Kibo: "I've worked out how to find the magic in the mundanity of everyday life"

From being branded the “Victory Lap Warrior” by Dave, to grime royalty in Skepta and JME calling for reloads, Kibo has steadily built maverick-like foundations that have identified him as one of the most vibrant, genre bending MCs in the UK right now. 

Kibo is a one-of-a-kind enigma who has now officially returned with his new single Headside In Da Skiez (Babycham Supernonva), marking the beginning of something bountiful brewing in the corridors of his wonderous, multitudinous mind. The track acts as an anthem for the dreamers, and the work of a someone who is writing with both freedom and purpose. 

Delving further into his artistry, his work entangles almost anything. From global club culture and rap lore to whimsical cartoon logic and prime Barclaysmen, we crown him the King of Niche. But in his world, nothing is off limits.

To help further contextualize his work, Kibo has also launched 'RAGAMYFF' - a longform, fly-on-the-wall documentary exploring the roots of 'Kwengletarianism' and his uniquely conceptual approach to music, art and life, capturing Kibo at his most reflective and unfiltered. 

As we sat down with the North West Londoner, it's clear that 2026 will be a year in which his distinctive catalogue will become permanently etched into British culture. This is more than a moment, it's a carefully curated movement.

Headside In Da Skiez (Babycham Supernonva) is your first solo material since 2023, what have you learnt in between that time not just as an artist, but also as a person? 

"I feel this track is the start of a project that I've got and I'm ready to start rolling out. A lot of this project, and this track in particularly, is a lot of looking back. It's very retrospective and I'm kind of going back in time and telling the origin story of me.

"This is like a Kwengletarian (a philosophy of radical self-expression rooted in repurposing the everyday into the fantastical, bridging a gap between the myth and the mundane) coming of age tale that I'm trying to put together. And so I think in that time, I had a lot of music ready to go, but I was actually like, you know what? I really want to reach into my bag, tell a story, and create a base upon which I can build everything else. So this is definitely the prologue to everything. 

"In these past couple of years, I have mostly spent the time looking back, just thinking about how I got to the place that I'm at now and what I've learned.

"I've just been cutting about, having a crack, mashing up sets, mashing up shows, just, you know, working as per usual. I can't turn the switch off."

Tell me about the documentary 'RAGAMYFF' and the concept of 'Kwengletarianism' 

"Ragamyff is the prologue to the prologue I suppose in a way.

"It's an introduction to some of the concepts I'm going to explore on my upcoming project, the main of which being me working out what Kwengletarianism means to me and what that is.

"Essentially what Kwengletarianism is, it's a school of thought. I describe it as almost a survival tactic for when you live in a bit of a s***hole basically. It's a way of life and about absorbing all influences of life. 

"I've worked out what makes me tick, I've worked out what makes me feel excited about life, how to find the magic in the mundanity of everyday life, and I put a name to it. This is Kwengeletarianism and my music, in particular the upcoming project as well as my documentary, really begins to unravel what that means.

"I like to put Kwengletarianism into the art, into the music, into the work that I'm putting out there and present it to people in way that they can uncover it for themselves.

"I feel with everything in this life, you wanna dig the nuggets out the ground, you don't want to be given the pot of gold. So, I would encourage you check it out for yourself and find what it means to you."

On the documentary, 'RAGAMYFF': 

"Film has always been an integral part of my creative process, even down to what's inspired me to make this project. I'm as much inspired by film and cartoons as I am by music, you see a lot of this in the documentary.

"I talk about how, aside from my immediate surroundings, everything that ever inspired me also came through a screen. Certain narratives that I grew up with as a kid such as stories from Film and TV, which inspired my way of thinking and helped me inject a bit of fantasy into the grey of everyday life. But we tried to keep the documentary very off the cuff and natural.

"It started with Marco Grey, who directed the documentary and he said "Look, I might ask you a couple questions, but for the most part, just do what you do best and waffle." I was on two hours sleep, so I was in a weird state of deliriousness. I just spoke and from there, we captured some moments of me in everyday life around Harrow with my people and in my setting."

One thing that stands out in your work is your humorous word play. How important is it to interject that fun, confident, 'sky's the limit attitude' into your music? 

"I think it's never been a conscious thing. I think I've never chose to be funny or chose to be serious in any particular moment.

"I think, you know, as we all are, I'm just sort of in a constant state of balance between the kweffiness and the cotch. 

"Sometimes what's considered humorous and funny and what's considered serious and meaningful are actually the exact same thing and they just kind of come out in a different lens. 

"So I've never kind of sat down and said, I want to make a serious track or have a serious take on this, or I want to make a funny track, or I want to make people laugh in this moment. For me, it's all very natural."

What is the context behind the legendary, 'Pingu Freestyle' ? 

"Man, that was super off the cuff.

"I was chilling at my boy Santo's crib with Chuck, and we were just hanging out.

"We probably had a couple liberations; you know what I mean? And we were just like, let's shoot some freestyles. There about three other freestyles from that day on my hard drive that never made it out, we decided that the Pingu one was the one we wanted to put out.

"I enjoy looking back on that now because I was probably 15 or 16, something like that. So, it just reminds me of being young and stupid." 

Who are your music icons? 

"Wu-Tang Clan and specifically Ghostface Killah and Raekwon were the first people that made me want to rap, followed by the likes of Dipset (The Diplomats) and then MF Doom as well. In particular, Doom really made me want to not just rap, but sit down and build my own mythology, tell a story and craft music.

"Yung Lean and Lil B were also really pivotal in terms of me changing the way I think about music and how I absorb music. 

"On the UK side of things as well, I was in school when the grim resurgence was happening, so Novelist is probably my favourite, he's a huge inspiration to me. Also, Swift from Section Boyz is the greatest UK rapper of all time by a long shot. 

"I'm just like a hadron collider of influences, unrecognizable from anything else. But if you really break down the elements, it's all there."

Off the back of the new single, what have you got planned coming up in the new year?

"We've got more music coming. We got more singles on the way leading up to a project basically. I've got some live stuff planned as well for the new year, so people are going to be able to come out and see the Kweffy world champ in the flesh, bringing Kwengletarianism to the masses.

"We're super, we're super stoked. I spent a lot of time putting this together, just me and a small team trying to figure this out. But it was important to me to try and tell this story and deliver this experience in the most earnest way possible and to the best of my ability, so I'm very excited for people to finally receive what I've been working on this year."

Do you have a message for the dreamers? 

"People talk about turning your dreams into reality, but your dreams are already reality because for you to even be able to think them up, they have to exist in your brain. 

"Keep your head side in the sky, keep drawing pictures on foggy bus windows and watching life pass by on the other side. Stay in school, but if you've got to drift off for a minute, you might actually learn more than whatever your maths teacher is talking about."

 

Headside In Da Skies (Babycham Supernonva) is out now on all platforms via APLCO.