Latest / ninetyfive / Raheem Bakare: 'Sexy R&B' and storytelling via an 'anthology of love songs' - EP12

Transcript

Raheem Bakare: 'Sexy R&B' and storytelling via an 'anthology of love songs' - EP12 · ninetyfive

• 0:00
  So you've got the laptop on the lap.
• 0:02
  Ready to go, ready to spit some facts at me.
• 0:05
  So who have we got today's spotlight artist is for fans of people who might like Jack James.
• 0:13
  Okay, yeah.
• 0:14
  Might like Koji Radical.
• 0:15
  Yeah.
• 0:16
  Give me and Brent Fiance.
• 0:18
  Okay, yeah, yeah, I hear it.
• 0:20
  I would add Temps into there as well.
• 0:22
  Oh, interesting.
• 0:29
  Hello, hello.
• 0:30
  We're back again.
• 0:31
  Really?
• 0:31
  Yes, I'm doing it, man.
• 0:33
  I'm doing it.
• 0:35
  Done.
• 0:35
  I'm trying to do the MPR like smooth thing.
• 0:39
  We're back again.
• 0:40
  Hello.
• 0:41
  Here again.
• 0:42
  And we're gonna kick off straight off the bat, right?
• 0:44
  Yeah.
• 0:45
  We're gonna do vinyl of the week.
• 0:46
  You've been hiding your vinyl since we've been setting up for some reason.
• 0:50
  So you want me to be very surprised.
• 0:52
  I'm very intrigued of what it is.
• 0:53
  What's the vinyl of the week?
• 0:54
  What have we got?
• 0:55
  Alright, well, it's a giveaway, which is why I've been trying to hide it, but it's a special edition.
• 0:59
  Okay.
• 1:00
  This, yeah.
• 1:00
  I've been waiting on this one, I've been waiting on this one.
• 1:02
  I see you having a peek.
• 1:03
  I see what it is.
• 1:05
  Uh, but you're not ready for this.
• 1:06
  Okay, go on.
• 1:07
  All right.
• 1:07
  So this week's Vine of the Week is.
• 1:10
  Oh, that's crazy.
• 1:13
  That's crazy, isn't it?
• 1:14
  So this is 50 Cent Gabriel Dietrine, of course.
• 1:17
  Um so what you see here is a limited edition vinyl.
• 1:21
  This is the Marvel edition, right?
• 1:23
  So as you can see, 50 is in the Iron Man suit.
• 1:27
  Yeah, yeah.
• 1:28
  I mean, uh, I can give it to you because this is this is a lenticular little situation as well.
• 1:35
  The uh the angle that I see it, and it's just uh yeah, it's very, very, very interesting.
• 1:41
  Okay, so what have you got a little story behind this?
• 1:43
  What's good?
• 1:44
  What's the crack?
• 1:44
  What's the crack?
• 1:45
  You know, you know, I'm a sucker for a novelty, a novelty situation.
• 1:49
  Yes.
• 1:50
  So when I saw this, I knew I had to have it because yeah, I mean, obviously, this is an iconic album, like 50s debut album.
• 1:55
  Probably one could argue this is one of the best debut hip-hop albums ever.
• 2:02
  Um, and I thought this was a very iconic way to have it.
• 2:07
  I thought there's no point just having the original version um because come on, we could do we could do better.
• 2:14
  So I had to get my hands on this one.
• 2:16
  It says Invincible uh here, which feels like a bit of a nod to a 50, of course.
• 2:21
  Man's been uh shot multiple times, um, as is represented in the original artwork as well.
• 2:27
  Um, so this depiction of it I really, really like.
• 2:29
  Um, the reverse is kind of the same as you would see, but obviously this comes with bells and whistles as well.
• 2:35
  So this was a 2018 release, I believe.
• 2:38
  Okay.
• 2:39
  Original album came out in 2003.
• 2:41
  Again, nice little like post.
• 2:43
  Well, I say little post, 15 years, 15 years later.
• 2:46
  Um, but let me show you some of the reasons why I like this.
• 2:50
  So on the we've got um little poster on the inside, yeah, track list, credits, etc.
• 2:55
  I'll hand you that.
• 2:56
  Um, there's a lot of paraphernalia here.
• 2:59
  We also have this um a little Marvel magazine, which is which is very clean.
• 3:06
  That's that as well.
• 3:07
  I'll hand you that.
