In Depth: Kahm | 'Ink On My Hands' EP

Kahm has long been renowned for his artistic projects, however he has recently gained overseas recognition since releasing his official solo debut; Ink On My Hands EP. Bouncing between English counties growing up, around 2014 Kahm eventually settled in Shrewsbury where his emceeing destiny was made. Here he built a home studio and met like-minded hip-hop enthusiasts, forming a collective alongside young emcees Teno, Ali Weighs & HeadKase - collaboratively known as the Mucky Goonz aka MGZ. At the beginning of 2016 MGZ released the Livin’ Mucky EP, gaining notoriety which led to strings of live performances for a time. Since then, Kahm has continued practising and perfecting his musical talent, becoming noticed by a label called Pegdoll Records who offered to release a project which Kahm has had in store for time. Following the release of Ink On My Hands on August 21st, Kahm spoke in depth on his upbringing, MGZ, Pegdoll, Ink On My Hands & more.

Although surrounded by love, Kahm revealed how he had an unconventional childhood. Born in Northamptonshire, his mother raised him and his other five siblings. “Dad passed away and my brother’s dad was on the run,” explained Kahm, relieving his upbringing. “We ended up moving a lot man, so I went to bare different schools.” Finding it difficult to adapt to his ever changing circumstances, Kahm quit school aged 13 and began working on building sites around Wolves and Birmingham. A few years later he re-enrolled back into education, however his lifestyle remained disordered. “I thought fuck this,” continued Kahm, “I ended up bouncing around until I landed where I am now.” Currently based in Shrewsbury, Kahm lived in multiple multicultural areas beforehand, becoming influenced by a variety of music as a result. Over time he amassed a tight friendship group who shared a similar passion for hip-hop, jazz, soul and progressive music. “But I’d say the main influencer to why I’m doing what I do now was my bredrin, big man woolydread,” Kahm paused, solemnly. “He fully believed in the cause and always pushed man to do more - he just recently passed away, RIP to a true OG. Peace and love to the whole family.”

A passionate artist from a young age, Kahm was aged around 8 when he first learnt graffiti ‘bubble’ writing, leading him to begin a lifelong practice of self-styled calligraphy. “I think it was my cousin who first showed me a basic bubble style,” said Kahm, reminiscently. “For some reason me and my mate Dan would sit there for hours and just fill up bare pages of swear words in different styles, it was jokes looking back.” Aside from his initial teachings courtesy of his cousin, Kahm never received professional assistance to benefit his artistic styles, he is completely self-taught which makes his artwork all the more distinctive. “Sometimes I wish I grew up in LA where the tattoo and lettering culture is deep,” sighed Kahm. “It’s always just been from trial and error and studying different handstyles and forms, it takes a bit longer but you end up developing your own style and techniques which are unique to you, it doesn’t work for everyone.” Becoming reputed for his physical artwork as much as his music recordings, Kahm has been tagging for many years but declined to speak in depth regarding it. “I can’t remember when I first properly started tagging and shit,” shrugged Kahm, “It’s just kind of always been there, I’m not sure what got me to take it up you know.” 

Although Kahm had practised beatmaking and production for close to a decade, he became locally notorious in 2016 after he and a homegrown collective called Mucky Goonz dropped a debut EP, Livin’ Mucky. The young hip-hop group originally consisted of four members: Kahm, Teno, HeadKase and Ali Weighs. “We linked up through a mutual friend,” said Kahm, recalling how Mucky Goonz merged. “We started jamming and having mad sessions in my studio, we were all on the same vibes - the crew just started to build from there.” At the time, Kahm owned a basement studio known as the 106 yard. This became a hub for hip-hop in Shrewsbury, where Mucky Goonz recorded all their earliest music as well as other local emcees Kahm was affiliated with. Despite gaining nationwide recognition and attention from reputed UK emcees, Livin’ Mucky was their final release to date, as the collective disbanded soon after whilst continuing to release music solo. “I don’t know why we didn’t do more,” pondered Kahm, “It just expanded into other factions I guess, Dutty Goonz are starting to build their ting. Slum Government are gonna be dropping a heater soon. I’ve got all my art/tattoo projects that I’ve been mad busy with. No doubt we’ll all collaborate at some point, we’re still reppin MGZ just doing other projects right now - hold tight all my MGZ/DGZ dons.”

Prior to Ink On My Hands, the last project Kahm released collaboratively was a single called Sleep Talking with a local emcee named Orchid, a friend of Kahm’s for many years. “That track has kind of got a double meaning,” claimed Kahm. “On one hand it’s kind of like them times when you find yourself as the only ones awake at a party and you just chatting bare life and ting to some random person you’ve never met before. On the other, it’s kind of supposed to be a nod at being aware of the reality of life and wanting that ignorance back. Like the sample says ‘I wanted to sleep - everyone was asleep.’”

