Brothers Australia and Michael Hoover — who perform under the monickers Ubiquitous Poet (U.P.) and Eloquent — got into the game in 1990. To put that into perspective for some younger readers, that same year Brand Nubian dropped their debut All For One, and Ice Cube dropped his first post-NWA solo venture, Amerikkka’s Most Wanted. Hip Hop has, and it goes without saying, changed a lot in the past 28 years.
So what are two emcees/creatives too old for the new wave and too in love with the culture to quit to do. Well, the duo — collectively known as the Kinship found a unique creative vision, and have spun that focus into a multi-media company spanning animations and comic book.
“We now write and produce a variety of works [beyond music],” says Australia. “Every bit of work we produce is written or curated in-house.”
The concept of an Out of Place Artifact, an idea realized by American naturalist and cryptozoologist Ivan T. Sanderson, is one that catalyzes the majority of the duo’s current film, music, comic books, and other projects they have under development — though that growth was organic. Inspiration first sparked a song, which became a series of songs, which expanded into a full-fledged movement and mantra.
The series of songs, which have all been released for a few months now, serve as support for an upcoming film, which is set to drop this Summer. That seems like a lot on one plate, but Kinship never sleeps; they have some new music videos, notable the mini-movie “Love You Like That,” an exciting look at what the pair can create.
The visual is — well — a little hard to watch. It follows a woman’s journey through an abusive relationship, which culminates into a surprise ending that you need to see for yourself. The scene where the mother sees her daughters bruised face is heart-wrenching. This is Music with a message and powerful cinematic imagery that helps bolster their company’s ability to produce quality.
“In essence, Kinship Entertainment is now operating as a multi-media company,” Australia notes. “Still owned and operated by me and my brother Michael. Just like in 1990.”
Stay tuned.
