Winter 2014

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Contents Mart Biemans Interview

Making Use Of Being Social

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Reviews: Dirty Gold

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30 Sharing A Shell

Dillon Cooper

48 Bipolar Sunshine Interview

The State Of R*B

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40 The Lost Tapes

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43 The TDE Struggle

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14 Bishop Nehru

Tom Muller Interview

Showcase

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On The Cover

Melo-X | 34

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From The Editor

Konrad Ziemlewski

Jonathon Bartlett

The last few months have been hectic for us. Staff changes, direction changes and the further you go through the magazine you will notice the aesthetic changes.

Polish born. English bred. I am the Creative Editor of VRS Magazine, with a passion for the creative and musical.

I spend my time between working at a design studio, freelancing and running VRS day-to-day.

I’ve been listening to hip-hop music for along as I can remember, and the massive variation of samples and styles have led me to appreciate almost every kind of music you can imagine. Incredibly passionate about everything sartorial, creative or innovative.

Marlon Dorsett

Robbie Russell

Joe Walsh

Just a simple dude who’s forever holding an outstanding opinion on anything Hip Hop related. Your typical music junkie that thrives off London’s night life, provided there’s a DJ that plays more than your generic top 20 and knows how to get the crowd hyped. Fan by day, artist by night, it’s pretty easy to see that this music thing is my life.

Music is absolutely the most important thing in my life, but writing happens to be all I’m good at. I study English and Philosophy and when I grow up, I only ever want to continue appreciating music, both with my ears and my writing.

I like music, like, I really like music and VRS is the perfect platform to show that.I live my life by the eternal lyrics “Mo money, mo problems.” and that’s why I never have any money...

This issue is full of original articles, original features and interviews with the likes of Mart Biemans, Tom Muller, Bipolar Sunshine and Melo-X.

Get in touch Twitter : @vrsmag Facebook: facebook.com/vrsmag

Web : vrsmag.co.uk Mail: info@vrsmag.co.uk

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Mart Biemans Mart Biemans has been working on his craft from a very young age. Self taught, outspoken and confident, we talk education, cultural influences and his love of music. martbiemans.com @martbiemans

Hey Mart. Could you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself?

Sure, my name is Mart Biemans and I’m 21 years old. A very ambitious illustrator, digital artist and graphic designer from the Netherlands.

I recently quit school so that I could put all my attention and focus into my freelancing career. So far that has gone pretty well and I’m very excited to see where the future will take me.

I’ve been pretty creative from an early age but I never imagined it would be my profession. I’m happy I stumbled into the world of digital art at a young age though as I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else right now. Aside from art and design I really enjoy spending time with my friends; most of my friends are still studying so I get to enjoy my fair share of parties.

Music is hugely important to me as a source of inspiration. Also I can’t work without music playing.

How has Dutch culture influenced your work?

The Dutch are known for being very open minded which I think is great as I really like the creative freedom that comes with it. I don’t believe there is such a thing as Dutch culture though, we have a lot of foreign influences

which date back to Golden Age. Those foreign influences aren’t a bad thing though as all children are schooled in foreign languages and learn a lot about other cultures. That has really helped me to be able to spread my work to a broader audience. I speak three languages fluently as I’ve lived in Germany for over 5 years and learned English in school. Therefore I wouldn’t say my work has been influenced by ‘Dutch’ culture but by cultures from all over the world thanks to all the people I have met.

In one of your previous interviews you said the reason you never finished a degree was because you felt studying held you back, but why and how did they hold you back?

I personally think design and/or art schools are an absolute joke, I’m not trying to convince others not to get their degree but that’s really the way I feel. Most teachers that I have worked with could have been my grandparents and have no idea of how the current industry works. Where software such as the Adobe Creative Suite, Maxon Cinema4D, Corel Draw, Maya and

“I personally think design and/or art schools are an absolute joke I’m not trying to convince others not to get their degree but that’s really the way I feel”

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“I joined and noticed a freelance job for Diesel and applied... It took them a year to respond but I got the job and it changed my life”

ZBrush are the industry standards, most of our teachers still insisted that we solely used paint, ink, pencils and paper. I’m not saying using those for sketching is a bad thing but designers have moved on to something completely different and more advanced.

HTML5 is bigger than ever. Yet in school they were still committed to teaching us Flash even though they knew it was already outdated let alone where it would be once we had finished the degree. I have been freelancing since I was just 14 years old and gathered all of my knowledge by experimenting and making mistakes.

I believe that a strong portfolio, work experience and the ability to adapt to a quickly changing industry is a lot more important than a degree. On top of that I have always known that I want to freelance for the next couple of years, start my own clothing line and perhaps my own studio. I don’t need to show myself a degree in order to do that.

What do you think should change in the educational system to better prepare students for work life?

I believe a lot of the design and art teachers in the current educational

system couldn’t keep up with the fast changes. Most of them barely know how to use a computer, how are those people supposed to teach young designers how to create an app for example? I think it’s important that schools start working with freelancers that have the experience they need in order to properly educate students. Don’t get me wrong, pencil and paper are the basics and an absolute must for every art student. But there’s so much more these days which is forgotten by most schools. I don’t see the point of hiring people with over 40 years of experience as a graphic designer that wouldn’t last a second in the current industry. I would much rather learn from someone that has been in the industry for 5years yet has the ability, knowledge and adaptability to teach me the right things to survive.

Is there one thing in your studio / on your desk you can’t do without?

My Wacom tablet, even though its already pretty old I absolutely love that thing. I advise every artist or designer to buy one as its really worth the investment. Your workflow will get a lot faster and most actions will become a lot easier.

Behance has become a juggernaut in the creative community ever since Adobe’s take over. You’re one of the new generation of creatives to really take advantage of it. How do you feel about Behance and how it’s helped you ?

Behance had already helped me a lot before it was taken over by Adobe.

Before Behance there wasn’t really a site that encompassed a wide variety of design disciplines. Most people used deviantART as there wasn’t a better alternative. Most people including myself got sick of anime and bad art that was flooding the website and were really excited when Behance started. It grew really fast and became one of the best places for creative professionals to land awesome freelance jobs. Right after I joined I noticed a freelance job for Diesel and applied without hesitating, even though it took them over a year to respond I still got the job and that moment changed my life.

From that point on I knew that I wanted to work for more amazing brands and my wish came true. The reason for it happening was simple... big brands, studios and companies constantly scan the website for new and upcoming talent. Behance is amazing as it allows creative’s to focus more on their work instead of looking for jobs as when your work is good jobs will come to you.

How important do you think social media is in cultivating your following and getting the world to know about you and your work?

I personally think it’s very important as social media allows you to spread your work without paying for it. It also makes it very easy to reach friends of friends by sharing, retweeting and liking artwork. I have however rarely landed a job via social media, I mainly use it for spreading products such as t-shirts, prints and phone cases with the hope that people will buy them.

Social media can however give you a nice ego boost when you notice that a lot of people like your work, the positive feedback you get from strangers can really keep you going at times when you have no motivation to create.

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You have worked with a shedload of different clients, but what I want to know is do you prefer to work with smaller brands or bigger ones and why?

Both actually have their advantages and disadvantages. Working for big brands can really boost your career because other brands will notice that you have experience working for them and won’t hesitate to contact you.

However I often hear that once you’ve worked for big brands it’s hard to go back to working for smaller brands as most of them assume you’re way too expensive for them. What I like about working for smaller clients is that they often give you more artistic freedom as their brands have less guidelines to follow. I can’t really say that I have a preference though, I’m at a point in my career where it’s important to learn and I’m ready to take on whatever challenge a client has to offer. Some artists get cocky after they have worked for major brands and feel that they are too good to work for smaller clients, which I think is stupid as the smaller jobs can sometimes help pay your rent.

Throughout your work animals feature prominently. Why have you consciously or subconsciously let

them dominate your work? What do you think it is with creatives and nature in general?

I don’t use a lot of animals on purpose however I think that animals give your more artistic freedom than human anatomy for example. Our brains are programmed to recognize human faces and will spot mistakes much faster when compared to an animal’s features.

It might sound stupid but I really like the freedom it gives me. I mostly use animals in my freestyle work though, when working for clients I do whatever they want me to do. If there’s a connection between creatives and nature I’m not sure. Nature is beautiful to look at and I think most creative’s enjoy making beautiful things.

Having started so young and achieved so much already, have you ever thought about letting people into your mind and learning from you? a la running podcasts, webcasts or public speaking?

Those are all things I have considered and would love to do in the near future.

However, at this point I’m working on a 7 years old computer which won’t allow me to do those things. As for public speaking, I’ve recently been invited to

speak at my first event which will be CreativeProShow in Italy next March.

My goal is to speak at OFFF in the near future but I know that I still have a long way to go in order to reach that goal. I’ve written tutorials in the past but those were always very time consuming and I prefer spending my time on creating the actual artwork. However, if I get contacted by a magazine or blog to write a tutorial for them I will always consider it and probably accept the challenge.

Favourite album of 2013?

This is probably ‘Settle’ by ‘Disclosure’.

If you had the chance to work with one musician on a project, who would they be and why?

Probably Eminem as he’s a creative entrepreneur and one of the greatest rappers alive. I’d love to create album artwork for him or another artist signed under his label. Perhaps in the future...

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Putting Your Best Foot Forward : The Portfolio

Creating a personal identity is pretty much the toughest job a creative will have to complete throughout his or her career. For one reason or another it’s always easier to determine how someone should project themselves, compared to doing the job for yourself. Regardless, this doesn’t make it OK to have an outdated and unpractical portfolio on your hands.

The rise and rise of social media has given every designer a set of new avenues in which they can showcase themselves all around the world.

Previously the use of an

incredibly personalised printed portfolio was the way to go – but now with the internet and the abundance of creative people around the world, it would be a shame to not take advantage of all of these things at our disposal.

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You WILL be judged The importance of your image online and off Many believe when applying for a job their potential employer will only take a look at their creative portfolio and a CV / cover letter if requested.

This is simply not the case. You’d better understand that the chances of your employer going through your Facebook and Twitter are extremely high: using social media they garner a better understanding of you as a person, how you behave, your interests and interactions. Places such as Behance and Dribbble are also avenues that are likely to be looked at, quite often to understand the public response to your work and how it relates to the studio you’re applying to.

Update, Update, Update!

Staying relevant and productive is key Keep all of your profiles consistent, and make sure they’re updated regularly.

Don’t use anymore than you need, or they will simply become obsolete and portray you in the sort of light you don’t want to be seen. Nobody wants to see your University projects if you’ve been in the industry for a number of years, making sure your best work is made prominent top priority (not to say uni work can’t be great). Using these multiple resources to drive traffic to and from your portfolio is a great way of finding work and potential colleagues/ collaborators.

Alongside your portfolio a blog is pretty much an essential piece of kit these days (once again only if you can commit to it). Using a blog to promote work in process is an excellent way to show potential employers how you work.

