Kayne

Born in Makurdi, Nigeria, Kayne was exposed mainly to reggae and R&B. After a stint in the UK, Kayne moved to the United States. His father was accepted to LSU, which brought him to Lafayette, LA, then Baton Rouge, LA. Moving south exposed him to different styles of rap. Shortly after, his family moved to Pensacola, FL, which would be the defining city in his upbringing. He drew heavy influence from Bone Thugs N Harmony amongst many others. By 1999, while training as an amateur boxer, he would head to Pensacola Beach to battle other local rappers on the boardwalk. In 2004, after a short stint in jail, he was released and flew to Chicago and had a meeting with his cousin Haytr. They put together a roadmap to infiltrate the music industry, which culminated into the label Skrilla Squad, which was then shortened to s2 ENT. Grinding for the next 5 years, he put out his first mixtape The Anointed, getting 10,000 copies into the streets of the Gulf Coast. He went on to release 4 more mixtapes between 2010 & 2018. In December 2020, he would release "I Am The South", which would be his breakout single. Making waves through social media, the video would accumulate over 110,000 views on youtube, which lead him to release his debut album 'Lord, King to A God' in July 2021. Today, the album has 1.2 million streams and counting. It’s only a matter of time before the young Nigerian that grew up in the southern region of the US, will leave an indelible mark on the hip hop culture.