Since Kahm has consistently recorded solo music in anticipation for a release, the creation process for Ink On My Hands began many years ago. After coming into communication with Pegdoll Records, their interest in the project led to I.O.M.H being remade before it could be considered for release. “When I got signed I had to remove all the samples from the EP,” explained Kahm, “So I just though fuck it and decided to redo all the beats.” Despite being known for rap and production for many years, Kahm’s I.O.M.H EP has been labelled as his official solo debut. “I see it as a debut EP because it’s my first self produced solo project that will also be released through a legitimate label,” said Kahm. “It probably should have happened a long time ago but I’ve usually got other projects going on and it’s madness to juggle it all sometimes.” The inspiration for the EP title came from a compilation of beats Kahm made, before leaving his infamous 106 yard. “It had this sample from a news report about New York graffiti in the 70’s,” recalled Kahm, “The reporter asks some kid if he paints and he responds with ‘Yeah.. I got ink on my hands’ - It’s also like a play on the phrase I got blood/dirt on my hands, highlighting the tattoo lettering and culture as well.” 

Ink On My Hands cover artwork

One artist who significantly impacts the atmosphere of the I.O.M.H EP is french saxophonist Claire Alleaume, who Kahm met as they were both performing for Brixton clothing at their local skate shop, Morale. “She asked if she could get on the mic and just started freestyling in french - it was sick man!” Kahm exclaimed, reminiscing his first meeting with Claire. “Then she went and got her saxophone and we had a crazy jazzy improv cypher over these dusty beats, she’s also a real good skater and the owner/editor of the TwoSet skate zine - it’s full of mad art and interviews with skaters she’s known over the years.” Morale was also the place Kahm came into contact with Ben Cooper, one of the label owners of Pegdoll Records who released Kahm’s I.O.M.H EP. “He approached me about some artwork he needed,” recalled Kahm. “After chatting for a while, I ended up showing him my music and it was all bless from there - I was always sceptical of signing to a label, but the whole crew over there are so bless that it wasn’t a hard decision to sign. Big ups Ben and Olly.”

A capable beatmaker as well as producer, Kahm handles both these elements himself throughout I.O.M.H, receiving bass lines from his brother who is a bassist and his homie, GingerNic. “Plus saxophone from Claire,” added Kahm, “Other than that I wrote the rest.” Instrumentally, the music fuses elements of traditional boombap with classical jazz. “Like I said, mans always been a jazz head,” explained Kahm, “So it was just natural for it to be an influence.” The mixing of I.O.M.H was handled by Orchid, however Ben Cooper’s cousin Dom mixed and mastered Kahm’s vocals. “He’s an OG man,” said Kahm. “He’s produced on Biggies first album, he’s produced for Rakim - he even worked on the Space Jam soundtrack with Bugz Bunny bro, mad.” As well as being linked up with Dom, a world-renowned music engineer/producer/DJ, Kahm also received a work opportunity for his graffiti-styled artwork - being commissioned to paint George Clinton, Dennis Bovell, Lee Scratch Perry & more. These artists had recently collaborated with Pegdoll, for a project called the ‘Smudge All Stars’ album. “It’s been a madness,” replied Kahm, humbly. “These man are living legends bruv. If anyone’s into their OG funk and dub, I highly suggest checking out the album - the single Our Lives is out now.”

Containing 3 tracks within 15 minutes, I.O.M.H is a weighty EP composition however there was still a leaving feeling more could potentially have been added to the project. “Those tracks were just the ones that made the final cut,” claimed Kahm, “I had a few more but I decided to save them for the next big ting.” Providing personal insight into the EP, Kahm explained that each of the track were essentially “random assortments of thoughts and ideas with a really loose concept to tie it together,” in Kahm’s own words. “Opaline is a type of paper I was drawing on and it got me thinking about loads of life stuff, Off Camera is kind of about not self snitching on social media trying to prove to people what you’re about. Nomadic is kind of me chatting about all sorts of life stuff, Moving from place to place. But it’s one of them ones where people will find their own meaning to it.” Kahm then revealed he had a visual for his Opaline single coming soon, planning to release visuals for the other two tracks as well. On top of this, Kahm also disclosed that a follow-up full length project was certainly in the works. “I already got the majority of it written,” confirmed Kahm. “I think we’re gonna drop some remixes of these tracks first. But yeah, we got remixes coming, the next album is already in the works and plenty of features are on the cards, so stay locked.”

Our final question for Kahm: were there any UK artists he hadn’t met yet, but would like to work with? “Man, there’s so many,” replied Kahm. “There’s the obvious choices like Roots Manuva, Blak Twang and some of the other old school cats. But as far as working with other emcees and producers - as long as we’re trying to do something real and a bit different I’m down to work with anyone if they got the right vision. There’s a UK drummer called Richard Spaven, it would be mad to get him on a track or two one day.”

Kahm, thank you for your time. Any final shout outs?

“Yeah man, I wanna shout out the whole crew - you know who you are. Big ups to Pegdoll for the opportunity and Claire for bringing the vibes. Respect to you as always bro and a special shout out and RIP to Wooly aka Runtingz. Never forgotten big man.”

Words by Evo
Artwork & Photography by Kahm

[L-R] Evo & Kahm. Bristol, 2016