In Talks With London’s Viral Newcomers Kayem2x & RSL

If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past few months, you will be more than well acquainted with Kayem2x and RSL’s viral smash ‘Steady’ that took over social media for a hot minute! Piercing through the scene with their infectious hook, “Whoosh, steady / Mizz put the D-I-C-K up in her belly / Make her duck duck goose, Zavetti / Won’t show no love if the gyal move petty” – the boys have made quite the impression!

Gearing up for what’s set to be another explosive year for the pair, Mixtape Madness got the chance to catch up with Kayem2x and RSL over Zoom for a fun-filled chat about their viral track ‘Steady’, performing alongside Unknown T, and more. Tap in below to see what the boys had to say!

I would love it if you could both take me back to the very beginning! Talk me through how you were introduced to music?

RSL: I was introduced to music through a friend! We were dissing each other for fun and people thought I was hard, and told me I should take it seriously, so I did and from 2017 onward it’s been steady.

K: I was meant to go to a party one day with my cousin, we didn’t end up going in the end, so we stayed at home and randomly just started writing lyrics. We made a song, but it was so rubbish! *laughs*

You both obviously discovered that you could spit bars, and write etc. At which point did you think you could take it to the next level?

K: We never did! Until ‘Steady’ blew up, we just made music because that’s what we enjoyed doing. We always had a thought and hoped that it would blow up, but to us, it was never real. We had never known anyone to blow up personally from music but now we know it’s real…people actually get paid and stuff it’s mad!

Are there any artists that have helped influence or inspire you musically over the years?

K: With me now, it’s always been Unknown T! From when I started drill, that’s who everyone compared my voice to, not even the way I rapped, just my voice. My first TikTok that blew up, everyone said that I sounded like him and started calling me Unknown K.

RSL: For me it was Lil Durk –

Everyone loves Durk!

K: Yeah, but we are fanatics. You could put on any Lil Durk song, and we will know the lyrics to it I promise – we’ve even tested it! *laughs*

Your latest single ‘Steady’ blew up on TikTok – talk me through how this single came about and how you both met…

RSL: Well, we met in college, but we weren’t even the closest of friends!

K: Yeah, first year of college he was the year above me –

RSL: Yeah! I used to see him about and at the end of the school, his close friend was friends with my friend, and I saw him at the stairs –

K: We always saw each other at the stairs, at lunchtime and breaks we would all go there and freestyle –

RSL: I heard him freestyle and I was like rah this guy is hard! We became close friends randomly –

K: A year later, we were just at his house and our bredrin gave us a beat, he was meant to be rapping on the song with us, but he ended up sleeping! *laughs* RSL started spelling out the words and originally it was meant to be a conversation and I said yeah “Yeah, you’re steady bro” and he told me to just say “Steady” and I wasn’t on it at first because why is he trying to make me say one word –

RSL: It’s his voice! He said it and I thought rah – but yeah! *laughs*

How did you found dealing with the hunger for it on TikTok? There were a lot of big names doing videos to it!

K: Every single morning we would both receive FaceTime’s saying “Bro did you see ___ use the sound!” , we would sit there looking at each one for time it was surreal. We couldn’t believe that all these people were listening to us!

RSL: It was all the people that I used to watch as well –

K: Yeah! All the bait people, it was weird!

Have you had any DM’s off anyone that they like the song or what you guys are doing?

K: Yeah! Unknown T bought us out on stage!

Oh sick! How was that?!

K: That feeling – OH MY DAYS! Because he’s my favourite rapper it was mental!

RSL: It was the first time we ever performed the song as well!

K: We stepped on stage, and everything was so surreal! I was deeping it, I was I’m stood on stage in front of 2,000 people, with my best friend and my favourite rapper – nothing could get better than that!

Were you nervous?!

K: Yeah! I had to fake it for him!

RSL: My heart was racing!

K: I was trying to hype him up and that, but because he’s my brother I had to be strong!

RSL: As soon as we stepped out, the first 5 seconds I was nervous! But after that it was calm!

K: Yeah! As soon as I heard them say “Steady” – I couldn’t even hear myself the crowd was louder than me. That’s all I needed! When we came off stage our mouths were so dry! *laughs*

We obviously haven’t heard a huge amount from you yet, how would you go about describing your sound?

K: Since ‘Steady’ I have made songs that sound completely different! I would say it’s Alternative Drill because we’re not talking about everything that everyone else is talking about. What’s coming next is a new sound that no one else has heard from me!

RSL: I don’t think I’ve found my sound yet! I didn’t start off doing drill, I was doing Afro-swing and rap! When he showed me drill, I did a few tracks and ‘Steady’ came out of it.

Do you think you would go back to Afroswing?

RSL: Yeah 100%!

Is there anyone you want to collaborate with in the UK or overseas?

K: I’m going to sound like I am begging it now but again, it’s got to be Unknown T!

RSL: It’s gotta be Lil Durk, Ghetts –

K: Oh, Chip and KO – that would be hard!

Putting the music aside, what do you like doing in your spare time?

K: In our spare time we like to make music – it sounds cliché, but we just write and freestyle! Or play PS4.

RSL: Sometimes, I do a kick around with football.

K: We’re boring you know! *laughs*

What can we expect to see from you both next year?

K: Nothing but new music!

RSL: We’ve got songs like ‘Steady’ coming but we’ve got some different stuff coming!

Keep up to date with the boys via Kayem2x’s and RSL’s Instagram’s here.