Live Act

Citizen Kay

Born in Ghana, then moving to Canberra while still very young, Citizen Kay grew up with an ambition to make his way into the music scene. As an aspiring songwriter with a love of hip-­‐hop, he began rapping under the name of ‘Kay’. Before becoming engrossed in hip-­‐hop he was well known as a talented multi-­‐instrumentalist, and as a teenager his music teachers and peers recognized his potential as a musician. However his love of rapping and hip-hop took center stage. After teaching himself how to rap and rhyme, he taught himself how to create beats and the art of recording. As time went on, he finessed his rapping style, and his songwriting and recording. Before long he was working with other aspiring songwriters and musicians in his hometown – the time was right for CITIZEN KAY.

CITIZEN KAY released a string of singles that all received widespread radio airplay across Australia. Kicking off in 2013 with YES! followed by RAISE A GLASS, MANAGE and FREEDOM, these signles with four additional tracks made up the DEMOKRACY mini album. In the US, DEMOKRACY was picked up by a number of college radio stations, breaking it into the top 10 of the CMJ hip hop charts. Back in Australia, DEMOKRACY picked up nominations for ‘Best Urban Album’ at the ARIA Awards and ‘Best Independent Hip Hop Album’ at the Air Awards.

CITIZEN KAY’s debut full length album WITH THE PEOPLE was released in October 2015. Produced with FREEDOOM collaborator Ben Garden, it included two more singles that were added to playlists nationwide, WAX ON WAX OFF and LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS. The third single OUR WORLD goes out to radio in February 2016.

CITIZEN KAY’s live shows have left lasting impressions on audiences around the country, with his words, beats and stage presence converting them to dedicated fans. He’s been out with the people, having toured Australia with his own headline shows and with the likes of Wiz Khalifa, Earl Sweatshirt & Danny Brown, Run the Jewels, Ice Cube, Public Enemy, Tkay Maidza and Seth Sentry. In February CITIZEN KAY goes out on tour again, this time supporting lly around Australia.