KYREN + KYNG: PREPARING A CHILD FOR A KINGDOM

BY BRYSON “BOOM” PAUL

Proverbs 22:6 states: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

North Carolina Kyren Gibson and his son, Kyng, went viral in 2020 with several videos of eight-year-old conversations about financial literacy. Their popularity would inspire the concept to Royce Da 5’9” s Grammy-nominated album, The Allegory (Heaven Studios, Inc). And with the popularity, the father-son duo created easy-to-learn generational finance education to share with others and their families with the hopes of creating generational wealth.

Sharing the wealth merely at the beginning, Kyren talks about fatherhood, fame, building an empire, and while a viral star, allowing Kyng to still be a kid.

Learn all about Kyren, Kyng, and generational wealth below.

How old were you when you learned about “Generational Wealth,” and who taught you the meaning of it?

Self-enhancing. So, self-taught; honestly, I went through a situation where I was in the streets, selling drugs, and I didn’t have anything to show for it. I was sitting there, thinking, you know, me not having nothing to show for it is the same situation as the black economic issues. I’m sitting there thinking, “why am I in the situation I’m in?” All I want to do is buy chains, buy shoes, and I have nothing to show for it. I’m like, “Why am I looking up to Malcolm X, and I’m not living with a legacy?” I read Malcolm X’s autobiography, and it changed my life. I just sat there and figured, well, I’m teaching everybody as I go along. I’m starting off with my son. I start reading, I start learning how to empower myself and everyone around me, which got me into the spirit I’m in today.

When most think of money and wealth education, we revert to high school economics class as our prime resource. What do you remember about school economics, and what would you include in an updated course study pertaining to education, especially in lower-class minority educational areas?

Honestly, and it was crazy, when I was in high school, they took out home economics and all that stuff out, so all we had was just general math. That’s all we had when I was in school. Honestly, I feel like we should implicate home economics, all of that, just break it down on how to write bank statements, withdrawals, deposit slips, the whole nine. Learn how to pay bills, all of that. Some schools... There were some schools where I was from where they were taught everything. Private schools. And its capitalism, you know, we help the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. If we were to implement that in all schools, we wouldn’t have this issue, but it’s intentional. The situation we are in is all intentional. They don’t want us to know this. They don’t want us to learn this. It’s why it takes people like myself and people on an even bigger pedestal to make sure this is learned, if the Government, and if everyone wants us all on the same page, which I feel, they don’t.

Did the popularity of you and your son’s conversations ignite interest in you to seek out higher educational enhancement?

Yes, they did. Like I said, I’m self-taught with everything. Every chance I get, I enroll in the free Harvard courses whenever they give them out. I take free courses. Whenever I see anybody giving out free courses like Dr. Boyce Watkins, who is a good friend of mine. I’ve taken his classes. Any chance I get, I will do it, but you know, a lot of people don’t know about this. A lot of people don’t want to know. That’s the problem. The institutional void that we have. You have a side here and a side over here, and we have to bridge the gap. The problem we all know that has been going on for years.

You and your son were a part of a project that was Grammy-nominated. Tell me how surreal it was to you to be a part of something so monumental?

It’s nothing you can say brother. It’s crazy that one video… It’s crazy… I’ll just keep it 100. It’s crazy that I can go from selling drugs just a year ago -- a year and a month ago -- selling drugs and have my door kicked in to watch them (Police) go after someone I was close to. Making me say, “Okay, I’m going cold turkey.” To now, sitting here, going hard with my son to make sure he’s not the man I was at a young age because I was lost. You know, we kick our kids out at 18, and they don’t know how to survive. These are our kid’s sitting here, looking up to us. You know we still have so much more to do; we’re not finished yet. Just you saying that you saw my smile, it’s crazy. So, I’m thankful.

Have other recording artists reached out to you and your son to be a part of an album?

Nah. Nah. Nah. Not yet. I mean, if it happens, it happens. Eventually, we’ll get there because we’re not done yet. We’ll be there.

Have you begun talking to your son about mental health with generational wealth?

