Everyone danced and got their drink on at Company Brewing Friday night as hip hop artist Zed Kenzo performed as part of the Midwest Music Exchange alongside Manitoba rockers Silence Kit and Minneapolis R&B singer Lady Lark. This marked Kenzo’s first show in town since her debut EP “Baby Swag” dropped last week, which was kicked off with a release party at No Studios.

She performed in Winnipeg in her first show outside the country on Tuesday.

“That was so fun, I loved it! (Silence Kit) was really welcoming and super inspiring. I loved the hotel I stayed at and that obviously helped. I love traveling and I’m excited to go to other places too.”

Zed Kenzo is Zechariah Ruffin-McGhee. She brands herself as “alien baby rap” and loves making comic videos to her songs on social media. DJ DRiPSweat accompanies her onstage.

“I can’t believe that many people came and knew my songs. I was really nervous at first and I put a lot of pressure on myself for everything I do, and I was like “oh my God, no one’s gonna listen to it.” I’m just like that in my head. The closer it got to releasing it, I was like “okay…here it is.” But then the (release party) happened and all those people were there supporting it and it was dope. It’s doing amazing on Audiomack; it’s got like 23,000 plays and it’s only been out for a week. I’m so excited.”

Kenzo had been one of four artists chosen for the 2018 Backline program, a twelve-week accelerator for Milwaukee musicians to infiltrate the music industry and start their careers off right. She had a slot at Backline’s SXSW showcase in Austin, TX a few weeks ago.

“My biggest takeaway (from Backline) is that every person’s success is solely dependent on the amount of work they do and what they define their success as. You have to work for what you do and nothing comes overnight. I learned that you need a team behind you in order to get things done…you can’t do everything alone. It’s okay to ask for help. Everything’s not gonna work out the first time and you gotta stay true to who you are.”

She gives Company Brewing credit for always bringing out a great time.

“I’ve been here so many times and at first I was getting sick of it but every time I’ve played here I feel I’ve had the best shows. Cactus too….Cactus is so far from where I live and where I’ve built my support system but people will still come out there. But Company is just so lit every time. It just felt magical.”

Zed Kenzo plans to roll more merch out this year, in addition to plenty more shows. Find Baby Swag as well as her singles “Go Psycho,” “Astral Girl,” “Type,” and “Drop It” streaming everywhere.