At just 21, Kweku Collins has done a lot more in the world of hip-hop than many do in a lifetime. Just four years ago, he was like any other senior at Evanston Township High School in Evanston, Illinois—making any excuse to get out of class.
But unlike his peers, who were busy deciding on which colleges to attend or what to wear to the senior prom, Collins was eager to be at the studio—his bedroom at the time—writing, rapping and producing his own songs. Many of those would make it onto his 2015 debut EP, Say It Here, While It’s Safe, which landed him on Pigeons and Planes’ “20 Rappers Under 20” list and catapulted his after-school project to a full-fledged music career while he was 17 years old.
“Whether I was in school or at home, I was always trying to work on songs,” Collins says. “I never really went to parties at school, mostly because I didn’t like them. I would always rather be at home making music—that was all I really wanted to do growing up.”
Born into a creative family of musicians and artists in suburban Chicago, Collins’ parents helped foster his love for music, both rhythmically and lyrically, from a young age. His father, an Afro-Latin percussionist, and his mother, a dancer and English teacher, both encouraged his creativity by involving him in their passions—he was often playing percussion with his father growing up, and attributes his love for writing and lyricism to his mother.
“My enjoyment of literature, facilitated by my mother, pushed me towards songwriting,” Collins says. “I kind of think of songwriting as mathematical literature, because to me it has to all make perfect sense. Coupled with a love of music from my father, there’s a lot of rhythm passed down to me from my family.”
Now signed to Chicago-based record label Closed Sessions and working alongside artists like Taylor Bennett, Jamila Woods and Femdot, Collins has made a place for himself as an artist who’s not just able to produce soulful, unique beats and melodies, but also to write lyrics that feel simultaneously introspective and accessible to his listeners. His wide-ranging vocal skill is apparent in his songs, as he can transition from laying down bars to harmonizing with a melody with ease.
Some of that can be attributed to his eclectic, wide-ranging taste in music—he mentioned his love for Paramore’s Riot! as well as Gang Starr’s Moment of Truth—but most of the time, Collins’ songwriting reflects what feels authentic and relatable to him in that moment of the creative process.
“When I write music, I try to ask myself: ‘How do I want to hear this? What do I want to hear? What do I feel like I need to hear?’” he says. “I try to put myself in that frame of mind so that somebody could hear things that are personal or metaphorical to me and be like, woah, I can identify with that, too.”
With two successful EPs and one full-length album under his belt, Collins is spending the foreseeable future working nonstop on his next album, which he described emphatically as “a proper, proper full length—the kind of album where you’re like, ‘Goddamn, there’s 17 songs on this fucker!’”
He’s also got a handful of smaller musical projects in the works, the first of which he hopes will be finished by the summer.
Collins’ one-off Stanford show is just one of the many side projects that keep him motivated during the more tedious process of finishing an album. But the Evanston native is in no hurry to rush the creative process, nor should he be. He’s already found a unique and mature sound at a young age. Right now, Collins is focused on perfecting his craft and delivering a sound that’s consistent with his fans and most importantly himself.
“When I make music now, I think about it like I were a fan,” Collins says. “So that if I turn on the radio one day and I heard it playing, I’d stay listening to that station.”
Kweku Collins
Feb. 23, 9pm, $10+
Bing Concert Hall Studio, Stanford
