Hat: Suss knits, Top: Askyurself Knit Tank, Pants: Des Pierrot Jeans, Sunglasses: James Oro, Shoes: Smile Republic

Dimitri: Tell us about your sound.

Kalan: Man, I started making music probably when I was a young child. I’ve always been into music, but we really started making music a career and a hobby maybe in 2018, when I dropped my first major project and it just changed my life, man. Music, I always love music, I always love listening to music. I always love being in music. I can’t deny it at all.

Dimitri: How did you start?

Kalan: I used to want to sing real bad but I never thought I could sing, so I just started off rapping. It’s the first time I ever did anything melodic is when it all started to work for me.

Dimitri: That’s awesome. I used to have a record label back in the day, Hiddenform. I sold it a long time ago in the early 2000s. I used to press vinyl. It was house music, trip-hop, progressive house, tech house. It was more on the house side. I used to be a DJ.

Kalan: Oh, that’s dope.

Dimitri: When vinyl was still in its glory days.

Kalan: I was a DJ at one point in time. I did experience that, I was a DJ.

Dimitri: When they started installing CDJs, they had to bring turntables just for me. I said, “Okay, that’s enough.” It was 2005, I said, “I’m done.” [chuckles]

Kalan: Oh, man, 2005, I was 10 years old.

Dimitri: Really?

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Kalan: Man, that’s a blessing being able to, still working in the field of the things that you love. Some people don’t ever get to experience that or having different outlets and seeing where you can make it to is amazing– Seeing the different things that you can do or picking up other interests. Some people are one-trick ponies.

Dimitri: Exactly. I moved through everything like through sports, through music. I’m a film producer and playwright. Plus all my magazines.

Kalan: That’s dope. I played sports, too. I played for San Diego State. I played football in college.

Dimitri: That’s awesome. I love college football.

Kalan: You’re familiar with Rashaad Penny or Donnel Pumphrey?

Dimitri: Yeah!

Kalan: I played with them. Rashaad plays for the Eagles now, but I played with a lot of guys, Damontae Kazee plays for the Steelers. I played against a fair amount of great people, man.

Dimitri: Did you ever consider pro ball?

Kalan: I ended up getting in trouble. That’s how music started. That’s what started my music career. I got in trouble in school and ended up not playing football anymore and just focusing on music. Maybe a year and a half later, everything really started turning out for me, man. It was destiny. I was supposed to get in trouble.

Dimitri: You know what? It’s weird and crazy the way things just work out, and the way you end up in some places and situations. You don’t even know how– You start looking back logically and stuff and you change one little thing and everything would be different.

Top: Pas Une Marque, Pants: Vidin Was Taken

Kalan: Your whole story could be a whole different story, man.

Dimitri: Exactly. You can change a decade by a couple of seconds, you know?

Kalan: Yes.

Dimitri: It’s incredible.

Kalan: That’s what’s beautiful about life, man. That’s what’s scary and beautiful about life.

Dimitri: It’s scary and beautiful.

Kalan: You can paint it whatever way you want, but you can’t be scared of beauty, man. It’s like a pretty girl. You can’t be scared to talk to her, because the chances are unlimited. You never know what she’ll say.

Dimitri: That’s exactly right. A lot of people they’ll go like, “Why don’t you, or why do you?” It’s like, “Just try it.”

Kalan: The worst the world can say is, no.

Dimitri: What’s going to happen? If you don’t try, you never know.

Kalan: As long as you don’t die, you got another chance.

Dimitri: Yes, exactly. Are you a bit of a risk-taker?

Kalan: Oh yes, definitely.

[chuckling]

Kalan: I’m really preservative though, calculated risk. I’ll take a million risks, but they got to be calculated. I’m one of those people everything has to make sense, I’m super logical. It’s almost scary or super narcissistic. It has to be like if it doesn’t make sense, I don’t have any sympathy for anything. [chuckles]

Glasses: Bonnie Clyde, Top: Riddle Armor, Pants: Vidin Was Taken, Shoes: Nike AF1

Dimitri: Tell us about your writing technique. What motivates you? Do you have a special time of the day?

