The 411 Magazine The 411 Magazine issue 4 July/Aug 2017 | Page 26

FEATURE
style to accommodate a team. 
Being a music producer, it’s like
being a psychologist. You have to
suss out very fast the dynamics of
the team or group of artists if
collaborating and cater for the
different personalities to get the
best out of them and the song.
One occasion that stood out, I was
working with a university indie
band. They wanted to keep their
indie sound but wanted hip hop
elements with no bass-line. I was
able to come to a happy medium
without a heavy bass-line, still
keeping the hip hop aesthetic
element that was requested.
You’re known for your honest
realism in your lyrics, is there a
particular situation that bothers
you more than anything else, and
if so, which lyric of yours reflects
your feelings about this the most?
Though I write about my reality
and the things I see and
experience around me, and
though a lot of things do bother
me, I try to focus on the
positive. I'm really not a political
person. But prejudice and
unequal treatment by law
enforcement towards urban
youths does get to me.  There is
lyric is from 'Chosen One', you can
be doing good on top of your
game, but some police, for
no reason will mess around with
you for the sole reason - the
colour of your skin and their
stereotypical views:  "Prince like 
26
Will-is, they're knighting me, I'm with
the Lord cos the devil try fight with
me, I'm from the hood where the
Fed's act like say we ain't got a right
to breath so they don't like police."
Tell us the motivation behind  the
Illstarz/Seismic label?
The motivation for the label was
to use as a vehicle to release my
own music, have creative control
and release music when I wanted
to release music. Also for my
team, so we could release music
for other artists who we were, and
are, working with. The game has
changed, you really do not need
to sign to a major anymore i.e.
skepta, Stormzy for example. Plus,
I wanted us to build the new
Rockefella, No limits, Bad Boy and
the like.
What are your favourite lyrics
from another artists' work and
why?
Kanye West - Touch The Sky: "I'm
trying to right my wrongs. But it's
funny them same wrongs helped
me write this song."
   I can identify with the lyric. I
too have made mistakes in my life
which I regret deeply, but would
not change anything because
those experiences made me into
the person I am today and I find
myself rapping about those same
experiences and mistakes.
You have a very impressive list of
collaborations. who would you 
have liked to work with but is no
longer with us?
Biggy. I love his wordplay, flow,
insight, voice and because I am
sure he would like my beats and I
know we would make something
special.  Also, Fela Ransome Kuti,
my Naija (=Nigerian) musical
Uncle. I like his political activism in
Nigeria and his brand of Afro Beat
with a full band. Listen to 'Lady'
and 'Zombie', then you will
understand what I mean.
Who inspires you and why?
My biggest inspiration is God, my
mother and family. My mother
because I know what she had to go
through with me, my brothers and
my sisters growing up. She always
managed to feed and clothe us all
(and there are a lot of us).  We
never ever wanted for anything.
 Right at this moment, my biggest
inspiration is my baby daughter
who inspires me every day.
What's next for you?
I'm prepping for my next solo
single for the summer. It's a cross
pollination of dancehall, trap and
dance with a commercial twist. I
don't want to talk too much about
it now, I want it to be a surprise!  I’ll
be performing around the Middle
East with some dates in the UK and
have some high calibre production
duties in the pipeline. - AS
Twitter/Instagram: @ayobeatz