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Vancouver-based spoken word hip hop artist K!mmortal is coming to Toronto and Montreal this week! These two shows are at the tail-end of her East Coast North American tour, which aims to promote gender inclusivity and raise awareness about mental illness.
PAN M 360: Tell us about your journey as a musician. What brought you to where you are today?
K!mmortal: I do all the arts – I’ve been performing in theatre since I was a kid, I used to be in hip hop dance – and music acts as kind of an umbrella for me to use all my mediums, to create a universe. I got into a lot of spoken word poetry when I was hitting up open mics. One of the first places I ever performed in was an open mic in east Vancouver called Back to the Source, where I met a lot of artists in the local scene. It was started by Gabriel Teodros, an Ethiopian Seattle MC and one of my inspirations that really kickstarted me in writing my own rhymes – I’m really influenced by the artists and activists I grew up around in Vancouver. He’s one of my good friends now and we just finished up a show in Tacoma.
PAN M 360: Speaking of your tour, “This Dyke Tour” is a pretty provocative name for a series of shows. Why use a term that might upset some people?
K!mmortal: It’s all about reclamation. Even when I released the track Instagram banned it – my team and I worked around it, coding the “Y” in dyke. But it’s all about reclamation. For us, who identify as dykes, we have every right to use the word, especially with everything that’s happening now with queer and trans youth being oppressed. The track too is a sexy song for dykes and queers. It was definitely an intentional move.
PAN M 360: Can you tell me about where your spoken word hip-hop style comes from?
K!mmortal: I’m inspired by radical hip hop. I grew up listening to Bambu, Gabriel Teodros, Blue Scholars, Bobby Sanchez – these are trans black and brown MCs and lyricists. I’m drawn to them because I’m queer and brown myself. When I heard their music, I felt it reflected me even though they were telling their own stories. I resonated with them.
PAN M 360: How do you feel like that style helps you tell your own story?
K!mmortal: It’s forthright, honest, narrative… It’s grounded in liberation and empowerment.
PAN M 360: You address a lot of heavy topics, including abuse, mental health, and discrimination, through the lens of empowerment in your latest album, Shoebox. What’s the impetus behind that?
K!mmortal: Shoebox is my third and most personal album and I wanted to share my own story through it. I talk a lot about supporting family members dealing with mental illness. Also supporting myself through mental illness. It starts with heavy topics but it’s a journey. Ancient is all about painting a picture of where me and my ancestors are from. Then it travels time to where I grew up in Surrey, BC. It starts from a powerful place of darkness and throughout the album, it expands into light. When I named it “shoebox” I was thinking of a box of memories, from personal memories to experiences I’ve had with my friends and family. Some of the songs are 10 years old, and some were produced three weeks before I released the album.
PAN M 360: What else would you say factors into your “multi-dimensional” approach to music? You make your album covers, for example, out of artistic dioramas.
K!mmortal: I created this album over the pandemic when I was trying to have fun again with art. I was playing with clay, scribbling, doodling, and animating music videos, and I really wanted to have fun with this album so This Dyke’s music video is a claymation animation by a queer Filipina animator in Vancouver, NoFace. The album cover is also claymation with me in the crevice of a tree native to the Philippines. It’s a balete tree and it’s connected to a lot of Filipino folklore and horror stories. I’m also influenced by theatre because I grew up acting. The character in this album is like my inner child, a playful K!mmortal, so I’m always wearing overalls on stage that my friend made for me. I’ve been wearing them on tour, which is a lot of fun.
PAN M 360: You were pretty busy in the US, going from Washington to Oregon to California.
K!mmortal: This is my first West Coast tour and it’s been incredible because I’ve met people who have been listening to me for years. I’m like ‘Wow, my music has travelled.’ The Bay Area was my favourite show. The last time I performed there was in 2016 and I performed in a historic Filipino theatre. It was packed, there were a bunch of queers and one of my favourite MCs, Bobby Sanchez, came out. People brought gifts. Some travelled hours to see me. They were telling me how my music helped them in hard times, and they gave me triple the energy of any audience I’ve had. I’m really happy that people fuck with me here. I really want to come back, and I want to hit up the east next time.
PAN M 360: You’re also planning two more shows in Toronto and Montreal. What are you looking forward to there?
K!mmortal: Toronto is a reunion show with Maxhole, who’s releasing their debut album. I haven’t seen them since 2018. It’s also a reunion with Eyeda Sophia. They’re incredible. And at POP Montreal I’m performing with Vancouver-based artist Naudh. I’m excited to connect with my friends at these Canadian shows!
PAN M 360: We hope you have a great time reuniting with them. Good luck with your shows!
For information and tickets (Friday Sept 29, 8 PM) , click HERE
