One of the hardest things about art is letting it flow. To let everything happen as it does. As people in general it’s hard not to let overthinking take over. We all do it.
But when stars align and things work out, boy do they work out. Most Wanted is special and they’ll be selling out shows very soon.
The group consists of Goodie (Kyle Goodland), and brothers Silk Degrees (Bryan Nkemdiche) and Zenny Phantom (Denzel Nkemdiche) who have made a sonic world around them.
All members contribute vocally, while Zenny also handles production. Silk works on visuals for the group from designing cover art to editing music videos.
They’re bringing a Y2K energy to make something truly unique. For one, they work as a unit. Each member contributes their own, but the real magic is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
From the first track of their debut EP POSTER KIDS “ACTUALLY” the energy is special. Silk calls it “almost tribalistic” on that song. They work off each other, finish each other’s verses. It’s a brotherhood.
Take “HooD ANIME” a single off the project, as an example. From the jump, the song is relentless.
Zenny’s gruff vocal lines, “she keeps asking where we going, we’ll be there in a minute/ I’m a top-notch player you can tell by my demeanor” complemented by Silk’s falsetto vocals in the back. Then, Silk swings back in for the chorus, “they open up the doors when we go, Tony Montana off the boat.” To top it off, you get one of the best verses on the whole project from Goodie right after.
Goodie describes it perfectly, refreshing. His deadpan flows, Zenny’s hypnotic production, Silk’s main and background vocals that tango around with one another, meshing styles of past and present R&B for something truly original. Everything is cohesive too. The sleek black and whites of the album cover match the early 2000s-esque vocals. All-black fits on the cover and promotional art contrast the white backgrounds.
But back to the point. Most Wanted kind of just happened. Well, it was kind of years in the making. Hold on.
Funny enough, Silk and Zenny didn’t make music together growing up in Atlanta. The two were exposed to music early on through church. Though Zenny was interested, Silk took more of a liking to it. He ran with music.
Zenny dabbled in and out. He was always interested but stayed invested in football, which he played up until his college years at Ole Miss.
The two didn’t make music together until much later on, and Zenny knew he had to be 100% committed to working with his brother.
“Before I came into music that was his thing, you know what I mean. Don’t play around with my life, this is what I do for life.”
Goodie comes into the picture a little later on in late 2019 with all three of them based in Arizona. Born and raised in Arizona, Goodie had been working on solo music for a few years and eventually crossed paths with Zenny at an audition. Something in particular caught his ear.
“He said ‘if you’re really doing this you know you’re going to lose friends, people are going to question what you’re doing’ I was like ‘oh I gotta tap in with buddy.’”
They kept in touch and eventually decided it was time to make something together a few months later. The found a nearby home studio, The Raven, where they started working. Silk and Goodie met there as well.
“EXPECTATIONS,” the second track on POSTER KIDS was made that first day. Little did they know, that was the start of a months-long recording process.
They kept making music together for no other reason than it was fun, it didn’t feel like homework, and the music sounded original.
The Raven, which wasn’t even open to the public yet, was becoming their home. The owner gave them the keys. Everyday they worked on new music, building this sound.
This sound is POSTER KIDS. Sleek, energetic, chaotic, nocturnal.
The craziest part of it all is the EP was recorded around a year and a half ago. This is what they’ve made in their first few months together as a group.
All of the EP was done by early 2021. It didn’t release until September 2021. It’s easy to wonder ‘wow, that’s a lot of time to make new music.’ Imagine how the next record will sound. Now think about three or four years down the line. They have another whole year under their belt as a group.
Standing alone, POSTER KIDS is a phenomenal project. But it’s just a crack in the door to something special.
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