Interview: King P Shares Insights on His Musical Journey

Discovering your own musical style is a unique part of every artist’s journey. What sets your music apart? What is unique, or at least uncommon?
• Because I am a true musician first makes me unique. I actually incorporate live instruments in my music. Certain songs I’d record sax parts and other songs I have get a live bass player. Also I prefer my beats to musical with progressions, chords and changes. Some songs don’t need all that and I learned that simple is better so I can have fun on a less musical beat as well.

• Another thing that makes my music unique is the combined style of Hip Hop, Dance Hall, R&B and Pop genres within my music. Certain songs are more dominant in one genre but if you take a listen to my catalog then you’d understand exactly what I mean. All in all I make feel-good music or as the title of one of singles, I make “Good Vibes” music!

“Slip N Slide” is captivating from the start to finish with a combination of unique beats and catchy lyrics. What was the inspiration behind the single?

• THANK YOU!!!!

• Slip N Slide is a fun vibrant song about being on my grind as I quote, “We rock dem shows but they don’t know, these lonely roads, make my dreams unfold!” and I think the first part of the hook says it all melodically, “Straight Vibin, I’m shining, we sticking and rolling….” As it is said in Jamaica, “everything irie” that’ the “straight vibin” part; the “I’m shining” part is the grind coming to light and the “sticking and rolling” part is the fun juke dance style of Miami. To sum it all up, I’m having fun while on my grind! Slip N Slide has the essence of Florida, more specifically, south Florida, particularly a Miami sound. While on my All or Nothing Tour in Los Angeles, California early 2020 (pre-pandemic), just listening to some beats from producer Rockomal of the rap group Suns of Atliens, he played the early stages of this beat and I loved the sound immediately. I wanted to write about LA vibes which I was able to reference a little but the music sounds feels and is Miami. I wrote the 3rd verse and completed the recording of the song in Tallahassee, Florida. We filmed the music video in Miami, Florida on Monday, March 29, 2021 and the video is set to release on Friday May 28, 2021 which is Memorial Day Weekend.

What draws you to your preferred genre?
• Growing up in Miami but also being deeply rooted in the Jamaican culture is what connects me to my sound! Miami is known for fun, vibrant and bounce juking sounds that make you want to dance. Jamaica is known for dance and just pure Good Vibes! Put this background, experiences, sounds and traditions together and through King P, you hear songs like Slip N Slide and Good Vibes and I can’t wait till you hear the songs I have in the vault to be released in the near future!

Which one of your songs has the most memorable story for you? Whether it’s the writing process,
recording sessions or release of the song.

• Good Vibes – On October 1st (missed flight home to Miami and almost couldn’t get another flight) made it to Miami about 11pm and went straight to club Fate where I was a guest appearance for my birthday on October 2nd. We stayed there till about 5 am. From there my friend Camile and I hung out all day and later going to the Ginger Bay restaurant/club before going to the beach and
staying there overnight till midday the next day on October 3rd. As I’m driving, taking Camile home the mood of the song hits me so I call the producer James “Boowie” Murphy and asked if he was available for a session within the next hour; he said yes. “Great, I’ll be there” was my reply. We hung up but he called me back shortly telling me to bring a bottle and asked what vibe I’m looking for so he can already begin to feel it. I described the mood perfectly. When I pulled up to his studio, Boowie had a shell of the Good Vibes beat playing as I walked in and I was smiling ear to ear saying that’s it! We dibble dabbled on the lyrics and before you knew it, we co-wrote GOOD VIBES. It didn’t take long! As we played it back, goosebumps took over my body and I instantly felt like this song will break into the mainstream in a major way.

We made a few more songs that day that had me so caught up, I almost forgot about my flight that I almost missed. I started the release process for Good Vibes immediately; however, I ended up holding the song for a year before releasing after Boowie told me he was shopping the song to major artist. Although that opportunity was huge, I was disappointed. Anyway, months down the line, I had a private listening session with TJ Chapmen, the manager of artists B.O.B. and Trap Becham. When I played Good Vibes, TJ looked at me and said, “what are you waiting on to release this”. I began the Good Vibes campaign soon after and the song began to spread fast as I got calls from everywhere even as far as Germany.

It was two questions that I kept getting asked: 1. Where’s the music video for Good Vibes? 2. Do I have a follow up ready? I had ran out of money at that time so no music video was happening and although I had more songs lined up, no song I thought matched Good Vibes at the time, so no I didn’t have a true follow up to Good Vibes at the time. I just continued to work the song including making Good Vibes merch and launching a series of “Good Vibes shows”. I had a concert at the local premiere club, The Moon with almost 400 people in attendance. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish that concert due to a severe storm randomly hitting that night and turning off power for hours. While continuing to work the song, months later the idea hit to raise money via a Kickstarter campaign so we could film the music video. The goal was $15k and with the support of fans, friends and family we did it! That campaign was intense and hard work, no sleep type of grind! We secured a production team in Jamaica and the rest was history. There were some hiccups on the trip but overall the experience was great and even better the trip allowed me to unite and meet my father’s side of family for the first time in Kingston Jamaica
(https://youtu.be/0CLMQZb-__c). We documented everything, every day of the ten days there we filmed something outside of the Good Vibes set.

How do you go about writing a song? Do you have a melody in your head and then write the other music for it?
• I allow the music to speak; it tells me what to write about based on my emotions and experiences. I never force the creative process, so if I feel nothing, I move on. Sometimes the melody comes first and sometimes the verses come first. The title always comes last and that can change multiple times before finalizing. If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be?
I’m open to collab with anyone as passionate and serious about their music as I am. To collab with the current industry, giants would be amazing. Artists like Drake, Roddy Rich, DJ Khaled, Kanye West, and even Jay Z would be a huge accomplishment! I specifically like Roddy Rich because I see that he is a real musician using orchestras in his live performance. He has a taste for music and musicianship as I do!

What is one message you would give to your fans?
• Learn yourself, love yourself, be true to yourself and everything will fall in place! Good Vibes to the World!

For our final question, is there anything else you would like to add?
• Last but first I want to share my brand statement: King P (born Phillip Solomon Stewart in Miami, Fl.) is a Jamaican-rooted Hip Hop artist and multi-instrumentalist currently residing in Tallahassee, Fl. who delivers an unmatched level of energy through his Dancehall flair.

• WHAT’S NEXT – Featuring in a major film as the star actor and performing on the biggest festival stages as the world opens up from the pandemic are my short-term goals. What’s immediately next for me is the release of my Slip N Slide Music Video on May 28th. Then releasing more music and more already filmed unreleased music videos for songs like Top Notch, Tonight We Party, Aloha and My Life in Time. Then as an independent record label owner (PALACE MUSIC RECORDS aka KINGP ENTERTAINMENT), I have a special artist single and EP we are getting ready to release in the next couple of months. I am very excited about this project just as I am excited about my projects!

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