Kozy - Ali Kosé

After covering tracks from the likes of Lil Wayne, Maroon 5, Jessie J, John Legend and more he’s managed to accumulate more than 50,000 YouTube views. Not only is this South London male a songwriter, but a producer, singer and composer that uses his craft to work with disaffected young people in his local community, where they've worked together to set up an independent radio station.

Kozy formally known as Ali is a musician who started MC'ing at the age of 16, where he made the commitment to write songs to reflect the social times in which he lived.

Since then he has grown from strength the strength expanding his craft. I thought I’d catch up with him to find out more.

‘I sing, song write, play multiple instruments, produce and compose music from different genres. Says Kozy, he continues, ‘when I was 12 I started playing guitar’ from there on he began to develop his love for music. He continues, ‘when I was around 21 years old, I started singing and i found my passion for music grew stronger and before I knew it was taking vocal lessons to develop my unique voice.

For Kozy, Music is ‘self-fulfilment and spiritual healing’; he explains ‘when I sing I feel happy, I feel complete and pure in my soul.

‘My audience are people who enjoy genuine vocal gymnastics and the appreciation of a well-trained voice. Usually, people who feel music from the heart and soul can relate to my raw approach.’

‘My natural focus, versatile vocal range as well as my ability to sing in a pop genre, sweeps across the board and finds its charm into fusing with any given genre of music. I think appeal to people through adapting my lyrics to all age groups and writing songs everyone can relate to.‘

‘I am inspired by Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Motown, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Queen, Frank Sinatra, Baby Face, Boys 2 Men, Fugees, Wyclef, Dru Hill, Musiq Soul Child, Glen Lewis, Pharell Williams, Ginuwine,  Donell Jones, Jon B, 2 Pac, Bob Marley, Damien Marley, Joe, Miguel, Sade, Dr Dre, Dark Child, Destinys Child, Turkish artists, Latin music, film music.’

‘Pretty much anything I can enjoy listening to and take an influence from to help my creativity. The reason why I love music in general is because of Michael Jackson.'

'His tape was bought for me when I was 5 years old in the 80's and from there I fell in love. I’m passionate about all genres of music but, I especially appreciate production from the likes of Quincy Jones for his versatility across the board, especially in film and music production.’

He would say that 3 crucial qualities of a musician are ‘feeling, uniqueness and ability to convey a message’. He explains, ‘A musician should be almost like an actor who can make you feel the theme of the story he or she is narrating through the flow of a unique expression and role play.'

When asked what we can expect from him in the future he says. ‘I’m at the stage of recording my professional original material. So you can expect to hear some unique sounds that I’ve composed wrote & produced myself, with some spectacular music video concepts to go with that. Once that’s done I’ll be touring all around the world making my merchandise available.'

For more of Kozy you can log on to his Official Site as well as follow him via Twitter and Youtube.

Juliyaa - The Rhythm

During her teens she was involved with Bigga Fish which allowed her to tour with artists such as Estelle and Heartless Crew, she has continued to pursue her music career whilst redefining her craft, inspired by the likes of Alicia Keys and Ms Dynamite. Juliya is a singer and songwriter from North London who has recently released her debut video The Rhythm via Youtube which has accumulated over 3,000 views to date.

I thought I’d catch up with Juliya to find out where it all started her sacrifices and plans for the future.

Music was always a part of my life growing up. I started singing in mum's church as a child and wrote my first song when I was 7.  My Dad was in to reggae and soul, and I always remember him playing his favourite artists on the record player in our front room’, she names ‘Bob Marley, Toots & The Maytals and Al Green’ as some of his many favourites, she continues ‘Mum was in to Ghanaian gospel and hi-life which meant that every Sunday morning I woke up to the sound of her cassette player blasting out songs - they were good times’.

She recalls ‘growing up music was about family and culture; it’s always signified something about who I am and what my parents have passed on to me.  In my teens continued singing as a vocalist on the UK garage scene and refined my vocal and song writing skills’. She feels the combination of all the different phases of her life have shaped the type of music she makes today. 

'The Rhythm' is a song that’s all about the effect music has on you. Sometimes you can be sitting there in a room and your favourite song comes on, and before you know it your shoulders are moving, your feet are tapping and then you're up on your feet dancing wildly. That’s what 'The Rhythm' represents to me - the effect the bass, the beat and the melody can have on you as a listener’.

‘My main aim with music is to accurately reflect different emotions that we experience in life – such as love, anger, faith or hope. For me, joy is a big emotion that comes through in my music and I hope my listeners can be uplifted by my music and performances’.