• 3:09
  And of course, the the people already know, but I like a colour, a colour variant, and of course, Iron Man being red only is right that this is on uh translucent red vinyl.
• 3:21
  Of course, of course.
• 3:22
  Obviously, a 2LP, and sort of on the sticker, you can kind of see um like it's got like a target, you know, if you go to a shooting range and it's got like the bullseye targeting, it's got like bullet bullet holes there.
• 3:35
  Um, but yeah, I just thought this was a it was a cool, cool sort of novelty situation um of a very, very iconic album, which was why I didn't I kind of wanted to hide it because I thought if you see the back of it, you could go like, well, yeah, where this is going.
• 3:48
  But I wanted it to be a little surprised.
• 3:50
  Um, so yeah, for anyone who may not be aware, if you haven't, I don't know what we're doing here.
• 3:56
  Um, this has got some of his like biggest hits on it, which is insane for a debut album.
• 4:01
  So uh we've got what up gangster, we've got many men in the club, if I can't, P I M P 21 Questions.
• 4:09
  Just this album's not a joke, it's insane.
• 4:12
  It's insane.
• 4:13
  Um, and uh I actually had the privilege of seeing him to do like I don't know what did he call it.
• 4:19
  I think he called it like the last run sort of tour or something at the O2, okay, uh, maybe two years ago, and it's he's just got hit after hit, and it's just silly.
• 4:30
  Um so yeah, man.
• 4:32
  This is my this is my vinyl of the week.
• 4:34
  Um, exec producers, Dr.
• 4:36
  Dre and Eminem.
• 4:38
  So it's just it's just silly, isn't it?
• 4:41
  It's silly, and it's one of one of the great rap albums or yeah, soundtrack to 2000s hip hop, really, innit?
• 4:48
  Pretty much.
• 4:48
  It was I like we were young, but I still remember when it came out, and that's that's how big it was, like little children or it were bumping it like it's crazy.
• 4:57
  Literally, uh just for something on this, I've just seen that they've got um like different Marvel covers as well for other artists as well.
• 5:06
  So they got uh LL Cool J, uh Mama Said Knock You Out, Kid Cuddy, Man on the Moon 2, and uh Jizz of the Liquid Swords, which was pretty cool as well.
• 5:15
  So that's the Jizzer and that's so yeah, fair news, fair news.
• 5:20
  That's yeah, very cool, man.
• 5:21
  So how did you get your hands on this?
• 5:23
  Like, did you see it that it was available and then or did it came came across your table?
• 5:30
  It just came across my lap when I said hello.
• 5:33
  Yeah, um and had to have it.
• 5:35
  Had to have it.
• 5:36
  It's all right for some minutes, lucky for some.
• 5:38
  Yeah, I didn't even realise this was a thing to be fair.
• 5:40
  So yeah, very good.
• 5:41
  Very pretty cool in it.
• 5:43
  Like very I do feel like sometimes these things can feel a touch gimmicky, but I thought this is quite cool because it's um yeah, it's it's unique, it's clear that the lenticular thing adds a bit of a yeah, it's adds a bit of a pizzazz to it, should we say?
• 5:55
  Yeah, and it's on brand to the the 50 cents, right?
• 5:59
  If it was like, I don't know, let's say Superman, you'd be like, Yeah, yeah.
• 6:03
  Not too sure.
• 6:04
  Yeah, but this feels a bit, yeah, just feels pretty cool.
• 6:06
  So yeah, that is my vine of the week.
• 6:09
  Very, very impressive, bro.
• 6:10
  Um I'm pleased with that.
• 6:12
  Like some solid album musically, and you've got the the knickknacks with it.
• 6:17
  So you've done you've done uh both columns, so yeah, good to do it.
• 6:20
  And it's not new as well.
• 6:21
  Normally I'm like, well, this came out 2025.
• 6:23
  Yeah, yeah, man.
• 6:24
  Man's throwing it back.
• 6:25
  I mean, he's still in this century, boys.
• 6:27
  Throwing it back, yeah.
• 6:28
  Throwing it back regardless.
• 6:29
  So yeah, good job, good job.
• 6:31
  Thank you.
• 6:31
  Cool, man, cool man.
• 6:33
  You uh good anyways, everything, everything happening, you've been traveling again, probably.
• 6:38
  Probably but we won't get into that, anyways.
• 6:40
  We're gonna get into that.
• 6:41
  I just want to get into the music today.
