This signature blend of hard and soft has become more integrated into the fabric of his being. In fact, they are becoming more difficult to separate; replaced by a more fluid and subjective state. Keith’s evolution as an artist is now more focused on moving towards the experimental. His sound, as well as his sense of self, is expanding.
Since moving from ATL to NYC, Keith has been charting unknown territory. He’s moved beyond music and has successfully landed some pretty major modeling gigs, lending his face to the likes of American Eagle, Nike and Asics just to name a few; and has even opened up about potential plans to get into acting this year as well.
I caught up with Keith over the phone as he wrapped up a jazz piano lesson, a class he’s been taking since the summer.
“This is a joy in my life that I only could have hoped for since we last spoke” he says, still playing a few notes casually in the background. When asked about his foray into modeling, he replied, “It’s a two-fold blessing. I’d always wanted to be able to live off of my music. My music still supports me, but when I first got out to NY and didn’t really know anybody or have anyone to talk to, I felt alone. My music was the only thing that supported me.”
Keith recounts how, although he still had streaming checks coming in, he had to be conservative with his money. “That’s how I supported myself for the first year,” he said. However, he quickly discovered that NY had much more to offer when it came to his development as an artist.
“When you put yourself out there, people more times than not want to help you. They want to see you win. They want to see you succeed. There were so many people asking me to do photo shoots when I got here, and that’s how I made a lot of friends. Posting my pictures to Instagram led people to think that I modeled, which led me to modeling.”
Keith’s modeling buzz grew while touring in Europe with the Montreal-based band, Homeshake, comprised of musicians Peter Sagar, Greg Napier, Mark Goetz and Brad Loughead. “I came home and, I don’t know, niggas was hittin’ me up to model.”
Modeling wasn’t the only pivotal moment in Keith’s career though. After hearing him talk more about his European tour run, it became evident that this experience was life-changing for him as an artist. Keith grew exponentially while touring with Homeshake and formed a close bond with the Canadian band. “Musically, I picked up so much from them. All of these guys are excellent musicians and amazing people. Me and my tour manager, Larry, went and hung out with them even after we finished touring because we just genuinely missed each other. These guys get down!”
Keith has never shied away from praising other rising artists for their talents and accomplishments. In fact, he’s the reason I know about Seattle-based rap group Ugly Frank, featuring one of my favorite artists to date, Khris P. The same sentiment was true for this conversation. He was still putting me on to new artists.
“Have you heard of Command?” he asked, excitedly.
“I’ve seen Morian (Keith’s manager at Above All Else Management), post about him a few times, but I haven’t gotten around to listening to him yet” I replied.
“Listen to Command, bro. That nigga’s bout to blow the fuck up!” he says, emphatically. Command is crafting a more experimental sound as well. A similar direction that Keith himself has been going in for a while now.
Bomber: Nyoon, Turtleneck: Juun 
Even so, it’s been a challenge for him to reconcile his former self as an artist with the artist he’s now becoming. During his European tour, he mostly performed older songs that he’s become known for. Songs he put out in his early twenties that still resonate strongly with fans. For a moment, he struggled with whether or not to continue making music he knew people already liked, or to move forward with his new sound.
“While it did reflect me at that time, at 23, it doesn’t reflect me now. But all of that music is what people know me for. That’s how I got paid. I was kind of scared at first, thinking, what if people don’t really get what I’m trying to do? I’m using real drums, I’m using real instruments, and what if people don’t really get it, and it’s all over? But that’s a negative narrative” he ultimately decided. “There’s new music to be made.”
Surprisingly, it wasn’t until recently that Keith performed at his first ever U.S. music festival; HOCO Fest in Tucson, AZ.
“I’d done 9 or 10 festivals overseas and still hadn’t really played any festivals back home (in the states)”, he said. When asked about his thoughts on the reception he’s received overseas versus here in the states, he stated that it ultimately boiled down to business over support.
“It’s not about support. It’s business. You have your fan base where you have your fan base, and you gotta’ go to where your fan base is. Fans over there, they go hard, but the fans over here go hard too. I’ve always appreciated everyone who’s listened to me and listened to AWFUL (AWFUL Records). I do appreciate everybody who supports overseas. I don’t think it’s easier, necessarily. I think touring overseas is a bit harder, especially where they don’t speak English.”
This led us to a discussion about some of the major differences he noticed when it came to fashion and music in general while he was touring.
