A CONVERSATION WITH NORWALKS FINEST, KIDDO DUST

The last time I caught up with KIDDO, he was fresh off stage after performing at Rowayton’s Porch Jam. The aura around him spoke for itself. Surrounded by smiling faces clamoring to give props, he looked to be exactly in the right place. Eight months and a couple million plays later, I found myself on the phone with KIDDO to talk music, inspiration, and what’s coming next. 

ELI: You in school still?

KIDDO: Yeah I’m in school, I’m in the music school now so I’m studying music industry.

E: Dope, all the production is you right?

K:  For the most part. Most of my released stuff is honestly not me. But I do produce and that’s something I want to work on for this year. Definitely trying to work on my own production more.

E: Bro you have way more music than I thought you did. You been dropping for a pretty long time.

K: Yeah honestly. It’s been since, my first drop I actually did as KIDDO was probably my Junior year of high school. So it’s been like four years now. But honestly (laughs) I have so much unreleased now.

E: Naturally.

K: Naturally as an artist yeah but also in the past I’ve not been very good at breaking through from a demo to an actual release. That’s one habit I’m trying to break this year. Just getting more music out. 

E: Yeah it’s definitely tough to take those final steps. Getting everything mixed, mastered and presented, doing the roll-out and everything. Speaking of roll-outs, how did Sam come to manage you? That’s like the linking of two goats from the town right there in the same space.

K: So, my older brother was friends with Sam’s older brother. And they would play my music as kind of a joke almost, but then Sam was like ‘wait, this is kind of good’. Sam went to school for music ethics or something. At the time he was trying to get into the music industry, so he kind of just approached me and was like, ‘I’m not really like a manager but I would love to help you out however’. So he’s been my manager for the last three years now.  He helps me out with a bunch of stuff like PR connections… talking to blogs and stuff.

E: You guys have done some shows in the city right?

K: Yeah I had two shows in the city last fall, and then I’m definitely trying to get some more concerts this year. Back in Norwalk I’m gonna be doing porch jam June 8th, and then I’m hyped actually we’re doing a full hour set with Juicebox on the Fourth at the beach.

E: Oh that’s gonna be a vibe that’s fire.

K: Yeah and it’s on the fourth, so that’s fun.

E: One thing I’ve always wondered was where KIDDO came from. I remember seeing a (graffiti) tag on your Instagram a while back before I even knew you made music like that.

K: Yeah, so it’s actually a really funny story. So I was on a trip in Iceland my Junior year of highschool and we took a wrong turn down a road or something and we ended up in like the middle of nowhere. So we started walking around and saw this little house in the distance… so we went up to the house and it said KIDDO DUST spray painted on the side. So the one thing I do feel bad about now is that it could be someone else, but I’ve done so much research and couldn’t find anything. I was there with my brother and he was like, yo that would be a cool rap name. And I had started messing around with music at the time and I really just didn’t overthink it. It sounds corny, but like I kind of felt right so I just went with it. 

E: People in the town really do call you KIDDO now though. You almost made your own nickname. 

K: It’s an alter-ego sort of. I love it.

E: Yeah so I was bumping some of your stuff. Congrats on ‘All Good’ by the way that shit is really massive. 

K: Thank you, thank you,

E: Was there a specific inspo behind that (‘All Good’)? It kinda felt a little Lil Peep, a little new wave hip-hop ish.

K: It was honestly created on a whim, the first line it literally ‘Just woke up”. I remember making that on a Sunday morning in my bedroom. I don’t know it was just such a natural process, it wasn’t over-thought at all. At the time I was honestly just making music for the fun of it. My biggest advice would be don’t overthink it, kind of just going with my creative flow almost. I would say inspo for that track was definitely Mac. I was going for a really raw sound.

E: Yeah I see that for sure. The hook and the bridge definitely go hard.

K: Yeah that was just a raw track. I was honestly messing around trying to use less autotune. So the success in that song has definitely showed me I relied too much on autotune before.

E: Sort of finding your voice.

K: Yeah, it’s kind of more like you can keep the track minimal and you can still find success in it.

E: Did you think that this song was going to see so much success? Like when you dropped it were you like, ‘oh this is going to go ham’.

K: No honestly. It was always my personal favorite of my unreleased though.

E: When did you record it?

K: I would say probably my senior year, right before I got to college. 

E: What did the rollout look like for ‘All Good’?

K: It was absolutely nothing. So basically when you upload to spotify you can pitch songs to playlists. So that song was put on Fresh Finds on Spotify and it just hit the Spotify algorithm. We honestly put no money into that song, that was all natural growth which was crazy to see.

E: From the outside it looked like somebody on TikTok used the hook and ran up the plays then it went crazy from there.

K: No, not even. It was crazy to see. It was so funny actually, I just met someone last week that knew my song. They were like ‘Yo I’ve had your playlist on my phone for the last two years’. 

E: Shoutout to Spotify for real. I was looking through your Discovered On on your Spotify account and it’s crazy to see all the different playlists you’re on.

K: I can see all the playlists like what people title them as and it’s on so many like smoking playlists.

E: Haha, with the leaf emojis.

K: Yeah I think I know what audience I’m targeting with that song and I kind of love it I don’t know.

E: Yeah, that's sick. Sort of comes naturally. 

K: Yeah that’s what I would say. Obviously now before I do rollouts I think about TikTok and how I’m gonna present the song. But that song I didn’t do anything. Maybe I posted it a couple of times, but that was natural growth. That was definitely my introduction to a lot of people.

