Realmz - LoveTrain & RDVision

‘LoveTrain symbolises the love I share with the public and how they can be all aboard by supporting the clothing line’, explained 20 year old Realmz from South East London. After dabbling in the art of music and video he decided to use his creative expertise to build a clothing label that aims to build social cohesion.

I caught up with Realmz to find more about his label, Love Train, the current projects he’s working on, the messages behind his output - musically and visually - as well as where it all started.

I felt the clothing industry needed a revolution and I feel my label is just that. LoveTrain is an urban unique brand that emulates the purity and love that we should all have for each other. It aims to attract and include everyone, young and old, black or white, it’s just really about creating unity.

My music career started in school, I collected grime instrumentals but never writ any lyrics for them. Then I found confidence to write from my friends Leader, Bizz & Vazer - who are also artists From South East London – which was just what I needed and I’ve continued writing lyrics ever since.

My lyrics are influenced by my experiences and whilst pursing my career I’ve also learnt new skills. Originally, I wrote and listened to Grime music, but I began experimenting with different genres and I’m still challenging new genres today.

My videography started a few years ago in the summer of 2009.

I wanted to give underground artists a platform to express themselves, so i started editing the music videos I recorded, which was a good way for me to gain practice on the art.

Over the years I have provided artists with an efficient reliable service, which has thankfully strengthened my business and gained me a large fan base, but I know there's still progress to be made.

My target audience are those who indulge in the newer realm of music and entertainment. By which I mean that we are creating a brand new style of music for unique artists. I try to expand on my audience all the time by bringing new ideas and concepts that involves everyone.

The message I convey is a meaningful yet simple, ‘I hope that through my music and media I can design a vision for people to understand". It’s also important to be yourself most importantly, be something no one else has yet, channel a new route, don’t hold back your talents and really do everything in your power to express to full potential, so in a nutshell, "don’t hold back".

A typical day in my life includes mainly filming scheduled artists, attending studio sessions. where I work on different music projects to better my music.

I rarely have spare time, but when I do I use it to plan for fourth-coming projects the week, which may include filming, music or even selling product from my clothing line.

I like to chill with my team members, friends and family who are also music and media orientated. I work very hard to achieve my goals.

Alongside all my other stuff I’m also training to become a teacher, learning to play the guitar, piano and drums - which I hope to use elements of on my next mixtapes.

I’ve worked with artists such as Griminal, Kid Bookie, Dot Rotten, Mz Bratt, Fugzi Malone, DQ, Icer, Invasion Alert - at their 1xtra set 3 months ago - Izzy Kaye, AGFly, Double M, Recky Rampz, Complex - from USA - Big Spree - from Trinindad - and many more which you can find via my Youtube, Soundcloud and Facebook.

I’ve also worked with ITV's star Lucy Harold in her Hedd Magazine photoshoot which I filmed alongside Wowa Designz.

Not forgetting the recent project I filmed on MMA Boxer Brett Size-Land also alongside Wowa Designz which was used for a Hedd Magazine interview.

The magazine covers topics such as cars, models, fashion, celebrity interviews and more. In the future I plan to work with a lot of people, but mainly those who want to support me and my vision. No one specific.

I influence myself, through my journey in life is expressed throughout all my talents. When it comes to music i do find some grime artists very inspiring such as Ice Kid, Dot Rotten, D Bo, Lowkey, Black The Ripper, Devlin and others but I’m a very versatile listener so listening to a variety of different music helps expand my ideas.

I’m also influenced by those in my team such as Leader, Grief, Close Range, Tyrant, Intruder and Wowa Designz who give me advice and help to guide me.

I have alot of stuff coming, Musically: The Rise Of The Realm Volume 2 mix tape, which Is a follow up from my first promotional CD Rise of The Realm Volume 1, Leading The New Realm, which is a joint CD with artist Leader, from Motivated Music and Double M.

