Crescent City Sounds Spotlight: Kaye the Beast

Khiry Armstead was born and raised in New Orleans and the surrounding area. The 35-year-old started making music in 2007 while attending Riverdale High School, adopting the stage name Kaye the Beast. What started as something fun and creative to do with his friends blossomed when he got to Tulane University. There he was introduced to new types of music and met people who took their art seriously, including a roommate who was putting himself through school with his self-produced album.

Later, Armstead met fellow local rapper Alfred Banks, who would end up becoming a close friend and mentor. The two still collaborate regularly today. 

In 2022, Banks told Armstead about Crescent City Sounds, a new music streaming platform he was helping the New Orleans Public Library curate.

 The platform would only feature New Orleans-based artists and would be 100 percent free for listeners. Banks encouraged Armstead to submit his newly released album “The Spaceman,” for consideration.

Armstead’s album was picked, and The Spaceman by Kaye the Beast would become one of the first 35 albums to grace the platform.

In the years since, Armstead has released a new EP, performed in numerous plays, and was featured in Gambit’s 2025 40 Under 40, all while being a full-time teacher.

He most recently worked with the Library when he helped produce — and had a cameo in — Banks’ viral “Whisper Song,” video, which they shot at Rosa F. Keller Library & Community Center.

We recently reconnected with Armstead to learn more about his music, his album, and what being featured on Crescent City Sounds means to him.

Check out our Q&A below.

Q: How/when did you get involved with music?

I started making music in about 2007 at Riverdale with one of my high school buddies, Marcus. We didn’t really take it super seriously at the time, but it was definitely fun. We didn’t have the technical knowledge of what made songs work, but we had an old computer and a webcam mic and got pretty creative with those.

I don’t think I understood rap as a career that one could pursue, just something fun that I was decent at.I probably didn’t take music seriously until college. There, I was introduced to so much different music to learn from, as well as other budding artists who really had their stuff together.

I had a roommate the summer before freshman year, and he was studying music, and had been producing and rapping in his hometown, and he sold a self-produced album to make tuition money to stay in school. 

To see someone walk onto campus at 18 with that much business acumen and music knowledge was pretty inspiring.

I would then go on to meet Alfred Banks, who would have the most direct impact on my trajectory as an artist. Alfred has proven to be a great mentor and friend and has devised me on just about every aspect of being a recording artist. I held a microphone like Jerry Seinfeld when I performed before meeting Alfred. 

Q: How would you describe your music?

I wear my influences on my sleeve. If I had to compare my music to another artist, it would be somewhere in that Childish Gambino range. The confidence that usually exists in rappers is there, but I generally like to juxtapose that with vulnerability and honesty. Things aren’t always going according to plan, and when they don’t you’ll hear that in my music. 

Q: How did you get the name Kaye the Beast?

I’ve been going by ‘Kaye the Beast’ for nearly 20 years. It goes back to when I was rapping in high school. I used to just go by Kaye (a spelling out of the first letter of my real name), and then my friend, on a song talking about how dope we were or something, referred to himself as a monster, and “Kaye, the beast.” I basically took that and ran with it. I’ve had times where I’ve thought about changing it. Sometimes I think calling yourself “the Beast” is a little silly, but it reminds me of where I started and how long I’ve been making music.

Q: How would you describe your sound?

I’m a rapper, first and foremost, but I like to play with the subgenres a bit. I like ethereal music. I like slow burn, brooding music, so I may lean into that a bit. I produce the vast majority of my music so I am really in charge of my overall sound. Lately I’ve been into lo-fi and those adjacent sounds. It inspired my EP “Study Break” from a couple years ago. That slower, calmer sound made me wanna make a rap project students could listen to while studying.

Q: Your album album The Spaceman is featured on Crescent City Sounds. How would you describe the record?

The Spaceman is my baby. I refer to that one as my magnum opus. If anyone wants to know what my style is, I point them toward The Spaceman. I recorded that album in 2020/2021, first at home, then the final version at the HUT Studios. 
 
Around that same time, a college bud of mine asked me if I had heard of Fireball XL5, which is this space odyssey puppet show from the 60s. The aesthetic is so kooky and I enjoyed the clips I saw. If you’ve seen the film Team America: World Police by the South Park dudes, that movie is a send up of the style of puppet animation used in Fireball XL5. I really enjoyed this one song, which may have been the theme, where the singer is talking to a companion, saying he wished he had a spaceship so he could show her the universe. 
 
I started to play with sampling it, and it helped me to form the basis for the premise of my album. It sort of became a semi-concept album, a what-if scenario exploring if my level of fame shot up dramatically, and how I might deal with that new reality. This is played out in songs throughout the album, starting in earnest with On the Road and culminates with the closing song Footprints on the Moon.
 

Q: Any favorite tracks you want to highlight?

I love One Small Step. It plays with the famous quote from the moon landing and reaffirms that something that seems small and insignificant like simply taking a step can have big ramifications. Each step on a journey is important and we all go at our own pace. Take your time. You may realize later that your small step or move you took back then ended up being more significant than you realized.
 

Q: What do you hope people feel when they listen to it?

This is so cliche to say, but I really hope you feel like you’ve gone on a journey. I want you to feel like you have listened to a piece of art from beginning to end and you feel you have absorbed an entire story. I formulate my albums based on the hero’s journey story structure, so the beats of the album should feel familiar to you, even if you don’t take in the entire story.

Q: How did you hear about Crescent City Sounds and what made you want to submit your album?

I think I initially heard about Crescent City Sounds through Alfred Banks, who I believe was a curator for the first round. He asked me if I would be interested in submitting. I was very excited since The Spaceman had just come out, and I thought it would be such a cool way to make my music available to folks in my hometown.

Q: How does it feel to be on Crescent City Sounds?

Its awesome. I love the library. It saved my butt many a lot when I just needed a place to hang on a hot summer day as a teenager without home internet. So, it feels full-circle to be a part of their music offerings. To see my name alongside so many other great local artists makes me feel like I have a real place in this ecosystem.

Q: What do you think it says about the Library that we created this service, and why do you think a product like Crescent City Sounds is important in New Orleans?

The Library is and has always been a key to the culture of the town its placed in. Thanks to our local Library system you can access a site for free and stream hours and hours of local music. You can hear local stories, told from different points of view. I think music does a lot of the same things books do, often contemporaneously. It feels special to be a part of that.

Q: Do you use the Library often in your personal life?

Having a place to go during the summer once I aged out of summer camp was big for me growing up. The Library was a great place to hop on the internet, or later as I learned, check out DVDs and games. I spent many a summer day in the library. As people start to remember the importance of physical media, I expect to lean more to the Library in renting films and TV shows, which is something I really love. 

Q: Which Library location is your favorite?

I live super close to Keller Library on S. Broad St., so that is becoming a new place for me as I lean into exploring my neighborhood more.

Q: How can people can stay up to date with what you have going on?

The easiest place to find me is on Crescent City Sounds! After that, my music is in the normal places you may find that sort of thing. My hub is kayethebeast.com. There you can find links to my social media, and press that I receive, as well as upcoming shows and releases. 

The Library is gearing up to add new music to Crescent City Sounds for the fifth time. The 2026 submission round will be open from September 4 through October 4th. Visit crescentcitysounds.org for more information.

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