ICYKOF is Not Waiting On You to Catch Up: The Culture Crypt Issue V
Taking the lonely road from viral streetwear vlogs to introspective music projects, ICYKOF's journey into underground culture is powered by a refusal to play it safe, writes The Culture Crypt's Nicole Ndlovu.
The Culture Crypt Issue V: ICYKOF. Photo by Cassia Agyeman.
Dialling in from a taxi, Kofi McCalla, also known as ICYKOF, is having a nightmare of a morning. With a flat tyre and a trip across London ahead of him, the turbulence of bustling nightlife seems to find itself present in Kofi's daytime too. While awaiting a call back during his quick transfer, I resume playing the 28-year-old's debut album: ZERO SUGAR.
Where some moments in the album leave you trance-like, and others cut through and compel you to move, ZERO SUGAR succeeds in making you feel something. Emulating the atmospheric groove of a nightclub through his Detroit techno and Afro-house-inspired beats, this album avoids any tricks that might pull you out of the experience. You are fully in it—that is, until a callback interrupts your listening party.
This clear nod to the niche also emerges when we talk about his latest vinyl finds: "I've just been in this deep rabbit hole discovering artists from the '90s and '00s, really educating myself on gems that I've not [seen being] played on any algorithm these days." In one of his most recent vlogs titled, 'my crazy life lately,' he can be seen crate-digging across Europe, sharing that he had been gearing up to DJ vinyls for the first time. "If I find something that I'll never find online, I'm hooked."
The need to dig deeper has been present across different stages of Kofi's life, manifesting earlier on through his curiosity around fashion and the streetwear world that once felt so distant to his 18-year-old self.
Formerly known as The Unknown Vlogs, Kofi's YouTube channel currently sits at 909,000 subscribers and was once a holy grail for those in the streetwear community. With content ranging from camping outside Selfridges for a wristband to possibly meeting A$AP Rocky back in 2016, to offering same-day sneak peeks of early Supreme and Palace drops, the channel grew to capture the simultaneous excitement and chaos of the early hypebeast movement.
He recalls: "I'd go to these flagship shops in London, anything I had access to, and try to film it—even if it's just going inside the shop so that I could showcase it to my friends. From that, it kind of pivoted into a cult following."
What propelled the channel was the street-style interview series, "How Much Is Your Outfit?" It was the perfect mixture of interesting people in interesting places, paired with the shock factor of jaw-dropping outfit prices. "[I] was curious about what people were wearing and also super young, so I'd just ask, 'Why are you wearing a £10,000 outfit right now?'
It allowed me to ask older generations and a mix of people from South, East, West, North London what they were into." This virtual exposé of the fashion world allowed Kofi to bring his audience backstage. "I just had that outsider perspective and [my audience] resonated with that," Kofi continued.
A few celebrity cameos were featured, particularly the likes of actor-model Luka Sabbat and Jaden Smith. However, Kofi would later go on to film his most-watched video, gathering Drake and his OVO crew to ask how much their outfits cost in 2016. He also later caught Kendrick, yes, Lamar, before his legendary Glastonbury 2022 performance. The Unknown Vlogs crossed territory lines way ahead of its time.
Photographer: Cassia Agyeman / Creative Director + Stylist: Khurram Salim Rana / Producer: Niall Smith / Writer: Nicole Ndlovu / Editor-in-Chief: Janan Jama / Gaffer: Jack Bielby / Lighting Technician: Wilson Tam Sau-PokKofi's channel seemed to take off in a blur—spanning the streetwear and skateboarding communities of 2016, the 2020 lockdowns and all the way to the present day. With time, his priorities changed. Given how interlocked the fashion and music worlds were, Kofi's interest in the latter naturally grew. "Everyone keeps treating fashion like it's this 'thing', but there's no fashion without context. Music is that context," Kofi explains in order to help define his own connection between the two.
"I tried exploring the emotions around nightlife and I really played with textures and fabrics because when you're at a rave, you kind of have to envision your eyes are closed and you're just moving and feeling things." Inside the rave, he describes, is a "soft, comforting, safe space and I guess I tried tackling that with a brand to begin with."
A visit to Japan in 2018 changed his perspective on nightlife altogether. "Where I feel the most safe and content is in Japan. I discovered techno there. Compared to that hip hop streetwear era I came from, you stand behind a desk, hoodie on, just aura farming [in the club].
"I left that and entered this space where that's just left at the front door... I was at a point in my life where I wanted to learn more about myself because I dedicated more than five years to filming people, but not really growing up and discovering my likes and interests—more what the algorithms and what other people [fed me].
"Music was that pivoting point where I was trying to express myself in an authentic way and discover my true self and I just stuck with it."
VIDEO DIRECTOR: Philip PattonIn the years following this trip, Kofi visited several clubs around the world, from clubs in Spain, Germany, and America to his personal favourite place, Kyiv, a few years back. These journeys enabled him to learn more about people, those from different backgrounds to his own, and to properly feel and connect with others through their shared passion: music.
