Church was my first experience with music. When I was a kid I went to Truevine Missionary Baptist Church in Mobile Alabama, and there I was in a children’s choir called The Buds of Promise. One of my teachers, Ms. Oliver, and my grandma were the directors. I remember that Ms. Oliver would always pick me to do all the solos. I used to tell my grandma \u201cI don’t want to always be in the front…why can’t I just be like the other kids?\u201d and I remember her yelling at me, saying, \u201cYou better be grateful for the gifts God gave you, before he take them away!\u201d And now when I am creating music, so much of the things I do are inspired by what my grandma and Ms. Oliver taught me. My best childhood memories come from being in that choir. I always wanted to sing and perform, and I always wanted to go to church to sing. Even at home, my cousin and I would play \u201cchoir\u201d and sing songs we learned at church.<\/p>\n
Can you speak to your progression as an artist from \u201cBeach Street\u201d to \u201cChurch Tapes\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n Some of the songs on “Beach Street” like “How She Doin” and “Queen of Hearts” were some of my very FIRST recordings. “Beach Street” was basically a bunch of songs that I had recorded over the years. I was (and still am) finding myself as an artist. When I listen to my older songs there are so many things I said that I would not say now \u2014 even talking about drugs that I never even did \u2014 I was just trying to sound cool and be like what I was hearing everyone else do. But when I started writing about my life experiences and using my journey to inspire my music, I started to feel more accomplished. My older songs where I’m just talking shit and being catchy…any rapper can do that, but no one else can tell my story. When I was a kid I would make up songs about any and everything, I would take my cousin’s talkboy and record songs about anything from E. Honda on Street Fighter, to my aunt’s friend having a two-way radio in her car. I would sing over the wrestlers theme songs on Nintendo WrestleMania. I would ask myself, “you have been making up all these wacky songs your whole life, why would you trade that in to be like everyone else?”<\/p>\n The music video for \u201cShut Up\u201d is produced by VAM Studio and highlights the music and arts scene of Chicago. What was that collaboration like and what role has Chicago played in your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n I first saw VAM\u2019s work when they did\u00a0Shea\u00a0Coule\u00e9’s videos, and I remember sitting there wishing I had something that looked that cool. My friend encouraged me to reach out to them, and boom it happened! I will never forget the day Vincent responded back to me on Facebook saying that he heard my mixtape and wanted to work with me. My heart stopped. One of the main things I remember telling them is that I wanted to finally see the KC I see in my head, because the KC I am now is not the super glamorous one I see in my dreams. It was so amazing \u2014 I felt like I was on MTV or something. As far as Chicago goes, I never even knew I would live here. In High School my goal was just to get to Atlanta, but you never know what God has up his sleeve. Living here has definitely affected my craft, especially the other artists and culture I’ve experienced here. Kanye West is one of my main rap idols and he is from Chicago. Even some of my favorite gospel acts are from Chicago: Albertina Walker, The Barrett Sisters, and Inez Andrews. I always try to learn more and absorb from my environment.<\/p>\n In previous interviews you\u2019ve spoken about your work with trans girls and your desire for your music to have a purpose and help people. How do these two types of work \u2014 your work with trans girls and your work as an artist \u2014 connect and what possibilities do you see as your platform grows in terms of using it to help and uplift other people?<\/strong><\/p>\n A lot of times we show more passion when we see someone suffering with something we defeated. A lot of times we gotta go through stuff for the team, to have that under our belt because we’re going to have to use that experience to pull someone else through that same situation. I’m at the point where I’m realizing a lot of my struggles were for me to be able to help someone else through it. When I’m writing, I always think of songs that help motivate and inspire me. Then I think from that point of view, like what did I want to hear\u2026what would have helped me? I always tell my grandma I’m not just doing this for me. I know all these things weren’t for no reason. Somebody out there needs to hear it.<\/p>\n \u00a0 <\/p>\n What do you see as your role within the Chicago music and arts scene and how does producing KC\u2019s video for \u201cShut Up\u201d relate to that role?<\/strong><\/p>\n Our role at VAM is to create work that pushes boundaries with artists we believe in. We\u2019re also looking for content that speaks to the times and KC\u2019s music does just that. We\u2019re all about creating work that\u2019s unapologetic and fearless so it seemed like VAM and KC was a perfect marriage. The art scene in Chicago is on a different level right now and it\u2019s happening in a very unique way. Trends aren\u2019t usually a priority to us since we\u2019re not based on the coast, so the work within the music, film, and general art scene feels fresh and untainted.