Kayykilo is a diamond in the rough. She’s meticulous by nature and a student of the game, possessing a unique dynamic that makes her unable to be compared. Since her inception in rap, Kilo has controlled the narrative behind her indissoluble grind: she’s not trying to outwork nobody but her former self. With a tunnel vision approach to compliment her artistic pursuits, BDB’s [Billion Dollar Baby Entertainment] First Lady is slated to take the music industry by force, not coincidence. 

At 17-years-old, Kilo jumped off the porch and ventured further South from her Louisiana roots in order to pursue her dreams. In confidence, she was hellbent on doing whatever it takes to create an opportunity instead of waiting for one. Truthfully, her audacious plan of action came with its fair share of problems. “My goal was to move to Houston and pursue my music career,” she tells me over Zoom. “The first person that got me into music was my brother, his name was Nick. He ended up dying while I was in Houston and I just lost the passion for music,” Kilo later admits during our conversation.

While adversity builds character, the loss of a loved one can leave a permanent scar. But with time, scars do heal – and in Kayykilo’s case, time provided her with the opportunity to fall in love with the process of creating all over again. She was patient and rest assured in her faith. There was nothing overnight about her success, Kilo worked hard for everything that she has now and for what’s coming in the foreseeable future. 

“ICE” is Kayykilo personified. It’s packed with high-energy and tongue-in-cheek sarcasm that demonstrates the caliber of panache you’d anticipate from someone out of DaBaby’s camp – who’s commonly referred to as a marketing genius. While the journey has just begun, Kilo is already showing much promise of being a star in the making. Welcome to the Kartel. 

You have a distinct cadence with your delivery, one that exudes confidence. Have you always been this way?

I’ve always been super vibrant, blunt, straightforward, straight to the point, raw — I’ve always been like that. Now, when the new people come to my page, they like “oh, she tryna act just like Baby, she tryna rap like Baby.” But my people that went to school with me and grew up with me, my day one fans, they know I been like that. You can check my first song ever, it’s called “Freestyle.” I’m just a ball of energy. I don’t know where this energy comes from. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink like that, I just wake up with this energy. I’ve always been this way. 

You’ve lived in Baton Rouge, Houston and even transitioned to Atlanta. Is there a reason why you moved around so much early on in your life?

I was born in Baton Rouge. I went to school in Lake Charles, I was in both cities. Lake Charles be getting mad when I don’t shout them out [laughs]. Every interview, I try to make sure I shout them out because lawd, they be going crazy in my DMs. After I had graduated — and I’ve never mentioned this, this is tea for you — I moved to Houston for two months. Didn’t like it, I hated it. It was too fast for me, or maybe I was too young. I graduated at 17-years-old. My goal was to move to Houston and pursue my music career. Those two months I was out here [Houston] for June and July, it was so fast for me. It was drugs, it was molly — that’s when molly was poppin’ — it was so much going on. This when Dreams was on top, this when Fetish was on top.

What happened after you transitioned from Houston?

When I left, I thought I’d never go back to Houston. I went back to BR [Baton Rouge] for a lil’ bit and knew I wanted better for myself. I’m not saying Louisiana doesn’t make you better but it’s very boxed in. I packed up all of my stuff, everything that I could possibly carry on a Megabus, and I moved to Atlanta. I moved to Atlanta, worked like four jobs, but my passion for music had stopped. The first person that got me into music was my brother, his name was Nick. He ended up dying while I was in Houston and I just lost the passion for music. I wasn’t even doing music while I was in Atlanta. I ended up going to L.A for probably six months. Me being in L.A, I was dating a guy, but I didn’t wanna be controlled, so I went back to Atlanta and started training people. I was a whole fitness trainer. I didn’t eat no pork, no beef, no nothing. I was in fitness, it was dope, my business was called Curve Game, everybody was fuckin’ with me. 

My condolences. With your brother’s passing, was that the hardest thing for you to overcome? I can only imagine how hard that was. 

New Years Eve 2019, some shit had happened to me – I’ma tell that story soon – it was like life or death. Whenever I had got out of the situation, whenever I recovered – came home from the hospital and everything – I just had lost it. All the bubbly energy you see on Instagram, all of that was gone from my body. I didn’t smile anymore, I really just laid in bed and gave up on life. I cried everyday, I was just miserable. The only thing that kept me going was writing music. At that time, three albums that really got me through it was Youngboy, Kodak Black and Roddy Ricch album. I listened to ‘em back-to-back to back. I started writing again. I called my lil’ cousin in the room and I was like, “I’m about to start making music again and tell my story.” Not to just be famous and rich, but to help females that were in the same situation I was in. 

