In the current climate of today’s music of virality and overnight sensations, Kiiba’s story and music speaks as its own homegrown entity, which is a force to be reckoned with. Born Robert Crayton in 2000, Kiiba’s introduction to hip-hop started while he was in the womb, with his father previously being a Freestyle Friday champion on BET’s 106 & Park and his uncle was in a local Miami group known as 3re tha Hardaway, having previously worked with DJ Khaled before his heyday. He came up with North Carolina mainstays like Sinimatics , Lil Kawaii , and Jay forming the visionary collective Dreamers Slept On, with him being the youngest member. Kiiba would go on to release a mixtape entitled Maverick Nightz and a handful of singles throughout 2018-2022, laying out the constantly growing foundation of his sound : dark, grungy, and psychedelic production mixed with incisive lyrics that blends in the worlds of the introspective and melodic. This would earn him comparisons to the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Isaiah Rashad, and Kenny Mason, establishing himself as a standout amongst Carolina’s scene of up-and-coming acts. He’s currently preparing his debut album Saturn, scheduled to release in October 2025.