In Her Shell, In Her Season: Inside KJADE’s Era of Gratitude, Solitude and Growth

 Interview with artist and rapper KJADE
Interview and Photos by Anitah Imani
Hair by Hope Chianne
Styling by KJADE

10.02.25

Artist and rapper KJADE has entered a new season of transformation, and she’s taking her time with it. After an accelerated blossoming year of performing and promoting her debut project, “The Sound That Trees Make”, the rapper has entered a transitional period, full of frequent bicoastal traveling, connecting with longtime internet friends turned collegues, and cooking in the comfort of her home. We met during the height of Cancer season to reflect on her journey performing and touring TSTTM, what home life and daily routines look like these days in her sanctuary, and the new projects that are ahead of her.  

Anitah: How's cancer season been for you?

KJADE: I love Cancer season! Honestly, I have a stretch of half the year - just knowing my natal chart - like I think it starts Gemini season and it ends basically Libra season/Virgo season. That’s my stretch of the year. It's like things are really happening because my Sun, Moon and Rising are back to back.

Cancer season - if you were to treat it as a sunset/sunrise situation - the sun is just rising, like everything just starts. Leo season it’s at the top of the sky, and Virgo season it’s on its way out. So yeah, everything feels brighter, everything with emotion, I have so many Cancerian friends and family, so I get to see everybody else illuminating. That’s what I love about this season, it’s so good.

A: It’s a celebration season all around.

KJ: Feeling really good at home. In my home, I sit there and I just smile.

A: I love that!

KJ: Like, my reason to wake up - because I live alone right now - is just to sit there and be like “this is so amazing.”

A: Is it your first time living completely alone in your adulthood?

KJ: Yesss.

A: How is that for you? I love that for you.

KJ: I have my shell! I feel like when I was a kid, I used to just dream of designing a clubhouse, like a literal clubhouse. I remember the first age that I had my own room, I was like, this is cool, but this is not it.

A: Like, it’s cute!

KJ: Yeah, right! Always making it work, but it was never the thing. And this kind of feels like I have my reading nook, I have my work area, I'm always gonna organize a space where it's functional and also comfortable. And that's what it feels like every day that I wake up, just getting time to do work in my home, but also I cook every day and I’m cleaning everyday because I respect my space. It’s just awesome.

A: That's beautiful. What's your routine look like in this season of life, like daily routines/rituals that you have throughout the day. I noticed you've been cooking a lot more too.

KJ: So I always try to wake up early as hell. I usually wake up at 4.

A: Really?! You’re an early riser.

KJ: 5 a.m. is actually normal, at the very latest 8 a.m. Today I naturally woke up at 8, that’s my normal time to wake up, I think for most people. When I push myself,  if I’m actually doing work throughout the day, 4 or 5.

But I wake up early, if I need to clean I will, but it’s probably already fine. Then I just start cooking, get straight into it. I probably prepped something the night before. Whether it  just be I'm making a matcha, or something that actually takes a couple hours to actually get to. But yeah, I'll start that, and then I take a walk, like immediately after I eat.

A: Are you still doing walks now?

This interview was conducted in the thick of the Arizona summer heat. Consistent 110 days were regular around this time.

KJ: Always!

A: Because I'm a walker too, and I can't do it with the heat. It's either early in the morning, or right when the sun goes down.

KJ: Yes, and that's exactly why I get up earlier. And I'm fucking nuts, because if I don't have time to walk, I'll push myself in the heat. Like when I'm in here (Harlem Coffee), especially when I get caffeine in my system, they've seen it too. I'll sit, I'll write, I'll listen, especially if I have music and caffeine I want to move around.

So yeah, that's usually my routine, waking up, reading, writing, walking.  And then for the rest of the day. I always find myself changing the feng shui of my space. Like move my bed around, move my kitchen. Everything is on wheels, everything's very movable. And then, I always put myself on a little quest for the day. It's another thing I realized, I always have a little to do list, so whatever that is. For instance, today I'm going to H-mart, but I'm also going to go look for a Nintendo Switch, and then I'm also going to go to Chipotle, and then I'm going to come back home and make more music.

