Rise & Grind: LBS Kee'vin On Why Leaving His Hometown Is His Biggest Accomplishment

Rise & Grind is a brand new editorial series, meant to introduce and dissect new, buzzing, or underground artists.

LBS Kee'vin is one of the only rappers to successfully create a buzz for himself out of Pensacola, Florida. While the state is known for its strong presence in the rap game, Pensacola has never been an area that has received much mainstream attention. The 24-year-old rapper, real name Kee'vin Lewis, is shattering expectations with his unique brand of soulful hip-hop, commanding attention with his emotion-driven lyrics that tell his story as an anomaly, making it out of the trap with the power of his art. He's the latest artist to put on for Florida, but his reach is worldwide. 

"Shining" with 42 Dugg has proven to be a big hit for the rising rapper, and his recently-released "Soul Burden" with Fredo Bang proves that the up-and-comer has the skills to impact the game for years to come. Of course, Kee'vin initially burst onto the scene with "Boston George", which was the third song he ever recorded. As he continues tapping into his pool of seemingly endless potential, Kee'vin's authentic nature will keep glowing through his music.

With "Soul Burden" available now on all digital streaming platforms, LBS Kee'vin took time out of his schedule for the latest edition of Rise & Grind, answering ten basic questions before jumping into a quick Q&A session, which you can read below.

Stay tuned for a new installment of Rise & Grind every Monday.

Pensacola, Florida. It was like the regular, you know, neighborhood stuff growing up as a child. You know, you got robbing and killing... all that. It's that in every neighborhood though. It wasn't too bad, though. It was alright.

My favorite part about growing up in Pensacola was probably that my mama wasn't so strict on me. She kind of let me, you know, go do what I want most of the time. My mom is like my number one fan. For real, for real. 

Nope, there weren't any other famous rappers from my area. I'm trying to be the first one for my city to, you know, break down the door. I'm the first artist in my city to ever sign a major record deal. So yeah.

I'm a Virgo. I don't really study into zodiac signs. I don't be paying attention to it. But I just know I'm a Virgo from other people saying I'm a Virgo basically. I don't know nothing about it.

Top 5 dead or alive... I'll say Lil Wayne, of course. Lil Baby right now. I'll say Boosie. Jeezy. And myself.

My biggest accomplishment? I probably say leaving my hometown, to be honest. Because there's a lot of hate. It's like it's a real trap down there. So when you make it out of there you really accomplish something.

See, I like to record in my house. I've got a studio in my house. I never leave to go to the studio. But what I do is I take, like, all day on the song. I walk around the house humming the melody and come back to the computer, say something, get back up, walk around, and hum. Sit back down. Yeah, it's just a process. I don't write nothing at all. Just go to the mic and sing it. Everything's off the head.

I really don't have studio necessities because everything I need is like, in the house. If I need to go get something, like, if I'm hungry, I just get up, go to the refrigerator.

The label asked me if I f*ck with Dugg. I was like, yeah, he was one of my favorite artists at the time. So I just linked up with him. Met him at his studio, played some sh*t for him and he liked it. So then he actually sent me that song. He sent me "Shining" and then I got on it. And then he put another version and I put another verse. So yeah, it's got 2 million streams on Apple Music. 

It's just kind of like a turnt song, like a flexing song. It's all about living life and just having fun.

I kind of expected it to go well, though, I never had no doubts that that song wouldn't go well. So it really didn't surprise me.

I don't even remember the first song I wrote. But "Boston George" was like the third or fourth song I ever made. And that caught the label's attention. That was the first song I ever dropped too, and that caught label attention. So you know, it happened pretty fast.  

I built the studio in my house. I had a three-bedroom house in Pensacola and I took one of the rooms and turned it into a studio, bought out equipment, and we just started recording from that. But I still, to this day, don't remember the first song I recorded. I was probably 23 when I built the studio.

The first show was in Pensacola and it was turnt.

It was really good. It was really good. Like, at first I had a lot of problems because it was a nightclub. It was supposed to be grown people but a lot of kids was coming trying to get in so the lady that owns the place, she was kind of kicking kids out at first but in the end, she just said 'go ahead. Y'all just go ahead and go in,' so it was a lot of love.

I felt great. I wanted to know how I would react 'cause I love attention so I wanted to see if I was gonna feel the same way when I got on stage and there's like 10 times that. I love attention. 

I'm more of a laid-back performer. I don't really do too much.

My favorite show is Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. If that's on, I'm locked in and locked to the TV. 

Well, this year, I probably won't even honestly drop the tape this year. I think I'm just going to stay consistent with features and singles and just dropping consistently but I don't know. I probably have a tape in the chamber, but I probably won't drop anything. Gotta have a build-up to it.

HNHH: What's the significance of "LBS" in your name?

LBS Kee'vin: It's a family. But it also has like a street meaning, like, lbs stands for pounds. So it's a double meaning to it. It's loyal bag supplier. So it's like, loyalty. And then you know, you bring it back home with it. Whether that's for your kids or your girl, whatever, paying bills, whatever. You bringing it back home, you do what you got to do.

You've got a bunch of dope records on Belair Baby and Belair Baby 2. What's your favorite song from those two tapes?

I don't even have a favorite. I just go through the whole thing and just play it all the way through. But now I feel like I really, really found my sound. I don't even think on those two tapes I really found my sound. Now I found it. So the third tape that I drop is gonna be crazy.

Is it going to be Belair Baby 3? Or is it gonna be a different title?

I have no clue yet. I don't even know.

Did you always know that you wanted to be a rapper? Or were there any other plans?

Nah, I never thought I was gonna be a rapper. But I always wanted the lifestyle. I always wanted the fast life, the diamonds, the fast cars, a lot of money, a big house, so I knew I was gonna get to it one way or the other, but I never thought it was gonna be rap.

What did you study in school?

I wanted to go to college at one point, but school just ain't for me. I don't got the attention span for school, for real, for real. I probably would have done something pertaining to sports. I like sports.

How long had you been making music before "Boston George"?

Literally, that was my third song ever. Yeah, that's my third song. But that's when I knew. After I made it, I was like, 'Damn, I kind of got like a natural talent'. Because I never made music before. And I come up with this. So yeah.

At the end of the day, what do you want your legacy to be in music?

Basically, I want people to like, when they bring my name up, I want people to say he was really versatile, wasn't no beat he couldn't get on. He can rap about anything and make love songs. He can make a pop song, he can make any type of song.

What does your new song "Soul Burden" mean to you?

That song is just-- it's kind of like, if you wasn't with me when I was at my lowest point then you can't be with me when I'm at my highest point. That's basically what the song means, you feel me. We just shot the video and it's crazy as hell. Shoutout No More Heroes. So when it drops I expect that one to go up, for sure. 

Fredo Bang is featured on there. What was it like working with him?

It was really cool. He's a cool dude, for sure. Easy to work with. He hard as hell, for sure.

You also worked with the legendary Juicy J on "Classy B*tch". How did that come together?

Shout out to Harrison at Visionary. He has a really good relationship with Juicy J and I had a club song. So I'm like, 'Who should I put on this?' And he brought him up. I was like, 'Oh, hell yeah, he a legend. Like, go ahead and put him on it'. I chopped it up with him on FaceTime. Real cool dude. Real laid-back dude. So, yeah.

Do you have any closing words? Anything we haven't touched on that you want your fans to know?

Basically, if you don't know me right now, you will know me by the end of this year. Pretty much. That's all I gotta say. 

READ LAST WEEK’S INTERVIEW WITH POOH SHIESTY HERE.