As one of Canada’s fastest growing cities Edmonton is also experiencing a boom in the music scene, especially in the world of hip hop. King Kontoh and K-Blitz are among the growing number of hip hop innovators and visionaries we have in our city.
King Kontoh
King kontoh is only 22 years old and already boasts his own music label called “Inspired Minds.” He recently realeased a new album “Set Me Free”, a concept album about self discovery and setting yourself free from self constraints. “Set Me Free” showcases a softer more vulnerable side to King Kontoh then we are used to seeing.
“If I’m inspired doing something that I love and you witness me doing that. In turn I inspire you to do something you are passionate about and therefore inspired Minds inspires Minds,” said Kontoh, explaining how he came up with the name for his label.
King Kontoh puts on hip-hop shows and events to help grow his and other Edmonton rappers exposure.
K-Blitz
K-Blitz is a veteran of the Edmonton hip hop scene, having been part of it for over 20 years. Starting his career at only 13 he has put on countless shows at a wide variety of venues around the city helping to grow the scene and the fan base. His latest EP will be dropping in a couple of months and taps into his emotion and some of the most vulnerable points of his life allowing us to see a part of him he hasn’t displayed before.
Today K-Blitz isn’t just focused on his career, but is also looking to help grow the Edmonton scene and provide guidance that wasn’t available to him for the artists that he has inspired. “I never had the opportunities back then when I started out so I wanted to give younger artists the opportunity that I never had.”
When asked about Edmonton’s sound both artists compared us to a melting pot. As the city grows the sound and styles within our city develop creating a unique sound for Edmonton. They both also explained that because of the internet we have a new artist coming up everyday producing content.
“Don’t judge your success by someone else. Be yourself one hundred per-cent of the time whoever that may be,” said K-Blitz as advice to upcoming artists.
While King Kontoh said “Work! Work! Work! Don’t ever stop working. Write a song and then another one. If that one sucks write another one. Keep working believe in yourself and make all the right moves.”
With these two talented artists leading the way both in their music and guidance it is no wonder that the Edmonton hip hop scene has grown, and will continue to grow at such a rapid rate.
