Welcome To The Locals: Extra Kach

Everyone enjoys hearing singers cover songs by other artists. Whether on tracks, videos or open mics, it’s always a dope experience to see how a singer puts their touch on some of our favorite songs. In Philly you’ve probably seen one of Jacqueline Constance’s many loop covers on YouTube, or have caught Queen Maya at an open mic blowing the crowd away by covering classics. Or perhaps the algorithm on Instagram led you to Philly singer jawn / sound engineer Extra Kach’s series of covers.

I was first introduced to the songbird from West Philly by singer Re-mus, who told me about that Extra Kach was very dope and a hilarious. Her Kach Covers show that she is an entertaining character, but one to not be taken lightly. Whether it’s “I Care 4 U,” “Havana,” or “Body” each Kach Cover shows that she can sing and her personality adds flavor to it. She even brings that personality to her writing her own music on songs like “No Religion,” and “Aura.” Yet while Extra Kach has a big personality, she has a parallel size when it comes to her heart. Recently she dropped a new cover of Jhene Aiko’s “Summertime 2021,” after the news of more violence in her hometown.

Extra Kach’s talent and empathy has gotten her noticed by two legends; her idol Beyoncé posted her cover of Destiny’s Child “Say My Name” as a tribute to Breonna Taylor on Facebook, and Rodney Jerkins aka Dark Child — producer of “Say My Name” — gave her a shout out on her IG Live. I was recently able to talk to Extra Kach about her early beginnings, why she became a sound engineer and why it’s so important for her music to be an outlet as a way to ease pain. Listen to our conversation and read excerpts below.

…on how her personality and her music intersect.

I’ve always had my personality, but when I was a kid, I lived a double life. I definitely wasn’t as playful in school the way I was at home with my family. The Kach Covers, I can display different sides of me. I can get out all my opinions without it all necessarily falling on me, because there’s three other characters I can blame! [laughs] But that’s definitely been an outlet for me to be creative, interact with myself, and reflect on the things going on in my mind.

…on being a producer / engineer and working collaboratively with her clients.

I like to say I have the best job in the world with engineering, because when people are happy with their music, or I do something — you know, I put some delay on their vocal, and they’re going crazy like “WOOOO! Yeah Kach!!” — so that really fuels me and makes me feel really good, when I can make other people sound great.

…on transitioning from her Kach Covers series to her own songs.

There’s a different side of me when I do my original music, it’s not that I don’t want to talk when I have something important to say, but I kind of have a side that’s more sarcastic. Kind of like a little smartass. But I like to use the message songs with the covers, because people are familiar with them, people can sing them, and I can express what I’m feeling and they can get the message that way. The originals are more about me personally.

[But] I will definitely be getting more vulnerable in my music, that’s something I haven’t shown people yet. But a lot of times I put on that character, or those characters, that help me cope through day-to-day stress. But I definitely want to get vulnerable and want to be able to give that to the world when the time is right and when I have everything in place for the world to receive it the way I want them to.