Photo Credit: Allan Kingdom

Here at RESPECT. we never want amazing work to go unnoticed. One release that has really stood out to us this year is Allan Kingdom‘s infectious new album Lines. On the day before his flight to kick off the European leg of his Lines tour, we were able to ask him a few questions regarding his new project. Check out the interview below.

RESPECT.: Hey Allan, how excited are you for the Lines European tour? I noticed a lot of independent artists really enjoy performing overseas.  What are you looking forward to the most?

Allan Kingdom: There’s just so much love. There’s like a different level excitement in Europe no matter how big you are. I really enjoy the energy.

RESPECT.: I see your new project is released under an independent label called So Cold Records. Did you start this label yourself?

Allan Kingdom: I wouldn’t say the label is mine, It’s really ours. I couldn’t do it without the others.

RESPECT.: When you spoke about So Cold you said it was your way of giving back. What did you mean by that? Also, I see the other artist on the label Drelli just released his song “Feel Like.” It is definitely performing very well on Soundcloud. How did that relationship come about?

Allan Kingdom: I wanted to give my fans a musical outlet and Minnesota.  Especially for the fans who do listen to me. I thought to myself, why not turn this dream into a river for other people? Also, I met Drelli through Novyon actually, he’s really dope.

RESPECT.: We really did notice a lot of growth from you in this new album. Do you feel like you’re getting the same love as you did since doing the song “All Day” with Kanye West?

Allan Kingdom: I really do believe when things stop growing they get boring, I think its only right. When the song dropped with Kanye the love was definitely a lot different. When you release a song with an artist that big a lot of the love is just for the bigger artist. But, I still received a genuine amount of Kanye fans that were able to get into my music. It was definitely a healthy push for me.

RESPECT.: You mentioned the word vibes a few times throughout the album. Why did you decide to name the album Lines? Were you originally going to name it Vibes?

Allan Kingdom: I thought about it but I knew it wasn’t the one. First of all, I really did like the name Vibes but it was just used too much. I chose Lines because it was still one syllable and it kind of reminded me of the word vibes. Lines has a lot more meaning to me, I feel like you have to go outside those boundaries to get anywhere. I was definitely going outside of the boundaries to do this project. Outside the lines of the industry, and outside the lines of how supposed to do stuff.

RESPECT.: “Vibes” featuring Cadenza is an amazing song by the way and the production is out of this world. How did working with the producer Cadenza come about? Did Cadenza just play the instrumental for you and you decided to write to it?

Allan Kingdom: I met him at my first show in London. A legendary producer names DJ Semtex heard my music and put me on a show series called Arrival. It was sold out and we just fu**ed with each other heavy and then he introduced me to Cadenza. He just played me a bunch of beats. I think I was there for like a week and he played me like eight songs and I fell in love with that one. He had the beat and I just wrote it. It was so fire

RESPECT.: In this album you definitely connected more with the EDM genre. Do you see yourself connecting more in the future?

Allan Kingdom: I definitely want to connect more for sure, the music is very positive. I did a couple of EDM festivals and the vibe was so cool. It would be cool to do a big ass show because they have similar energy like I do and they’re on another level.

RESPECT.: In track #2 of Lines you said you might just sign a deal so you can feel the feeling. Do you see yourself reaching for a bigger deal anytime soon?

Allan Kingdom: I’ll do it if it ever makes sense. This is just the way I had to do sh*t and it’s what’s right for me. Maybe if my message was something else I’d do it a different way.But I am just more focused on self-growth right now. I just want to know at the end of the day, if I do something I wasn’t supposed to do I want it just to be my fault and not anyone else’s.

RESPECT.: I agree that it’s your time to learn, you’re only 23 and just getting started.

Allan Kingdom: Yea, it would be different if I was a household name and everyone knew about me and I just declined. But I haven’t declined, I’ve only been growing.

RESPECT.: Are you planning on dropping Lines gear for your fans?

Allan Kingdom: The Lines merchandise is definitely coming and hopefully it will be ready this summer. I am definitely taking my time on this. T-shirts and hoodies are in the works.

Stream Lines via Soundcloud HERE.

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A few weeks ago at the 2015 Brit Awards, Kanye West debuted his new track “All Day,” and gave a outstanding performance that left the Internet scrambling for high-quality clips of the song.

Today, Kanye released an official video of his live performance that is chillingly raw and energetic. Yeezy stays true to himself and kills it with the visual elements of his show. Flamethrowers and a huge mob of people in black hoodies is not only dramatic and in Kanye’s style, but symbolize larger political messages he brings to the song – the black hoodies could likely represent the murder of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin and of the Black Lives Matter movement.

This is arguably Kanye’s best, as the combination between the song’s sick beat, Kanye’s lyrics and the overall strength of the visual performance make you want to play it over and over again. The track also features Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom and Paul McCartney. Watch for yourself below and let us know what you think:

The post Kanye Releases Video of Brit Awards Performance of “All Day” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.