KSAP: Medford High School student by day, rapper by night
Kobe Saperstein is an 18-year-old Medford High School senior, but he is also KSAP, a rapper who is nominated for a Boston Music Award for his music video “100 Miles.”
By Daisy Levine
One of the Boston Music Awards nominees can’t book any shows Sunday through Thursday — those are school nights. He promised his mom he’d make As and Bs, with a small exception for algebra.
Kobe Saperstein is an 18-year-old Medford High School senior. He’s also KSAP, a rapper who is nominated for a Boston Music Award for his music video “100 Miles.”
“It’s gotten really serious,” he said. “Ever since I’ve gone all in on it, I’ve revolved my whole life around it. Everything I do every single day is music.”
Founded in 1987, the Boston Music Awards honors artists, industry leaders and others involved in the local music scene. The awards ceremony takes place Dec. 17 at Big Night Live, 110 Causeway St., Boston.
Medford has several other nominees at this year’s Boston Music Awards. Check them out here.
Becoming KSAP
Saperstein was once a typical high school kid. He played on the basketball team and went to parties. He gave all that up to be KSAP.
Now, he wakes up and heads straight to school, no matter feeling tired from shooting content the night before. He then heads to the gym — not just to stay in shape, but to keep his mind clean and focused. His Saturday mornings are reserved for writing content and scripts for social media, and those take about four hours. Every two weeks, he releases a new song.
The BMA-nominated “100 Miles” video doesn’t look like it would star a kid who still waits on a report card. From models, money and sports cars to profanity and beer — which KSAP can’t legally drink — it’s a slick, professional piece of work.
Daron “D4” English, creative director at Boston’s AVARIA Studios, was shooting a music video in a restaurant when Sheri approached him.
“She came downstairs and was like, ‘You gotta listen to my son,’” he said. “She starts playing the music on the phone. And, mind you, this kid’s only 14. I’m like, ‘Oh! This kid’s only 14?’”
English reached out and shot the video for the song “Friends” while Saperstein was just making his way into high school (English also went to Medford High). He became his manager.
“I think a lot of students have other hobbies outside of school. Some are still trying to figure out what it is that they love,” English said. “Not that other kids aren’t special, but to know what you want, and nothing else matters in this world besides getting what you want [makes him special].”
English directed the BMA-nominated “100 Miles,” off of Saperstein’s debut record, “Didn’t Ask to Feel This Much.” They rented a car and went down to Rhode Island, back to Boston and close to New Hampshire. Over two days, they spent about 36 hours shooting the six minutes that would make it to YouTube. The video has hit 130,000 views.
Saperstein is so lucky, he says, to be the type of person people look at and say, “Wow, he just does what he wants.”
His mom, he said, is his biggest inspiration. Saperstein doesn’t have a dad in his life, and Sheri taught him everything he knows about determination, entrepreneurial spirit and visualizing your future.
But she still wants to keep him in check.
She made him give candy out to trick-or-treaters on Halloween. When he answered the door, though, the kids’ jaws hit the floor.
“They’re like, ‘Oh, my God, KSAP lives here!’” Sheri said. “It was so funny, just another notch, you know. This is my celebrity.”
She tries to be a sounding board for anything he needs. She plays devil’s advocate, teaching him how to process and receive criticism in a healthy way.
He can still pursue that music career as long as he gets those good grades.
“[I was] brought up in a household where my dad was a doctor, my mom was a teacher,” she said. “[My brother and I] wanted to skew from that path, and we weren’t allowed to do so…As a parent, I want Kobe to be able to do what he wants to do and not have to circumvent any of his dreams and put them on hold.”
If, in the end, he has to go with a Plan B, she says, she knows he’ll still thrive.
“He is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever come to know as a student,” said Heather McLaughlin, Saperstein’s favorite teacher at Medford High. “The fact that he is up ‘till, like, one in the morning doing music stuff and then he comes into school and he’s locked in…He’s motivated. He’s motivating and inspiring to those around him.”
McLaughlin said he doesn’t let the stardom get to him. He collaborates with other students, remains a team player and is a joy to be around his classmates.
“When I have a conversation with him, he’s wise beyond his years,” she said. “He’s really just grateful and humble about every experience he has in life and he always takes everything as a learning lesson.”
Even so, Saperstein said he walks down the halls and sees a difference. It may just be school, but it’s his first recognition of fame.
“I’m happy people around me get to experience it as well, because I live a double life,” he said. “You can do this, too. You can do whatever you want.”
It is a double life, he said, but “I’m KSAP every single day, every second of the day.”
“It takes dedication. It takes those nights missing out on a party,” he said. “I’m always going to get that experience, once I get it. It’s not a problem for me.”
He made sacrifices, he said, when he gave up some of those normal things about being a kid. Does he regret it? Absolutely not.
“I’m just very blessed to be able to be in a position to show people that you can do anything you put your mind to,” Saperstein said. “A kid from Medford isn’t supposed to be doing things like this.”
Daisy Levine is a journalism student at Boston University. This story is part of a partnership between Gotta Know Medford and the Boston University Department of Journalism.
