‘WHAT I’M TRYING TO DO IS SHINE A SPOTLIGHT ON BRILLIANCE AND ADD WHAT I CAN’ British music production royalty Fraser T Smith has enjoyed commercial success and critical acclaim in abundance (as well as picking up a fair few awards on both sides of the Atlantic), but he is as hungry as ever to make timeless music with incredible talent…
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raser T Smith is holed up in a rustic, barn conversion-like home studio when we speak. It’s the best place to be on a day where the sun barely peeks out from the clouds. Upholstered beams hold up the ceilings and MIDI keyboards line the desk behind him. This pocket of English countryside found in Buckinghamshire – only an hour’s train from London, but far enough away to feel like it’s plucked from an Enid Blyton novel – is where Smith has recorded some of the biggest records to ever come out of the UK. Before we ask a question related to his life as a producer, someone who’s helped craft the sound of Adele, Stormzy, Dave and Drake, Smith opens up about some of his first loves. There’s football talk, obviously. Smith also reminisces about taking work experience jobs in Manchester as a 17 year old, solely to visit the landmarks made famous in Smiths records, hiring a car to tour Salford Lads Club, Strangeways Prison and random ‘Cemetry Gates’. Liam Gallagher and bucket hats are mentioned, inevitably. Smith, however, is not largely known for his contribution to Manchester’s music history. Instead, he has had more than a hand in shaping what is arguably the most seminal, vital sound to come out of the UK in decades: grime. Two of the genre’s leading figures, Dave and Stormzy, owe a large chunk of their success to Smith and his guidance. Smith executive produced both of their debut albums, and co-wrote Stormzy’s Audacity and Dave’s Funky Friday. Since then, Smith has won three Ivor Novellos in four years for his various works
with Dave. “If it wasn’t for Fraser,” said Stormzy in 2018, while presenting him with a Best Producer Award, “I don’t think I would have ever been able to realise the artist that I could truly be.” The likes of Stormzy and Dave are modern products of grime’s origins. It came from London. Clashes filmed on shaky camcorders were distributed on DVDs named Lord of the Mic. MCs spread their name on the sadly now defunct Channel U, a sort of UK-version of Yo! MTV Raps where anyone – literally anyone – could send in a music video and see it on TV. Smith was there at the time, working with the likes of Kano and Tinchy Stryder
contributed to 18 Number One albums and eight Number One UK singles. Oh, and he’s won a Grammy, too. Shortly after Dave brought gospel choirs and flaming guitars to The BRITs 2022, Smith speaks to MBUK about his life, career and hopes for the future… You’ve been described in past interviews as ‘UK rap’s secret weapon’ and that you bring the ‘Midas touch to grime’. How does that sound? Do you feel like a secret weapon? What I’ve always tried to do is work with great artists across the board, and for artists to really feel that when they step in the studio, they feel very safe, creatively. I’m always looking at ways that I can help and be of service to an artist. When I first started working with Kano back in the early 2000s, I was aware that I wasn’t trying to jump on the back of those early grime records. I wanted to look at how I could add what I do into the mix. With artists like Kano, Dave and Stormzy, they’re such visionaries that they really want to bring something new to the table. It’s become this crazy match between me and the artist, where they’re looking to move into different areas and I try to support that, while being very respectful of the heritage and the music that they’re coming with. I think ‘secret weapon’ is flattering, but what I’m trying to do is shine a spotlight on brilliance, and to add what I can. Maybe there’s a sonic I can add, or a musical breadth. I can buy Dave a guitar, and then see
“I’m always looking at ways that I can help and be of service to the artist.”
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in trying to bring this then-underground genre to the masses. Mainstream audiences weren’t entirely ready for it, though. Naturally, some records were watered down incarnations of the frenetic roots they grew from. But Smith was a bridge from grime’s first tiptoes into the public consciousness, to the BRIT-winning, chartdominating, Glastonbury-headlining status it enjoys today. Then, there’s his work with Adele, Sam Smith, Gorillaz and Florence and the Machine, making Smith a producer who can walk the line between the overground and the underground, and someone who’s achieved two No. 1 US singles, and has
