(AllHipHop Features) Detroit emcee Kid Vishis is ready to officially carry on the family tradition. After years of honing his craft with mixtapes like the Sick Em series and sharing tour bills with rap heavyweights like Rakim, Ghostface, and Talib Kweli, the younger brother of Royce da 5’9’’ is set to drop his debut studio album.
Vishis’ Timing Is Everything is a rarity among Hip Hop releases. Out of 11 tracks on the project only one includes the voice of another artist. The one exception is the track “Coward” which features his big bro Royce.
Even with a Slaughterhouse member as a sibling, don’t think nepotism is the sole reason a buzz is growing around Vishis. Songs like “Message To The MC’s,” “The Juice,” and “Heaven” reveal the rhyme spitter from “The D” has a striking flow.
Get familiar with the Kid in AllHipHop.com’s latest installment of the “5 & Done” Breeding Ground series.
It’s kind of rare for a rapper to have virtually a feature free album. Especially when it’s their debut. Why did you decide to have Timing Is Everything be mostly just you?
I just wanted to show my independence. I didn’t want to take somebody else’s blueprint. I didn’t want to do what everybody else usually does. I just wanted to show people that I could stand on my own two.
Plus, I’m working on another project right now as well. That has more features on it. I feel features will be there, but I want to prove a point with this first album.
You worked with a core group of producers for the album. Did you go into the process saying, “These are the guys I want to work with,” or did it just end up those were the tracks you picked?
I put the word out about my album. Chase Moore, Nemisis, and Nick Zervos got right on it and started sending stuff. Chase Moore did the bulk of the album. He sent some heat, and I was just vibing to the beat. Then Mr. Porter heard some of the stuff I was working on, and he said, “I got to throw you a few.” So he threw me two bangers, and I went right in and recorded them.
I got a history with all these guys. They’ve been on my mixtapes before. I basically wanted to do a project with people I already got a chemistry with. Later on, I can reach out to different producers I haven’t been able to vibe with yet.
You started building your buzz on the local Detroit rap scene. I read that at one point you had to test your skills for Royce in person before he started putting you on his mixtapes. What was that experience like? Did you feel any pressure having to basically audition for your brother?
Hell yeah. I was nervous. I did it kind of sneaky though. I was rapping on purpose for all of Royce’s friends that he was hanging around. They would go back and tell him, “You better listen to your brother. That boy’s nice.” Everybody was calling me vicious before I even created a rap name. That’s how they described my style, so that’s how the name came about.
Royce kept hearing it from his friends. Until one day he surprised me. He said, “Yo, go in the booth.” I’ll never forget it. He put on Juelz Santana’s “Dipset Anthem” beat, and said, “Let me hear what you got.”
I didn’t know exactly what to rap. I was nervous. I just stepped in the booth, closed my eyes, and just – rapid fire. Then when I walked out he was impressed. I went to another level after that. After he told me I was nice, it was like, “Well, if you say it, I know it’s true.”
You’re in New York for the Total Slaughter event this weekend. Who would you put as your top 5 battle rappers at the moment?
Charlie Clips is probably the most dangerous. I say that because he can do everything. He brings the bars. He brings the comedy. He can freestyle. He’s got the performance. T-Rex, he came in that house guns blazing. I’ve never seen T-Rex slip up. He’s always super polished. It’s like a machine going off once he starts.
I like Hitman Holla. He has the all around aggressive style that I like. Loaded Lux brings a whole other level to it. He’s not a gun bar rapper, but he can still break people down. My last one, I would say is Hollow Da Don. You always feel the bars that he wrote, but he can switch it up and freestyle. He’ll come with rebuttals too. He’s a hard puzzle to figure out.
You have your album dropping in a few weeks. What else can fans expect from you in 2014?
More music. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. I have another album worth of material that I’m thinking about putting out and calling it a “mixalbum.” I have a U.K. and Canadian tour being set-up right now for August. A lot more visuals. Kid Vishis in general. You’re going to see the name. You’re going to see the visuals. And you’re going see the work.
Kid Vishis’ Timing Is Everything is scheduled for release on July 22.
Pre-order a digital copy at iTunes. Pre-order a signed physical copy at seven13ent.
Follow Kid Vishis on Twitter @Kidvishis and Instagram @kidvishis.
Check out the tracklist for Timing Is Everything below.
1. T.I.E. Timing Is Everything Intro (Produced by Nick Zervos)
2. Message to the MC’s (Produced by Mr. Porter)
3. Look At All My $**T (Produced by Chase Moore)
4. Beautiful Day (Produced by Chase Moore)
5. Big Brothers (Produced by Chase Moore)
6. Talk Behind My Back (Produced by Chase Moore)
7. The Juice (Produced by Mr. Porter)
8. In Yo Face (Produced by Nemesis)
9. Heaven (Produced by Nemesis)
10. Birds Eye View (Produced by Chase Moore)
11. Coward (featuring Royce da 5’9″) (Produced by Chase Moore)