KP’s Instagram bio reads “The Hottest In Philly,” and he’s here to uphold that title.
Hailing from the Southwest region of Philadelphia, the rising star creates heartfelt music to connect and inspire, with lyrics inspired by real-life experiences and happenings for the masses to relate to.
Teaching himself how to record at the young age of 12, KP went from using his home computer programs to freestyling off the dome at a professional recording studio.
In describing himself, KP states he’s a “young kid that really fell in love with Hip-Hop at a young age and has been rapping ever since. I wrote my first rap in 3rd grade so I’ve been doing this for a while now. I’m getting a lot of good things rolling, meeting a lot of different people and getting a lot of support.”
To date, KP has numerous street anthems to his name, including “Shooter’s Ambition” featuring New York’s own Casanova, “More Than Gold,” and “Summer Shootings.”
Beyond the music, KP has a huge heart when it comes to giving back to his community, diving into endless philanthropy efforts that come full circle given he was once a kid in the ghetto striving to make it.
Most recently, he released his newest controversial freestyle titled “Corona Flow,” spitting over the beat of Migos’ “Straightenin.”
This new drop holds fans over until the release of his forthcoming project titled Scenarios, inspired by love, relationships, and everything in between.
AllHipHop: What was a young KP like growing up in Southwest Philly?
KP: I had my mother and my father so I didn’t realize that we were in the ghetto until later on in my life. You start realizing “damn, why’s this bill not paid?” Or “Why’s my mom stressing about this? Why’s my dad not in a good mood today?” Because of certain things, you start seeing, “oh man, when I go to these neighborhoods there’s no trash around these neighborhoods. It’s really clean, there’s no corner stores. It’s quiet.”
I didn’t really have a super rough upbringing because I had my mother and my father. Anything I needed, they got for me. I didn’t realize we’re in the ghetto or less fortunate until I started getting older. Turning into a teenager, I started seeing different things and realizing what the world really is.
AllHipHop: Did you fall victim to the streets?
KP: Yeah, I mean my big brother Bubb was in the streets so I looked up to homie. He’s getting a lot of girls, getting a lot of money. I was always infatuated with that. I can relate to what these kids are dealing with growing up in the hood, because to me, when you’re a young kid and you don’t necessarily have much or have the things you really want — you want the nice cars, the nice girls, so that always intrigued me.
That’s really what made me initially like things in the streets and try certain things out myself, like selling drugs and running around with pistols. I ain’t necessarily had to do it, but I liked it. When you don’t really necessarily know other ways to get to where you want to be in life, it’s looking like everybody’s going that way and that’s the way to get the money, you fall victim to that. Luckily, I found my outlet through music. But every kid in the ghetto don’t have that outlet so I want to give them those outlets that they desperately need. I got something special for the kids coming really soon!
AllHipHop: Biggest influences coming up?
KP: Tupac to be honest, because he stood for more than the music. He was a real pioneer, he stood on what he believed in. At a young age, really to be honest Pac was my first experience with seeing Hip-Hop. Seeing Tupac on “California Love”: shooting the video and looking cool, got the chains, got the girls. But as I got older, it was mixtape Lil Wayne who influenced me. Right now, it’s J. Cole, Kendrick, Tory Lanez, and I can’t forget Jay-Z for sure.
AllHipHop: I know you were locked up in the past, what happened?
KP: I went to college, I got a Bachelor’s degree in Communication studies with a focus in Marketing. It’s ironic because I went to college to get away from the streets, then I ultimately fell victim to going to jail. I went to jail for assault on a police officer. I had simple assault, resisting arrest, and aggravated assault.
AllHipHop: Damn!
KP: Yeah, they got me. [laughs] I had a discrepancy with a police officer. I went to West Chester University of PA to get away from my environment. I took the same street mentality up there and it got me in a bad spot. I ultimately graduated 2017 with my Bachelor’s degree. I had to pay a bunch of lawyer fees to get back into the school. I had to pay the school. I had to go to jail for 2 months. I was on parole for 2 years, then I had to do another year of probation. Definitely a learning experience for me being a college student, going to jail then fighting my way back. It’s a real comeback story!
