He was raised in a family of musicians and singers and now, up-and-coming artiste K-Dan is proudly walking in the footsteps of those before him.

K-Dan says he has, however, taken it a step further by deciding to pursue it as a career.

Though he had released several songs, it was not until 2018 that K-Dan, given name Kimoy Taylor, took the plunge into the industry with the release of ‘Straight Change’, a song he wrote while volunteering with the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA).

“I was doing some volunteer work with the NCDA and I decided that I would give them a little jingle to boost their promotion because we were basically going around to schools and giving out slips and flyers,” K-Dan recalled.

“We did a video shoot for it and had Devin di Dakta and Ikaya participating in the shoot, and they (NCDA) did a small online promotion on it as well. Even now it is on Facebook and Instagram with good views. So that drew some attention to me,” he explained.

The artiste, who is also a drummer, told OBSERVER ONLINE that he used this popularity and the fact that this song went viral to jump-start his career in dancehall. He soon relocated to Kingston, got a manager and even went into the studio for the first time.

There, K-Dan recorded a follow-up song to ‘Straight Change’ called ‘Finish School Bredda’ that encouraged young people to avoid a life of crime and instead focus on school and the benefits that can come from having a good and solid education.

When asked how his music career is progressing, the 26-year-old Portland native revealed that there have been some ups and downs due to people he had aligned himself with in the past.

“A bunch of up-and-downs happen because when you align yourself with people that you think will be capable of manifesting the work in a way that they say they would, but then things happen. Music was not a priority for that person back then so I was always on the back burner so for a long period of time. Music was there but it wasn’t getting any major pushing,” K-Dan disclosed.

He stated, however, that this encouraged him to do his own research and understand the other side of music – the business side. K-Dan said that his knowledge of the sector is so vast now that he could sign an artiste if he wanted to.

Now he has a new manager and a new single out. The song, titled ‘Cant Stop Love You’ is a dancehall-soca fusion that has already gained some attention and radio play. The artiste said his focus now is to start promoting the song online and hopefully get it in rotation on a regional level.

“So right now we are planning on going online to see about getting some marketing done so that the song can get some more radio plays and get featured on a couple shows. We want to reach a wider audience so we are targeting places like Trinidad because it is a soca song and Trinidad is known for soca,” K-Dan explained.

It has been a long journey for the young artiste, but K-Dan said that it is the love of music and encouragement from his father that kept him going even when it seemed as if things were not going well.

“The whole process and whole idea of achieving all that comes with music, it keeps you fired up. But you also have to love it,” the artiste stressed.

“But because you don’t know when that break is gonna come, especially when you are around doubters, it can be really pressuring on your mind. But it is just the love of music and maybe one or two friends who will encourage you to keep going; like my father, he is really a strong encouragement to me when it comes on to music. He pushes me to continue,” K-Dan said.

‘Cant Stop Love You’ and other songs from K-Dan’s catalogue can be found on YouTube and streaming platforms.