00:00Hey, my name is Kelpie and I'm out here with Tails.
00:03It doesn't matter what country you're from, Nigeria, whatever part of the world you're from,
00:07as long as you make amazing music, we connect.
00:09And what comes after that? The vibes.
00:13Just how disciplined I am, how determined I am.
00:16If I go to your country and I make a hit song in your country,
00:19I'm going to keep going back to your country.
00:20I guess the world got to know Kelpie vibes from African Giant's album.
00:29When did you start producing music and what was the context?
00:33Professionally, I started music in 2017 and I started in the production phase,
00:38started producing and writing songs for people.
00:41And in 2018, I guess the rest was history.
00:44I learned through Saaz.
00:45Saaz was the one who put me through everything I know today in music.
00:51So yes, shout out to him.
00:53Do you remember who was the first non-Nigerian artist you worked with?
00:57Hmm, that's a hard question.
00:59Trying to remember the first non-Nigerian artist I worked with.
01:04Huh, I can't even remember.
01:06I don't know who was the first.
01:08If it was a Ghanaian artist or it was a Kenyan artist or South African artist.
01:12But I don't know who was the first, that's the thing.
01:14I'm sure it happened during the early stage of my career.
01:16My production career, that was around 2019.
01:19Yeah, they were about 2018, 2019.
01:23Can't really remember.
01:23I find it easy and beautiful to work with anybody that makes amazing music.
01:29It doesn't matter what country you're from, Nigeria, whatever part of the world you're from.
01:33As long as you make amazing music, we connect.
01:34Can you tell us the story about your iconic producer tag, It's Kelpy Vibes and why you chose this one?
01:44It's Kelpy Vibes.
01:47Yeah.
01:48Yeah.
01:49Yeah.
01:53It's Kelpy Vibes.
01:56It's Kelpy Vibes.
01:57Baby, got it!
01:58You got me in a be my red shot, nigga.
02:00It's Kelpy Vibes.
02:01It's Kelpy Vibes.
02:02The thing about my tag is I didn't choose nothing.
02:05It all just happened.
02:07My name is Kelpy, but Kelpy is from my real name.
02:10My real name is Peter Kelvin.
02:12The Kel is from Kelvin and the P is from Peter.
02:15So that's what makes it Kelpy.
02:18And what comes after that?
02:20The vibes.
02:22So why not?
02:23Would you say that Eleganza, the song you made with Solid Star was your breakthrough?
02:28I wouldn't say my breakthrough came with Eleganza.
02:32I would say, I guess the world got to know Kelpy Vibes from African Giant's album.
02:39So I wouldn't say it came with Eleganza.
02:42I would say that was like the early stage of my career, Eleganza and all of that.
02:46Yeah.
02:47You produced Burna Boy's album African Giant.
02:50How did you do with the attention and recognition at the time?
02:54I'm calm.
02:55That's my personality.
02:57It's like, regardless of what has happened or what is happening in my career, my career
03:02space, the attention, the money and all of that.
03:04I'm just calm, man.
03:06Honestly, I just love making music.
03:08That's just the truth.
03:08I just love being in the studio and making music and all of that.
03:11The rest is alright.
03:13And then you won a Grammy award with Anjali Kijo in 2022.
03:18Can you tell us about this moment for you?
03:21You?
03:21Shout out to Anjali Kijo.
03:23Yeah, so Anjali Kijo.
03:24I made an album for her called Mother Nature.
03:35That particular song on the album called Mother Nature featuring Stink won the Grammy.
03:40The album won the Grammy.
03:41So yeah, she gave me my first Grammy.
03:43Shout out to Mama.
03:44As an artist, what pushed you to step in front of the mic, singing and releasing songs?
03:51It's what I've always wanted to do.
03:53So the main reason why I started making music was actually to become a global successful
03:57artist.
03:58At the early stage of my career, being an artist was not working out.
04:02It wasn't working out for me.
04:03So I needed to do other stuff that's related to music and production was the easy route
04:07for me.
04:08Find myself in a producer space.
04:11Shout out to Saz once again.
04:13Find myself in that space and I just fell in love with making beats, arranging music,
04:19writing music.
04:20And I did all of that and I'm still doing that.
04:22Don't get me wrong.
04:23I'm still in that.
04:24I'm just making music in general.
04:25I did all of that in my early stage of my career and I got the leverage.
04:29I'm like, why not go back and chase my dream?
04:33The reason why I started making music.
04:35So that's where I am today.
04:44What does your first project Bully Season Volume 1 represent to you?
04:49It represents, the word bully in my language doesn't mean violence.
04:55It means, in my language, it's how disciplined I am, how determined I am, you know, how focused
05:01I am in my career, in myself in particular also.
05:06So yeah, like when it comes to the music, I'm a bully in that world.
05:10You feel me?
05:11You recently released a song called Sarafina.
05:13Can you tell us about the way the song was created?
05:16Sarafina, I hit up a friend of mine.
05:18Sarafina was made by a friend of mine called TMXO.
05:21He was a producer from Nigeria.
05:23I hit up TMXO.
05:24I'm like, yo bro, there's something missing on my album.
05:27We have to walk.
05:28We have to find a way to make it happen.
05:30And fortunately for myself and TMXO, we're living in the same country in London.
05:34So I was like, why not?
05:35So he hit me up.
05:36I pulled up to his crib.
05:38TMXO had, he had the chorus.
05:41Sarafina.
05:42Sarafina.
05:43Sarafina.
05:45Sarafina.
05:46Sarafina.
05:47Sarafina.
05:48Sarafina.
05:48Sarafina.
05:49He had that.
05:51And the beats.
05:52And then we had to go back and forth.
05:54Figure it out.
05:55Do the top line.
05:56The verse.
05:57Write the song together.
05:58And all of that.
05:59So that's how Sarafina came about.
06:00TMXO had the song.
06:02I would say like 40% done.
06:04And then I just came in.
06:05Finished it.
06:06Did my thing and all of that.
06:08That's how Sarafina happened.
06:09You worked a lot with Wanda Cole and God John Projects.
06:13How would you describe your creative relationship?
06:16Relationship.
06:17Wanda Cole and I, you know, we've been working like way back, like long time ago.
06:22I think the first time I met Wanda Cole was in 2018.
06:25And I've always been a big fan of his music.
06:27You get me and why not?
06:29We made an album together in the past.
06:30And we made a joint EP called Best of Both World.
06:34We were just making a lot of music together.
06:37We were together for so long that we had so much music we made together.
06:41So it was an amazing process in everything.
06:44The creativity and all of that.
06:45And he's one of the best vocalists.
06:48The greatest vocalists you can ever think of coming from Africa.
06:52You feel me?
06:53So like, yes, why not?
06:54It happened.
06:55It happened.
06:56Shout out to Wanda Cole, by the way.
06:58We've seen you a lot in Paris and especially right now.
07:01Is that a new process for you?
07:02My energy is always positive when I'm in the studio, especially.
07:06Especially when I'm in the studio.
07:08This is like my home in Paris.
07:10Like everybody that knows me knows that I'm always in this place.
07:13Working from the studio because I love the space so much.
07:16Like I've made so many hits.
07:18A lot of it has come out of this room.
07:20You feel me?
07:20I love Paris as a vibe.
07:22It's one of my creative hub, one of my creative space.
07:25I go to places where if I make music, if I go to your country and I make hit songs
07:30in your country,
07:31I'm going to keep going back to your country because I feel like there's something there for me.
07:34Every time I go there, I always make hits.
07:36That's just something about me.
07:37Thank you for your time, Kelpie.
07:38You're welcome.
07:39Thank you for having me.
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