Promoting other designers work clearly communicates the sort of design you’re interested in and commenting on big brands / projects is an excellent way to show you understand design and its implications on the wider world.

Whatever you have in your arsenal, my advice is use it. Use it to the best of your ability and watch traffic grow.

Your weakest work will make or break you Sometimes the most obvious things get overlooked You’d be forgiven for asking, why would I put a bad piece in my portfolio? Designers quite often have an unhealthy obsession over certain projects. Be it their first ever major client, a big brand, something for a friend – whatever it might be that gets us attached to a certain project can quite often mask the fact it is simply not good enough. If it’s not a designers unhealthy obsession with a certain project it’s quite often their tendency to fill a portfolio with half assed projects just to fill space. No one wants to see a portfolio full of unfinished, rubbish work; if you combine all the effort between projects into just one or two, then the quality would rise tremendously and there would be no bad projects in your portfolio. It’s always easier to get hung up on one bad project in the middle of a plethora of excellent ones than the other way around, remember that.

Tailoring your portfolio to career aspirations One versus many Not all projects you work on need to be included in your portfolio. Even if you just spent the last 4 weeks working your ass of on a project and produced an outstanding outcome, it doesn’t necessarily mean it should feature on your website (Behance / Dribbble are another matter entirely). Why? If you didn’t enjoy the process and put it up, it lets potential employers know you want to carry on working in the same field. Just like it doesn’t help having a portfolio full of illustrations if what you want to do is web design. Tailor your project accordingly every time your looking for a career change or the job you want might just keep on eluding you.

Written by Konrad Ziemlewski Photography by James March

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Making Use Of Being Social

I hardly find it surprising that almost everyone can be found on one social network or another. Having a social presence is an essential piece of the puzzle to a freelancer as much as it is to an enormous corporation. These days it’s seen as an essential marketing avenue and another way to leasing with, and getting, clients.

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Freelance designers specifically have adopted multiple social media channels to promote their work and garner whole new audiences. The thing is, there are so many different social media outlets that it can be quite the headache choosing what ones to invest in – especially when misusing one can cause you and your brand more harm than good.

It’s no surprise then that almost everyonecan be found on Facebook. The numbers are outstanding. There are over 1billion unique users registered to Facebook, with thousands more registering every day.

The majority use Facebook for personal reasons – to connect with family members and friends. There are those though that use its networking capabilities to drive their businesses forward (there are over 10million registered companies).

Facebook has gone through numerous iterations since it’s release in 2004 and it’s current one has a few great features to help you:

Instagram With its recent acquisition by Facebook, there is finally a suitable imaging / video platform built into this social network. Numerous creatives such as James White and Justin Muller have taken control of this platform and increased their exposure tenfold.

The integration with Facebook has increased its usefulness even more.

Graph Search This brand new feature integrates a social context by allowing you to search using a number of variables to sieve through people, pages and services.

This shortens the laborious process of making connections with fellow businesses and finding others that very well might be interested in what your brand is about. For example if you’re looking to add another designer to your studio you can simply search ‘friends of co-workers who are graphic designers’ and the natural language function will find these for you.

Pages Pages are essentially profile pages but with many, many more features. Using pages you are able to take an insight into your audiences habits using ‘Page Insights’. The other reason to use Pages is to separate your own account from your business or from your personal (freelance) work. Doing this you will be able to publish new work, share updates, blog posts and engage your audience in a controlled environment that you know is interested in what you’re sharing.

Hashtags

Written by Konrad Ziemlewski Illustration by Ivan Belikov

Just like Twitter, Instagram and Google +; Facebook has recently adopted the use of hashtags which in essence simply make finding you and anything you post much easier. Keeping them short and simple is for the best so they are easy to remember and identify with; overloading your posts with them will simply make you look needy and unattractive to potential customers.

Like with everything there are both pros and cons to using Facebook as your main form of contact between yourself and your audience. The fact that Facebook has well over a billion unique users is reason alone to give it a go, but the company’s extremely inconsistent updates; can limit how effective features such as ‘Pages’ are. Then you have the brilliance of ‘likes, comments and share’ as engagement tools, but as a counterbalance a lot of advertising opportunities through Facebook are limited by budget (seriously if you haven’t got a sizable budget its almost pointless).

Facebook has an arsenal of features that can benefit a freelancer as much as a massive corporation. It’s free and requires very little knowledge to get started – unless you want to adopt its paid advertising that is. In ‘Pages’ it has something that its competition simply doesn’t have; all the little insights it provides can really help shape your brand in the right direction without taking any wrong turns. Yet be wary.

Using Facebook IS time consuming and it IS worthless if you don’t use it daily.

So if you’re a freelancer with limited time, it might be worth staying away from Facebook and possibly giving something else a go.

That though, we’ll leave for another time.

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VRS MAG: Showcase

As a creative, I run into outstanding work from all around the globe. Quite often it’s by unknown creatives that are more than keeping up with the big guns. Showcase is a feature dedicated to those creatives that are producing breathtaking work and not yet getting their due. Turn the page and take a glimpse into the minds of another five on their way up.

Illustration by Coke Navarro

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Abdurahman Davids

Contact

abdudavids.prosite.com abdurahman@belcurve.com

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Before we start could you briefly let us know about your background and what it is you do?

Born in Saudi Arabia, and now living in Western Australia Perth. I recently finished my studies, majoring in Creative Advertising and Graphic Design. I specialise in Graphic Design, Illustration and Brand Identity.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

It really depends on the project. But I mostly get inspiration from the videos games I play, the comics I read, the movies, cartoons and shows I watch.

What got you into comic books?

I’m not really sure. I guess you can say it started with all the superhero movies, going back to the 90’s Batman and the Spider-Man trilogy. The movies made me curious, wanting to find out more about all the characters. What do they really fight for, what makes them so evil, and what happens after the credits roll.

How did you come up with the Batman Calendar? It’s such an unusual pairing yet it works so brilliantly well.

During my studies, I chose an open calendar brief for one of my assignments. Given the time frame, I wanted to do something that would really drive me, so that meant it had to involve Batman. I told myself it had to be something different, to showcase something that hasn’t been seen before.

I then thought of his enemies, how many can a common person name? I mean everyone knows The Joker, but what about the rest. He definitely has more than enough to fill up a calendar, and they all have a story.

What did the process look like for that particular project?

I usually start-off with some research and inspiration. Next, I start drawing out some quick ideas. I would then pick 2 or 3 concepts that I think would work best for the brief, and develop them further. The process for that particular project wasn’t very thorough compared to the others, due to the strict deadline and scale of the project I set out for myself. The final illustrations are vectored, and all I used was the ‘Direct selection tool’, no tablet, just my mouse.

I felt using only the mouse created this control, and kept me from getting carried away, because the whole idea was to keep it simple.

I have to say I absolutely adore your X-Men posters. For each poster you created two different versions, which is something a lot of illustrators seem to do these days. Why is that? Do you feel you should provide choice or stick to one version of a piece that everyone has to accept?

Originally there wasn’t meant to be two versions. The X-Men posters were also done during my studies, a self-written brief. The objective was to introduce the characters to new/potential comic book readers. The poster had to focus

on the characters and their motives.

But then I felt that I was getting carried away with the backgrounds, adding in elements that I thought would just confuse the viewer. So in the end I decided to take a step back and focus more on the actual characters.

If you couldn’t design you would...

I would probably be playing video games all day and reading comics all night...wait.

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Ivan Belikov

“I intended to not just draw the icons, but create something really extraordinary�

Contact

dribbble.com/further_up sostatic@yandex.ru

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Hi Ivan. Could you give us a short introduction on who you are and what it is you do?

Hello, my name is Ivan Belikov. I’ve been into illustrating for about two years. At first it was just an attempt to do something new and different, but then I couldn’t stop. Through my work I try to do something new and create a timeless quality. I like experimenting with different plots, colours and images, adding some unexpected elements. It takes one little change for us to view something very differently.

You recently rose to prominence in the design community due to your ‘Social Network’ pieces. How did you come up with the idea for the project?

I wanted to interpret something that is well known to our generation and what better than a selection of social networks. I intended to not just draw the icons but to create something extraordinary. That is why I decided to mix them with some natural elements and give them a sense of realism. I tried to keep the brand identity and colour schemes throughout my illustrations, but the illustrations themselves don’t represent the state of the social network at hand. To me they are more than just illustrations. I never expected them to go viral, but its amazing that they did!

Have the likes of Behance benefitted you greatly?

I do appreciate the fact the people like what I do. I wouldn’t call this being popular, but together with new followers I get more offers. It means that there is a point in continuing doing what I’m doing, that people are truly interested in my art. What’s important is not to pay too much attention to it and not to chase after ‘likes’.

Your work might often be full of colour but to me it always has a darker side to it. Is that something you usually aim for?

I try my best to keep my work looking unique and fresh. I go out of my way for

my artwork to put through my feelings at the time I go about creating them.

Which may explain the bipolar nature of them.

If you had the chance to collaborate with one musician and one designer who would they be and why?

Ever since I was a kid I’ve always wanted to work with a band of any kind.

Lately I have been listening to a lot of Imagine Dragons, so currently I would say them. The designer that inspires me the most is DKNG. The collective creates outstanding posters, my favourite being ‘Explosion In The Sky’.

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Jamie Mattocks

Contact

create-and-destroy.co.uk jmattocks92@gmail.com

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Could you talk us through your work process, in regards to your murals / street art?

Spray Paint - Posca Markers - Good Music, that’s pretty much it but I know you want a more in depth answer than that. I usually start with a very, rough sketch. I have the idea for it and then literally rough out the basic shapes that make it up onto scrap paper. I then work around on positioning these onto the wall and photoshop my original sketches to work out compositions, that’s as far as preparation gets. All the work comes when I’m there tip-toeing on the top step of the ladder with a marker in my hand. I spray paint the shapes onto the wall then outline and detail all the piece in Posca markers, which does take the majority of time but is so much more rewarding in the end to have such small details on such a huge piece of work. The one main thing is to have good music playing, both headphones in. No distractions, zoning out on the piece of work in front of me.

You clearly pride yourself on being a multi talented artist, working across many mediums; is that a conscious decision?

If I have an idea for a piece of work, then I mess around experimenting until I know what method works best.

Sometimes, I will start spraying to scan in and use digitally then decide that the piece is actually better off staying as hand sprayed and hand drawn with no digital retouching. This is the same for a brief. Once I get a brief, then sometimes you can decide whether a huge hand painted mural is going to be more effective and eye catching than clean, crisp, digital framed work. Any idea I have had or wanted to do I have taught myself to do it. I don’t want to restrict myself and always answer a brief with the same format of work just different images, I want to offer a variety of styles that I can produce.

Personal work versus Client Briefs?

