Ep. 19 | Kayanne Peppa : Unapologetic Identity, Anime & Defining Your Own Path

From growing up in Northeast Philadelphia and Jersey to becoming a standout creative, model, and performer in the Philly scene, Kayanne Peppa (Kayanne) joins The Kenlo Show for an in-depth conversation. In this episode, Kayanne breaks down her creative origins—ranging from anime, YouTube makeup culture, and cosplay to making music in her brother's bedroom studio. She speaks openly about navigating grief, maintaining boundary-setting discipline in her music, stepping out into live performances, and staying true to herself without limitations.

0:00 Intro, meet Cayenne Pepper
0:35 Growing up: Northeast Philly to Voorhees, NJ
3:36 Parents' divorce and being a daddy's girl
6:56 Getting into cosplay after the divorce
8:16 First convention (Otakon), Hatsune Miku and Vocaloid explained
12:00 In the studio: her process, no autotune
14:00 Family and faith, growing up around Islam
15:39 Birth of Cayenne Pepper: SoundCloud to the stage, May 2022
18:03 Being one of the only girls rapping, dealing with haters
27:42 Anime power-leveling game (Sailor Moon, Goku, and more)
34:16 Her best friends Trinity and Ashley
39:29 Cayenne Pepper the brand: hair, styling, cross-promotion
41:01 SXSW prep and the LayMore Equinox dress
46:50 SXSW recap and Carefree Black Girl Cookout
49:26 Grief: losing four family members in one year
53:36 Losing her Nana
55:18 Grief, guidance counselors, and bouncing back
57:37 Rapid fire round begins
1:03:26 What's next: new music and advice for creatives
1:05:49 Go-go dancing, cosplay, being multifaceted
1:07:10 Closing, where to follow her
1:08:12 Bonus segment
1:11:38 Guest testimonial on working with The Kenlo Show

Follow The Kenlo Show on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thekenloshow/

Follow Kayanne Peppa on IG:
https://www.instagram.com/kayanne.peppa?igsh=MTdtcndwc243cTl2eg==

Follow Black Clover Studios on IG: https://www.instagram.com/blackcloverstudios.inc

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Hey everybody, it's your girl Ken Low back at it again. Welcome back to the People's Platform for the Creative Community. And tonight I have my girl Kyan Pepper with the lemon steppers. So we're gonna check in with you tonight because you deserve. How you feeling tonight?

SPEAKER_04 0:22

I feel great. I've been nonstop this week just doing everything, everything, everything. That's good.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

So who are you tonight?

SPEAKER_04 0:29

Tonight tonight, yes. Kanye, motherfucking Peppa, the hottest fucking Peppa. Y'all have never ever met her.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

The hottest.

SPEAKER_04 0:35

Period. I like this. I like this. So corn corn.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

So we're gonna get right into it, right? So tell us about your upbringing. Where you from? How was it becoming who you are today?

SPEAKER_04 0:47

Okay, well, I'm originally from Northeast Philadelphia. Um, after a while, I think around the time that turned like seven, I became a New Jersey transplant. Transplant implant. New Jersey implant. Transplant like a BBL. But I became a um Jersey implant because I went and I my parents decided to move us because they didn't like the school system out here. So they're like, all right, we want our children to get the best of the best. Therefore they moved us to, I started out in Lawnside, New Jersey. And I was out there until for a couple years, and then we moved to Voorhees, New Jersey, and that's where I really started to like experience like school and like my creativity for what it is. I've always been, I've always had like a rock star vibe to me. I always loved the rock music, always loved the anime, the sonic. I was like drawing. I used to make my little OCs and stuff like that. But um, once I had moved to Voorhees, I started picking up stuff like musical theater. I started picking up um what else was I doing? I played violin for a couple years, and then I stopped in like middle school, and then once I got to high school, I kind of was experimenting more with makeup and like style and just kind of like growing into myself. I didn't fully grow into myself until after I graduated. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Yeah, it does.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

So I've always been around like very creative people. My dad, he's an artist, like he makes comic book, um, comic book drawings, he does logos for people, graffiti, he does it all. Yeah, that's not like my dad. Shout out to you, George.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Your dad does that? Yeah, so he told me how to draw a little graffiti, but everybody don't know I know how I draw, but I'll be drawing. But anyway, but you know, but back to you, back to you, Sunshine. So boom, so you did.

SPEAKER_04 2:33

So he does kind of make it the art, the comic book, the anime, like he's into that. I got into anime because of my dad. That's what introduced like that whole realm of like anime and Japanese culture because him, um, my uncles, like my cousins, they were into it. So me and my brother and my sister growing up in it, we just got sucked right into it.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

They used to like in it, like.

SPEAKER_04 2:56

Lokino used to bootleg the CDs back in the day. I used to have like, I remember having like watching like Soul Eater on bootleg. I was watching Boondocks on Bootleg, like everyone.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Oh, period.

SPEAKER_04 3:05

Because I love the boondogs.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:08

That's now that's the they be saying boondocks is not an anime, it's an anime.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

It's definitely an anime. It's an anime, especially like how with the intro and everything, how they got like the kung fu and all that. Y'all not hip. Y'all not hip. People don't know the boondocks used to be in a Sunday paper every like all the time.

SPEAKER_04 3:23

Yeah, it's um comic, like old comic. Yeah. See you seeing that.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Am I old? No. No? I'm not okay. Cool 24, and I remember that. Dang, I'm 30. That's that's not old. That's not okay. You're young. Still a baby. I still got eight. Okay, cool. Now, tell us how it was living with your mom and your dad. Like, how was that upbringing?

SPEAKER_04 3:41

So, living with my mom and my dad, I would say it's very, like, very regular. I feel like anything that I wanted to do or anything that I wanted to share with them or tell them, like, they was here for 100%. Even like after like after they divorced, like, if I said, Hey, I wanted to start cosplaying, or hey, I want to really learn how to do my makeup and do makeup for other people, like they would go right on Amazon. They're like, Well, let me know what you need. Don't get on Amazon. Very supportive, yeah, super supportive. Anything I want to do, they would let me do it. If they had something that they wanted me to do, like, hey, get your ass in track. Like, you know, like you got long legs, like, okay, cool. We would do a compromise, I was in track, or I was doing in chair, like anything that I did, they always like were there a hundred percent. So, like, together as a team, it was great. So, once they um divorced, I was in elevation.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Yeah, like how was that for you?

SPEAKER_04 4:36

I was in fifth grade, it was hard, it was hard, and I was like, growing up, I was a huge daddy's girl, so I'm like, I wanna live with daddy. Like, my mom's like, Well, who do you want to live with? I'm like, daddy, and I'm she's probably girl, but you know, this is the RCP, she's like girl, but yeah, so I wanted to. I remember like wanting to live with him because I felt like my dad was fun. Not that my mom is not fun, but my mom's always like she's really like reserved, very serious. Like, people really gotta get to know her for her to like crack and be her true self. Cause I feel like we're the same. Like, she likes to key a little bit, like she's really messy. She wasn't cute. Yeah, like we like to be a little messy, it's so fun. But um, growing up, that's what I I always seen her as just very like calm and reserved. Um, we had we always spent like really good time together. She always took me on little mommy-daughter dates. Like, we had a time, but like with my dad, like I don't know, something about being a daddy's girl, it's like something I cannot explain. I can't explain it. But the daddies girls know. I get it. I get it.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

Like my parents, they got divorced. I was like five, it was hard, but like, and I never really I would bake and four with my mom and dad. I didn't really care. I'm just like, listen, you get on my nerves, I'm gonna go to my dad's house with dad, you get on my nerves and go to my mom's house. Like, love y'all deal though. But I get who I am in this goofy side because of both of them.

SPEAKER_04 5:50

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Yeah, so they both messy. Love y'all deal though. Yeah, literally, like too.

SPEAKER_04 5:54

Like everybody's funny, like everybody has their own sense of humor. Yeah, but when it comes together, it's like you ever seen that? Um, I'm like a big meme person. I'm always gonna reference something, but Spongebob is top of my reference. Oh, yes. With Spongebob, it was a bunch of Spongebobs in his brain, and they're like, Like, that's how my family is why everybody's together.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Now for me, see, I'm the oldest, so I'm always the secretary, so I always gotta get people when they please. Like, alright, y'all, like, we still family, we gotta get right. Yeah, like, yeah, so I gotta be like, nope, you're wrong. Y'all should talk that out. And then when they try to bring me in it, then I gotta be like, You got a lot of weight on your shoulder. Woo! Yeah. Now with my dad, he was like the one we listen to music together, we look at the magazines, the source magazines. Then with my mom be looking at the Essence magazines, or be watching a movie or something like this. Yeah, so I definitely relate. But love you, Dale George, you're my guy. But um, what else? What else? I think I'm having too much fun with this interview though. But uh, tell us how it was. So after they divorced and everything, did you lose your spark or did you just keep it going?

SPEAKER_04 7:02

I was a little kid. I like cried about it for like weeks on end, and then after that, it's like I'm back to like on the playground and rolling around and I don't know, just dancing, just doing whatever. But I feel like it didn't really, it didn't really affect my creativeness. Oh, cool. Like I still was like, I still was Kaya, but it just was the fact that my parents are no longer together. Yeah, it's just like thinking about that, it just was kind of like it was hard for a little bit, but after that, like after I got over there, like I was chilling, I was fine. That's cool. Okay. So when middle school came by, middle school was when I started wanting to cosplay. Because my sister, she's um, she's the middle child, I'm the youngest.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 7:43

So my sister, she lived with her mom, and she has like we have similar interests, but like because she lives so far away, well, not far, but in Baltimore.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

But down the road.

SPEAKER_04 7:53

But because she she kind of like lived a separate life than me and my brother did, it's like she was always putting me on to like little new, like, new stuff that she was like, oh, I'm gonna start going to conventions or I just bought I just bought cosplay. Yeah, I'm gonna start doing this, this, and that. And I'm like, yo, that's kind of cool. Like, she would just do stuff, and then she would send us pictures, like, I just went to my first anime today.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

I loved it. Yeah, it's so amazing. So would you say she inspired you to get into it, or that was just something you picked up over time?

SPEAKER_04 8:22

Cosplay, I would say she inspired me to take that first step into like wanting to make a costume, wanting to order the stuff to get it. I would say I first got into the idea of wanting to cosplay through YouTube. I'm a big YouTube kid, so I've been on YouTube since I was like six.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

You said 24, so I'm thinking like, yeah, because YouTube, all right, don't get it.

SPEAKER_04 8:46

When did YouTube come out? That's what I'm about to say. It came out when I was in the single digits.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Okay, I was like 10, probably. I really wish I didn't like 05.

SPEAKER_04 8:56

So YouTube came out 05. I was four years old, so yeah, six. I've been on YouTube on a computer since I was six years old. So I used to um always see like people do like little makeup tutorials, but back then, back in like the early 2000s, it wasn't as like elaborate as it is now. It wasn't as like super duper colorful. Like my makeup now was not that when I was first watching YouTube. So as I got older around like middle school, and I told my mom, hey, like I want to cosplay, I want to go to the conventions with my sister, and she's like, Absolutely, sure. Sure, let's do it. So I started looking up um tutorials, like how to do like anime faces and stuff like that. Like they have like different techniques that they use on their eyes. I think it's so cool. So I started looking up like little like how to become a Barbie girl, how to do rat's makeup, and that I kind of took off with that. Because I would see people do, they would do their makeup first, and then they would show the whole costume. And I used to be like, whoa, y'all had everything together. This wasn't just a tutorial, like this was low-key, like this was a show, yeah. Yeah. So it was like, it was really YouTube that really I was inspired by the girls I was seeing on YouTube, and then my sister actually doing it. I said, Whoa, pause. I wanna do that too. That's decent. So after that, so after I started, I went to my first convention and when I was 11, it was called Otacan.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Otacon.

SPEAKER_04 10:25

And I wanted to be this character Miku, and that's my girl. Like, she got this long blue hair, she's a vocaloid, so she's like a vocal synthesizer. So this ties into music.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 10:36

Um, Vocaloid is a software that producers will use, and it's vocal synthesizers that connect to your drum pad, your mini keyboard. You can type in like the pronunciation because it originated in Japan. So you can type in like the Japanese letters or the pronunciation of songs, and they can sing it back to you in like a robotic voice. That's crazy, yeah. So I was very obsessed with her because I found her playing dress up games. Like, I was playing dress-up games, and I was like, yo, what is this character? And then she popped up on YouTube on my recommended one day, and I was like, let me just click it, and then got into like this whole whirlwind of vocaloid music, and I was like, Japanese music is hard. Like, they're really sitting here like on the piano, like really pretty much. And it's like real human voices that they're using, but because you're typing it all in, that's why it sounds robotic. Okay, okay, so all the care they have all characters and all the voice banks, they have their own like voice actors in Japan. Yeah. So it was out in Japan for a while, and then it got so popular that they brought it to the US, and then we started getting more producers out here, and people were making their own characters that became like mainstream and stuff like that. So that is something I've always been dope.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

I never heard it. Okay, that's decent, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:52

Yeah, I have yet to like get away.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

I'm about to ask you if you ever did that. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:56

Oh, I'm about to be making her right here like Atlas.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

Like it's decent. Okay, so alright, so do you use anything else? Like any, like, you don't use no auto-tune. I know that you do you, you do your big thing.

SPEAKER_04 12:06

Yeah, I don't really like auto-tune like that. Like, I probably have like one song where I have auto-tune, but anytime I'm in the studio, I'll be in the booth and I'll hear myself. I'm like, Can you take the auto-tune off? Never like pitch correction. I'm gonna correct my pitch for. Yeah. Okay, so if I'm not a big auto-tune person, maybe if I do a little melody.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

Yeah, see, I like it on other people, but if you auto tune my shit, I'm gonna have a problem. Uh-uh. No, thank you. Not that I'm a singer though, y'all.

SPEAKER_04 12:33

Y'all know I just want your natural voice though.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

Yeah, that's the thing. So when people okay, so how is it in the studio when somebody corrects you? Like, do you get like Arthur or do you just be like, all right, yo, you gotta, like that's gonna be the meme, the meme of the interview, Arthur.

SPEAKER_04 12:47

Like, um, it's not it's not really a time where somebody in the studio would correct me. I would say, like, past times in the studio, I used to be in a music group, so past times in the studio, like we would all be, sometimes we'll all go to the same studio um session, and sometimes we'll be like, oh, uh, maybe you should add this. Like, that's how we were. Everybody was like, oh, you should add this or you should add that, or you should let me say this in the background. Like, it was stuff like that. I don't ever feel like in the studio I'm ever being corrected. Period. I don't ever feel corrected in the studio because even for the engineer, like, if you think what you're suggesting is hot, then this shit has to be hot because you're the one. Right, exactly. Like you're Rwanda's same line, like can't threaten me because I'm can't threaten me because I'd like you've been hearing this for three hours. Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

So it must be good, right? It must be good.

SPEAKER_04 13:38

I have no choice but to take your suggesti your suggestion into consideration and see how it works. We'll see. We'll play with it. Like, I got time.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

Period.

SPEAKER_04 13:46

I done paid for a couple hours. So let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Now you got your parents' support, you got your family support, period. Love that, love that. Now your grandparents, with them being Muslim, and like I'm not gonna say they had you divert to Islam, but what made you make that choice to go into Islam? Like, what about your feet? How do you balance that out?

SPEAKER_04 14:06

I didn't have a choice. Like, we were born in the world. Oh, oh, okay. So how so you grew up like garbed up and everything? No? No, because my parents, they're not super religious. So like my mom, like, if I can remember, my mom, she was raised, like, she was raised Muslim. And then my dad's side, he was Catholic. So he went to like Catholic school. So how did they like bombers that out? They just love each other. They weren't so yeah, they weren't super um, they weren't super religious. Yeah. No, I understand. At all. So when we were born, like, of course, we followed like some of the traditions of Islam, but we weren't my parents were never like, you have to do this. Yeah, this is something that you have to do. We know for with my Yeah, it means grandma, we went to Juma. We may go to Sunday school, she decides to go to the masjid and like help out. She was very involved in her masjid. And the masjid that we used to go to, or the masjid we still kind of go to, it's like our family. Like, anytime we go to the masjid, this is where we go. It's masjid Free Haven in Longside, New Jersey. And it's just the mask is so peaceful. Like, even though I'm not super deep into the traditions as I was when they were raising me, like, I still go back and visit. It's so many um brothers and sisters there that are like, I remember when you were like this little. Like, I've been going there since I was tiny. Okay. So with them, um usually when I'm with them, I'm more so very I'm I pay respect to what they have going on. I pay respect to their religion, their traditions. Like I follow it when I'm with them, it's a respect thing.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Period.

