{"id":144907,"date":"2025-10-25T16:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T16:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/144907\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T16:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T16:40:08","slug":"i-got-to-fully-experience-cork-city-at-the-jazzfestival-and-it-was-like-this-is-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/144907\/","title":{"rendered":"I got to fully experience Cork city, at the jazzfestival, and it was like, this is great"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beneath his luscious curly locks and super chill demeanour there is an unexpected level of discipline to Khakikid. Even though I catch him in his kitchen of a Monday morning exuding relaxed and languid vibes I am interested to find I am impinging on a strictly allocated portion of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMondays are a girlfriend day for me,\u201d Abdu Huss breezily explains. \u201cI\u2019m pretty busy the rest of the week, so Monday I have to lock it in for my girl and not do any work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does she know about this, I enquire of our zoom appointment?<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s out walking the dog, so we\u2019ll be alright,\u201d he assures with a gesture that allays any misgivings I may have of intruding on this time. Of course, it\u2019s not like they don\u2019t see each other outside of Monday. Besides, \u201cshe\u2019s a busy person as well,\u201d he adds. \u201cShe has her own business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of Mondays, Abdu spends his week writing songs, recording videos and designing merch. You suspect, however, that he\u2019s thinking about ideas for songs all of the time, even on Mondays. Chance favours the prepared mind, and Abdu\u2019s is always open to tasty lyrical morsels.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a list on my phone,\u201d he illustrates. \u201cIt could be like sentences or singular words. The folder is called \u2018Song Ideas\u2019, and if anyone ever says anything of interest to me or I see anything interesting, or just in a casual conversation if someone uses a turn of phrase that I quite like, I\u2019ll write it down, and then usually when I go to start a song, if I don\u2019t have an immediate idea I\u2019ll go to that list. There\u2019s usually plenty of ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike my girlfriend\u2019s friend the other day, when she met the dog for the first time, she said: \u2018if I had tears I\u2019d be crying.\u2019 And I was like, for some reason that sounds poetic. I don\u2019t know why it sounds poetic, but I was like, that could be a song idea. But yeah, essentially, I go to the list.\u201d<\/p>\n

I better look out for that one in a future recording.<\/p>\n

\u201c100%,\u201d he smiles. \u201cI\u2019ve already used it, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like most people, my point of introduction to Khakikid was the song \u201cDate Night\u201d. However, it was well after the track had been viewed some 20 million times, and I tell Abdu, with some degree of sheepishness, that my first encounter with him was through his effortless performance of the track on The Late Late Show. This raises a chuckle,<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to hear from you, because I haven\u2019t specifically talked to anyone directly who said they saw me on the Late Late.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course not. You hang around with young people your age.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what! That song definitely expanded my audience\u2019s age, younger and older. It was strange. People have been sending me videos of their kids, or their nieces or their nephews singing the song. And then, there might be someone\u2019s mother or father or even grandmother singing the song. That\u2019s so strange seeing the age groups expand both ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not wrong. Amongst his YouTube comments are messages from older fans cheerfully proclaiming their \u201caul one\u201d love for his music. And while he\u2019s warming to the idea of his broad appeal, it doesn\u2019t look like he\u2019s too tolerant of people his age acting like aul ones, if the line \u201cIf you\u2019re in your 20s talking about back then, bitch, reminisce over there!\u201d from \u201cDon\u2019t Touch the CDJ\u201d is anything to go by.<\/p>\n

So, when is the cut-off age when it\u2019s ok to start looking back?<\/p>\n

\u201cI found myself doing it,\u201d he happily admits. \u201cBut I felt like reminiscing is fun, but at the same time the now is exciting. Reminiscing is nice to do every now and again, but I feel like you\u2019re alive now, you should be living now. I don\u2019t know if you ever meet people and all they talk about is back in school or back in this time of my life, or this time of my life, and it\u2019s like you\u2019re living right now, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KhakikidKhakikid plays as part of the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival.<\/p>\n

It also goes back to being open to lyrical inspiration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just know that being present creates better music,\u201d he insists, \u201cbecause all these phrases people are saying to me and all these song ideas that I write down are from being aware. You know, if I see an old lady riding past on a bike holding flowers, that might be a song idea and if I had my head down I wouldn\u2019t have been aware of her, you know.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, like, the \u2018to be ex-boyfriend is scared of any kid over six in a tracksuit\u2019 [from \u2018Date Night\u2019]. Again, that\u2019s just something in conversation I had with somebody. If we were talking about back-in-the-day I wouldn\u2019t have heard that line or that concept. But yeah, being present is something I\u2019m working on at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being in the moment is also something the Walkinstown alt-rapper demonstrates in his live appearances, where he manages to generate a lot of energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can get a bit hectic, a bit more energetic,\u201d he agrees.\u201d And when there\u2019s a bit more space I tend to run around a lot, maybe get into the crowd. I just love to be involved in the shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see if he can pull that off at St. Luke\u2019s Church, with its higher stage and fixed pews.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll figure it out,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The kid is looking forward to returning to Cork having played a gig here for the first time at last year\u2019s festival when he was performing with jazz-tinged hip-hoppers Bricknasty at the Opera House.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was incredible,\u201d he recalls, \u201cand then I realised Cork is actually a great place to play, and it was a great vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n

You see, up until then, Abdu\u2019s experience of Cork had been a negative one. In his time playing basketball for Templeogue, his visits to the city were chastening experiences.<\/p>\n

\n I used to play basketball growing up, and our goal as a team was to beat Neptune\n <\/p>\n

\u201cI used to play basketball growing up and my only experience of Cork was playing against our rival team,\u201d he recalls. \u201cMy whole basketball career for like five years, our goal as a team weas to beat Neptune. And we, like, lost to them by one point. So, like, Cork in my head was grrrr,\u201d he says in mock anguish.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve only been to the Parochial Hall and Neptune Stadium, so I didn\u2019t experience Cork. So last year I got to fully experience it, and it was like, this is great.\u201d<\/p>\n