A: I love that, it sounds like you're in a good flow state right now, that's good. What music soundtracks your day, what music is present in your life right now?

KJ: I realize there's certain instruments that I feel the most drawn to right now. I feel like I'm always kind of  listening to something with a harp in it. For instance, I’ll listen to this one Gil Scott Heron song that he wrote. I'm calling it a song because it was recorded as a song, but it's really just a poem.  And then the backtracking was refurbished by Makaya McCraven. And so that's a lot of stringy things, one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to making an atmosphere for music, production wise. 

I’m breaking down this one song right now. It is by Fabulous and Lil’ Mo. It sounds like the end of a really happy black movie where everything worked out. What else, so much, so much.

A: But a lot of jazz right now.

KJ:  A lot of jazz. And I'm listening to a lot of Mk.Gee I’m also still entertaining myself with lots of mixes from different DJs, like on NTS Radio, and then just new stuff that they'll put me on to.

A: Have you had any live music experiences lately,  whether that's DJ sets or performances? 

KJ: Yess, when I was in New York. I feel like also the last show that I was at was the one that we did at The Van Buren. In New York though, when I was out there seeing some of my friends DJ sets. There’s this one bar on Myrtle Ave called Jade, ironically.  And we went there, it was my birthday too. We went there and my friend took me there because his friend was hosting it. But a lot of my friends ended up DJing. They always put me onto some new shit. It’s also just a really cute strip like you find so many different people who play so much shit.  I also saw Clip perform, we actually linked up to do that, we were out there in Brooklyn just watching it all go down. 

A: So you just came off of some back to back traveling. How has it been just being able to travel for leisure more, but also allowing music to take you places?

KJ: I'm really grateful because I never asked for one last bit of it, you know? And it wasn't the label or my manager trying to organize things either. Right now, it's at a very organic point where it's just like people  who've been fucking with me, or just know me and wants to work, just reach out, and they're like, “Hey, come over here. Let's hang out. Let's cook up. We'll meet you.” And then just going their way to make music. 

For instance, Ovrkast, he’s from Oakland, we’ve known each other since I was like 13. He just invited me on tour. It's a tour with Saba from Atlanta, Philly, Silver Spring, just all over, five different cities, and ending out in New York, and then also doing a show in Phoenix. So it’s just really awesome, because it's all organic, it’s just off the strength of me respecting people and them respecting me. And it's a really eye opening thing to take in different cultures, to have this all done off the strength of respect and admiration. I'm just really grateful.  That's another thing that’s also been my shit for rituals too, is just gratitude. Just starting everything and setting the intention with gratitude.

A: That's everything. Karma is definitely real, and what you put out into the universe will ultimately come back to you tenfold, and that is multiplied when it is in relation to your relationships with other people. As you said, these are people that you've been fucking with for a while and probably in communication with them, or just loving their shit for a while. It's cool how that's come back to you now that you're in a season to receive a different type of admiration from them, too.

KJ: I’ve  also been meeting people that I've been internet friends with for years.

A:  You've been deep on the black internet. Girl, I feel like I remember the first time I found your page on Instagram. It was one of Snotty's videos that he would record in his house, and I think you were in the background of one of those videos. And I was like, who is @niggapasta? But I just immediately wasdrawn towards your energy and just your goofiness, your silliness online. 

But yeah, I guess how chronically being online back then impacted you now? Now that you're here and you can reflect on that period and see how much it's affected you and the people you're in communication with, whether that's other music connections, or just other artist connections across the globe.

KJ: First off, what a time to even exist. As much as I relate myself to others, sometimes I feel like my life - it wouldn't take a different path -  but I would make more sense in the 80s. I think a person like me would thrive in a time li

ke that. I really do think about myself in different era so I can connect myself to different experiences. And being able to exist while the internet is active, I think the way that I naturally am as a person, taking up space makes sense on the internet.

