9 April 2019
Eric Friedberg
“You could you be the first rapper who doesn’t cheat,” a YouTube commenter says in K Freeze’s newest music video “Live it Up.”
“Being a male right now in college, it is hard as it is being faithful to your girlfriend, but to add on the way some people get when you have a little fame, but yeah I think I could be,” said K Freeze with a big grin while reacting to the comment.
K Freeze’s real name is Kimba Kyambalesa, and he is an undeclared freshman at UCCS who is trying to make a name for himself in Colorado Springs and break away from any negative stereotypes about being an artist in the rap game today.
K Freeze knew he wanted to pursue music at the age of nin; a hobby of poetry quickly took a backseat when friends of his started to become rappers in high school. Since then, K Freeze has released singles on Spotify and has been working with producers from Denver to try and polish up his sound.
His music is positive and uplifting, the lyrics focusing heavily on being faithful to your significant other and being grateful for the time you have.
“I don’t try and fabricate anything, it’s just my life,” said K Freeze.
But K Freeze’s music was not always like this; he used to go by the name “K Money” and produced music that was much more aggressive.
“It was a combination of drill and little trap style, much more flashy, kinda like The Migos. I used to curse and now I don’t, I just wanted to be more positive. I started to notice a lot of younger people were looking up to me,” said K Freeze.
Not only did the shift in style and attitude change the way K Freeze made people look at him, but it also changed his outlook on life.
“I wanted to show people that I can rap without cursing, it was a challenge,” he said. “When you’re doing songs for the girls, it’s easy not to curse, but when you’re doing a song like “Bless Me,” it challenged my vocabulary and description of my life.”
“Bless me” was K Freeze’s first song released in 2019, hitting the tone off right for the year. Many rappers may question K Freeze’s upright positive morals through lyrical content and demeanor.
But K Freeze is up for the risk and attempts to change and break the stereotypes rap artists fall under.
“Artists are portrayed in a way that makes them incapable of being good people. It gives me hope that I could be that person that helps steer away that stereotype,” said K Freeze.
Diving into the business side of music, K Freeze remains undecided, but is tentatively thinking about going into a Bachelor of Innovation for music to learn more about how we can grow his Record Label Bless Up Records, a record label that puts artists under K Freeze’s wing.
“I want to create a music industry in Colorado. There’s a lot of talent out there, and with a lot of people in your corner you can achieve a lot. There’s a lot of artists that I’m working with. I try to teach them about their publishing and royalties. I want to empower artists down here.”