Bigg Kid AKA Oliver Malcolm | From the UK to LA, producing for Russ and Joey Badass

Meet Bigg Kid. The 19 year old kid who produces for your favorite artists. I’m not talking about the up and coming artists either. I am talking about those that have already blown up. The artists that are solidified superstars such as Joey Badass, Russ, Masego, D12 and MF Doom hopping on his tracks. There are way more too, but you get the point. He is probably most famously known at the moment for co-producing the hit song ‘Lil Arrogant’ with Lofi, that featured IDK, Joey Badass and Russ. His production is treasured for his ability to get super saucy on the keys and ignite the soulful child in you. It is impossible to not vibe out when you hear his beats.

We discovered him on Felly’s Instagram story, who happened to be messing around with Bigg Kid. We discovered later that he has produced hand in hand with the artist as well. It must be pretty cool to randomly be chilling with talented musicians all the time, but this is expected when you are a super talented musician yourself.

The dude is seriously gifted. Check out this Instagram video of him channeling his inner Steve Wonder and slaying it on the keys.

 

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Messing round on the microkorg🎹

A post shared by Bigg Kid (@biggkidmusic) on Jan 31, 2016 at 6:27am PST

We were given the remarkable chance to ask Big Kidd questions that everybody wants the answers to, exclusively here at Rap Fiesta.

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It’s great to be getting on call with you brother. Why don’t we start with the basics. What’s your name, where are you from and how old are you?

My name’s Bigg Kid, I’m 19 I’m from Sweden and I moved to Los Angeles 2 years ago.

You don’t see 19 year olds often leaving another country to chase the music dream. How did you make that dream a reality and what made you so confident to make the jump to the US?

I moved here with my family, I really feel like it was fate. It was my mom’s wish to come out to LA, it wasn’t my decision. She told me a year in advance, so before I moved to LA I was prepared for this. She was like, “if you can start looking at schools to go to..” and i was like, “aight bet, I’ll start looking at schools right now.”

So are you like 6 foot 5 250 pounds? Why the name Bigg Kid?

Honestly, I’m quite small to be honest. I’m always around older people, growing up my older brother always had his friends around and I was always the youngest one. So, I wanted to be like the big kid’s so I just said, “You know what? I’m Bigg Kid.” and that’s just how it came about. I just thought of the name and it sounded kind of cool, so you know- lets run with it.

So shoutout to Felly because we saw you on his Instagram story and were hella impressed with you. What were you doing chilling with him the other day?

Thanks, man. Shouts out Felly. Felly’s the homie, I’ve known for around 6 to 7 months. I met him through a homie of mine Clay, whose a photographer. We been making music for months now, I just went over to his crib that day. He’s dope.

Your only 19 and your resume is stacked with producing credits for legends like MF Doom, Joey Badass and prominent artists such as Russ, and Masego. How do you get in touch with these huge names?

Honestly, each situation is an individual story. The general way it happens is through friends of friends. Having a friend who knows so and so and then them saying “Yo, the homie Bigg Kid makes beats” and then that’s kind of how it happens. Sometimes, they’re in a session and then I will get invited to pull up and play some beats. That’s generally how it goes down.

Let’s talk about “Lil Arrogant” , the track that Russ, IDK and Joey Badass have all shared. That track is a certified banger across the board. How much has that song affected your life now?

So I produced another joint on IDK’s album, and then some other producers on the album reached out to me and was like “Yo we should make more shit for IDK” and then we just started collabing. Literally the day ‘Lil Arrogant’ came out, IDK got in contact with us and was like “Yo I’m bout to drop this song today” and yeah Joey Badass and Russ was on it too, so I was like bet thats dope! They recorded that in New York and I’m out in LA, so I wasn’t there when they recorded that joint. It was a cool song for sure.

On a big record like that, it definitely adds more credibility to you as a producer. How has that song helped your career now?

It definitely helps that it adds to the resume of producing for some bigger names. It backs me up in the sense that people take me more serious, if that makes sense. People don’t fuck with you until everyone fucks with you. People will see that and hopefully say, “okay shit, he must have some other dope shit”. Of course it opens more doors, more opportunities.

Russ is heavily adamant about the fact that he mixes, masters, engineers and produces his own beats. How the hell did you produce for him specifically when he is so stern on producing for himself?

That was dope. I had random people hitting me up on a funny note like “Yo Russ says he does it all himself, but I guess he didn’t on this one” and that was pretty funny and made me laugh.”

You are literally a wizard on the keys man. You play with so much soul and have some Stevie Wonder in you. When did your love for playing piano begin?

Thank you bro. Mate, honestly I only really started messing around with the keys maybe like 2 years ago. Before that, I been making beats for like 5 years. Obviously to make beats, I knew the basic chords, but when I moved out to LA I realized like, yo to really get in these rooms with people- I need to be an asset in someway. I need to somehow prove that I should be in the room. I saw more and more, especially with trap producers, how beneficial it would be for more to play the keys. So I took a month and a half literally, and focused 100% on learning the keyboard 8 hours a day for that time period. My progress in that month and a half skyrocketed. When I really put my mind to something, no matter what it is I’m going to get good at it with enough time and work. It’s the same way with anything. So yeah, 2 years ago I decided to start getting really good at the keys and then within months I was getting better and better. It was on some “Fake it til you make it” type of shit. Like my homies would be like “Yo my homie Bigg Kid play’s keys” kind of hyping me up and I wasn’t shit, because of that these people would invite me to the studio to play keys and I didn’t have a choice but to be put on the spot. I literally got better as I was getting in rooms. That was my practice. I just made sure I delivered every time.

