K.A.A.N.

Introducing himself in 2014 with a rapid-fire, chopper delivery style, Maryland’s Brandon Perry is an incredibly prolific and industrious rapper who issued more than 20 long-players — along with a plethora of EPs — in his first decade as an artist. Professing to speak for the curious, intelligent listener — particularly those unable to find motivation or inspiration in other, more mainstream forms of rap — his chosen moniker stands for Knowledge Above All Nonsense. The themes explored throughout his rich, diverse canon include mental health, substance abuse, politics, and religion. One of K.A.A.N.’s earliest tracks, “Kaancepts,” set a particularly high bar for integrity, freneticism, and the ability to shift rhythms mid-flow. By 2022’s The High Before You Fall, he’d long since mellowed but without compromising his tightness of delivery and his cerebral, occasionally sardonic lyricism. Perry was born in Howard County, Maryland in 1991 and raised in a local trailer park. His early introduction to music came when his parents played him 2Pac, Big K.R.I.T., and Mac Miller, and by the time he was ten he owned every 2Pac CD. He attended Howard High School and began to rap and write in his early twenties after witnessing a Baltimore set by Logic. Perry’s first recording session took place in that same city’s Manta Ray Records. He later reworked and retitled the track recorded that day as “Monk from Xiaolin” for inclusion on what became his debut mixtape as K.A.A.N., 2014′s Losing My Religion. He found work as a brick mason to help fund his recordings, including the late 2015 EP 1/12/199? and the Abstract Art mixtape. At this embryonic stage, K.A.A.N.’s talent was only appreciated by an enthusiastic but modestly sized fan base. Emblematic of the slow pace at which he gained significant recognition, “Concealed the Outro” — Abstract Art’s opener — eventually became his most popular track, hitting 20 million streams in 2022. After the early 2016 Orbt-produced EP Eclectic Audio, K.A.A.N. hooked up with New Jersey’s Redefinition Records mid-year for Uncommon Knowledge with K-DEF. There was a late flurry of activity as December approached, resulting in two self-released singles and two further EPs, one produced by Genshin and another by Sgull. 2017 was the year in which K.A.A.N. really stepped up his productivity and saw the release of no fewer than six EPs, two albums, and five stand-alone singles. He also began what eventually turned into a long-term working relationship with Bleverly Hills, Berlin’s Klaus Layer, and the Grammy-winning Dem Jointz. Sessions with the latter producer took place in Los Angeles at Dr. Dre’s Record One studio and resulted in the plush soundscapes of December’s The Black Blood LP. It was an experience that inspired him to move to the West Coast. Subsequently, that record became the first of many releases on Dem Jointz’s U Made Us What We Are imprint, namely 2018′s EP Heart Shaped Melody, and the R&B-inspired Pure Intentions. He also issued the Paradise / / Lost EP and two more albums, 4/29/17 and Subtle Meditation. Gathering — a three-way collaboration with Bleverly Hills and Dem Jointz — was issued in March 2019, ahead of two additional K.A.A.N. albums on U Made Us What We Are: July’s I.C.a.B.S. and December’s Naiveté. Along the way, Rappy Tracks curated another mixtape, Nameless, while Redefinition issued the solo album Requiem for a Dream Deferred. The long-players Twenty Nine, Blissful Awareness, All Praise Is Due (produced by Big Ghost Ltd), and Vivid Canvas all appeared in 2020. Most notably, the latter was the first to be released on his own K.A.A.N. Life Music imprint, which also issued Long Time No See in early 2021. The Ukrainian producer Smuff tha Quiz was involved in the creation of both Kaizen and Kaizen, Pt. 2, released only months apart and inspired by ’90s hip-hop, before K.A.A.N. closed out 2021 with the brief, flowing Sunset Crest Dr. A project with Dem Jointz, Mission Hillz, appeared in early 2022 and was followed by the stoner rap-inspired The High Before You Fall. 2023 began in typically prolific fashion with collaborative singles alongside Klaus Layer and Indiana’s Mark Battles. ~ James Wilkinson