I can’t say I prefer one or the other, if I have a great idea then I have to do it, I have to get it done it becomes my main focus above everything else

and that’s what makes me love doing personal work because I no that its just for me, no profit, no pay, no perk, just for the enjoyment of illustrating.

But then Client briefs are some of the most interesting work I have done. It is sometimes the stuff I never would have thought of doing. Being told, “oh we would quite like this ...” is the best brief to get because they have something totally random to illustrate I just then come up with the creative way of doing it. I think they go hand in hand, when I am stuck with client work I save and close it and just create something for myself 9 times out of 10 I end up with a totally new, better idea for client work.

You tend to work with geometrics and shapes rather than free flowing lines and natural shapes.

In what way do you think bending / distorting the natural order of things results in more interesting work?

I love looking into how something is made up. It’s just how I see things, when doing a portrait I look at the shapes that make up the face. When I use different blocks of colour next to each other that simple selection of shapes seems to create a good sense of shading. I think the main reason I work like that is because I simply enjoy it. I use a couple of shapes rearranged into the right order and they come together to create a detailed image, that’s the best feeling seeing it complete. Personally I don’t see my work as distorting an image, I see my work as looking deeper into the details of what I am illustrating.

“The one main thing is to have good music playing, both headphones in. no distractions, zoning out on the piece of work in front of me”

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Coke Navarro

Contact

behance.net/CokeNavarro navarrocoke@gmail.com

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Who is Coke Navarro and what does he do?

I’m a freelance illustrator from Valencia. Though my greatest passion is comicbooks, I love to work on music covers. Due to my connection with the Spanish rap scene, a number of groups turn to me for anything brand related which is what I spend the majority of my time on. I’m currently also working on comics by myself, with the aim in being a full-time cartoonist.

How has the Spanish art scene influenced your work?

I’ve always been influenced by Pablo Picasso. Although our styles are clearly different, I’ve always paid attention to his way of composing and distributing the elements. I have also been in contact with a lot of national graffiti artists and I’ve followed the work of comic book artists such as Miguelanxo prado, Juanjo Guarnido and Carlos Exquerral. Though to tell you the truth most of my influences are foreign, by artists such as Hugo Pratt, Moebious and so on. The biggest influences though are Frank Miller and Mike Mignola.

Your work has this very distinct urban, street flavour throughout.

How did you go about developing your style?

Early on I was into graffiti and Spanish rap, something you can clearly see elements of throughout my work.

Nowadays I’m trying to dissasociate myself from these kinds of aesthetics and evolve.

What does your work process look like?

My working process is similar to classic comics. I always use black ink on paper, then it’s scanned and digitally colored. I learned to do it this way and that’s how I feel comfortable. Regarding the idea process its simply whatever comes into my head, I champion the idea of letting the unconcious do it’s part of the work.

If you had the chance to learn another medium what would it be and why?

I would like to play any musical instrument. I’ve always been involved with music production, focused on rap music and on animation OSTs

“Coke Navarro is the man behind our exquisite cover. Great to work with, full of ideas and a hell of an eye for detail” - Konrad, Creative Director

for some of my projects, such as “The Otter Dream Inn”. I’ve never played any instrument but I would like to learn how to play the guitar or the piano. what do you feel you’re strongest at, and where do you feeland where do you feel you need to improve in terms of your design ability?

I don’t like to think in that way since I think its counterproductive for an illustrator. I just draw wht I like and try to do my best each time.

Client work vs Personal work & why?

When the client isn’t afraid to influence, they are a pleasure to work with. On the other hand when they don’t know what they want it can be a laborious process (especially changing their mind every two minutes).

Personal work allows you to develop down the road you plan on going, but sometimes you lose sight of the path your going on. In spite of everything I do prefer working on personal projects, since simply put... I can do what I want.

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Diego Eduardo Guttierez

Contact

behance.net/TheMetathron zenki_6666@hotmail.com

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Could you start off by letting us into your world and telling us who you are and what exactly it is you do?

Of course! My name is Diego Eduardo G. also known as The Metathron. I do not consider myself an artist, painter, musician - its simply something I love to do, not something I want to be labelled by.

My passion is illustration. I have worked as a freelancer for a while now and also produce and create music. I try to combine both of my passions to create unique experiences for people.

A lot of your work is clearly inspired by music in one way or another. How important is music to you and why do you feel music is able to influence so many regardless of their background?

Your right. Music is the Ying to the designs Yang. Phrases, Riffs, Song Titles etc inspire all of my work and fill my mind with potential ideas. Music to is just an extension of creativity; just like design its accessible to everyone in one form or another and doesn’t

discriminate and quite often is able to express what words cannot.

Three things you would take to a deserted island?

A girl... That says it all no?

I started drawing when I was really young then took a massive gap and only started to explore myself ‘creatively’ again 2 years ago. Musically I am part of a band called River of Wolves , mainly indie / alternative but we do try and combine a number of our interests cohesively.

Most designers when working with colour go for the brightest and boldest so their work stands out, yet you tend to always use a very toned down palette. What inspired you to go down this direction?

Haha, I never studied colour psychology or anything, it’s just purely down to taste. I love desaturated colours in harmony as they can become immensely visually appealing. I have always directed myself from the heart and what I feel not what some book might say.

Your Batman piece is very much a tribute to your favourite hero.

What other heroes in the design world do you have?

Ever since I was little I have looked up the heroes, fictional or real. The ones I always connected with though have been the ones grounded in reality, such as Batman. The artwork itself is based on a friends sketch (Osmar Shotgun) and re-worked by myself.

Design wise my hero, if I had to choose would definitely be Bob Kane, a writer and illustrator. Another would be Goni Montes.

“My passion is illustration... I also create and produce a lot of music.”

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Learning On The Job

One thing you can make sure of when working in the creative industry is you never stop learning.

Regardless of the fact if your an award nominated creative director for some high-end brand or if you’re a rookie straight out of uni, you will always have something to learn.

Personally, since graduating through freelance and studio work I have learnt a few things that I feel would of been a great use to me before graduating. I hope these few points are as useful to you as they are to me...

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9-5 doesn’t exist The term 9-5 is outdated in most industries but in the creative industry it’s completely out of the window.

Something that I really only felt would apply to freelance work is just as true when working in-studio.

Working freelance, especially right at the begging usually will involve accepting and working on multiple low-paid jobs at once just to be able to pay the bills at the end of the month.

Whilst working with clients outside of the UK will quite often mess with your sleep pattern and mould you into a fully fledged night owl.

Quite often though working at a design agency can be even worse; with bigger clients and tighter deadlines, the expectations tend to be much higher.

You will have to be prepared to stay behind and even put in all-nighters to get everything done to a central level and in time.

Toughen up The biggest and most important lesson I have learnt so far is how to take feedback, be it internal or client.

Coming up against challenging ideas and different opinions are a daily occurrence, especially when starting out. Developing a thick skin and being able to dissect all the information thrown at you whilst turning it into a positive is something that only time will teach. Until you are able to speak confidently and act as the expert in your field you will have to take what may very well feel like incredibly personal criticism and some ridiculous ideas on the chin.

Written by Konrad Ziemlewski Photography by IBM Studios

Being creative isn’t all fun and games This is one of the BIGGEST realisations I’ve had since starting out.

Being a graphic designer or a creative in general doesn’t automatically put you into a weed infused, Tim Burton fairy tale that’s all hunky dory – a design business is just that, a business. This means there will be many invoices you may need to fill, tax forms to complete, hours to track, emails to respond to and a whole load of other mind boggling paperwork for you to contend with. You need to expect to spend a good 1/5 of your time doing everything that’s not design related.

The learning never stops This is a common misconception by many out of University or college. Just because you left University with a first in Graphic Design, that doesn’t mean you are ready for the world of design.

The best designers constantly learn and adapt to new trends and software, but more importantly they are not afraid to set their own trends. Invest in your learning. Neither you nor your clients will lose out if you do.

Clients are crazy Just because a client pays you what you a few hundred bucks for a design doesn’t necessarily mean they will like the very first thing you throw at them.

At the same time a client that’s happy to pay you a few thousand might be more than willing to take the first thing you do; quite simply whatever you are paid, rarely has any relevance to a clients expectations. I have personally found the ‘low pay’ clients are the ones that want the earth – umpteenth revisions on the smallest and most irrelevant things. This is something you won’t be able to prepare for until you experience it, but having experienced it you will be able to spot the warning signs and act accordingly.

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“Being able to stay within the city and yet feel like you’re in a totally different place depending on where you are”

Tom Muller Belgian born, London based designer Tom Muller has been in the business for nearly two decades. Talented, experimental and passionate, we talk London, comic books and the process. hellomuller.com @hellomuller

Who is Tom Muller and what does he do?

I’m a graphic designer. That’s all that matters really, if you scrape away all the industry labels that we like to stick on ourselves. I’ve practiced design in one shape or form, mostly in the digital sphere for the past 16 years, mostly at agencies, before setting up my own independent practice in 2011.

Only recently did I realise you’re not actually English but Belgian.

What was the reason for you moving to London?

I moved here in the summer of 2000 because I successfully applied for a job at Vir2L Studios, an American design agency that was opening a London studio. Back then a who’s who in the industry worked there: Bradley Grosh (Gmunk), James Widegren (threeoh, now Your Majesty), Anders Schroeder (Dform1, now frame.dk), Michael Young (Designgraphik and YouWorkForThem) and many more.

I wanted to be part of that group, and spent a year there before the dot com bubble burst and the London office closed its doors.

What about London do you love?

The noise and dirt, the parks, the architecture, the history of the place. The constant reinvention of neighborhoods. Being able to stay within the city and yet feel like you’re in a totally different place depending on where you are. The food. How it can be a happy and forlorn place.

Camden or Shoreditch?

I have to go with Shoreditch, simply because I used to live on the edge of it, worked there for a few years and, well, it is kind of the epicenter of the digital industry in London. Although I’ve never felt the urge to stay there, especially nowadays when it has lost a lot of its character in certain areas.

Are there any inspirations behind your work that I might not expect?

Nothing I can think of… but maybe that’s because I don’t see it as something unexpected? I’ve always loved the conflagration of styles and media. I’m a sci-fi and comic book fan who became a designer, and I think the sensibilities of both those culture

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streams influence my work. I might look at old toy packaging and get an idea for a typeface; similarly to how the work of Archigram might influence my work in comics.

How have you gotten into producing work at such a high output? Is it simply down to time and experience or have you found a shortcut we don’t know about?

It just comes down to having a strong work ethic and a constant hunger to make new things. Some things get made faster than others, but it’s all about developing the discipline to just do it.

Your ability to work through a number of mediums is commendable. How did that come about? t came about in a very natural way. At my very first job out of college I had to do and learn a lot of different things: HTML coding, Flash, After Effects animation, 3D design, etc. Coming from a more traditional background in design, namely print, it opened my eyes into what was possible and that I didn’t have to limit myself to just one medium.

