Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Well, it's Friday and that means it is our artist spotlight. And today I'm so happy because we're in the D doing an interview with someone from the D. And I have Kai dkg Kai in the studio. How are you?
[00:00:16] Speaker B: I'm good, and you?
[00:00:17] Speaker A: I'm doing fantastic. Listen, I got wind of you through a very dear friend of mine, Ms. Velvet Force, who's in the studio with us today. And first of all, your music is very, very raw and very, very authentic. And I just wanted to know a little bit about your background. Are you a church boy or did you run into the church to find Jesus?
[00:00:44] Speaker B: Some of both, obviously. Okay, good. I grew up in the church. My parents were pastors. They didn't own the church, but they were pastors under the pastor that we were under at the time. So growing up in church definitely taught me a lot and it kept me straight for some years. Like I preached my first sermon at 11. Wow. So, you know, as a child, everybody thought I was going to be the church boy, but I was also an elite basketball player. So I'm year round playing basketball, X, Y and Z. So that opened up the door for me to, you know, go to college and whatnot. But also before that in high school when we did move from Detroit and came over to the suburbs so that I could have a better, you know, opportunity with basketball and everything.
The year that we actually switched everything over and transferred, that city that I was staying in opened up the district for the Detroit kids to come.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: So it was pretty much like I didn't move, you know, if that makes sense. Right. So a lot of different outside influences and like me and B's who here right now, we just actually had a discussion about this. It's like once you reach a certain age as an adolescent, it's almost like you gotta pick a side, you know. And with me being the cool guy, the one that everybody know X, Y and Z, it was okay, do I be the church boy or do I go do what everybody else doing? And of course, you know, that's what I picked was to go with the in crowd at the time. And then going into college, it just got way worse because then now I'm not, I don't have to flip flop like I'm not at school. Gang, gang, gang. And then coming home, being a church kid, now I'm in college. So now I'm fully with the members, you know, at the time and doing what they doing. I'm selling drugs, I'm smoking, I'm Partying. I'm fighting. I'm doing some of whatever, like I said, just to kind of fit in. And that ruined my whole basketball situation. They came in and tested me, and I failed that test. And they looked at my grades. So they were just like, look, we tried to do everything we could do for you. Like, you a great player, but you wasted your potential. So brought me back home. Long story short, I'm working in my family company, and all this crazy stuff happened. And it was a weekend where I literally cheated death and the penitentiary in two days. Back to back, two days. Literally.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: In two days. It was a situation where I would have 110% been killed. And I wanna say that was on Friday. And then at my cousin's funeral that I was supposed to be with that night, got arrested, and the cop just looked at me and told me, you know what? I don't know what it is about you, but you different. I'm gonna let you go.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: Ooh.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: I don't wanna file the paperwork tonight.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: It's something about you. You shouldn't be here. And if I see you again, I'm taking you in and I'm filing all these charges.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: Kite.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: So after that, that was kind of my wake up call. Like, you know what? I gotta do something different. And there's so many people out there that's my age and younger and even somewhat older that's going through what I went through at that time. So that made me switch my life over to God. And from there, maybe like six months later, I got a youth pastoring job. And about two years after that, I just literally made a mistake and started rapping. And now we here.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: That wasn't no mistake. That wasn't no mistake. And speaking of, your brand new project.
[00:03:43] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: Has dropped today.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Dropping at midnight.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: We love it.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: And what is the name of the project?
[00:03:51] Speaker B: Demon Killer Universe.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: Yes. Yes. Because you are dkg.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: Yes, ma'am.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: And that comes from your background as well.
[00:04:00] Speaker B: 100%. 100%.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: And what I love about your music is, like, I started. It's so raw and authentic, and you can hear your testimony in your songs. And one of the songs that is standing out for me right now is Holy Han.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: Yes, ma'am.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Why did you do this and tell Everybody about it?
[00:04:23] Speaker B: 100%. I feel like I noticed a lot in the secular industry, where a lot of the rappers and artists was. They were degrading. Women were not. Were. They are. A lot of times it's more so degrading women. And even the female artists that are in the space, they degrading themselves and degrading each other. So it just seemed. It was just kind of heavy on me one day when I went to the studio. Like, man, it's not every girl has to follow that example. Like, especially the young girls in our generation. It just seemed like things are so much different from, you know, your generation to my generation. I was talking to my barber about it the other day. Like, it's just some of the stuff that's going on, I just wouldn't have flown back then, right?