Leading The New Realm Volume 2 which is a joint CD following up from the first promotional CD Leading The New Realm and the Revolution, which is a team CD by Team Revolution that includes Grief, Leader, Tyrant, Intruder and other features such as Bizz, Agfly. I also have a few singles coming soon.

With RDVision I hope to continue to expand and meet more people via music videos and interviews, but I hope to include sports in the near future. I hope to build an empire from RDVision eventually.

Other than that I have a few movies and adverts coming soon. So look out for this, on top of that I still have items from my clothing line LoveTrain yet to come out  such as the Snapbacks, Beanies, Baby Clothes, Accessories and Underwear.

Plus other expansions on that original clothing line including Less Is More Clothing. Besides all that maybe a teaching career or guitarist who knows.

For more of Realmz follw him via Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Soundcloud.

Abe Lincoln - All Black Everything

‘I don't just want to be another passer-by on this planet, I think it's important to leave something behind to be remembered’, says the co-founder of the clothing label All Black Everything. Abe Lincoln is a designer from Cork City, Ireland who has been developing his clothing label for just over 2 years. He specialises in printed t-shirts, hoodies and sweatshirts but is continuously developing his brand to include other garments. He is currently working on a collaboration T-shirt for Dj Kryder and his affiliates who will be supporting the world biggest DJ and Producer Tiesto later this year on tour.

Abe has also recently released his debut mix-tape entitled ‘Liquor Spillages & Dillinger’s’, which is now available via Download. I thought I’d catch up with Abe himself to find out his inspirations, sacrifices and his plans for the future.  

‘I'm from Cork City in Ireland, a place where not many people choose to do what they want and instead, end up following the same route as other people such as college, apprenticeships. They end up waiting everyday for work to be over, rather than love every minute of it, by doing something they like, which is what I do’ says Abe, who decided not follow the traditional education route and instead embark on a road to success with the development of his clothing label All Black Everything.

‘Around the end of 2009 I started to play around a little with Microsoft paint, just messing around and creating images, sketches and stuff. I always had an eye for designing and creating and decided to keep up this new hobby I had found’. In order to further his creativity he decide to teach himself a bit of graphic manipulation on Adobe Illustrator which he is still continuing to learn. He continues ‘this opened a lot of doors for me. I decided that the designs I was making weren’t much good on a blank canvas, so my friend suggested printing them to T-Shirts and other garments.  

‘After our market research we found out it wasn’t a cheap business to get into, but we persevere. At this stage my friend DJ Ja Ja and I were already operating a YouTube channel. Ja Ja would do remixes and send them to me, I would then put together a video for it using recycled clips from the internet and post it on YouTube, at first we weren’t getting many hits, so it was just a hobby and not a business, but then our views began to grow to a couple of thousand which made us realised it was the perfect way to help get the brand out there. At this stage, the brand was named Pennies & a Dollar, or P&D for short‘.

‘I then came up with one T-Shirt design that changed everything, this was when I came up with ABE aka ‘All Black Everything’ and decided it was the perfect name for a brand, so Abe Brand was born. I started to sort out all my designs and images and focused on making them crispy clear in order to represent us well. We then started a Facebook page where we would upload our designs and our newest remixes on YouTube, this is where the hard work started, but we’re still working hard, its a never ending cycle’.

Abe tries to keep his personal life separate from his business life as he concentrate on building a brand that is almost a 24/7 job, but according to him that’s just the way he likes to have it. Before he began his business he made a promise to himself self to focus more on being happy with what he does, than to focus on making more money than he can count. He explains ‘I value legacy's and hope to leave my own some day, I don't just want to be another passer-by on this planet, I think it's important to leave something behind to be remembered for.

‘I have a lot of hobbies, most of them have sadly been put on hold and pretty much forgotten about at this stage, as I really don’t have much time for them, he identifies this as part of the sacrifices he’s mad, he says ‘I've turned into somewhat of a hermit, a line by Wretch 32 I think describes me right now, "I'm the type of guy that will have no life, just so I can shine like disco lights", what this line means to me is that all the times I've refused to go on nights out with friends, family, I’ve sacrificed them for working on the brand to ensure it become exactly what I want it to be.’

