AMM NextGen: Kevin “Keats” Jackman

Kevin “Keats” Jackman is a rapper, comedian, social media sensation.

How do you have such a range of characters in your content?

Ever since I was a child I would finding myself doing impersonations, such as “butters” from South Park. I’ve always been able to find characters within myself and emulate certain intangible characteristics. When I decided to create my own characters such as the planets, I pulled from people I knew growing up such as family members and friends. Once the seeds for those characters are created, they constantly evolve by events that take place in the script.

Where did creativity start for you?

Creativity for me started at adolescence. I found myself tinkering with legos and model airplanes at a young age. I loved being responsible for putting things together. I guess you could say I was fascinated with reverse entropy. I always loved music creation and art, but for a long time I thought that my creative skills would be best served in the field of mechanical sciences. Until I started a mechanical engineering degree, I didn’t know how off-base I was in my prediction.

As an independent, how are you able to take on so many creative ventures simultaneously?

As an independent, I do put a lot on my plate in terms of creative ventures that I partake in. From the outside looking in, it may seem extremely tiring and demanding, but you must remember two things; One, by nature I get bored of the same thing very quickly, and two, I was able to turn my various hobbies into a focused occupation. This means that when I am writing a song for 2 hours and feel burned out, I can pivot by designing some new clothes, and after that gets tiring I can go stream with my fans, and once I am done with that, I can go work on my scripts or take care of some merch business. At times it does get demanding, but I believe anything worth working for requires sweat equity, at least I’m sweating for my passion.

Who inspires you?

Earlier in my career I was inspired by different people for different things. I started rapping because of Missy Elliott and Eminem. I was motivated to make people laugh by Kevin Hart and Key & Peele, and I was inspired to put myself out there by content creators like ‘Caleb City’ and ‘RDC World.’ If you are asking who inspires me today, I would have to say it is the person I was yesterday. The kid who was able to change his college major despite the opinion of others. I am forever grateful to that person and I thank him for prevailing through everything they had to face.

How has social media helped your entertainment career?

Social media is the tool that allowed me to say to the world “I am here!” Social media changed my life because I had a plan. With my goal being a generational entertainment talent, I knew that I needed to focus nearly all of my attention to growing my social platforms. I began to dissect each platform in terms of what type of content thrives, what works, what doesn’t…After years of studying social media I began to understand how to identify and develop viral content. Once I honed that skill I was able to “break the internet” almost intentionally and gain over a million followers.

What are some of your major achievements?

Some of my greatest achievements include gaining nearly 2 million followers across all platforms, becoming financially independent in house merchandise sales, writing and producing a song for Michael Irvin and Steve Marriucci to be played during the Super Bowl 2019, collaborating with NASA on some skits, and working with companies such as DELL XPS, Intel, BET, and Fentyskin.

What catapulted your entertainment career?

I would have to say that my career catapulted when I got on TikTok, and within 2 weeks had a video that reached 1 million views in a single night. This was my first “If the planets had a meeting” video. At the time, I didn’t expect to continue the planet videos as a series but the demand was so high that it just made sense. I then decided to give each planetary character their own crewneck to be individually represented in the videos and when I put them on sale they flew off the shelves.

Describe the next five years of your life, and your plans.

Behind the scenes, I am working on content and collaborations with major companies that I’m unable to go into detail about at the moment, but what I can say is that I’ve been preparing scripts and screenplays for major platform release. At the same time, I am working on my next album titled ‘Cotton Money’ which points to my independence due to my clothing sales, as well as alluding to my ancestors that were victims of slavery. Within the next 5 years, I plan to gain all of my platforms and continue to collaborate with other brands. You will most likely see me associated with some major media pioneering amazing projects.

How do you get creative?

It tickles me when people ask how I get creative or remain creative because in reality I don’t know how to turn it off, nor do I wish to know how to turn it off haha. For me, creativity is a river that is always flowing that can be tapped into at any moment. After Pirate Heist (A film that Keats wrote, directed, edited, acted, and scored originally) I realized that content creators don’t create, they discover. Any artist could tell you a time where an idea just came to them. I would say getting creative is keeping an open mind and constantly looking for more ways to become more open and receptive to possibilities.

What are some current projects that you are working on at this time?

At this very moment I am preparing to release a music video for “The Best Anime Rap Ever.” I am currently doing a lot of research on NFT’s and working with my team to create my own NFT’s so that my fans can partake. Before the year is over, I will have released my first original KEATS track suit design. You can of course be looking forward to more music, skits, and streams in between the content bombs.

What is an unknown fun fact for your fans?

A fun fact for my fans is that I can actually say the ABC’s backwards. When I got my first flip phone I used the letters on the dial pad to break it up into an easy to learn trick. I still remember it til this very day.

What advice do you offer someone trying to establish themselves in the entertainment business?

To anyone that is trying to establish themselves in entertainment, before anything make sure that this is what you want to do. Nowadays, it’s relatively easy to start your own brand, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to build. You have to truly love giving yourself to others and working for hours behind the scenes with little to no reward. I believe the key is finding out what you can do in life that you can do over and over and not be tired of.