Kilo Kish Is Music's Next Bright Thing

Kilo Kish can't help but stop traffic. During the TrendingNY fashion shoot in Williamsburg, it happens on the sidewalk ("People were so sweet, trying not to walk through the shots") as well as on the road. "Some hipster dudes in a car were passing by and yelled, 'So hot! You're doing such a good job!'" she says. "We were all cracking up."

Lately Kish, the indie hip-hop singer/songwriter, visual artist, and model also known as Lakisha Kimberly Robinson, has had plenty of reasons to be happy. In July, she released Across, an album based on her recent move to Los Angeles after five years in New York. "I was doing well in New York, things were happening for me, but the energy was wrong and I didn't feel inspired," she says. Her boyfriend at the time felt the same way, so they decided to move to LA, chronicling the transition with music. The result is a contemplative road trip diary dealing with themes of self-doubt and stumbling toward something like maturity. Heavy topics, but Kish's soft, hazy vocals make a sonic daydream out of the 20-minute EP. "I like making projects that are like time capsules," she says.

Were she to create a time capsule to preserve her current moment, it would include plenty of cross-country plane tickets (she comes back to New York as often as possible), her favorite Maison Kitsuné sneakers, and paintbrushes. "I use art and music to explore different areas of my creativity—music doesn't satisfy everything for me, and neither does painting. When I get bored with one I want to do the other… I never really have a plan; I just have fun."

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Photos by Meredith Jenks for Trending NY