• 6:43
  I don't want to hear you're you're good.
• 6:44
  Yeah, yeah, I'm good.
• 6:45
  How are you?
• 6:45
  You're good, I'm good.
• 6:47
  And what's gonna make me feel better is learn what you've been listening to recently.
• 6:51
  Okay, great.
• 6:51
  Well, let's do it.
• 6:52
  So let's jump into it.
• 6:53
  I'm confident.
• 6:53
  Yeah, yeah.
• 6:54
  Okay, we'll see.
• 6:55
  You're gonna love this.
• 6:56
  Okay, let's go.
• 6:57
  All right, recent rotations.
• 6:59
  We're gonna talk about some of the tunes we've been listening to in the past week.
• 7:03
  Do you want me to go first?
• 7:04
  Do you want to go first?
• 7:05
  I would love for you to go first.
• 7:06
  No, I want you to go first.
• 7:09
  Oh, I like to finish off, so I want you to go first.
• 7:12
  Okay, okay, great, great.
• 7:14
  Guy trying to take all the glory at the time.
• 7:15
  Yeah, it gives you space just to like ramble on at the end, you know?
• 7:18
  So now I'm cutting you off.
• 7:20
  You use that.
• 7:21
  All right, let's do it.
• 7:22
  Cool.
• 7:22
  Reason rotations, um, three each.
• 7:25
  My first today is an artist called McKinley.
• 7:29
  Um, that's M-A-K-I-N-D-E with a accent.
• 7:33
  Okay.
• 7:34
  The track is called Head Down Nowhere, um, and it's taken from his EP, uh, which is currently called State of Affairs, and this is an ever-evolving EP.
• 7:42
  Basically, he has a adds a track to it, changes the title, and changes the artwork.
• 7:47
  Oh, very cool.
• 7:48
  Which I quite like as a visual development and way in because I was like, I looked at it and I was like, this guy's released three EPs in like two months.
• 7:56
  Yeah, yeah.
• 7:56
  And then I was like, oh, okay, we're adding, we're adding songs.
• 7:58
  Um, but this one, Head Down Nowhere, came out February 2026.
• 8:03
  Um, McKinley, he's a he's a new artist from New York.
• 8:06
  Two key inspirations as Music Soul Child and Michael Jackson.
• 8:09
  His favourite genre is Neo Soul, um, which definitely comes through in his music.
• 8:14
  Um, albeit I wouldn't say he's a neo-soul artist, he's just a very good artist.
• 8:18
  He loves musicality and loves songwriting.
• 8:21
  Yeah, he produces his own music, he edits some of his own visuals as well, not just like social bits, but more like at what you would call, I guess, like premium content as well.
• 8:31
  Yeah, um, he's just an overall very cold, creative, um, very much knows what he's trying to do and how he wants it to be executed.
• 8:39
  When it comes to the aesthetic, I'd say it's very clean, he's got high quality visuals, however they're placed, like in plain sight, I would say.
• 8:46
  So it feels quite grounded.
• 8:48
  Um, and I would describe it as like elevated every day.
• 8:52
  So it feels quite relatable and quite accessible for people coming across it, and you can see sort of like familiar spots in New York if you're sort of from there and stuff.
• 8:59
  He currently has 300 monthly listeners on Spotify.
• 9:02
  Okay, well at the beginning of the journey here, but head down nowhere, he's going places, okay, and the rest of the music's very good as well.
• 9:11
  But yeah, kind of hard to describe other than very good, very musical, obviously got RB inspirations, neosoul inspirations.
• 9:19
  Um, and he is just a great artist.
• 9:21
  So, yeah, for someone so early, McKinley, watch out.
• 9:25
  Okay, McKinley.
• 9:26
  Like that's a very cool concept, I would say.
• 9:28
  Like, because one, it means that people that are are like tapped in are like eager to see the journey, but then two, the same way that you've seen it, like you've spit said, Oh, that's another thing for me to listen to.
• 9:42
  There's another thing, but it is the same thing.
• 9:44
  So that gets his numbers up for the like the same tunes, and then it gets people like new people on as well.
• 9:51
  So yeah, I'm I'll be here for it.
• 9:53
  Yeah, check it, check it.
• 9:54
  That's a that's a cool concept.
• 9:55
  I'm here, McKinney.
• 9:56
  Let's go.
• 9:58
  Okay, my number two.
