Canberra hip hop artist Citizen Kay is embarking on a nationwide tour in support of his debut album, 'With The People'.
With his previous EP, 'Demokracy', finding success both at home and internationally, Citizen Kay has been crafting 'With The People' for the last eight months. “This is the first, full project I have that was intended to be a complete body of work, I really consciously worked on songs to know that they would fit in to other songs,” he says.
“The whole thing's sort of based around situations I've been through, being born in Ghana and growing up in Australia, it's sort of a 'here's my life to this point' kind of record.”
This album follows 'Demokracy,' which was recently nominated for an ARIA award for Best Urban Album. “I thought it was a mistake at first. We'd got a nomination for an AIR award for that album, so when I got called and told about the ARIA I thought they were saying the wrong name, for a whole day or two I was thinking it was an AIR nomination.
"I couldn't believe it man, especially when I found out who I was up against, the fact they'd even put my name with people like: Hiatus Kaiyote, The Meeting Tree, Tuka, Seth Sentry, was absolutely mind-blowing. I still don't think it's sunk in, I've just been on a massive high since they announced that.”
Citizen Kay's musical journey to this point didn't start with a love of hip hop. “I was actually obsessed with Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against The Machine growing up. I used to tell people I hated hip hop, but what I didn't realise was that the Chili Peppers and Rage are really hip hop influenced.
“I got caught up in the whole 'hip hop's just about money and hoes thing' and it wasn't until I really started looking into the depth behind the lyrics that I really started to appreciate it.”
'With The People' is available now.
Written by Brendan MacLean
Citizen Kay Tour Dates
Fri 30 Oct – ANU Bar (Canberra)Wed 11 Nov - Sosueme @ Beach Road Hotel (Sydney)
Fri 13 Nov - Black Bear Lodge (Brisbane)
Sat 14 Nov - Solbar (Sunshine Coast)
Thu 26 Nov - Goodgod Small Club (Sydney)
Sat 5 Dec - Jack Rabbit Slims (Perth)
