Kingdom

Since the early 2010s, Kingdom’s dynamic productions—fusing contemporary R&B with U.K. bass elements—have shaped underground dance scenes and left-field R&B. Beyond issuing his own material on Night Slugs and Fool’s Gold, the Los Angeles-based artist co-operates the respected Fade to Mind imprint and helped launch alternative R&B vocalist Kelela, who contributed vocals to the 2013 Vertical XL EP track “Bank Head.” Subsequent club releases and mixtapes preceded his more song-oriented first album, Tears in the Club, which surfaced in 2017 and featured appearances by Syd and SZA. Later joint efforts such as Neurofire (2020) and Transmission (2021) delved further into electro, house, and post-new jack swing R&B textures.

Born Ezra Rubin in Massachusetts, Kingdom relocated to New York City at 18 to pursue art studies at the Parsons School of Design. Although he had already been producing music for some time, he first gained attention in the late 2000s through New York club residencies at Vortex, begun in 2008, and ddarkk, where contemporary R&B and U.K. garage sat alongside electro and house selections. His commercial production debut arrived in summer 2010 with “Mind Reader,” released on A-Trak and Nick Catchdubs’ Fool’s Gold label. The euphoric cut featuring vocalist Shyvonne resonated strongly within the electro community, while a simultaneous Fact Magazine DJ mix also drew notice. He followed it with the five-track EP That Mystic on Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990’s Night Slugs imprint.

In 2011 he issued the four-track Night Slugs EP Dreama, comprising assertive club cuts, and the more pop-leaning Fool’s Gold single “Take Me.” That same year Rubin settled in Los Angeles and co-founded the Fade to Mind label and collective with Nguzunguzu, Prince William, and Total Freedom. Positioned as an American counterpart to Night Slugs, the venture sought to issue experimental yet approachable dance music that bridged mainstream and underground worlds. Kingdom’s late-2012 VIP Edition EP contained his remix of Ciara’s “Goodies,” and his profile rose further in 2013. Vertical XL included “Bank Head,” which spotlighted vocalist Kelela and helped establish her career. An extended version of the song, plus two additional Kingdom productions, appeared on Kelela’s acclaimed debut mixtape Cut 4 Me, issued by Fade to Mind in October 2013. Over the ensuing years he worked as producer or remixer for artists including Chvrches, Glass Animals, and Dawn Richard, yet released no new solo material until “Shox” emerged in 2016. Later that year “Nothin,” featuring the Internet’s Syd, arrived. His long-awaited debut album Tears in the Club followed in 2017, further refining his experimental club aesthetic and again showcasing Syd alongside SZA and Najee Daniels. The 2018 mixtape VIP Edition, Vol. 2 and the two-volume EXTERRA EP of 2019 came next.

Kingdom opened the new decade with the double A-side single “CoeurWorld,” a collaboration with Petite Noir, then delivered the album Neurofire in September 2020. The set spotlighted “High Enough” with Tiara Thomas and included contributions from LUVK, Kayla Blackmon, and Ghost. In November he and singer-songwriter-producer Rush Davis—whom he had met in Los Angeles at the queer club night Mustache Mondays—released Transmission on TOKiMONSTA’s Young Art label. The project balanced tender ballads with intimate club tracks. Kingdom and Davis maintained their partnership, issuing the XMSN DS EP almost exactly one year later.