You know Pharrell, you know Andre 3000 and you know TI — but do you know the common link that’s been making moves with them for the last two decades? If not, you’re about to. Meet Kawan Prather, aka KP The Great.
The Dungeon Family descendent has signed and produced some of the biggest stars in music over the last 22 years, gaining Grammys and shifting the scope of culture. Currently with Pharrell’s I Am Other and fresh off a DJ gig at ComplexCon, we caught up with the ATL vet to hear about his taste in footwear, his city’s contributions to hip hop fashion and where he thinks music is going next.
Nice Kicks: For anyone out there that’s new to you and your work both on the scene and behind the scenes, tell us a little bit about yourself.
KP The Great: My name is Kawan Pather. I DJ as KP the Great and I’ve been doing A&R for about 22 years. I started as a member of The Dungeon Family as a DJ for the group Parental Advisory. I moved onto the record business through Pebbles and LA Reid who told me I was an A&R really and they groomed me professionally.
I signed TI, Usher, Pink, TLC and John Legend. I produced “Green Light” by John Legend and Andre 3000 and I got my first Grammy last year for writing credits on Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright.”
Nice Kicks: Impressive. The A&R position is one that seems like it’s changed a lot over time. How has the job evolved for you?
KP The Great: When I first started doing A&R, I was doing it, but I didn’t know it. What Pebbles and LA Reid told me is that I was the guy who would find people whether they rapped, sung, wrote songs or was an engineer. I was introducing talented people to the process so they told me that my taste was on. For me that was easy because I was a DJ — I knew what people liked. They basically showed me how to use that as a school. To me, A&Ring has evolved but it’s kind of a subjective thing depending on what the person needs.
I think the view of what an A&R is has been blurred based on the people who have done it have been. If you’ve had a great story with an A&R you see them flourish, if you hear a horror story people don’t trust the process because they heard of somebody get hurt.
Nice Kicks: Coming up in the Dungeon Family, what was influencing your style at that time?
KP The Great: We’re from Atlanta and we kind of came up watching the cool people from the ’80s which were the trap stars of that era. They were wearing the freshest velour sweatsuits, the FILAs, it was the Southern drug dealer look. For me, there’s still no better shoe than an all-white Air Jordan 4. For me that’s fun and success — everything that goes with a Jordan — and they look great.
Nice Kicks: Aside from the Jordan 4, which models are getting burn for you today?
KP The Great: In my new adult comfort I’m wearing Nike runners because I travel a lot, but any Nike Huarache or any Jordan model up to 11 still work pretty much anywhere for me. Now that my friends make shoes I rock the Human Race NMDs from Pharrell and Yeezy Boosts. I’ve partially fallen in love with the Yeezys because they cost so much that I’ve gotta get my burn from them. [Laughs]
Nice Kicks: Speaking of your friends, from Andre to TI to Pharrell you get to see some pretty diverse fashion senses up close and personal.
KP The Great: The beauty of it is I get to see extremes from people who are dedicated to their thought process. If you look at Andre, he really is trying to think left at all times. His style is the same. Instead of him going to do a deal with Nike or adidas, he’s working with Tretorn because Tretorn meant something to him. Being from Atlanta, the prep movement was a real thing. People were walking around in tennis sweaters, tennis shorts and Tretorn shoes with Benneton bags with tennis rackets in them — not because they were playing tennis, because if in case you got into a fight you had a tennis racket. [Laughs] That meant enough to him that he wanted to go out and work with them to make a shoe that he could wear today.
With TI his style is about being immaculately sharp. Everything is in place, everything is crisp. It’s trap success.
If you look at Pharrell, it’s funny to me because he wears the most expensive things that don’t look like they’re about the money. One day I picked up a watch he had laying on the boards and asked him if I could have one if he ever got another. Everybody else in the room laughed because they knew what it was and how much it cost. His taste is so good that it ends up being expensive, but not because he’s trying to get the most expensive things.
Nice Kicks: On the subject of Andre, he discussed in his GQ story that he really has to be moved to jump on a record. How’d you make “Green Light” happen?
KP The Great: It was funny, ironically I just called him. Me and my homeboy were working together at the time. I had just been fired from Sony but I was still John Legend’s A&R. I took it back, me and Malay took it back and produced what it should sound like. After we finished I felt like Dre would do it so I called him thinking the worst he could say is no. He hit me back soon with, ‘Oh, I like this! I think I can do it!’ That might have been the day after Christmas. In my head I thought the process might be a month or two because I don’t know if he’s moved moved. Three days later he hits me to see if we can get studio time the next day which happens to be New Year’s Eve. I cancelled my plans and he went in and killed it.
