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.

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. 

MC Tigz - The Coundown EP

After hearing him on SBTV’s Warm Up Session I was blown away by his lyrical ability. To date, the same video has received over 30,000 views and he is continuing to accumulate a large following on and offline. MC Tigz is a 19 year old musician from London who has been pursuing his music career since school. He is now in the process of realeasing his EP ‘The Countdown’ which will début later this month.

I thought I’d catch up with MC Tigz himself to find out what his music represents as well as why people should listen to him.

‘Predominantly I’m a grime MC but I do dither about with rap occasionally. It all started in the playground; people would gather in circles and spray the SAME lyrics for  30 minutes on the SAME beat’, this is where his music career stemmed from.

‘My music represents me, my experiences, my life and just my ideas but in audio form. I’m a simple guy.  A normal day for me consists of studio, Xbox, chillin with my music brothers because they’re my actual friends outside of music. I’m always on the look out for new music, from Drake, Lil wayne, Rick Ross and J Cole’.

When asked why people should listen to him he says ‘I feel as if I’m one of the few MC’s that actually care about being witty with words, having good metaphors and not just blurting out the 1st thing that comes to mind. I never tell lies in my lyric, no guns, and no murders. It’s all me, I’m versatile and make sure there’s definitely quality control with whatever I release’.

‘I don’t really tend to work with MC's a lot simply because I keep the majority of what I do within the circle I’m in. So the collaborations you will see will be with either my circle OR singers!’

Alike many artists he uses social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube to promote and publicise his work, which include his two previous mixtapes 'About Time' and 'Hard Way', he describes this as his ‘main avenues’ for promotion. He continues ‘the most successful video I’ve released is probably my SBTV warm up session video which got just under 30,000 views. It was successful because I released it under a good friend of mine Jamal Edwards. I used his Youtube account which is a good platform for up and coming artists!'

'In the future you can expect my music video ‘Superstar' produced by a close friend of mine L.Momrelle and my new CD called ' The Countdown EP' which will be out in September‘.  

Fatal Hitchkoch - BreddWinnaz

‘I view my lyrics as a movie script; I always try to give that cinematic feel to my records, my listeners can actually picture scenes of what I'm saying in their head’ said Richard Anaman, also know as Fatal Hitchkock CEO of the urban music label BreddWinnaz. In 2010 his remix to 'Hello Good Morning' featuring Tinchy Stryder was spotted and promoted by P Diddy, since then he has made appearances on DJ Mixtapes including the likes of DJ Woogie , DJ AME and DJ Drama as well as featuring on BBC 1xtra Home Grown Selection.   

I thought I’d catch up with him to find out his ambitions, sacrifices and influences.

‘I'm a Jack of All Trade, Master of All’. He confidently replies when asked how and where it all started. He laughs and confesses ‘I had to change the ending of that expression. I'm a business-man, rapper, producer, manager – big up Maveriq - label owner, video and photo editor, web designer, should I go on? I'm 360 degrees. I do a lot of everything, if that makes sense’.

‘I know this is going to sound real cliché, but I just knew. It’s always been music. Ask all my Ex girlfriends. It’s always been MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC! I studied it in University; I spent all of my student loans and grants on recording equipment. Plus I knew I was too good to just let this gift go to the scrap. I mean P.Diddy thought I was good enough to promote my remix to 'Hello Good Morning' on twitter twice, so u know. If I got Diddy's attention off just a short 16 bar, imagine the effect im'ma have when I really go H.A.M.’

‘I started rapping when I was about 8 or 9 after I heard my brother playing 2pac's "Hit 'Em Up" I was hooked. I was one gangster 10 year old talking about a whole lot of sh*t I knew nothing about. I thought I was the Sh*t I had the American accent locked, bandana's I went the whole 9 Yards with it. I remember recording my 1st real structured track when I was about 14, at my secondary school friend J-Flowz house – who now produces for Wretch32. He put me straight about the US accent. I got a Cubase 5VST that’s real old school, a piece of wood from my bunk bed ladder, a karaoke mic, a chair and some duck tape and from then it was on’.

‘Richard handles the Business side of things, and is the brains behind the Brand BreddWinnaz and Fatal Hitchkoch is the brain that lays the music’, he replies when asked how he differs from his alias. ‘The Fatal part of my name actually stands for ‘F*ck All Traitors And Liars’ and well the Hitchkoch part came Alfred Hitchcock as he is like the originator of the thriller and horror genre. He put his personal stamp on all his projects, which have influence so many films to date. I see myself like that. I view my lyrics as a movie script; you know I always try to give that cinematic feel to my records, so you can actually picture scenes of what I am saying in your head’.