SPEAKER_04 15:44

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Now we're about to get to the nitty-gritty and talk about the music. Boom. Okay. Boom. But so seeing you out in public with your bunny ears doing the stuff, I was like, okay, I don't know what this girl do, but I know she's somebody. I said, because she walk around like just like vibrant. So like when did you step into like, you know what? Boom, this good, this me, this Kaine Pepper, and we gonna do this. Like, when did you know?

SPEAKER_04 16:10

Goodness. Um when did I know I was really Kayan Pepper? I would have to say 20 May 2022.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

May 2022.

SPEAKER_04 16:22

Kayan Pepper was originally born when I was in high school, I would say like 2017, because I used to do poetry. I used to um do a lot of songs on like play around and do a lot of songs on SoundCloud. My brother, he um he's a producer and a rapper. But when I was in high school, I remember he used to get he got a job, he started getting all these packages to the door. My mom's like, what are all these packages? What are you or what's going on? It was all studio equipment. Okay. So he would turn his room into a um music studio.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

So his beard room was the studio. Yeah. Oh, your brother fire. That's fire. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 16:56

So my brother's name is Keenan. So Keenan would um Gen the guy! Yeah, so Keenan would um, he would always be like rapping or remixing something, mixing something, and we shared a wall. So I would hear everything, but instead of like asking him what he's doing, like, you know, people like, oh, you dick in, like, you're doing too much. Like, I didn't want to be the end person. Like, so I just like would mind my business, but I'm like, you know, I want to try something too. I was an iPad kid, had my iPad was right on Garage Band, but I would make the worst beats that I can do. That's all we started. Yeah, that's all we started. Had my friends come over, we would like free try to freestyle over them, and we just posted the SoundCloud just cause just because of free will. Like, yeah, I think SoundCloud was a good thing. They're still on SoundCloud, they're really bad. I love it though, because I get to um go back and see what I was doing before I really decided to take this serious. So in high school, I kind of was playing around with it. Then I started I think around my senior year, I started actually like rapping and posting that on SoundCloud.

SPEAKER_06 17:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 17:54

And in high school, it was a lot of like, it was a lot of my senior year, or no, my junior year, my junior year is when I started. So my junior year was a lot of rappers, like now everybody's a rapper, but they were all niggas. I was like, yo, it's no girls in this school that rap, so I'm just gonna do it because of free will. So once I started posting like the more serious ones, they're like, yo, this is hard, this is hard. But it was just like I was just playing around. So fast forward to May 2022, I decided to take it serious because I had a friend at the time that was um throwing lots of events, and I remember we had through like a Met Gala for my 21st birthday, and it was so good.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

City, I should have known with the outfit right here. Yeah, that's definitely you.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

Like a moment to be extra, you can't pass it up. What you're saying? Taurus. Like, it's something about our early time. It's just like we're mellows, we're melted, but we're unheads. Like we're gonna be very gonna hinge. Do I feel because who's gonna stop us?

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Ain't nobody gonna stop a tourist. I try, but you know, stubborn.

SPEAKER_04 19:09

You need to be stubborn. We be doing what we want.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

But see, what I'm talking about a tourist though, it's like y'all really let nobody stop y'all. That's one thing I love about y'all. Like, y'all get up, get your money, make money in your sleep. Y'all gonna take a net. Love that. Oh, I be sleep all the time. Yeah, y'all gonna take a net, then y'all get up and y'all get to it. So shout out to tourist season, boom. No, shout out to the fact that you know we got a tourist here, boom, tourist season. My birthday than two weeks. You a main tourist. Yeah, my favorite cousin is a main tourist. Shout out to you, Jas. Love you, Danny. What's her birthday?

SPEAKER_04 19:40

May 9th, May 14th.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

That's my girl. Now tell us about the Met Gala birthday. How was that? Like, what made you come up with the idea?

SPEAKER_04 19:50

I just it was my 21st birthday. I should be very elaborate. Like growing up, I always was super extra, and that's something that me and my mom share because my mom's bougie. Like, she's so bougie. Two is mom. And then I'm just a little bougie girl right under her.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

And you said she had a career at Temple, right?

SPEAKER_04 20:06

Yeah, she's at that temple.

SPEAKER_02 20:08

It's it's something about that temple. It turns out my sort of bougie girls. I like that.

SPEAKER_04 20:12

Yeah, I like that. But I think she's always been like that, even though, like, even if she didn't have like everything in the world, like she just always carried herself well from stories that I've heard from like my grandparents, and like they always say, Oh, yeah, Sakina, she just always she always had it together. Sakina. I don't know what Sakina.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

I do know what Sakina. Oh god, period. Okay, shout out to mom and dad. Okay, and Kyle. They're your brothers. I love how you know he got the studio and things like this. So he's the one that pushed you to take music serious. So, what was that conversation like? He probably was like, listen, Kyle. I had no conversation, nothing. He just was like, you gotta do it.

SPEAKER_04 20:47

It was no conversation actually about me pursuing pursuing music at all. Like, I literally was just like, this music stuff I really was keeping a secret. Really? I was it's not that I was embarrassed or I was nervous. It just was something, it was just kind of like a baby. I needed to just yeah, you felt it was sacred for yourself.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 21:07

So with that, like I didn't talk to, I didn't really talk to anybody about it except for my best friend Trinity and like the other friends that I was around that like really pushed me. Like, if you're gonna do it, like do it. You know you can do it. Right. We're supporting you, like we here. So yeah, with him, it really was no conversation. I think once I started performing and doing shows, that's when my brother was kind of like random. Right. Because he knew, like, he knew I was into music. I really like music, and I was like, that was like a big interest of mine. But seeing me perform and like he's like in the shadows, like he's like so he better be like he's like a ghost, he's like a ghost producer, ghost. Like all of his stuff, it's like he posts stuff on SoundCloud, and you know, SoundCloud is like you really gotta find it. Yeah, no, for real. Like you gotta go through like trials and tribute.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Well, I don't know his shit crazy. Cause you when you find that one person on SandCloud, like you wish they was like more mainstream. Like we need that, we need more update.

SPEAKER_04 22:09

And they be getting there though. No, they do. They do. But they be getting there.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

And have y'all ever worked on anything together? Like a project? No. Y'all got to.

SPEAKER_04 22:17

So recently we had this conversation with two of his best friends. Cause I'm like, well, what? Like, when are y'all gonna? They always say that. Well, when are y'all gonna collab? Like, once the collab with me and him, like, our styles are very different. So he feels like I need to start learning to record a certain way. He wants me to record how he records. Like, he does like, he'll be saying the same line three times. He'll be like, and like he'll just keep like letting it go. But for me, I'm like a just go head, get it all out, and then I'll go back and edit whatever. So he's like, it's a lot of stuff that you know Kayan needs to learn, or a lot of things that I want her to learn before we really like do a little fusion.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:04

So with that, it's like okay, cool. Like, cause he does stuff that I like, I do stuff that he likes as far as um as far as music. So I mean, it's coming soon, just not right now. But he does like that he always compliments me on how I'm able to just anything that I do or pick up on, I could just go and just do it. Like anything I want to do, I just do it. If God allows me to do it, I'm gonna do it. So, like, even with this music stuff, like all my other side hustles that I got going on, it's because God let me do it.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

Right, yeah, you good at it. So you ain't about to say you're good at it.

SPEAKER_04 23:37

And if I'm not good at it, I'm gonna teach myself how I can become good at it. Or I'm gonna look up other people doing it and see, okay, well, they did it this way, and then this other person did it this way, but like what way is gonna work for me? What if I just take his way and her way and put it together, and now it's fine. Right, hello now.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

I'm gonna get into the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Philly scene. So I can talk all day. So being who you are, yes, being you know, out there, because you know, Philly, y'all be acting like y'all not, y'all not, you know. That rah. But we all that rah, right? We dogs. So it's like when you come out on stage, do your shit because I seen you at Black Soul Summer. You was doing, you got right on that stage, did your thing. That was so fun. It looks fun. We was at the front. Me and my friend was at the front. We was like, oh she fire.

SPEAKER_04 24:25

Stop because you may have been in front of.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

I was like, we need that.