If I get a platform and a big enough voice, someone gon’ listen to me. If I can save one or two, I’ll feel great about that because everybody don’t make it out. That’s really what I wanna do with my fame. After that, that’s what really brought me back to Houston because I wanted to leave Atlanta, I was away from family. I ain’t gon’ lie, I dreaded coming back to Houston because of my previous experience. What makes it so crazy is that life happens full circle. I told myself I was going to move to Houston and start my music career, now I’m back in Houston. My freestyle was really just something to drop on Instagram, but everybody started spinning it in the clubs and my career started off with my first ever recording.

Are there any noticeable differences amongst those cities, in terms of cultural influence? 

Down South, we’re very polite, it’s that Southern hospitality. That’s really why I won a lot in Atlanta and why I won a lot in L.A. – they rude as hell in L.A – but at the time, I got along with everyone because I was healthy as hell. In L.A, them bitches don’t wanna die [laughs], they don’t eat no type of meat. In Atlanta, the culture was different, but what I can say is that Atlanta does support its people. Atlanta sticks together. I learned a lil’ bit from everywhere and that’s probably why you can’t hear my accent as strong. Whenever I was working, I was working in corporate places, so I learned how to code switch. I know how to go full Louisiana and I know how to conduct myself in business. 

Talk to me about Kayykilo’s come up story. What does that look like? 

I always say this quote, “The best thing about almost dying is living again.” And I’m living again. My music shows it, my success shows it. A lot of people think my shit [success] overnight in Houston, because I got a boyfriend and he’s Nigerian and he has money, but they don’t understand I’ve been through my rain, and because y’all wasn’t in my life at that time, it look like it’s overnight but my come up story was long, it was hard, it was lonely, it was depressing. But now, once I made it through that and trusted in God, that’s why everything is moving so fast. I trusted in him and kept my focus, I stayed with him. My come up story is all about trusting God, trusting the process. Everything is about timing, I don’t want to rush any of my stuff. Just two months ago, I only had 50 people on my live [Instagram]. Now, my live averages about 300 people. When I met Jon (DaBaby) I only had 30,000 followers. Now, I’m on the brink of having 300K. For me, I wanna grow with my fanbase, that’s how you know you gon’ last a long time. My success wasn’t overnight: it was long, hard and I worked for that shit. I’m not like none of these rappers, I hate when they compare me. It’s not that I don’t like no other rappers, but I hate when they compare me. I’m not like anybody. 

With working in a male-dominated landscape that tends to pigeonhole women with unsolicited comparisons, how do you reflect individualism?

I do it through my music. We put out “ICE” to let them know I’m raw, I’m like that. We wanted to let them know that that’s really me. I got super pop ass songs that I know some female artists can’t do to save their life. Not to take away from them, but I’m very musically inclined. My raps start out as poems, some females can’t say that. I play the violin. It ain’t no female rapper that can take that. I don’t just listen to rap, I listen to all types of music. My music is very different, it has passion and purpose. Don’t compare me to nobody off of one song. Don’t compare me until you really get to know me. I’m just now coming into the game, how can y’all compare me to somebody and y’all don’t even know my real name? At least get to know me first and then you’ll see I’m not like them. At least give me a chance and let me show you why you can’t compare me to nobody. I’m in my own lane. I can swerve over now. Please don’t box me in bruh. I make large music and I just can’t wait to show the world. That gutterness there, but my next song that I’m gon’ drop, that’s gon’ shut up all the comparisons. And I stand on that, I promise you – I put my whole career on that. They gon’ take me out that gotdamn box. That’s why I don’t really do bounce music like that. I love my city and I love my culture, but all they was gon’ do is box me in with the twerk music and it would’ve been so hard for me to get out. 

It’s evident that you’re a part of Billion Dollar Baby Entertainment. Is there any added pressure with being the only female on an all-male roster? 