And that's just something I think about even with different people. So when I do connect with other people that take up space in different ways, where it's almost like a Venn diagram. Whose bubble am I getting into, who's in my bubble, but how are we all interconnected? More like a flower of life touching. That's kind of how I literally visualize it in my head, where it's like how am I existing, and how are other people existing all at once.

It's just really cool that even though I was on the internet, hella unsupervised as a 12 year old, I did make a lot of friends. I was so proactive about my use of the Internet. Like if I had a question, I’d ask it literally and write it down. Also, when I am using this, make it make sense. Make it work for you. Make it more tangible.

All my favorite songs that I found on the internet, I break them down, I’m very proactive about figuring them out. Once I saw some of my favorite apps getting taken away from me, I was like “How do I make this last longer?” For instance, I transferred all my songs from Spotify to YouTube music. It was simple to do, a lot of apps that don't do that. Oh, Spotify just fucking sucks, the way that they pay people. It’s a really fun social media app, but it's not respectful at all to the creator, to other musical entities, and even to the listener, the consumer on the app. I feel like it all hits a wall somewhere. So transferring all that to YouTube was cool, but yeah, I was just very interactive on different corners of the internet.

I met a lot of real ass people. The internet's also very fake, but it's cool to actually make real bonds that you've kind of had fermenting for years. I didn't have friends at all in Arizona, but I had friends in New York, Silver Spring, Maryland, on the other side of the country just because I was on that damn phone.

A: But hey, some of that paid off.

KJ: My mom was fucking with it too. Like, I was e-dating this one boy. She was like “He can come over!” only when it was real, she’d be fucking with it. Other than that she was like “Get off that fucking phone bruh.”

*shared laughs*

KJ: I was too turnt though, I was too turnt. I know people are very conscious of their digital footprint - mine will come back to bite me - but it's gonna contextualize myself.

A: Yeah, exactly. Like I was on some shit back then y’all. I'm not that crazy, just a little bit. 

*shared laughs*

But that's dope to hear how that's impacting you currently. I want to take it from the Saba performance and this high that you're coming off of, and then reel it back to a couple other performances as well. So how was it performing on the Saba tour? You've performed here at home, of course, a handful of times. You’ve done There Space Studios, you've done Crescent Ballroom, you've done Acrosanti, you've done the Phoenix Art Museum. And I feel like all of those were leading up to this moment here. So just how was that for you?

KJ: Starting at the point of performing with Saba, like even at the Van Buren too, and that was one that I did not break in terms of different venues. I feel like I performed at a lot of other ones, other corners that I still haven't touched but that was really important. Because I remember when I saw Cruza and Crumb.

A: That was a good time.

KJ: Everything that I've seen there is beautiful. I saw Thundercat twice there, and cried my eyes out. Every time I've been there, I watch people funneling back, because there's always such good talent in there, and people have so much fun. Also, that was so amazing to see, even when it's not just me on stage, like watching other people from the side, everybody has such a huge smile on their face. To be in a way, conjoined or led by other talent that has that impact on people, being able to bump shoulders with them as peers, is just really, really valuable. Because you guys make people feel like that, that's what I would do. Ovrkast and the DJ made such a great engagement with the crowd too, it was so beautiful to see. I feel like even though I did all other shows, that always reminds me I have so much to learn.   

And also thank you to every last person who ever reached out. I feel like it's just by word of mouth out here that people would be like, “Yeah, let's make this happen.” That's another perspective. When I was at the Music Instrument Museum, I performed two days in front of probably 1000 people. I was just thinking how do I impact the kids in every single crowd? They're the most engaged, they’re the ones who are like, “Can I get your Spotify, where can I find you, can I take a picture? Do you want to walk around the museum?”

People that should literally get impacted, because they're just the most fascinated by music. And then the kids themselves are talented, like real music lovers. 

And then there are spaces where it's based on other peers that I've had for years out here, where they're just like, “Oh yeah, me and Jade have been cool for years,  let’s get Jade on a bill because we fuck with Jade.”