His hobbies include playing sports, musical instruments and his love for cars and motor sports, which, he still has even today. He recalls ‘I've played pretty much every sport you can think of, I played a lot of basketball during my schooldays and also rugby and soccer. There was also a stage in my life where I would spend literally hours playing the guitar, from the time I came home from school until it was time to be quiet and let the neighbours sleep, no doubt my fingers didn’t enjoy that stage of my life.

As I got older, I developed a big interest in cars and motor sport. I'm a massive fan of drifting and try to attend as many ProDrift events as possible over here in Ireland, it's a fast growing sport over here, I hope once the brand gets off the ground that it can help me get involved in the drifting scene also through sponsorship of cars and drivers. All these hobbies have been put on the back burner to allow me to build a brand and image to hopefully capture the eyes of people globally someday, it's safe to say I'm both mentally and physically worn out from it but in the words of Cee-Lo Green "why close my eyes, I'd rather sleep when I'm gone"

At the moment they’re are operating a YouTube channel which has accumulated close to 100,000 views in addition to their Facebook, Twitter and Tagged accounts which they use to promote their Online Shop where they sell clothing such as T Shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts. They have also use their social networks to promote their debut mix-tape entitled Liquor Spillages & Dillinger’s, which they both agree have been ‘rather successful’ and ‘without these websites it's safe to say we would be nothing, this has allowed people from all over to globe to view our designs, clothing, stock and mostly importantly make a purchase’.

‘Our YouTube channel has been blowing up over the past year or so, with our most successful remix out of all being our Written in the Stars remix feat. Tupac & Eminem, its received over 33,000 views alone and been download thousands of times and it's received nothing but good comments’ They agree that this has really set the mark for their brand and helped people notice them, yet their  work doesn’t stop.

‘There have been many remixes after that which have gone well into the thousands of views mark and many more to come. If you look at music videos lately the "all black" theme is being used a lot in the clothing worn, what our brand does is blends in with this trend and helps promote it even further. You don’t need to be wearing luminous clothing in order to shine, let your talent speak for you. The name Abe to us actually stands for All Black Everything, we also incorporate Abraham Lincoln into the brand a lot to give it more character and basically give it a figurehead.’

If Abe wasn’t a designer he’d ‘probably be working at something to do with cars, possibly a mechanic or car salesman. He says ‘It might sound like a monotonous job and at times it would be, but it's probably the only thing I would enjoy doing. I'd love to have unlimited spending power and be able to buy what I want, when I want, but I think the fame is more important, not for me myself but for the Abe Brand. I want this brand to still be here when I'm gone and show that I came and left my mark on the earth and that I created something big using just my own mind from such humble beginnings.’

He continues ‘A legacy is something much more valuable than money. I'm very particular when it comes to brands, If I don’t like a brand then I don’t like it, its simple as that, two brands I admire much more than others though are Rogue Status and Crooks & Castles, both LA based brands. I don’t know if it's the fact I have some fetish for gun imagery than I don’t know about yet or what but those two brands appeal to me on another level completely, especially Crooks, as once said there the Louis Vuitton, the Gucci of the street, and it's true, their gear might have gone up in price and got more expensive but the quality and originality is sublime and something we aim to have with our brand’.

‘The brand is built up from inspiration. I don’t just sit down and decide I’m going to design something, I design once I get an idea. I must say music is the biggest inspiration, I'll sit down and listen to some rap or even some metal for a while and let my mind just run free and get illustrator up and start creating, it's a really enjoyably process once it goes right’

‘At the moment we are only beginning to work with people, we have only reached that level now and it's a good place to be at. We are going to be working with many UK grime artists, DJ's and more to help promote our clothing and also our own remixes. We have been in touch with a DJ by the name of Kryder recently one designing a collaboration t-shirt for him and his crew for their upcoming tour with the man himself Tiesto, where they will be performing in places like Ibiza, Las Vegas and many more.

