{"id":2112426,"date":"2026-08-26T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T05:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2112426"},"modified":"2026-08-26T08:00:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T05:00:33","slug":"london-mc-kibo-is-on-a-mission-to-bring-a-sense-of-magic-to-lifes-mundanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2112426","title":{"rendered":"London MC Kibo is on a mission to bring \u201ca sense of magic\u201d to life\u2019s mundanity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/kibo-kwengletaria-ragamyff-interview-credit-swurla.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"template-id-2947849\" class=\"post-2947849 tdb_templates type-tdb_templates status-publish post\">\n<div id=\"tdi_65\" class=\"tdc-zone\">\n<div class=\"tdc_zone tdi_66  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div id=\"tdi_67\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_68  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_70  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_breadcrumbs tdi_71 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-breadcrumbs \" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_71\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span>Features<\/span><span>Music Interviews<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_title tdi_72 tdb-single-title td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_72\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">London MC Kibo is on a mission to bring \u201ca sense of magic\u201d to life\u2019s mundanity<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_73 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_73\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The rising star has built his own mythology and philosophy, Kwengletarianism, which uses feelings of fantasy to give reality an extraordinary lift<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_75 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_75\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span> Georgia Evans<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_76 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_76\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2026-08-26T09:00:33+01:00\">26th August 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_77\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_78  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_80  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_81 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_81\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"696\" height=\"442\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/kibo-kwengletaria-ragamyff-interview-credit-swurla-696x442.jpg\" alt=\"Kibo\" title=\"kibo-kwengletaria-ragamyff-interview-credit-swurla\"><figcaption class=\"tdb-caption-text\">Kibo credit: Swurla<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_82\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_83  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_85  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap\">\u201cM<\/strong>ark Zuckerberg is my number one person I would like to donate some Kwengletarianism to,\u201d Kibo declares, chuckling over Zoom. \u201cI saw him do one interview where he was talking about sometimes he drinks coffee recreationally, and I was just like, \u2018Oh, someone needs to get this guy a packet of pickled onion Monster Munch, a four-pack of Red Stripe, and let him listen to Max B\u2019s greatest hits, and watch <em>The Grim Adventures of Billy &amp; Mandy<\/em>.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The London MC\u2019s self-devised mythology has come to define a lot of the chatter around him. It\u2019s not a religion or a cult, but a way of making sense of the world, growing out of him slowly figuring out which things gave him a sense of inspiration and fantasy. His mates would call him Kwengletaire, and over time he began building a mythology around that feeling, eventually giving it a name: Kwengletarianism.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s not cropped up out of nowhere though, as Kibo started building towards this ideology with 2022\u2019s \u2018FBFR4: Fuego Baby Furtardo Returns (Sorry 4 Da Longness)\u2019 mixtape, a turbo-charged rap project that eventually disappeared from streaming services after a copyright dispute involving fellow rapper YT. From then onward, he kept making music without necessarily feeling the need to release it, while booking raves to pay his bills, and eventually ending up with a catalogue of music he felt best represented his \u2018origin story\u2019 and that of Kwengletarianism, as it became more apparent to him.<\/p>\n<p>At its core, he explains, the philosophy is about taking the life you already have and making it feel extraordinary. Growing up in Harrow, at the end of the Bakerloo line in north west London, Kibo looked beyond his surroundings for inspiration. With his fondness for the films of Mamoru Hosoda (<em>The Girl Who Leapt Through Time<\/em>, <em>Summer Wars<\/em>), he filtered fantastical influences through an unglamorous reality to create his own sense of utopia. It\u2019s something anyone can adopt to add a sense of magic to their surroundings. \u201cEveryone can have their own Kwengletaria,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"KIBO - RED STARZ\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/URYOA4dcZSU?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap\">K<\/strong>ibo is just as charismatic and quick-witted in person as he is on record, and you can sense his mind whirring like an overheated laptop as he speaks. He says it feels like 100 tabs open at once, and that the internet permeates everything he does creatively. However, that density means people don\u2019t always catch what\u2019s serious underneath the jokes.