Image courtesy of KGoon
Opening for legendary rapper N.O.R.E at the age of 20 is an outstanding achievement in itself. But what about when the legend wants to go one step further and get you signed? This is the reality of Montreal rapper KGoon. As one of many who opened for N.O.R.E’s “The Drunk Uncle Tour show at club Le Belmont earlier this month, his opening set received so much praise he was called back to perform his hit song “100 Bandz”—which has amassed almost 30,000 views on YouTube since being released over a month ago— five more times to the crowd. All before, N.O.R.E. promised KGoon and the crowd he would try to bring him to Def Jam and Interscope to get signed a record deal.
One of nine kids from a household in the Montreal borough of Little Burgundy, KGoon — whose real name is Brandon Buissereth — had his first brush with music at 10 years old when his mother wanted him to perform during a Christmas party she had organized. “I went onstage, I grabbed the mic. I didn’t say one word. Everybody started screaming,” he said. “That feeling from there was so nice that I had to keep going. Now I’m doing better music.” Several years later, songs like the Future-inspired inflection “100 Bandz,” as well as “My Team,” and “That Nigga”, have garnered tens of thousands of plays and made him and his squad, the Paperboyz one to watch in Montreal’s hip-hop scene. And though the 20-year old says he has yet to be signed by N.O.R.E, he’s kept in contact with his camp and is now dropping off an exclusive stream of his new track “The Way I Do It.”
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And yeah I just hear my name, [like] “yo I heard this cat from Montreal named KGoon, killing the city, buzzing. I want you to come back onstage with me and show me what you got.” So I’m thinking, “alright, let’s get it.” So I took the mic, hit the stage, everybody screaming, everybody going crazy. N.O.R.E bringing out somebody from Montreal back onstage. A lot of cats told me they’ve never seen some shit like that. By the fourth or fifth time I performed it I didn’t have to sing the song anymore, I was just saying the ad libs. Everyone was singing the song from the beginning to the end, that’s how the city was supporting me.
In an age where it’s easier to have your music out there and be an independent artist, why would still want to be signed?
If you get the right label, the right deal, the right contract, and the label really support you and they don’t stop you, it’s a good thing. Maybe people like Chance the Rapper, Bryson Tiller, maybe they didn’t get the right contract. If my contract with Interscope is $1 billion for sure I’m taking it, it obviously won’t be. We’re from the hood, we’re from the struggle if I see a couple million it’s hard to say no, especially when your mom and pops are struggling.
In terms of artists, who do you like from the city of Montreal?
Shit, I’ll be honest with you, I don’t fucks with no one like that. Only people I fucks with, heavy, heavy, I’ve done music with, is my cousin, 7LC. That’s my blood cousin. That’s the only artist I really fucks with.
If you check me out, you won’t see me featuring with anyone else from the city. I fucks with the hood more. It’s just me. I love the hood more than anything. Shoutout to all the artists in Montreal, I’m not saying they’re not good enough, there’s lots of dope artists in Montreal. It’s just me and myself, I don’t know, I don’t fucks with anybody.
Julian McKenzie is a writer living in Montreal. Follow him on Twitter.