Kalan: I just started writing maybe this year. This is my first year ever really writing music, where I’ve actually writing the songs. I usually just go in and freestyle all my songs.

Dimitri: Wow, really?

Kalan: Yes. Before this album is all songs that I freestyled. This music that I’m getting ready to put out next, all the songs that I’ve ever put out are all freestyles. Just going in the booth, coming up with it as I go along, playing over the beat.

This is the first time. I actually took my time. I actually named my project first, then went in and worked on the project. This is my first time writing. Now I just like to write whenever I got a clear mind or whenever I think of something. If I think of something clever, I think it’s cool, or I hear something or I see something, or I get intrigued or inspired, I’ll write right then and there.

Sometimes I’ll sit down and just write down a bunch of thoughts, write down a bunch of concepts and different things like that. I’m really learning how to write. I think that’s where I am now.

Dimitri: That’s good. Never stop learning, that is the main thing.

Kalan: Yes, if you stop learning, you stop growing, man.

Dimitri: Exactly, absolutely. Creative moment, can you strike any moment?

Kalan: Oh, whenever. Whenever it comes it doesn’t matter the time of day or anything because you never know when you can get inspired. If you limit when you can be inspired, you dull the moments down.

Dimitri: Absolutely. It’s good. What do you do? Do you just take notes in the phone or something, and just write some ideas?

Kalan: Yes, I would write down ideas and notes in the phone, then I write paper. I have 40 notepads and I’ll just be writing through them. I would even write things that aren’t songs, I’ll write stories. Just making the song will make sense if I’m planning the story out or going over something that I went through. Putting a pin in something how it should have went. Just writing my perspective down. Do you know what I mean?

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Dimitri: You grew up in Carson, right?

Kalan: Yes.

Dimitri: Tell us about growing up in Cali. Who do you have as a main influence when you’re growing up?

Kalan: Oh man, it’s endless. I like so much music from the time when I really first got introduced to music– I used to listen to a lot of old soulful music like Stevie Wonder. My grandma put me on music, really. Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson was my favorite artist.

I remember growing up in my elementary days, I listened to a lot of Justin Timberlake, Paul Wall, everybody. Then maybe around middle school, when it got popular to listen to music because we started having more of the internet, Myspace, and stuff like that. The internet started coming along. You start knowing about other artists and street artists.

Man, I would listen to some of the popular artists that came up was like T-Fly. Who else was very popular? Ty Dolla $ign, he was having his way. He was a huge influence. Listening to YG back in the day, just so much music. Man, I’m influenced by all music all over, I’m not limited to one sound.

Dimitri: That’s excellent. You’re a bit of a jazz fan as well.

Kalan: Not artist. I wouldn’t know the artist, but I’ll put on a jazz playlist anytime and just listen to it. I like bands. I like to listen to bands play like a live band or something like that. It’s nothing better than live instruments to me.

Dimitri: The reason why I was asking because you mentioned Stevie Wonder, I was an associate producer on Miles Davis’s film.

Kalan: Oh man, that’s amazing.

Dimitri: Yes, I did some stuff with Robert Glasper when he was recording the Black Radio 2 with Experiment.

Kalan: Oh man, that’s dope, that’s hard. You’ve been living a heavy life, man. You got a lot of stories.

[chuckling]

Dimitri: Oh man.

Kalan: I want to interview you.

[chuckling]

Kalan: Do you know what I mean?

[chuckling]

Dimitri: Anytime, man. Im glad Sasha connected us.

Kalan: Sasha’s great though, man, she’s the best PR I’ve had. I’ve been through a few of them. She’s had the most impact and done the most. I’m saying very, very experienced in the stuff that counts. I don’t take anything away from anybody else that helped me or that worked with me, but the things that are impactful for the plan– Everybody has a goal which you’re trying to reach. She has been extremely impactful. Keep me on my toes. Make me have to work harder to set up things so she can do it, so she can work easier. I feel a lot of pressure. I love being responsible and being held responsible. Me having to work a little harder so she can be able to make these opportunities for me and this that and the third. Sasha’s great.

Dimitri: She is amazing.

Kalan: She’s definitely of huge value to my team, man. I appreciate her extremely.