Juliya identifies ‘time and energy’ as her biggest sacrifices in pursuing her music career, she explains ‘as an unsigned artist you’re managing your career independently - doing a lot of gigs without pay, spending spare time doing music administration and generally trying to promote yourself. Music is a round the clock pursuit and you have to be careful not to let it infringe too much on your personal life.’

Yet she feels ‘this sacrifice is worth it’, she continues ‘I believe that I've got a talent and I’m called to share it with the world, so when I see people enjoying my music and I see the joy that it brings them, it all feels worthwhile!

I think female musicians can be limited by negative gender stereotypes in music. Most bands that I’ve been involved in have been male and there can sometimes be senses that if you’re a female musician, people in the music industry don’t take you seriously.

She also feels ‘female artists have a huge pressure to conform to certain unrealistic expectations in terms of their image and appearance.’ She says ‘I am eager as an artist to be respected as a female artist for my music and not to be forced to objectify myself’.

When asked who she thinks is next to blow she says ’my good friend Michael Kiwanuka.  He has recently come off touring with Adele, and sings heartfelt retro soul that sounds like Bill Withers or Otis Redding.  Michael reflects what true music is about - he's amazingly talented and yet humble and let's his music do the talking’.  

‘At the moment the industry has a lot of great artists, and the UK is shining bright globally with many artists seeing success overseas.  At the same time it’s a hard time to be a musician, the market is quite saturated and it has become harder to stand out from the crowd and get your music heard’.

‘Musically, I am inspired by artists such as Alicia Keys. I love her musicianship and her strength. Ms Dynamite, she’s always been an inspiration to me, she grew North London like me so seeing people like her around you succeed, helps you to see what you could achieve’. 

‘My personal inspiration would be my mum.  She is a strong African woman who has shown me what’s important in life and taught me to prioritise my faith and family. She’s always given me the space to pursue my dreams and believed in me even when it has been hard to believe in myself’.

‘In my teens I was involved with a youth organisation called Bigga Fish that saw me tour with artists such as Estelle and the Heartless Crew.  It was an exciting time being a teenager and touring alongside such big London artists who have now gone on to such musical success. They’ve inspired me to think big for the future’.  

In the future, I want to continue to collaborate with great musicians such as the ones I have already been working with and I want to build on amazing relationships that I currently have with friends and musicians such as Si Cliff and Niji Adeleye.

In the future we can expect an EP from Juliya in 2012 as well as ‘more gigging, more songs and more dancing! She says ‘After that, I don't know but I'm excited about what is in store for me’.

You can now follow via her Official Website, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. 

Mr C'mon - Alpha

Previously, he used music to embrace and glamorise inner-city gang culture and violence under the alias Lox. But, he soon saw sense and reformed his entire, character, attitude and beliefs system and now uses his music to uplift and inspire those around him, in addition to working with youths in his local community to combat gang culture. Mr Cmon is a musician from South London who has been pursuing a career in music since the age of 16. Now 22, he is in the process of releasing his debut mixtape Alpha which can be purchased via iTunes on the 24^th September.

I thought I’d catch up with Mr Cmon himself, to find out more,

'I’m an artist, I prefer to be called an artist rather than a rapper because rapper sounds proper cliché and what I intend to put out there - music wise – will be everything but cliché! I started of rhyming during the early days of the garage era. I wrote lyrics with friends in school and around my estate'.

'My first actual proper bars were 70% written by my older brother’ he laughs, ‘but with a few tweaks and enthusiasm, I was able to run with it’. He begins to describe the music scene during the mid 90’s ‘the garage influence soon faded and rap became much more popular on my side of the bridge - South London – which is when I began to embrace rap a lot more, at that time my music would have been classed as gangster rap, it gave me a chance to have more of a passionate platform to express my views and values'.  

'I did this sort of music for about 4 years and due to my talents and influences of my circle of friends, it generated quite a large buzz. I originally went by the name Lox, both in the streets and on the beats; I referred to myself more as Loxamillion. I changed my name from Lox to Mr Cmon many because I changed as a person'.

'Lox represented the dark side of the streets, glamorising the gangster life and its effects. It soon became a ghost, haunting me, one that I just wanted to stay dead! Lox influenced thousands of youth the wrong way and I wanted nothing to do with that anymore. I also wanted to prove a point that I wouldn’t have to succeed off the back of my former alias Lox but with faith and hard work I could become much more than Lox could ever have and impact the world in a much greater way and most importantly a positive light!'

‘People should listen to me because I’ve been blessed with a real gift when it comes to rapping, I see myself as a motivator, an entertainer, basically an all round positive pass time. I don’t need to rap about girls thongs to entertain a male audience, neither do I need to rap vulgarly about sex to engage a female audience, you can play me on the radio without the radio edit’ he laughs ‘ I don’t swear, I don’t believe its necessary, I’m getting my point across to you right now without f-ing n blinding. My music represents the struggle, represents the youth, most of all I aim for my music to represent hope'.

