Kenny Mason: Alternative Influences, Atlanta, and What It Means to Be a BULLDAWG
It's a rainy day in Atlanta when I connect with Kenny Mason over video call, raining heavy enough that he's letting his car sit out in it. This is his hometown, and it runs through everything he makes. He grew up listening to rap and R&B on account of his family's taste, and he's a rapper himself, but ask him for his favorite rock albums and White Pony by Deftones sits near the top of the list. On his latest album, BULLDAWG, Mason merges rap with rock instrumentation and alternative influences, challenging the status quo when it comes to artistry and the music industry alike.
BULLDAWG: Behind the Concept
BULLDAWG follows a story, its setting a junkyard that symbolizes society and its expectations. Being a BULLDAWG means going against that structure, staying true to yourself and presenting that to the world regardless of the repercussions that may come with it. It's an ode to being unapologetically yourself: punk at its core. When I ask Mason whether BULLDAWG is a concept album, he calls it a loose one: he had the idea before making any of the music. With the world-building at the forefront, a cohesion formed once the songs started coming.
MB: You grew up listening to rap and R&B through your family, and you discovered rock music through video games. You've touched on how that influences the music you make today, but did you always know you wanted to combine the two like this?
Kenny Mason: I didn't always know that I wanted to do it. I think it naturally came about just from making so much music, and, for lack of a better word, experimenting so much that it just naturally came, and I realized, oh, I can do this. I started by replicating a lot of those sounds in a DAW called Logic. They would have fake guitars, or I would put a fake guitar amp on a synth and it would kind of sound like that. It started as a natural "oh, I'm finding things that kind of sound similar to this sound," but it evolved into what it evolved to. In my mind, I was trying to make sense of how I could get something that sounds like an alternative song using rap resources, rap instruments, and it turned into what it turned into over time. It was a natural occurrence. I didn't know it until I had a body of work, a collection of songs that were in that style. And then people around me were like, this sounds real cool and real natural. People gravitated to it on its own. By the time the first album came out, there was a certain confidence I got from the underground scene in Atlanta to push that type of sound.
MB: I believe this is the first album you play guitar on, and you've been teaching yourself. What made you want to start learning, and what did that process look like?
Kenny Mason: Well, I feel like, one, I was supposed to have learned a long time ago. I had a guitar for the longest, and I would toy around with it, but when it came to doing actual songs, I would just let my friends who are good at guitar and producers use it. Over time it was getting to a point of, I need to learn this and pick it up. A big part of it, from a mental standpoint, was giving myself something to focus on to take my mind off of certain things. It was something I needed to do. It also has a lot to do with the concept of the album: accepting myself more, accepting things that I like more, and accepting a certain sound for myself. And wanting to be able to evolve that sound by being more hands-on: actually learning chord progressions, finding progressions that I like, finding riffs that I like, and not just relying on other people or other resources. It comes from more of a source of myself.
That want rings true throughout BULLDAWG, as Kenny is raw about his beliefs and experiences, with heavy guitar riffs to match. It sparks curiosity in me about where his interest in creating music with these elements stemmed from, and how his hometown of Atlanta played a role in that process as well.
On Atlanta: Rock & Inspiration
MB: How would you say being from Atlanta and being integrated in its music scene and community has shaped you creatively?
Kenny Mason: I feel like Atlanta is where I get the whole genre-blending or experimental thing. That's a byproduct of being somebody from here and being able to witness so many different styles and so many different types of people. Atlanta is a melting pot of different cultures. I always think it's funny how people can clearly identify Atlanta culture. Online it's like, oh, I know this person is from Atlanta because of this. I think that's funny because Atlanta literally is a melting pot of a bunch of different other places, just because it's the biggest travel city. We got Spaghetti Junction, which could lead you to a highway that takes you anywhere in America. Our airport is the biggest. You could find a flight anywhere. People don't really realize how much people travel here and drop off sauce, drop off swag. Creatively and musically, it's no different. You got a big punk scene here. You got a big jazz scene here. Obviously, the hip-hop scene is huge and crazy and has pioneered music for over a decade. But you also have a big country fan base here. Everything is here. That was instilled in me early, seeing all of that, seeing every single type of festival at Piedmont or at Centennial and diving into that type of stuff.
It makes sense when put that way. Growing up in a melting pot with so many cultural influences is sure to leave someone inspired in a multitude of ways. Kenny is passionate when speaking about Atlanta, and the gravity of what the city means to him, and how it shaped him, is made very clear.
MB: Similar to you, I grew up loving rock and alternative music. And I feel like now more than ever, it's being married with rap and trap. How does it feel to be a part of that with your music?