Those are also interesting spaces, just off the strength of people just showing up and knowing me for sometime. But all these different environments that I’m put in, whether I’m talking about the Music Instrument Museum versus something like There Space, the way that people show up, it's always something to to account for. And it really makes such an insightful experience. All of this, I never take lightly, I never take for granted, always taking back inward. It motivates me more for the next thing you.

A: What have you learned about yourself as a performer? How do you feel like you're a different performer now than you were a year ago, just based on the places that you've been? 

KJ: Well, breath control. Finding out ways to engage with the crowd too. Me and my managers, we talked about it, and they're like for the past year, people are not listening to me even for anything new. No one had hit me up and was like, “Hey, we want you to perform your new shit here before you want to start your roll out at this point.” It’s always been, “Can you perform what you have, we heard what you have out and we want to hear it.” Sometimes it's crazy, because damn, I’m grieving in Club Contact right now.

A: I want to get into that too. What has the ritual of performing that been for you? Because it's a lot to relive again and again, in that way. 

KJ: I spend a lot of time alone.  I go out and I pop out, hella hard, super social. Therefore, releasing myself, and then I have to spend time alone, just for the spiritual hygiene aspect. Just having to cleanse myself. Not that it's ever negative,  I know how to transmute. Some people are very accepting, but I bury my soul in front of people every weekend, literally.  Having some of the deepest experiences said with euphemisms and metaphors so it's not a direct impact, but sometimes it is, I mean for me, it is.

So having to go out there and release all of that is just for spiritual hygiene. I do have to turn inward and just give myself time to reflect. I realize about myself, I go into nothing with expectations, I go into everything with accountability at large. In most things, but definitely for performing.. But yeah, I realized every single performance, even if there’s nobody there, even when it’s a performance where it's 1000 people,  everything is practice for the next thing. The next thing could literally be me and five people that showed up. I've never done an open mic but if I were for instance, how am I gonna impact them?

I also love people. For me, the most nervous I've ever been, it was just one big bright light, and I couldn't see.  It felt like I was in space.  If I see people's faces, even if they're just trying to figure me out, that's not scaring me. Whereas me just alone with the mic in my hand and I'm looking out and there's nothing there. That was kind of weird.

A: What has been your favorite space that you performed at? I'm contextualizing this around your project, but you've been performing for a while too. I remember seeing you in backyard shows and all of that. But here, in terms of touring TSTTM, what's been your favorite venue to perform at? 

KJ: Acrosanti was sicckkkk. Acrosanti was sick as fuck, we had a party up there.

A: You were telling me a little bit about that experience before and just how therapeutic that whole day felt. I think you mentioned you did some shrooms too.

KJ: We got lit as fuck. I was faded off of many substances. Yeah, many substances, them indigenous people/white people up in the mountains love to party.

A: You said waittt im turnt!!

*giggles*

KJ: That was so much fun. But honestly my favorite space, Acrosanti for sure. Favorite show, or maybe the one that meant the most thus far, my first one in New York.

A: Tell me about that one a little bit.

KJ: My friends were there, just like people that I've worked with for so long. Ovrkast was there. Mavi was there. Kelly Moonstone, Jay Cinema, so many others.These are people that I've been online with bumping shoulders for years. It just felt like when I first released the project, New York was always the top engaged city. Going out there trying to share that with them, and people who don't know me at all were there, like that was fire. Engaging people, and I feel like everything I'm saying makes sense to them. That was so important to me. So that show was really one of my favorites.

And then my best show, where I feel like I really got that off. I really appreciate what I did at that event Pariah Pete had, the 22 angels event.

A: That one was good. The fit was fantastic that evening, might I say. The all white, that one was great. 

KJ: I feel like not enough things like that happen out here to the theme. SoI loved that I could really get that off like I love an activity based thing. And that was just so tea, something about my heart chakra that night,  it was just pumping, it was good. I wasn’t even lit, I drank after.  I just felt good that night. I don't know if it was all white.

