CM17 Sho Sho and Michaelangelo Kudo, two personas with one brain operating it all, Chris Mandiangu. Dabbling in between pop, R&B, rock, soul, funk, gospel, jazz, blues and rap, his personalities cover it all. Brighton based “Sho Sho Kudo Music” talks about his inspirations, his latest album ‘Thoughts of a Virgin’ and bringing positivity to the world.
When and why did you start writing your own songs?
Music has always been a part of me, I remember writing my first song at the age of 7 or 8. The art of writing a song for me is more than just simply writing something based on anything, it is an extremely spiritual and emotional connection between myself and the divine. It’s a therapeutic thing for me to do, although at times it’s hard for me to write about things that I know I definitely need to get off my chest.
Who are your musical inspirations?
When I was very young I used to listen to a lot of Congolese music, that is why you can hear some African influences in my music. Later in life I got introduced to rap music, particularly grime. Grime artists such as Chipmunk, Boy Better Know and Marvell were key in terms of enabling me to convert my hyperactive energy into my stage performances and lyrics. Rappers like Busta Rhymes and Twista were fundamental in my ability to rap as fast as I could, but doing it in an innovative way. Michaelangelo Kudo takes inspiration from Michael Jackson, who influenced the way he sings and dances, James Brown, Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo and Usher.
You upload loads of songs to SoundCloud and Facebook all the time (he already has 2 albums out in 2017 alone), how come that you publish way more songs than most other artists out there? What is your song writing process?
It is extremely important for me to remain consistent and fresh in terms of the music that comes out. My song writing process is completely backwards to others, who would go into the studio and create something from scratch, I can’t do that. My process of making a song goes like this: I write it, produce it, record it and then mix/master it. I have written songs that are extremely personal and that I’m not ready for an audience to hear yet. But when that time comes and I’m ready to release my most autobiographical piece to date, that is when I will be ready to remove the mask I’ve always worn and show myself in the most raw way possible.
Why do you have two separate artists names, CM17 Sho Sho and Michaelangelo Kudo? Are they different artists with different music styles?
The reason why I have those personas is because it is hard for artists nowadays to be able to channel their every musical and personal aspect whilst having every direction to direct their energies at. CM17 Sho Sho is my dark side. He is the one that says everything that I can’t say when angry or upset, he’s an emotional outlet, rebellious, rapid, fearless, absent-minded, angry, dark. CM17 serves me well for the dark energy that he possesses. Michaelangelo Kudo is more of a non-but-sort-of-fictional musical character that embarks on the positive side of life. He’s the mask that I always put on my face, hiding all of the sorrow inside. ‘Sho Sho Kudo Music’ puts all three of my personas together, Chris (being myself) is the brains behind the whole operation.
Your Facebook is all about positivity, do you want this message to constantly shine through in your music as well and write songs purely about positivity, or is the positivity just a Chris thing?
The reason as to why my Facebook is full of positive energy and happiness is because I want to help the world go through dark times and come out with a smile. I want that positivity to shine through in my music, but in my personal life I want to be that ray of hope for everyone that is going through the same thing I’ve been through as an artist and person. The energy seen on Facebook is what Chris Mandiangu is about, happiness, a humble heart, peace and love.
Your latest album ‘Thoughts of a virgin’ was released not too long ago. The whole album has a theme based around sex, why did you decide to write about that?
It was originally meant to be a four to six track EP that was solely based around sexual emotions and fantasies, I wanted to challenge myself creatively and write something that I have never experienced before. Each song has a backstory to it, whilst some of them were purely fictional and just based on my desires to experience sex, most of them are actually true, particularly “Lizzy (Dancefloor Affairs)”. Every sound that you heard on there was real: I had to learn how to turn myself on and get inside the mind-set of what someone thinks about before, during and/or after sex. At the end of the day, I’m a human being; an emotional one at that so I would be doing myself injustice if I didn’t learn how to embrace it.
Do you feel like moving to a new city and living on your own (away from your parents) has affected your song writing?
Moving away from home was and still is the best thing I have ever done. Not that I want to go too deep into it, but London has nothing but bad memories. My perspective on life changed when I moved. It was scary enough having to start over after moving out, but I enjoy finally having the independence that I know I deserve, and nobody is taking that away from me.
Do you feel like you have more opportunities as an artist here in Brighton than you did back in London?
To me, Brighton is the city that never sleeps, this is exactly where I want to be. Brighton is so much better than London because of the fact that everyone is free here, there’s no restrictions, no limits, no segregation, you can be true to who you are and nobody will judge you for it.
Even though your last album was only released a couple of days ago, I have to ask since you release new music all the time. Do you already have plans for a new album/EP? Something we need to look out for?
All I can definitely say for now is that there are going to be videos coming your way, and there will be more music in the works!
You can find Sho Sho Kudo Music on Facebook: facebook.com/shoshokudoofficial, Twitter: @ShoShoKudoOfc and Instagram: @ShoShoKudoOfficial and you can listen to his music on YouTube: Sho Sho Kudo Music and SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/shoshokudoofficial
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