<\/p>\n<p>He worries, for example, that lines like his comic-referencing bar on the Iglooghost-produced \u2018PXG\u2019 (\u201c<em>I\u2019ve gotta make Scott Pilgrim choices \/ Link with flowers or link with knives<\/em>\u201d) might be read as an aesthetic flex, rather than what he describes as \u2018recanonising\u2019 old references into something with real depth. Nevertheless, his wordplay and heady, dance-heavy beats make him one of the most exciting additions to London\u2019s rap scene. He describes his latest album, \u2018Kwengletaria: Ragamyff\u2019, as grime-adjacent rather than a straight example of the genre. \u201cSome people think it\u2019s a grime project, some people think it\u2019s a rap project. It can be whatever anyone wants it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>The album was created with the friends who\u2019d been in the room with him from the start, like producer HNRO, who holds the most credits on the album, alongside long-time collaborator Swurla and a group of friends he\u2019s dubbed the HA-liens after his hometown. Novelist, meanwhile, is the record\u2019s only feature, a very deliberate choice. \u201cHe\u2019s my favourite grime musician,\u201d Kibo says. \u201cAnd for me, making this project, to have who I consider the greatest grime musician on it as the sole feature is a really cool thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two songs sit above the rest for him: \u2018Iridescence\u2019 and \u2018Red Starz\u2019. He frames them as sequential moments in the album\u2019s arc: \u201c\u2018Iridescence\u2019 is like the lightning bolt moment at the end of the film, and then \u2018Red Starz\u2019 is where it all makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201c[Wrestling] means a lot to me, and it inspires me and informs a lot of what I do as a musician\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The latter came almost fully formed on a late walk home. \u201cI was looking over the bridge and saw the red stars, and I was just like, \u2018This is what [Kwengletaria] is all about,\u2019 building your own constellation from these fake stars, because we can\u2019t see normal stars in this smoggy city,\u201d he explains. He then found himself pouring out the verses in his Notes app in some kind of transcendental flow state. \u201cThe words just kept coming to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That sense of world-building extends beyond the music. In his visuals, Kibo turns up with a wrestling belt slung over one shoulder. Initially created for a planned tour, it\u2019s since become part of the mythology. The belt would mark \u2018the first title reign of Kibo\u2019. \u201c[Wrestling] means a lot to me, and it inspires me and informs a lot of what I do as a musician.\u201d He tells aspiring rappers to study it because \u201cif you can get over as a wrestler, you can get over as a rapper. It\u2019s the same skill set.\u201d For Kibo, technical ability only gets you so far; you need to create characters, build plotlines and participate in real crowd interaction.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad2 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>He sees \u2018Kwengletaria: Ragamyff\u2019 as the chance to finally lay out his mythology in full. He spent years making it, approaching the project less like a collection of songs and more like cinema. \u201cI felt like I was directing a film more than writing a project at some points,\u201d he says. He wanted to establish the mythology first and get listeners to understand where it all comes from. That\u2019s why he calls the album \u201cthe rock upon which everything else is built\u201d. By laying out his mission statement as an artist, Kibo hopes the record will provide deeper context for everything that follows.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3964668\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3964668\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3964668\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/kibo-credit-swurla.jpg\" alt=\"Kibo\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2500\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3964668\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kibo credit: Swurla<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One place he will reach a new fanbase is at Reading + Leeds Festival, where he\u2019s headlining The Canopy stage. For someone who spent his school years refusing to attend festivals unless one would actually book him, the fact that he\u2019s now been given a stage of his own feels particularly satisfying. \u201cI was like, I ain\u2019t going until they book me. Fuck that shit,\u201d he says, laughing at the stubbornness of his younger self. \u201cI\u2019m gassed. It\u2019s also gonna be some of my first performances post the project being out. So I\u2019m excited to perform the songs, see what that set list looks like, and discover how people take that in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He teases that there\u2019s \u201calways something special\u201d when he performs. So perhaps this is the prime opportunity to finally reveal another side of his musical universe: a secret covers project featuring karaoke-style versions of songs by Ben Howard and Natasha Bedingfield, among others, which he\u2019d accidentally revealed in a previous interview. \u201cI didn\u2019t even like that I forgot that one went out there,\u201d he laughs. \u201cI just said it, and then I read it [in the interview], and I was like, \u2018Oh shit, I forgot I let that one out of the bag.\u2019 But yes, it is real. It does exist. \u2018Now! That\u2019s What I Call Kibo\u2019 is coming out soon \u2013 hopefully not too soon, though.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Kibo\u2019s \u2018Kwengletaria: Ragamyff\u2019 is out now via APLCO.