Beach rapper KALAN set to take next step in career with Saturday night show at the El Mocambo

By CHRIS ZDRAVKO

Almost 60,000 Tik Tok followers, and more than 11,000 YouTube subscribers. Eighteen-year-old rapper KALAN will be performing at Toronto’s legendary music venue the El Mocambo on Saturday, Feb. 10.

From a young age growing up in the Beach, KALAN had a passion for dance.

“Growing up, I’d always copy Michael Jackson … from there, my parents put me in dance class, and I did that for a long time until I was 13,” KALAN told Beach Metro Community News in an interview last week.

After that, he began writing songs in his spare time, beginning his craft in creating music. He has been making music for almost five years now.

“I love albums, and taking them in, and how they flow and the way of crafting something that you made fully, and it’s a big project,” he said. “There’s school projects, but sometimes, you’re not fully into it.”

KALAN’S hit song, Can’t Tell Me garnered more than 623,000 views on YouTube, and was featured on Fortnite.

“With that one, I was kind of mad. I remember writing it and I was kind of angry, so I said ‘Let me get all my feelings out’.”

His song I Did It was also a hit, finding its spot in the British comedy/action movie Sumotherhood, starring Ed Sheeran. “I wanted to make something different, and more fun,” said KALAN of that song.

He said those recent successes took him by surprise. KALAN said he did not see their popularity coming, but he now considers them to be some of his biggest musical career milestones so far.

KALAN has also received comments from large-scale rappers such as Logic, Armani White, JELEEL, and others on his social media.

When it comes to using social media for his career, KALAN said he follows a few key philosophies.

The first is staying consistent. “I know that’s a basic one, but you’ll see results once you stay consistent. At first I was posting randomly.. As soon as I started posting consistently, the numbers started going up,” he said.

His second philosophy is being original. “Do what you want to do. Don’t try to copy people and their ideas. Stick to what you know,” said KALAN.

“Have an idea or concept that people can go to you for, and watch you for.”

His third philosophy is putting real effort into what he produces.

“As long as you are always trying your hardest and not just putting out a video because you need to put one out. You’re actually taking the time, whether it’s rapping, writing. Sometimes, I’ll put out a filler rap, but those won’t do as well. The ones that do well are the ones that I put more time into.”

One of the challenges KALAN said he has faced in his career is maintaining a regular flow of ideas.

“I’ll make a song, or I’ll have three songs lined up of what ideas I want to make, then I’ll do those, and then I’ll have a period where it’s just writer’s block, and I don’t know what I want to make.”

Another hurdle is dealing with haters online.

“People telling me ‘You can’t rap’, ‘You can’t do this’, ‘You can’t do that’ is a big one. I try not to pay too much attention to it and just keep working because I still see the results,” he said.

“It’s weird because you’ll see a bunch of good comments and then you’ll see a bad comment, and you’ll pay more attention to the bad comment, even though there are so many more good ones. It’s something with our brains. That’s a struggle, but I’m trying to get over it.”

One of KALAN’s life challenges was losing his mother to cancer when he was six years old. However, he said he uses that as a catalyst for good in his art.

“Now, I use it, and strive from it, and think, what would she think? Would she be looking down proud of me?”

KALAN has decided not to pursue post-secondary education once he completes his studies at Malvern Collegiate this year so that he can focus full-time on his music career.

“Right now, I’m really focused and honed in on a specific lane, and I just want to fully commit and work as hard as possible at that.”

KALAN said he plans to keep releasing songs and Tik Toks, and expects more opportunities to come from it.

“I’m going to try as hard as possible, start releasing stuff more frequently. I like the path I’m on. I’m just going to continue that path, and hope it goes somewhere.”

He also plans to drop a full length, long play album in the future. He published an extended play before, which took him a long time. Knowing a long play would take a longer time, he said has kept the idea on the back burner.

Joining a record label is a possibility for KALAN. He said he wants to further bolster his reputation so that he can negotiate an optimal deal for himself.

“I got little offers here and there. I need to gain more popularity to have more leverage in a deal. Right now, because I’m a smaller artist, labels will have a lot of leverage, and kind of do whatever they want. If I’m going to sign, I do want to become a little bit bigger and more popular first.”

When asked who he would collaborate with if he could pick any three rappers in the world, KALAN chose Logic, Tyler the Creator, and Drake.

Kalan said he is stoked to be performing at the Starlight Room in the El Mocambo on Feb. 10 in what will be a show open to audiences age 16 and older. It will be his first time headlining a show. In previous shows, he was an opener for other artists. This time, KALAN is the main event and the opener for the show will be Josh Grove.

For ticket information, please go to https://www.ticketweb.ca/event/kalan-live-at-the-el-the-starlight-room-at-the-tickets/13389463?pl=elmocambo