Kiii Interview: “There’s No Exchange Rate” — SHEEF THE 3RD, Wire Transfer and the Weight of Black Culture

English translation of the Japanese edition published on September 19, 2026. This is a translation of that published text, not a verbatim transcript of the original English responses. References to the present and future in the conversation reflect the interview.

Sacramento-based artist and producer Kiii owns the rights to his music. Working independently, he has made three albums in the past year.

The third, THE VIEW FROM HERE, was released on September 18, 2026. On “Wire Transfer / 電信送金,” the guest verse comes from SHEEF THE 3RD, an MC from Fujisawa, Kanagawa.

SHEEF THE 3RD is a lyricist known for BLAHRMY, his two-MC unit with MILES WORD.

He calls his hometown of Fujisawa “Moss Village” and has continued to release music through DLiP Records. In 2021, BLAHRMY returned with TWO MEN, their first album in nine years; SHEEF also released his solo Piece is. EP.

The first SHEEF record Kiii heard was that same Piece is.

Alongside the album, Kiii announced THE SIDE QUEST, an international tour with seven shows in six cities: São Paulo, Los Angeles, Fujisawa, Tokyo, Kyoto and London. He put it together through his own touring agency, TSE4VR.

Three dates are in Japan. The first is in SHEEF’s hometown of Fujisawa, ahead of Shibuya.

We spoke with Kiii about independence, working with SHEEF and what he wants to build in Japan.

Independence as design

HIPHOPCs: First, you work independently while owning the rights to your music. What made that so important to you?

Kiii: As a kid, I read album credits like textbooks.

My father was a producer, so I was interested in how a record was made before I even understood what the word “production” meant.

That feeling hasn’t changed. Everyone who contributes to my work matters, from a producer to someone adding a single ad-lib.

And my mother taught me the value of ownership before I owned anything myself.

So for me, independence isn’t rebellion.

It’s design, and it’s freedom.

I’ve studied models like TDE and artists like E-40 from Vallejo. But I’m building something that fits me.

Even without signing to a major label, you can think on that scale.

I want to leave behind a blueprint that proves that.

Building THE SIDE QUEST without waiting for a bridge

HIPHOPCs: That approach seems connected to THE SIDE QUEST, too. Why build the tour through direct relationships with artists and communities in each place, instead of leaving it to a major agency?

Kiii: If you’re waiting for someone to build a bridge, you’re still waiting for someone’s permission to cross it.

I built TSE4VR with touring in mind from the beginning.

I’m very hands-on, so rather than waiting to be chosen by the conventional touring system, I wanted to find out whether independent artists could build infrastructure directly across cities, countries and cultures.

The relationships formed in that process are worth more to me than routes or revenue.

If I can make this model repeatable, the next artist won’t have to start from zero.

The year he stopped saying “someday”

HIPHOPCs: Japan is part of this tour. What did Japan mean to you in the first place?

Kiii: Japan felt familiar to me in some way before I ever set foot there.

My mother visited Japan last year and came home completely captivated. That meant a lot, too.

Even before that, I’d seen the relationship between Japan and hip-hop through music and fashion. I’d also long been drawn to the influence Japanese culture, including anime, has had around the world.

So Japan wasn’t a place I chose by chance.

It was somewhere I would go someday. 2026 was simply the year I stopped saying “someday.”

SHEEF THE 3RD and “Wire Transfer / 電信送金”

HIPHOPCs: “Wire Transfer / 電信送金” with SHEEF THE 3RD is another important connection to Japan. How did you discover SHEEF?

Kiii: A Japanese DJ introduced me to SHEEF. I asked her to name five artists she liked, and SHEEF was one of them. I immediately listened to Piece is. The first thing that grabbed me was his delivery.

When I produced “Wire Transfer,” I could already hear SHEEF’s voice. He sent his verse back in less than a week and brought more than I’d imagined.

That track really made my plans for Japan more concrete. I made THE VIEW FROM HERE during what I called “Blackout Week.” For about a week in July, I practically disappeared from the outside world and focused only on the album.

In August, I was receiving guest verses and putting the tour together at the same time.

