BIPOC Artists in Scotland's Rap and R&B Scene
photo by Odin Gillies
BIPOC Artists in Scotland’s Rap and R&B Scene.
Words by Panashe Nyadundu.
When thinking about the top hubs for the Rap and R&B scene in the UK, Scotland proves itself to be an emerging and deserving contender. The scene of course, wouldn’t be what it is without the many impressive young BIPOC artists who are shaping it. These are just a handful of the talented artists to look out for.
Nineteen-year- old rapper Washington is one of Scotland’s newer faces in the Rap and R&B scene, but his catchy flows and impressive, conscious lyrics show that he’s here to stay as his EP ‘Rookie’ boasts an array of different sounds.
How did you first get into music?
When I was younger, I used to hang about with my brother and his friends and they would play music. I would try to learn the words to songs I liked. I also listened to a lot of freestyles on Youtube and would test my flows against the people performing.
When I moved to Scotland, I watched music videos all day. I didn’t realise there was a rap scene up here, because if you’re in Zimbabwe, the only rap you would hear is American rap music. When I came here, I realised that people were making music too and in my head; I thought I could do this too.
What artists are you influenced by?
When I was younger, I listened to a lot of Lil Wayne and the whole YMCB era. Then when I moved here, I started to listen to Asap Rocky when he came about in 2012 then from there it was the more obvious ones like Skepta. I used to listen to a lot of freestyles on Youtube like Bl@ckbox and P1 10: Music.
How would you describe your sound?
I wouldn’t put my music in any set genre except rap, but it really depends with what I’m feeling at the time and the kind of beats I get sent. I like experimenting with different sounds; Banzai for example, the idea of that was to make something catchy and more of what people are doing right now, I wanted to show that I could do it too. Whereas ‘Easy G’ has a distinctive lo-fi beat.
What was the creative process like for making the EP?
in terms of the name of it, a rookie is the underrated person and because we randomly brought out the EP we knew no one would expect anything. I knew it would be underrated for a bit but maybe in time people would really deep what’s happened.
The first song of the EP, ‘Lowdown’ was influenced by my surroundings living in Paisley. Everyone is always competing and trying to flex but they don’t know what they’re competing for. They’re just doing it. I’m in the middle though. I don’t want to be a loud person, I’m more chilled and with whatever is going on the lowdown.
I made the EP throughout the first lockdown but ‘Scarface’ and ‘Pray 4 Me’ are older than the rest, I started working on them last year. The song ‘Scarface’ was influenced by the movie, and how the characters move from Italy to America and created this massive empire out of nothing; having moved from Zimbabwe to Scotland, I could relate to the idea of starting from scratch. It’s like a story, I added different events which were both fictional and non-fictional to build a narrative around that.
With ‘Pray 4 Me’, I had both of my verses done before we played it to Feux – who features on the track – he liked the sound of it and hopped on, it worked even though his style is different to mine, the way he came through was sick.
The song ‘Banzai’ (which is a Japanese battle cry meaning “ten thousand years of long life”) was made around the whole concept of knowing that we don’t have a lot of time in life, even though you might wish for a lot more, everything and everyone around you would lose its meaning if you could live forever.
How did lockdown affect your process of making music?
I was off work and that gave me a lot of time to think and write music, that’s how the EP came about. At the start of lockdown, I had it in my head that I wanted to make an EP, which made the writing process a bit harder. Once I stopped thinking like that and started making songs, I would keep whatever was good and I went from there.
What can we expect to hear from you in the future?
A lot of different things. I’m looking to bring out songs which have an R&B vibe, kind of like Drake and also some more hard-hitting songs like ‘Rookie’ and ‘Pray 4 Me’.
We’re currently working on the music video for ‘Lowdown’ which will be out soon.
I’d also like to work with a few people in Glasgow and the rest of Scotland.
I feel like next year, people will still view me as the rookie but it’s all about building up the consistency and proving yourself.
Washington is set to have a promising future, watch this space!
