Kokayi | ms

A synaptic overload of afropunk/hip-hop/funk/rock/psychodiscobilly. Whichever box you seek to put him in, he explodes out of. Kokayi (Carl Walker) is a Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, emcee, producer and educator. Pronounced “Ko-Kah-Yee” (or KOKE for short), this Washington D.C. native takes his name from the Swahili word meaning “to summon the people”. Musically self-sufficient and versatile in ways that are reserved for upper-echelon talents, he produces his own music, writes his own rhymes, sings from the gut, and is self-taught on several instruments. On his own, he’s already independently released his debut album Mass Instructions (2007), toured the world and snagged the...