I really do like the “Design Is One” philosophy of Massimo Vignelli. A designer should be able to design everything, regardless of it being a chair or a typeface. I like that flexibility, and the way it informs my work. The things I learn whilst designing an iOS app might feed back into publication design, or the logo I design for a brand might form the basis for a typeface. It’s that connective tissue between disciplines that makes it interesting for me.

If you could learn one skill (in or out of design) what would it be?

I wanted to be an archeologist when I was in high school. So yeah... that!

How did you get into comic books?

Through my dad. He was a big sci-fi fan, and introduced me to the work of Asimov, Bradbury, and Clarke; and later European and American comics.

The American comics especially really

touched a nerve and I’ve been a fan since I was 6 or 7.

Being an avid comic book fan, what do you think about the recent plight of the printed medium. Do you still prefer to read printed copies or have you got everything on your iPad now?

I think the whole “printed comics are dying” is a wrong reaction. Print still outsells digital by miles, but I’m happy that the comic industry is looking at ways to reinvent and modernise the medium. Epecially when I see the work that my friend Liam Sharp is doing at his company Madefire. I do love printed comics, but the last year and a half I’ve bought the majority of my comics digitally, primarily because tablets are getting better and better, and it saves me a huge amount of space that I can use to buy print collections and books that can sit on a bookshelf. ‘if you could work on any comic book, current or from history, which would it be and what?

The fan in me would obviously go for the big name properties like Batman, Spider-Man or The X-Men; because it would be nice to make your mark on properties like that.

But I think working on your own creation and property would be much more satisfying in the long run.

Your Gravity poster is up there for my favourites from the past year.

There were numerous brilliant ones from the likes of Nazim Ali and Chris Thornley. But the way you played with the typography in the poster really was ingenious.

Could you tell me the thought process behind the poster and why you decided to make one for this particular movie?

Thank you. When I had the opportunity to do that poster, my gut reaction was to utilise the canvas to illustrate the emptiness of space, and use that frame to just hint at the drama of drifting away. The type treatment then naturally followed the thought behind the pull/drift of gravity.

If you were going to doodle something with the title ‘Versus’ what would you draw?

A circle and a square What are your plans for 2014?

Keep doing interesting work.

“It just comes down to having a strong work ethic and a constant hunger to make new things. Some things get made faster than others... the discipline to do it”

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MELO-X

meloxtra.com @meloxtra

Melo-X doesn’t like boxes. A man of many talents, working as an emcee, DJ, producer, videographer and designer to name a few. Using his creative ability he has built the foundation for an incredibly artist to become known to the public. In our lengthy chat we talk: growing up, inspiration, philosophy and London among many other things. Oh and we hear about the reasoning behind him having his hands in so many industries.

Photography by Guateng & Keith Selby

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Do you identify yourself as a rapper? Or do you consider yourself something very different?

I am a creator. I create through any means I see fit. Rap, DJing, painting, photography, and designing to name a few. I would say I simply create cool timeless and forward pushing shit.

That’s a really interesting way to look at it. Would you say there’s a moment you could pinpoint where you started down this creative path / what was the first thing that really hooked you creatively?

First it was poetry. At a young age I found a love for the written word but more so the actual performance of words. I would record TV shows like the Fresh Prince of Bel Air and learn all the dialogue. Poetry transcended me to rap which intern opened my eyes to production, DJ and mixing.

Then I got more into album covers and photography. I began designing clothes and album covers for my friends so that got me more in to art and design.

Has education been important to you at all?

of spirituality. I like to find the positive in everything and just learn about life through triumphs and mistakes.

Whichever religion, teaching, philosophy or anything that can help guide me, I’m with it.

It’s evidently clear you are influenced by a myriad of styles and genres. Could you tell me who are some of your biggest inspiration?

My biggest inspiration is life really. I like to find new music and new artists I’ve never heard of before. The new legends and the young sounds inspire everything I do. Some of my influences and inspiration comes from J Dilla, Salvidor Dali, Eminem, Nirvana, Coldplay, Pink Floyd, and Reggae Music to name a few.

Dali? Why Dali?

Yeah I like his art and how from far it may look one way but as you get closer you see more and more layers that’s how my music is... on the 10th listen you’re going to hear something else you didn’t hear before.

How much of the GOD’s EP narrative is based on your own story and life?

All of it. It’s all the steps and levels I had to take to reach this level and there is still more to be done. There is always more to be done. That’s just the first part and what I have learnt up to this point.

It’s very much like looking back. Once you’ve been through something or achieved something you can look back and understand how and why you got there. Learning and developing from them.

Right. Time to get transatlantic.

London. What about our lovely city do you love?

I love the Caribbean vibe in the inner city. I love the way Londoners are open to new music and new sounds. They support the new shit, and it’s great that they support it on the streets, radio and even television. Brixton reminds me of Flatbush Brooklyn sometimes.

At first everything was self taught.

Then I went the IAR (Institute of Audio Research). This gave me the opportunity to learn the language and business of music.

Allow me to backtrack a little...

What’s the story behind the pseudonym Melo-X? It’s just the idea of Ying and Yang. The balance of the universe. The essence of our collective conscious. For the world as we know it to exist there must be a positive and a negative. For me to exist I must have my MeLo moments and my X moments. the X being an X-factor, Xtreme, Xtra-ordinary, the unknown etc.

Would it be right to assume philosophy and religion resonates with you quite strongly?

Yeah I guess. I was very religious at one point and that has morphed into a sort

“I love the Caribbean vibe in the inner city.

I love the way Londoners are open to new music and new sounds”

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“I heard Girls Love Beyonce... wanted to make a remix. I chose the polar opposite of Beyonce in a way which is Rihanna.”

How did your relationship with Simz come about?

I found out about her through my manager and then I wanted to work with her on my EP. I found out that my good friend Eddie Smith from Soulculture was her manager so that was an easy connection to make.

What about her made you reach out? Was she everything you hoped for?

Her delivery and word play. Basically she got bars. She surpassed my expectation for our collaborations.

I know you had the chance to tour with Theophilus London. What was that like?

That was dope. it was both of our first

times going overseas. We had been doing shows throughout the East Coast and in Brooklyn. To see the music and energy we created in Brooklyn get love worldwide was big.

Sounds like it was crazy. What would you say has been your standout moment whilst touring?

There’s too many. Every trip brings new experiences. Just being able to meet my fans and supporters face to face. Getting to vibe with them, perform for them, and party with them is always the best and the moments I remember most fondly.

The Finer things like designer rings / I design these things to keep your mind wondering

37 Using that verse as a base... what is your favourite ring and why?

Taking that verse full circle, do you believe in material fullfillment or philosophical?

My favourite ring at the moment is my Carel ring designed by Erin Wahed for her brand Bande des Quatres. I love it because it’s just simple and plays with your eye when you first see it.

I’m not sure yet still figuring it out.. maybe it’s a balance of both. I’m not sure. I know many would just say the philosophical type but we all have two sides to us. So I’m not sure.. give me a few more years of life to have a better answer.

‘Girls Love Rihanna’ - What did the process behind that song look like? Specifically from a production stand-point.

I just like to remix things as they happen in real time so once I heard Drakes “Girls Love Beyoncé” and I instantly wanted to make a remix. I chose the polar opposite of Beyoncé in a way which is Rihanna. At the time I

was collecting a lot of Rihanna Tees and was in that mind frame so it just came out of the love for her and her style.

I made about 3 different versions of that song. One was more minimal. The other was somewhat of a old MeLo-X style similar to some Soulful J Dilla type beat then and brought it into my new future sound approach and it just elevated from there.

What would your ‘Lost Tape’ be?

J Dilla’s album that was produced by other producers.

What was it like working with Jesse Boykins?

That’s my bro. We have been working together for many years. It started out with me him, Theophilus London, Machinedrum and Mickey Factz all linking up and creating. Everyone kind of went their own way creatively but me and Jesse really stayed focused and just vibed. We’ve created a lot of ground breaking and forward thinking music while remaining true to our self.

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Introducing: Bishop Nehru

“Being the only rap artist that I can call a kid shows how young he is in his lane”

Bishop Nehru is the shit.

He’s the artist that everyone who knows what’s good is talking about right now, like this guy you might of heard of called Kendrick Lamar.

Even without the co-sign from King Kendrick, or the support from Semtex and Rosenberg on his last mixtape Strictly Flowz, his work speaks for itself. Both 2012’s Nehruvia and the aforementioned Strictly Flowz from 13 have been on rotation since they dropped, couple this proven quality with an upcoming project out later this year working with one of the best to ever pick up the mic, DOOM; Bishop’s got a big year ahead of him.

Written by Jonathon Bartlett Photography by Emily Korn

His cold concise flow outrivals many of his elders, sitting pretty at 17 years old this kid is the new Joey Bada$$, and Joey hasn’t even fell off yet. Being the only rap artist that I can call a kid shows how young he is in his lane.

Having self taught himself how to

produce, direct and rap, it’s clear that he isn’t taking no for an answer in an industry where gimmicks have more and more frequently outshone skill, if you disagree tell me the last time you bumped Riff Raff or Chief Keef and shook your head for any reason other than embarrassment. Nehru doesn’t need to create an individual image to stand out from his peers. His bars do that on their own.

I mean let’s just tally up what he’s achieved so far, at the age of 17. He’s got 2 tracks on the NBA Live 2014 track list, supported Wu Tang Clan, DOOM, Ghostface & Disclosure, produced entire albums and instigated his own buzz through a veritable shit ton of videos. What were you doing when you were 15 years old? Maybe listening to Mos Def and wearing the latest Quicksilver gear from TK Max… Bishop was out there getting it, dropping his OWN bars over one of the most famous beats of all time (Mathematics) and getting nation wide acclaim for his ingenuity.

39 Originally entering the game as Kile Kanvas, Bishop’s original steps into the game weren’t so successful, a plethora of sites covered his J.A.Z.Z and Mellow Beach Samples tapes, and he got a lot of love for the self produced Hallucination which was his first real step; but from researching it just a little bit it’s clear that he’s put in work to get where he is, dealing with trolls on Kanye To The, Hypebeast and Skateboard City. Even though these tapes have been purposely removed from the net (Nehru says himself that he doesn’t want people hearing the work he put out as Kile), his grind is real and that’s something that should never be overlooked in a world of viral wonders.

Introvertz off of StrictlyFlowz was one of the best tracks of 2013, in my top 5 infact when we mulled over doing the fated end of year lists. The track begins with a keyboard sample that sounds straight out of Madlib’s back catalogue, then you hear Nehru checkin the mic before he unleashes ‘I’m used to being alone just me and symphonies / now I’m never prone and these interviewers are sent to me’. I can remember first hearing this track when the mixtape dropped, and immediately I knew that I was gonna go through this guy’s back

history and educate myself on someone who has the potential to make waves in the scene.