‘This has been the biggest opportunity for us yet and one we’re taking it on headfirst, it's an exciting idea and I can’t wait to see the outcome so keep your eyes peeled.’ He’d still like to work with a lot more mainstream artists as he is a fan of musicians such as Devlin, Pro Green and Giggs, he says ‘it would be awesome to see them performing while wearing our clothing.’

‘As far as other brands go we are open to work with anyone, the more the merrier as long as it isn’t some neon clothing brand’ In the future they hope to branch in both the clothing and music sides of the brand. They hope to see their stuff on sale on many online stores across the globe as well as see some celebs spotted in our clothing, but until then ‘the work rate isn’t slowing down and were going to keep on going, so keep supporting us’.

You can now have a look at their Online Shop as well as contact them via Facebook and Twitter.

Jimmy Snookz and Skipper - The Regime

Jimmy Snookz and Skipper formally know as Jahmal Tchikaya and Simon Suckram from North London are the duo behind the UK Rap collective The Regime. They are determined to produce and broadcast their new sound to the nation' as well as  'bring 'a new exciting look and feel to the UK hip hip scene'. Although they originally started off as Grime MC's back on 2004 where they recorded dub-plates and attended pirate radio stations, they have now decided to elevate and change their sound which has landed them the opportunity to complete a 25 city UK tour later this year.

I thought I'd catch up with Jimmy Snookz himself to find out how and where it started. 

'My first ever memory was going in the studio and doing a few remixes. We started making music together and formed Regime in 2008' explained Jimmy. They saw music as a way of expressing themselves and sharing beliefs with others. 'We hadn't seen each other since school, but decided to meet up one day as we were both serious about pursuing a career in music. We went to the studio and recorded a remix of Kanye West's  'Can't tell me nothing' which received a lot of support and ratings from the underground'.

They then met up with producers Boe and Simon who go by the name of Last Dynasty who they have been working with for the last two years to make tracks such as 'Judge Me' , 'Soul Survivor' and 'My Shine' Ft Mk. They are fuelled by the need to communicate with the youths of today, which is why the continue to make music.We each have our own story to tell growing up in London which many can relate in terms of the emotions, the struggle, the system and creating a better life in general. But our make target is deliver good music that anyone can follow.

'We listen to a wide range of musician such as reggae, urban, grime and hip hop. Mainly these genres because we can relate to the music as well as connect with the artists who originate from the UK and the Caribbean'. Through their music they 'hope and try to appeal to everyone. Jimmy says, 'If not now then we are working on it for the future, but we see and hear the feedback of the youths aged 16 to 25 in the country.

They are now in the process of completing a 25 City tour around the UK with Skinny Man, called the 'Smoking Ban Tour', which will be followed by 20 university stage shows around the country. In the past they have had the pleasure of sharing the stage with major artists such as Dead Prez, Devlin, Legendary Curtis Blow, Jadakiss, VV Brown and more. They agree that the tour was a great experience and allowed them to elevate their confidence as artists, as well as give them the exposure they needed. 

According to Jimmy, a good musician should 'have their own style', 'stay grounded' and most importantly be 'talented'. He says, 'originality goes a long way and if you have the patience and stay dedicated you can better your self professionally as an artist and personally as an individual.' He feel that up and coming musicians should 'Be open minded and be able to come to terms with their own originality' and 'be able to take criticism and learn in the process'  

As a collective they intend to 'Bring a unique style of music to the industry' and 'make a stamp on the scene that all the up and coming talent can follow' you can expect more expect more music, video's with good visuals but mainly expect to catch them in a town near you performing.

You can now check out they Official Site as well ad follow them on Twitter via Jimmy Snookz and Skipper.