For me at least, I know him well enough to know what the goal is. For him the goal is to do something he hasn’t done. If people see something working they tend to want to do more of that. But really if they just like that thing you should give them that and do something else so you’re not judged by the existing model.
Nice Kicks: Wise words. Moving back to style, we’re at an odd spot in regards to hip hop fashion because there are now many active rappers in their 30s and 40s. Who do you think has aged well in the genre when it comes to clothing?
KP The Great: Hip hop is also only 44 years old so it’s the first generation of adults in hip hop. You can’t really judge it because it hasn’t happened yet, it’s happening right in front of us. You’ve gotta say Puff because of his maturation into adulthood and business his fashion reflects all of that, but it doesn’t lose relating to someone we see as hip hop.
Nice Kicks: Looking back to when you were coming up in the Dungeon Family, from Cee Lo to Big Boi the outfits were everywhere. How did you see your movement influencing fashion in and out of the genre?
KP The Great: Anything being Atlanta turned into fashion — the thats, the jerseys. Before it was just FILA, but then you started seeing Khujo, Big Gipp and Andre figuring out they didn’t care about those things anymore. It opened up the space so now that a Future or a Young Thug make sense and make sense at the front row of a fashion show. Gipp was rocking shows in velvet shorts with curtain shingles hanging off the bottom and rocking show. The influence that had opened things up so you can have a Trinidad James or a Migos.
Nice Kicks: Coming up what was the first pair of shoes of article of clothing you bought with a music check?
KP The Great: A pair of white Air Force 1s and an Oakland A’s jersey.
Nice Kicks: Conversely, was their anything back in the day you had to have and now you look back on as wack or silly?
KP The Great: Damaged! The blue jean suit Damaged made or the ones Paco made. I couldn’t wait to get it then and now it just looks silly. I wanted it because Bobby Brown wore it in the New Edition reunion video. [Laughs]
Nice Kicks: On the flip side of that, any kicks you still regard as a grail?
KP The Great: I still want a pair of Ballys. It’s 1000% because I was a fan of the Kangol Crew — Slick Rick and Dana Dane!
Nice Kicks: Very nice. Moving back to music, as diverse as the Dungeon Family still is, you’ve really taken it to a new space of artistry of all sorts with I Am Other. Tell us how working with Pharrell and the stable of young talent has been for you.
KP The Great: It’s amazing man. This past weekend we did ComplexCon which is all types of culture at this point, but fashion and music for the most part. I was able to DJ a set and bring artists that I like from all levels. I had Leikeli47 and Big KRIT, then I also had Migos, Kap G and more I Am Other artists. What I realized is it’s all the same when you have all these people in the same room with the same intent to be dope. To see Bushwick Bill talking to Leikeli47 saying how much he liked her music was mind blowing. With I Am Other I think what we’re trying to do is bring together all the people that may be considered weirdos in some space and make something great. The things that come out of it are the prize of it all. With fashion it’s the same. You can make something new when you’re inspired by something.
Nice Kicks: Looking at the new wave of hip hop artists, as a DJ is their anyone who you really like or relate to?
KP The Great: My personal favorite new artist that I identify with? I’ve gotta go with ASAP Ferg. He’s bringing newness to my aesthetic. I can identify with that and see it very clearly. Right now I love “Plain Jane” and the new DJ Premier record they have. I do a thing on my Spotify weekly where I put five new records I like and that’s gotta go on there. It sounds like it could’ve been made in ’98 but it hits hard like it’s made today. Ferg is like an Air Force 1 — you can rock one of his records anywhere. They go off in any venue because he’s fundamental.
Nice Kicks: Ferg brought back the Three Six Mafia flow on “Plain Jane.” Are their any unarchived flows that remain too unique to every be brought back?
KP The Great: I think the Das-Efx flow was so unique that it could never be brought back. They might be the only people where you could say they had their own flow and nobody took it. I think it’s time for some new flows. I don’t want anybody else to sound like the Migos because Migos does it best. For hip hop it’s about emotion and I want to hear a flow that captures an emotion. Ferg, Andre 3000, they find pockets that nobody else can use and I’d love to hear more people do that.
Nice Kicks: Flute caught on in 2017, what do you see as the next trend for hip hop moving into 2018?
KP The Great: Tempo. I think people are starting to realize that they can’t just be the same tempo and slow all day. I think people are starting to have fun. They’re feeling better, they’re getting inspired by music and not trying to be depressed by music. The tempo is up. I hope that’s where it’s going.
I actually think Leikeli47 will benefit from that. She’s been on tempo and I think she understands it. She can rhyme over tempo and actually ride the beat. I think that’s gonna help filter out some of the whacker writers. To find melody in those tempos is more difficult.
Nice Kicks: Lastly, any advice for someone looking to make it in the music game?
KP The Great: Trust your actual gut, be yourself and be great.