SHEEF connected those two worlds.

HIPHOPCs: The title “Wire Transfer” is interesting, too. What meaning did you put into it?

Kiii: Cultural currency. The beat traveled from America to Japan. SHEEF sent it back carrying his perspective. There’s no exchange rate. That’s the transfer in this song.

HIPHOPCs: Hearing SHEEF’s music, what similarities and differences did you notice between American and Japanese hip-hop?

Kiii: A real MC understands that words carry responsibility. I think that holds true in any country.

The assertiveness in rap can look like pure ego to someone who doesn’t know its context. But in Black American culture, much of that language comes from survival. It’s also language for making yourself bigger in an environment designed to make you feel small.

I hear that cultural understanding in SHEEF’s music. He understands the weight behind that stance.

What especially strikes me about Japan, on the other hand, is preservation.

Breaking and the other elements that laid hip-hop’s foundations are still visibly alive.

Another country is studying and protecting a culture born in America while adding its own language to it.

Seeing that reminds me that hip-hop has become bigger than geography.

The music can’t become a tourist

Kiii produced almost all of THE VIEW FROM HERE himself. Alongside SHEEF THE 3RD, its guests include Stevie Crooks, Chi Sees, SujoGround’s Matheus Coringa and Valente, North Carolina’s Yumz Awkword and DMV artist Mélanje. A release announcement published by PRESSLY PR describes this as Mélanje’s first rap appearance.

The released track “NO FREE KILOS” features TSE4VR’s LoTheDemigod. The same release announcement identifies it as the album’s only co-produced track, made with ShawnIsADHD!, a producer whose work connects Oakland and São Paulo.

HIPHOPCs: Artists from various countries and regions appear on this album. What matters to you when making music with someone across borders?

Kiii: Even when the passport changes, the music can’t become a tourist.

I was very conscious of that.

Features with overseas artists can quickly become gimmicks if you approach them the wrong way. I wanted every collaboration to sound inevitable, not unexpected.

On this album, my production is the common language.

Everyone carries their own home with them. But nobody is there as decoration.

I don’t need gestures just for show.

I’m not collecting flags.

Before it could be an international record, it had to be a human one.

“What I want to build in Japan is infrastructure”

HIPHOPCs: So you don’t want these Japan dates to end as a one-off run of shows?

Kiii: That’s right.

What I want to build in Japan is infrastructure. I want to build a system that lets independent artists move between these places more freely.

I’m in São Paulo now, imagining how interesting it would be for SHEEF to meet Matheus Coringa, Valente and ShawnIsADHD here. Or he could connect with Chi Sees and Stevie Crooks in LA.

This is bigger than simply booking shows. I want the artists I’ve met in different worlds to meet each other someday.

That’s when cultural currency starts circulating.

The first Japanese stop is scheduled for October 30 in Fujisawa.

The venue is Enoshima OPPA-LA, near Katase-Enoshima Station. THE SIDE QUEST joins the party 出吉舞ってる, with a special long set from SHEEF THE 3RD and a special live performance by Kiii. It is an all-night event, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Protecting autonomy: three albums in one year

HIPHOPCs: Listening to you, it seems “independent” means more to you than simply not being signed to a major label.

Kiii: It does.

I don’t think independence has one absolute form. The important word for me is autonomy—the right to make your own decisions.

Who owns it?

Who decides?

Who can say no?

Art needs enough freedom to surprise even the person making it.

Autonomy protects that freedom.

HIPHOPCs: Another striking thing is your pace. Three albums in one year is fast. Why are you making records at this pace right now?

Kiii: I don’t want my future self to wonder, “What was my younger self so afraid of?”

I’ll probably understand what this period meant more clearly years from now.

But that’s fine.

Right now, I’m documenting myself faster than I can fully understand myself.

Someday I want the man I’ve become to be surprised by the evidence my younger self left behind.

What he hopes will remain ten years from now

HIPHOPCs: Finally, let’s look a little further ahead. Looking back ten years from now, what would you like this work in Japan to have started?

Kiii: The beginning of a renaissance in how independent artists exchange culture.

