Who is K-KUMA?
Written by Alexandria Anglade
Where did your stage name hail from?
"When I was rapping and getting my lyrics and story telling down, I listened to J Cole a lot, like throughout high school. I took note of how the name “J Cole” was basically his first initial and last name. So because of that, I made my rap name basically follow the same format, only I switched my first initial with my middle name initial."
"Thus , K-KUMA was born. Over time however my full rap name became K-KUMA“The Saiyan” because I loved the hit anime Dragon Ball Z."
Ironically, as an individual that is from the Gen-Z era, many of my classmates used to make fun of those that were inspired by the mechanics of anime.
I'm sure many otakus can feel a full circle moment from upcoming artists citing anime as a reference.
How do you deal with self-esteem and representation as an artist?
"Being myself! Being genuine and in essence being at ease with who I am as a person and as a artist made dealing with my self esteem so easy."
"I always struggled to understand at first why I wasn’t getting the support I deserved when I was starting out, but one day it just hit me. Something just snapped, I didn’t care anymore, I didn’t care what people thought of me and my music.
"I didn’t care who was looking down on me for having the journey I have. I didn’t care even if my family didn’t support me. I just started to make music solely for my myself , and I came to terms with people not wanting to support me so that I can have fun and be myself as an artist."
Instagram: @kkumathesaiyan