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_tags tdi_87 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_87\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<ul class=\"tdb-tags\">\n<li><span>Related Topics<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Kibo<\/li>\n<li>Rap<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_88\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_content td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_89  wpb_row td-pb-row tdc-element-style\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_91  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-block td-a-rec td-a-rec-id-custom-spot tdi_92 td_block_template_2\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_93\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_94  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_96  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"vc_row_inner tdi_98  vc_row vc_inner wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column_inner tdi_100  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-inner-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"vc_column-inner\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_102 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>More Stories<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap td_flex_block_1 tdi_103 td-pb-border-top td_module_flex_1--card td_module_flex_1--card--highlight td_block_template_2 tdc-no-posts td_flex_block\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_103\">\n<div id=\"tdi_103\" class=\"td_block_inner td-mc1-wrap\">\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Film News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Tupac Shakur cast in upcoming Snoop Dogg biopic<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Eminem shares touching letter he received from Dolly Parton: \u201cThank you for the kind words\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Russian stadium says Kanye West gigs \u201ccannot take place\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Suge Knight claims that Tupac Shakur\u2019s friends and family smoked his ashes<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Dr. Dre says he is \u201cembracing\u201d AI in music: \u201cIt\u2019s a new tool for creativity\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n          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data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap\">\u201cM<\/strong>ark Zuckerberg is my number one person I would like to donate some Kwengletarianism to,\u201d Kibo declares, chuckling over Zoom. \u201cI saw him do one interview where he was talking about sometimes he drinks coffee recreationally, and I was just like, \u2018Oh, someone needs to get this guy a packet of pickled onion Monster Munch, a four-pack of Red Stripe, and let him listen to Max B\u2019s greatest hits, and watch <em>The Grim Adventures of Billy &amp; Mandy<\/em>.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The London MC\u2019s self-devised mythology has come to define a lot of the chatter around him. It\u2019s not a religion or a cult, but a way of making sense of the world, growing out of him slowly figuring out which things gave him a sense of inspiration and fantasy. His mates would call him Kwengletaire, and over time he began building a mythology around that feeling, eventually giving it a name: Kwengletarianism.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s not cropped up out of nowhere though, as Kibo started building towards this ideology with 2022\u2019s \u2018FBFR4: Fuego Baby Furtardo Returns (Sorry 4 Da Longness)\u2019 mixtape, a turbo-charged rap project that eventually disappeared from streaming services after a copyright dispute involving fellow rapper YT. From then onward, he kept making music without necessarily feeling the need to release it, while booking raves to pay his bills, and eventually ending up with a catalogue of music he felt best represented his \u2018origin story\u2019 and that of Kwengletarianism, as it became more apparent to him.<\/p>\n<p>At its core, he explains, the philosophy is about taking the life you already have and making it feel extraordinary. Growing up in Harrow, at the end of the Bakerloo line in north west London, Kibo looked beyond his surroundings for inspiration. With his fondness for the films of Mamoru Hosoda (<em>The Girl Who Leapt Through Time<\/em>, <em>Summer Wars<\/em>), he filtered fantastical influences through an unglamorous reality to create his own sense of utopia. It\u2019s something anyone can adopt to add a sense of magic to their surroundings. \u201cEveryone can have their own Kwengletaria,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"KIBO - RED STARZ\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/URYOA4dcZSU?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap\">K<\/strong>ibo is just as charismatic and quick-witted in person as he is on record, and you can sense his mind whirring like an overheated laptop as he speaks. He says it feels like 100 tabs open at once, and that the internet permeates everything he does creatively. However, that density means people don\u2019t always catch what\u2019s serious underneath the jokes.<\/p>\n<p>He worries, for example, that lines like his comic-referencing bar on the Iglooghost-produced \u2018PXG\u2019 (\u201c<em>I\u2019ve gotta make Scott Pilgrim choices \/ Link with flowers or link with knives<\/em>\u201d) might be read as an aesthetic flex, rather than what he describes as \u2018recanonising\u2019 old references into something with real depth. Nevertheless, his wordplay and heady, dance-heavy beats make him one of the most exciting additions to London\u2019s rap scene. He describes his latest album, \u2018Kwengletaria: Ragamyff\u2019, as grime-adjacent rather than a straight example of the genre. \u201cSome people think it\u2019s a grime project, some people think it\u2019s a rap project. It can be whatever anyone wants it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>The album was created with the friends who\u2019d been in the room with him from the start, like producer HNRO, who holds the most credits on the album, alongside long-time collaborator Swurla and a