Artist Interview- Kyle Mack

I had a chance to catch up with Detroit rapper Kyle Mack. We discussed his recent run of shows and his upcoming performance taking place in Champaign, Illinois. Our conversation is below.

Ayesharp- Man it’s nice to catch up and talk. Cool, so lets talk about the prior shows you've been doing. Can you give me a run down of where you've been playing lately?

KM- Absolutely man, lately I’ve performed at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, and the Grog Shop, in Cleveland. And on April 16th, I’ll be performing in Champaign, IL.

Ayesharp - So is this an official tour?

KM- It’s not an official tour, but it’s my own Midwest tour. The past two shows I did were apart of Cousin Stizz tour.

Ayesharp - That’s huge. So first let's talk about the Cousin Stizz tour. How did that come about?

KM- I say saw an I.G (Instagram) ad about the tour coming to town, and I reached out the venue to see if they were looking for any openers. They sent my music to Cousin Stizz’s manager, and they approved of my music instantaneously. After my performance, I chopped it up with Cousin Stizz’s manager and let him know Cleveland isn’t far from me at all. If they liked my performance I’d love to open up for Tony & Stizz at the next stop. We exchanged information and he told me he’d keep me posted. The next day I got a DM from him saying it was a go and I’d be opening for Cousin Stizz at the Grog Shop.

Ayesharp- And how was the experience performing for them? Because I've seen you perform and you're a hell of a stage presence, so how would you describe the actual experience?

KM- Thank you man I really appreciate you saying that! That’s my bread and butter honestly. Making music is always fun, and the creativity behind it is what makes it special. But, the best part to me about being an artist is performing. It was super dope! It showed me how far I’ve come as an artist. I’ve been denied and told “No” or my music isn’t what someone is looking for so many times. It showed me those 1,000 “No’s” I received helped prepare me for that one “Yes.” And two it was a dream come true to be performing at venues I’ve seen some of my favorite artist perform at.

Ayesharp- Which venues did you perform at?

KM- I performed at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, MI and the Grog Shop in Cleveland, OH.

Ayesharp- Awesome! So now that you're on a bit of a roll, can you tell me about this show coming up in Champaign?

KM- Yes, absolutely! I connected with an artist named M.A.G through a one of my bros who I worked with at a previous job. M.A.G ended up sending me a song he wanted me to work on. Long story short he lived in IL but was from the city so we ended up shooting a video the next time he came back into town. From then on he always kept me in the loop of anything he had going on in IL. Last year I got the opportunity to perform with him and the collective Thee Delinquents at Summer Camp Festival. He hit me up as soon as a couple performance opportunities came up in Champaign, IL and I said I was ready! The show coming up is on April 16th is City vs Campus at the Canopy Club in Champaign, IL. Artist performing will be a mixture between artists from Chicago & artists from University of Illinois-Urbane Champaign.

Ayesharp- And what can we expect from you at that show? Any songs we should look forward to hearing?

KM-You can expect me to give one helluva high energy from start to end. I’ll be performing some fan favorites and some personal favorites like “Jiu-Jitsu”, “Yeezy Shrug”, “BITT”, and “Prayers”.

Ayesharp - Awesome, those are a few of my favorites from you, especially “Jiu-Jitsu” to be honest. And last question, is there anything else you would like the people to know, or anything you want to say to the people?

KM- I received some words of advice from Cousin Stizz, that definitely resonated with me. He told me continue to grind, keep your head down, and stay consistent. It hit close to home because that’s what I’m all about. If there’s one thing I want to be known for it’s for being one of the hardest working artist in the industry. Like I said in my song “My Way”, “I know every cloud has a silver outline.” I truly feel like I’m just getting the ball rolling and it’s no telling what’s in store for me. No matter what obstacles you’re hit with in life never give up on your dreams and keep going until your reach every goal you set out for yourself. DRREEEAAAAM!!

Ayesharp - Thank you very much for the interview. I can’t wait to see what you have in store next.