Meet Singer, Songwriter: Kaly
Kaly has been in the music industry for many years now. How he got into the music industry has an interesting Bollywood touch to it.
I had a chance to speak to Kaly about his music career, here’s what he had to say!
Why did you choose to be in the music industry?
I looked around and saw that there was a vacuum for someone representing Indian-Americans (and Indians all over really). I wanted to be that voice. I started writing poetry from a young age and I think it just naturally progressed to placing that poetry to music.
Who/what inspired you to get into this industry?
I wouldn’t say I was inspired; it was more like I just fell into it. I had been trying to win over a certain girl’s affection by writing her poetry (blame it on Bollywood) and it wasn’t really working, so I decided to set that poetry to music to really wow her. I wrote a song, had someone produce it, and I was hooked from then on.
How long have you been in the music industry?
I’m going on more than 10 years now I’d say. I’ve always thought that consistency is key, so I’ve just kept my head down and kept creating projects and videos that my people can be proud of.
What kind of music do you produce?
I don’t produce per se, I’m a songwriter. If we’re talking strictly production, I usually sit with the 
producer as he creates the music and I give my two-cents. I come in with a concept in mind and we create the music together. I am a very conceptual rapper, in that I find that I can’t just rhyme about random things. Everything I do has to have some kind of a meaning, and I think my production is always changing – sometimes it’s hard hitting, sometimes it’s jazzy, sometimes it’s just random. Whatever I can catch a feeling from, I can write to. I call it intelligent rebel music.
What would you say is your greatest accomplishment?
I think waking up every day and continuing to fight for this dream is my biggest accomplishment honestly. A lot of people don’t realize the grind that goes into musical success. I don’t even know what “musical success” is nowadays, but it is definitely harder to achieve – even with all of the outlets we have now. Coming from the Indian culture makes it even harder; I’m basically shunned from the inside, and misunderstood from the outside.
What would you say was your biggest challenge?
My biggest challenge has been, and continues to be, changing the minds of people – including my own. No matter how good you are, they just are not willing to give it a chance – Indian artists/musicians as well. I have to remind myself every day that a person who writes me off is the stupid one, not me. We have almost a billion Indian people on this planet and you don’t think just one could potentially be a good rapper? That’s stupid. And isn’t the cornerstone of business to take advantage of a vacuum? I’m no businessman but it seems to me there is a lot of money to be made behind an Indian superstar.
What are your goals for this year?
My goal is to continue to churn out good product and high-quality visuals and hope that the right 
person comes along who sees the possibilities and can help me take this to the next level. I am not the type of artist you need to force into the studio, I’m always creating.
Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
I hope to be living comfortably with music as my means of income in some way, shape or form. Not lavish, just comfortable.
When is your next album or single coming out?
I am working on multiple projects right now and I think you can expect for something to be out by the end of the year at least, if not everything.
If I’ve piqued your interest even a little bit then I implore you to visit http://kalymusic.com. Anything you’d ever want to know about me is there and it is a jumping off page to all of my projects, videos, and accomplishments.
You can check out his latest video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF9Z2UQYiRA
FOLLOW KALY:
http://instagram.com/kalysay
http://facebook.com/kalyniceashell
http://twitter.com/kalysay