MUSIC
From Issue #18
The Zen of K-OS
as told to Surya Bhattacharya
“A lot of times, identity is based on the house you live in, the
friends you have—those simple things. Those are part of your
personality. But your inner self is one that you start thinking
of when you think of your relation to the higher powers that
are above self. It is the psycho-spiritual aspect of things."
"What I was thinking about when growing up is who I was to
people. In high school, you wonder what people think about
you. When you leave the room, you wonder what people say
about you behind your back. There is always that self-awareness,
to be always thinking of how you are perceived.
But, do you stress the importance of what people think about
you or what you think about yourself?"
"That started to shift
when I started to wonder how I was affecting other people in
the world. Do I respect myself, and am I OK with who I am? That competes with the idea of not worrying
about what you think of yourself and 
what others think of you. We become so obsessed with that.
We don’t even realize we are doing that anymore. The clothes we buy, the running shoes we wear, the
way we do our hair and the daydreams we have about how we interact with people, all become this
exercise in making other people like us."
"There’s nothing wrong with that because that’s part of human
nature. We are the type of animal who rolled in groups, so we want to get along with other people. But it
can’t be more important than what you think of yourself. If you are not satisfied with yourself when you
look in the mirror, no one is going to like you.”
Based on the driving philosophy of K-OS’ latest release, Joyful Rebellion.
Photographer Datin Rubin
