Meet Kalia Richardson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kalia Richardson.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Kalia. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I always wrote poetry on and off throughout my whole life. I remember my boyfriend in high school being one of the first people I shared my work with. He told me I should try rapping and I just disregarded the thought. Fast forward to my freshman year in college, I decided to try it. I made a rap and posted a video on twitter to see how people would react.

To my surprise, people gave me a lot of positive feedback which made me want to create more. I realized I was still creating poetry but with a more enhanced feeling brought to the audience with just adding a beat to my poetry. I began to discover my love for music which made me want to continue to pursue this.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Nothing good comes easy. I’m only at the beginning of my path, but I’ve came across some roadblocks I’ve had to get over. I always have myself to battle as I am my biggest critic. I find myself to be a perfectionist especially when it comes to my craft. It has to be right, and I will work on a song or verse until I feel it is right. That can be very time-consuming.

Also, I have had people in the San Diego area who have tried to take advantage of me because I’m fairly new to this. There is a lot to learn, and everybody doesn’t always take the time to learn. I am still in the process of learning. And finally, the biggest struggle I face being a female rapper is trying to get people to see me for my work and not my looks or my body.

A lot of times people only wanna work with me in hoes of us steering away from the business aspect. I want to be recognized for my work not because I’m pretty.

We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I am an MC. The MC is one of the four elements that make up the foundation for hip-hop. They are the ones with the words who do the storytelling. I love to focus on my lyrics and the message and the story. That’s what makes it art, the way you can put words in an order and spark emotions.

I am most proud of that, the fact that I can do this and the fact that I write it all by myself. I also feel like that’s what separates me from a lot of other rappers nowadays. We are in a generation where the beat is more important to some listeners than the words.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would have started taking my craft more serious when I was younger. That’s the only thing I don’t like that I did because there’s no telling where I would be at now.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy5Bo8KZHvUACB0rqHUEkhw?view_as=subscriber
• Email: bookings4kalia@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yokalia
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kalia.richardson
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/yokalia
• Other: soundcloud.com/kuhleeehuh

Image Credit:
OCDTeeVee, Lee Hernandez

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