Kevin Ross Releases ‘All-Purpose Project,’ ‘Drive 2,’ Discusses New Release & Mashup Series

Kevin Ross has officially released his latest project “Drive 2,” a follow-up to Ross’ 2017 “Drive EP” and a project Ross said he had no intentions of making.  

“I was in a whole different zone at the top of the year,” Ross said. “I wanna do some different stuff… which I did. What ended up happening was once I did a string of records, it was like ‘let me create a survey and embedded the music within in.” 

The Washington, D.C. native said he sent the survey to a select crew of people and “in return, people could rate it. They could say ‘like it,’ ‘love it,’ ‘not feeling it,’… contingent on how they responded, gave me the ultimate yes or no.”  

Prior to its official release, Ross released two singles from the project. The first was “Looking for Love,” followed by “Sweet Release.” Ross said he put “Looking for Love” last on the survey, and that scored the highest. 

“’Looking for Love’ felt like me… and for people that know me, they would know this is the next evolved step of Kevin,” Ross said. “I was like I wanted to put the different, newer stuff first… Sometimes things that sound like you or feels like something you would do is not a bad thing. It’s actually a part of creating your signature.” 

Ross said coupling “Sweet Release” and “Looking for Love” felt like a continuation of the prior EP “in the sense of unfinished business,” but with a different feeling. “Dusk,” as Ross called it. 

The continuation of “Drive” in “Drive 2” feels like a complete journey, however, that’s not the only thing Ross is celebrating. 

Download “Drive 2” here.

Not only is Ross touring, but he’s also starting season two of his Mashup Series. Ross has been doing mashups of various songs, ‘90s R&B, cartoons, tv theme songs, games and more. Ross is taking that success, reaching almost 100,000,000 people off mashups alone.

“It started off as more of an experiment, then exercise, then nostalgia, then a brand.” Making art shaped history.“ ,” Ross said.

“The intention behind it, truly, was just to exercise my musical muscle,” Ross said. “With writing and creating, it was becoming very monotonous after a while. We can hear the same beats, talking ’bout the same stuff… I need an outlet.”

Ross plans on doing something a little different for season two of his mashup series, which now stands for “making art shaped history.”  He’ll be taking the mashups to the stage, and interviewing some of the artists he is paying homage to.

When it comes to his mashups, Ross said his favorite ones would have to be the cartoon mashups, and the ’90s (he couldn’t pick just one ’90s video).

“I think the cartoon mashup was fun and very nostalgic,” Ross said. “It pushed me in a way where I’m considered an R&B soul singer and I’m singing these; I don’t know what kind of songs these cartoons are, but I related to it.”

When it comes to the 90s mashups, Ross said his following increased by 50,000-60,000.

“That was freakishly bizarre for me to see something snowball like that,” Ross said. “I love to explore different things where you can’t tell me what I can’t do…I’m going to do the things that relate to me.”

Ross was once singed to Mowtown Records and is now on the independent journey. He shared some lessons he learned through the process.

“For anyone that’s around me, they have to be involved,” Ross said. “They got to have purpose in my life. They got to sow the right seeds in my life as well. I don’t need no yes man, yes woman around me, but what I do need are people who are alert and productive to see things that I may not be able to see.”

“Drive 2” is available on all platforms and tour dates can be found here.