The main reason I appreciate Nehru is his humble nature. At the end of Exhale on the most recent tape he purposely includes the older track Angel just to highlight the steps he’s made in terms of improving his music making; I can’t think of another artist who would purposely place a track on a project that isn’t up to the same standards as the rest. The best part about this is that Angel would be an impressive track for pretty much any young artist, yet he throws it in so nonchalantly that it’s not even a big deal to him how much better he’s got over the past year.

His collaboration with DOOM is set to feature full production from Metal Fingers including some guest verses.

From past interviews it looked set for an early 2014 drop, but given that we’re edging towards the end of January already; unless the pair are working some Queen Bey voodoo we’ve still got a while to wait for NehruvianDOOM. I’ll finish the piece by reiterating the hunger that Nehru’s got for success, an excerpt from an interview with Vibe.

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

“I’ll probably have a couple Grammy’s and hopefully I’ve done my first film score” Watch out… well everyone I guess. This polymath looks set for serious daps from the internet world, and given his animosity towards the labels of being a ‘boom-bap’ rapper, back when he rapped as Kile Kanvas everyone was sure he’s the new Tyler, and now everyone’s so sure he’s the new Joey…

I think people are underestimating the talent of this upcoming star.

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VRS Reviews: Angel Haze - Dirty Gold

Written by Robbie Russell Photography by Øyafestivalen

On December 18, the music world was treated to an early Christmas present.

To Island and Republic Records this was a giant, gift-wrapped “fuck you,” to everyone else it was a stream of Angel Haze’s much anticipated debut album Dirty Gold in it’s entirety. After pushing the album’s official release date

back to March 2014, the labels apparently pissed off the wrong artist, who’s cavalier attitude to business led her to cause the leak herself. Not exactly the best gift to the people selling your work, but hey, it’s the thought that counts right?

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Whether the thought here was that ‘the people’ needed to hear the album, that it couldn’t wait, and that artists deserve more of an input in the distribution and sales of their releases or if, like Santa, Haze just wanted to spread some festive cheer, it certainly did count in that the release was brought forward to December 30. One person that didn’t have much to count though was the Sales Executive, with first week figures almost low enough to calculate on an abacus.

“I don’t give a fuck about marketability, I don’t give a fuck about going platinum, I just want to fucking help, man.”

As you can hear from Dirty Gold and on pretty much every other track she’s made, Haze is not one to be coy about expressing emotion and evidenced by her intriguing spate with Azalea Banks, she doesn’t take insults lightly.

She took massive offence to the lack of support her labels offered her, so totally scuppered the profitability of her own album, but to whom did this really cause biggest disservice? Yes, Island and Republic were left red faced and other labels were given a stern lesson in respect for talent, but really it was Haze who had more to lose. As a result of the leak, attention was diverted away from the music, and Dirty Gold has become somewhat of a throwaway record.

The self-sabotage though is indicative of Haze’s whole appeal. She wears her heart on her sleeve, using her difficult ‘cult-like’ Pentecostal upbringing to both fuel her ambition and bring unrivalled substance to her lyrics.

She’s built a reputation as an outsider and a voice for those who don’t speak up. 2012’s “Cleaning Out My Closet” was an autobiographical assault on her childhood that addressed abuse and neglect with a frankness that really has never been heard before, awakening the world to Haze’s personality and raw talent. Her emo-rap style depends on this rawness coming through, but by working with a producer that has previously worked with Mumford and Sons and Coldplay, Dirty Gold was doomed to be overcooked. Some of the intricacies that captured the attention of many music fans are still there, but

tend to be medium-rare at best. The earnest aplomb that Haze’s early work promised was lost in favour of corny and repetitive spoken word interludes, and blanket, faux- inspirational phrases designed basically as a ‘chin-up’ to her apparently manic-depressive fans.

It’s now becoming patently clear what Haze meant when she said she just wanted to ‘help.’ Suicide and depression are not to be taken lightly, but when music is primarily an escape from life’s issues, perhaps Angel’s best intentions are misplaced in that she addresses these issues without the intimacy that she so could’ve done.

“Battle Cry” co-written by Rihanna and Flo Rida collaborator Sia Furler is the typification of the type of anthemic pop/rap tune that would be used for the end credits for a crappy teen-flim about one girl’s battle with acne or something.

It’s ironic, considering her obvious issues with the Church, that at times Haze’s repetition of the same themes and messages is exactly like that of a preacher. “Angels and Airwaves” inspired by the emo-rock, Blink 182 side project of the same name is a typification of the lack of real direction that this album has, because almost all of the tracks are just different ways of saying ‘don’t give up,’ the lack of variety is an absolute crime. Those three words genuinely provide the hook for what could’ve been the best track on the album, “A Tribe Called Red.” The beat and flow on this tune are unbelievable, and you’ll be blown away by the speed at which these snarling bars are spat out and you’ll be reminded of why you decided to listen to the album in the first place.

The best tracks on the album though, are the ones that drop this inspirational directive and in turn showcase the witty-lyricism that started Haze on her rise in the first place. The lead single “Echelon (It’s My Way)” and the Rudimental- produced “Crown” both have many genuinely funny and innovative lines about the rapper’s relationship with mainstream culture as a self-professed loner; “Never catch me at the club, I get high and dance alone.” They’re perfect demonstrations of her aversion to rap-cliche and mainstream pop music, and are real

gems hidden in the context of what basically is a self-help album.

The deluxe version of the album closes with 2012’s “New York” which arguably still remains Haze’s best track to date, written before she decided to liberate the isolated masses. The inclusion of it on Dirty Gold is surprising considering how much it differs from the rest of the album. Usually you would include an older track would be to show how you’ve improved over time, but the precocious snarl on “New York” over a beat produced by hip hop heavyweight The 83rd actually shows that Haze seems to have gone backwards for her debut EP. Looking past the record label spat and the poor sales and Dirty Gold is still an overproduced, and slightly off the mark debut. Too concerned with reaching out to a specific demographic and not indulgent enough with her own personality, Haze has tried to change too much far too quickly. Persistence though is probably her most famed trait, and you can be sure that she will take (even if no one else does) the messages of her motivational anthems to keep going in the rap game, although let’s hope that her next effort is slightly more memorable.

Overall 6 6 Lyricism 6 Production 4 Originality

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Introducing: Dillon Cooper I first took notice of the 20-year-old, Brooklyn emcee Dillon Cooper with his visual release ‘State of Elevation’. A mix of Joey Bada$$, Chance The Rapper and Earl sweatshirt.

He made a hell of a first impression on me.

I went on to check out his debut, 17-track mixtape Cozmik, where my curiosity was rewarded with a showcase of Cooper’s lyrical prowess.

On a remix of the classic Outkast track ‘Ms Jackson’ Dillon opens up about past failed relationships, while being able to switch 180 into row and unadulterated rap ‘Kung Fu’.

Cooper grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. His family moving from Barbados when his mom was 10.

Having lived in a one room apartment throughout his childhood, he moved schools sporadically to try and broaden his horizons; acting and doing music from an early age.

It wasn’t til high-school though that he started to get comfortable with himself.

Attending Washington Irving, known for its gang culture and lacklustre education, helped Cooper be exposed to the real world having been brought up attending Catholic School and under constantly protected by his parents.

Turning up on the first day wearing tight jeans, dreads and skates Cooper

stood out like a sour thumb, what it did though was help him break out of his shell and be confident in who he is.

“When I went over there, people saw me as different” Unlike most rappers Cooper is a self taught musician. Having started off learning the piano when he was extremely young, he began nurturing his musicality early. It all kicked off though when he picked up a guitar something he wanted to do initially.

Learning everything by ear, he developed his craft and musically has been interweaving it into his current production.

“I wanted to play guitar because it was so much cooler” Like most artists his parents had a huge role to play regarding the sort of music he become influenced by. Reggae is something that directly come from his mother and her tendency to listen to artists like Shaggy and Lady Shaw.

His dad on the other hand was playing

everything from Motown through to R&B-Soul. Cooper’s own choices are huge deviations from his parents with the likes of ACDC and Van Halen taking up his time and the likes of Eminem, 50Cent and even Lil’ Bow Wow being important to him. Seeing someone young, rapping, being able to hang out with Snoop was enough for him to know that’s what he wanted to do.

With the likes of Chance The Rapper, Joey Bada$$ and Vic Mensa coming through lately, it’s not as if hip-hop is lacking young talent coming through.

What Cooper has though is an innate musical background, an eclectic taste in the medium and a diverse upbringing that should be a solid foundation for a long and illustrious career in that thing we call rap.

Written by Konrad Ziemlewski Photography by Help Ruben

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Sharing A Shell Beyoncé dropped a bombshell late last year releasing her eponymous fifth album to huge acclaim, the cover was a simple pink ‘Beyoncé’ over a plain black background, this may lead you to think that it is a simple, straightforward collection of songs from Queen Bey, but you would be wrong. The album featured over 15 different vocalists with the likes of Jay-Z, Drake, Frank Ocean, Pharrell and of

Written by Joe Walsh Photography by Kay

course, Blue Ivy offering a hand. In addition to this, there was over 50 different technical personnel that included: Pharell (again), the mysterious Boots, who is credited for co-producing about 80% of the album, Timbaland, The Dream and even Justin Timberlake taking over production on the track ‘No Angel’. All of these different producers, co-producers, executive producers, arrangers, synth players, drummers, horns,

violinists, programming, vocalists, backing vocalists, sound engineers, mixing and mastering beg the question;

Kanye’s equally maligned and admired Yeezus was released in June, hosting fewer big name personnel, yet still enough pack out King Tut’s. Daft Punk’s ‘Random Access Memories’ features again over 20 different contributors.

A quick look through Wikipedia at the biggest releases of the last 12 months will show you that most of the year’s big releases are more of a collaboration between producers, songwriters and instrumentalists etc. than a single solo effort. So the recurring question is; apart from a recognisably sterile voice and public image, how much does the ‘artist’ actually contribute to their own work?

way, with separate heads and creative input it would certainly be a completely different collection of material, but would this be a good thing?

I recently reviewed Del Tha Funkee Homosapien’s latest release,’Iller Than Most’; a collection of 11 songs created exclusively by him. The production was messy, the vocals began to grate towards the end, and there was nothing I could discernibly call a single, but it was a good album. The idea was that it should be a fun, slightly more experimental album, but why didn’t he get any superstar producers to help?

Was this a conscious decision or was this down to limited resources? Either

At what point is a body of work recognized for more than a face?

Listen to Odd Future pack leader, Tyler, the Creator’s first conceptual mixtape, the provocatively named ‘Bastard’.