A: I think another standout performance for me that I've seen from you was one where you weren't even performing TSTTM,  it was the Phoenix Art Museum with Saúl and Marc, and that one was like, whoa. Because she was singing!! I was like, I knew my baby could sang,  I was waiting for you to get that off. I want to have you reflect on that a little bit too, because I think I want to talk a little bit more about what's ahead as well, and I think singing is a part of that for you. Or rather, I want to see how that's going to be a part of it for you. So how was that performance? Do you see yourself performing more things like that, more spaces like that, in a collaborative way with other art or sound collectives?

KJ: That was so much fun. And we got that off, super simple. I think everyone but me, had been working on that for a while. A lot of themwork at the art museum. Saul’s ensemble, they're already in union, practicing what they're saying, they know they're working, I just kind of showed up. They're like, “I want you to show up and vocalize and style whatever you like.” I was like bet.  The way that they coordinated that as well, I really appreciate how the range of sound that they provide, I was able to just kind of be. I always see the voice as an instrument itself, it was really cool. It's like me beside all these other instruments, and I just show up as me, because that's how music makes sense to me in my head. 

But yes singing, we're just trying to decide what project to put these songs on, but that's definitely something that I'm working on.

A: I wanna continue on this tangent of what's next. Obviously your catalogue will always be growing, so chapters don’t really close per se, but are you approaching the point of, you’ve taken TSTTM on the map and you’re ready to give to something else?

KJ: I'm having conversations with different investors. That's my baby, I'm gonna do what I can, while it's relevant, to give it the life it deserves. It's always gonna have its own life and walk its own purpose. It's a chapter that doesn't necessarily close, but when I'm ready to give it it's closing, so I can give my new self a new opening.  Because I don't even orient like that anymore, to be honest. I feel like I don't orient around grief. I don't touch those same points every day. 

It's really just a matter of growth that I'm really revolving around, orbiting around, I'm always writing. And another thing I realized about myself is that feeling of release, because I build up so much, I think so much, I feel so much, I experience so much, I have to let that out. I have to find a way to release, and that's what music is, is tension and release. That’s at least what good music is, I think. It's like something that it builds up and up and it floods. Yeah, I'm just really ready to get out this new version of myself. Like, really ready.

A: Does your next project sound like TSTTM? Because I've listened to your music prior to that project and I feel like TSTTM is a lot more melodic, very grounded version of your sound. And there's another version of your sound that exists, and maybe one that I haven't even heard yet, so what sound are you working towards?

KJ: With the version of myself that I found in TSTTM, definitely, that was grounded, also dark, not even a self deprecating manner. I don't even think I've ever been a type of person, but- 

A: It was a grieving experience.

KJ: Yeah, but it was so grounding, and barely ever did it come up off the ground. This project is actually a lot more lofty. This one is more lush and it's a lot more light hearted too.  Because I feel like travel has really impacted the way that I not only see myself, but the world, music, and other languages too. Those of love, those of curiosity, those of discipline, all the different languages that you can engage with now has me speaking a different language in my music. So I'm thinking of how everything just kind of sounds a little bit more spacious. But what instruments am I using to fill the space? Singing, vocalization, different forms and means of production, where I'm producing, co producing.

A: Oh, you're producing! I love that. I'm assuming you're still working with Esteban?

KJ:  Always. We just got out of the studio this morning, like, 12 in the morning.

A: How is that creative partnership in for you?

KJ: That's my dude.

A: And I heard in another interview he's a Pisces and you’re a Cancer. That's a great union to have.

KJ: You already know we got a handshake! That involves us making the symbols. That's my guy. I love a Pisces, bad. He's just helped me a lot. I feel like there's a natural, positive symbiotic relationship that we have understanding each other. Where I may not understand, he shows up delicately.  And where he may not understand, I show up sometimes it's more ferocity, but to him, translates delicately. And we love cooking, we love playing Mario Kart. We speak the same language in music. 

