When you're a man of many interests, it can be hard to choose a conduit for your energy. As a 14 year old, Los Angeles artist Kalan.FrFr decided to make beats before switching his focus to rapping and playing high school football. His skill on the field shined, as he got a scholarship to San Diego State to play defensive back, forcing him to choose the sport over the booth for a bit.

By 2016, Kalan.FrFr (pronounced Kaylan For Real For Real) was back in music, now an emotive singer/rapper blend who dabbled with Auto-Tune, with his biggest song to date, 2018's "Fine Ass" resulting from all of the hard work. The track is an outright overture for the affection of a pretty girl, with Kalan promising all sorts of material objects. The song feels like a meld of The Bay's bounce with a feel for melody and Auto-Tune that stands out from the scene.

Last year, Kalan dropped two projects: the party-oriented TwoFr and Hurt, a cathartic stretch of songs about the pain of a relationship gone awry. The interplay of both projects and the rising popularity of the TwoFr cut "Right Wit It" has Kalan rolling with plenty of momentum this year.

With a YG-featured remix of "Right Wit It" coming soon and the new mixtape 2 Hunnit Degrees following up, Kalan has more on the way in a young career that's already shown growth and promise. Get in tune with the latest on Kalan.frfr in this week's edition of XXL's The Break.

Age: 24

Hometown: Los Angeles

I grew up listening to: "Michael Jackson. As I got older, I got into Kanye West. When I became a teenager, I liked all music, really. I liked R&B—one artist that I liked the most was Lyfe Jennings. Lyfe Jennings got the best album of all time, front to back, no skips. [He was] very big for a little bit, man."

My style’s been compared to: "My core fans won't compare me to anybody because when a lot of people hear my new trap music, they try to compare me to Roddy [Ricch] or something like that. A lot of people say I give them that K Camp feel, but I feel like I do a lot of stuff differently."

My standout records to date have been: "'Fine Ass,' 'Right Wit It,' 'Lil Bit,' 'Naked' and 'Hot N Ready.' Didn't nobody really know I could rap for real because I had been doing all the singing stuff for so long. When I started back rapping, they were like, 'What is this? Could you do some more of that?' I'm like, 'I was just playing. We was just having fun.'"

My most slept-on song is: "'About Us. It just didn't get as many listeners as it could. But I feel like that song is so meaningful. It means so much to me personally; it's so many people [who] can relate to it."

My standout moments to date have been: "I sold out my first show in L.A. at the Globe Theatre. It was 1,300 people. That was my first show in L.A. by myself. So, that was really big to me. But it really wasn't impactful because I sold the show out; it was crazy because my pops was there. My pops never seen me perform. I cried at the show because it was I had a lot on my back. I felt my whole career—everything that I had been through. It was the week that Nipsey died. My show was the same day as his funeral. Everybody still came out and supported. The line was still wrapped around. It was so many people that didn't get in."

Most people don’t know: "I'm a college graduate. That always shocks people that I got my degree. I wanted to work with children with disabilities. I got my degree to work with kids—with autistic children. I want to open up a in-home care facility. I also want to open up a school for developmental children. My [older] cousin has special needs. That's my best friend."

I’m going to blow up because: "I just got good faith. That's it. This could be all over tomorrow. So, I don't take nothing for granted. I hope, and I pray that I get the best outcome for everything, and I'm just extremely passionate about it. And I'm blessed because I really don't got to be here right now. I could be in jail or dead right now. But God had other plans."

I’m going to be the next: "I'm going to be the biggest thing y'all ever seen."

Follow Kalan.frfr on Instagram and SoundCloud.

Standouts:

"Fine Ass"

"Right Wit It" featuring Chris O'Bannon and G Perico

"Hot N Ready Freestyle"

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