Tyler produced every song and featured other members of the OFWGKTA collective on it. It was a hugely successful collection of material, firing Tyler into the public domain and made sure he was featured on pretty much every end of year list. The provocative lyrics and off kilter production was something that stuck in your head, it wasn’t a mass produced collection of identical songs with a 3 month lifespan, he wasn’t going to be interviewed on CBBC, but the experimental and controversial artistry of the record was phenomenal, and this all came from one centric artist. This self-propelled talent for production and lyricism didn’t go unnoticed throughout the hip-hop community with artists such as Pusha T and The Game clamouring for a feature from him. The sound of his debut album ‘Goblin’ resonated heavily throughout 2011 with many other

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artists such as Flying Lotus opting for a darker jazz feel and The Game add more shock value to his lyrics.

“Fired Tyler into the public domain and made sure he was featured on pretty much every end of year list”

The fact that so many other artists were trying to get onto the bandwagon says so much about the industry and the hydra-heads at the top of it. The need to regenerate and stay with the times is what artists like Madonna, Beyoncé, Kanye and even bands like Vampire Weekend and Artic Monkeys need in order to stay in the position of power and influence that they’ve developed.

The sad fact is that none of the ‘big name’ artists make original material, you might hear it and think it’s original, but it has filtered up from lesser known artists to a point where the savvy team behind the big name artist’s music has caught it and allowed their client to introduce it into the mainstream, therefore taking credit for it.

A great example of this is Thomas Wesley Pentz, aka Diplo, he has a fantastic ability to spot upcoming trends in music, whether it be moombahton, trap or some obscure dancehall fusion from Nigeria, he’s on it. The difference however is that he gives the developing artists credit for it.

Diplo makes no attempt to pretend that he created a new genre, he doesn’t take from the people, he borrows, pushes it into the mainstream and gives it back, as if Robin Hood was a producer from Mississippi. Beginning with M.I.A early in his career, Diplo has developed the power and influence to put the spotlight onto new waves of sound, he isn’t necessarily an original artist but he is a pioneer.

The need to distil music isn’t a new one, that’s why we liken a new artist to an old one, that’s why smart music libraries such as Spotify and iTunes give suggested artists. For decades we’ve had the Top 40, even branching out into genre specific Top 40 charts, the simple reason being that there are millions of musicians all putting out music. There is no way, even if you spent your life devoted to listening to music, that you would be able to listen to it all. That is why we need big name artists such as Bey, Kanye and Pharrell; because they can introduce us to a new sound, a sound that may/ may not have been stolen from an experimental underground rapper or producer who will make nothing from it.

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“Arca, who was one of the main producers at the helm of Kanye’s Yeezus and yet he’s gained very little exposure.”

It seems then that the most lucrative thing an upcoming artist can do is collaborate with bigger artists that want their specific sound. Then use this artist as a vehicle for themselves and pray that in the future they can become self-sufficient. The most recent examples of this being Sam Smith, after collaborating with Disclosure and Naughty Boy he then went on to win the influential ‘BBC Sound of 2014’, releasing his debut album ‘In the Lonely Hour’ in May. With only a handful of his own songs released he has already become a powerful, well known artist, hitting number 1 on the UK charts with Naughty Boy’s ‘La La La’. On the other side of the spectrum we’ve got artists like Arca, who was one of the main producers at the helm of Kanye’s Yeezus, and yet he’s gained very little exposure. After releasing the ‘Stretch 1’ and ‘Stretch 2’’ EPs in 2012, as well as self-releasing his ‘&&&&&’ mixtape

in 2013 to the ears of a select handful of enthusiasts, his forthcoming debut album, due to be released this year, will give an interesting look into whether the face or the sound of an album is more important.

So how much does an artist really contribute to their own music?

Dependent on who the artist is and whether they want to be involved with the song writing and production process, they will have a very up to date, in the loop group of production taste makers backing the artists output, the labels that own the rights to the artist obviously have a lot of money invested into the artists and as such will use all of their power to bring in proven songwriters. These proven songwriters will then bring in proven producers, and if they’re able they’ll bring in big names to add weight for publicity, this means that as the process

of developing an album proceeds the amount of input that the ‘face’ is able to put in is becoming more and more diluted. Obviously this doesn’t go for all artists but the general consensus across the charts is that albums are sadly becoming much more of a collaborative machine powered by labels who need the profit, rather than an actual insight into the artist themselves, the huge team behind each release strives for perfection, but they don’t realise

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The Lost Tapes

Since the inception of hip hop as a genre we have been treated to our fair share of classic albums. Be it Nas’ ‘Illmatic’, Eminem’s ‘MMLP’ or most recently, Kendrick’s ‘Good Kid Maad City’ it’s not as if we have been deprived of jaw dropping music. Yet even with the abundance of great music, there have been those ‘what if’ moments, when an artist teases or announces a project that ends up being locked away or never made. Below is a selection of 4 tapes over the years that I wish had never been lost.

Child Rebel Soldier I still remember the day when the first CRS track dropped and how ridiculously excited I was. A group comprising of Kanye, Pharrell and Lupe; all of whom an argument for GOAT could be made, this was an otherworldly proposition… and it was actually happening! Or so I thought anyway. With a name for an album set (God Willing) and a sonic direction set “The type of music we’re making will have that longevity like the rock artists have. Which is something hip hop artists don’t have” - Lupe Fiasco that was different from anything at the time, everyone had a hell of a lot to be excited about. The group’s first single was a remix to the club hit ‘Everyone Nose’ by N.E.R.D with Lupe ripping it to shreds.

Now she got high hopes / Just to say hi to us / She want the high life / She like them higher ups Next was ‘Us Placers’, which saw the group rhyme over a melodic, rhythmic and infectious piano beat. Though the deliveries were nothing special, it was the perfect single. ‘Dont Stop’ ironically was the last song released by CRS with both Lupe and Kanye attacking the beat with vicious tenacity. hh Though fairly recently Lupe took to his Twitter to let us know the project had been shelved, in the three tracks we had the pleasure to listen to, the blueprint for a classic is there. I think I speak for everyone when I say, I really do hope this project does eventually drop.

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Murder Inc. The problem with Murder Inc. is no surprise considering the supposed group consisted of; Jay Z, DMX and Ja Rule. This was a clash of the titans, a clash of egos, having only themselves to blame for this project never seeing the light of day. A project that in many people’s eyes would have been an instant classic. Sadly the lasting image of the group is the infamous XXL Cover and a handful of tracks they recorded with each other throughout the years.

As Ja Rule said it in an interview with XXL (2011) the tension between Jay and DMX made it impossible for them to work together for a prolonged period of time: “X and Jay didn’t fuck with each other at all. It was hard getting them in a room together.”

Murdergram in my opinion is the best example of what the trio were capable of when in the booth together. Harder than a straight up 100% shot of vodka – over a rugged, minimalistic beat Jay’s immense flow starts it off, followed by Ja Rule’s undeniable delivery ending with an over-the-top verse by DMX. With DMX constantly on cloud9, Ja Rule just out of jail and Jay now a business man “business man” any chance of a reunion is completely off the cards; something of a shame considering there is nothing out there right now that could match the intensity of these three in the booth at once.

Nas & DJ Premiere Dow Jones

Ice Cube & Dr Dre Helter Skeltah

The early 00’s were full of rumoured releases ranging from the on-going Detox to Madvilliany 2, so when word broke that Nas and DJ Premiere would be getting together, shit went cray.

There’s no doubting Nas’ lyrical ability but many, including myself have been complaining about his beat selection for years, so when DJ Premiere confirmed that he had been working on the production - hip-hop fans all over the world rejoiced.

Ice Cube & Dr. Dre – Helter Skeltah Ever since Ice Cube made the decision to leave N.W.A, his relationship with Dr. Dre has been a rollercoaster. It’s not as if personally both artists haven’t done well for themselves over the last 20 years though. Cube’s musical presence has significantly died down, yet when a track drops you tend to notice and he even has a decent acting career going now (his performance in 21 Jump Street is epic). Whilst Dre has uncovered some of the biggest hip-hop artists of all time in Eminem, 50 Cent & Kendrick, launched a monster of an audio visionary brand in “Beats’ and has still managed to keep us interested in the ever lasting soap-opera that is Detox.

Shortly after the confirmation though Nas had other ideas and entered the dreaded ‘Hip-Hop Is Dead’ phase, championing the oldschool, not seeing the benefit of the new trends arising within the genre that he helped go global. He did though appear on a Premiere posse cut ‘Classic’ featuring Rakim and KRS-ONE back in the mid noughties; yet since the albums supposed inception Nas has released 3 albums, with Premiere producing not one beat for the acclaimed emcee.

This had been an album I was more than happy to place in the same pile as Murder Inc. and Detox but during a recent interview with DJ Premiere that all changed. He speaks about working with the likes of Macklemore on some new material he once again drops a hint that we very well may be seeing Dow Jones sometime soon…

“He’s currently working on a follow up to Life is Good but after that… it will be done”

The funny thing is that Dre’s decision to nurture talent (his focus now squarely being on Kendrick) is the one and only reason him and Cube haven’t had the chance to get into the booth together.

As Cube himself puts it; “It ain’t gonna pop until Dre say it’s gonna pop because he gotta do the music. I got rhymes. It’s not like I ain’t got nothing to rap about … It’s better to wait for his full undivided attention than to do some shit and people be like ‘uhhh.”

With a name like ‘Natural Born Killaz’ you would be forgiven for thinking the production would be gruesome and haunting... and Dre does not disappoint.

Using a hypnotic drumbeat, erratic chimes and distorted guitar chords to create the perfect backdrop for himself and Cube to tell their stories.

It would be amazing to see the likes of Freddie Gibbs and Kendrick Lamar from the new school trade bars with these two legends. Whilst Dre could enlist the likes of Hit-Boy to infuse some youthful spirit experimentation to his cinematic production. Yet regardless of how awesome this project could be there’s about as much chance of it happening as Detox... if not less.

Written by Konrad Ziemlewski Photography by Kay

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The TDE Struggle

Written by Jonathon Bartlett Photography by NRK P3

The internet told me that 2013 was the year of TDE, but it wasn’t, it was the year of Kendrick. Good Kid Mad City released at the end of 2012, following this Kendrick blew up on a serious level that I don’t think anyone really preempted, even given his incredible past work in the form of Section 80 and Overly Dedicated. However, without an album drop from the camp at all last year, and a much maligned ScHoolboy Q eager to make his name for himself with Oxymoron, there’s clearly some problems in the camp trying to figure out how

to shine the now 5 other artists they represent, given Kendrick’s position at the top of the game.

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“Black Hippy are The Fantastic Four. Kendrick leads the group just like Mr Fantastic, ScHoolboy’s gotta be The Thing, Ab-Soul the Human Torch and Jay Rock embodies the Invisible Woman perfectly” ScHoolboy Q’s album, Oxymoron, has supposedly been ready for about 5 months now. In fact, with an interview with The Breakfast Club, Q said that he would quit rapping if the album didn’t drop by 2013. This was in March 2013, though luckily for us he’s still rapping, Q’s infuriation at the ineptitude of the label to release his album has been clear, and the two ‘top dogs’ (sorrynotsorry) of the label have received criticism from the hip-hop community for… well… fucking about to be brusque.