He taught me so much about listening to the more passive elements of music, and that also helped me a lot. Because the production decisions that he makes speaks so much to a part of me that I feel like I haven’t tapped into. It almost feels familiar to other relationships with people that I've had, where it's like they help me understand that and my emotionality on how to be tender. But he just knows, like the way that he closes his eyes and will listen to a very deep, hidden high hat in the song, or be able to identify a direct kick pattern. And that's like the backbone of the song that we build off of impacts the way that I rap over the song, the flow that I decide. So we’re now in conversation with a different point of view.  We speak the same language a lot of the times. And even if we're speaking a different one, we know how to translate it.

Yeah, that's just my guy. I think he impacted a lot of my sound. To me, when I talk about TSTTM, that is a collaborative effort. He told me this is your project, and I want you to just have your project out. But he helped me release it, so I'm always going to be grateful for that. We just have the relationship where you can do that.

A: I love hearing the different processes of how music is made. It's different for everybody. And I think it's really dope that you have a really locked in creative relationship there. Like, it feels very fluid. Kind of going off that though, what are your studio rituals? I know you're a writer at heart, so that's just ongoing, but the ritual of being in the studio, especially since you make music in so many different places. Like you said, you love to make music in your home, Esteban's home, what does that look like?

KJ: Because I'm always writing, it makes going into the studio a lot easier. Because going to the studio to write - and I think more rappers, unless you're just a psycho person - as a rapper, I feel like you gotta admit, that may not be a productive standpoint. Just because, you're literally enclosed by four walls in front of a mic around a lot of hardware, and that's not the inspiring point of the writing.  That's just I can finally concentrate myself on the output. So that's what I really like to do. One thing about me, I'm gonna show up to the studio with a snack.

A: What's the snack plate?

KJ: Sparkling water, pistachios, at the least, if I could bring some fruit, that would be perfect. Fruit, blackberries, mango. You know what I mean, but me and Esteban we cook, though, like we cook down.

A: So I guess what are current goals that you're working towards right now? More performances, releasing more music? We're waiting for the track that you played at the Saba show.

KJ: I'm just kind of just thumbing up what I want, that's what I'm working on right now. There's a project that I actually really want to release this year. And I consider TSTTM a project, so I really want it to be an album.

A: So we haven't seen an album from you yet? 

KJ: No. Now, when people do identify it as an album, I'm just that type of person with genres, gender, any type of classification on me, I'm cool with people's interpretation on it. If someone's like, “That's an album,” I think I'm past correcting them at this point, because it's like, if that's what an album is to you.

A: What's an album to you?

KJ: Something that does have sequencing, something that does have a rollout. Something that does have a theme, and it's like an institution of the identity of the artist. Something that you can reference. And so I totally get the opinion of that's what people think an album from me is. What doesn't make it an album for me is that it does not have the rollout. It was very on the whim. I feel like the writing was intentional, but piecing it together that came together fast.

A: I’m excited to see more visuals. We've seen a couple music videos from you, but I'm really excited to see how your visual universe comes to fruition.

KJ: Yeah, that's the other thing that we're working on, literally, as we speak, visuals.  Just cranking that out with a lot of great people. I'm really proud of the work that they can do on it. For the rest of this year, I actually think I want to travel more.  I  think I can’t not travel now. I just feel like I have to get out there. I have work to do now that I've gotten the ball rolling. It's like I have places to go, I got work to do. But I also feel like, if I feel like what I'm gearing up for in a full leap, I need to conserve my energy. So I'm very intentional about what I'm expending any energy on in any shape, way or form, because I know where I'm gonna be six months from now.

A: You got some work to do. Are there any parting thoughts that you want to share?

KJ: I'm really grateful. Just the gratitude that I have is probably one of the most grounding things about it, because everywhere else, I feel like I'm pretty in the air, which is a great feeling to say, because I've been stuck on the ground before. I’m not right now, not for the past 2 years. I'll say I don't think I've been stuck. I just know that I have been there before. 

I appreciate everybody, anybody who's been curious about my music, in a positive light, in a negative light, and who's interpreted it, who's had the patience to give it a listen.  And anybody who's been able to connect to it. I’m just really grateful.