Get To Know: Kieron Boothe

Kieron Boothe appears on the zoom meeting reclining in a dark green leather chair similar to one of those classic James Bond villains. The only thing missing is the cat. Jokingly the rapper remarked that it gives off ‘Morthius’ vibes referring to the anti-hero from the Spiderman comics.

Achieving a degree in graphic design but he started to take drawing more seriously in 2018 and through the foundation built from music started to gain clientele from music artists to create their cover art. Expanding a bit about his background Kieron says that he was mentored in school alongside his friends and was brought to a recording studio.

Growing up, the rapper was introduced to rap via Kano, Wretch 32, Skepta, Ghetts, Nasty Crew and Criminal to name a few at around the age of 11 or 12 when grime was everywhere. “My main teen years was making grime until 16 but then the scene changed again to a more funky type of era.” He also admits to listening to “American” influences via MTV.

Touching on his duo creativity as a musician and as an artist, he says, “I was drawing on and off as a kid, never really pursuing it properly.”

Talking about the different approaches to music and art he explains “with music I allow myself to naturally get better but with art, I’m always constantly trying to break down someone else’s style.” Music to Kieron is best created spontaneously and organically feeding off of the energy in the room with the producer whilst art is more mechanical in nature as he seeks to perfect the fundamentals.

Describing his sound “Sometimes I feel that I was just solely associated with the lo-fi jazzy rap stuff but songs like ‘Out of sight’ and ‘Crush a Bit’ which are a bit more bouncy and wavy in tempo varies with the subject matter.”

Kieron explains what helps his music go from introspective to general rap is working with different people to keep the variety. “I’ve worked with a lot of different producers that have different sounds and the sounds generally dictate the theme of what I’m going to say or how I’m going to approach it.”

In his brand new EP, Views from The Bottom you can hear the 90s/early 2000s hip-hop, garage, lo-fi jazz and rap elements that band together to form a kaleidoscopic and textured musical experience.

The name of the project is inspired by his song ‘No Peace’ which was featured on the Silhouettes project, hip-hop, jazz and soul collection. The rapper felt that being a part of the project was a major turning point in his career due to the attention it picked up on streaming platforms.

Speaking about the state of music and the direction it could be heading regarding being genre-less. Kieron, sharing his thoughts says “ I was born mid-nighties my parents are the second generation so they were born here but my grandparents are from Jamaica and St. Lucia. I feel that the Newham, the area I grew up in is mad diverse.”

“You saw people from everywhere across Asia, Europe, South America, the Caribbean and Africa. It’s a melting pot. And you have UK music in general, where the sounds we grew up on like grime and garage and then the heavy American influence. I feel like there’s so much going on that it’s all starting to seep through into people’s creativity."

Kieron has steadily been working on the project from the end of 2019 to 2022. ‘Phone Down’ the second single of the project was the last track to be recorded. He sees the project as “a collection of different songs over the course of a few years” but feels strongly that his art is still “timeless.”

Kieron explains that “ ‘No Regrets’ is the perfect blend of being bouncy and wavy but it still keeps its introspective quality” it’s also catchy” he adds.

Showcasing his versatility he also likes ‘Original Soundman’ because it allows him to really “rap rap” showing off his lyrical ability, flow and cadence.

After listening to the album, the take we get from it is Kieron has definitely grown over the few years it’s taken him to piece the whole project together. It’s proven in the impressions of the situations that he has gone through and his thoughts on real-life events. But what he has also demonstrated is his willingness to show all sides.

But as our conversation winds down he confides that he's never stopped working on music "always keeping it moving" and we can't wait to see what the future holds. He also reveals that he's headlining his own show next month at the Hackney Social on November 3rd.