Music As An Identity Outlet: Kieran Mistry Creative Spotlight

My name is Kieran Mistry, and I am part White British/Austrian, part Kenyan and Indian. I am a so-called 'Young Creative', and in full I'm a musician, record label owner, radio DJ, graphic designer, fashion designer and photographer, working under the moniker 'Leverson', with my label 'GRADIENTS.' releasing all sorts of music, from Jazz to Hip-Hop to Neo-Soul and beyond.

Growing up in a poor area in South London, I was surrounded by people from all walks of life and ethnicities, however after moving out of Streatham I was forced upon a mental journey to figure out my own path to self-acceptance for my mixed-race heritage. I often found that I was something of a 'black swan' in the school system. In primary school I was 'too brown' for the heavily White British population of the first school I attended, with me being shown this at an early age. In fact, I was constantly punished and lectured due to the sheer fact that I was constantly mistaken for a misbehaved Latinx kid who was in my class. He was the only other POC. 

Even when I moved on to Secondary education, I was 'too white' to be fully accepted into a selective school which was heavily brown, Muslim and Asian. I have been racially abused, insulted and belittled, but that only led me to the conclusion that I should not focus on the opinions and stereotypes imposed by others, but to find a way to accept myself and my eccentricities, as well as coming to terms with my own ethnicity. This struggle to truly find myself led me to music, and the more I was put down by others, the harder I would work on representing myself through my art, and not my complexion. 

Thus, I started releasing music, albeit basic beats and such - but this led me onto greater things, such as my recent founding of my own record label 'GRADIENTS', focusing on releasing music regardless of origin or destination. In fact, within the first couple of weeks of founding, I have released Episode 001 of an Underground Hip-Hop and Jazz Radio Show, as well as a single from Maltese-British Jazz pianist Lucas Borg, and have had talks with a Russian electronic producer about releasing some of their stuff through my label. I will always have a strong work ethic - I will always be working from the moment I wake up to 4am in the morning on music or admin or art or curating set-lists for radio shows, and I will never stop working this hard on my art. 

Your past can be tainted by your experiences, but you can't let that define you. Turn that negative energy into something positive. Turn the hate into motivation. Mark my words, my past will not be in vain. Remember the name Leverson - big things will come.

Check out Leverson’s work below-

instagram.com/45lev (His personal account)

instagram.com/grdients (the label)

soundcloud.com/grdients (the label's soundcloud stream with radio show)

gradients.bandcamp.com (the label's bandcamp page with the entire discography