  

‘My music is for anyone that appreciates my music. I don't want to close bracket and exclude anyone. I mean I make music for myself; I’m just fortunate enough to have people that appreciate and support it. I have a wide audience from the ages of 13 - 60. The music I make is aimed to inspire, entertain, inform and educate. I remember some one telling me once. "Yo forget the man'dem. Make music women love, because the man'dem will want what ever women are on" Which to me makes too much sense, so I always have women in the studio with me when I’m crafting, asking what do you think of this lyric? Should I say this? What do you think of this song?’  

In the past he has had the pleasure of collaborating with other UK acts including Roll Deep, Baby Blue, Donaeo, Selah, Davinche, Maveriq, PW, Base N Rebulz Entertainments and many more. He says ‘I always try to ‘Keep it Real’ in the respects I don't try to sugar coat the truth. There is a problem, just come to inner city London, or any low income area across the country people are getting their heads blown off; people are hook on dangerous drugs, child molestation, and underage pregnancy. Real issues. But you know it's like out of sight out of mind. I'm not with that. So I act as the voice for the unheard. My lyrics are real life stories, somewhere I’m the main character, and sometimes I’m just the observer, the narrator.’

If he wasn’t a musician he’d probably be ‘Manager of WIMPY burgers, what else?’ he laughs and continues ‘only playing it would have to be something based around music or the film world like a Manager, video collaborating and photo digital editor, actually a pilot. I love planes. I'm actually in the process of completing my Private Pilots License; I'm at different altitude. I love it. It’s a weird feeling. Because you’re just orbiting in the air, there's not left, no right, no top, no bottom. You’re just orbiting. Once you try it. You’ll know exactly what I mean’. 

‘If I am not in the studio, I’m performing, or I’m out on location doing some filming, or editing, or putting in work behind the scenes for other artists, I’m always on the move. I don't see it as a sacrifice more of an investment. My whole life is music. The only regrets I have are, umm well, they’re a few situations which I didn't handle right at the time. I don't really want to go in to specifics but I could have handled a lot of opportunities and situations a lot better. But life is for learning and I won't be making those mistakes again. Trust me!’ 

Hitctkoch would love to rock the Stage with Jay-Z, he explains, ‘like him or hate him, you can not deny his abilities, dude makes me appreciate music as an art, and show's me it isn’t just about pairing words together, it's a lot more. Look at all the best rappers these are all intelligent guys regardless of the persona they put out in the public eye. Just look at Eminem, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, all smart dudes! His ideal place to perform would be in ‘Africa’ specifically in ‘Ghana’.  
 

He is inspired by 2Pac who he says ‘definitely inspired me’, Jay-z for the flow, business sense, lyrics, style. ‘Hustlers inspire me, anyone that is not willing to just settle for the cards life has dealt them, and take a hold of the wheel and steer in their own direction are my inspiration. I'm inspired by creative people and like-minded people. I love to be around creative people, because they give me that spark I need’. 

In 5years time you’ll see him ‘back here with me doing another interview’, he continues ‘I aim to be in a much better place than I am in now, I want to take this as far as my God will let me go. I've got my company BreddWinnaz which is a management, production and record company. The aim is to build on that brand and acquire global recognition; I'm shipping out to the states next year for a few months to hook up with a lot of the links I’ve made. So I’m taking the brand out there with me’.

‘We set up BreddWinnaz Africa, which is a promotion company hosting events and promoting West African Artist. That is still in its baby stages so we aiming to get that running properly. We Taking BreddWinnaz global! I'm also managing the future of the R n B world. Maveriq in 5 years I want to see him touring the world, I want to see people that don't speak English singing the lyrics to his words!’

He is currently working on his debut EP entitled the ‘Kraft’ which is due for release 11/11/11 whilst managing and producing fellow label mate Maveriq’s EP entitled ‘5Star’.

For more of him you can check his material out via his Official Website, Youtube and Soundcloud, as well as contact him personally via Facebook and Twitter. 

Also Check out : 


HOLD ME BACK – FATAL HITCHKOCH ft Bee (BreddWinnaz)

LET’S MAKE MUSIC – FATAL HITCHKOCH ft MAVERIQ