Interview: Renaissance Woman Keirrah King

Keirrah King is young, beautiful, talented and very busy. We recently spoke about art and career.

MCL: You were born in Rochester, New York. How did you come to Buffalo?

KK: I was born in the city of Rochester but moved to the small suburbs of Henrietta at age 5, so I have minimal street cred lol. I originally came to Buffalo for college and because I didn't wanna be too far from home but I needed to leave. In 2013, I got my own place on the West side and started attending ECC where I learned a lot about myself and got more in touch with my individuality. It's been 3 years now. . . so throughout that time I came to recognize the mass appreciation of art, love and music and I finally felt at home here. I love Buffalo.

MCL: You want to combine Social Work with Art Therapy. Sounds interesting. Please elaborate.

KK: At the end of my senior year of high school, I took a college readiness class; we had to take a personality test to see what occupation we would best fit in. My results said that I would make a great counselor, which I agreed with. I grew up watching Law and Order SVU and really aspired to be a detective just like Olivia, but I didn't wanna get shot at . . . so social work fit. I've always loved art and people, generally, so my goal is to combine counseling and art in therapeutic ways which could potentially bring understanding of self and peers, resulting in unity of the community.

MCL: When and how did you get into modeling?

KK: I've been modeling for almost two years now and it's worked well for me. I wanted to model since I was a wee lad. I grew up watching America's Next Top Model and Tyra Banks was one of my idols, not because of her career but because of the worldliness, empowerment and positivity that she presented, especially on her talk show. My mom would enter me in casting calls for commercials, which never worked out ... but my first real shoot was at 18 with a friend from Rochester, Bryan Sampson. He is extremely talented and successful and I'm so proud of him! I started doing shows in the summer and I'm super tall so it worked out. The rest is history.

MCL: Do you find modeling a difficult business?

KK: I personally don't find modeling itself difficult, it's more of what comes with it. I've had the fortune of meeting so many beautiful men and women, both on and behind the scenes. But there are a lot of egos! And I'm not necessarily talking about the models.... Overall it's super fun.

MCL: You're an artist as well. What kind of art do you focus on?

KK: Yes, I've always had an attraction to art and writing. I don't really focus on any one type of art, I love it all. I think anything is art. A baby throwing a plate of food at the wall is art. A broken watch lying in pieces on the ground . . . I could say the kinds of art that I gravitate to are Surrealism, Dadaism, Impressionism, Abstract-Modern. Also, transgressive art; something I learned which is art that is very, very offensive and makes you question if it's even art in the first place, or if it's meant to be. Along with this I find Dadaism very inspiring and perplexing. My favorite artist might be Basquiat because he was young, black and extremely talented and careless about what he did; more primitive and raw kinds of artwork.

MCL: Describe your art?

KK: I don't like labels BUT I can say that most of my sketches and paintings come out figuratively. I enjoy drawing man and women, usually portraits that I give away to people. I like to portray depth and familiarity. My subjects are usually in the middle of something or look as if there's a story behind them. I want to mention Nathan Naetzker and give him a lot of credit for polishing my techniques in painting and drawing! He teaches at ECC City and he acted as my Yoda for 2 semesters, he's amazing. I've also been experimenting lately with animator's clay, cardboard boxes and I plan on making a collage. I've also had the pleasure of working with Jarael Adams of Paint the Town. They have Paint Parties at their gallery on Allen, which is opening the community up to expressing themselves, allowing visual artists to perfect their craft with their studio sessions

MCL: You're a songwriter as well. Please tell us the inspirations of your music?

Do you have a specific style?

KK: I've been writing songs since elementary school, but at the time they had no depth to them. I remember dedicating a whole notebook to my songs and me and my friend would go back and forth everyday with what we wrote. Some were for singing and others for rapping; which start as poems for me. Growing up I was exposed to a lot of music between what came on MTV/VH1 and what my mom played. She's old school so I was exposed to a lot of Motown hits and smooth R&B from my sister. I recall her buying The Temptations movie and me and my sister loved it so much; she said "You guys haven't watched BET in a week!" So I'm super inspired by the funk of the 60s and 70s, 90s hip hop and early 2000s neo-soul. The content was so pure. I don't think I have any one style; I listen to a lot of different kinds of music so I can't be linear.

MCL: Who would be your influences in singing and songwriting?

KK: Some women that I give high props to would be Nelly Furtado, MIA, and Lauren Hill, sonically. I also have mad love for Lylo Gold from the UK and BaeGod out of Cali, they're special. Kilo Kish from NYC, Doja Cat, Tamara Renee. These are all independent ladies that I found from Soundcloud, they're extremely talented. I'm also obsessed with Syd's voice from The Internet, it's crazy. I actually found that singing her songs all the time trained my vocal range. And to avoid being sexist some of my male influences would be: Iman Omari, Curtis Mayfield. My soundcloud has a few songs on there but I probably won't put up anymore until I can get organized and plan something musically.

MCL: Finally ... Promote yourself. What's your plans for 2016/2017? Any upcoming events?

KK: There is a lot going on! I wanna continue breaking my personal barriers, continue being healthy mentally and spiritually, continue doing things I deemed impossible for myself. And I can't really promote myself without promoting others! I like to recognize and appreciate people for how they've helped me. Steven Bales is having a show this Fall and it's sure to be a banger, keep an eye on some creative things happening with the United Melanin Society in the community, they have a pretty big project coming up. I also have some pieces I want to finish and a movement that I'm trying to start ... Floyd Baker is having a show, and I should be doing some collaborations and getting my Bachelor's in the Spring. Musically, I want to keep branching out of my comfort zone. I also was an extra in a film that I'm waiting to come out, hopefully this summer! My main goal of this year is to keep spreading love and light, keep traveling and try to be better than I was the day before.

So far 2016 is looking more musical to me ... I've done a lot of modeling . . . but sonically I have a lot to say and express and I plan on releasing some videos and taking part in an Open Mic event in NYC in June! My next piece is gunna be experimental, me and some friends just raw and having a good time. I think as of now it's called RAW,DAWG

On soundcloud and Instagram Keirra King can be found at: br0wng0ddess

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