Kalae All Day – O.G.LYRIKALBOOKBAGGER

I first caught wind of Kalae All Day a few months ago, when we posted about the Brooklyn Bodega Show & Prove competition event, “Something for the Ladies”. It was the first I had heard of her, not necessarily through any lack of marketing on her part, only that we had just re-launched BirthplaceMag.com with fervor, so we certainly weren’t as plugged in to the streets as much as we needed to be. I do remember liking her name. It was different. And creative. And spelled pretty. Her bio was the last, and the shortest on the press release, not much info, so I quietly stored her name away in the recesses of my mind, and kept it moving.

Then I heard, she had won.

Later, I saw a couple of Kalae All Day videos like this. OK, I realized, she is a double vocal threat. Rapper slash sanger. Nice.

I tweeted her. “Hey Ms. Kalae,” I believe it went. “You are quite dope, and we see you.” And I placed her on “The Radar”, my super list of NYC hip hop things I want BirthplaceMag.com to cover.

Fast forward several months. I was covering the Hip Hop Subway Series, and there she was. I immediately recognized her (it’s hard not to), she is tall, almost imposing, hair afro-poofed out like like a 70s-inspired halo, ginormous sunglasses, and wide smile. At some point, I introduced myself. I told her that we were aware of her, and impressed, and she promised to send me the leak from her out-on-March-17 album, enchantingly entitled AFROMATIKNEOHIPPIEROCK*SOLEMUZIK.

She did. It’s called “O.G.LYRIKALBOOKBAGGER”, and I like it. An upbeat, breakbeaty, slightly old-school influenced track, with an acrobatic bassline and a stumbling drum sound reminiscent of rhythmic roller coaster. Check it out below.

At 21, this artist is showing a pretty impressive mix of stage presence, creativity and multi-faceted musical ability. We’ll be keeping an eye on Kalae All Day, and suggest you do the same.

P.S. I want a button.

Kalae All Day – O.G.LYRIKALBOOKBAGGER

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download/Listen: Kalae All Day – O.G.LYRIKALBOOKBAGGER

Kalae All Day – Brooklyn Boys

Live Performance! Stereo Crowd Feat. Kalae and Kristen White. “You Got Me” Erykah Badu Cover from Ali Powell on Vimeo.

---