SPEAKER_04 24:28

Trinity had the snake on her arm in the front, too.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

I might have seen, I might have seen Trinity. Because I remember I was like, oh, Kayan Pepper about to go on stage. I was like, let me stay here. And when you got on, like you stole the show. Like we was in there, we was hype and shit. I'll never forget that drawing. Shout out to Kaine and Black Soul Summer. How do you deal with the pushback that you may get on the Philly scene, especially being different? Or weird, so they say.

SPEAKER_04 24:54

It's always the weird. It's always the weird in the alt. Okay. In the alt. Right. Damn. It could just be me. That's it, yeah. That's it. It's a black woman. Like the makeup, doing the stuff. We can do whatever we want to do. Like, black women are superheroes. Like, I feel like a superhero right now. Like, you are. Oh, wait. Like, yeah, so I'll get it.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

You can you can talk about it.

SPEAKER_04 25:20

Yeah, but let's really talk about it. Because I have a lot of things to say. So I feel like when I started, when I started to really lean into Kaya Peppa, like when I my first performance, it was niggas really telling me like hands was on my shoulders.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

As you should.

SPEAKER_04 25:36

It is like niggas telling me, like, yo, you're fire. Don't stop. Just keep doing it. Whatever you do, don't talk about sex and don't talk about your cat.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

Pussy. Pussy.

SPEAKER_04 25:49

Don't talk about sex, don't talk about your pussy. And ever since then, that has stuck with me. So all of my songs, they're not sexual because of that. Like, just somebody looking at me that has never met me before, telling me that, and be like, keep going. I just was like, I gotta do it. I gotta keep that little promise. I didn't make a promise, but I I feel like that was a promise to myself. It stuck with you. God put it in your chest. Like, alright, you went to I do like listen to the roster songs though. Like I love when other people do that. Like when other people are very raunchy and sexual, I'm like, hell yeah. Yeah, like do that, mama. Uh-huh. That's what's up. Um, as far as like coming up, like when I started, like, for me, it was something new that I still had lots to learn. I've always been a performer. I've always loved being on stage. So that was no different. But like just going about it and being around like the music scene. It was some people that have been in the music scene. It was some niggas that low key were hating. Like, oh yeah. They were like, oh, she's a model. She's really a poser. Like, she's not gonna be in this shit for real. This, this, and that, X, Y, Z. They was hating like real man. So when I don't even know, I was like, I actually had to like hit them up. Like, damn them, like, yo, I'm hearing this, this, and this. Like, you really think this shit a game? I'm gonna show you what's not. Yeah, you think this shit's a fucking game. Alright, cool. Like, I used to, like, I used to be real heated when people was like, uh, maybe with tourists, rah, came out. Yeah, like what's you don't get to tell me what's for real. Right, this real. This is real. So with that, it was like, of course, it was a lot of um, it was a lot of people saying shit, but it wasn't even the girls, it was the like it was the guy.

SPEAKER_02 27:25

He is always the guy.

SPEAKER_04 27:26

It was the guy saying shit. And it was like, all right, cool, because then you're gonna be salty. A couple years later, you're gonna be salty. A couple years later, it's like this is why I don't have to do too much talking when it comes to that.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

Like, so speaking of tussling with niggas, I got a game for you. Boom. Okay, cool. It's cool. Greatest anime fighter. So it's gonna be 16 legendary fighters, one champion. Hmm. Okay. Let's get into it. Akami, that's how you pronounce it. Akame. Akame, Sakura, Sakura. Oh, Sakura. Oh, has the district found me?

SPEAKER_04 28:02

Haruno? Haruno.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

Okay, boom.

SPEAKER_04 28:05

Or they're like, Haruno. Um, which one? Let's see. I haven't gotten into Killer Kill heavily, but I kind of want to say I wanna say Akame because I don't know, like the episodes that I've seen, like, she really be slicing and dicing. Like, I don't know, she goes hard. Like, any chance to not pick Sakura, I'm not, I'm not picking Sakura for nothing. Oh my gosh. Princess Mononoka. Okay, okay, so Asana, she's from Swordar Online. Okay. And then San is from Princess Mononoka. It's a movie by Studio Ghibli. I would say I would say sign. I would say sign low-key because she has an animal counterpart. And that always wins.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

I loved it. I love it.

unknown 28:56

Boom.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Who else we got? Who else we got, Joel?

SPEAKER_04 29:00

Ooh. Man. No, not my girl. I'm going with Usagi. I'm going with Sailor Moon. Yeah, come on. Yeah, come on. Like. Right, come on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

We we were sailor, right? Boom. We're with Sailor.

SPEAKER_04 29:13

And I actually like this game because I like to talk. You ever heard of Power Leveling? Power Leveling is where people take like characters and they basically do what we're doing right now. They'll be like, okay, um, there'll be like Uncle Grandpa versus um Ash Ketchum. Like it'll be like regular cartoons versus anime characters. Like this feels like power level right now.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

I think I know who your is. Okay, come on.

SPEAKER_04 29:37

Where's your from? I don't know. I'm gonna be thinking somebody else. Huh. I'm gonna pick up the because I'm a girl's girl. Maki's and Mitsu. I'm just gonna go with Missumi because I like her hair all. She's so cute, right? I'm about to say I love her. My best friend loves her. I'm just gonna sign with her. Makima and Nami. Dang. Nami looks a little crazy. I'ma go with I'ma go with Makima. No. This is different now. They're picking all the all the ones that I pick. Now they gotta go against each other. Um I'm gonna just pick song.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

Huh? Okay.

SPEAKER_04 30:34

I just love her. I'm going with Masagi.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

I'ma always pick seller.

SPEAKER_04 30:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

In the name of the moon, period.

SPEAKER_04 30:44

I'm gonna go with Makima.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

Okay. She give me like silent killer. Yeah. She give me silent killer, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:50

Like she's not okay in a head.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

Very professional, but yeah, I could go.

SPEAKER_04 30:54

She's not okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

I love it.

SPEAKER_04 30:57

Yeah, I'm gonna go with Makima. Come on. I'm gonna go with my Sailor of the movie. We go to Sailor. Yeah, I'm gonna say because what do I look like not picking her? You know, they be saying in a power level, and they be putting Sailor Moon versus Goku. Like, why would they do that? Come on. First of all, Sailor Moon would eat Goku uh. Yeah, it's gonna Sailor Moon's the winner. I love her deal. Oh, now we got who is this? Say Valentine. I'm gonna go with Say Valentine. I'm gonna go with ready. I love that figure. Actually. Oh, I love the figure.

SPEAKER_02 32:10

Not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_04 32:11

I'm gonna go with Yamu Michi.

SPEAKER_02 32:13

Okay, yeah. I thought you were gonna go with her. Yeah, it's giving it. It's giving it. My black queen.

SPEAKER_03 32:18

Okay, power. Jason, me, whoa.

SPEAKER_04 32:21

Yeah. Honestly. No, I'm gonna have to go with power. Oh, power, okay. She's she's cunty. I love the long hair. Very cut? Okay. Yeah. Because uh, Nezuko. Alright. Um actually, guys, I don't know who I'm gonna pick. Um, I don't know. Cause they both, I feel like they both equally put in work.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

Yeah, that's what it's given. Like they both really uh settle the settle settle it. You know what I'm saying? Like, listen, we could do it for real.

SPEAKER_04 32:51

I think I feel like this. I think I wanna do it in Netsuka. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. She's been putting it.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

It look like she's staying on business.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

Yeah. My brother, he loves Demon Slayer. Like, everybody up Sailor Jupiter. Yeah, we go with Sailor Jupiter.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

Sailor Jupiter, like my girl Faye, is giving the girl.

SPEAKER_04 33:12

We're gonna do Faye. Yeah, I'll be hating on a little Bob. I'm gonna do Yaru Richi every time.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

Come on, Sailor!

SPEAKER_04 33:22

Sailor Jupiter. Yeah, gotta give it to her. Like, cause anybody a part of their anime anime overpowers so many people. Like, y'all control the universe. Okay, I'm gonna go with Yaruichi because what I just said.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

Black woman every time.

SPEAKER_04 33:38

Yoruchi.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

Love you, don't know teller.

SPEAKER_04 33:40

I do, but love a black woman.

SPEAKER_02 33:44

Oh please. Let's just choose our queen. Let's just choose our black queen. It's okay.

SPEAKER_04 33:54

That actually makes me sweat a little bit. I actually never want to see this. I'm so nervous. I was. This is the last time I played this game. Sailor. Okay, I'm gonna have to pick Yadorichi, but I really love me some Sailor Moon. But when a black queen is on the line, I have to pick her.