Following XXL-gate where the cover featured the strapline ‘Kendrick Lamar and Black Hippy’, Q and Ab-Soul publicly stated their anger towards the situation. But really what else did they expect given that 2013 was not the year TDE ran things, as Punch stated, but the year of their current star. In 2013 they were not functioning as a team. Kendrick’s features on Born Sinner, MNIMN and Control kept him maintaining a massive buzz, yet the way Q has been handled by his superiors has made him look quasi-Detoxy, I mean he tweeted in May last year that the album was ready. TDE really need to fix up, pushing back deadlines increases hype for a while, but inevitably it’s just going to piss people off to the point where they don’t want to support with their money anymore.

So far we’ve heard four tracks from Oxymoron: Yay Yay, Collard Greens, Man of the Year, and the most recent track ‘Break The Bank’ produced by Alchemist has proven to everyone that this is going to be worth the wait as the fans have been expecting. But there is a sense that even though I think it’s safe to say it’s going to be a contender for album of the year, the way that the label

is focusing the spotlight on one artist at a time makes the claim that they’ll be dropping 6 albums this year nigh-on impossible.

Black Hippy are The Fantastic Four.

Kendrick leads the group just like Mr Fantastic, ScHoolboy’s gotta be The Thing (sorry, just makes aesthetic sense), Ab-Soul brings the heat like the Human Torch – tracks like Nibiru show that he can fly off when he wants – and Jay Rock embodies the Invisible Woman perfectly, making nearly no foothold in, well, anything in 2013, as we were left blissfully reminiscent of his fantastic Money Trees verse.

This is the main issue I have with the current trajectory of TDE, they have a strong four-man roster, but the new additions of SZA (pronounced sizza) and Isaiah Rashaad don’t seem to blend as well. Bare in mind that Black Hippy have been working together for years, created countless tracks as a unit and toured together as a team for a good period of time. SZA is a talented girl, she’s got her own sound and niche yet it doesn’t fit in with any of the aforementioned 4. Isaiah Rashaad clearly has chops in the rap game, he got signed while his tracks hadn’t even hit 10k listens on Soundcloud, but he seems to sit in the lane between Kendrick and Ab-Soul; from what we’ve heard so far he isn’t really bringing anything new to the table.

Isaiah’s upcoming ‘demo’ Cilvia will be released by the time you read this, but other than the Shot You Down remix, the other releases from the tape haven’t lived up to expectations. He’s clearly got drive, and ideas about where he wants to go, but it’s going to be a while until he reaches the level of his peers; they’ve built up their skillset and individual sound over a good 4/5 years each if not longer. The release date was set on the 17th of January, giving it 11 days for promo before it drops, yet even as someone who’s pretty much intertwined with the current scene, I only found out by chance whilst looking through his twitter.

The sad news is that neither SZA nor Rashaad have enough of a fan-base to sustain themselves without the

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weight of big name features. SZA’s ‘S’ was an interesting listen – Felix Snow production always makes my ears prick up – but I can’t see how such a delicate voice is going to work amongst Kendrick’s inventive flows and delivery, Q’s hard beats or Jay Rock’s subject matter. This makes it a strange choice to add her to the roster, tracks like ICE MOON are where she shines as an interesting artist, but her slow, cloudy beats simply won’t allow for certain members to wax lyrical to the best of their abilities.

I’d love to be proven wrong, and I’ll hold my reservations on making any definitive decision until I hear more collaborative music. But given that GKMC is the only ‘real’ album that’s been released by the camp so far (Include Follow Me Home if you want, I wouldn’t), I feel like their management has implemented the diversification process far too quickly.

Kendrick was EVERYWHERE last year, whilst Q struggled to find a single that popped on the radio – he had Collard Greens but the majority of that was due to K Dot’s verse, even if it made

no sense in Spanish – Soul and Rock will both have albums out this year, but given that we’ve basically been waiting on the doorstep of Oxymoron for nearly a year now, I’m not sold that TDE know how to market artists that require a little more thought, not everyone is the next savior of hip-hop like King Kendrick.

There needs to be more foresight from the team, and less spontaneity. You shouldn’t be announcing the date of a tape 11 days before it comes out. It’s like a watered down version of Bey’s tactic and frankly it doesn’t make much sense. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that TDE have some of the most talented rappers on the planet right now, all doing things in their own lane and doing it well. Big name artists have well thought out drops for their projects that respect the amount of time they’ve put into crafting the album, but TDE blew up from being a known underground label into one that harbors some of the finest our beloved genre has to offer.

Even with their distribution and promotional ties with Interscope and

Aftermath, it doesn’t seem like they’ve learnt quickly enough to warrant their stranglehold around the top echelons of the game. It’s not going to be an easy ride having a roster brimful of talent.

If history has taught us anything it’s that very rarely do groups do anything but push forward the career of one particular artist. If Black Hippy are the equivalent of the Fantastic Four, then their management need to stop acting like Doctor Doom before certain members take the opportunity to defect.

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The State of Rhythm and Blues Where is it now and where has it been?

Written by Robbie Russell Photography by NRK P3 & Jay

So, R Kelly has a new album out. It’s called Black Panties.

It’s about sex and literally nothing else and, well, it’s shit. The so- called King of R&B dubbed his latest effort as ‘baby making music,’ so obviously not a great deal has changed since his previous album or even the 10 preceding it. R hasn’t lost any strength in his voice, and let’s not forget that the same voice basically defined R&B as a genre in the late 90’s bringing it commercial success like never before.

However, I’m no expert, but “I killed the pussy, dig a

grave” is hardly the type of lyricism that’s going to get those reproductive juices flowing. Rhythm and Blues has changed, or in fact has just further evolved, so perhaps it’s time for Kels to step down and pass on the sceptre. (Although knowing him, it’s probably shaped like a cock. Who would want that, and who knows where it’s been?)

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‘Rhythm and Blues’ was a phrase first used to describe a sub-genre of AfricanAmerican jazz that was developing in the US in the late 40’s, known by the Billboard Chart Company as the Harlem Hit Parade. Closer to jazz than to the soul usually associated to it nowadays, early R&B was all about youth culture. Louis Jordan, Roy Brown, Billy Wright and others took Black music to the mainstream, making what Robert Palmer described as “urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat.”

Originally starting out in Harlem, the genre in it’s earliest form was all about having a good time in the face of adversity. A new generation of American artists found their voice, singing about sex, poverty, unemployment and and in the years of depression following the Second World War, it struck a chord with young people from all backgrounds. Shows were exciting, raucous and often shut down.

As American society developed, so did it’s music. By the time segregation was abolished, white Americans were accepted in what was always a uniquely black genre. In 1957, Elvis had two hits on Billboard’s R&B chart, and then went on to have shitloads more.

Rhythm and blues had birthed ‘Rock ’n’ Roll’, which would go on and dominate the Billboard Hot 100 for the next few years.

It then wasn’t until two African American labels, Motown and Sar came up, bringing Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations and others with them, that real rhythm and blues made a return. Soulful, African American singers were the only real competitors with rock and roll for mainstream success at the time, the best thing though, is that it was genuinely good music. Timeless tracks like Pappa Was a Rolling Stone, or Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay, will never be forgotten, and no matter how often they’re mauled by hopeful shit-munchers on the X-Factor, they’re still cherished by almost

“Is you is or is you ain’t my baby Maybe baby’s found somebody new Or is my baby still my baby true?”

Louis Jordan Is You or Is You Ain’t My Baby (1944) everyone, and still have prevailing influence on modern black music today.

“Folks say Papa never was much on thinking, Spent most of his time chasing women and drinking” The Temptations Pappa was a Rollin’ Stone Then what the fuck happened?

R&B absolutely dominated the US music industry in the 80’s. While we had Wham! twatting about, and Kate Bush losing it, across the pond they had Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and The Isley Brothers. Then music across the world started it’s slow decline into industrialisation, with manufactured nonsense being pumped out of every tape deck, stereo and orifice possible.

As the 80’s became the 90’s rap came up strong, becoming popular with almost anyone with a bit of sense. R&B however was polluted with hallmark bullshit, typified by Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey and TLC. The genre in the mainstream became about love, or just romanticised accounts cringeinducing encounters that just don’t exist in real life.

Don’t get me wrong, we all like a bit of Craig David every so often but in general, the whole aesthetic of late 80’s/ early 90’s contemporary popular music was unforgivable, and what’s worse is that it gave rise to the Spice Girls among others. Pop had taken on a candy coated urban guise and called itself rhythm and blues, when really anything good from the genre it that era was from underground artists like Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill who

56 stayed in line with hip hop, just as it was taking off big time.

Now we go full circle. In 1993 the saviour of soul was given to the world in the shape of a corn-rowed Demigod with a penchant for leather trousers, questionable mental health and a love of gold(en showers). R Kelly hit the charts hard, offering a somewhat viable alternative to gangsta- rap for people who liked gangsta rap, just not all of the time. A string of hits, bestselling albums cemented Kels Place as the King of R&B. Even rap cross-over clusterfucks with Jay Z failed to sully his reputation, and still went multi platinum. Love him or hate him, his hit making ability is, or was, undeniable and even his weirdest shit, which incidentally is some of the weirdest shit in music history, was huge. So huge, and so weird though that it did put people off making anything similar, because the novelty wore off and by the millennium, R&B just seemed to die.

People were still making it and listening to it, but it was the same format every time.

In the early 00’s rhythm and blues lost the heritage and definition it’s fans

were so proud of before, and had been monopolised by Disney Kids, dancers and dickheads. In 2006, R&B meant Akon, JoJo and whoever happened to win that season of USA Pop Idol; in ’46 to ’96 it meant a real artist who was endeavouring for originality, and speak what was on the mind of youth at the time. Ne- Yo was so sick of love songs, anyone with taste was sick of Ne Yo. For the next few years the genre was little more than chart fodder with everyone with a fitting image getting their grubby little hands on it. It was listened to by schoolgirls or the type of weird American Casanova that you can still see wooing hood-rats on Cheaters.

Dark days indeed. Even though Justin Timberlake was making some great party tracks, Beyonce was smashing

“I’m all up in your middle, I’m just keepin’ it real with y

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It did, spectacularly.

Contemporary music of the past 5 years is really all about innovation and the use of technology to create sounds that had never been heard before. Now this, for the most part, meant contributing to the undeniable force of the EDM movement, but for some, it breathed life into beloved but aged genres. The XX, Alt- J, Pheonix and Tame Impala and others did it for guitar music, Gorillaz for hip hop and then a whole host of young artists started adapting and evolving forms of R&B, to make it arguably the most exciting genre of contemporary music once more.

of R&B. Instead enjoy what the new age will bring; because so far, it’s made R Kelly look like the senile old piss-bag that he is.