'As Lox, I only made songs with people in my circle such as Serious Sykes, Political Peak, Drowsy, K.B, Komoshen and many others, I did a one off collaboration with Krept, some tracks with an artist called Chase, he was talented and I used his studio to record and occasionally he was one of my suppliers that was also be an aspiring artist. Back then, I didn’t collab so much mainly because of a sense of patriotism to my former gang'.

'As Mr C’mon I haven’t collaborated with anyone yet, simply because, I’m still in the process of finding myself as an artist. I’ve got songs in the pipeline with Ja Ja Soze, Asteroid boys, Young Teflon, Youngsta, Boost, Guvnor B, A Money, Lola Godheld, A-star and others. In the future I would like to make songs with Bob Marley and yes I know he’s dead, but he’s still a legend, Wretch 32, Dappy, Adele, Sway, Coldplay and Mali music'.

'I love music but I hate it’s industry. I think it’s all politics! A lot of artists are being fabricated and there’s no real essence in a lot of stuff being put out there. But on a brighter note I believe the next to blow other than myself is Young Teflon because he’s consistent, talented, and can make actual music'.

'I’m inspired by Nelson Mandela and after reading his book I see a lot of similarities with young Mandela and myself, both very adornment and courageous. Tinnie Tempah is an inspiration as he’s successfully crossover to the mainstream U.K and crossed over to the U.S. Also my pastor is a big inspiration; she reached out to stiff necked gang members and helped reform them through determination and love'.

'I intend on expanding my fan-base by consistent work rate, songs, collabs, performances and securing airplay. Basically, just working hard, real hard and real passionately. You can expect to see me on your T.V screens in the future’ he laughs but restates ‘even though I ain’t joking!' 

In the very near future he’ll be realising his mixtape ‘Alpha’ on the 24th September, followed by the EP entitled Limitlesss which will debut in late December or early January.

You can now follow him via Twitter and Facebook .  

Mikel Ameen - Backside

It’s not often you hear musicians comment positively the human derrière, especially in the case of females, but after hearing his latest release ‘Backside’, I was compelled to get in touch with the musician himself to find out more. Mikel Ameen is musician and social entrepreneur from North West London who began pursuing his music 4 years ago, since then he has gone from strength to strength accumulating over 900 follower on twitter and multiple video hits via Youtube.

I thought I’d catch up with Mikel to find out his motivations, inspiration and where it all started.

‘I got into music naturally when I baby. It has always played a big part in family life. Music got my dad to this country so it was kind of inevitable that his children would be into Entertainment’.

He would say the best place music has taken him is to ‘a higher level of consciousness’. He explains ‘I can’t describe how much listening to the right music has taken my mind to a better place of thinking’

When Mikel’s not making music or reading he’s involved in social events, such as Dance 4 Life UK, a nationwide initiative that uses media, music and dance to educate, empower and unite young people in taking a stand against HIV and AIDS.

In the same vein he is also involved in the youth organisation Get Familyar which is a branch of his father’s charity ACDF – African Carribean Development Foundation – that specialises in entertainment and arts, that aims to develop social, personal and communication skills for young people, as well as provide them with productive training via workshops.  

Music for him is literally therapy; he says ‘reciting my pains and loves to a rhythm is refreshing. If something is on my mind for a while then usually, I’m compelled to right about it.  My song backside is a question to men and women about the obsession with the females BUM, is it natural or is it perverted. Like most of my songs I’m trying to get people thinking.’

His inspirations include Bob Marley, he likes the way ‘he delivered his music, his love and his mission to the people’ and he feels ‘he did so much through his music for the lives of others’, he wants to do the same in the future. 'Michael Jackson', he says ‘he is the LORD of music entertainment what cant you take from him’ and lastly ‘Hon. Min. Louis Farrakhan’ he says ‘as a man I look up to him. He is the greatest example of how to conduct yourself with morals, strength & discipline. He has spent over 50 years dedicated to the uplifting of black people and is still going strong. I follow him on twitter.’

He would say the right time for a musician to take the transition from music to a profession in comparison to it being a hobby is ‘when you’ve whole-heartedly decided that, that’s what you’re going to do, but he still understands that ‘it’s different for everyone, he explains 'I know more doors are opening for me. I just got to continue doing the best for me and my time will come’. He would advise up and coming musicians to ‘go in’, with their music and ‘don’t look back’.

He thinks ‘the industry right now is the best it’s been, especially for UK artist', he says 'we are hitting the top of every chart’ so he’s happy.

For more of Mikel you can now contact him personally via his Facebook, Twitter and Myspace  as well as check out the GetFamilyar Official Site.