<\/p>\n How did you come to work with KC and how did the concept for \u201cShut Up\u201d manifest?<\/strong><\/p>\n We first worked with KC on our production for \u201cRide\u201d with drag superstar, Shea Coule\u00e9. KC’s been on our radar in the underground scene for sometime, but we usually wait for the artist to approach us first. Apparently, KC\u2019s best friend is a huge fan of VAM\u2019s and told her to reach out. KC\u2019s aesthetic is influenced by her religious upbringing and that\u2019s something we wanted to really expand on. As a black queer-identifying filmmaker, I\u2019m always attempting to infuse my culture into VAM\u2019s productions. When listening to KC\u2019s track \u201cShut Up,\u201d I was hit with old memories of the times my family went to church on Sunday. In one hand, the black church carries a sense of energy and comfort that you would be pressed to find anywhere else. In the other hand, it can be a symbol of fear, as the teachings of the black church often countered my very existence as a gay child. It was quite the paradox and we wanted to show those contradictions throughout these visuals. In this production, I wanted to merge KC\u2019s spiritual sensibility with her more affluent underground rap persona. From the outside, KC Ortiz (a trans woman kicked out of the Air Force) would be a significant contradiction to the church, but we wanted this to feel like an ode to the energy within that institution.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve worked with High School students in the past, opening your video sets to their creative voices, providing them with a learning environment and a step up into the industry. Do you have any advice for young people trying to break into the music and arts scene, especially those who lack opportunities and resources?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think it\u2019s important to find a diverse community that will nurture your talents. We pride ourselves on hiring women, trans, and POC filmmakers, and I think that sets us apart in the industry in a major way. There are so many great perspectives that we touch on in every production. I\u2019m a very new director but I have a unique voice and that has helped me (and VAM) to stand out from the crowd. Take the time to cultivate your voice and pull from what you know.<\/p>\n What\u2019s in store for VAM in the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019re growing faster than we ever could have imagined. In the past few months, we\u2019ve started productions in LA, NY, and New Orleans. People are genuinely interested in working with diverse productions crews and luckily for us we\u2019re one of the few crews that aren\u2019t dominated by straight\/white\/cis\/men. This year we\u2019re stepping outside of Chicago and looking for unique voices from across the country that can amplify our vision.<\/p>\n Visit\u00a0kayceeortizmusic.com<\/span><\/strong><\/a> and vamstudio.net<\/span><\/strong><\/a> for more information.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Join the Posture community and become an official member<\/span><\/strong><\/a>! By purchasing a membership, you will receive our special annual print edition<\/strong> ($20 value), free and\/or discounted entry to all Posture events<\/strong> in NYC (including upcoming mixers, panel discussions, and networking opportunities), special offers<\/strong> from our partners, personal updates<\/strong> from the Posture team, and more<\/strong>. Learn more here<\/span><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chicago-based rapper KC Ortiz explores her religious roots, insecurities, and struggles as a black transgender woman on track “Shut Up” off her mixtape Church Tapes, released last year. The new video premiering today is directed and produced by VAM Studio, a Chicago-based creative team dedicated to showcasing diverse and emerging talent. This collaboration between VAM\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":12634,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2065],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[4158,4137,4142,4207,4201,4152,4203,2705,4157,4156,4205,4202,4204,4139,4206,4163,4159,4170,4138,4136],"class_list":["post-12633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","post_format-post-format-video"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/KC-Ortiz-featured.jpg?fit=1280%2C640","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6QBV8-3hL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12633"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12649,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12633\/revisions\/12649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12633"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"KC](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/image1-3.jpeg?resize=768%2C1024\")
Vincent Martell of VAM STUDIO (left) and KC Ortiz (right)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/h4>\n
In conversation with Vincent Martell, Founder of VAM STUDIO and Director\/Editor of “Shut Up”\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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