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. 

Jeeday Jaws - Grime Doesn't Pay EP

Ghetto Fairytale , Getting Dat Paper and The One and are some of his most memorable tracks featuring artists such as Shy SFX, Terror Danjah and Black the Ripper. He's been making music since the age of 17, collaborating with a variety of artists both underground and mainstream, and now owns his own animation production company Aniibox. Jeeday Jaws is a musician and animator from North London who has just release the debut single Pow 2011 and is also set to release the EP 'Grime Doesn't Pay' later this year. I thought I'd catch up with him to find out how his career started as well as what he has planned for 2011.


When and why did you decide to make music into a career?

I first began writing when I was 12 years old. When I was 17, I formed a crew called Menace 2 Society, after hearing Dizzee Rascal for the first time. We were a crew of 7 members that used to perform on Mystic FM and other radio stations around the country. This is when I began taking music seriously.

Who are your audience and how do you appeal to them?

Young entrepreneurs, The Arty crowd and anyone who likes listening to something which has a message embedded into it. Not to forget my loyal Grime supporters. I love you guys. I appeal to my crowd as that dose of something different, a change from everything else in the scene. I'm comical, but I can come across extremely harsh at the same time.

What motivates you as an artist?

The fact that I know there is no one else out there like me. The whole game is like a rainbow and every artist that stands out has a colour. I know my colour hasn’t been taken yet, so I strive to make it so everyone sees my colour.


In what way has Grime changed and how has it affected you as a musician?

Its gone commercial. This is flippin AMAZING. This means we can turn into an actual industry which makes money for our children and THEIR children, so it has made me a little more entrepreneurial minded in terms of planning out my future.

What was the first album you bought and why?

Puff Daddy and the Family "No Way Out". Puff Daddy made me like music, he made me want to buy it and follow it. My whole obsession with rap began with the Bad Boy records movement and then I took a huge interest in artists such as Busta Rhymes and Redman.

If you could perform with anyone, anywhere, who would it be with and why?

Ghetto. I’d like to perform with him because he has this almost unstoppable energetic stage presence. I’m also quite energetic on stage, so I feel like that sort of competition would be a healthy stage show.


Aside from music what are your other interests?

I am also a professional Animator. I love cartoons and anything to do with the world of imagination, because it represents a space where you can bend rules and push barriers. You will see plenty of this stuff in my videos. Anything visual is what stimulates me.

Where do you see yourself in 2011?

Building the foundation for where I will be in 2012. Watch out for the "Grime Doesn’t Pay" EP.... It’s gonna be mental.

For more of Jeeday Jaws you can check out his latest single via Youtube Pow 2011 , Follow him via Twitter, contact via Facebook, as well as watch some of his Monday Madness adverts exclusively designed in conjuction with his musical comeback.