For many people, music transcends sound and goes beyond the physical, and into the spiritual. Pharmacist turned musician, Kinsolo is one of those people. His recent release “Grooveland” is proof that you have to tap into the spirit to make good music.
I spoke to him about his journey as a musician so far and the process of making his most recent album.
When did you start making music professionally?
I started in 2016. Before then, I was in UNN, studying pharmacy.
So how did pharmacy turn into music?
Pharmacy didn’t turn into music. There’s pharmacy, and then there’s music. Pharmacy is my profession, but music is my passion. I graduated and I’m licensed, but I’m not practicing. I’m not practicing because music takes all of my time. But I intend on opening some pharmacies and doing business around pharmacy in the future, because there are other uses of the certificate that don’t involve working in a hospital or pharmacy.
Music started professionally in 2016. When did the passion start?
I’ve been making music since. All my life, everyone has known me as a music guy. It was in 2016 I asked myself if I wanted to put everything I had into music, so that’s when I started. My first ever song was a hip-hop song; Oluwa Nagode. I made an EP in 2017 “In Spirit” which was a hip-hop EP but my first major body of work as a singer was in 2019; “Kinsolo 1”. That was the first time I made music I this genre and style.
What inspired your name, “Kinsolo”?
Kinsolo means wisdom to me. It’s not from any language or anything. It’s just spiritual.
How long did it take you to work on “Grooveland”?
One year and six months.
What kind of music is it?
Afrobeats.
Where do you draw inspiration from?
From the world. There’s music in everything so I always try to tap into that spiritual string all the time and make music from it. Music is the food of the spirit; the spirit feeds on music therefore you need to tap into the spirit to make music that connects. Everybody that makes good music understands this. When you listen to my former music there are some songs that reflect a confused person who hasn’t found himself, but when you listen to this album everything blends well, and that’s because I’ve fully realized my image. I’ve discovered myself now.
Who produced the album?
Eli the great. He went hard.
Let’s talk about features…
I had been planning the album for about 2 years so we already knew the artists that were going to be on the album. I have a strong relationship with Buju and there were so many songs with him, he was on the “In Spirit” EP but I knew he would be on the album because I have so many songs with him. So, we just picked “All Mine’ to be on the album.
DNA are my guys because we come from the same place, we are always in the studio and we had like 8 songs but we had to do some balloting and then we put Zidane on the album.
All the features were pre-planned so we already knew those guys were going to be on it.
Do you think you’re where you want to be?
I feel everything in life is a process so I think I’m where I’m supposed to be. Eventually, I’ll move to the next point and when I get to that point, I’ll know I’ve made progress. This album just dropped but I know it will take me to the next stage. And even if just ten more people know my name in the next 3 months, it’s progress.
Where do you see yourself reaching?
There’s no limit to this thing. I’ve seen people imagine big things and the reality is bigger. I have no limit. I see myself selling out big shows but I’m still working and staying optimistic.
What’s one thing you learnt while making the album?
I learnt that humans are limitless. We go as far as our imagination takes us. I learnt more about myself and so did my producer. Through the whole process, everyone learnt.
Listen to Grooveland here