• 9:59
  Uh my number two flipping out.
• 10:01
  What am I doing?
• 10:01
  Uh let me get my get your game lab.
• 10:04
  Let me go back.
• 10:05
  Let me go.
• 10:07
  My first uh recent rotation.
• 10:10
  Yeah, I'm gonna keep this one short, snappy.
• 10:12
  Okay, yeah.
• 10:12
  So my first recent rotation is uh Nebu, and the song is called Blindsided.
• 10:19
  This came out in March, and yeah, I don't really know too much about this artist, so I'm not gonna lie to you.
• 10:25
  I think he's just kind of an underground RB artist.
• 10:30
  I tried to like see if there's like a bio or interview somewhere.
• 10:34
  I couldn't find anything.
• 10:35
  I'm not gonna lie to you, I couldn't find anything.
• 10:37
  Um, so the song Blindsided, I really like it, and I think you'll really like it, and I think everyone will really like it because uh the production is cold.
• 10:48
  Like the drum selection in it, like the kick drum that they have, knocking, knocking, bro.
• 10:55
  The like sample, there's like a sample in the back, and it's like reversed and kind of like chopped a little bit.
• 11:01
  Like, ooh, okay, like this is uh yeah, this is interesting.
• 11:05
  And then his vocals are very like trap soul adjacent, like, and it's so it's like a proper RB.
• 11:12
  Okay, it's like a proper RB tune, yeah.
• 11:15
  Uh and yeah, vocally he's really good.
• 11:17
  Um, the flow is crazy, and that's all I have to say, bro.
• 11:21
  It's just a big, it's a it's a bang, yeah, it's a banger.
• 11:24
  I'm not gonna lie.
• 11:24
  So I I picked, I found him through like when we do our weekly posts of new tunes to come out.
• 11:31
  Yeah, that was one of mine, and I've I kept it for myself.
• 11:34
  But I was greedy, I was like, I don't want the people to know this mine, but I've come to my senses and I've realized you know what, maybe I'll bring him into this segment so we can talk about him and like hopefully more people can learn about him.
• 11:48
  Um, yeah, so yeah, Nebu blindsided.
• 11:51
  Sick.
• 11:51
  Give it.
• 11:52
  I love a good kick drum and I love a good sample.
• 11:54
  So this is what I'm saying.
• 11:55
  I'm gonna have to check it out.
• 11:56
  Blindside.
• 11:57
  Blindsided, yeah.
• 11:58
  Blindsided.
• 11:59
  Yeah, okay, cool, cool.
• 12:00
  Let's do it.
• 12:02
  My second recent rotation of the day is Arden, that's uh capitalized A-R-D-N.
• 12:08
  Um it's a tune called Retail Therapy with an artist called Ferina, which is F E accent R-I-N-A.
• 12:18
  Um, this came out in October 2025.
• 12:22
  Um, yeah.
• 12:23
  R B tune essentially has a good bounce to it.
• 12:25
  There's strings in it, and when I heard the strings, I was like, cool, we're doing something different here.
• 12:29
  That was something that I guess piqued my interest sonically, um, because yeah, it just made it make it made it stand out.
• 12:36
  Um, so this one is produced by Tyler Bandit and uh Hugo, who have both worked with Brent Fires, okay.
• 12:43
  Um, which you can definitely hear in the production of this record as well.
• 12:48
  Um, because yeah, when I first heard it, I was like, this is kind of Brenty, and then I looked at the credits and I was like, okay.
• 12:52
  Oh, right.
• 12:53
  Also uh co-produced by um Dylan Hyde, um, who's worked with a lot of rappers, um, and also co-produced the AP Go Crazy track that I mentioned a couple well, uh the earlier bit of our episode.
• 13:07
  Shout out to AP Go Crazy.
• 13:08
  Um, yeah, obviously three of them on the beat, which explains why he's quite so advanced.
• 13:13
  Um, but yeah, overall retail therapy.
• 13:16
  This is a smooth groove uh from the Canadian artist um who says he's inspired by J.
• 13:20
  Cole, Smyo, um, and Anderson Pack primarily.
• 13:24
  So yeah, you can understand why.
• 13:26
  With all of the influences and all the collaborators, this one here is a big tune.
• 13:30
  Yeah, Arden goes in.
• 13:32
  I think he's got like a EP or something that's out or came out recently, but don't hold me to that.
• 13:37
  But yeah, he he's he's cold.
