The Nashville artist takes over SoundSubterra Sessions with a selection that moves between dance music, drill, and R&B, connecting the pleasure of listening with the instincts behind his own work.
Channel Tres’ “Sexy Black Timberlake” and VonOff1700’s “Opps On Deck” are not an obvious pairing. One opens K.O.N’s SoundSubterra session in dance territory; the other pulls it toward drill. What makes that opening work for me is the third selection: Brent Faiyaz’s “On This Side,” featuring A$AP Ant and CruddyMurda, which lands somewhere between those two energies. It makes the contrast feel connected without smoothing away the differences.
Fox BD and Lil Yachty’s “Seals Dekline” and Loe Shimmy’s “Seduce You” follow. Across those first five records, the session becomes a small cross-section of contemporary Black music. The mood changes, but I never feel like I have been pulled out of the listening experience. That stretch is my favorite part of the playlist, and the clearest introduction to what interests me about K.O.N’s selection: how comfortably these different energies sit within his taste.
His own description is less analytical: “very serious music for serious people doing serious things.”
It is a good joke from an artist whose earlier conversations with us have repeatedly returned to a sincere ambition: making music people can enjoy, without treating enjoyment as a reason to put less into the work.
Making room for enjoyment
When we first interviewed K.O.N in 2022, he described Kids Being Kids, his project with WowJus7in, as a detour from his usual lyric-driven approach. He wanted to make fun music for people who wanted to move. The partnership began with a shared understanding of what they liked and what they were trying to make, before developing into a full project.
That account matters because it places listening near the beginning of the process. Before there was a finished tape, there was recognition between two collaborators: an agreement about what sounded good and where they could take it.
K.O.N’s advice to other artists in that conversation was similarly practical: “find what you like, figure out why you like it, and apply it to your music to create your sound.”
The middle part of that advice is important. Recognizing what you enjoy is one thing. Understanding what holds your attention gives you something to work with.
He spoke about studying the compositional decisions of André 3000 and Kendrick Lamar, while naming Isaiah Rashad among his biggest inspirations. His own writing often began with finding or making a composition that moved him, then developing lyrics and melodies to match. He also described leaving ideas alone and returning to them, allowing time and experience to change how he heard a beat.
Seen against that history, this playlist offers more than a collection of names associated with his sound. It gives us actual selections to consider. We can hear what he has put together without assuming that every record serves the same purpose or directly explains something he has made.
Craft that does not have to announce itself
Our 2023 conversation with K.O.N and Jyou about The Boombox EP developed that relationship between intention and enjoyment further.
Their partnership began with their earliest bodies of work, and both described growing alongside each other. For The Boombox EP, K.O.N named Project Pat and Lil Uzi Vert among the references that informed the music. Jyou spoke about finding a pocket that fit the feeling rather than overthinking every lyric.
K.O.N also explained that producing and writing required different kinds of attention. After working on the production, he sometimes needed to return the next day before finding his way into a verse. That is a useful detail to remember alongside the pair’s straightforward description of their goal: “We want to make music that’s fun.”
The ease they wanted listeners to experience did not mean everything arrived easily. There was still judgment involved in knowing when to step back, how to approach a composition, and what the record needed.
Jyou also emphasized the stories within their verses and his interest in party music with substance. Enjoyment and writing were not competing priorities. They were parts of the same task.
That gives me a better starting point for this session than trying to assign K.O.N one fixed lane. The opening five songs offer several different ways to hold attention and create energy. His earlier work gives us a reason to pay attention to that range.
Beyond the opening stretch
The rest of the selection does not simply repeat those first few moves. Future’s “Tank Top Pluto” and YN Jay’s “Doonie Destroyer” give way to Norah’s World’s “shake it up,” followed by Cash Cobain’s “I Wanna Rock.” D’Angelo’s “Greatdayndamornin’/Booty” then occupies more than seven minutes before Cruza’s “Creep” and greek’s “hmu.”
D’Angelo was already among K.O.N’s listening references when we spoke in 2022. His appearance here supplies a point of continuity, but the selection is not restricted to the artists named in that conversation.
I would not turn those choices into a checklist of influences. Part of the appeal is being able to follow an artist’s listening without asking every song to explain their identity. A playlist can contain a longstanding reference, a current favorite, and someone the listener has overlooked.
For me, that last possibility became the most rewarding discovery of the session.
Following Dimestate Don back into the catalog
Dimestate Don’s “kikdoor” sent me back to her discography.
We had featured her on Nefarious Supply before, but I had not kept up with her releases. Hearing her here prompted me to check in, and I found two projects I loved: SHINESTATE: DIAMOND EDITION and Chasing Purpose on E.
That is one of my favorite parts of running this platform. The rabbit hole does not always begin with an unfamiliar name. Sometimes another artist’s selection brings you back to someone you already know, and you discover how much you have missed.
Her connection to K.O.N also reaches back to Kids Being Kids, where she was among the Nashville collaborators he discussed in our first interview.That history adds context, but “kikdoor” was what made me go looking this time.
The opening five tracks showed me the range of his taste. This selection gave me something to follow.
Returning to K.O.N
K.O.N’s own “Beyonce” comes immediately after “kikdoor,” before Claire Maisto’s “Selfish” and JUVENILE’s closing “Ha.”
Hearing his record after the rest of those selections, I can better connect his music to the different energies that drew me into the playlist. It does not require a one-to-one comparison. The contrast that made the opening work becomes part of the context in which I hear him.
Our past conversations tell us that K.O.N has spent years thinking about how to make music people can move to while continuing to develop his writing and production. This session lets us approach him from the other side: through the records he chooses to share.
Start with Channel Tres, stay for the turns, and follow whatever catches your attention beyond the session.
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Editorial bibliography
K.O.N
Nefarious Supply. (2022, April 4). KON. nefarioussupply.com/blog/2022/4/3/kon
Nefarious Supply. (2023, August 11). Jyou and KON: The Boom Box EP. nefarioussupply.com/blog/2023/8/11/jjfuabubhyedd1hzmrtjqtqrffja24
K.O.N. (n.d.). Nefarious Supply x K.O.N [Playlist]. Spotify. open.spotify.com/playlist/4PuSSKuXVHyRCjWDaEj6l5
Videos
K.O.N. (2024, October 18). Digest (Official Video) [Video]. YouTube. youtube.com/watch?v=LnFWEoxhmFM — Directed & Edited by Sydney Tooley & Corbin Schmidt. Written by kon. Produced by stoic.
K.O.N. (2025, February 18). LoveTalk (Official Visualizer) [Video]. YouTube. youtube.com/watch?v=IlVpdJo_3Z0 — Muse: Goddessie.
K.O.N. (2025, December 10). cameraro (Official Video) [Video]. YouTube. youtube.com/watch?v=yMoXQCRBNyg — Shot & Directed by Darrell Green and Jordan Moore. Produced by kon, hrms, and Malone.