Shades: James Oro, Jacket: Mass Hysteria

Dimitri: Do you remember the first time you heard yourself being played out somewhere?

Kalan: My first time ever hearing myself, man, I got in the car with my friends and some girls. They put my music on and they didn’t know it was me. [chuckles] That was my first time ever really hearing myself. People there were listening to my music. I’m thinking it’s a joke. “Oh yes, y’all playing my music because I’m in the car,” and stuff like that. They really had no clue that they were listening to me.

Dimitri: Oh, my God.

Kalan: Yes, it was crazy. They’re like, “No, that’s not you.” I’m like, “No, I swear to God, that’s me. I got the file for the song right here. Look.” It was unreleased. That was what was really dope.

Dimitri: This is the best story I’ve ever heard about hearing themselves. [chuckles] Seriously, man.

Kalan: Yes, man. We were going to Raising Cane’s. I remember it was my first time eating Raising Cane’s. One of our friends, he picked me up and his home girl was with him, and she was with some other girls. Then they were just like, “We’re about to go to Raising Cane’s.” I’m like, “All right, for sure. I’m going to just ride with you all.” They start playing songs and I’m like, “That’s me.” I came on and then they played another song and they’re like, “Yes, he good.” Da, da, da, da, da.

My other homie is like, “That’s him. That’s Kalan. That’s his music.” I’m like, “Yes, that’s my song.” They’re like, “No, it’s not,” da, da, da, da. I’m like, “Yes, no, that’s me. That’s why I was saying my name Kalan.” You feel me, I’m K for Kalan.

[chuckling]

Dimitri: That’s cool, man. That’s an amazing story.

Kalan: It was golden, man.

Set: Pas Une Marque, Glasses: Cartier, Shoes: Maison Mihara Yasuhiro

Dimitri: What message do you want to get across to your fans?

Kalan: Pretty much just you can do anything, man. I just want my fans to always know it doesn’t matter that if you try, you can succeed. Don’t be discouraged to try. Don’t be scared to try to do anything. Don’t be scared to live. Understand and make the right choices.

I’m just like, “Be yourself. Stand 100% firm.” That’s what the Forreal, Forreal stands for. Stand 100% firmly on being yourself. I don’t mean in a way of like, “Oh, if you’re being an asshole or something, continue to be an asshole. It’s okay to feel. The expression and how you communicate is definitely a huge thing. It’s okay to be a person, it’s okay to be human. It’s okay to like things. It’s okay to want things. It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to be emotional. These are all feelings that are okay to feel. It’s just about how you handle them, man, when you handle them. How you handle them. I just want people to live to not think you’re weird. You’re never weird. You’re not a weird person. You can never do anything wrong. It’s just what’s for you is for you, and what’s not is not.

Dimitri: Absolutely.

Kalan: Got to chase your dream, chasing your dream. If I can put that all in a shorter sentence, “Chase your dreams, man, whatever dreams. Whatever dreams you have, chase them. Whatever dreams.

Dimitri: That’s beautiful.

Kalan: Everything is important. Everything that you make important is important.

Dimitri: That’s deep. Definitely. Is there anything else you want to accomplish besides your music career?

Kalan: World domination. That’s our slogan. My little brother came up with that.

Dimitri: That’s beautiful.

Kalan: Yes, man, we want to be able to do everything, film, TV, man, jewelry. Whatever it is that we can do, we want to have our hands in it. Sports, all that, and then do it right and do it good. Understanding and learning. Just being able to have this opportunity.

Me being in position has opened up so many opportunities and so many doors for me and my people to do other things or my friends, or making new friends. Just having the ability to grow. You never have to stay subtle in who you are and not being able to– You can be whoever you want to be. You could wake up every day, literally, and be whoever you want to be, when you have the right opportunities and you’re in the right spaces. You got to take advantage of these situations because these opportunities may never happen again.

I’m more of a people’s person. A lot of artists don’t really have no personality. A lot of people faking it, man. I’m literally happy to be here. I worked really hard to be able to– A lot of people look at things like, “I have to do this. This is an opportunity. Everything is an opportunity for me.”

