The busy creative life of Khrystal Coppage

Every once in a while, Khrystal Coppage will hashtag her Instagram posts #AwkwardBlackGirlRap. It’s a clever bit of social-media self-marketing, but it also captures the Wyandotte County native’s personality, both onstage and off. She doesn’t suffer from stage fright or clunky flow. But she can be awkward. She doesn’t always know what to say. 

It’s perhaps the cost of actively pursuing so many different creative endeavors at the relatively young age of 26. In addition to being a wife and mother, Coppage acts, writes, sings, and raps. Those latter two she put on hold from 2014 through 2016, while she was busy with school (she graduated from UMKC in 2016) and raising her son, Kurij. But Coppage was hardly sitting still creatively during that time. She was putting out a bi-monthly magazine, Khorage (named after her son), which was conceived as an outlet to provide more positive imagery for black girls. Each of the two dozen issues highlighted three black community leaders. 

But last year Coppage returned to the mic, releasing two EPs under the stage name Khrystal. 

“I needed to let out a lot of stuff,” Coppage says. “I had a lot of lessons I had learned that I knew other people were going through and needed to hear.” 

Her new music was coaxed along by Duncan Burnett, a rapper, producer, and drummer Coppage met back when she was performing Christian raps under the name Kid Kool. Burnett had been watching the #BlackGirlMagic movement explode in Chicago, where acts like Noname and Jamila Woods were finding a mainstream audience bridging the worlds of poetry and positive hip hop. He wanted to make something similar happen in Kansas City. He thought of Coppage. 

“She’s just got a vibe or a energy,” Burnett says of Coppage. “She’s just got something special, something different, and she owns it.” 

He encouraged Coppage to start making music again. She took his nudge as a sign. 

“It’s weird, but I felt it,” Coppage says. “I really believe the universe brings you what you need in the moment.” 

The pair first convened on New Year’s Day 2017 and knocked out two songs right away, including “Melanin Poppin’,” which would soon become a crowd favorite and the first track for which Khrystal recorded a music video. Those songs and a few more were released in June 2017 on the Quarter Century Living EP. The follow-up, titled The Glow Up, features all-original production from Burnett based on mood-boarding and input from Coppage. She cites recent releases by Solange and Syd as influences on the record. 

This year will see the release of Khrystal’s first full-length record, which will likely be a collaborative affair rooted in the burgeoning collective known as NuBlvckCity, which formed last year with the aim of making positive music that impacts the community. Active members include Khrystal, Duncan, Sauce, Kartez Marcel, and Mae C. They’re all gigging frequently, essentially stringing together whole tours of regional open-mic events. Many of them met through local churches, and they’ve performed at several benefit shows, as well as the opening of Ruby Jean’s Troost location.

Every month, NuBlvckCity members perform at Rap Asylum, a local showcase and open mic held at Westport Coffee House. Rap Asylum reflects the collective’s values and seems to be one of the only places in Kansas City where one can catch a Christian trap artist, followed by a first-time freestyler, followed by some of the city’s most established hip-hop acts. 

Coppage was scheduled to perform at the January show, but missed it due to rehearsals for a theatre production. She’s been acting since she was six years old, and she and her husband, Robert (aka Tre Cop), first met while working on a play in high school. Last year, Khrystal was in the cast of We Shall Not Be Moved: The Student Sit-ins of 1960, at the Coterie Theatre. She and Robert have been giving improv comedy a whirl lately, too. Robert auditioned at Comedy City in October, and by the time December rolled around, Khrystal was taking the stage with him.

Many performers see their home as simply a place to rest and recharge, but Khrystal and Robert see it as a place to be creatively challenged. 

“As soon as she started doing her music again, I was like, ‘You know, I’m gonna have to do my music,’” Robert says. “We inspire each other, push each other.” 

Coppage says one of her goals is to make the Forbes “30 Under 30” list. At the rate she’s going, that does not seem entirely implausible. She has a few years left to make it happen — plenty of time push through any awkwardness and figure out exactly what she wants to say, and which stage she wants to say it from.