Features

Kidkanevil

Given 15 minutes and a side of blank A4, most UK hip-hop followers could comfortably compile a fairly weighty list of their favourite genre's exponents who have latched onto the coattails of dubstep. British visionaries who have pre-empted the game? A couple of postage stamps should cover that. Quietly, though, Kidkanevil has achieved precisely the latter feat.

Straight out of Leeds (albeit now living in London), the Kid already has a mighty decent discography behind him, packed with inventive production flourishes and an eye for warped melodies and beats that betray much hip-hop love. Latest album Basho Basho, out January 18, deserves to put him right up there with Flying Lotus and the like, however. Named after Japanese haiku poet Matsuo Basho, it suavely slides in increased dubstep / wonky content while very much retaining Kidkanevil's distinctive steez.

"I hadn't really thought of that to be honest," he says when quizzed on that shift in sound. "I like to work at 136 to 140 bpm a lot, kind of bounce tempo hip-hop, so there's some crossover there certainly. I do strive to have my own sound, though. All my favourite producers have their own style first and foremost. Individuality is important in an age of over saturation."

Kidkanevil neatly illustrates his own individuality via Tokyorkshire, a self-coined Super Mario-worthy conflation that blends aforementioned Far East interests with personal geography.

"It's a headspace I like to get into when making beats," he elaborates. "A place with loads of characters and stuff. Kidyuki is the troublemaker; Basho lives there too, by the electronic banana tree. I'd quite like to make it into a comic one day. It's just an inspiring place for me."

Happy to blur the boundaries between reality and make believe in his creative process, when talk turns to whether the UK currently possesses the producers to compete with their US cousins, he's also able to see things from both sides. His favourite artists and dream collaborators, nevertheless, are exclusively American.

"I think the UK has always had innovative producers up there with the best, from reggae and grime, jungle and d&b, broken, dubstep and all the rest of it," he muses. "The UK is serious, definitely, it's a good time for beats. Though for me still no one can top Dilla. And when he's on form Timbaland remains untouchable.

"I'd love to work with Clipse," he continues. "Hell Hath No Fury would be in my top five albums of the decade. I'd like to hear Lupe over some different beats. DOOM of course. Jay Electronic is fire. Be fun to cook up some oddball shit for Andre 3000. I kind of like working on my own though. Ha ha."

Solitary confinement isn't always Kidkanevil's style, though, with heavy involvement in the next album from DJ Shadow-approved group Stateless, plus a project entitled Just-A-Kid with vocalist / fellow Stateless member Justin Percival. Despite that, his thoughts are already turning toward his subsequent solo record, promising something "a bit different". Until that, Basho Basho fills a similar brief very nicely.

Words: Adam Anonymous