Manchester rapper Kenzo has revealed that he signed his record deal while in prison, after initially lying to his management about his situation.
After releasing just two songs, Kenzo caught the attention of Manchester-based talent management group NQ House, which also represents Aitch. Contract negotiations began, but there was a problem: Kenzo was in prison.
Lying to secure a deal
“It’s a crazy story because I was lying to them,” he told the M.E.N. “I was telling them I was on road, that I’ve not been arrested.
“I was still writing music while I was on the run. I had two songs out and I got arrested.
“Unfortunately when I got grabbed, a deal came to the table and I was just blagging it.
“I got my manager to come in on a visit and I just signed it. Somehow it came out and they spoke to me.
“Instead of them saying, ‘f**k you, you’ve lied’, they patted my back and said, ‘we’re going to be here for you.’
“They put together an EP while I was in prison, did all the videos, used body doubles. I wouldn’t be in the position I am today if it wasn’t for them.”
From crime to music
Kenzo, who keeps his identity private with a mask, draws from the Manchester rap scene’s signature sound: hard-hitting trap beats and his deep, booming voice telling tales of drugs, violence, fast money, and faster cars.
Son to a Pakistani mother and Barbadian father, Kenzo calls Moss Side home. Describing his upbringing as ‘tough’, he says his wrong turn in life was kickstarted by what he saw on his doorstep.
He said: “When you’re young and you’re from a rough estate you feel like you don’t have many options but to do what you see.
“What I seen is what I wanted to be. Social circles weren’t good, I divulged into a negative lifestyle from early.
“I feel like it made me the person I am. It made me realise where I want to be in life and who I don’t want to be in life.”
Describing his days as a criminal as being “awake from 7am to 1am,” he admitted that he partook in drug dealing and has a gun charge that landed him behind bars just as his rap career was taking off.
A new chapter
“I feel like I’ve come a long way mentally and physically,” he told the M.E.N. “The life I was living compared to now is two different lives.
“The first was negative, I didn’t really understand the effects of my actions and the people around me. Now I feel like I want to be as far from the person I used to be.
“I used to bring trouble to the house. I used to have a lot of illegal money where I used to think it would make my mother proud, but it never did.
“I feel like I’m living a healthier life, I don’t have to look over my shoulder anymore. The change from the illegal life, to the legal life is very hard.
“It’s mentally draining because it is a big change, but once you take those steps and you go through the hard times. You’ll always see the light and it’ll always be a better place from where you started.”
Today, his biggest song, Trap Flow, has been listened to over six million times on Spotify. His music videos have racked up millions of views and he’s gearing up for the release of his second album ‘Hood Exit’ on Friday August 21.
Giving back and the mask
To coincide with the album release, Kenzo plans on returning to his old pupil referral unit to offer free mentored studio sessions at NQ House, run by himself and a music engineer.
“I look at it like the end of a chapter of mind,” he said about the album. “My music is hard hitting, and this is me saying I’m branching out.
“I’m trying to expand my music base because I feel like I’m not the same person I was from the first song I release.”
He added: “I’ve rerecorded this tape like three different times. I sat down and thought, are my fans going to buy something that they’re not used to, or do they want the same product they’ve been coming for for the past two years?
“I rerecorded it and I had to pretend I was the same person I used to be and talk about situations I’ve been through that I don’t really want to bring up anymore.
“Hopefully my core fans will grow with me and maybe the fans that I had three years ago have grown as well. Maybe they want to hear something more grown.”
As for the mask: “The mask was to do with the lifestyle I was living and what I was rapping about,” he explained.
“Now I’m fully out of that life, maybe by the end of the year the mask could come off.”
