Strapped with two tracks ahead of his forthcoming album, Never Be So Sure, KayCyy is keeping all of his new releases close to his roots.
The YZY Sound enigma held over fans this weekend with a pair of SoundCloud joints, seeing the beauty in pain on “Laugh When You Cry.” The two-pack, which features “Laugh When You Cry” and “Never Been So Sure Who Is KayCyy Is Still Coming” (hint hint*), is the epitome of his allure as a melody-laced emcee.
While KayCyy’s heavenly vocals recently graced Westside Gunn’s AND THEN YOU PRAY FOR ME, this pack sees the Kenya-born rapper-singer incite greater hype for his long-awaited debut album Who is KayCyy? — which has been teased since the end of 2021. The latter track on the EP alludes to its release — and frankly, existence — after nearly two years without an update and a trove of other projects and singles in the interim.
While his next official single seems to be “Summers Not Over” produced by KAYTRANADA, KayCyy divulged that he’s been working on both projects simultaneously, picking and choosing which songs work for either record. Saying that NBSS and the anticipated WIKC work in tandem — a sort of double debut — he’s looking to forge new sounds through his foundations.
Striving to “connect” his childhood growing up in Kenya through its impending visuals, KayCyy feels like both albums will narrate different sides of himself. “I wouldn’t even call WIKC a debut anymore because NBSS is like my first album,” he said. “They both introduce who I am and what I can do, in their own way… Who is KayCyy is gonna be more experimental, though.”
“I’m trying to get back to that feeling old music gave you, but mixed with the new age stuff. I feel like this music can last you years, it’s timeless. [I took] a lot of influence from Motown, Bob Marley, and from my roots as well,” he added. “I’ve been thinking about going back to Kenya to make the visuals feel more meaningful, and make everything connect because I want to make people understand what’s missing [about me]. People just think I’m from Minnesota, but that’s not enough information to even know who I am, who KayCyy is. Never Been So Sure is going to be the introduction to that. It’s gonna be my first album, so I’ve just been taking a lot of time on it.”
“‘NBSS’ is that super high level confidence of like ‘you know what’s going on’ and ‘you know what’s about to go down.’ ‘Who Is KayCyy’ is coming right after this, because it’s about being absolutely sure. I’m not being indecisive about anything anymore.”
KayCyy on NBSS & WIKC
With another potent teaser drop, stemming from “My Jeans” and the slight of going uncredited on Travis Scott’s UTOPIA, we’ve Never Been So Sure of KayCyy’s talent — and so is he.
Listen to “Laugh When You Cry” below!
