ON THE RISE
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After growing up playing instruments like the guitar and piano and getting into the drums in middle school, it seemed like a natural fit when Kupid went to college to study music production.
But then the Georgia native changed course after realizing his preference was to take center stage, and he entered the hip hop scene at the height of the pandemic and dropped his first EP Ultraviolet in 2021 under the moniker Drew$kii.
Now a senior at Loyola University in New Orleans majoring in music industry studies, Kupid has released his debut single “Ok Wait” and is putting the finishing touches on a bigger project.
“I always planned on being in the shadows, making beats and producing mainly,” Kupid says. “But I kind of fell out of love with it. I just didn’t find it fun at all. Just being in college and growing around other artists, one producer told me to hop on a beat real quick and he was like for your first time rapping this is fire. We’re going to keep on working. I fell in love with rapping and songwriting and I’m ready to go all the way with it.”
Kupid didn’t fully embrace rap music until he was in middle school, when he took up playing the drums. He had been listening to mostly dubstep beforehand, a high energy genre he found useful for listening to while running cross country. But when friends turned him on to another Atlanta native in Young Thug, the rapper soon became a model that Kupid aspired to.
“I’ve always been musically inclined,” Kupid says. “I taught myself how to play the drum set, I was in pep band in middle school and moved on to drumline in high school and played the snare most of my high school career. There are lots of rudiments, patterns, cadences when it comes to drums and when it comes to rapping, the drums are like the most adjacent in terms of how you apply those skills.”
After that first EP in 2021, he rebranded his persona as Kupid and has since appeared on collaborations including “Dreads Hang” on 4 The Culture Vol. 1: Maroon Edition, a project released this year by Loyola New Orleans’ hip hop and R&B cohort.
In the process, he’s gone from trying to emulate other artists to discovering his own voice. Kupid originally wanted to showcase his versatility before realizing that each song sounded like a different artist, but not necessarily like him.
As for “Ok Wait,” the song has been in the works for a couple years as Kupid made sure everything was right behind the scenes.
“I don’t want to bullshit and cut corners,” he says. “Part of it was making sure I had enough information before I put something out. And then a big part of it was analysis is paralysis. I felt like I was overanalyzing stuff. It took a little growing to realize there’s no time better than the present.”
Now that people are finally hearing the song, which was released Sept. 22, Kupid is hearing from them, and they’re saying they can’t wait for more music to follow.
“It makes me want to keep the ball rolling,” he says. “It almost feels like relief, especially after I’ve been holding it out for so long. I was damn near putting myself through pain just keeping it because I’ve been wanting to release it for a hot minute now.”
Kupid plans to release another single around the end of October and will drop the full project around the start of the new year. It’s part of a larger effort to meld his music with his fashion because “one doesn’t necessarily exist without the other,” he says.
“I’ve been in my dad’s sneaker closet since I was in seventh grade,” he says. “I’m just trying to pay homage and use my talents in both areas and hopefully expand myself. The best way when it comes to making music is just living life and not stealing but taking from other great pieces of art. That’s how great artists and great people make great things. I’m a big pop culture reference fan. I’m a big anime head as well. You can definitely find a lot of that in my raps.”
Make sure to stay connected to Kupid on all platforms for new music, videos and social posts.
Upcoming 100: How do you balance experimenting with new sounds and styles while still maintaining your unique artistic identity?
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