I usually talk about it. If I’m having an off day, I would just say, “I’m having an off day, man, I’m sorry.” I tell my team all the time like, “My bad, I’m having an off day. I don’t think it’s going to do any due diligence right now for me.” Also, I understand that this is my work, so I have to put my best foot forward every time I come to work, you know?

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Dimitri: Absolutely. Do you have any other hobbies besides like music and being an entrepreneur? What do you do?

Kalan: I ride dirt bikes. I do a lot of odd things, man. You know people say that you’re an elevated person of who you are as a child?

Dimitri: Yes.

Kalan: As a child, I wanted to be everything. Gardener, the postman, the mailman. Whatever it was, a doctor, I want to be everything. Throughout my day, you never know what you’ll get out of me. I’ll be everywhere, I’ll do anything. [chuckles]

I definitely want to get into films and things, too. Just there’s no limit to what can come from a day, man. That’s what I’ve learned. There’s no limit to what can happen in a day. I’ve had so many things change. My life changed in seconds, and I’ve noticed the difference in my life changing in seconds.

Dimitri: That’s amazing. How did sign to Roc Nation? How did you get the attention of those guys?

Kalan: One of my friends, Fable, he’s an artist, R&B artist. He’s a songwriter. He was playing music for Earl. That was my homie while I was in college and I had played around with music for a little while. I would go make songs with him and stuff like that. I was really into music, so played a song for him. Then nothing happened that day, but Earl just kept up with me.

I used to sit in my music. I had this app called Easy Text. Every time I would get someone’s number, I would add their number to my spreadsheet of phone numbers. Easy Text saves them like an automated message, but it doesn’t come from your phone number, so it’s not annoying, you know?

Dimitri: Right.

Kalan: Somebody getting a text message from one person, you will block them. Nobody knows where the text message is coming from. It’s just like three, 335, like a 3-digit number. If you don’t pay your phone bill, the number that will call you.

I would just draft up these text messages that look way more professional than what they actually were with my music and the links to my videos and stuff like that. I would send 500 texts a day. Literally every day, I would DM 500 people. The text messages, every time I dropped a music or something like that, I would send a mass text out to however many people I had in my phone book.

Earl just used to listen to it, my A&R. He was one of the people I had met. He always listens to it. He always give me a little feedback. I finally made the melodic song where I was singing and stuff like that for it to work. He was like, “Yeah, you got one.” He text me like, “You got one.” Maybe a few months later, I had been performing and working and just grinding, coming up. He was at the BET Experience in LA, at the LA Convention Center.

He came up an after I performed, I guess the president, Shari had seen me performing. Then she had told him like– I guess he says all the time. She knew from that moment she wanted to sign me. She was like, “I want to sign Kalan.” He called me the next day like, “Hey, I’m going to take you to lunch. What you want to eat?” I’m like, “Man, we can just get some Roscoe’s or something.” I’m like, “What’s going on? What happened?” He’s like, “You know Roc Nation want to sign you.” I did not believe him at all. I’m like, “Man, shut up.”

I’ve just known him for so long and nothing. Sending the music all the time. For him, they’re just like– I just wasn’t expecting that at all. I’m thinking he’s going to be like, “You know, you should do this, and maybe you should do that with your music. You’ve been thinking about doing this.”

He like, “No, Roc Nation want to sign you.” I’m like, “Man, shut up. Get out of here.” He’s like, “All right.” I’m like, “Well, this is like my manager.” I sent him my manager number. Maybe a couple days later I was on a flight to New York to go meet Shari.

Dimitri: Wow, that’s cool.

Kalan: The rest was history. [chuckles]

Dimitri: Wow. That’s impressive.

Kalan: Thank you.

Dimitri: If you could give your younger self advice, what advice would you give yourself?

Kalan: I would tell myself just work harder. Work a little harder because it’s never as bad, never as good. I developed it. My coach told me this a long time ago, “It’s never as bad, but it’s never as good because technically you did the best that you can because you did it.” You always know that you could’ve did a little better because there’s always a little more effort that you could’ve put in. Just leave it all out there, so it’s never as bad, never as good.