Kevin "Khao" Cates

Kevin "Khao" Cates is an American record producer and entrepreneur from Montgomery, Alabama, United States. Cates rose to prominence for his early involvement with American hip-hop recording artist T.I.’s record label Grand Hustle Records. Cates has produced for notable artists such as Jay-Z, R. Kelly, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris and Young Jeezy.

Music career Cates began his music career in his native city of Montgomery, Alabama, as a member of the group Crumbsnatchaz in the early 2000s. For his work on King, Cates was nominated for a Grammy. Cates personally produced over 600 songs for the Bridge Da Gap program that taught math, science and helped improved standardized test scores for students across the United States and the Bahamas. Actress Meagan Good is a spokesperson and teacher for the Bridge Da Gap program. Using the success of Bridge Da Gap as the foundation, Cates would develop his own education curriculum entitled KOOLriculum.

In 2012, Cates partnered with Charles R. Schwab and the Boys and Girls Club for the "Money Matters Music Mogul" contest where teenagers wrote songs about financial literacy over Cates’ production.

In 2018, Cates developed KoolAR, the augmented reality arm of KOOLriculum merging hip-hop music with animated characters.