent. I know you have get your name out and sometime you have to run around naked just to get notice but don’t under-sell yourself.

It’s so strange, one year past and there’s a new generation of Nephop followers that wouldn’t know who I was. I was only recent like last year. I use to make music last year. That’s how quick Nephop has developed, there’s a whole new generation that wouldn’t know who I was. These promoters wouldn’t even know who I am and that’s probably why phone don’t ring no more.

You gained popularity through your YouTube channel and by hosting the Nephop battle in 2010. What inspired you to do that.

I wasn’t always into Nephop. Back in the day me and MK made a website called Bar Nepal (Born And Raised Nepali) that was the whole initial plan of this website. This website, we tried to encourage the youth, it was a youth development scheme. We had a page where the youth were sending in their artwork, music, videos… anything to be inspiring, any sporting achievement, anything we as Nepal could be proud of, it was a website laid out. And we to used to have photo shoots as well, that’s only because we tried to gain popularity of other sites – get that market by doing it but yet there was another side to it, which was the pure side of it, which was to make Nepalese people interact. It had a chat room, a profile page; it had a lot of things involving tiring to get youth interaction and development. There was also Bar Nepal Radio where we would have guests, play Nepalese and English music, we used have topics, we used have an agony aunt section and the last ten minutes used to be a freestyle section. I met my boy Tiger (through Bar Nepal), shout outs to Tiger. He’s a top bloke… He’s the guy doing the MMA fighting in my ‘Proud 2 B’ video. And he’s wearing a t-shirt I designed – the Nepali flag one… representing. We used to get hundred thousand hits from America, Canada, Hong Kong, UK, it used to be seriously popular but then we just too lazy and then we stopped. So I guess in a sense that’s why I did this whole Nephop thing to sort of like do the same thing but with music instead because that was always my forte.

I know people say I did it because I wanted the fame, at the end of the day it wasn’t about the fame. It was just trying to generate popularity in our culture, popularity in Nephop, just trying to create that buzz again that it did in the early 2000s. Just trying to create that same buzz that was going around then cause the buzz died, I just wanted to recreate it again. And that was the only reason I did it, I didn’t do it for the fame or popularity, cause if I did I would of just carried on doing other things I was doing. I didn’t need to do it, but I did it at the time because I felt like it needed to be done.

What does Nephop mean to you and which artists are you feeling?

“Nephop is Hiphop just with a Dhaka Topi on. Hiphop is already global, Nephop is within a generation of our own cultural.”

Nephop is the future of Nepalese youth I say. See, this is the beauty about Nephop, now you got different genres of Nephop. In within a genre of Nephop you have a genre of Nephop. Nephop is Hiphop just with a Dhaka Topi on. Hiphop is already global, Nephop is within a generation of our own cultural. There are some kids that are 14, 15 they’re killing it at the moment, and watch when they come to my age and I’m a old man. Trust me man, I’ll give it another five six years or even seven years there’s gonna be a Nepalese commercial rapper. I’m talking about a successful rapper. Mark my words, there will be one soon.

Who am I feeling now? There’s too many at the moment, I’m so happy man. People like Yama Buddha, even Mc Flo who entered the Nephop battle. From what he was then to what he is now it’s incredible how he’s moved on. You got people from the FunkyFresh Movement, Mastakush and Mami. My boys Mastamind and Sash. You got sick ass producers Imp (Chronicz Productionz), DJ AJ, Lazy and Buddha from Andazification. I got respect for Sagar Moktan. My boys Ahgor and Jwalamukhi. NephopUK, them kids are doing their thing.

Will we ever see a album or mix tape from you in the future?

Nah, life’s too busy. There are a lot of people I want to collaborate with like I mentioned above. There are just too many people that I’ve reached out too, networking while doing YouTube that I really want to work with but it’s impossible. A. for me to find any time in my busy schedule and B. to get them during my free time. But one person I really wanna work with is Cyclops. That guy retired but I still chat to him now and then. If somebody said I could make one more track, my last track, my last track would be with him, that’s no lie. We’ll make a funny song. It wouldn’t be your typical Nephop song, it would be funny song taking the piss out of each other or taking the piss out of whoever (haha).

Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to all your fans and followers?

Nephop community I would say keep doing what you’re doing, there’s no stopping us now. I’ve been out the game for one year now and look how big it’s gone. Nephop don’t need me. To my Nephop heads keep doing what you’re doing, you can only get bigger. Produce your shit right, have good videos, don’t slack on your videos, work hard at it. To my people I got something big coming up that I’ve been working on, that’s why I’ve been missing for a year. Been working on something big for the community, for our people. I am opening a brand New Bar Restaurant in the heart of Wembley (London, UK). This bar/restaurant is for my Nepalese people serving the very best in Nepali food. We got a 5 star chef who use to cook for the royal family of Nepal, but don’t let that fool you… We will also be serving Nepali street food which you will not find in any other Nepali restaurants in the UK. We are bringing the taste of home to Wembley. And on top of all that you can see my ugly mug cause I will be the host, and if that wasn’t enough I be giving discount to all my Nepali people. Check out our website in the mean time www.wembleytandoori.com – you may be asking why such an Indian name, this is because it was such an iconic name in the area we didn’t want to change it. So watch this space were opening soon.

Follow Mr. K.C on Facebook and keep up with his online banter through his Twitter account.