{"id":565507,"date":"2017-11-17T17:44:12","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T22:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/?p=565507"},"modified":"2017-11-17T17:44:12","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T22:44:12","slug":"interview-kp-great-talks-atlantas-influence-hip-hop-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/interview-kp-great-talks-atlantas-influence-hip-hop-fashion\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview \/\/ KP the Great Talks Atlanta’s Influence on Hip Hop Fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"

You know Pharrell, you know Andre 3000 and you know TI — but do you know the common link that’s been making moves with them for the last two decades? If not, you’re about to. Meet Kawan Prather, aka KP The Great<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Dungeon Family descendent has signed and produced some of the biggest stars in music over the last 22 years, gaining Grammys and shifting the scope of culture. Currently with Pharrell’s I Am Other and fresh off a DJ gig at ComplexCon, we caught up with the ATL vet to hear about his taste in footwear, his city’s contributions to hip hop fashion and where he thinks music is going next.<\/p>\n

Snkrs Day: For anyone out there that’s new to you and your work both on the scene and behind the scenes, tell us a little bit about yourself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

KP The Great:<\/strong> My name is Kawan Pather. I DJ as KP the Great and I’ve been doing A&R for about 22 years. I started as a member of The Dungeon Family as a DJ for the group Parental Advisory. I moved onto the record business through Pebbles and LA Reid who told me I was an A&R really and they groomed me professionally.<\/p>\n

I signed TI, Usher, Pink, TLC and John Legend. I produced “Green Light” by John Legend and Andre 3000 and \u00a0I got my first Grammy last year for writing credits on Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright.”<\/p>\n

Snkrs Day: Impressive. The A&R position is one that seems like it’s changed a lot over time. How has the job evolved for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KP The Great:<\/strong> When I first started doing A&R, I was doing it, but I didn’t know it. What Pebbles and LA Reid told me is that I was the guy who would find people whether they rapped, sung, wrote songs or was an engineer. I was introducing talented people to the process so they told me that my taste was on. For me that was easy because I was a DJ — I knew what people liked. They basically showed me how to use that as a school. To me, A&Ring has evolved but it’s kind of a subjective thing depending on what the person needs.<\/p>\n

I think the view of what an A&R is has been blurred based on the people who have done it have been. If you’ve had a great story with an A&R you see them flourish, if you hear a horror story people don’t trust the process because they heard of somebody get hurt.<\/p>\n

Snkrs Day: Coming up in the Dungeon Family, what was influencing your style at that time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KP The Great:<\/strong> We’re from Atlanta and we kind of came up watching the cool people from the ’80s which were the trap stars of that era. They were wearing the freshest velour sweatsuits, the FILAs, it was the Southern drug dealer look. For me, there’s still no better shoe than an all-white Air Jordan 4. For me that’s fun and success — everything that goes with a Jordan — and they look great.<\/p>\n

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Snkrs Day: Aside from the Jordan 4, which models are getting burn for you today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KP The Great:<\/strong> In my new adult comfort I’m wearing Nike runners because I travel a lot, but any Nike Huarache or any Jordan model up to 11 still work pretty much anywhere for me. Now that my friends make shoes I rock the Human Race NMDs from Pharrell and Yeezy Boosts. I’ve partially fallen in love with the Yeezys because they cost so much that I’ve gotta get my burn from them. [Laughs<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Snkrs Day: Speaking of your friends, from Andre to TI to Pharrell you get to see some pretty diverse fashion senses up close and personal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

KP The Great:<\/strong> The beauty of it is I get to see extremes from people who are dedicated to their thought process. If you look at Andre, he really is trying to think left at all times. His style is the same. Instead of him going to do a deal with Nike or adidas, he’s working with Tretorn because Tretorn meant something to him. Being from Atlanta, the prep movement was a real thing. People were walking around in tennis sweaters, tennis shorts and Tretorn shoes with Benneton bags with tennis rackets in them — not because they were playing tennis, because if in case you got into a fight you had a tennis racket. [Laughs<\/em>] That meant enough to him that he wanted to go out and work with them to make a shoe that he could wear today.<\/p>\n

With TI his style is about being immaculately sharp. Everything is in place, everything is crisp. It’s trap success.<\/p>\n

If you look at Pharrell, it’s funny to me because he wears the most expensive things that don’t look like they’re about the money. One day I picked up a watch he had laying on the boards and asked him if I could have one if he ever got another. Everybody else in the room laughed because they knew what it was and how much it cost. His taste is so good that it ends up being expensive, but not because he’s trying to get the most expensive things.<\/p>\n

Snkrs Day: On the subject of Andre, he discussed in his GQ story that he really has to be moved to jump on a record. How’d you make “Green Light” happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KP The Great:<\/strong> It was funny, ironically I just called him. Me and my homeboy were working together at the time. I had just been fired from Sony but I was still John Legend’s A&R. I took it back, me and Malay took it back and produced what it should sound like. After we finished I felt like Dre would do it so I called him thinking the worst he could say is no. He hit me back soon with, ‘Oh, I like this! I think I can do it!’ That might have been the day after Christmas. In my head I thought the process might be a month or two because I don’t know if he’s moved moved<\/em>. Three days later he hits me to see if we can get studio time the next day which happens to be New Year’s Eve. I cancelled my plans and he went in and killed it.<\/p>\n

For me at least, I know him well enough to know what the goal is. For him the goal is to do something he hasn’t done. If people see something working they tend to want to do more of that. But really if they just like that thing you should give them that and do something else so you’re not judged by the existing model.<\/p>\n