AllHipHop: How long were you locked up for?
KP: I had to do 2 months, I came out and they gave me a bunch of years of parole and probation.
AllHipHop: What did you learn from that whole experience?
KP: Honestly, I learned that being Black, it doesn’t make a difference if you’re in college or if you’re in the streets. The same rules apply because we’re not necessarily looked at as equal to be honest, in a lot of different ways. I felt as though as a college student, if you make a simple mistake or you get into a disagreement you wouldn’t got to go to jail for that… but people are going to jail for a bunch of different things. I’m a college student, why am I going to jail for making a mistake when everybody in college makes mistakes? That’s what you’re here for, you’re here to make mistakes and learn from them. But I realized the rules were different for people who look like me.
Why do I have to go to jail just because I don’t know the judge? and my dad doesn’t play golf with him on the weekends? Or the police officer doesn’t have a relation to me? A bunch of different things that let me see that it doesn’t make a difference where we’re at, we’re still going to get treated as Black people, as less in a lot of different ways. It also taught me to never question God because he doesn’t make mistakes. It definitely was a learning lesson and it made me a stronger person.
AllHipHop: I love how much you’re doing for the community, you collaborated with Black Lives Matter Greater New York and Black Opportunities. What inspires you to give back?
KP: I had met Hawk Newsome through my manager Status. Hawk is the CEO & Co-Founder of Black Lives Matter Greater New York and Black Opportunities. Remember when they had the storms in Houston? It was a crazy snowstorm. We‘re down there giving the people water, giving them food, providing ways for them to grow their own food and crops. I met Hawk down there because we’re like-minded individual on certain things, and been building a relationship ever since. I met his sister Chivona. She’s the Co-Founder. I met a few other people that’s in the organization too. We’ve been collaborating on a lot of different things, it’s definitely a great experience.
AllHipHop: How’d it feel to do a food, coat, toy drive in your city?
KP: Yeah Southwest Philly, I always try to make sure I tap in with the youth and the less fortunate. I donated the check at this elementary school in South Philadelphia for their library. I did the toy drive, we do that every year during Christmas. I stand on that. Anybody who has any type of limelight should always make sure they’re taking care of their people. I believe in that because I don’t think that nobody’s going to take care of us like we can take care of us, so why not? Why not be that person that always puts his best foot forward and looks out for my people?
AllHipHop: Let’s get into your music. What inspired “More Than Gold”?
KP: “More Than Gold” was inspired by George Floyd. There’s a lot of chaos going on after he got murdered. I had started writing in Philadelphia around that time. I finished it in California when I was with Caron Butler after the Jacob Blake shooting. It’s ironic because Caron Butler’s from Wisconsin, I thought that was crazy. I definitely got inspired right then and there to finish the record.
AllHipHop: How’d you end up collaborating with Casanova on “Shooters Ambition”?
KP: Cas had a song called “So Brooklyn,” he was doing a challenge for it. I did the challenge, he seen it. He liked it, posted it and it went crazy. He ended up coming to Philly for a show called the “So Philly” Showcase, which was a spin-off of the “So Brooklyn” thing. He’s promoting it and I’d met him there. He’s a real genuine dude. We’re building our relationship and I ended up asking him, “would he get on the record?”
This is after he kept coming to Philly. He’d come to Philly NOTO, bring me on stage, a lot of dope things like that. This was after we had already started building our relationship, I asked him to get on the record. He did it, came and shot the video in Southwest Philly on 52nd and Woodland Ave. That’s a great dude, great guy man. Free Casanova.
AllHipHop: Right! He’s still back there.
KP: Yeah, I be talking to people in his camp. Checking on him. He’s holding his head high, he’ll be home soon. That’s my guy. “Shooters Ambition” with Casanova is on Youtube, it’s almost at a hundred thousand views. It’s doing well.
AllHipHop: Why the name change?
KP: It was FakeFreeKP, but we had to switch it up to get clarification on the name. People were saying “Freak” and “Feek,” because on Instagram it’s @FakeFreeKP. It was all together so people were confused. I changed it to @ItsJustKP so now there’s no confusion and it’s clear as day.
