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Back Home “on His Own Terms”

“I always used to compare my success meter with other artists, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that my path is the grind, getting it done on my own,” said Kevin “Kaze” Thomas ’12. “It’s not good to get caught up in what didn’t happen, and I’ve had a lot of good things happen.” (UNC/Johnny Andrews ’97)

Kevin Thomas ’12 had come to another career crossroads.

The rap artist and entrepreneur, who goes by “Kaze” (KAH-zee), had launched his VibeHouse405 studio in Chapel Hill just a few months earlier. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and he gave up the prime spot on West Franklin Street and found himself sitting at home, surrounded by recording equipment.

He started hearing heartbreaking reports about friends cut down by the virus — one in Baltimore, age 39; another in New York, 44.

“Not gonna lie,” he says, “I started wondering: ‘Is this it? And if it is, what’s the last piece of art I’ve left everybody with? What’s the last version of me that will be out there?’ I did not like the answer. So, I set everything up, cut it on and went to work.”

The result was A Thousand Shades of Black, performing as Kaze4letters, his first album in seven years and a work that ties together the many crossroads he’s navigated — not just as a musical artist but also as an activist, creative entrepreneur, philanthropist and community organizer.

The through line for the 16 songs is about trying to make a difference, for yourself or your community. The album begins with Wake Up, about the Black Lives Matter protests and the killing of Black people by police. It ends with Good Trouble, a tribute to the late congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis.

“It’s clear to see that this freedom ain’t free,” Kaze raps in the latter song. “The founders speaking ‘We the people’ wasn’t speakin’ ’bout me.”

These days Kaze is more likely to be on the radio talking than rapping, on his Inside Voices show on Chapel Hill’s WCHL. And whether it’s on a nightclub stage or in a business meeting with the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, a nonprofit that works to bolster businesses, he’s always aiming to make things happen.

“I wear so many hats, and people bump into me on so many different platforms, I’ll get asked, ‘How many of you are there, bro?’ I’ve got a lot going on, a lot of sides to reconcile.”

Making opportunities

Before becoming Kaze, Thomas first came to Chapel Hill in 1995 from the small North Carolina town of Richlands, where he’d been the kid “freestyling on the bus, rapping his school reports.” Arriving at Carolina, he was disappointed the University didn’t have either a contemporary-music curriculum or an on-campus recording studio. He started building and organizing studios and open-mic nights at local clubs.

The work made Kaze one of the local scene’s top emcees (even as his schoolwork suffered, which is why he didn’t finish his communications studies degree until 2012). He earned the respect of peers like Phonte Coleman, Grammy-nominated frontman of The Foreign Exchange and Little Brother.

“I wouldn’t say we were ‘frenemies,’ but we’d bump heads some back then,” said Coleman, laughing. “Just both of us being young, stupid, arrogant. But it’s nothing but love and respect now. Kaze’s always been his own man, always worked and made his own opportunities. He’s never been after handouts, and I always respect him for that. Everything he’s got, it’s been on his own terms, and he uses his platform to shine light on other people.”

Kaze spent years building his music career, including a stint as host of the nationally syndicated late-night television show Hip-Hop Nation: Notes From the Underground and recording contracts with Universal/Motown and Rawkus Records. But he wanted to reach higher.

“I had been feeling frustrated here, feeling like I’d hit a glass ceiling,” Kaze said about that stage of his career in Chapel Hill about a decade ago. “I’d seen other people in this area reaching that next level I couldn’t seem to get to myself. So, I relocated to put myself in the realm of making things happen.”

He headed to Los Angeles, but the commercial breakthrough he was hoping for never materialized. “Things didn’t happen, but it was super educational and enlightening and what I needed to figure out.”

Eventually, he realized that Chapel Hill was where he belonged; there, he could make more of a difference: “I came home understanding what I needed to do.”

“An energy about him”

On his to-do list was setting up VibeHouse405, a studio and multimedia shop he describes as “the lighthouse I’d come to Chapel Hill looking for.” Though the space closed, the brand lives on.

Kaze used his knack for making connections. He became part owner of Local 506, the venerable Franklin Street nightclub where he used to host “Microphone Monday” hip-hop shows. A Facebook Live show, Intelligently Ratchet, led to the weekly Inside Voices on the Chapel Hill station. He delves into issues of the day with guests such as Durham City Council member Pierce Freelon ’06, Washington Post opinion editor David Swerdlick ’99 (JD) and Onyx Urban Radio host Kisha Love Lee.

Kaze also has been working as director of arts, music and culture for the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership. During the pandemic, the job mostly has involved lots of calls and Zoom meetings about preserving and developing artistic spaces. He has co-curated the Chapel Hill Public Library’s “Tracks” local-music archive and is spearheading the outdoor live-music series “Save the Music,” with the town hiring local musicians to busk downtown. He dreams of creating a big local event along the lines of Austin’s South by Southwest.

“He just has an energy about him that’s connected to all the great cornerstones of culture in Chapel Hill,” said the downtown group’s executive director, Matt Gladdek ’09 (MPA), who also earned a master’s in regional planning from UNC in 2012. “What he was built to do is provide space for other artists, support them and create excitement. He’s a convener, a connector who pulls other people into his orbit and helps make them successful.”

An example is Winston-Salem native and VibeHouse405 artist Jordan “Sonny Miles” Williams, who garnered unexpected attention at the end of 2019 when former President Barack Obama tweeted out his favorite songs of the year. Along with music from Beyoncé, Lil Nas X and Bruce Springsteen was Raleighwood Hills, a song Williams recorded with LesTheGenius and Jaxson Free. That’s the sort of lightning strike Kaze never got for himself, but he’s happy to help his local peers catch it.

“I’ve learned a lot over the years,” Kaze said. “I always used to compare my success meter with other artists, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that my path is the grind, getting it done on my own. It’s not good to get caught up in what didn’t happen, and I’ve had a lot of good things happen.

“I have a history here as part of the area’s hip-hop legacy. What I represent is indie artists doing it against the odds, figuring out their own way. It’s what I’ve always done.”

— David Menconi


 

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