Kyle, known more unambiguously as SuperDuperKyle, but formerly as K.i.D, is a 21-year-old rapper that hails from Ventura, California. Hearing the kid’s cartoon-esque flow for the first time can be jarring — the influence of the Valley on his speech is unmistakable and he approaches his music with a sense of silliness that can at a glance undercut the resourcefulness he displays when he skillfully strides over a beat. He doesn’t take any steps to wave away criticisms of his unconventional style either, instead doubling down by delivering an endless buffet of cheese and corn through his constantly squawking voice. Kyle doesn’t seem interested in noticing what any tastemaker is doing. His music isn’t a conversation – it’s a full frontal blitz of his undeniably rare-in-rap voice that he wears so proudly it’s difficult not to live vicariously through him. Thankfully, interested parties can see Kyle live on Tuesday at The New Parish.
2015 has been good to the notoriously goofy hip-hop artist, who scored his biggest feature to date on Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment’s massive free album Surf. Landing the closing verse on album highlight “Wanna Be Cool,” Kyle sings the praises of confidence and warns against using wealth as a measure of self-worth — doing so in his usual fashion of spunky one-liners and youth culture signifiers that somehow coalesce into surprisingly poignant statements, best exemplified by the line “If you don’t get re-tweets, it don’t mean you say less.”
Beyond his collaboration with Chance the Rapper and Big Sean, Kyle’s circle of notable friends extends to include the Bay Area’s own IAMSU! and G-Eazy, the latter of whom he went on tour with early last year. With his newest release, October’s sparkling SMYLE, Kyle is prime to escape the orbit of his more famous peers. Album highlights “Don’t Want to Fall in Love” and “Endless Summer Symphony” sound like Giraffage songs funneled through the world of Super Mario Sunshine with Kyle bouncing off the beat to fight off haters like their Piranha Plants. The video for the former song features Kyle’s charismatic charm in full force, with his extremely gregarious personality shining through scenes of hyper-competitive video-gaming and literal relationship boxing.
Meanwhile the powerful penultimate album track Remember Me? is a fresh take on a well-trodden subject, with Chance the Rapper expertly delivering the track’s soft mantra of a hook. The pace of the song underscores a new side of the rapper, one that channels his trademark cheekiness towards bitter sentiments against past friends who weren’t there for him until his profile began to rise. The song marks the point where the non-stop sugar rush of SMYLE suddenly gives way to raw riffs like “Don’t try to eat with me now/If you couldn’t starve with me then,” and “You’re hearts so much bigger ever since I made it big.”
Both sides of the improbably complex rapper represent a character who naturally comes across larger-than-life by merely staying grounded to himself. You can catch Kyle doing what he does tomorrow at The New Parish, where he’ll deliver tracks from across his catalog — from “Fruit Snacks,” the song that drew the attention and admiration of notable hip-hop figures such as Childish Gambino, to “Keep It Real,” which came with a clip that received nearly 700,000 hits in its first week. Kyle always performs with a huge smile, beaming about getting to spread his words further and further with each and every show. Be on the lookout: Kyle’s inflection is infectious — and his grin is contagious.
KYLE
The New Parish
November 10, 2015
9 pm
$15 Advance/$20 At Door, All Ages
