Interview: Master Kato on his bright solo future

Master Kato’s music is genetically different from Shoreline Mafia’s. The former member of the legendary west coast group is paving the way for his own solo career. Born and partially raised on the south side of Chicago, Kato moved to California with his mom and aunt to escape the turmoil, and eventually picked up music based off of encouragement from a friend.

As a solo artist, his aesthetic is noticeably steeped in Chicago drill and the woozy, narcotic style of southern trap. His voice over these beats is equal parts melodic and hypnotic, never sacrificing energy for comfort. His newest 10-track mixtape, Throw Awayz Vol. 1: Christmas Edition, is a direct reflection of his post-Keef vertigo. It’s a slightly hedonistic project, but also one that reflects how far he’s come from just using Pro Tools (he references this multiple times on the mixtape). If anything, the tape is teaser for what’s to come, as is his recent single off of the Shoreline Mafia Mafia Bidness deluxe, “Backdoor.” His newest music signals a branch away from Shoreline’s undulating west coast instrumentals.

Kato sat down with The Young Folks over the phone to discuss his come-up, who he’s inspired by, how he made MasterCard’s logo his own, and what it’s like recording as a solo artist now.

How have you been holding up mentally and emotionally with everything that’s going on?

Living like a gangster, you already know. We’re just saving our energy, that’s all. There’s so much shit going on outside…n****s is dying, people getting killed left and right. So we’re just in the crib, taking our energy, and working on our craft.

You’re originally from Chicago, right?

Yeah, south side. I’m from the low end {of Chicago}.

What was it like growing up there?

Chicago, it was bad, but when I was a kid, it wasn’t noticeably bad. When I was a kid, there was basically a shooting every night, and I used to think it was the police shooting outside, and telling everyone to go in the house. That’s what I used to think. And then my mom told me when I got older that that was people shooting each other, and I was like, ‘oh shit.’

I was oblivious to a lot of that shit for a long time, until I really got older, and then I started seeing, shit, people were really dying. Chicago was crazy.

When did you decide to move to Los Angeles?

My mom was trying to save up money since the day I was born, because she was not trying to raise me in Chicago. That’s when it started getting bad {when he was born}. By the time I got to like 12 or 13 years old, my mom moved us out of the hood. Like we ended up moving to the suburbs like 30 minutes from there. That was like our first spot. My aunt was already out in the suburbs, so that’s why we stayed there for like six, seven months.

And then, my aunt was like, ‘I’m about to go to LA.’ She was telling my mom all about California. My mom was like, ‘you wanna go to California,’ and I was like, ‘hell yeah.’ You know, you a 13 year old kid living in Chicago, California sounds beautiful.

Was the move to California a bit of a culture shock for you?

It was a little different, I ain’t gonna lie, just cause my schooling was different. When I first moved to the suburbs {in Chicago}, that’s when I started having white classmates, and stuff. But once I moved out here {LA}, I had Mexican classmates, I had Armenian classmates. I didn’t even know what half of the races were. I didn’t even know what Armenian was when I came out here.

These girls were speaking Armenian in class, and I was like, ‘what are they saying?’ I asked this Mexican dude, and he was like, ‘bro I’m Mexican.’ (Laughs)

Did you start getting into music when you moved out to LA?

Yeah, but it wasn’t until I was a sophomore in high school. And really, my dawg came up to me, and was like, ‘hey let’s start rapping.’ My boy was on some other shit though. He was already on some adult shit. At that time, his mom was damn near about to get him kicked out of the house.

I’m still living with my mom and shit…I still got a roof over my house, so I’m like, ‘fuck it, let’s do it.’ He had to really do this shit to really make money and a living. I was really doing it on some fun shit. I ended up being latched onto this shit, so we was just making music back then.

We had a little group, and I performed at my rally senior year in front of the whole school. That was like my biggest show until Shoreline.

What artists inspired you when you first started making music?

Wiz Khalifa, for sure.

I’m glad to hear another Wiz fan. I feel like some people undermine his impact.

N****s don’t be giving him his credit. I’d be listening to n*****s interviews-and I’m not saying everyone influenced by him — but I notice a lot of artists that’s coming up right now that’s influenced by him, but they don’t say nothing about him. But I’ll always say stuff. Wiz is that n***a, bro.

Taylor Gang, that shit was a whole movement. I was rocking Taylor Gang, wearing camouflage shorts and converse. That was the shit I fucked with. He had like a cult movement and shit.

It’s interesting your from Chicago, because I hear a lot of Chicago influence in your music. Was that kind of part of the plan?

It’s not like that was my plan, but yeah, that is kind of the direction I wanted to go in. I don’t want to use the same types of beats as Shoreline. And that’s no offense at all, I like that shit for sure, but me as Master Kato, like if you know me, you know damn well I don’t listen to LA shit all day long.

I listen to shit from down south…I listen to Detroit music. LA music kind of be like my last route for music to listen too. I barely know about what’s going on, that’s why I be so out of touch with shit.

I still respect what’s going on in LA. Believe me, there’s a bunch of n****s from LA that go hard, like 1TakeJay, AZ Chike…but I’m not a big fan of LA music.

You’ve been focusing on your solo brand as well. Tell me a little bit about your logo, and how that came about.

I’m sitting here looking at my chain trying to remember the story. All I remember is I hit my boy up-and my name was already Master Kato, and I was thinking of a logo for myself-and I was like shit, why not MasterCard? That shit look cool, and then I ended up taking MasterCard shit.

And this is shortly after I started to become very fond of credit cards, so shit was just funny.

How different is it working as a solo artist, compared to working in a group?

I feel like I got more freedom, if that make sense. Not that I didn’t have any freedom with Shoreline, but it’s just like, you got me and three other different dudes with a vision too. But we all got visions, we all got lives, we all got shit that’s going on. It’s a lot to really channel all that shit into one, but now I can record whenever I want, I don’t have to wait to do my interviews,

There’s a lot shit I can do now that I couldn’t do before. Shit’s just smooth now.

How’s the deal with Atlantic Records been?

Honestly, Atlantic has been nothing but good to me. They take a little long to drop music, but that’s about it. Other than that, I ain’t got nothing bad to say about Atlantic.

At the end of the day, if it wasn’t for Atlantic and a couple other people, I would still be on fuck shit. I probably wouldn’t be in the position that I am now. I’m very thankful for that.

THROW AWAYZ VOL. 1 : CHRISTMAS EDITION by MASTER KATO

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