SPEAKER_02 34:08

Yeah, I'll pick her every time.

SPEAKER_04 34:11

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

Boom!

SPEAKER_04 34:13

We done that made me so nervous.

SPEAKER_02 34:16

That was okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:18

We're gonna pick back up, y'all.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Boom! Okay, so I spoke to the best friend. Ashley. Right? Ashley? Yeah. In Trinity? Boom. So tell us about the friend group. How did y'all meet? And how did y'all come together as one?

SPEAKER_04 34:34

Okay. So I'm gonna start with Trinity. We had the longest friendship. Like, me and Trinity, we became friends when actually when I first moved to Lawnside, we had become friends later in that year. It was second grade. I met her because I kept fighting one guy, kept getting a fight with one girl in my class. So like after a while, like they were like, we gotta do something. Like, she can't, we gotta switch her class. Because it was two second grade classes. They were like, we can't keep her in this class. She kept like doing something.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

Oh, you was getting down in second grade, period.

SPEAKER_04 35:02

It just was I only mess with people that mess with me. Like I I defended, I just was defending myself. And you should. Yeah. Like, I was no punk. So they had switched me to um Trinity's class, and every day we used to walk to school. And I remember one time, I think my brother was sick, so I had to walk to school by myself in second grade. And in Jersey, like it's kind of scary because it's like you're so little and you're walking yourself to school. What maybe 15-20 minutes? Really? Yeah, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

I would say 15 minutes. Am I underestimating the blocks in Jersey? Because it's long blocks, right? It's like a lot of open space. Jersey is big. Yeah, okay. Yeah, because people have all them lawns and driveways and everything.

SPEAKER_04 35:42

Yeah, the roads are very long. So my little second grade self is walking down the street. Her mom, her, her mom pull up, but I didn't see her at first. So her mom just yells out the car, Miss Toy, and she goes, You need a ride. I'm like, I look and I'm like, no. Straight in the danger. What the hell? So I keep, she rolls up the window, she keeps driving. I keep walking. She goes, Girl, get in this car. And the tree was like, Hi Kaya. I was like, oh my god, I know her. So I got in the car. And ever since then, like we've been really cool because her family used to always give us rides to um school. So like anytime you need a ride, just come down the street. Like they always, her family always looked out for me and my brother. Yeah. So we've been best friends since second grade. And then I moved in, I moved in the middle of fourth grade. So that's where that disconnect between us was. Oh. Because she didn't have a phone. I didn't have a phone. I didn't know her address. I didn't even know my new address. So, well, actually, no, I did know her address because I tried mailing her. Because I was like, I don't know where she is, but I know her address. My Ayeo was like, well, just mail her a letter. Because she mails all the time. She still mails me letters. Yeah, she's really cute. So um I wrote a letter and I mailed it to Trinity, and I didn't put a return address on it. So she had this letter. She had no way to like return like a letter or say hi or whatever. So I ended up just stopping by her stopping by her house like a couple days. I think when it reached middle school, I think we was in Longside. Okay. And my mom was like, Oh, we're about to pass Trey's house. You want to see if she's home? Just so you can say hi. Like, y'all haven't seen each other in a while. So I knocked on her little door and she was like, Oh my gosh, hi. I got to meet her little brother. She knows her little brother was a baby by that by that time. He was like little infant. So cute. I love things. Yeah, she had she had a cute little baby brother, and she was like, Yeah, I got your letter. I just didn't, I didn't know how to return it. Like, I didn't have no address. I'm like, it's okay. You know, we'll reconnect soon. So at that time, we still really didn't. Well, I don't know if she had a phone, but I didn't have a phone yet.

SPEAKER_06 37:46

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 37:47

So after that, it was like I seen her that one time, and I think sometime in high school, like we we didn't have each other on social media at all. I would just see her on other people's social media, like people's like Snapchat stories. I was like, oh my god, you know Trey, you know Tradey. I was trying to find her mad as hell. Like, literally the love of my life. My lost love. Like, I really was trying to find her. Like, I can't believe it was other people that really knew her, was posting her every day. So I used to see how like she was doing. I'm like, oh, cool. And I would just be in the shadow, just watching. And um, then I started like once I got in high school, like, if I was around Longside, like one time, like we had like seen each other real quick, a little stop by and then go about our business. But after high school is when we reconnected and really started hanging out again, like we used to. Because she had lived when we were younger. She, this was my house. She literally was a straight shot down that street. Yeah, she was the intersection. So I'm just walking over there, and she would walk over here, and we'd be like, stop up and catch up and high. I saw us like doing disserines with our neighbors and stuff. It was crazy, like cheerleading moves. Like they was throwing me up in the air. Like, it was real crazy. I love it. We just was outside, just kids, you know. Yes. I love it. This is like we've been friends for a very long time. She was always into, she was always into like the stuff that I was into. That's why I felt I felt so accepted being her friend. Because she was into all the sonic bullshit. She was into anime. We was listening to Paramour. Like, she the fact that I found out she knew about paramore, I said, oh.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

Oh, Paramour is the one.

SPEAKER_04 39:20

We used to play a rock band on the way. Come on. You couldn't tell us nothing. Come on. Just dance all of that. We was in a drawing, like, nothing, dude. I'm crying in the yeah. Like, we used to, we were so little talking about some paramore. Like, yeah, so once we um once we reconnected and I moved back. So after I graduated from Eastern, Eastern Regional High School, I moved, everybody in my family moved back to Philly. Okay. Then she started coming over more. She got um, she started getting more into hair. So this is kind of where like it ties into Kai and Peppa. Okay. So she started to get into hair, like anything she really wanted to practice or anything that I wanted to try, we would always meet in the middle and make it work. So she's like, hey, I want to try knotless braids. She was trying knotless braids. Hey, I want to learn how to lay a wig. She was laying a wig on my hand. Come on. Whatever I need to buy, just let me know. I'll buy it. Like, I loved it. Yeah. And then Ashley. Yes. I actually met Ashley a couple months ago. Actually, really? I met Ashley literally what a week, the week I was supposed to leave for South by Southwest. Stop. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 40:28

I wouldn't have thought troll do each other for years. Oh, y'all perfect. That's the best.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

It's the energy. Yes. Like, it's the genuine energy that I'm so blessed with. So Ashley, I had made a post because I wanted to go out to South by Southwest, but I wanted to make like an impact. Like I'm always into cross-promotion, especially when it comes to Philly. Because you know, sometimes people really act like they're too good to work with people in Philly. And I just I am bougie with the people that I work with, but I'm not, I don't, I'm not acting like I'm really better than anybody. Right. Like I'm not gonna act like I'm too good to really work with you. But if stuff is like, if it makes sense, I'm gonna do it. You just gotta make it make sense. Make it make sense. Yeah. So I had made a post and I was basically like, while I'm out there, let me collab with some designers that'll um send me out with their clothes. I really like I don't care about keeping it. I could give it back to them. If they want me to keep it, then I'm gonna just every time I wear it, I'm gonna promote it. Because that's the type of girl I am.

SPEAKER_06 41:24

I'm always doing cross-production.

SPEAKER_04 41:26

Um because everybody needs to eat, you know. And then this is the year that I started to find out that I did kind of have some type of influence on the girlies. And I love it! Literally, this is the year where it kicked in. Like, and I was like, wow, like people really see stuff that I do, and it's not even like they're copying. I'll never say somebody's trying to diggy off of me. Like, I don't believe, I really don't believe in it. It's like, girl, if you want to dig it off, it makes sense to do it.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

Like somebody say you would diggy or I think you know she just wanna try it too.

SPEAKER_04 41:56

Like, it's alright, cool, whatever. But nobody can do it like you, but they can do it.

SPEAKER_02 42:01

They can do it. That's the only difference.

SPEAKER_04 42:03

That's why it's like you can't even get mad at stuff like that. But what Ashley, I um I made a post and I was like, I'm looking for designers to collab with for South by Southwest.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

I'm looking at proofs, yes.

SPEAKER_04 42:12

Yeah, I do for four days, like you know, let it. I made a cute little flyer on Canva. I vote hard on Canva, like Canva Pro, I paid good money for that. What's she? Yeah, Charlie O'Hu Canva. Okay, yeah. I'm a Canva, like I'm a Canva guy. Like, I be on people, like drag, drop. Okay. Because I really wanted to find people that were out of the box and were original. It's like my main thing was don't send me out there with all this street wear. I was reaching out to people just to try to see, try to find something out of the box or something different that I could wear while I was out there. I was out there for four days. So technically, I really needed only three outfits. Okay. Like I wanted to get a little more than three. I was trying to shoot for more than three. Yeah, of course. I was like, I mean, I could always just do shoot because our Airbnb was really, really nice. Okay. So it had like different like areas where I was like, okay, I can shoot this here, I can shoot this there. Like, I was already looking at it.