group of friends he\u2019s dubbed the HA-liens after his hometown. Novelist, meanwhile, is the record\u2019s only feature, a very deliberate choice. \u201cHe\u2019s my favourite grime musician,\u201d Kibo says. \u201cAnd for me, making this project, to have who I consider the greatest grime musician on it as the sole feature is a really cool thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two songs sit above the rest for him: \u2018Iridescence\u2019 and \u2018Red Starz\u2019. He frames them as sequential moments in the album\u2019s arc: \u201c\u2018Iridescence\u2019 is like the lightning bolt moment at the end of the film, and then \u2018Red Starz\u2019 is where it all makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201c[Wrestling] means a lot to me, and it inspires me and informs a lot of what I do as a musician\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The latter came almost fully formed on a late walk home. \u201cI was looking over the bridge and saw the red stars, and I was just like, \u2018This is what [Kwengletaria] is all about,\u2019 building your own constellation from these fake stars, because we can\u2019t see normal stars in this smoggy city,\u201d he explains. He then found himself pouring out the verses in his Notes app in some kind of transcendental flow state. \u201cThe words just kept coming to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That sense of world-building extends beyond the music. In his visuals, Kibo turns up with a wrestling belt slung over one shoulder. Initially created for a planned tour, it\u2019s since become part of the mythology. The belt would mark \u2018the first title reign of Kibo\u2019. \u201c[Wrestling] means a lot to me, and it inspires me and informs a lot of what I do as a musician.\u201d He tells aspiring rappers to study it because \u201cif you can get over as a wrestler, you can get over as a rapper. It\u2019s the same skill set.\u201d For Kibo, technical ability only gets you so far; you need to create characters, build plotlines and participate in real crowd interaction.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad2 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>He sees \u2018Kwengletaria: Ragamyff\u2019 as the chance to finally lay out his mythology in full. He spent years making it, approaching the project less like a collection of songs and more like cinema. \u201cI felt like I was directing a film more than writing a project at some points,\u201d he says. He wanted to establish the mythology first and get listeners to understand where it all comes from. That\u2019s why he calls the album \u201cthe rock upon which everything else is built\u201d. By laying out his mission statement as an artist, Kibo hopes the record will provide deeper context for everything that follows.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3964668\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3964668\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3964668\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/kibo-credit-swurla.jpg\" alt=\"Kibo\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2500\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3964668\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kibo credit: Swurla<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One place he will reach a new fanbase is at Reading + Leeds Festival, where he\u2019s headlining The Canopy stage. For someone who spent his school years refusing to attend festivals unless one would actually book him, the fact that he\u2019s now been given a stage of his own feels particularly satisfying. \u201cI was like, I ain\u2019t going until they book me. Fuck that shit,\u201d he says, laughing at the stubbornness of his younger self. \u201cI\u2019m gassed. It\u2019s also gonna be some of my first performances post the project being out. So I\u2019m excited to perform the songs, see what that set list looks like, and discover how people take that in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He teases that there\u2019s \u201calways something special\u201d when he performs. So perhaps this is the prime opportunity to finally reveal another side of his musical universe: a secret covers project featuring karaoke-style versions of songs by Ben Howard and Natasha Bedingfield, among others, which he\u2019d accidentally revealed in a previous interview. \u201cI didn\u2019t even like that I forgot that one went out there,\u201d he laughs. \u201cI just said it, and then I read it [in the interview], and I was like, \u2018Oh shit, I forgot I let that one out of the bag.\u2019 But yes, it is real. It does exist. \u2018Now! That\u2019s What I Call Kibo\u2019 is coming out soon \u2013 hopefully not too soon, though.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Kibo\u2019s \u2018Kwengletaria: Ragamyff\u2019 is out now via APLCO.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/features\/music-interviews\/kibo-kwengletaria-ragamyff-interview-radar-3964666&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/kibo-kwengletaria-ragamyff-interview-credit-swurla.jpg&#8221;] FeaturesMusic Interviews London MC Kibo is on a mission to bring \u201ca sense of magic\u201d to life\u2019s mundanity The rising star has built his own mythology and philosophy, Kwengletarianism, which uses feelings of fantasy to give reality an extraordinary lift By Georgia Evans 26th August 2026 Kibo credit: Swurla \u201cMark Zuckerberg is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,78],"class_list":["post-2112426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nme-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2112426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2112426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2112426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2112426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2112426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2112426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}