ABOUT


Kassius Ibrahim King is a hybrid creative,
part Art Director, part writer, seeking
to build worlds and stories bold enough
to stop someone mid-scroll, and honest
enough to stay with them long after.


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What I’m reading rn: 
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Discourse on Inequality by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Fav book read in 2024 (so far)
Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson


BEING ALIVE



My proudest and most personal body of work. A music video told from the mind of a man OD'ing in the back of a car. He's singing the song Being Alive. It still needs to be done. Wanna help??

I'm the son, grandson, and great-grandson of an addict. I grew up around addicts who turned their lives around and watched a few neighbors my age pick up the same habits. Watching my closest friends lead the same paths I dreaded. So I started to distance myself from them.

In the process, I was told, "You turned white," "You forgot about the crew," and "You look down on us." I grew up isolated from my extended family and not close to my immediate family. This group of friends filled that familial void. Those words, especially being called white, hit me like a brick every time.

Subconsciously, I embodied my mother's sentiment: "If I wanted to raise some street n****, I would've kept your happy ass in Louisiana." Giving off the "looking down on us" attitude. It hurt to lose these people I cared for, and I didn't want them to turn away from me, nor did I know how to voice my pain. So, I became someone they didn't want to be around.

I traded my family to be with kids who didn't care for me + my POV or look like me.

I understood why these folks in my life made their choices. And it became more apparent when I confronted my drug habits/associations in therapy.

It was an escape, a way to forget, gain, or open up to the love you felt absent.










©Kith&Kin