E: Did you see a lot of growth from that song? Or has it always been steady. Outside of All Good you have a lot of plays and monthly listeners.

K: You know I definitely haven’t been able to find crazy crazy success with that song. But I also kind of attribute that to not all my songs are like ‘All Good’. If someone clicks on my profile there’s only three or four songs like ‘All Good’. So that’s something I’m trying to tap into. My new song ‘Blind’ is like that, a little more rap like that. Laid back.

E: It’s definitely tough to see you rapping too. I see what you mean by pulling some of the autotune away. In your more recent songs you’re really rapping, and singing too which is cool to see.

K: Yeah that’s something I’ve been focused on. Nothing against autotune because I’ve used it in so many songs. But I just feel like there is something in ‘All Good’ that people connected with. I feel like it’s that raw sound, I’m trying to bring that out more. Giving something listeners can connect to, vibe to.

E: Yeah it’s cool to hear a little bit of the music we all listened to growing up. Like the reference is there but you are just being natural with it. 

Going back a little bit, you mentioned letting your creativity do the work. Have you always been a creative person? I’ve always known you as a straight athlete of course, but has there always been that creative itch growing up?

K: Yeah growing up I would put on little concerts for my family. Singing songs that were already out. It definitely hasn’t always been in the same form. But in middle school I was just messing around honestly. I loved rap at the time and I would mess around in GarageBand.

E: That’s the SoundCloud era too. When we all realized we could do it ourselves.

K: Exactly. I was recording voice memos and stuff like that. But it wasn’t until my Freshman year that I found FL Studios and stuff like that. I would sit in my room and watch hours and hours of YouTube videos just teaching myself. I was spending so much time just on YouTube.

E: That’s what our generation will leave behind. Kind of that idea that you can teach yourself to do anything. If you really want to, you can figure it out online.

K: It’s such a gift to have all the resources right there. You’re not paying for anything. Aside from a couple of songs that I have, I’ve recorded everything myself. Most of my releases are recorded, mixed, and mastered by me. 

E: It’s great that you have ownership of it. You’re writing it, performing it, mixing, mastering it. All the percentages lead back to you.

K: In a weird way I love having control over everything myself. 

E: It all fits in the world you’re creating. Like you mentioned having that alter-ego. Who you are online really is an alter-ego where everything needs to be presented a certain way so the message isn’t f***** up.

K: Exactly.

E: Do you have a favorite collaborator you work with?

K: Low key hope this doesn’t sound bad at all but I haven’t been collaborating with anyone. That’s a goal for this year. I honestly wish I had an answer but I don’t. 

E: You got the S on your chest bro. You do it all [Laughs].

K: [Laughs], that’s definitely a goal for this year. More collabs more… I don’t know, I feel like I have good connections with a lot of artists but most of the time when I’m making music it’s honestly by myself.

E: Again that’s genuine though. You’re just making music and putting it out and your creativity is paying you back. It’s not creating for just yourself anymore. 

K: It’s really just self expression in my eyes. I went to the studio today… Being in Miami I’ve been crazy into house music. And I’m trying to make some rap/house hybrid stuff. Everyone obviously goes through music phases in what they’re listening to, genres artists. I do the same thing with my music, you can kind of see through the demos. There’s some indie-rock stuff then some sort of Mac Miller in there. I'm super into house music. I've been making remixes and stuff. So that’s my big thing going forward. Making music that stands out by crossing genres.

E: That’s definitely where music finds itself right now. Guys like Teezo Touchdown and Paris Texas. All of these underground guys popping up now too. It’s kind of a mix of a bunch of genres. I feel like you can’t be too rappy or too vibey. People have already done that so well, so it’s definitely about striking a good blend between everything you like.

K: Obviously you can be successful by doing stuff somebody else is doing, but then you won’t stand out. 

E: Not as genuine either. That’s definitely a strong point in your creativity. You’re super genuine with it.

Who’s your favorite artist right now? You mentioned house music, who have you been bumping?

K: I’ve honestly been listening to everything right now, it’s kind of crazy. Favorite artist right now… I love Lil Yachty. I feel like everyone does. Rap wise and artist/person wise he’s so genuine. Obviously with let’s start here the rock album.

E: That shit took over my entire year. It was my top album from 2023.

K: Yeah it was top three for sure. I love how he embraces everything. That’s how I make music as well. I would make a rock song then make a rap song. He’s not holding back at all putting out good music. He’s definitely in my top. 

E: He’s definitely like you creatively. I listened to an interview where he talks about how much he loves Pink Floyd and other alt rock bands. Like f*** I'm listening to rock so I’m gonna make a rock album. Definitely a similar theme between you two. 

Do you listen to Overmono at all? 

K: Yeah a little bit. I would say Kenny Mason… I’ve been listening to a lot of U.K rap lately. Then just a bunch of like Third eye Blind a bunch of rock stuff. That genre definitely has a special place in my heart. But then yeah a lot of dance stuff, Barry Can’t Swim is really good. Just different vibes all around. honestly that’s the best. Obviously if you love music you’re doing that anyway, but I feel like so many artists are just listening to the same type of music all day. I don’t know, I love drawing creativity from different experiences.

E: Lastly bro, what do you do with your free time? Are you always just locked into the music or is there something else you like to do with your time?

K: It’s uhhhhh it’s a lot of music [Laughs]. That really is the free time to be honest. Just being in Miami, just living life. Beach whenever. 

E: That senior year shit. King shit. 

K: [Laughs] exactly. But let me think I definitely have some stuff. I’ll text you or something. 

Go listen to, ‘Blind’ now streaming on all platforms!