SPEAKER_02 43:06

You had a whole itinerary, like how you was gonna do it. I loved it. Okay, yes.

SPEAKER_04 43:10

Because if I wanna go, if I'm gonna go to Texas, if I'm gonna pay money for a flight, I'm going to do it right. Like, I'm gonna do it how I feel like it needs to be done. And this is my second time going out there, so I was like, this time I gotta do it a little, do it a little different, do it a little more. So um, she had reached out to me and was like, hey, you know, can I have some more info? I told her about what was going on. So we had actually we met, I think two or three days before I didn't catch my I think it was like two, two or three days before I didn't catch my flight. I would say three. And um she came so I can um do the she can like alter everything for me because she had like some outfits. She had like a um cute little little lemon drop outfit, two piece. And then she had this dress. And I want to get into it. Yes, tell tell me, tell me about this piece. You know, this is the Equinox dress. Yes, as you can see. I'm all wrapped up. But this embodies the cycles that us women go through.

SPEAKER_02 44:06

Period. Explain more. I want to know more. I want to know more.

SPEAKER_04 44:08

The good, the bad, the ugly.

SPEAKER_02 44:11

Come on.

SPEAKER_04 44:11

But the beautiful. Yes. Okay. So this dress right here, like, right now, like, I don't know if y'all heard her earlier. She was like, Can you breathe? Are you okay? Like, it's uncomfortable, but it's supposed to be that way. Because this is especially as black women. Yeah. Let's get into that. Because as black women, like, we always are on edge.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

Yes, always.

SPEAKER_04 44:31

We always have to carry ourselves, like, but like, no matter how many pins and needles are sticking us, we gotta keep the ball rolling. And this is exactly what this dress feels like for me.

SPEAKER_02 44:43

Come on.

SPEAKER_04 44:44

Yeah, I'm feeling like the pins, the needles, and everything. But you see how I'm up here and I'm still talking to you. We're still joking. It's like that's what being a black.

SPEAKER_02 44:54

Uh yeah, that's the Us. Y'all was gonna make me go get deep. I ain't gonna do it to y'all. I'm not gonna do it to y'all because I'm I was hitting like Sister Soldier. Y'all want me to do it. But I love the representation. Toast the brand.

SPEAKER_04 45:06

Lay more. And let me tell you something about the Laymore brand. Like, I remember before I even met Ashley, I was already seeing her stuff. I was already seeing her stuff because I have model friends because I used to model. So, like, all my model friends, like I've had a couple that have worked with her, and I remember like them posting their pictures from like her fashion show. And I'm like, yo. Oh, she does the stuff. She got she got this one jawn where the one sleeve is a big circle. I say, yo, this is avant-garde. Yeah, realness. Like, Matt Gala needs her. Like, them celebrities need her. Pride month is coming up.

SPEAKER_02 45:44

So, you know the gays, the girls, and the girls gonna be outside. Yeah, like they're gonna need something like this, because it's gonna be fashion show. You you know what's going on, you know how we got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_04 45:59

I love it too.

SPEAKER_02 46:00

Like, cause it don't even look like even with because like with that material, that's something people can't always get. It's hard to wrap, you know, it's hard to put it in place, so the way it looks like it's like that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 46:13

Absolutely. I want to hunt in the right places, like Trinity was saying my boot cakes was big. I love a big boota, but yeah, like I feel like my body is so snatched.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

Like, if we just we can go through where I feel like we want to look perfectly, like the jewelry, makeup, yep, the hair, the whole style is it's perfect. Y'all eat that up.

SPEAKER_04 46:36

No matter what we go through, the world look good doing it.

SPEAKER_02 46:39

We have a great fun group.

SPEAKER_04 46:39

Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. I wish our life really had um cartoon sound effects. That would be fun. My life, I see my life as a cartoon in the anime.

SPEAKER_02 46:51

It's like anytime something happens, I'm like, I be like, see me, I gotta hit my visible camera everywhere I go.

unknown 47:00

Me.

SPEAKER_02 47:01

I just like something how we get here. You gotta break the fourth wall. Yeah, like how we get here, but how we get here? That's right here, yeah. That's fire. And with South by Southwest, how was it? How was it like um you know, being on stage in a new city, the performance from Philly, you know, like how was that? Because I I know you had fun. I see the fun.

SPEAKER_04 47:23

I see the fucking girl. The whole time, like it just this year was so good. Yeah. I felt like this year was better than my trip last year. Last year, I literally was there for like two days because I was like, I'ma just go perform.

SPEAKER_02 47:40

So this is the second time going here.

SPEAKER_04 47:42

Okay, yeah. So I got out there because Carefree Black Girl Cookout.

SPEAKER_02 47:46

Yes, yes, okay, yes, yes, yes. Okay, I do remember that.

SPEAKER_04 47:50

And they're coming back. They're coming back May 25th. I'm also performing.

SPEAKER_02 47:53

Come on, it's filly. Yep, yep, okay, boom. We gotta get there.

SPEAKER_04 47:58

Yeah, the One Arts Community Center. Yes, okay. Okay, so Carefree Black Girl, they had I had already done a show with them prior. Or I think by that time. No, actually, I did a show with them prior in 2024. Okay, yeah, I'm like you on my money, yes, yes. So I did their show, they reached out to me, I did their show like summer 2024, and I remember they said something about South by Southwest. I'm a big asking you shop for C.

SPEAKER_02 48:29

I'm just gonna ask real quick to know, then I'ma just go ahead and like man. It's always gonna be something better. Like whatever didn't happen right there, it's like okay.

SPEAKER_04 48:38

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 48:39

It's like, oh, you know what I'm saying? It's like all right, something better gonna come, but boom.

SPEAKER_04 48:43

That's what my mom taught me. Here you go. I've been casting calls, they didn't call me back for my mom. It's like it's just you're just waiting for something bigger. That's it, yeah. So with that, they have um I seen that they was going to South by Southwest. I'm like, I wanna see how I can get into it. Come on, like, because I know somebody that had performed in there, like, and I was like, wow, like she performed actually under the same company, Carefree Black Girl. Oh Chiokee. Yeah, that's my girl. I love Chiokie, like, shout out Chioki. She's a Virgo too. No, she's a Libra. She's a Libra? Oh no, she is a Libra, not a Virgo. She's a Libra, yeah. So I see I see her doing. I was like, oh my gosh, that is so cute. So when I seen that they were gonna be out there, I just reached out and was like, hey, we're gonna talk about grief and loss, okay?

SPEAKER_02 49:28

Boom. So before we get into that, tell us about the person that you lost. About who they were. Yeah, you can.

SPEAKER_04 49:36

I thought a little sound uh sound effect, it was like, dude. So, um, I've lost a lot of people in my life. Like, I remember, like, every time we lost somebody, like, in our family, my mom is always like, Y'all lost a lot of people at such a young age. Like, it's abnormal.

SPEAKER_02 49:55

Yeah, I understand.

SPEAKER_04 49:56

It is kind of crazy. Woo! Thinking about it like I really got like a smash bro roster of like all my family low-key. Like, not even trying to know. No, no, I get no, I know, I know, I know. Not even trying to y'all know my intentions, like y'all get me. But um, yeah, so I would say um 2017, I had lost my uncle, I had lost, I lost a lot of people, I think. I think I lost in this within that same year, or around that time in high school, I had lost my uncle, I lost my cousin, I lost my nana, I lost my aunt. But she wasn't really my aunt, she was like my childhood babysitter.

SPEAKER_06 50:39

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 50:41

Yeah, that's my family, like she's still family. So I lost like four people around that time.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

In the same year. Yeah. Okay. That's okay.

SPEAKER_04 50:50

I would say one, like they all impacted me very heavily, but one that really like shook the table was my nana passing. I understand. I understand. And I love my grandparents. Like, my grandparents, they do everything for us. So it's okay, Steve. It's okay. Yeah, y'all. I pulled this out of the way. That's okay.

unknown 51:13

It's okay.

SPEAKER_02 51:15

Okay, because the verbal just gonna cry.

