Kimilist, courtesy Instagram
Kwame Junior Osei professionally known as Kimilist is a fresh face in the Ghanaian, and African music industry at broader lengths. The rapper, singer, and song writer creates love songs that cater to the needings of a bad boy hopeless romantic. He doesn’t try to hide it, it’s boldly stated in his songs and persona. Kimilist’s artistic suave is crafted around this rhethoric; call it a charismatic debonair quite amiss in the Ghanaian music scene today.
Kimilist, currently signed under Midlife Records recently released his debut musical project coined ‘Bad Boy Diaries’, a five track extended play that borrows vocal recording inputs from singers, Larusso, and Abbla Unique, with executive music productions from Ghanaian producer, Iyke Parker. The conceptual body of work marks Kimilist’s outright entry into the Ghanaian music industry and has accrued relative critical acclaim.
‘Bad Boy Diaries’ conveys the singer’s appreciation for women; as he so puts it. The project blends his love for the generic sonic niches – hip/hop, r&b, pop, broken down to bits via a fusion of subgenres such as Afro-Swing, Ghanaian hip-life, and Afro-pop.
In this interview with Upper Entertainment’s Sijibomi Anifowose, the fast rising singer talks getting into music for the first time, his affinity for women, enduring musical relationships, latest body of work, and more.
Let Me Be The First To Congratulate You On Your Successful Debut Ep Release.
Thanks, bro. Really Appreciate it bro. Got any favorites so far?
Yeah. I am rocking with ‘Peng tin’. Loved what you and Abbla Unique cooked up. Fire stuff my bro.
Thanks a lot.
What’s your favorite song, like your personal favorite song on the record? And don’t tell me that you don’t have one.
I actually do. My favorite currently is ‘Slower’.
Why?
Slower is the last song that I recorded and added to the EP. The song was really personal. It just came to me, you know, and then it has this sensual vibe to it, which I really like, yeah. So you can actually be with your girl, feeling cozy, and listening, you know. Don’t just take my word for it. You should try it sometime.
The thematic direction of the project is linear, but i love how it’s not repetitive in sonics. Would you say your chemistry with Iyke Parker made this possible?
(Laughs). Yes. Okay, so me and Iyke Parker have been working together since 2017. So funny story is Iyke Parker actually sent me a couple of beats, and at that time, I hadn’t met him yet. During that time, a friend of mine, that’s also a videographer kept telling me about this producer who he thought was really good and would like me to hear some of his beats. So he sent me like five beats, and was always asking, ‘Charlie have you listened to the beat? ‘ I would be like, ‘Charlie, I go listen.
The truth is at the time I was going through a lot, trying to finish interviews, work on other songs. And then he came in, like, the last time, an evening we were in the studio. He was like, Charlie, listen to the listen to the beat. The guy is good. I’m like, Okay, I’ll have a listen. So the first beat that I listened to, out of order, five beats, was one of the biggest song that I have done in my music career. It was a feature with a big hip hop garden artist called Medikal, Oh, yeah. So from there, we just clicked. It made sense. We took it from there and started like bonding in terms of making music. And I actually like his vibe, because he’s like, always learning. He’s a constant learner and he is very easy to work with. I think he actually knows what’s in my head before I even say it, you know. So yeah. The work chemistry we share is responsible for the nuance in sonics.
How did you get into pursuing a professional musical career?
Okay with music, first of all, it’s always been about freestyling. You know, rap. Because I really like rap a lot, and it started in high school. So in high school, me and my friends, we used to do freestyles. My classmates would be hitting the desk creating beats, and I’ll be freestyling to the beats, and from there, I had one teacher that had a studio like outside of the school. So I had a conversation with him, and i was like, let me come to your studio. I can just be there recording songs, and we’ll see where we can go from there. Eventually we did a song. Actually we did a song for the school. And before I got back, this was way back, like 2013 2014 , the song was all over the school, and people were like, into the songs.
