Our good friend Khalil (also spelled Ka.lil and Kalil) posted a few weeks ago that he’s retiring his stage name, Khingz. Well, he said that Khingz is dead. I knew it didn’t mean that he’s gonna stop making music because he just released a new album, Between Friday Night & Saturday Morning, and because I can’t imagine that he’d ever stop making music…ever. 

He’s using his real name because everyone around him calls him by that anyways. Khingz is great, but his real name is already unique and memorable. People also call him by his real name because he’s personal friends with just about everyone in town. 

The history behind Khingz is that the name represents the two counties where he did the most growing: King County (named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) and Kings County (in Brooklyn). In the last 8 years he says it was his friendships with people, from all walks of life, that have shaped him the most. And Khalil means friend.  

But with a new album release and working with OTOW GANG and High-Life Soundsystem, I thought he’d want to keep Khingz so that fans who know him by that name would discover the new work and the artists around him.

But I guess if you’re in the know, you’re in the know, and it don’t matter what people call you.