Yes. That’s what it’s all about. Like the videos, the years before all this, the famous one that got us boomin’ was “Mommy Gone,” but after that, we had many videos go viral with me just speaking on, making him kind of 300 when he was only four years old. To me, building him up, all this is about leadership. Making him love himself, you know that’s the problem, we don’t love ourselves, or we let the words of other people curse us. Like, if I sit here and I don’t know you, and I say, “You’re stupid.” If you sit here and start thinking about that, like, “I am stupid, he might be right.” Then you agreed with my poison that I put on you. I’m teaching him not to let other people’s words affect him and to stand up for who you are. If you know you’re not going 100 percent, somebody tells you about yourself in a positive critique, then step it up. When you have your father, you know there is someone telling you to better yourself for good reasons. Then someone sitting there hating on you. I teach him that to love himself, and he knows that. I’m not going to raise no child or tell them to be “egotistical,” “stuck up,” and all this stuff, and you have nothing to show for this mindset. It’s big. He knows how to differentiate all that.

What are some occupations your son has shared with you about his future?

His favorite word, he wants to be a tycoon. He wants to do everything, and I love it. He wants his own sports drink that is healthy for kids. He wants to have his own natural deodorant line, so we’re working on that right now.

What are some financial disciplines you’d advise in today’s economy?

In today’s economy, like I said, it all starts with the kids. That’s who is going to be the

adults. Just like from the Black Panthers when they used to give out free children food programs, they started that, not the Government. The Government ended the Black Panther Party, then they took that and ran off with that. We always look at our kids as just kids and our babies. I look at my son; differently, you know. Many people don’t understand this, but kids actually end up taking care of their parents longer than their parents end up taking care of them. If they are in the right financial situation. Say, a kid graduates at 18, graduates’ college to get a job at 25, and they sit here bringing in $70,000 a year or up to $100,000. These parents get older year by year. He ends up taking care of them. We don’t look at it like that -- see, the Black community is so messed up -- to the point where all we know is poverty and economic struggle that Grandma is taking care of us forever. If you look on the other side, it’s not like that. It’s not all Black families because I know a lot of wealthy Black people. I’m trying to flip the narrative. I raise my child to understand how to handle his business, know how to take care of his woman when he gets older, how to take care of his kids, keep it going, and then take care of me, as well (Laughs). I’m a keep it 100. He’s going to have to take care of me. I raise my son to be able to be that leader and everyone around me. My brothers, be this leader, my sisters, be the type of woman that doesn’t depend on no man. We are all strong like that, then boom, we can own. Out of 615 Billionaires in America, only six of them are Black.

In your opinion, the Black Culture has been influential in everything within pop culture, except money. Why has money never been a priority to our culture, like material things that take money to acquire?

We’ve never seen somebody give us that example; I’ve seen people not have a Dad and be a great Dad. I’ve seen people have kids and not know what to do because they blame not having their Dad. It’s how you look at it. We love to brag about Jay-Z, but are we doing anything Jay-Z-like when it comes to business? We love to brag about Master P. Other than the chains, are we doing anything Master P-like? No. Because that’s looked upon as hard. Think about it, Regan’s administration placed drugs in the Black community. Why did they do that? They did that, so if I sell you the drug, I get locked up if I get caught. The drugs are also killing my people that I’m selling it to, but also, you are looking from afar like, “Damn, he’s making a lot of money instead of having to go to school.” Since they don’t allow us to get jobs anyway, unless we play basketball, think about it. All six of them are Billionaires; I name them; they are all in the entertainment industry. Oprah. Tyler Perry. Kanye. Jay-Z. Michael Jordan. That’s all we know to tap dance to get that money. Let’s start implementing these kids at a young age. Stop telling them they sound “White” when they talk properly. Stop doing all that b.s. and get it to them right now to domesticate them now. We can show these kids that you can make money like this early instead of making it that way. That’s the “systemic racism” of why we see the materialistic reasons of having some money. We got to break that cycle ourselves, but we are so deep in that hole. Let’s change that now.

[BOOM]: Has Hollywood approached you yet?

No, they have not. That’s what I was talking to my manager about the other day. I was like, “Man, I’m trying to get up in there.” At least get my son up there or get some type of reality show to show everyone how we kick it. Like, we have fun. This is no prison; he plays the game all day. I just make him study with me for an hour every day, that is it. A lot of people think he is in prison. I’m like, “Nah, man, he’s a regular kid. He just knows he got to give me one hour, and we’re good.

Stay up to date on everything Kyren & Kyng Gibson via Instagram @kyng_ kyren.