King Konye, a recent Hartwick College graduate, has 12,000 followers on Instagram. He is a rap artist who writes and performs. He calls his music melodic rap, and it reflects his love for people and melody.
“Reminding people of our humanity, recognizing and loving one another, that’s my mission in my music,” he said. We met for breakfast to talk about his music and his positive outlook on life. Konye had a burger. I had my usual breakfast sandwich on an everything bagel.
Konye grew up surrounded by music. His father, a music teacher who grew up in Nigeria, wrote a song for each of his three children: it was the first song they heard when they were born.
While his father devoted himself to classical music, Konye turned to traditional rap. In 2018, while dining at Olive Garden, a young girl recognized him and asked if he could take a photo with her and her family. He then thought about his music and the impact that “the words he used without thinking — dirty words — could have on this young girl.”
“I never want to put anyone on the wrong track,” he said, “or give them a negative perspective. This incident changed my approach to music and made me responsible for what I put out into the world.”
Konye said he now sees his songs as seeds that could plant something in someone’s heart and make it grow.
Konye came to Hartwick after a year at SUNY Potsdam. Unlike Potsdam, he found Hartwick provided the sense of community he needed. His professors nurtured him and encouraged him to develop his music. His first performance in Oneonta was at CANO’s City of the Hills Festival of the Arts, which was well-received and led to other local gigs and a job at Otsego Media. After seeing how well he got along with the people on stage, he was offered a job promoting local businesses on social media.
After graduation, Konye decided to stay in Oneonta because he saw the city as “a place with a culture and community that respects art.” He said he had a vision that Oneonta would one day have a thriving music and entertainment industry.
I asked Konye for advice on what we should do to encourage more of our SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick students to stay in Oneonta after graduation.
He said, “For better or worse, young people are getting their information from sites like TikTok on social media,” and that we need to do a better job of using these channels to enable our students to learn more about all that this community has to offer.
Looking back, Konye says he was fortunate to grow up in a loving family.
“I had a father who knew how to be sensitive,” he said. “He was a strong man who came from Nigeria and practiced classical music. At first, he didn’t appreciate my interest in rap, but now he’s very proud of me.”
He said that when his mother was “going through a tough time,” he and his brother wrote a song for her that helped cheer her up.
Konye being keen to bring people together, I asked him what he thought about ways to overcome the current divisions in our country.
“We have a very individualized culture,” he told me. “Our country was built on individual freedom, but when things become too individualized, we lose a vital element of human life. We focus on promoting ourselves instead of promoting relationships. I make music to remind people of their humanity. Yes, we all have this desire to be seen, but we have to recognize each other. There’s nothing more powerful than love—that’s my mission in my music. Every stage I step on is about bringing hope and joy to people.”
As we finished our breakfast and conversation, a young woman stopped to say hello to Konye. He introduced me to her and told her I was a “cool dude.” “You think everyone is a cool dude,” she retorted. Sounds like there’s a lot to learn from a 24-year-old rapper who thinks everyone is a cool dude.