Kenny Mason: I'm honored to be considered a part of that. I think that's a huge compliment and a huge honor, for people to feel like I'm somebody that's pioneering that for this generation. It's definitely been done before, but my peers and I are doing it in a new way. Paris Texas, who are on the album, are somebody I'd also consider pioneers with that swag for our generation. I don't look at it as something that I'm trying to do or trying to brand myself as doing. These are just the styles and sonics that are pleasing to my ear, that I was really interested in growing up, and now I have the outlets and capabilities to do. I'm just making the music that I think is cool and that I liked growing up, so it all culminates into a specific thing naturally for me. I'm happy to be a face that you wouldn't necessarily normally consider making this type of music. I think that's cool. I think that's BULLDAWG shit.
The concept of being a BULLDAWG, and what that means, circles our conversation often. When I ask about the collaborations on the album, it comes up again. It's not just an album concept. It's a state of mind.
MB: You worked with Dominic Fike, Paris Texas, and JID on this album. How would you say collaboration has shaped you as an artist?
Kenny Mason: In many different ways. I'm always inspired by my peers and collaborators. A lot of these guys, I'm friends with them; we have friendships outside of music. But I also really do admire what they do. Even if I didn't know them, I would consider them brilliant artists. So I learn from literal techniques that they use, or from a certain mindset that they have. I'm always learning in real time, even with collaborators that are younger than me or newer than me. It's a big learning process when it comes to my collaborators, and there's a huge respect factor. Everybody that's on the album, I feel like, fits the definition of a BULLDAWG, which is somebody that's not afraid to go against a bigger force that's opposing them. They have that type of personality. They are that type of person. It ties in perfectly with the world of the album, so I was really specific about who I picked. The last thing is that I'm really competitive. Doing a song with someone I consider to be a high-level talent, like everyone on the album is, I know I'm going to show up as my best self. I wanted to make music with people that was going to push me, which I feel like we did.
"Everybody that's on the album, I feel like, fits the definition of a BULLDAWG, which is somebody that's not afraid to go against a bigger force that's opposing them."
On Tour & Performing Live
MB: You recently completed the American leg of the BULLDAWG tour, your third headlining run. What did you learn throughout it that you'll implement on the European leg?
Kenny Mason: I'm pretty used to touring generally at this point, but I think the biggest takeaway from this tour is that my crowd is changing and growing. It's more diversified. There's more women attending. Before, it was more straight mosh pit culture. It's evolving into a more diverse type of crowd that's more into singing the songs and being present in that way. The live fan base is diversifying.
MB: Do you like the change?
Kenny Mason: Oh yeah, I love it. I love it. This is more ideal for me and the direction I'm going in. The type of music that's on BULLDAWG, how I've evolved, I believe it matches perfectly.
MB: You also have festival performances coming up. How does the energy differ on stage at a festival, and what goes into preparing for that?
Kenny Mason: With festival performances, the mindset is different, because I'm going out there to pull in fans. I give the same amount of effort and the same amount of rehearsal, but part of me at a festival feels like I'm partly auditioning. Picking the setlist is different: I'm being more strategic, trying to pull in fans and let them know what I'm about if they don't already know me. Whereas my own shows, my headline shows, it's way more free. I can do what I want, because all the fans are already family, you know?
Given his widely expressed love for alternative and rock music, and how it's influenced his own artistry, I'm curious about his personal favorites. He's stumped at first ("we could be here all day"), but after some deliberation, and a few "last ones" that weren't, he lands on the following:
Kenny Mason's Alternative/Rock Album Picks:
- I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love by My Chemical Romance ("That first album is very raw and just crazy sounding. That's the one I still listen to regularly.")
- White Pony by Deftones
- Floral Green by Title Fight ("Super classic. Something I listen to all the time.")
- Surfer Rosa by Pixies
- Loveless by My Bloody Valentine
- In Utero by Nirvana
- Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins
- Purple Rain by Prince (after checking that it counts, which it does)
MB: These are good picks!
Kenny Mason: Yeah, I'm trying not to go crazy. I'm trying not to go on a tangent.
It's clear that Kenny Mason knows the path he's on, and he's forging it accordingly. It takes a level of self-acceptance to be yourself and to believe in a vision as wholeheartedly as he has. Our interview ends on a note of encouragement for anyone reading: accept whatever path you're on, for yourself.
MB: Did you have anything else you wanted to say about the BULLDAWG era or what it means to you?
Kenny Mason: I just wanted to remind anybody out there reading that being a BULLDAWG is all about accepting yourself, which a lot of the time can be your biggest enemy, your biggest bull that you got to kill sometimes. Self-doubt, or the version of you that you feel like people are supposed to experience. The real thing is accepting that. My motivational speech for the day.
Before we hang up, Mason flips the question back on me and asks for my favorite albums. When I mention getting into Deftones through Saturday Night Wrist, he stops short. "Oh, I did not even say White Pony. That's crazy," he says. "You got to revise it, right? White Pony has to go on my list. It absolutely has to."
Consider it revised.
