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.

Sam Khan - So Many Dreams

‘I was never encouraged to pursue my dreams I had to grab them myself’ says the North West London musician, Sam Khan who has had the pleasure of performing at some of the UK biggest urban platforms including JumpOff, The Sunday Show and ILuvLive when he’s not watching stand up comedy or watching contestants get fired The Apprentice. Not only has he received over 2 million Youtube hits, but he has also immense support from BBC Radio 1, Kiss 100 and BBC 1xtra for his latest EP 'So Many Dreams'. 

I thought I’d catch up Sam Khan himself to find out, where it started his sacrifices and ambitions.  

Like many musician, he recognised his talent for music from a young age, in his case, 8 years old. Sam loved writing poems, so he began working on verses and creating structures which allowed him to develop songs. ‘I enjoyed doing, it was how I dealt with a lot of things growing up.  Writing was always therapeutic for me, which is why called my first CD 'Me, My Pen and I'. I bought music equipment, built a home studio and the rest as they say is history!’

‘My ambitions motivate me as an artist. I want the world to hear my music and my story, I want to make other young people believe they can  strive for success regardless of their circumstances and that’s one of  the ideals of our brand 'B Somebody'. I've been through rough times but always maintain a positive attitude towards life. I  believe I've overcome problems, so I always aim to bring that message through in my music. When people tell me they can relate to my words and feel they are not alone, that gives me a great motivational feeling too.’

Although he;s performed at big industry events like ILuvLive, The Sunday Show, Astoria, JumpOff and other big festivals, he would say the the best place he's performed at would be 'at a high school for teenagers' aged 12 – 16 during their assemblies.' He explains 'I got a massive reaction, I told the kids to strive for whatever they believed in and because this is an issue close to my heart. As a kid I was never encouraged to pursue my dreams I had to grab them myself.  ‘

‘I feel like I have a chance to help others who are in the same position I was. B Somebody is not just about music,  its about inspiring people to positively believe they can do or be  anything, and so being able to make a difference to young peoples  outlook on life is the best feeling for me.’

                               

His influences include the likes of 2pac, who he refers to as an ‘early inspiration’. Kanye West he says’ I loved The College Dropout’. J Cole as he’s ‘feeling a lot of his tracks’ as well as other singers and songwriters and Lowkey, he says ‘I rate highly out the UK coz he has strong morals and is mad lyrical at the same time’ Overall his biggest inspiration is ‘life itself’ and the things he experiences.   

He would say that is biggest sacrifice has been ‘spending time on things other than  music’ such as more time socialising, reading, or just relaxing but he’s continued to work on prioritizing the different aspects of his life. ‘Because I’m an independent artist I can’t rely on other people to get me airplay and gigs, making tracks isn’t enough. I have to spend time making sure the music is heard, and this means I have to sacrifice other fun things I could be doing, but its all to achieve the end goal so its all  good! Making a sacrifice to make sure the music pushes forward will only serve to benefit my career in the long run’.

He believes that in the current UK industry ‘there's a space for everyone and everything, and depending on your goals, you can be successful as long as you persevere. The UK Urban scene has really risen and more rap is being heard in the mainstream which is great. There's always going to be different tastes and preferences but if someone is in the charts, or selling records, then there must be a demand for that so u can’t hate on it! The one thing I don’t think is correct from a moral perspective is when the industry exploits certain topics that aren't positive, just to sell records. I think people should remember their principles and if the message in the music isn’t something you would agree with yourself, avoid supporting it.’

In the future we can expect ‘a lot more tracks, music videos and performances, so watch out for all the new material’

You can now check out his Official Site, add him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.

Big Cakes - Blue Cheese

'I've always loved music and always wrote lyrics, so taking it on a professional level was the only thing that made sense', say Big Cakes who is a hip hop musician from East London. Earlier this year he released his mixtape 'Preheat' which featured artists such as Raggo Zulu Rebel, Flow Dan, Sherry Davis and Morfius. Since then he has released his debut album 'Blue Cheese'.  I thought I'd catch up with him to find our more.

'He or she who has ears should hear me. Every hip hop listener should hear my music because the essence of true hip hop is preserved in it', says Big Cakes when asked who is his audience. 'I'm quite skinny, most people expect me to be a big out of breath character that eats cake all day, but Big Cakes is a next kind of cake. After all what's a party if u ainte got CAKE? I've always loved music and always wrote lyrics, so taking it on a professional level was the only thing that made sense'

'Preheat was mixtape just to warm things up while I cooked up and served up my next meal' in this case he means his debut album Blue Cheese' which now available via iTunes. He says 'Before you cook something in an oven you preheat it, to get it ready at the right temperature to start cooking’ which was the idea behind Preheat.’

Cakes has had the pleasure of working with a variety of musicians including Raggo Zulu Rebel, English Frank, Mike GLC, Flow Dan, Frizzle, Logic, Lowkey, Mic

Righteous, Sherry Davis, Nadine Walker just to name a few. In the future he would like to work with Nas, Ghostface Killah, Beyonce, Jehst, Chris Brown and Rhianna. He says 'I think the collaboration of such diverse angles and views will be a beautiful thing'

The music industry has changed in the sense that 'Over here, I would say the market is getting bigger but ideas and originality is dwindling.' I love music and so supporting it is a standard operating procedure. I buy music all the time, from people selling CDs after shows or downloading from the internet. I haven't actually bought a CD from a shop in a little while but that's because I haven't been to a music shop in ages'

In the future Big Cakes hopes 'to keep setting goals and achieving them. You can now BUY his new album Blue Cheese from iTunes or Bandcamp, add him on Facebook and follow him via Twitter.