Shivz Dot - Refuge

With 10 mix-tapes, 2 albums and a nationwide tour under his belt in addition to featuring on the MOBO’s Awards and BBC1Xtra Home-grown segment, and signing a management deal with The Rising Tide, we can only anticipate what’s next for East London musician, Shivz Dot.

I caught up with him to find out where it all started, who he’s collaborated with and his plans for the future.

‘When I was 14, I had airtime over both Urban Tings FM & Axe Fm in North London which were both huge internet Grime radio platforms back in 2005 and 2006‘, explained Shivz, when asked where his career began.’

This exposure enabled him to attract an audience, allowing him to rub shoulders with Grime Pioneers and most importantly get airplay across various London radio stations. He Recalls ’me and my friends started going to every radio set from Angel Whitelion to Dagenham, Redbridge and barking.’

At the age of 19, he  signed to a music management deal with Hackney’s , Rising Tide which specialises in training courses, creative apprenticeships, master-classes, and artist development , all of which provided Shivz with the skills and network base to pursue his music.

‘In 2008, I was selected as one of the final 10 to open at the MOBO awards, which was a great experience that I’ve used to better my craft.

During that time I did have to drop management due to a few shady movements, but I’ve learnt to NEVER mix family and businesses. ‘


‘I haven’t looked back since. They’re ‘no regrets’ - like Dappy says. But I’ve definitely sacrificed my social life, but it’s not really a sacrifice when I totally enjoy what I'm doing full time. I've been dominating the mix-tape scene with 10 releases, 11 on the way.

‘I’m sitting on 2 albums worth of material and I toured nationwide in 2010’ where he performed at the Big Chill, Lovebox, Indigo2, Hackney Empire and Bigga Fish. He recalls ‘It was a good feeling to see the crowd show mad appreciation for London talent.’ His 2nd tour is set to take place this summer.

‘At the end of 2011 I had my first national airplay on BBC1xtra on Target’s Home-grown show. In January I released my ground-breaking Refuge video which went viral and now has over 20,000 views to date.’

‘On my mix-tapes I say what I like and no one can tell me anything, but with the album stuff I tend to use my intelligence more than my ignorance,’ he laughs. ‘I appeal to all ages, all ages, but prominently 13 – 25.

'My influences are the old skool and just ground breaking moments in general in all types of music I tend to watch a lot of documentaries and archive footage of all the greats in music industry.'

‘I don't try and appeal to any audience I do the damn job and people just love what I do from all walks of life I don't go in the studio trying to get a certain sound anything you hear is just natural progression an I guess I’ve just proven I can do grime but easily switch up an go commercial & still sound damn good.

When asked about current and future collaborations he says ‘Let’s just say I've worked with some R & B Royalty within the UK when the album drops everyone will know.’

When asked who he’s inspired by he replies ‘me myself & I’ He continued ‘I have to aspire to better myself and that’s inspiration within itself.

I've turned down management deals from Crown Music who manages Jessie J not to mention a deal with Virgin so I’m not jumping into any contracts just yet, but expect an album sooner or later, more videos and just raising the bar worldwide.’

Shivz Dot's latest mix-tape Authentic is out now.

Also, you can follow him via Twitter and Youtube, as well as contact him personally viaFacebook.

Xploder - Line OF Fire

From being the centre of attention at family function to taking his music abroad to The Czech Republic and Italy as well as receiving major support from radio stations such as BBC 1Xtra, BBC Radio 1, Kiss 100 and Choice FM after the released of his EP ‘Line Of Fire' as well as being described as ‘an artists to look out for in 2011’ by BBC Radio 1 DJ Ras Kwame you could say this musician is destined to succeed this year.  Xploder is an up and coming musician from East London who has been pursuing a music career for just over 4 years.

I thought I’d catch up with Xploder himself to find out more.

Similar to many artists, Xpolder started, rapping and producing his own material underground. He then joined the infamous ‘Highly Rated Camp’ alongside Beckz Winter and his brother DDark as they shared the same ambitions to further their music careers, individually as well as a collective. The camp was a huge success and became recognised as an underground company, which then gave them the chance to appear and perform on UK pirate and internet radio stations such as Mystic FM, Deja Vu, Rinse FM, Heat FM and Axe FM.

Since then he has released two singles ‘Don’t Trust You’ and ‘So True’ which have both accumulated mass support and following in addition to being selected as an ambassador for the “I Am Awards” which aims to offer unsigned and self-releasing artists a platform to share their music. His name alone may come across as intimidating to most, but it’s simply an expression, that represents his unexpected talent.  He describes himself as ‘quite a reserved individual’ yet he is ‘known to astound music lovers with his explosive lyrical energy and musical abilities’.