“I had so much fun on this last tour,” he said dreamily, listing Newcastle, Glasgow and Stuttgart as some of his favorite tour stops.
“Niggas in London have a completely different swag. I love how people in London and Berlin dress. They kind of dress in a more sombre way…maybe it’s reflective of their weather? That may come from my Americanized point of view, but I just love their whole vibe. Very slender. Germany’s very militant – lots of long coats and combat boots,” he said.
In terms of how fashion was used as a way to express gender, Keith noticed a significant difference between America and cities like Berlin, for instance, that really stood out.
“While I was in Berlin, I saw cats who were outside of the techno clubs in Berghain and the way they dress is very, very different; but very swag. They embrace femininity.”
With so much tension swirling around gender identity in America today, it’s somewhat sobering to hear how individuals in other countries openly explore gender through fashion, challenging gender roles and redefining themselves through their everyday wear. For many people in Europe, individual style could not be defined as masculine or feminine, but rather an intricate, yet fluid marriage of both.
I asked Keith how he felt about expressions of masculinity in fashion, especially now through the lens of a working model in NYC. He playfully replied, “One of the most masculine things you can do is be like, ‘I don’t give a fuck what you think. Yeah, I got eyeliner on.”
Fashion, at least from Keith’s perspective, is something that in itself is fluid and should be used as a tool to create and recreate yourself as you please.
“I don’t give a fuck what another nigga wear. You can be bummy as fuck but I can be like, I like how you slouch your shirt. You can look like you just got beat up, but I rock with that. You have to understand the dichotomy. You have to dress the part even to maneuver well. It’s not, not being yourself. It’s a fluid thing” he said.
“You aren’t one thing. A lot of last year was me finding out that I wasn’t just super confident or just introverted or just extroverted. I’m not these amalgamations of my inspirations. I’m not these combinations of events that occur. I am everything at once and what aspect of being I choose to be in the moment is sufficient.”
The idea of creating more space within yourself to become more of yourself is a theme that comes up over and over again with Keith. While on the surface it may appear that he is reinventing himself and becoming someone new, in reality, he is just finding new ways to dive deeper into parts of himself he’s already aware of. It’s almost as if he is constantly building out lesser developed parts of himself to become more of the things he already values about himself in the first place.
Keith’s success has led some to believe that he’s now different somehow – a common misnomer in the age of the internet. “I’ve always been this. I’m still a nerd, but I’ve found more and more ways to be this. I’m challenging myself to be more of who I already am, and my personal style goes with that.”
Having struggled with his own past obsessions over how other people perceived him, he admits that these thoughts can become debilitating. He’s learned over time the gift of being unique and has simply found new ways to channel that.
“If you feel like you don’t fit in and life is showing you that you don’t fit in, know there’s nothing wrong with not fitting in” he says. “Don’t force it. Whatever you’re feeling right now, feel that because there’s something to be gained from that.”
In fact, Keith’s personal style can also be said to serve as a reflection of where he is in his current creative process. When he has dynamic characters in his head, he often creates looks associated with those characters.
“Style is such an instant thing when it comes to how you view yourself” he says. “It even helps me create music in a sense. I can instantly see what I’m envisioning of myself and it’s the same with music. When I have a fully fleshed out character of Keith Charles, that’s usually when I’m making new stuff every day.”
Beyond helping him produce new material, Keith’s sense of style acts as a living, breathing symbol that represents specific parts of his personality that he wishes to express at various times.
“Some of the things I buy I know I’m gonna have for years now. I might wear the same things in different videos only because I want people to get that it’s me. These pieces go into my character. I love when other artists have something that’s so staple, you know it’s them. I’m still looking for something like that for me, but until then, I’m basing it off characters and different reflections of me” he says. “I think of styling for visuals kind of like how you select a player on Tekken or something. I’m just trying to choose my fighter for every video.”
However, he does reveal that he prays for a day where he gets to wear a big hat or grow a signature mustache like Pharrell. Something that’s unique to him that instantly and consistently sets him apart as an artist.
Furthermore, as a black artist, it’s become increasingly important to perpetuate the notion of being unapologetically yourself. We’ve been taught for so long that there’s some sort of taboo around black pride, but luckily, the majority of today’s black youth culture simply doesn’t subscribe to that.
“I’m trying to find a way to make black cool from my point of view. Black was always cool, and I’m trying to make sure it stays that way.”
Taken from Issue 01.
Photography: Micaiah Carter
Styling: Isaiah Walls