SPEAKER_04 51:18

I'm always gonna cry. The people that know me, like, they know I'm a cry baby, and they're just like, it's okay. It's okay. I used to always say I'm sorry for crying.

SPEAKER_02 51:24

Lisa, yeah, don't be sorry.

SPEAKER_04 51:25

No, no, no. We're gonna talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 51:27

Talk about your Nina, because I'm gonna talk about my grandma too.

SPEAKER_04 51:29

Yeah, so Nina, shout out to Barbara. Like, when I tell you, like, my Nina was a bad junk. Like, she was bad to the bone. Like, anytime I go back and look at pictures of her, like, or pictures of when she was like younger, and like before I knew her, I'm like, oh, she was bad to the bone. Like, she like a supermodel. Like her pictures, supermodel. I love this. So my Nana, like she's always been, she's always been our best friend. So my um cousins, me, my brother, my sister, like, she was all of our best friends. She always let us be ourselves. Just like my parents, like, anything, anything we wanted to do, she was ten toes and she was for it. Yeah, she was for it. So, like, even like my first time going to the anime convention, like she was picking me and my sister up, everything. She's taking pictures of us in our gossip before we leave. Like, I love that. Super duper supportive. Like, she is such an angel. And she was the type of person that if I couldn't go to my parents, I could go to her. But she wouldn't judge. Because I used to have this thing where I used to like, my mom wasn't going coming to my mom and like talking to her was kind of scary. Like I'll get it. And of course, like like I told you before, like, my mom was very like reserved, very like serious at times. Like, I used to feel like anytime like I brought something up, like it would just feel like I'm being interrogated, like in the worst way. And I didn't need that. So like I would go to my nanna. Yeah, so I would go to my Nana and like I would talk to her about a lot of things, a lot of personal things. Like, even when I was like going through puberty, just like talking about stuff like that, she was always there for me. So when so when like seven 2017 hit and we had got the car that she had just passed away, like she was young. I think she was either in her 60s or her 70s, but just know that she was she wasn't old. Yeah, and all she was real young, real melanin, period. She both snatched, like gorgeous. Like we when we got the car that she passed away, like we couldn't believe it. Like, we were so confused. We're like, well, well, how? How she had um, I think she passed up a heart attack, if I can remember. Oh my god, I'm so sorry about it. Yeah, it's okay. It's like she passed up like a heart attack or something like that, and it was just like it literally came out of nowhere, out of nowhere, and she was super healthy, she was super active. She would always have us um whenever we would visit our cousins in Atlanta, she would have us all like get the bikes and the scooters, and she would take us on this long trail. We gotta exercise, y'all. I love that. You need healthy cereal, y'all. Like, she used to have a garden, she used to um live in Baltimore. Okay, so she used to have a um garden, she used to have like strawberries and stuff like that. Oh, she was playing, period, grandma. Yeah, so sometimes like she'll pick the stuff and like we'll eat it in our Cheerios. She loved Cheerios, she was a big Cheerial girl.

SPEAKER_02 54:18

I used to be a big Cheerial girl. Cheerios are very good. Boom, shout out to Grandma.

SPEAKER_04 54:22

Honey nut Cheerios, don't we? Couple ones, yeah. All dry. Okay. But um, yeah, she played a very big part in our lives because you know, if our parents had something to do, or if they wanted to ship us off somewhere, they take us right to Baltimore, Nana's go ahead, bring them. Yeah, bring them. I want them. I love them. And I don't want to give them back either. Like, she used to hate when we went home. She just wanted us to stay there all the time. Like summers, we spent summers over there just going crazy. And then my sister and mine, she lived not too far, like down the street. I would say like 10 minutes from my Nana. Oh. So she was always she was um always with my nana, she was always visiting my nana.

SPEAKER_02 55:01

Right, because your sister lived in both in Baltimore. Okay, that's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_04 55:03

Okay, so she we all had very close relationships with her, but she had like a super close relationship with her because she was closer. And yeah, it just was very devastating. So around that time, it was like I lost my nana, I lost my aunt and my uncle and my cousin, and she was around my age, and it just was like, now what? Right, no, I get it, yeah. I'm in school, like failing all of my classes, like singer Garrett, failing all of my classes. Like, I could not do school. I could not do that. I get it, I get it.

SPEAKER_02 55:35

Like losing my grandma, so my grandma on my mom's side, so like we knew it was coming, but it was like I couldn't prepare for it. I'm like, I know it's coming, but damn, like, do it gotta be like this. Cause she was dealing with cancer. Like, she was going doing good, and then it came back, but it hit harder. So then, like, she was on hospice and everything. And one thing about her, like, she just was real chill. Like, my grandma was a chill kind of girl. So she didn't get too hype about stuff, she didn't get too mad about stuff. She was real reserved, but one thing about kiddo, kiddo, oh, she loved me, because I was the one like during school breaks, I go see her. We watch TV together. I asked her how a day was, fixed the computer. She's telling me, Oh, you need to be an engineer. Because I turned on the computer. You know, like I'm gonna get like I'm gonna talk to you right, girl. So it was like my grandma, like, she was just that person. Like, I just because she was so like to herself. So I was always like the I one. I'm always around her, like, come on, grandma, give me a hug. And I don't know when they like she wasn't the like I love you kind of person. Yeah, but I made her start doing it. I said, listen, like, we need to have a talk. I'm like, I say I love you, you say I love you too, so let's practice. I love you. We she I was like, oh, all right, you better start saying I love you. Get it together.

SPEAKER_06 56:47

Yeah, get it together now.

SPEAKER_02 56:48

So when she passed, like, it'll be like a ton of breaks. I ain't gonna hold you. Like, I was dealing with it like real crazy, but I would hear her favorite song, Marvin Gaye, um, get it up. So I one time I was on 52nd Street and that's where she was from. So I was walking down the street and I heard it, somebody was blasting it. And I was like, oh, she missed me. I was like, girl, I miss you. So, like, I could definitely relate to that because even being in school, I lost my baby sister. And I after the funeral, I went right back to school, like nothing happened. And that's that's the like nothing happened. Yeah, like I wrote the teacher a letter, he folded that drawing, and like he could, he like, it was like one of those things like all right, I'm already immune to death. So he folded the paper and went right back to his lesson. But I had to say something so they know like I'm gonna miss some work. So I definitely understand, like so what did so with the grief in the laws teach you, like, how did it shift everything else?

SPEAKER_04 57:38

It kind of one thing it did teach me was when you lose somebody, you still like you can sit in your feelings, you're allowed to sit in your feelings, but you're allowed to sit in your feelings, you're allowed to take the time that you need to grieve whoever or whatever, whatever that looks like, and whoever you're grieving, and after that, I don't know, you just gotta get up and go get it. Like you just gotta, you gotta bounce back. Cause in high school, like when I was grieving so much, it just I went downhill. I'm surprised I even graduated. I'm so honest. I think they just slid me pay as low-key because they had already known, like, I was going to funerals back to back in a guidance counselor's office, talking to a guidance counselor that wasn't even mine. Oh, damn. Yeah. Okay. Shout out to Mr. Anderson. Yeah, my guidance counselor, she was kind of rude. I don't really like her. I'm like rude on her and switch it out. Yeah, so I used to be in Mr. Anderson's office like all the time. Like, just he low-key was like low-key like a therapist. Like, so stuff like that, it's like when stuff like that happens to me, and I just can't, I gotta, I can feel it, I can take time to feel it, but I can't lay in it. I can't lay in it. I can sit in it, but I can't lay in it. You know when you sit on your bed and you're chilling, you're chilling, but as soon as you lay down, it don't matter what time of the day, like you slumped, I can't be slumped in that.

