MR. KIND

Always ahead of his time, Mr. Kind got into music out of necessity. Born in 1973, this New Jersey native saw a lot of things in the “Bricks” (Newark, NJ). Son of a school teacher, he always felt like he had an angel or something looking over him. His mother was constantly working to keep him away from negative things and people in his surroundings; he was the only kid he knew that had a curfew. His mother kept him away from his father which made him lack an entire side of who he was. He was not a bad kid but stayed in trouble trying to fit in and follow others, always being the one to get caught. He never felt like he was accepted because he was in between the “little” kids and the “big” kids and never felt quite right on either side.Music was the first thing in life that he took control of. In music he found a place where he was accepted and he was the first out of his circle of friends to get into it. In music, he was a leader, not a follower. He was mentored by a New York emcee named Knowledge who taught him all about metaphors, similes and the art of the “Snap”. He started battling other emcees and was taught to be creative, original and different. Mr. Kind grew up in a time in Hip Hop where the lack of originality or skills was shameful. He was influenced by the music of U.T.F.O, Just Ice and later the Juice Crew. He didn’t like the mainstream rappers like Run DMC, Curtis Blow and others of the time. He always wanted to keep skilled emcees to himself so he studied them to harness his own skills, ashamed for anyone to know where his new techniques came from.He mastered the art form in the 90’s but his songs were deemed to be too personal for the music industry and even his own crew. Thee Asylum was one of his greatest accomplishments. It was a crew that he started, recruited, and trained. With Thee Asylum, he learned the business side of music; teamwork, networking and negotiating. However, it all became too much for him to handle. At that time, music and hip hop was his life and nothing else mattered. He cared more about his crew which was more like a family than his own dreams.He later started a family of his own but the strain of music, a wife and kids was too much so he let his music go. But he could not understand why with a wife and kids his life still felt incomplete. Years went by and he continued to look at music as just a regular citizen. Finally, 8 years later Mr. Kind realized that music is a part of him and his is meant to be heard. He is still ahead of his time…