Walter Edwin is better known as the Popper, but it might as well be “KC,” he said. His love for Kansas City has inspired both his music career and award-winning apparel business.
As a performer, he’s rapped about his hometown on his singles “I’m KC” and “For the City,” and as a collaborator on Tech N9ne’s “Kansas City.” As an entrepreneur, he started his own apparel brand — IMKC — to display his hometown pride, and now has two retail locations at 1809 Vine Street and in the Ward Parkway Center.
“That’s all I care about is Kansas City,” he said. “You can just call me Kansas City.”
Since entering the music business in 1996, Edwin — who toured with Tech N9ne over the summer — has recorded more than 20 albums and had 35 releases under his label, Landmark Records. In 2015, he released his “I’m KC ” single and started the IMKC brand.
“(I’ve been) pushing a hard line for Kansas City so long on the music with everybody from Kansas City,” he said. “Basically all I know is Kansas City. So that’s why IMKC.”
Edwin — who earned his “Popper “name in 1998 for always saying “What’s poppin’?” — has had a lot to celebrate recently. At this year’s KC People’s Choice Awards, IMKC was named the best apparel line and Edwin was named a finalist for male entrepreneur of the year.
“It’s kind of like the bragging rights that the people who know me and support me care about,” he noted. “It was a lot of fun. It’s a lot of Black excellence all coming together with the dream that [KPCA founder] Terrell Ray had. … It means something to me to be the winning clothing line.”
IMKC celebrated its one-year anniversary at the Ward Parkway location the weekend of Oct. 21.
“Keep buying small,” Edwin encouraged. “Buy Black, Buy local, and push Kansas City forward until the whole world knows and until the aliens on the other planets know, also.”
The Ward Parkway spot and 18th and Vine location — which has been open since 2018 — plus an online shop, sell everything from T-shirts, hoodies, socks, hats, phone cases, and shot glasses, many with the trademark IMKC logo with Edwin’s silhouette and the dripping Prospect Avenue street sign.
“I’m not gonna lie, everything that touches my hands, it sells,” he said. “Everything that I touch, it disappears.”
Both in his business and his music, Edwin has big plans for the future. He’s working on more designs for IMKC and collaborations with other local businesses.
“I’ve got some new items that I’m keeping under my hat and some real big stuff that’s about to drop,” he continued. “I just keep pushing forward at a fast pace. I call that #active.”
Edwin also is hoping to release a new album or two soon. He debuted a new song “They Know Meh” with Tech N9ne on his recent tour and he collaborated with Gametight Mike on a new song and video appropriately called “KC is my Home.”
“So we would like everyone to look that up,” he added. “You’ll see why I’m all Kansas City.”
This story is possible thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.
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