Makini Morrison is a musical polymath. He’s a jazz pianist who dabbles with bass guitar and a music producer with a passion for traditional hip-hop, soul, R&B and pop genres such as K Kudda Muzic.
Morrison studied jazz at the University of Missouri-Kansas City after his education in music started at home. His parents, especially his father, taught him how to listen to different elements of songs.
“My parents had this playlist that they would always play consistently in the house. It had Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, BeBe and CeCe Winans, Grover Washington Jr., Miles Davis,” Morrison told St. Louis on the Air. “We'd play around Christmastime the Luther Vandross Christmas album that he did, and that's also a huge influence for me and shaped like what I enjoyed hearing as a kid. When I was younger, [my dad] would sing or hum the bass lines to songs. That was one of the earliest ways I was able to decipher [music].”
Drawing on his family’s musical inspirations, Morrison began creating his own music under the moniker K Kudda Muzic. He added his own interest in hip-hop albums like Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly,” the work of prolific producer J Dilla and jazz heroes like Robert Glasper and Terrace Martin.
When he’s not writing his own works — which he categorizes as “indie soul” — Morrison collaborates with fellow St. Louis-based musicians at A Topsoil Company, the music studio he founded in the Benton Park West neighborhood with business partner Tyler Baxley.
The production studio has been operating for two years. Morrison said he finds collaborators by word of mouth and a shared connection. For him, collaboration is a “very spontaneous process.”
“Before the music even starts to be a conversation, I have to know if we align in other ways — whether it’s personal or spiritual. That [connection] is leading the way into how I will collaborate with you as an artist. Because I feel to create art is one of the most intimate things you can do in this world in this lifetime. It matters who you work with in that sense.”
Morrison found those connections with rappers Zado and Khiro Kano on “Alrighty.” He also collaborated with neo-soul singer Rachael Bouzier on “You Should Be Ashamed” and emerging kiddie pop singer Amor on her song, “I’m a Llama.”
“The ‘I’m a Llama’ song was so cool because Amor was 4 at the time. She’s just so talented.” Morrison shared. “She came up with the lyrics. She even helped me on the beat. It’s really cool to see and inspire someone as young as that in that way.”
Through his music production work, Morrison has found his creative process for rappers and lyricists differs from the process with vocalists — and he welcomes the variation.
“I love working with alternative R&B vocalists simply because I feel there’s more room to stretch musically. [Working with] a rapper, you don’t want to do too much in the beat and overpower what’s going on,” he explained. “They’re rapping faster, there’s a lot more language being said and I feel like you have to sculpt around that. When you sculpt around a singer, there’s more things you can do in the beat in between when they’re singing.”
For more with Makini Morrision, his works as K Kudda Muzic, and how he blends his inspirations with his own music preferences to create “Kudda Classics,” listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Darrious Varner is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
