KAMUS THE
LEADER-FTSORADIONEWS FEATURE STORY
Reported By Bella-Jasmine Nduku
With his arms open stretched out and hands open towards the
sky, Kamus Leonardo, announces himself as a true born leader.
This young man, 21, was raised in the hard-hitting streets;
otherwise known as Bull City, Durham, N.C.
How we met was through fate. I had recently interviewed
another artist for my blog FTSORADIONEWS. The artist was Bongo Mo. And at the
time he was preparing to have a collaboration with other artist.
Bongo Mo said “Kamus is…a good crossing of the raw hip hop we know and love. He is the positivity we try to maintain as people, he is very good at establishing that in his songs, keeping it on the plus side of the industry, Kamus and I are from the same cloth just different textures.”
Immediately, through
social media website Facebook, we were able to exchange emails, where I
conducted this interview.
Kamus Leonardo interest me. My fiancé, producer AU79 had in the past heard
Kamus.
AU79 or Marquis Wilson said, “Its been a while since I heard someone go back to the roots, he has that originality and integrity being conveyed thru his music.”
Kamus song, Angelic Views; produced by Nes, made me want to
know directly from the source, the message being borne in Leonardo’s lyricism.
I
asked, “What exactly is the message that is being made lyrical in this song?"
From there I was astonished with the answer.
Kamus wrote, “The message for my song "Angelic Views" is to show that we all have dreams we want to achieve, but sometimes we let our current circumstances take control and lose hope.”
He then continues to passionately talk about the arrangement
of the song.
Kamus said, “When the song starts off its sounds like I'm on top of the world. As the song progresses you can sense the climax with the chorus, and with the second verse I snap back to reality of what's really going on.”
I noticed that Kamus Leonardo, although being very goal oriented, had a lively side to himself.
He showed me this as he discussed the producer of the sound
he raps over, Nes.
Kamus said, “As far as the interlude at the end of the song, it's a skit that the producer Nes had for a while. I added it to the song to show that it doesn't get easier yet, the woman speaking is amazed on how I make it look so easy. Big shout out to the homie Nes for seeing the vision I was going for, too.”
From there, noticing the difference between Kamus the Leader
and Kamus Leonardo, I then wanted to know the meaning of the two and its origin
of those titles.
Kamus has so many meanings it's ridiculous ha-ha, but how I came up with the name is from playing Super Smash Bros. a Nintendo game console with the homie Jones Michael back in the day. Samus was my favorite character in the game, and I just took out the S and added a K with the name. One random day, my friend Dita, had hit me up and schooled me on the actual origin of the word "Kamus." Come to find out the word is Indonesian and it means dictionary; thesaurus. So it works out because it’s almost like saying I am my own definition. Later on down the road, I decided to add Leonardo to pay homage to one of my favorite artist, Leonardo Da Vinci. Kamus the Leader was a name I came up with for my email and social media stuff,”Kamus said.
While reading his answers, I began to notice a lyric in the
song that struck a nerve of curiosity once more.
The lyric in the song was “and by view I meant what my
mind’s eye see’s.”
I then asked, “What exactly is one thing you see in your
mind’s eye towards life as a rapper? Life in general? And the very near future?”
Kamus then responded flawlessly stating, “I feel like with life as a whole, perception is key. As far as what my mind's eye is seeing, I just try to be aware of the present moment. I used to have a problem with living in the past and being anxious for the future, then I realized that neither exists. It is always good to be prepared though.
In
response to my question, “What is your day-to-day struggle within yourself?
Your music life? And the business of that music life?”
Leonardo continued, “A day to day struggle I have within everything as a whole, is realizing that I am my own worst enemy.”
In relation to the topic, I continued to wanting to know a
few of his views on life and certain people.
Therefore I asked, “What do you feel when
dealing with those that are trapped or lost.Leonardo said, “It depends. If you take full responsibility, state that there's a problem, and you're working towards a solution...then more power to you. If you're one of those people who's always getting into something and you’re blaming someone else as an excuse for your actions, then I have no sympathy for you.”
Asking this question, can also help my readers identify the
type of artist Kamus is. And a trap-rapper is not one of them. Kamus is more in
the genre of “conscience worthy” music.
“It’s time to reflect,’ one of your songs.’”I began to
question. “What is your belief that you feel exist? And what’s the reflection of
your life in the past 5 years is your music a sort of view into your own life’s
process?”
“My belief is that you attract what you are. However, you're feeling at the moment is what you're attracting into your life. One thing I've noticed with a lot of people, (even myself), is that we all want to change our circumstances, but we're not willing to change ourselves. My reflection of my life in the past five years can be broken down into one word, progression. The best part about having music that is an insight of my own life, is that my audience will be able to grow with me and I know they'll be there for the long run,”Kamus said
From there I decided to lighten the load, with humor.
“I promise I won’t call you lyrical. (Joke) Even though
you’re artistic with words,” I joked.
“But why do you think you’re “from the 70s’,” as quoted in the song “Lyrical?”
Kamus concluded, “I really like your questions,’ Laughing-out-loud to the joke about the song lyrical, really makes me laugh. Ha-ha, why thank you. I always thought the culture in the 70s’ was dope. The generation as a whole was open to newer thinking and revolutionary ideas. Also the water bed was invented at the time, and I used to have a water bed...” Purposefully leaving behind a trail for the mind to wonder....
To hear Kamus click video below
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