The Sound of Renfrewshire with Empress

THE SOUND OF RENFREWSHIRE with Empress

Built on the community ethos of hip-hop’s formative years, Paisley’s Empress and her impeccable pen game are making waves in Scotland and beyond.

You’ve spoken about writing poetry when you were growing up. Did that lend itself to writing lyrics in the

future? Definitely, aye. It was just a natural progression from listening to hip-hop to rapping over those same beats when I got the chance. When I was younger, I always gravitated to songs that came from that sort of genre on the radio, even things like House Of Pain. As I got older, that became my music taste. As I got older, freestyling has become like a form of free therapy for me. It’s something that I just do all the time when I’m walking around the house, my neighbours must love me (laughs). It feels good to do it and I pride myself on being able to do it.

Is the concept of community activism, which was a cornerstone of hip-hop’s development as a culture, important to what you do?

Yeah, it’s something that I’ve actually been doing already. Not too long ago, I was up in Aberdeen teaching kids about songwriting. It was funny, you ask the weans what do you know about hip-hop and they’re immediately saying ‘Fortnite! Travis Scott!’ (laughs). Then, I played them Blackalicous’ Alphabet Aerobics and they were suddenly all trying to rap along! That’s ultimately the stuff that makes me feel good and I love to share it with people. Above all, I’m doing it for hip-hop heads and local people who need something to portray their experience. You could be in every major publication, but no one in your street or your area might know who you are and I think that’s really important.

How did you initially find your way into Scotland’s hip-hop

scene? When I was younger, I enrolled in a college course for music and that’s where I met people like Homegrown Fam and Big Tajj. They were in the HND course and I was a few years below them, but that’s where I was first introduced to the Scottish hiphop world. Around that time, they’d just started putting on nights in Hamishes’ Hoose in Paisley and people like Big Div and Loki would come through. So, that’s really where I found my feet. But, I only ended up doing one or two gigs and then I fell away from it. A few years later, I realised that I needed a change and just thought ‘f**k this’, I’m going to start a Soundcloud’. The next thing you know, I was nominated for a SAMA (Scottish Alternative Music Award). It was mad.

I’VE ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT IF YOU WANT TO TELL PEOPLE THE TRUTH, THEN YOU NEED TO MAKE THEM LAUGH

Photo by @saint.bri

Your album, Love Wins is an incredible body of work. In terms of the title, did that seem like an important message to convey at this time in history?

We’d all had a difficult year and I think I’d gone through things in my personal life that made me realise that if you lead with that sort of attitude. I thought it was quite a bold title for a rapper as there’s that whole gangster imagery that goes along with it. My whole outlook was just to batter people with love, kill them with kindness. I’ve always believed that if you want to tell people the truth, then you need to make them laugh and that’s how I approached the album. You run the risk of drowning the audience in your own tears, so I kept it upbeat.

How did it feel to collaborate with Scottish hip-hop royalty such as Steg G and Loki on the record?

It was amazing, I’d been listening to them since I was 16 and I never thought I’d get the chance. Plus, when I was younger, people weren’t really passing me the mic because I was a ‘burd’. It was very clear that it was a guys’ thing then and you just hoped someone was sound enough to give you a chance. That’s gone now and I’m not there for box-ticking reasons either, I’ve definitely made it on merit.

What’s on the agenda for the rest of the year?

I’ve got a few gigs coming up and I’m just excited to get back to it. In terms of new projects, I’ve actually got three different EP’s in the works as I just cannae sit still (laughs). I’ve already got some support in America from legends such as Lord Finesse, so I’d love to build on that going forward too.

Check out Empress’ music (including videos shot in Paisley) via YouTube and all major streaming services.