For some reason we feel like you play more instruments than the piano. How many instruments can you play?

Yeah, I play bass and guitar too. Me and my homie Andre have been filming and getting a bunch of footage of that, which were going to edit and get on the gram.

So you make incredible beats for these big artists, why haven’t you thought about hopping on your own beats and making tracks yourself?

Yo thats crazy that you ask that! I literally did that in the last couple months! I had a meeting with a couple manager guys and I was playing an instrumental EP that I’ve been working on, and I was going to get features on it from some cool names or whatever. In the meeting they were like, “Why don’t you just sing on this shit yourself?” I never even thought of it and I told them, “ I don’t really know. I’m not a singer, I’m a producer.” and they were like, “Shit you can learn to sing. The same way you learned to play the keys.” so it really blew my mind. I’ve kind of been learning to sing now and making my own tracks. Now, the majority of my focus is on my own stuff but I haven’t released anything yet. When I put it out, I want it to be strategically released and heard. It’s fucking crazy that you asked me that. It’s going to be crazy looking back on this, months from now when I finally do drop some shit.

You’ve already achieved more than the average producer will ever achieve at such a young age. Are there any other superstar artists that you are working with currently?

Yeah, man. I’ve got unreleased shit with Jay Rock. Two months ago, I was in the studio with Cee Lo Green and we were working on some dope shit. OG Maco. Too $hort. Yeah, man its cool.

We know that your in Illmind The Producer’s Roseville Music Group. How did that relationship with IllMind start?

I won one of his online beat competitions when I was 15. He emailed and told me I won and I was super hyped. After that, he wanted to hear more. I sent him more beats and we just kept in touch. When I moved out to LA, I met him and we chopped it up. Illmind’s the man, we just kept in contact since then.

We hear a lot these days about artists complaining that labels take away their creative freedom and make most of the decisions for the artist. What is the relationship with Roseville Music Group and what does it entitle for you as the artist? How much freedom you truly have?

It’s honestly not too serious. I’m not signed. It’s just that Illmind is the homie and I dropped a couple songs through his music group a few years ago.

It’s often we see producers avoiding collabs because they feel strongly about the sound they want to make and don’t want others to influence it. That collab with Lofi was so beautiful man. How do you make sure that your talents mesh together instead of overlapping each sounds?

First off, if I’m collabing with anyone it’s because  fuck with them. It’s a mutual respect for each others art and the feeling that we can both bring something to the table. I think taste is so important when collaborating with someone. You cant be disagreeing every 5 minutes, it’s essential to have similar taste. Man, its also about finding the right pocket. Maybe I’ll do keys, and they’ll do the drums and well do that for a few beats. Then maybe vice versa, maybe switch out with me doing the drums and they do the melodies. It’s this free flow method, not overthinking. Thats the power of collaboration. Bring a new sound to the table that you couldn’t do yourself.

Were you and Lofi in the same room when you guys collabed?

I’ve actually never met Lofi in person. We spoke over the phone. We’ve sent collab’s back and forth because they’re down in Atlanta. It’s not my ideal way to collab because obviously I’d love to be in the same room as producers when I collab. Out here in LA, it’s like that all the time. With Lofi, sending tracks back and forth was kind of the only way to do it I be collabing all the time. That’s how “Lil Arrogant” happened. They sent me the idea they had and we worked from there.

What does the day to day schedule look like for you?

Music. That’s it man. I’m sitting at my studio right now and was cooking before you called me and after we finish im going to keep cooking up. That’s literally it every day. Drink tea. Cause now i’m singing, gotta take care of my voice. Hit the gym, you know what I’m saying? Physical exercise helps me clear the mind and be more creative.

So what’s next for Bigg Kid?

Honesty my art and shit. I’m so excited about that. Obviously the tracks, producing, production stuff coming out. Some of the stuff of which I talked about, some of the stuff which is lowkey, and I can’t really mention but that shit thats coming out too. Mainly, my art though. I really took care of making it. So i want to take care in strategically planning the release as well, so it gets to the ears. The main thing I care about is it reaching the ears of the people.

Without a label how do you get that into people’s ears.

Just kind of reaching out to people who I feel like can have a helping hand. Whether that may be a label, or someone with influence or a connection with someone who believes in the music. It’s finding the right people and right team who really believe in the music and them really utilizing the connections to get it in front of people. I’ve got some cool friends and people I know who I believe would be willing to help out with that so, hopefully it goes well.

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Bigg Kid even asked me about why I wanted to start Rap Fiesta and interview up and coming artists. I explained to him that I know artists on different levels my self, and how I understand how hard it is to get exposure. He quoted it best, “Nobody wants to fuck with you, until other people fuck with you” so I want these artists to know, the ones that truly make good music, that I fuck with them from the ground up and am willing to give them a platform. For the amount of success this young man has, he asked me a bunch of questions trying to get to know me as well. Not only is he talented, but he is humble in his approach and maintains being a genuinely good human. Rap Fiesta supports you Bigg Kid. Much love.