FSD: It’s interesting to hear about your hip-hop influence. What other artists would people be surprised you listen to?
Lil K:The early ones that really caught my interest were definitely the Hieroglyphics. “Cab Fare” is one of my favorite songs of all time. I was also really into Mos Def, Common, and Kweli. That was the era that enveloped me. I think that’s the primary part of hip-hop that really influenced me. Of course if I go out and I want to turn up, we can play whatever. [Laughs]
FSD: You’ve been embraced by the local hip-hop scene with open arms, what do you think it is about you that gravitates them towards your music?
Lili K: I don’t know [Laughs]. I think I’m really lucky to have been embraced by the local hip-hop scene. It’s like a baby Soul scene here, but the Hip Hop scene is most prevalent. Even when you look back into the singers that weren’t hip-hop, a lot singers were church and R&B singers. I think a lot of times what people like about me is that they hear my voice and they’re like, “Oh she sounds like a sample!”
There’s no denying that I have a Jazz voice. Also, I think it’s my energy when it comes to performing. A lot of singers will just kind of go up and just sing. That’s all good and well, but let me sing and let me get you excited. If you approach it that way, people are going to gravitate towards you.
FSD: How do you think you’ve grown with each project?
Lili K: A Prelude to Hello is a funny story how that was put together. It was June 1st of 2011, and I just woke up one morning and was like “I want to put out an EP on my birthday,” which is July 1st. So I called Peter and told him I wanted to do a four song neo-soul EP, and he was like “Ok cool!” I told him, “No you don’t understand I want to release it on my birthday!” He was like “Lili that’s a month from now;” I said “Yeah I know!” So I seriously just lived with him for that week, and we wrote four songs on it. The next week we started to go to Classic Studios, and Jeff Jackson recorded, mixed, and mastered it. This was before they had the bigger spot, so it was booked a lot. So in order to mix it and get it out on time, Jeff had to come to Peter’s house and sit in the middle of the floor to mix adequately. It was really cool.
So for Metal Petals, we definitely took our time with releasing that one. We had a lot of different writing sessions and a lot of different ideas. The production is way more complex on it. Peter put a lot more into it. I also wanted to talk about subject matter other than love. I wanted to incorporate some other stuff. We did a few songs like “Curtain Call,” which is about moral conflict dealing with struggles of life. I also went through an awful break up between Prelude and Metal Petals—so that was a huge influence.
FSD: What’s next for you?
LilI K: I’m definitely going to continue working with Peter. Peter is just one of my best friends. It’s really fun to make music with him. I love what we mix together, so for the next major project I’m going to continue to work with Peter. Instead of it being his production, we’re actually going to bring in our whole band. It’s going to be a live project—live drums, bass, keys and horns. There are going to be some features, but I’m not going to drop any names. [Laughs] I’m just really excited about it being a live project. It’s going to be in the same similar direction as the other projects. I think we are going to gain some new followers — hopefully.
TOS (TEAM ONE SOUL) VIEW ON YOUTUBE WE UP NEXT FTO TTM