AllHipHop: Highlight from shooting the music video?
KP: I got with a Philly Director named Chop Mosley to shoot it. He knows that I do a lot of storytelling. At first, people thought I was bigging up gun violence. I’ma always acknowledge gun violence because it’s a real thing, but I always try to have a message in my music. I wanted to make sure you could tell the video is a story and you understand why these things are happening, why the kid’s running around shooting people and doing certain things.
I don’t condone it at all! But I wanted to highlight why we do what we do and to give you insight, not talk about shooting somebody and that’s it. I always try to put something in there for you to learn from. I make that clear in the visual because when you listen to the song, some people think “oh, he’s talking the same thing everybody else is talking about: shooting up.” But in the visual, I paint the picture real good and Director Chop Mosley helped bring that to light.
AllHipHop: I was bumping the “Exodus Effect” last night, what was that one about?
KP: It was something to show DMX respect. I really love Swizz Beatz and his production. I had put that out and people liked that. Swizz Beatz actually posted it on his Instagram page. That meant a lot to me! I wanted to pay my respects because DMX was definitely an inspiration to me as well. Especially with the storytelling and the way I come in and out of my cadences when I’m rapping, I had to do something for him.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQzV7TtlR_y/
AllHipHop: How’d it feel to have Rick Ross recognize your bars?
KP: That was extremely phenomenal for me because I looked up to Rick Ross at a real, real young age. Seeing how much he puts on for his artists and how much work he puts into them. You don’t get a lot of artists that wanna see they’re artists be bigger than them. He pushed Meek to the forefront, Wale to the forefront without any hesitation.
I love his music. It’s timeless, it’s a luxury. He talks a certain type of talk that you gotta be a certain kind of person to understand. It was phenomenal to know that somebody like that reached out to me, acknowledged me and what I’ve been doing, what I got going on. It was dope, I can’t even really put it all into words how much that meant to me. I really, really appreciated it.
AllHipHop: How was the shooting in the Rolls-Royce commercial too?
KP: Oh yeah, we had a shoot with Rolls-Royce a year and a half ago when they put out the Rolls-Royce Cullinan. The shoot was one of my partner Luis’ brain childs. It was a collaboration shoot between Rolls Royce and The Peninsula Hotel. It was pretty dope to be honest because I’d never been in a Rolls-Royce until then. To ride in it and see how it drives, meet the people from the company of Rolls-Royce, it was dope. That type of experience you can’t buy.
AllHipHop: How was it opening for Meek Mill?
KP: I opened for Meek, I opened for Blac Youngsta, I opened for Dave East, I opened for Wiz Khalifa. I was in college at West Chester, so I’d tap in with the concerts that had. Dave East and Wiz was at a club though called “NOTO” in Philly. It was dope. It gives me an idea of what I need to be doing and what I need to keep striving for so I can get to where I’m trying to go and get further in my career. It’s great for me because it lets me know to keep working, do this on the stage, do that on the stage. Eye contact, different things like that. It’s all just adding to the repertoire for me.
AllHipHop: What can we expect from your new project?
KP: I’m putting out an EP in August, it’s going to be a relationship project called Scenarios. Something different to talk about. A lot of dope production, it’s a different side of me. A lot of people think I’m one way, I want to show a different side of myself and my artistry. It’s going to be a really, really dope project. I don’t want to give a specific date but it’ll be here in August for sure.
AllHipHop: Any goals for yourself at this point of your career?
KP: I want to be one of the best artists in the world, to be honest. I want people to know I strive for us, I strive for my people. When it’s all said and done, I want people to know, “Damn, KP was a hell of an artist but also a hell of a person. He always was trying to make us evolve as a people.” That’s always my goal, I pride myself on that.
AllHipHop: Anything else you want to let us know?
KP: Make sure y’all look out for Scenarios in August. We shooting a lot of videos right now, working on new music, & stacking the content. Expect a flood really, really, really, really soon. Really soon.