VILLAIN ORIGIN STORIES
Villain Origin Stories is a long-form interview series hosted by artist and creator TK, featuring artists, thinkers, and cultural figures confronting the catalyzing experiences that shaped them. Each conversation traces the wounds, choices, contradictions, relationships, and survival mechanisms behind the person the world sees today. The series exists within DARKSIDE, TK’s larger musical and narrative universe. Each guest is being considered for entry into DARKSIDE, and organization with a mission to transform humanity. Prospects are challenged to face the parts of themselves they conceal, take accountability for the role they have played in their own story, and determine whether they are willing to transform their darkness into something purposeful. These are not traditional interviews built around polished biographies or surface-level success. They are interrogations of identity, morality, pain, ambition, healing, and the moments that permanently alter a life. Every villain has an origin story.
Episodes
She finally escaped homelessness. Then her house exploded.
Keyawna Nikole joins TK in the DARKSIDE interrogation room for Villain Origin Stories.
From growing up mixed-race in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, to chasing music in Los Angeles with $1,203, Keyawna opens up about the experiences behind her voice: gymnastics, family conflict, juvenile probation, face tattoos, and finding belonging in ...
Before the smile, there was survival.
Armani White joins TK in the DARKSIDE interrogation room for Villain Origin Stories.
Known for hits song like BILLIE EILISH and his infectious energy, Armani opens up about the experiences behind the music: growing up in West Philadelphia, the fire that affected his childhood, losing his father, and the years spent fighting to make his voice heard.
He reflects on earning ...
A paid trip. A suitcase pickup. A sentence of 11 years and eight months.
Leandra Royer joins TK in the DARKSIDE interrogation room for Villain Origin Stories.
Before Baddies Gone Wild, Leandra was pursuing acting, modeling, and a future in entertainment. Then a trip to England placed her inside a cocaine-smuggling operation involving more than 300 kilograms of drugs. She has publicly said she...
VILLAIN ORIGIN STORIES: Musical Upbringing, MIT, Big Tech, & Funding the Future of Music w/ C.Y. Lee
Villain Origin Stories is a long-form interview series about artists, thinkers, and cultural figures confronting the catalyzing experiences that shaped them.
C.Y. Lee opens up about growing up in a deeply musical family, learning piano and cello, and ultimately choosing technology over becoming a professional musician. From studying at MIT and discovering late-1980s house and hip-hop through college...
Villain Origin Stories is a long-form interview series about artists, thinkers, and cultural figures confronting the catalyzing experiences that shaped them.
Money Jezus opens up about leaving high school to pursue music, receiving his first keyboard from his mother, and losing her suddenly to a brain aneurysm at 21. He reflects on the instability, displacement, sacrifice, and isolation that followe...
Villain Origin Stories is a long-form interview series about artists, thinkers, and cultural figures confronting the catalyzing experiences that shaped them.
In this episode of Villain Origin Stories, TK sits down with multidisciplinary artist Bueli Njheri, also known as Buelistic, for an unfiltered conversation about the experiences that shaped the woman and artist she became.
Bueli opens up...
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