Japan’s relationship with hip-hop is too deep for someone from outside to simply consume it as something exotic.

Hip-hop gave me a voice when I felt voiceless.

It gave me strength when I felt weak.

And now it’s even giving me a passport to the world.

I don’t think something that powerful should be kept behind a gate controlled by someone else.

Ten years from now, I don’t want the story to be only “Kiii went to Japan.”

I want people tracing relationships, records, tours and new opportunities back to their beginnings to find those beginnings here.

We weren’t as far apart as the industry made us think.

I want this work in Japan to remain as the moment we realized that.

Afterword: the transfer’s destination was Fujisawa

When you think of an overseas artist coming to Japan, Tokyo may be the first city that comes to mind. Kiii’s Japan tour begins in Fujisawa.

The tour announcement published by PRESSLY PR explains that the run grew out of direct relationships with artists, producers, venues and independent communities in each territory. The October 30 flyer gives that approach a concrete form.

Among the live acts is ザ・イルエストブラザー (The Illest Brother), the unit of D.husky and MSP. MSP is a member of DINARY DELTA FORCE and appeared on SHEEF’s Piece is. EP. BAKU of KAIKOO is on the DJ lineup; news that his joint album with BLAHRMY had been completed was published on September 17, 2026.

Kiii will be entering a space shared by people SHEEF has made music with over the years. That is the kind of night taking shape.

On “Wire Transfer,” a beat traveled from America to Japan, and a verse came back. This time, the artist himself will cross the ocean and stand in the hometown at the receiving end.

The flyer writes the admission price as “2,000縁” instead of “2,000円.” Both characters can be read as en, but where 円 means yen, 縁 means a bond or connection. Kiii said the song moves cultural currency, with no exchange rate. It seems Fujisawa had prepared a unit of its own: connections. 🤫

Release and tour information

Kiii — THE VIEW FROM HERE

• Released: September 18, 2026 (pre-orders opened September 12).
• Production: Kiii; “NO FREE KILOS” co-produced with ShawnIsADHD!, according to the release announcement.
• Featured artists include SHEEF THE 3RD, Stevie Crooks, Chi Sees, Matheus Coringa, Valente (SujoGround), Yumz Awkword, Mélanje and LoTheDemigod (TSE4VR).

THE SIDE QUEST — announced 2026 tour schedule

Date (2026)	City	Country
September 19 (Sat)	São Paulo	Brazil
September 23 (Wed)	São Paulo	Brazil
October 17 (Sat)	Los Angeles	USA
October 30 (Fri)	Fujisawa	Japan
November 6 (Fri)	Shibuya, Tokyo	Japan
November 14 (Sat)	Kyoto	Japan
December 5 (Sat)	London	UK

Dates are from the supplied tour poster. The schedule records the announced dates, including those before this English edition’s publication. For tickets, venue details and updates, consult the organizers’ announcements and Kiii’s tour announcement.

Japan opening night: 出吉舞ってる WITH SIDE QUEST TOUR

• Date and time: Friday, October 30, 2026, 10 p.m.–5 a.m. the following morning (Japan time).
• Venue: Enoshima OPPA-LA, Enoshima View Tower 4F, 1-12-17 Katase Kaigan, Fujisawa, Kanagawa.
• Admission: ¥2,000 (written as “2,000縁” on the flyer).
• Special live performances: Kiii (Sacramento, CA), SHEEF THE 3RD.
• Live: ザ・イルエストブラザー (D.husky × MSP), 句潤, ENEMY.
• DJs: BAKU (KAIKOO), BUNTA, Rhyme&B, SAW, yuidesudomo.
• Beat live: sarutobiii, MeS The Funk.

Links

• Kiii: Instagram (@theonekiii)
• SHEEF THE 3RD: Instagram (@sheefthebis)
• Listen to “Wire Transfer / 電信送金”: YouTube
• “Wire Transfer / 電信送金” lyrics: Genius

Interview and editorial arrangement: John Aira. Japanese translation of the original English responses: HIPHOPCs Editorial Team. This English edition translates that published Japanese text.