• 13:40
  He's cold, well, he's cold.
• 13:41
  So yeah, very, very good pick.
• 13:42
  You're you're doing very well today.
• 13:44
  You're doing very well.
• 13:45
  I appreciate it.
• 13:46
  Okay, put impression on me.
• 13:48
  All right, number my number two, yeah, recent rotation.
• 13:52
  Um I was scared about this one because I thought you were gonna pick this one because I've seen on our Instagram that this these artists like pop up quite a few times.
• 14:02
  So my second recent rotation of the day is Maiden Lane uh bus stop is the song.
• 14:09
  So you have you have This is news to me, bro.
• 14:11
  Good, good, good.
• 14:13
  So uh yeah, Maiden Lane is an Aussie duo.
• 14:18
  Um Max and Eden, and so they put it together to make Maiden.
• 14:23
  They're like very young.
• 14:25
  I think they're well Spotify says they're like 17 and 19, respectively.
• 14:29
  So like they're young.
• 14:31
  Uh they met in high school.
• 14:33
  It's a it's a singer and producer, and they both kind of write the songs together.
• 14:39
  And I guess you would call it old jazz soul pop, I would say.
• 14:48
  And yeah, they're they're cold, bro.
• 14:50
  So Eden um is the girl, she's the like the singer.
• 14:55
  Vocals clean, bro.
• 14:57
  Clean, clean.
• 15:00
  Um, and it's like the songs that they do, they've actually um the song Bust Up is from their EP, Maiden Lane.
• 15:08
  Um, and all their songs are like very musical with like heavy on chords, yeah.
• 15:14
  Um vocally, there's a lot of like vocal layering, similar to like almost like um Jacob Collier kind of layering.
• 15:22
  Like some of the some of the videos that they've done on their socials is just like um them making the song there, and you can see her like layering the vocals and harmonizing, and then they just go straight into the beat, and you're like, rah, this is this is cold.
• 15:34
  Um, so yeah, uh some of the artists that they said they kind of want to collaborate with the future.
• 15:41
  Obviously, this is kind of more aspirational, is like Thundercat and like Erica Badoo and these types, so they got that like funk near soul kind of inspirations, and yeah, it's just it's just very, very good, bro.
• 15:53
  Like, listen to it.
• 15:54
  I think I think we're early to the party as well on this one.
• 15:57
  Okay, nice.
• 15:57
  Because obviously they're super young, this is their first project, they're still kind of like releasing snippets of songs for future uh releases as well, but everything's just funky, soul, super clean.
• 16:11
  Uh, so yeah, give it a go.
• 16:12
  Maiden lane song is a bus stop.
• 16:14
  Damn, very cool.
• 16:16
  Well done.
• 16:16
  Yeah, I feel like to be to have those influences that you're citing, and then also to be doing like vocal layering and stuff at a young age, like it sounds very immature.
• 16:28
  They've been brought up in and around music, been doing this for a while.
• 16:31
  Yeah, and it's just like a good vibe, it's good like soulful vibes and stuff.
• 16:34
  So, yeah, give it, give it a listen to.
• 16:36
  Shout out to Aussie Duo in there.
• 16:37
  Pick him up, man, pick them up.
• 16:38
  That's sick.
• 16:38
  Dan and down.
• 16:40
  Nice.
• 16:41
  All right, my uh third recent rotation of the day, you're gonna love this.
• 16:47
  Okay.
• 16:48
  Taking it back.
• 16:49
  Oh my god, what's going on?
• 16:50
  I know, I know.
• 16:51
  Stealing my thunder.
• 16:52
  What's happening?
• 16:53
  So the artist is uh Evelyn Champagne King.
• 16:56
  Okay.
• 17:01
  Where the hell is this going from, bro?
• 17:05
  What's your name?
• 17:07
  Uh the tune is I'm in love.
• 17:08
  Oh my god, where's happening here?
• 17:11
  Alright, so I heard this at uh a new listening bar in New York.
• 17:17
  Um, and yeah, so like a cocktail bar, they've got a very, very clean sound system in there to the point that on the menu you've got the cocktails, and then you flip the page, and it's also got a breakdown of all of the equipment that they've got in the place.
• 17:31
  Oh, never know.
• 17:32
  So like all the speakers, the cabinets, the amps.
• 17:34
  Oh, so they're about it.
• 17:36
  Bro, this is serious stuff.