People started telling me music was something that I really have to take serious, because everybody was like, Charlie, be good, or you’ll be good, or you should focus in the music, don’t joke. So I was, like, very confident in my craft. And then when I got to the uni, too, I started recording more. At that time, I had more freedom for myself, unlike being in the secondary school. So I was going to the studio, recording more and I dropped a mixtape that caught the attention of my record label that I’m signed to right now, that’s Midlife records. And, yeah, fast forward, we started working together, working on me as an artist, my brand everything. Because at first it was just me doing music, because I like to do music. Well, when I got signed, I learned that there was more to music than just doing music. You know, promotion, management, yeah, the business aspect and what it really entails to actually do music. So fast forward, I’m here now. This is my debut EP that I’m sharing with you guys.
Telling me in details, the meaning of your stage name, ‘Kimilist’
I just wanted something different, something that will actually stand out than the other names that we already have in the industry. So it was in high school, and I am the biggest anime fan. I like anime, Japanese anime. And there’s this character that was called Kimi. And I really like the name. It was like, standing out to me, it But back when i solely did rap, my name was Rap Kimilist, yeah, with a ‘Rap’. But when I added singing to my craft, I I took away the rap so people wouldn’t get confused.
What’s the disparity between Kimilist and Kwame?
Okay, so Kwame is this boy that is learning a lot about life in general, that likes to have fun, that enjoys his personal time. Also like to be around girls. While Kimilist Is this artist who helps the expressions of Kwame come into realization.
How would you say the Ghanaian music industry has evolved over the years?
Okay, right now, I’ve actually seen more improvement in the Ghanaian music. Back then, many industry people weren’t really educated about music. It was just insha allah and vibes, you know. But I think people are actually understanding how the music works in terms of promotion and also connecting with people doing features and yeah, I think right now, people are more educated about what music entails as compared to before. It’s still a long journey ahead, but there has been progress for sure.
As much as there have been progress, would you say there have also been prevailing challenges faced by the Ghanaian music industry?
Yeah, because I was saying, we have some people that don’t see the worth of artists in Ghana, and then that’s like a challenge that’s been for ages and is still happening currently. The lacklustered treatment of artists. Maybe you are like an upcoming artist, and people will just be using you anyhow, and will be passing on comments like, Oh, but you’re just an up and coming artist. You should relax. You know. Listen, I don’t know about the other man, but this is the one i noticed.
I think that’s a universal problem. Upcoming artists should be treated better. I agree with you bro.
Yeah bro.
Walk me through the conceptual process of ‘Bad Boy Diaries
Okay, so ‘Bad Boy Diaries’, i actually was searching for, like a new sound. I was in a sound exploration journey, and I decided to create different sounds that was like the first idea, and the second thing was to add a topic to the idea that I had. And at that particular moment, the vibe that I had was about women in my life, which was actually affecting my life at that particular moment in a positive way. I like to praise girls. I like to make girls feel good, because, you know, girls are actually more than what we think they are. Most people are like, Oh, girls, they know be anything but Charlie without girls, we wouldn’t be here without females. We wouldn’t be here right now. You know.
Seems you grew up around women?
Oh yeah, I had sisters in the house all the time that actually cared about me. So growing up, I had sisters showing me love, that’s why i have grown overtime in reciprocating that energy.
Favorite Ghanaian Artiste/s?
At the moment, wow, that’s, that’s a tough one. I have a long list. I have Stonebwoy, Amaarae, Larusso, Abla Unique, King Promise. There’s a whole lot of dope artists bro. Yh, also Black Sherif! how can i forget Black Sherif. Honestly, these are the ones I can remember. Trust me chale, talent plenty for here.
Favorite Nigerian Artiste/s?
I fuck with Burna Boy, Omah Lay, Victony, Rema, Fireboy, and Blaqbonez a lot.
Where do you envision your music career to be in the next five years?
For me, music is bigger than what we actually see right now. And I would say I really want to be one of the biggest music exports out of Africa, not just Ghana. And also, I like to try new stuff, listen to new music. So I like to collaborate with other great musicians outside Africa and outside Ghana too, spreading my music across and I want my music to be like, like people wouldn’t be able to live without my music. In the next five years, i hope to be inevitable
