{"id":12034,"date":"2021-04-24T21:05:22","date_gmt":"2021-04-25T02:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=12034"},"modified":"2026-05-07T16:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:04:31","slug":"winnipeg-state-of-mind-kairo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2021\/04\/24\/winnipeg-state-of-mind-kairo\/","title":{"rendered":"Winnipeg State of Mind :: Kairo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

by Nigel Webber<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe only man I hold weight for\u201d – Ghostface Killah\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kairo is a student, but he\u2019s also a teacher. The Winnipeg rapper is\u00a0 constantly learning about hip-hop history, cultural traditions from his\u00a0 homeland in Trinidad, and even lessons from his ancestors in Africa. But\u00a0 Kairo is also using that knowledge in his own music, to connect it to his\u00a0 past and to teach a younger generation that may have yet to discover the importance of figures like Haile Selassie. Kairo’s conscious style but street-savviness makes him one of the most interesting up and coming rappers in Winnipeg today.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Born and bred in Winnipeg\u2019s Maples area, Kairo\u2019s introduction to hip-hop\u00a0 came at an early age through classic cultural touchstones like the original\u00a0 Space Jam movie soundtrack, including the timeless posse cut \u201cHang \u2018Em\u00a0 High.\u201d By high school, Kairo was writing raps and discovering on his own\u00a0 the stories of Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party, and Marcus Garvey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u00a0 was learning about the history of the African griot which really brought\u00a0 together the two worlds he found himself deeply invested in. Historically in\u00a0 West African cultures, a griot acted as a repository of knowledge and oral\u00a0 histories of their larger family, bringing with them their knowledge and\u00a0 traditions while being captured and enslaved. Kairo believes that as a\u00a0 descendant of those peoples, he is a modern day representation of a griot,\u00a0 saying, \u201cI feel like it\u2019s important for me to incorporate that into my music so\u00a0 the next generation has some sort of connection to that realm.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kairo\u00a0 stresses the importance of learning about and becoming familiar with his\u00a0 Trinidadian culture, noting, \u201cthat connection to my heritage really keeps me\u00a0 going on a lot of days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What keeps Kairo going musically is the Wu Tang Clan. While he cites a\u00a0 cavalcade of classic hip-hop artists as influences, from KRS One to Mos\u00a0 Def, Kairo keeps coming back to the significance of Wu Tang on his rap\u00a0career. He notes that his first ever rap show was seeing Wu Tang\u2019s the GZA\u00a0 at the Pyramid in 2011, conveniently also a nice introduction to some of\u00a0 Winnipeg\u2019s local rap groups at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Kairo had been working on music previously, it was his meeting with producer Hoopaloop in 2018 that really sparked something in both artists. Hoopaloop, who was previously profiled in \u201cWinnipeg State of Mind\u201d in 2020, said of Kairo, \u201che\u2019s got a lot to say in his music, that\u2019s what I like, an artist who really focuses on the conscious side of stuff, with a bigger message.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collaboration of Hoop\u2019s old school boom bap style beats with Kairo laid back conscious flow brought out the inner Wu Tang in Kairo. Since 2018, Kairo and Hoopaloop have put out a long list of singles, a five song EP, and the video for \u201cRadiate,\u201d a song that came out of their first session together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kairo makes sure it\u2019s noted that while he and Hoop have only been making music together for a few years, much of the content that is now gracing our ears was a long time in the works for both of them, saying that some of the raps were written many years prior to the songs ultimately being released. An oral historian holding on to a story until it has the proper avenue to be told in, a modern day griot at heart Kairo is thoroughly dedicated to getting his message out there, knowing that he has generations of ancestors behind him as support. As Kairo says, \u201cBeing a voice to the voiceless is a big inspiration for me and a reason why I write the way I do.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buoyed by the support of a strong producer in Hoopaloop, Kairo has\u00a0 become one of Winnipeg\u2019s more political rappers. Describing the writing of\u00a0 overtly political songs like \u201cNever Back Down\u201d or \u201cSound of the Police\u201d as\u00a0 therapy, Kairo is quick to point to music as a way to feel connected to\u00a0 something larger when nothing else makes sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While quoting a line\u00a0 from 2Pac about planting seeds so the next generation can grow, Kairo\u00a0also acknowledges the younger generation is an inspiration for him,\u00a0 specifically a younger cousin of his who is involved in organizing the\u00a0 Justice for Black Lives Winnipeg movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kairo stakes a claim to his role defiantly, saying that, \u201cthere\u2019s always gotta be some protest music,\u201d ultimately bringing up the revolutionary music and life of Fela Kuti as yet another inspiration. Kairo writes music that connects the past, both recent and distant, with the present of modern day Winnipeg in a visceral way that leaves the listener reflecting on their own relationship to that history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kairo knows that despite all his research and readings, he is a product of  Winnipeg, a city in which he sees a lot of promise but also celebrates the  working class nature of. Critical of a lack of industry support, Kairo explains  that Winnipeg can support the new generation of up and coming rappers  but comments with a laugh, \u201cWinnipeg\u2019s just going to be a hustlin\u2019-ass city.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Nigel Webber \u201cThe only man I hold weight for\u201d – Ghostface Killah\u00a0 Kairo is a student, but he\u2019s also a teacher. The Winnipeg rapper is\u00a0 constantly learning about hip-hop history, cultural traditions from his\u00a0 homeland in Trinidad, and even lessons from his ancestors in Africa. But\u00a0 Kairo is also using that knowledge in his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12034"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12036,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12034\/revisions\/12036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}