Blessings! My name is Kashief Hanson, also known as K. Forest. I am an R&B artist and songwriter From Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
Starting and growing up in Brampton, ON – my initial introduction to the music industry came from my uncle, who was from a rap group called Truepaz; he was an artist around the era of Choclair and Kardinal Official.
Fast forward, I went to the UK to visit my cousins, and while I was there, I learned how to make beats using FL studio, which was my first experience with production, which was dope!
I also learned how to chop samples, flip them and make them not even sound like the samples used, and then learned how to correctly record myself all alongside my cousin using a program called mix craft.
Over time, I was able to develop my skills using these different programs and felt that I was able to elevate my sound and feel confident in it, where I began to focus on my music.
My upcoming album, Pray For A Beautiful Sky, is my fifth studio album, and the inspiration from this album comes from breaking free from my ‘inner demons’ and finding the peace in myself I have been searching for since I was a child.
Facing various challenges and adversities, many of which we struggle with daily, this album marks a new coming or shift in my career in this industry. I would say that this album is me coming to terms with who I am and what I am, and not allowing other people’s opinions and perceptions of me to affect me because I know who I am.
I would even say this is an open confession to God and my peers about what I have been going through on this journey. None of this album is just empty words but my truth and self-reflection – where grittiness and rawness meet spiritual purity, some may even refer to it as a ghetto gospel.
I find myself drawn closer to these grungy angelic melodic loops and drawing from God the foundation to power these melodies and driving my listeners closer to my heart, pain and my story. Building the skeleton of the music with DF and Kevin Mitchell is critical to crafting the art for this album.
A lot of tweaking had to be done to prepare something that was not only helping me share my truth but also something the listers would feel and resonate with.
“Thug Passion”, the focus track of my album, came about from a past relationship I experienced and wanting them to somehow come back to what it “used to be,” even though things have changed. I think more so, just showing them a different type of love and passion right now.
Albums usually, from my understanding, come together when you jump in the studio and build on ideas that are often intangible… but for the first time, I took a step back and asked God to release what was most important to me and bring it forward, which was the truth, and this is where the song titles came to me…
Such as “Thoughts And Prayers” where I’m discussing the necessity to bless one another and keep one another in mind and what it is to be loving and caring which is a complete Parallel to how I truly felt as a young man going through the world on my own.
At this moment, it was revealed to me what needed to be done and who I needed to do it for… the ones searching for light and going through the struggle, the same work I have been through.
Listen to my new album Pray For A Beautiful Sky below and stream it everywhere else here.