, Ooh it taste like Skittles you, Girl I got a sweet tooth” R. Kelly - Sweet Tooth

it and Rhianna was coming into her own, they were all seen as popular personalities rather than musicians who were part of a musical movement that stood for anything or represented anyone. The genre died a death in the Noughties, and when Crazy Frog was Number 1 all over the world, so did music as a whole.

The reasons why though were simple: Young people just didn’t care anymore.

If they weren’t trying to make it as Rappers, they were trying to break through in a garage- rock band. There was no point in trying to make David Guetta brand euro-shite, because David Guetta was making enough on his own.

And why make R&B when no-one took it seriously anymore? It’s all fine to be able to sing a John Legend song on Youtube or on a reality show, but that just isn’t what R&B is all about. It’s enigmatic. It’s about change, making music about change and changing the music to move with the times. It has always been as influenced by new music as itself was influential and it was because of this that up until that

13’ era R&B, forged through a real appreciation of the genre, is a million miles away from the swooning nineties nonsense of Boyz II Men and TLC. We have Frank Ocean, James Blake, Banks, AlunaGeorge, Chet Faker, Blood Orange, MNEK, Thundercat and Sampha as well as a whole host of incredibly talented producers now making music for and about the current generation. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, it’s distributed better, straight from artist to listener in may cases, which means it comes in a much purer form, without product placement, corporate demands and label deadlines.

Soul became the most important and indicative feature of R&B in the 50’s, and it’s a shame to say that it was dangerously close to being lost in our lifetime. Musically, it sounds dramatically different to the golden era, but like lightning, inspiration never strikes in the same place twice.

The electricity though is back, the soul restored and the interest revived.

Leave Will.I.Am and R Kelly to do their ‘thang’, but don’t grace it with the title

“Never guilty.

Say it ain’t your fault, Because you had an emotionally abusive daddy.”

Banks - Change

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Bipolar Sunshine

bipolarsunshine.com @bipolarsunshine

Adio Merchant, who goes by the name Bipolar Sunshine, is the solo project of the voice behind Kid British. Having split with his bandmates, his new sound is full of crazy hooks, up-beat production and heartfelt lyrics. Meeting him prior to a sold-out show, we talked Kanye West, his own record label and A$AP Rocky.

Photography by Emily Rose, Martin Sharman & Megan Goodwin

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“It’s a massive difference, a whole different vibe. When the music changes, the audience’s mentality changes” How did you get into music? Was it school that pushed you in that direction or your family?

I wasn’t really that into music at school.

I tried to write songs but that’s about it.

When I finished University, I stopped with a band and felt I had to find my own route. University started the ball rolling and convinced me that what I wanted to do was worth pursuing.

What would you say is the main difference between Kid British and now? Especially regarding stage performance.

It’s a massive difference, a whole different vibe. When the music changes, the audience’s mentality changes. I’m taking it all in though, enjoying it. It’s a lot to take in and learn, especially coming from a band, having to take the lead now isn’t easy, the spotlight is on me. But I’m not complaining.

I heard Kanye West is one of your biggest influences. Why? and have you seen Bound 2?

Initially I wasn’t really that down to it but hey it might grow on me. I feel it’s pretty much his worst video, him being self indulgent. Having his wife, his possessions and him front and centre.

Yet I feel he’s always been like that and we shouldn’t be surprised by it.

Have you got a favourite Kanye song or album?

Lately I’ve been vibin’ to Late Registration, so gonna go with that.

Though I do enjoy all of them.

Are there any influences we might not expect from you?

Depends what people class as to be expected. I’m first and foremost into good music, regardless of genre. So to answer the question, might there be something unexpected? Yeah I guess, but I don’t know what people might find unexpected.

How do you feel about being boxed into any one genre?

It’s how the industry works... it can’t function without genres. Personally I don’t particularly like it, since I dabble in multiple genres and mediums, so why should I be boxed in? What do you think?

Personally I hate it. Yet from a branding point of view it’s pretty much essential for the mainstream.

My favourite track of yours is Rivers. The crazy upbeat hip-hop infused production and smooth lyrics work a treat. What is the story behind it?

It means a lot to me since it was one of the first songs I wrote following me leaving Kid British. Whenever you do anything by yourself after something like that, you feel really down, what do I do? Yet it seemed to bring out the best out of me. Rivers is just me trying to get out of a rut.

It has been said numerous times that you freestyled the song Fire. Is that a normal process for you?

The two verses were done literally off the dome, over the beat. The lyrics were altered slightly but the main sentiment of what I said initially stays in the track.

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“It pretty much just said ‘keep doing what your doin’.”

As for do I normally freestyle every song? It really depends, but I do often try to write down the first thing I think of to give every track and organic feel.

What was the reason behind starting your own label?

Making music is just one aspect of the industry. Everything else around music I enjoy as well. So when I decided to get back into music, I wanted to do everything my way. The idea was if people enjoyed what I was putting out off my own back, then eventually I would bring others in.

It’s incredibly popular now that with the likes of both the Mack’s and even indie bands like The Neighbourhood going independent.

Yeah definitely - my label is co-signed with Polygon Music which helps.

Through this I’ve been able to do whatever I wanted in my music without anyone standing in my way.

So... that A$AP Rocky shoutout?

Oh yeah! I can’t remember where I was but some Polish guy messaged me, saying A$AP checked you out. His whole movement is great, being able to appreciate it from afar is awesome. So for someone of his stature to say he was lovin’ the remix was amazing. It pretty much just said ‘keep doing what you’re doin’.

If you could collaborate with out artist and producer?

Pharrel and Alex Turner. It would be pretty damn interesting. Throw it in a mix and see what happens.

How do you go about the whole aesthetic side of your music?

I get involved with everything. There’s a designer from Manchester that works on my EP covers and the majority of other creative stuff. There’s a team behind me that can input creatively, like

Jazz Purple, the producer who co-owns the label with me. It would be cool to sign artists and designers in the future though.

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The Lyrical Miracle Written by Marlon Dorsett Photography by Alan Wieme

Allow me to start this piece by telling you 2Pac isn’t lyrical and that Nas is one of the greatest lyricists of all time. For anyone that knows the genre well enough, the opening statement seems about as informed as DMX is on Google, and in a strange world, it’s an opinion that seems to be held by a large number of Hip Hop fans (a large number, meaning not everyone, because blanket statements make an argument invalid). I guess I’m just hanging around with the wrong people.

The reason why statements such as the opening one drives me crazy simply comes down to the hypocrisy and how untrue it is. Fans within the genre have programmed themselves into thinking that the word ‘lyricism’ means one of three things.

The first being the ability to draw more than one meaning from a singular bar, even if the artist may not have intended it - because let’s be honest, we all have the ability to let our imagination run wild like Hulkamaniacs in the 80’s, and the site Rap Genius is proof of that. Secondly, we have the illusion that whenever a rapper uses big words or just raps over (preferably) an East Coast sounding beat, they’re automatically a God-send for all the hip hop enthusiasts to get wet over. Lastly, there seems to be the infatuation with punchline rap, which rappers seem to have incorporated a lot more over the past few years, despite it being used heavily with rappers in the 90’s such as Big L, Chino XL, Ras Kass and more.

Did I mention that any rapper that mentions the government is the only form of hip-hop you, your girlfriend and I should be listening to?

“Did I mention that any rapper that mentions the government is the only form of hip-hop you, your girlfriend and I should be listening to?

63 So what about those that use words to express how they feel about a specific moment or event in their life? Of course, the opening statement isn’t a blanket statement and not EVERY hip hop fan has uttered those words.

We’re not all that mindlessly shallow and the examples of lyricism above don’t all come from the same sort of fan. While some crossover, some just aren’t true for people that enjoy the music for what it is. A party rapper makes party music, rappers who want to be deep shall spread their messages and then there’s the others in between.

Everyone has a lane and most play to them pretty well, which makes finding music similar to, easier than it could be. But why of course do we still hear the words “They’re not a lyricist” even if there seems to be some sort of feeling or emotion behind the words painted on a track? Do people enjoy the feeling of jumping fences, because a lot of fans come across as sheep and honestly - it’s pathetic.

But once again, what does lyricism mean and why are today’s fans so infatuated with a rappers abilities to woo them technically, without any real substance of what they’re saying.

Sure, there is some sort of art to it and it does show some wit, but if you were speaking to someone that didn’t know how to handle being serious, continuously dropping cringe-worthy puns to a conversation, you eventually turn off and they stop becoming funny and instead become annoying. There is an art to this thing and I believe that in order to get the point across, these things should be a rarity and that’s not to say I don’t appreciate them, but sometimes, it gets a little OD. We’ve grown accustom to rappers going from naming people in diss songs, trying to ruin their credibility, to those that enjoy using the “if the shoe fits, wear it” mentality, which would be fine if these rappers clearly weren’t talking about someone they clearly have a problem with - and yet, there are still people who are amazed by verses that send shots at a rapper, without name dropping, all in the name of what some may call lyricism. There’s reasons why songs such as Hit Em Up, Ether, 300 Bars & Runnin’, The Bitch In Yoo (I could name songs for days), get so much praise and that’s because they got to the point. I don’t like you and you don’t like

me. There was no beating around the bush like a bunch of bitchy school girls, because when people had problems, you either aired them out with that person or you squashed it like real men. Stop with the pillow talk.

We’ve got to a point in Hip Hop where we now praise bars that are about as witty as Tim Vine’s jokes. Creatively, the rappers we claim as lyricists all follow the same cliches and formulas and the rappers we claim are okay at best are rappers who get straight to the point with their 16s. Dom Kennedy said it best when saying he’d rather say some dope shit in one line that hits home, over spending time multiple trying to get that same point across, and sometimes, that’s best.

Once again, don’t confuse this as an article that’s bashing “lyricists”, because they’re not so much the problem, but more-so the fans that praise them and write off everything else as inferior. After all, is there any need for thought, while under the influence at a party? Vibe a little, have more fun and stop taking the genre so seriously - simply re-evaluate - is it really that impressive?

“It’s the elephant in the room Created by a collision of the sun and the moon” Black Thought - Bird’s Eye View

Now don’t take this as me saying I don’t appreciate people who put work into their craft, because I do. I understand how much effort it takes to write verses, but do we as fans really enjoy discrediting someone’s music simply because it isn’t “lyrical” enough? Back to the opening statement - does the phrase “they’re not really that lyrical” a cop out excuse for simply saying you just don’t like, understand or get the message they’re trying to get across?

With the opener, an opinion held by many, you have two very similar artists, the only difference is one’s most critically acclaimed or well known album is known as the best display of lyricism and is considered the best Hip Hop album of all time, whereas the other’s most popular effort is an album full of party songs, while being signed to a label that heavily pushed music for people to enjoy themselves to. The term lyricism causes problems in arguments, because it becomes less about the music and more about what looks best on a piece of paper. Maybe you just don’t like the song or artist, but the lyrical excuse is about as played out as pre-owned PS2 - now do you see my point about forcing punchlines?

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