Kidd Kam is opening up about the early beginnings of his music career, and what’s next for him.

The 16-year-old truly stole the show when he hit the stage during last month’s Express Yourself Teen Open Mic hosted by Stichiz. Kam appears to channel the late Jimmy Hendrix as he hits every note on his guitar. His skills on every instrument he plays from the keyboard to the drums conitnue to impress the masses one note at a time.

Kidd Kam, born Kamora White, was six years old by the time he started playing the drums. His first experience playing music began in a group he formed with his younger sisters Ari and Nye called “The White Kids’ inspired by their last names. He made his grand debut on a stage while he was in church at just eight years old. They performed together while they were growing up before he decided to pursue his solo career.

“I've been performing in church my whole life,” Kidd Kam said. “My grandmother was a youth leader. Now my mother's a youth leader so I'm always in plays or whatever. I've been singing my whole life.”

He does school virtually from home, which gives him all types of flexibility to achieve his dreams. In true artist fashion, his family moves around from Central Florida to Georgia performing wherever possible. His mother, KC Reigns, is also an artist so she understands the grind.

“I wanna say like thanks to my mom,” Kidd Kam said. “If I didn't see her do the music thing and how she moved and how she made it work, I wouldn't want do that. Most parents, when they do music or whatever, they don't show that side to their children. But she showed us her work and it's not that different.”

We talked to Kidd Kam about his passion for music, his upcoming music and more. Check out the full conversation below!

Congratulations on winning the Teen Open Mic! Let’s start from the beginning. How did you get into music?

Kidd Kam: I've been playing the keyboard since I was like two. I've always shown an interest in music. It started from the keyboard and then my late grandfather introduced me to playing the drums in church. And then my elder cousin had taught me how to play the drums, and it went from the drums to me going back to the keyboard. And then I took a break and I started learning about music theory itself. I got better at the keyboard and I started playing the keyboard and the organ in church. Then for my 14th birthday, my father had a guitar, and he gifted it to me because he played it first and then he gifted it to me since he wasn't playing it as much as he wanted to. So he said, since I'm not playing it, I'm going to let you have it and we'll see how it goes. So, yeah. So I've been intermediate my whole life faster.

Wow that's a wild evolution. What kept you interested in learning all these different instruments?

Everything. I don't like in a way I feel music, I'll say. I like it. It moves me on the inside and I feel it for some reason. My mom, she's also an artist, so I watched her.

Wow. That's awesome. How did you come up with your stage name?

My mom came up with that. With animals, a goat is called a kid. And a goat stands for the “greatest of all time.” And my name is Kamari, but it wasn't gonna be Kid Kamari, so she just took the first part. That's what my name is and I'm gonna run with that.

That's awesome, man. Yeah run free with a name like that. How would you describe your musical style? What kind of artist are you?

I would say like an eclectic artist because I'm like into a lot of genres. Sometimes I play funk because I recently started playing the bass guitar. I play funk on the bass guitar and then I'll play R&B or Rock or Pop on the electric guitar or on the keyboard with the synthesizers and stuff, and gospel music of course. So I move around with the genres and that's how I base my career. I don't wanna just be a R&B artist or I don't wanna be in a box. I wanna be able to express myself with music and how I feel because it moves me and how I'm feeling or whatever.

It's great that you've learned not to box yourself in at such a young age because a lot of artists don't realize that until they're way too deep in. That's awesome man. So what's been the biggest performance you’ve ever done?

February 16th, 2023, and the reason that was because that was the day I turned 16. That's my birthday and I wanna say I was practicing for it since after the last teen open mic. I told my mom I am going to win this teen open mic and I don't wanna win it just cause it's my birthday. I wanna win it cause I'm gonna leave it all on stage.

So who would you say are your influences? Because to me, you give off plenty of Jimmy Hendrix.

Well it would have to be my mom first then Michael Jackson, Jimmy Hendrix. Cause that, that guy's a God on the guitar. And I'm just going to keep watching him until I can become one of the greatest of all time. Then it would be Prince because Prince's stage presence... that's what I'm into. The way Prince did R&B and then he did Pop and then he would do some Rock in one concert. He didn't have anyone stopping him from what he wanted to do. He just did what he did and he left it on the stage. And that's what I want to do. That's why Prince is a huge influence on me, minus the makeup and stuff.

Yeah, you don't seem that type <laugh> <laugh>. That's cool, man. So who are your top five favorite artists?

Michael Jackson, Prince, my mom, Jodeci and MGK Machine Gun Kelly.

Wow what a selection. I know that you’re young, but obviously you've got big dreams. When do you plan to release your own music?

I've been working. I'm working on it. I have a six-month plan. That's what we'd like to hit. I'll be releasing a solo song in June, and I'm doing a feature song with my mom.

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