In Conversation with Downtown Kayoto

From Classroom to Concerts, Downtown Kayoto’s journey so far.

Downtown Kayoto, a talented 22-year-old artist hailing from Hull, is making waves in the music industry with his unique blend of R&B, rap, and pop. On Thursday, he released his highly anticipated project, "Learning in Public". To celebrate the launch, Downtown hosted a pop-up event at Trading Desk in Soho. In the wake of the EP's release, Downtown sat down with Sik, one of STEELO's writers, for an insightful conversation.

Sik: Why Downtown Kayoto? What does it mean?

DK: In the beginning, I didn't want to change my name again, like how Rich Chigga changed his name to Rich Brian. I wanted to pick a name that will stand the test of time, so I like anime and I came up with a name before that was shit, the second name I thought up was Downtown Kayoto and I was like, this is a cool name. I sandwiched it between an artist lineup and I was like this is cool, I fuck with it, so Downtown Kayoto it was, and I've been Downtown ever since.

Sik: You recently finished uni, how was it balancing uni work with music?

DK: It's really difficult. Waking up at 8 AM to make a 9 AM lecture and then from 12 till 3 doing the Downtown stuff and then from 5 till 10 doing a late Co-op shift. It was difficult but it paid off now and if anything, it's just highlighted to me that I'm gonna succeed and it's given me hunger and drive. It was hard to do it all but I've managed to do it, I've graduated. If I can do it, you can do it, Virgil-type shit.

Sik: What was your favourite moment putting together the EP?

DK: I think it was getting the songs mastered, because then it was like OK, like I'm hearing these songs in HD because beforehand when you're doing demos, it won't be the best quality, but to have everything professionally mastered and professionally mixed, it made the difference and it made it seem a lot more coherent, so when I heard the ep at that point I was like its go time, yeah.

Sik: You've said before that [Kanye](https://twitter.com/kanyewest?), Kendrick, and Tyler, have all been big influences on you but if you could collaborate with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?

DK: I think it always fluctuates and changes, I think right now, I'd love to do a collab with like a Kenny Beats or Arca. Those are people that very much inspire me, even a Pharrell or a Kanye at this point, I just feel like they push music forward in general and I want to be a part of that legacy. I need that Pharrell 4-beat start at the start of my song. Yeah, I need that, I need that, so Pharrell probably if I was to name one.

Sik: Pharrell played your song on his Apple music show so...

DK: Oh my god, he did, bro, what, he did. Yeah man that was insane, it was like my parents know Pharrell, I know Pharrell so it was a good reference point for people around me to be like, "We know where Pharrell is on the scale of success" so to kind of put it next to your stuff, it was a moment to really take in. Yeah, it was really good.

Sik: What's your favourite moment from performing live?

DK: I think my favourite moment performing live has been... it's always happened but going into the crowd. Right now shit's starting up and it's very much in its infancy, but those moments where I can just connect with the crowd on a one-to-one basis, it makes it feel really good because I know in the future things are gonna scale and they're gonna scale very quickly, but to be able to connect and kind of know the names of everybody who's been to my concerts or live sets or gigs or whatever, it's a pleasure. So I'd say, yeah, seeing everybody and knowing their names and greeting them yeah.

Sik: Growing up, what artists or albums were you listening to the most?

DK: I mean, the first album that I ever bought in my life was To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar. Crazy. Grew up listening to Smuckers, and then Flowerboy by Tyler and then SYRE by Jaden Smith. Moving forward I got into a lot more, like Vince Staples, a lot more Kendrick. I got into my electronic cuts now, like Arca, started to love Yeezus a lot more and appreciate that side of production. So, yeah, I'd probably say that.

Sik: I feel like you're quite versatile; your singing voice is great and you're also really good at rapping. I feel like you on Tyler production would be sick.

DK: It would be insane. Yeah man, I'm manifesting it. I feel like if anything, Tyler has taught me that you don't know who's watching, so always put your best foot forward and that's what I plan and intend to do.

Sik: What's your favourite song on the EP and why?

DK: My favourite song is probably "Changed It." I think it's different. Delving into a pocket that's quite Americana-esque and has got elements of industrial, it was a bit of a stretch. Because I don't really hop on songs that are slow so to be able to execute a song like that at that tempo and that speed and that meaningfulness, it was definitely a moment in which I checked something off of my bucket list. So I'd say "Changed it", yeah, 1000 percent, yeah.

Sik: I really like the last song because there's that part where you're singing and it's really fast but it's not quite singing.

DK: Yeah. "Only A Crush". I love that song and I was inspired by Jean Dawson. Only recently, Jean Dawson followed me back and stuff and that's somebody that I really value. In an ideal world, I would've had Jean Dawson do that rappy bit but who knows, maybe in the future we can get a remix with Jean on the chorus. Yeah, that would be hard, I'd fuck with that.

Sik: If you could perform anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

DK: Right now, I've got my eyes set on Glasto, I feel like Glasto is such an achievement so Glasto or Camp Flog Gnaw, but probably Glasto, Glastonbury. To do a main stage as well, I feel like you need to be an artist that's got hits, and that's what I intend on doing, so probably Glasto, yeah.

Sik: Are you going to Camp Flog Gnaw this year?

DK: I've got a Zimbabwean passport so I can't but who knows? Maybe I'll be there, check my gram, check my stories, check my Twitter. Maybe, I might be, but maybe not.

Sik: Do you have any advice for people who want to be singers?

DK: You need to come up with a plan of success, like what does success look like to you? And once you have success clearly defined, I think every movement and every choice that you make will lead back to that path, so it's important to define what you want because then that helps you seek what you want. So I'd say define success and then go from there, create a plan for how you're gonna reach that success