Even if it is pressure, I don’t let my mind think or believe that it’s pressure. The minute you start letting your mind believe it’s pressure, that’s the minute you start getting nervous and doing too much with your time. I just have fun with it. Even if it is pressure, I let the outside world feel that pressure, I don’t feel it. I make sure I feel comfortable, I make sure I stay in my element, I make sure that I stay at home to where I can still do me and be the person that Baby met and the reason he signed me. The minute I start feeling like it’s too much pressure and try to start doing this and doing that, that’s when I lose. You start losing when you stop having fun, you start losing when you make everything a competition. I don’t let my mind think it’s pressure, so even if it is I feel completely at home, I rise to the occasion every time. They’ll [Kayykilo’s labelmates] tell me though. Sometimes I’ll do a song and they’ll let me know I can go harder. But I’m not about to sike myself out. I was nervous one time and that was the first time I met Baby, and when I went in there, I killed that damn song. So when I saw that I killed that song, I told myself I’d never be nervous again. I can get on a song with Drake and I’m probably not gon’ walk him down, but guess what, I’m not gon’ let ‘em flush me. The minute you start to go too hard or do too much, you get corny and you lose. You lose your real passion for it. Me, I have fun with every track and I make it a Kilo track. That’s what I do: I dominate the room when I walk in and I’m gon’ dominate the song when I’m on it. 

You take pride in being labeled the First Lady. Personally, what does that title mean to you?

I’ve never been asked that question before and I don’t want to think about the answer, I just want it to come out. I take pride in it. I’m very grateful for it. I feel like it goes back to that pressure word but I don’t let pressure get to my head. I got BDB on my back. To me, I’m not comparing myself to Nicki [Minaj] but I’m damn near walking in her shoes. She was the only female and she did that shit. So really, if I ever feel like I need inspiration or if I ever need to think about what that means to me, I just need to tap back into my Nicki. It means the world to me, but I try to not think too much about it because it goes back to putting that pressure in my brain. I feel like that can go really good or really bad for me. If I know that it can go really bad, I just go ahead and block it out. I don’t even let that shit sit on me because I can’t do myself like that. Especially with Instagram right now: I get a lot of love but I get a lot of hate too. But I don’t get hate from females, I get hate from dudes and I just don’t understand it. I get death threats and I just be like damn, what I do to you? I just try to work and have fun with it and kill it every time. 

When it comes to your relationship with DaBaby, are there any noticeable differences between him as a CEO vs a director? 

Nah, he the same person. He the same person with the vision. Honestly, he never steps down from CEO or director mode. Like, he’s everything in one. Say if I go to Carolina today and I decide to make a Triller, he’ll tell me everything I need to do, that’s director mode again. That’s really him being a CEO. We can pull up to a gas station and he’ll be like do this, this and that, and that’s really director mode. He never steps out of it. He’s not harder as a CEO, he’s not harder as a director, he’s smooth coasting the whole time. It’s never an up and down thing. He makes everything feel very comfortable. It’s no different, he really the same nigga: he’s a marketing genius honestly. He so hard. I look up to that man forreal. 

What exactly is the Kilo Kartel?

[Laughs] The Kilo Kartel is my fan group. My name starts with a K, in real life, and my first rap name was Kaycee. A lot of people thought my real name was Kaycee, so I had to switch it up. I wanted my rap name to be hard, I wanted it to flow, I wanted it to be distinctive. With the words, Kilo is hard, it’s different. I wanted to run with the whole cartel thing because it’s like what comes with a kilo, the cartel. My fan base is the kartel, but it gotta be with “K” because I don’t wanna piss no one off [laughs]. Kilo Kartel, that’s my fan base and we move as one. My merch packages, I wrap them like bricks. I don’t wrap ‘em like white bricks because I don’t wanna get my fans in trouble. When I say welcome to the Kartel, the initiation don’t take much but to like me and support me. If you’ve ever liked my post or liked my music, you’re in the Kartel. I want my fanbase to be as strong as Beyonce’s, Rihanna’s Navy, Bardigang, you see how Meg got the Hotties, I just wanted something that was gon’ stick. And that’s gon’ stick every time. 

Some of your more popular music videos incorporate dance routines. What fuels your ability to be so animated throughout? Some people tend to play it sexy and safe. 

I got it from Missy Elliott. My three inspirations coming up were Lauryn Hill – she was a poet – she was very lyrical, Missy Elliott – I love her creativity, she was always in the camera, she didn’t care about how other artists were shaking ass, she didn’t care about putting on big clothes because she won like that. She was different, and I like different. And then Nicki Minaj made me push my pen, which turned my poems into raps. I always said that if I become a rapper I’m going to be outspoken, I’m gon’ be in the camera just how Missy Elliott was. Not saying I’m gon’ copy her or I wouldn’t have done it if she didn’t do it, but she made it okay to do it. I feel like she been gave people that sauce and a lot of people looked over it because they think showing ass and titties is gon’ do it every time. But it’s like, now look at how I’m already out the box. I’m a ball of energy! That’s how people feel you. It’s just me, I’ve always been like that. I was a cheerleader, I ran track, so all of that been in me. It’s so fun that I can put that in my music videos now without anybody judging me because it’s just me.