In a 2013 blog post, the rapper and producer King Kirk reflected on how his visual art had begun to draw as much attention as his music. The post is summarised here in third person for readers interested in the creative side of Sporty Thievz.

A video that pulled in new fans

The spark was a music video titled What I Look Like, which he shot, edited and directed himself. It displayed his artwork, clothing designs and camera skills. In the weeks after it appeared, he received messages from people asking for paintings, drawings, prints or photographs.

Self-taught skills

He says he taught himself a long list of crafts, including barbering, rapping, music production, photography, filming and editing, drawing and painting. He credits that learning with changing the course of his life. He began painting and drawing seriously around 2009 and connects the art to his lyrics, since his songs are written as stories, and stories, in his view, are paintings drawn from the mind.

A goal after loss

He describes growing his art after 2011 while recovering from the death of his friend and group partner Marlon Brando in 2001. Returning to music, he decided to focus on helping new artists develop confidence and push past their limits. To prove a point, he produced, directed, shot and edited two music videos entirely by himself.

A caution

He stressed that he does not recommend everyone make videos alone. Doing everything yourself can cost days or months of sleep and energy, and time is not recoverable. His advice was to work with a team when possible and treat solo production as practice unless there is no choice.

Takeaways for artists

• Learn adjacent skills, as they strengthen your main craft.
• Be honest about the cost of doing everything yourself.
• Use projects to build proof of what you can do.

Why the art and the music connect

King Kirk argues that storytelling is the thread that links all his work. A verse that sets a scene, introduces characters and ends with a twist uses the same instincts as a painting built from imagination. That idea runs through the group’s older songs and the new mixtape, and it explains why a music video could showcase portraits, fashion and filmmaking in a single piece. Fans who arrived for one discipline often stayed for another.

More about him is on the profile page, and the full photo gallery has more visuals.