’I'm a grime musician from East London, so I write and perform songs’ says Xploder  ‘From a young age I always used to be the centre of attention when it came to family gatherings whenever music was played. I remember singing and dancing around with a small toy cassette player that had a microphone attached to it. So music has always been part of my life.'

He would say that the best place his music has taken him has to be ‘abroad to Italy and the Czech Republic. He explains ‘seeing hundreds of people being able to connect to my music even with the language barrier, it's amazing trust me! He would say that he’s more interested in that fortune rather than the fame as ‘as it gives you the power to invest and build.’

‘My inspiration is my mum as she is such a hard worker, and has always made me believe that anything is achievable with working hard’. He is also inspired by a range of artists include Dizzee Rascal, Coldplay, Jay-Z, Ludacris, Michael Jackson, Nas, Outkast, Stevie Wonder and UB40. 

Four qualities he feels a good musician should have are ‘Consistency, organisation, focus and versatility. He says 'all these go hand in hand. Once you leave one of these elements out, you end up falling short. In the UK I think we’re all finding ourselves within the industry and understanding the infrastructure behind it. This is helping to boost the music we love and make to the forefront of the UK.  This definitely helps me as an artist, as it creates many avenues for me to get my music heard.’

’I promote myself in many different ways. For example, I have a good team consisting of a plugger, PR and booking agent. I also make sure my social networks are always buzzing with something. He says 'The most effective way to promote yourself as an artists is the internet.  You allows you to have unlimited access to a wide range of people instantly'.

Although his Line of Fire EP is out now via iTunes, in the future we can expect him to be ‘pushing a few single from the EP with visuals’ as well as a ‘single release and video for HYPE SHOW’

You can now contact Xpolder via his Official Site, Facebook and even follow him on Twitter. 

Tribal Man Magz - 21 Dares

‘We keep it global not local’ says Kofi formally known as Tribal Man Mags who brought us the infectious funky house anthem ‘Tribal Man Skank’ back in 2009. Tribal Man is a musician from East London who originally started out his career at pirate radio stations such as Axe FM and Flava FM but immediately accumulated a huge following propelling him into the limelight via BBC 1xtra, Choice FM and Kiss FM. He is currently in the process of completing his long awaited album ‘21 Dares’ which débuts later this year.

I thought I’d catch up with him to find out more.

Alike many artists Tribal Man Mags started his music career from a young age.  In his case, his secondary school playground, where he battled against his peers in year 8 and 9, but he eventually decided to make the transition between hobby and profession when he entered into sixth form. He was then known as 'Magma Man’ and established his own music label ‘Down & Dirty’. He went on to release a single with his collective entitled ‘Prepare to Rewind’, earning ‘Down & Dirty’ the titles of ‘Best Up & Coming’ for the Urban Fusion Awards and ‘Best Newcomer’ for the British African Music Awards in 2008. 

Due his persistence and commitment as an artist he then got the chance to take his music overseas to Ghana, his home land. He explains ‘it was kind of weird because it was a whole different environment, but at the same time they appreciated the music more. I love my country so you could call it a perfect marriage’. When asked how he differs from his alias he says ‘Tribal is more confident, he’s a real bossy guy and likes everything his way’, he says. But Kofi ‘is more reserved and just loves to chill and watch movies all day and laze around.’

His motivation for music comes solely from his emotions, he explains ‘everyone calls me a skitzo, I have different emotions everyday, but I’m just blessed with a gift. I am very versatile so I adapt to any genre my audience likes. My audience ranges from primary school children to Grandparents my sound is universal really’. In his view ‘the funky scene has turned in to a phase instead of a genre and I think we all need to work together to get it banging again.’ 

In the past he has had the pleasure of working with artists such as Ruff and Smooth, Sway, The Saturdays, Gracious K, Flirta D, Funky Dee, K.I.G, Dotstar and Ramzee. He would initially like to work alongside Rick Ross and Pharrell Williams in the future. His inspiration are Jay Z and Rick Ross as he can relate to them as they run their own businesses just like hum and he feels ‘they are great business men. My journey has been a long and exciting one, but I’ m ready to continue on the road to success. In the future you can expect to hear and see ‘a lot of different kind of music. We keep it global never local!

You can now contact Tribal Man Magz via Facebook and Twitter