Kofi's Indian-Jamaican background meant that a range of music would be heard in his house. When the sun was out, it was a battle between his dad's Jamaican records and deep cuts from various American hip-hop legends. At the mention of hip-hop, Kofi shares that there was a time of his life where he'd had been in the Calabasas sun kicking it with Jaden Smith's MSFTS crew.
"I made like three albums that are never coming out. They're within a folder, within a folder, within another folder in my computer. [But] it just wasn't me—I was doing YouTube and I didn't need or have to [drop the music]." He continues: "I've always been curious about making music, so when I took this chance in 2024, it was something I'd actually wanted to do for a long time."
ZERO SUGAR, released at the beginning of April 2025, is the rebrand of ICYKOF. He created his own atmospheric grooves to reflect his current place in the world, borrowing inspiration from Tokyo's feverish energy or the business of Moroccan streets.
Set Design + Style Assistant: Allainah Berry / BTS: Lovell Small / PR: Listen Up / Creative Studio: Modem Studios / Retoucher + Graphics: Hannah Obikudu / Production Assistant: Ira Alecia Gardner / Style Assistant: Kirsty Costa"I like the sense of doing it yourself, hands getting dirty, chaos, always looking left and right, being hit by loads of strong smells: just a sensory overload. Anywhere there's a sensory overload, I feel inspired."
Kofi revealed that "She Knows" changed the most out of all songs on the record. "Detroit techno was still new to my ears [at the time], and melodic techno was something I was very well versed in, and Afro house. There was so much tension between hard groove, trying to be Detroit, but then [being] very melodic and soft."
There's an authenticity to ZERO SUGAR—its tracks are refreshingly uncomplicated on the ears, offering a clarity that lets listeners see straight through them. The project came together over the course of a year, with Kofi connecting to various producers linked to him back in 2023 through his current agent.
However, as his interest in music grew, his fashion content soon had to be paused. "I had to sacrifice the fashion YouTube and that whole content creator art. I had to really sit down in the studio, learn and try to develop myself as a character, as a persona, to develop my skills. I was starting from scratch. It took a year to get to where we are."
The hardest part of transitioning between content creation and being a musician has been learning to slow down. "There's [always] the urge to do something. Being a content creator, you have to create content every day, and when you're not, it feels like you've done nothing.
“Even to this day, “I shouldn’t be trying to make content, I should be thinking about how [my next] track is gonna sound, what the image gonna look like, what I’m gonna do next. It’s been hard to pivot priorities.”
"Even to this day, "I shouldn't be trying to make content, I should be thinking about how [my next] track is gonna sound, what the image gonna look like, what I'm gonna do next. It's been hard to pivot priorities."
Well, no better source of inspiration than Aphex Twin—a master of electronic music, iconography, and shaping collaborators to fit into his singular world. His conciseness and distinctiveness carry a rebellious edge that Kofi, in turn, sees himself following. "I just like his approach to having such a strong image and world building, but also how he is being punk with it. Everyone wants to roll over what's popular, stay safe. We need more punk."
As he adapts to this new version of himself, all advice he'd once been given prior from fashion heroes seems to have faded. "[I've] reached that point in my life where I need new ones, I've outgrown my previous ones. I'm blossoming into a new flower and for that new flower to grow, I need new directions."
ZERO SUGAR marks a new chapter in his life, Kofi shares, "I've managed to pivot into [a] super, super healthy and super clean, alcohol-free fitness path. I guess ZERO SUGAR is all about detoxing from bad habits in life.
"Almost like when you have that moment of retrospect, and you let yourself reflect over the last 10 years, [I realised] I needed to make a change. This album is self-reflection, it's the beginning of a new chapter."
Switching out alcohol for carrots and hummus in his rider, Kofi has felt joy in seeing his friends participate in this exploration with him.
"My last set in Tate Modern, I had all [of these vegetables] displayed, and I brought my friends backstage into my green room. They were so happy to see this as well and were just enjoying this. This is what it's about, man."
Listening to him talk, you can feel his sincerity in combating the indie sleaze aesthetic taking over the 2020s in favour of a sober partying lifestyle. With the pressure among his peers wearing off and his alcohol-free journey being welcomed with open arms, Kofi's venture and output within the nightlife and clubbing scene feel intentional.
Where at times curiosity killed the cat, curiosity and being in the right places at the right times is precisely what opened the doors for Kofi McCalla—even if they were initially Supreme's London doors. If his journey is to be understood and observed, it'd be to recognise that ICYKOF is always one step ahead of you.
"I'm like a caterpillar trying to become a butterfly now. I definitely lost 30-40% of my following, but I also do have a strong following that stayed. I'm just grateful that people have managed to stay around for so long."
Stream ZERO SUGAR below: