Kiskeya—Producer, Multi-Instrumentalist, MySpace Sensation

By Chris Manson June 14, 2007 Issue

Thanks to myspace.com, Kiskeya has reached an astonishing number of music fans without the benefit of radio airplay. Only eight months after launching his page, the Kiskeya Productions page has attracted more than 100,000 visitors.

“I don’t think it got bigger than I expected,” Kiskeya says. “But I would like some love from the local crowd.” Roughly 80 percent of his hits are from all over the country. “It’s hard getting hip-hop played around here. Every time I talk to club owners, there’s this bad image and violence.” He’s trying to change that. “I don’t believe in talking bad about women,” he says. Kiskeya also despises hearing the N-word from anyone, white or black.

Before he started playing and producing music, Kiskeya took some music classes at Okaloosa-Walton College. On his first full-length album, Kiskeya Presents the Reanimation of Music Vol. 1—to be released July 25—Kiskeya played most of the instruments himself and used just a few samples, most notably Nina Simone on Black American Dream. In his home studio in Navarre, Kiskeya picks up a guitar and plays a little bit of the music he grew up listening to in the country where he was born.

“I was born in Haiti and came here when I was 12 years old. I don’t believe in acting ‘hard’ or acting like a pimp to get respect. I have a lot of black friends who don’t agree with me.” Kiskeya voices these opinions on a separate, personal MySpace page that has gotten more than 20,000 hits. “I have problems with the young black crowds fighting each other over stepping on shoes or looking at someone’s woman. We’re hurting ourselves. I’m not going to conform to anyone’s idea of how a black man should look and act.”

The youngest of four children, Kiskeya lived in Brooklyn from 1988 to 1997. He served in the United States Air Force after that, and began producing, learning, and recording three years ago. “It took almost two years to record this album. People thought I should make more ‘Down South’ party music. Every song is different, with different patterns and instruments. We recorded 100 songs and picked 20.” About 40 of these are available at the Kiskeya Productions MySpace page.

Kiskeya’s music is exciting and indeed catchy. Of the nine songs I listened to, a few deal with politics. “Most people think Black American Dream is about white people keeping us down,” Kiskeya says. “But it’s really saying that our parents aren’t raising us right, not passing family values to kids.” There’s also SEXY which Kiskeya intends “to describe a woman without being degrading. You can be a gentleman in hip-hop. I’m so picky about what I put on my tracks. I can’t put ‘slap a ho in the mouth’ on there.” Rock with Me samples Native American music and is unlike anything I’ve ever heard. “I like to switch up things so it doesn’t get tiring.” Aside from a whispered “Kis-KAY-uh” at the beginning of a few tracks, the beat-maker hasn’t zeroed in on one specific trademark sound.

Another standout track, Dymez, pokes fun at “all these women calling themselves ‘dime pieces’—that whole mentality some women have, how they see themselves as having to attract men. Every woman trying to copycat each other with blown hair and fake boobs.”

Kiskeya doesn’t rap, relying on friends like J. Jinx and Midaxx to set his music to words. Some tracks have a jazz feel to them, thanks to trumpet player Daniel Zberg. Kiskeya met many of his collaborators while he was stationed at Hurlburt Field.

One of Kiskeya’s biggest influences is fellow Haitian Wyclef Jean. “Two other people who touched me are Norah Jones and Ray Charles,” he says. Like Charles, Kiskeya refuses to be categorized and exhibits a passion for exploring a variety of musical styles. He met Norah Jones when he lived in California. “She’s real soulful. I think what’s missing from hip-hop shows is that passion,” he says, adding that most of the concerts he has attended are “like one big ad-lib. I want to do something different with mine.”

If you read Kiskeya’s blogs, you’ll discover a thoughtful young man who is not merely content to gripe about the state of the world. He wants to sound off about solutions. He’s always been involved in charitable causes—Meals on Wheels, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Recently, he attempted to put together a benefit concert to bring public attention to the genocide in Darfur. Unfortunately, securing corporate sponsorship proved difficult if not impossible.

“I hate politics,” Kiskeya says. “You’re either a hypocrite or a liar. Nobody my age”—he just turned 30—“nobody even knows who the mayor of Fort Walton Beach is. A real problem for black kids in Fort Walton Beach is they have nothing to do, so they stay home and have house parties where they drink and smoke weed. One of my big dreams is to build a teen center where they have something to do and the parents can have a night out.”

Kiskeya Presents the Reanimation of Music Vol. 1 will be released July 25 online through such outlets as Napster and iTunes. Kiskeya has opted for this modern approach as opposed to selling CDs out of the trunk of his car. He hopes to find a suitable venue to host an album release party. “I talked to the guy at (a local club), and he says they don’t want to do hip-hop shows because they lose money. Because black people don’t tip, and they have to hire more security.” Strangely, this hasn’t stopped some area clubs from bringing in rappers like DJ Unk and Bubba Sparxxx. “People have been wanting to come and see us for a long time,” Kiskeya says, urging club owners to check out the MySpace page if they have any doubts.

Kiskeya’s goal is “to affect one person at a time and change their whole point of view, not to sell millions of records.” In music and life, he refuses to take the easy path. “People are either going to love or hate my music because it’s so different.”

Chris Recommends:
Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons: The Definitive Pop Collection (Rhino)
Poison: Poison’d (Capitol)
Ronnie Milsap: My Life (Sony/BMG)
Ozzy Osbourne: Black Rain (Epic)

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