Young Kingz - Road To Stardom

‘As far back as the age of 6 I remember me and Fari running around the house singing and pretending to be superstars’ says Zei one half of the duo Young Kingz from London. The duo grew up with music, using their Caribbean and American heritage to retell stories and issues embraced with U.K flows and concepts. They have had the pleasure of working with artist such as Lethal B, Double S and Timbar and are now in the process of releasing their forthcoming EP 'Road to Stardom' which will be available by November.

I thought I’d catch up with Young Kingz to find out their influences, meanings behind their alias’ and plans for the future.

‘We began to take music more seriously in 2008 and 2009 when we saw the amount of hits on our videos and songs as well as promising feedback from our mixtape. Says Zei, who explains how they made the transmission from music being hobby and now their career. He continues ‘it was these kinds of early accomplishments that proved we had the talent and the drive to reach new heights as artists. Since then me and my brother have undertook college & projects to expand our knowledge on music business & technology understanding of the industry.

‘A lot of our influence came from our father, who was also a musician and our role model. Naturally growing up with music side by side helped us to develop our love for entertainment and media. As far back as the age of 6 I remember me and Fari running around the house singing and pretending to be superstars’

‘Young Kingz was originally a group of 7 people, but no one else in the group was taking music as seriously as us. The work load got heavier and people started to drop out. Our music comes at a great cost at the moment. We make a lot of tunes with varied narrative and lyrics, currently the police our trying to take our away our right to perform because certain songs tell a harsh story of the world in the perspective of the urban subculture’.

‘Young Kingz is not only a music group it is a brand and lifestyle so we appeal to the urban scene specifically, as we take inspiration from our experiences. Anyone that falls under the category of the urban scene can relate to the concept of our lyrics. More broadly we appeal to people who enjoy quality Hip-Hop and R&B’.

Some sacrifices they've made include time and money, Fari explains. ‘Time is a precious resource to us, as we all know; the window of opportunity doesn’t stay open forever. So a lot of social luxuries get missed like parties and chilling out with friends. We take our music very seriously were always on time and stick to our word, after all this is music industry; you’re not going to go far if you cannot stick to the basics'.

'Our dad always told us we were Young Kingz throughout our childhood, so it stuck and we ran with it. All our fans have a Young king or queen inside them'. They go on to explain their alias’s individually.

Fari, symbolises our family as well as leadership. It being our last names & name of Haile Selassie Fari the last king.  Zei is pronounced Zee, as a kid a used to play the Saz and was pretty good, fom there, I developed the nick name ‘Saz Master’. The Saz is a musical instrument with Mediterranean origin in string family, with a pear-shaped body and a long neck. As I got older I got rid of the first 2 letters and was know by ‘Z’, the last letter of the alphabet, there have been letters before this but none after.

‘We’ve worked with a range of artists such as Timbar, Kraze, Lethal B, Hardpalm Dun, YoungStarz and Double S - Of Marvel Boys - we don’t discriminate on the basis of recognition but talent. So we have worked with some names that may not ring a bell. The tune we did Double S is still being debated when to drop and the date for our shoot with Lethal B is approaching’.

‘On a larger scale we are working towards releasing a pre-album 'Road to Stardom' which is a more censored and mass market piece, this should be available from November. Just a couple days ago we got the ball rolling on creating/directing a new single concerning the London riots. We have managed to get Nims Obunge behind us with this project and it’s looking promising. Those are the main releases; in the meantime we have about 6 videos ready to drop for our fans that will be out on the internet to progress our buzz’.

When asked their views on the current industry this is what they had to say. ‘I think music industry is in a tough state because of how the record labels and DJ's are operating. Instead of playing music based on talent they are basing it on how much buzz they got already’, says Zei.

‘It is a money thing now days, they don't want to spend as much money branding & promoting anymore. It’s more about how much money could be saved and made than making good music & selling it. With that said it seems like every week someone is blowing up, so that can only be a good thing for the U.K music. I think 'Ed Sheeran' is a very underrated artist his tunes are deep and banging! He’s a talented fella’... he’s next to go global’, says Fari.

Artist that they are inspired by include Busta Rhymes, Drake, Lil Wayne, Sizzla, Freeway and Ludacris. They explain ‘purely on the basis of natural talent, intelligence, wordplay, flow and lyrical insight. Listening to music of all these different genres and origins has definitely played a part in growing our sound'.

‘We are able to put together hooks, flows and concepts that combine U.K life with Jamaican and American influences, which makes us unique and gives us a diverse sound. Producers that inspire Zei to make beats are Dr Dre and Mannie Fresh! They’re the best in the game, with talent that seems to be unrestricted by ability’.

'We’re just going to keep doing us that means work & more work. We are always trying to improve as artists and true entertainers, so we looking to push the boundaries of music. Look out for ‘Road to Stardom’ the EP and stay up to date with all our videos dropping subscribe Youtube and follow us on Twitter.