SPEAKER_02 59:02

First of all, the funny part about all this, right? It's funny you said that. Because one time I'm going through it, right? And I called a one cousin that I knew was gonna make a joke, but I was like, damn, I gotta cry. Like, so I called her, I'm like, bro, I miss my grandma. She like, Ken, you gotta chill. I was like, why did she say that? I said, bro, I said, I know you ain't cry, but I'm trying to cry. And you trying to fuck. Like, but it was like, yeah, I needed it. I was like, damn, I really can't sit in this shit. So I called her, I was like, that's probably what I needed. So it was just like, but what but my sister, I had to lay in it for a few minutes because I didn't know how to take grief of a sibling. That's fine. I'm like, I never dealt with it. I was like, this is different. So, and then losing my grandmom, I'm like, how you gonna go? Yeah, and I was telling my mom, I said, dog, you have to do something. I said, You a nurse. I was I was really going through it because I'm like, and I was talking to her, I'm like, grandma, I'm like, you gonna leave me with them. Your favorite, you gonna leave me with them? Yeah, you're tripping. I felt betrayed. Yeah, like I felt betrayed than my other grandmom, she was like, Can I know how you feel? I said, but you my only one left, so you need to stay. So that's how I felt. I said, listen, and we had and I and she knew I was coming from a place of sadness. I said, at least give me to a hundred. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, and grief makes me start thinking about shit. Like, and I was just like, I gotta cherish the people I love a little harder. You know what I'm saying? Like, so if you ever gotta grief, like you said, send it, but don't land it. Like, or so from grief to empowerment, right? Boom, we're gonna go into the Kenlo show rapid fire.

unknown 1:00:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:33

Boom, I love it. I see how your eyes got wide, you ready, you ready. So, one word for hmm, hold on. If your grandparents could hear one thing you have never told them, oh but it be.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:44

If they could hear one thing I never told them, my music. I know for real.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:54

One word for who you were in middle school.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:58

Cricky.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:00

One word for who you are right now.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:03

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:03

I know that's right. The anime character you most identify with and why in 10 words or less.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:10

Ooh, I like this. Loki, I want to identify with Riley from Blue Docs. Okay. Because I don't know something about like Riley just being that younger sibling. Like, I'm a younger sibling. I'm annoying. I know I'm annoying, and I know when I'm being annoying. Like, even now, like, I know when I'm being annoying and I'm doing it on purpose. Like, it's just something about him, like, he just be coming in, like that the one episode when he was hanging with Thug Nimmons, and he was like, Oh yes, yourself. Yeah, he ain't I clean though. Like, but he would just be doing like little like unhinged shit, and then Huey would just be so mad, like so grumpy. Like, that's okay. That's that older self-vibe though. Like, my brother is definitely like, he's definitely a Huey.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:56

Yeah, my brother is a Riley, and I'm just like Kim, that's not it. Love you now, though. I love you so much, Cam. I really, really do. But somebody has to keep us together. Your dad or your music? Which one changed you more?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:09

My dad or my music?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:11

My dad, period. The moment you knew the split was permanent, what did fifth grade Cayenne do with it?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:23

I actually don't recall doing anything. It just was like, alright, they broke up and this is what it is, I'm gonna cry about it. Like, I would be acting up in school and be like, I just miss my dad.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:34

I definitely agree, I definitely agree. Rap or rock, which one feels more like home?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:40

Dang! I love this question because like I do both. Like, I'm about to say yes. Yes. Um rock. Rock. I'll go more at home with rock. Rock is so you can do anything with it.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:51

Because you can win on the stage, so yeah, I definitely what is something no interviewer has ever asked you that you have always wanted to be asked?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:04

Um this is so simple, but I always wanted somebody to ask me about my history with having animals and pets. I love talking about my pets.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:17

That was funny, that was funny. What do you want people to feel after they listen and not think and I say feel?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:24

Like their main character.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:26

Come on. So, what's next for Kanye and Pepper and the greatest advice that you would give a creator?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:33

Next for me, I really can't say. I see things and I just do them. Like, I literally don't have a schedule. Like, I'm so sometimes I am jealous of other musical artists where they're like, oh, well, I have a concert. Well, I'm doing my first full concert, I'm dropping an album doing this. As you can see, I have no album. I have like four singles out. I love that. I've been getting real far with the four singles. I'm about to say, yeah, like I do have some um, I have a lot of unreleased music though. Okay, I just keep it in a tongue. It's like stuff that I played with, stuff that I'm waiting to release, but I'm gonna release it with a video. Like I'm gonna really I'm gonna have certain rollouts for it. I would say what's next for me is dropping, I wanna drop at least two more singles, and then I wanna officially drop an EP.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:17

I'm gonna say I'm gonna drop an EP to lead to the album.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:23

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:24

And I already started thinking, like I already have a concept planned out, I have everything planned out. Like, what's next for me is just the bigger and the better. Like, I can't wait to tour. I can't, I'm gonna have my peppa world tours.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:35

Yes, pepper world tour. I love it.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:38

My album's gonna be called Peppa World. Yes!

SPEAKER_02 1:04:40

Oh my gosh, that's gonna be so cute and fire.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:43

I can always call myself a born star.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:45

Like I love it.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:46

People always say, like, in my um on my Instagram, like my name says Born Star. People are like, oh, I always want to read it as porn star. No, no, no. No, no, no. Slow it down. Slow down. Y'all born star. Yeah, I knew I was from since I was like from a legit.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:01

I know it as the girl said.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:03

Yeah, so I would say what's next for me is anything, anything that I want to do, I'm just gonna go just go forward. Just hello. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:15

For any creative, anybody in any field.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:20

And I would say this would this would apply to everything. Like, um my mom doesn't like when I say I'm a hustler. But like I do like the music, the modeling, photography on the side. I'm a go-go dancer now.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:35

I did say that, yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:38

So I would just say, like, my greatest advice, I touched on this in the beginning of the interview where I said, like, don't limit yourself to the things that you will and can do. Because right when you put that hold on yourself, when you put that limit on yourself, you're not reaching your highest potential. Like, just go for it. Anything. Like, go go this. I'm not a professional. So me becoming a go-go dancer this year, like it was something that I checked off my bucket list. Like I've always wanted to be a go-go dancer, but I just didn't know what to do, who to go. Shout out Aurora Entertainment, by the way. Shout out Mika and our go-go dancer. Like, oh, our boss, she makes all of our outfits. Anything that they or anything that we because I'm also talking to you too. It seems like you do a lot of things yourself. Like, you can be multi-faceted. Absolutely. Anybody can do it. People just want to be a music artist. Alright, that's cool. But if you have dreams of doing something else, then why not try? Like you have to also build the confidence to be able to do that. So you have to build the confidence to be able to not limit yourself to what you want to try things. Like I could be a zookeeper by tomorrow. Anybody y'all want to be. You can literally, like me, in Trinity, we always say that we're Barbies because we do everything.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:03

We might be on the moon by next month. And we all made it again. You know what I'm saying? Y'all made it to the moon.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:10

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:11

Don't limit yourself. Keep going. Try everything. We only live like once. That's how my lady.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:16

Yeah, that's it. Well, y'all know what's going on. Shout out to my bro Kyen Pepper with the limited Pepper. Tell her where they can uh, you know, follow you at the music. All that.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:31

We meet again. So you guys can follow me on Instagram, TikTok, basically anywhere. Kayan dot Peppa K-A-Y-A-N-N-E-E dot P E P P A. Like type of data, but I don't think though. Like I don't mind. Y'all know my upbringing. Like, why would y'all even think that? But yeah, you can also find me on all um all platforms under Kayan Tappa. My YouTube. I do have a music YouTube and I have a regular, it's gonna be a more personal YouTube. So I have my serious YouTube with my music videos, and I have another YouTube where I am your internet destiny. So happy with that, and I'll be there. Be yourself, be kind, be great, and be cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:17

You already know we should go Kello back at it again, and I'll be back at it again soon. But before we go, before you leave that couch, stay put for an exclusive for my girl Kanye and Peppa.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:31

I know that I need to hold the main character, and the main characters okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:36

So if you're a man character, I want you to get off that couch and when I get to them humanity, yeah, don't even know how to handle it. When I pop out of the serious dead, yeah, turn it man again. Got the fuck looking stupid, looking dumb when I wanna get it. And I'm starting walking on post buttons on my name, and give it to get filled. I go stupid, I go dumb, and do it pop the bunny. When I travel under skip and grow hair, do we have baby my underwear?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:08

Just pop the head like I'm up Just block the head like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:18

I wanna be put in the four space, yes, for my speech, yes, I need to bring one of the metal yes, all the cheese, yes, big full material, this big don't take me wing me down, but takes me those tail of maps on turnest tail. Uh wanna talk about the big money don't stop. Big body will always bring dog on turn it's got your favorite big star.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:53

I'm out here. Hey, hey, yeah, I can spin back to that money.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:01

You probably explain that I travel under your skin in growing hair.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:07

You need to put in my underwear! Just bump your head, like, I'm not gonna pop your head, like your head, like now we put another bunker.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:34

So we walk that out with the house, eating better, eating ready. Hey, I think you can put your dog out on your butt, don't ever stop it like first of all, they wanna buy.