[00:05:00] Speaker A: No.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: So just sitting back and thinking about it, I'm like, you know what? There are a lot of women that love Jesus but still like jewelry and still put on nice clothes and still wanna go out and have fun, but their core is loving Jesus. And that's not highlighted enough. So I know my fan base is majority women for whatever reason. So when I looked at this ATT and all of that, I'm like, you know what? I haven't done nothing for them, for real. So I wanted to give them something that they could hold true. Like, yeah, this is our favorite artist. And not only is he our favorite artist, but he actually, he sees us like, and he not looking at us like a piece of meat. Like, he understand, like. Cause I got a mother that's a praying mom. You know what I'm saying? Like, that wasn't going for everything. Even when she was young and in the streets, she just was never known to be like that. She always kept herself, you know, up. She always made sure that dudes knew it wasn't like that over here. So seeing that example, I always, like I said, I just wanted to put that energy into the song and look at God, the song and passed a million streams on Apple and Spotify, all type of stuff. So it's crazy.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: Well, let's listen to it now. It's holy, huh?
[00:06:04] Speaker B: Yeah. I like the way she praying fast for me, not just the way she looks. She want to do a Bible study with me. Taught her grab the book.
[00:06:14] Speaker A: In the studio with Kai dkg Kai. And that was holy, huh? And you have another song that dropped a couple weeks ago from the new project, and it's called Take the Wheel. Give me a little bit of background on that one.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: 100%. So take the Wheel started from a song I actually recorded called Go Christians that hasn't been released. The first like four bars of the actual Take the Wheel song that you guys hear, and that's how it started with those four bars, and then it went into a whole trap beat. So one day, shout out to Caleb Gordon. He actually just randomly called me and we were just on the phone for probably an hour just talking music, talking life. And then when we got off the phone, he like, man, shoot me some music. Because we had never did a song together. And I shot him. Go Christians. And a couple other songs. And he called me immediately like, man, this Go Christianz joint is crazy. But take the trap beat off. Like, just keep it melodic, you know how it is, and send it to me. So I had my producer do all of the arrangements and change the drums and extend the beat and we went from there. And the whole message of the song is really how I've been living my life for these past. Honestly, especially these last couple months of Lord, I can't do it. You have to take the wheel. Like, people say that as a joke a lot of times, but I have been a living, breathing example of none of this stuff that I've been doing. Every time I take the wheel, something goes wrong. That's just what it is. But like I said, we've been at a place. My whole team actually has been at a place. Everybody in this room, we've all been on the phone talking and just discussing, like, you know what? At this point, we done all tried to put our own hand on the wheel. We all tried to put our own foot on the pedal. It ain't working. We crash out every time.
[00:07:49] Speaker A: Something that's happening for all of us as believers because we know the power of God. We know his power. But do we want to relinquish that to him 100%? Yeah. Wow. Well, let's listen to that. Take the wheel. Let's do it.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: Searching for your presence. Never leaving for me. Not mine, but your will for me.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: Well, brothers and sisters, it is DKG Kai right here from the D. Yes, ma'am. And the name of the project again?
[00:08:19] Speaker B: Demon Killer University.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: Woo wee. We gonna be schooled with this one.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: For sure, for sure. How do we get ahold of it now?
[00:08:27] Speaker B: It'll be everywhere. It's on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon, iTunes, any type of streaming platform that you could think of. It'll be on there.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: And how do we find you?
[00:08:39] Speaker B: You can go on instagram and search DKG, put a period, then Kie and then on TikTok, search DKG Kai official. And please, y'all search the official page because it's been probably like 10 fake pages that's up right now.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: I love that.
[00:08:54] Speaker B: Asking people, ask people for money and flirting with women. All type of stuff that I wouldn't do. So, yeah, y'all, please find the official page and then my YouTube. If you just search DKG Kai, you'll see my official page as well.
[00:09:05] Speaker A: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, 100%. Thank you for hanging out with me. And I'm so glad to meet you.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: And I just have to let you know that God is saying that the best is yet to come.
[00:09:18] Speaker B: I receive it. Thank you.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: All right. Amen. DKG Kai on the Detroit Praise Network. Thank you.
