KIDA KUDZ TALKS ON GROWING UP IN NIGERIA, FATHERHOOD AND HIS PURPOSE IN LIFE
Photography By Danika Magdelena
Originally hailing out of ‘IB City’ Ibadan, Nigeria, Kida Kudz is one of the UK’s most exciting artists. Experimenting with the rap genre - combining lyricism with a ‘jiggy’ sound - is how Kida Kudz has created a lane for himself in the fast-growing UK music scene. Whilst still an underdog, it’s unlikely that playing a Kida Kudz track won’t get heads bopping and legs shaking. Recognisable both sonically and physically, it’s not a Kida Kudz track without a jumpy afro beat and it’s unlikely you’ll see Kida Kudz not sporting a wave cap as part of his look.
Moving to the UK at 14, Kida Kudz has many fond memories of his early life back home. Although he grew up in a rough area and found himself becoming a self-proclaimed ‘Area Boy’ - a collective term for thugs and gang members - he says it was the ‘best childhood ever’. Being surrounded by so many cultural musical influences, both the ones his mum was listening to - Ebenezer Obey, K1 de ultimate and Fela Kuti to name a few - and ones he made the decision to seek out himself (Lil Wayne, most prominently) is what fuelled his drive to become a musician.
Music has always been second nature to Kida Kudz, the church gospel choir was a constant presence in his upbringing. When one of his friends advised he get into rap, he took it up and has never looked back. Performing at a competition in Nigeria is where he realised he should take music seriously. Seeing everyone turn up when he took the stage, drawing a crowd larger than one he’d ever performed to, was the initial motivation for making him the exhilarating artist he still is today.
Kida Kudz admits it wasn’t always the lord’s work he was doing, before music he was ‘selling fake phones and trapping with [his] friends’, just trying to make ends meet. Whilst Ibadan is Nigeria’s second largest city, the economic gap is as wide as any city you might find across the continent, so those subject to poverty have to find ways to survive, even if that does mean bending the law to do so. Whilst he feels as though music was his calling, if it wasn’t music, he’d be somewhere else in the entertainment industry. Appearing on TV back home from the tender age of 7 showcasing his dancing skills, that was another avenue that he considered before music came and took his full attention. Not just comfortable in front of the camera, he’s studied film and sound engineering so might’ve additionally considered a life behind the lens had his calling not been rap.
Whatever he was going to do, Kida Kudz knew he wasn’t meant to fit in. A scar on his face, still very much visible today although he’s had it since he was young, is the physical representation of that, a tangible symbol of the fact he was always meant to stand out, as he has continuously done with tracks like ‘Jiggy Bop’ and ‘Like Tu Danz’.
At the time of conducting the interview, Kida Kudz was expecting his first child, and there was no question as to how present he intended to be in his son’s life. Raised solely by his mother as his father left whilst he was still very young, he witnessed how difficult that can be first-hand and he doesn’t intend to replicate that. ‘It made me appreciate my mum to start with’ he says. Having to raise him on her own makes him more mindful of his paternal responsibility as it is now his turn to raise a child. And whilst he recognises it’s very easy to be spiteful at his father for leaving him, he concedes there is ‘no hate’ towards his father, he just ‘took it the way it is’ and ‘moved on’ but he definitely utilises this experience that might’ve been perceived as negative, in order to make him the best father he can be.
‘Do what I’m doing right now, and take over the world, take over MY world’ is the response Kida Kudz gave to us asking his future plans. With such big dreams, but even bigger talent, we know that Kida Kudz could be pivotal in moving the afro sound from ‘the side to the main stage’. With an impressive repertoire of collaborations already, it’s clear the scene has got time for Kida Kudz. We certainly have been and will be checking for the ‘Jiggy Boy’ at Gauchoworld.