Beauty in the Pain
By Hailey Stangebye
Photos by Kenny Williams
Before he goes on stage, Kashis Keyz visualizes a physical button.
It’s a button that controls all of his energy. In an instant, he can press this button and completely change his behavior. It doesn’t matter if he’s sick, upset or hasn’t slept in days. That button changes everything. He turns his energy all the way up to perform.
The only thing it takes to press that button is a pure love for music.
“I feel like love has to be the prerequisite with it all, with anything creative,” Kashis says. “You have to love it to a point where you love it more than eating and sleeping. I feel like when you get to that point, when you love something that much, it just flows out of you. And that’s what happens to me every time I perform. Every time.”
“You have to love it to a point where you love it more than eating and sleeping. I feel like when you get to that point, when you love something that much, it just flows out of you.”
Kashis began performing when he was just a child growing up in Connecticut. His grandmother ran a non-profit that brought the arts to middle schools. The first song she had him perform was “I Know I Can,” by Nas. After that, he learned “Jesus Walks” by Kanye.
“I did that for probably eight months to a year. To the point where I was like ‘I’m tired of rapping other people’s stuff. I wanna make my own music,’” Kashis says. “So I started writing myself.”
Even though Kashis was only 11 years old, his first song was a hit. He performed it for a talent show that was broadcast on local television and won third place. The prize was $100 and he never forgot that moment.
“At that age, for me to win that for my first song, I was like, ‘Shit, I’m supposed to do this,’” Kashis says.
“At that age, for me to win that for my first song, I was like, ‘Shit, I’m supposed to do this.'”
As a teenager, Kashis moved back to Columbus, where he was originally born, to stay with his father. Throughout high school and his time at the University of Cincinnati and then Columbus State, Kashis continued to dabble and write.
But it wasn’t until March of 2016 that everything changed. At that point, he had been working on an album project for nearly three years with no end in sight.
Then he lost his job.
He took this as a sign. He turned his negative situation into an opportunity to pursue the career that truly inspired him.
“I thought, ‘Music must be it.’ So I finished the project, put it out two years ago and then started getting shows. Everything started moving from there,” Kashis says.
Kashis takes special care to connect with his audience through his live performances and his words. He knows that if he can hook a new listener with his presence, then they’ll go home and really listen to the individual words in his songs and feel even more connected.
His ultimate goal is to create music that touches people. Billions of people.
“My message is that with anything you’ve gone through, you can flip it and make it into a positive. Everybody goes through different situations in their life. Everybody has trauma and drama associated with experiences,” Kashis says. “But, we can take that, mold it, and create something beautiful. There’s beauty in the pain.”
“Everybody goes through different situations in their life. Everybody has trauma and drama associated with experiences. But, we can take that, mold it, and create something beautiful. There’s beauty in the pain.”
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Great read! I have had the honor to work with Kashis Keys. His energy on stage is a level not even well known artist know or even how to reach. His passion for music and telling his story to the people bleed in and out of his creative genius