Hailing from The Southside of Chattanooga, Tennessee where dreams often become nightmares due to poverty and other extreme circumstances, Brown began his journey in music at the age of 7 when his stepfather, who is the former road manager of SliverHawk Records Ronnie Hill, gave Brown the opportunity to get his voice heard traveling between Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama performing. This resulted in opening up for Pastor Troy and rap group Goodie Mob in the late 90’s.
In 2008, at the the age of 17 Brown and longtime friend JaVario Eagle formed the label “Brique garçon Forever” which is French for “BrickBoy” building a strong buzz around the city of Chattanooga which resulted in 2 label offers that unfortunately failed due to personal matters.
Brown’s aggressive and rugged delivery grabs your attention as he raps about the struggles and hard times he endured growing up and how he plans to never let the past repeat itself for his family and himself. Brown has a story to tell and his new EP, released in August, coincidentally is entitled “Story 2 Tell“.
In this spotlight feature, we chat with Kay B about his new project, influences, navigating the digital music world and more.
Full Q&A, links and streams available below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I’m from the Southside of Chattanooga,TN born and raised. My style of music can be considered “conscious rap” because I rap about different things that goes on in the world and the day to day struggles that I endure or have endured. Overall, I make music that people can relate to and be able to shed a positive light on any negative situation. That good clean but raw and uncut music that some people may not want to hear but need to hear.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
My stepfather use to be a Road manager for a local record company based out of Chattanooga. I use to follow him around a lot watching and observing everything and over time I ended up falling in love with music which eventually lead me to start making music myself. I gave thanks to my stepfather because he is the reason I wanted to pick up a microphone in the first place.
The 1 thing that keeps me going is knowing I’ve come a long way, but realizing I still have so far to go. I feel as, I haven’t reached my full potential yet and that along gives me so much motivation to keep striving and being the one people say “if he can do it, I know I can, but he faced the same struggles I have”.
Who or what are your biggest influences when it comes to your creativity?
My biggest influence is without a doubt my mother. I’m always trying to impress her because I know she won’t sugar coat anything and she will always tell me the truth. She gives me so much hope and inspire me to give my all with everything I do. My creativity comes from her because she always tell me to think outside the box.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
Actually, Story 2 Tell is my first official studio release so it’s most definitely a learning process. I can only get better because there isn’t a limit of what I can do. My whole purpose of Story 2 Tell was to give people a glimpse in the day and life of Kay B Brown. I wanted to make a statement and tell the world my story.
Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?
Not knowing the business is the only challenge. As long as you know exactly what you’re striving for and have goals and meeting those goals everything else will fall in place. Technology is the best thing that happened to a lot of us young artists because it’s easier to get your music out to the masses and develop a following. That’s what I did!
How do you feel about streaming services? Any romantic attachments to the physical formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, CDs?
Streaming services take it to a whole different level and gives me the opportunity to learn the game in side out and show me how to capitalize on everything.
Where can we follow you online and hear more music?
You can follow me
- IG: kelvinoway
- Twitter: _kelvinoway
- FB: kelvinoway (Kay B Brown)
- Like on FB: kelvinoway91 (Kay B Brown)
- SoundCloud: BrickBoy_KayB
Also, Kay B Brown on iTunes,Spotify,Tidal Music, Google Play and YouTube/YouTube Music (Chapter 24 and Understanding music videos/stream Story 2 Tell EP)
Anything else before we leave?
Be sure to check out Story 2 Tell EP, which is now available on every mainstream servicing site and be sure to follow me on all social media sites I have a lot in store. Thanks for having me!