• 17:37
  So when I heard this in there, I said, What's going on?
• 17:41
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 17:42
  Because the way that it was hitting, obviously, you know the tune, bro, the the way the keys were coming through, the way everything was slapping on this system.
• 17:51
  It was leveling, bro.
• 17:53
  It was it was very, very good.
• 17:54
  So, uh a bit about the tune.
• 17:56
  Um, this is 1981, and this was uh a number one hit on both the US soul and the US dance charts.
• 18:02
  Okay, produced by Maury Brown, who also produced her most famous song, um Love Come Down.
• 18:11
  That's the word, let's go! And so therefore, like has uh has a similar feel sonically if you're unfamiliar with the tune.
• 18:19
  Um, but yeah, I would describe it as like funk, soul, disco, and just feel good, isn't it?
• 18:25
  It's feel it made me feel good when I heard it, especially on that system.
• 18:27
  I said, I would like at some point in my life to have this kind of musical setup in my in my in my environment.
• 18:35
  So yeah, that's my third.
• 18:37
  Well, that's that's taken by a surprise, bro.
• 18:41
  I'm not gonna lie.
• 18:42
  That's I'm I'm impressed.
• 18:43
  I'm impressed.
• 18:43
  It's taking you to go to New York to listen to the crispy sound system to throw it back, but you're throwing it back regardless.
• 18:49
  So I'm happy, man.
• 18:50
  Sounds good, it's a good one, man.
• 18:52
  I thought you'd appreciate it.
• 18:53
  Yeah, it's crazy, it's crazy.
• 18:55
  All right, fair.
• 18:56
  Um my third, I will also be throwing thrown back.
• 19:02
  I'll be throwing it back.
• 19:03
  So my third recent rotation um of the day is we're going back to 1971.
• 19:10
  Uh, Jill Scott Heron Save the Children is what I've gone for here.
• 19:15
  Um, so this is from his kind of, I guess, his most popular and kind of critically acclaimed album, Pieces of a Man.
• 19:23
  Do you know about Jill Scott Heron?
• 19:25
  So this is he's basically kind of the one of the godfathers of rap, essentially, because he was a street poet.
• 19:31
  Um and he kind of uh spoke about like a lot of political commentary and like social justice and all and all this type of type of stuff.
• 19:40
  He's got a song called like Whitey on the Moon, which is uh basically a commentary about kind of the US government's funding of like NASA and against like all the problems that are happening on ground, essentially.
• 19:54
  So and obviously, obviously they've got this man up again, didn't it?
• 20:00
  So similar similar complaints, things that things don't change, like 50 years on kind of vibe.
• 20:06
  Um, and his most popular song is uh The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, which is also in this outside saying, right?
• 20:14
  And it's like a super famous poem as well by him, um, which is about essentially kind of getting up and being the change rather than just sitting back and watching it all happen.
• 20:25
  So and he's inspired like lots of lots and lots of rappers, all the all the like social and like backpack rappers and like Common and Talib Kwali and like Kendrick and all these people, they've all been inspired by him.
• 20:43
  He's kind of like the source almost, right?
• 20:45
  So he's just the guy, he's the guy.
• 20:47
  Uh, but I've chosen say save save the children because it's kind of more of an optimistic uh tune, I would say.
• 20:55
  Uh a lot of his songs are kind of more kind of condemning and criticizing the way things are and and saying that we need to change.
• 21:02
  Yeah, and this one's kind of like uh yeah, it's more optimistic and kind of emphasizes kind of the importance of the next generation and how we need to nurture them and stuff.
• 21:11
  So I just thought it was quite cool.
• 21:13
  Uh a little bit else about about because this is more this is more about the artist than just the song as well.
• 21:18
  So um he's passed away now, uh, but his last album that he did uh like the year before he died, uh was could was called Our New Here, and it was done through um XL Records.
• 21:32
  Okay.
• 21:33
  Um and basically the year after that released, the uh uh label head Richard Russell, who we've mentioned he does he does like everything is recorded and stuff like that.
• 21:44
  Basically, he produced the album with Jill Scott Heron and then he went to Jamie X Sex, who was also on the label and was under Young Turks at the time, and said, I want you to remix this album and make it into this like dub step.
• 22:00
  Yeah, kind of electro-inspired thing.
• 22:02
  And obviously, Jam XX is like Jill Squads, Karen's the guy, but of course, of course I'm gonna do that.
• 22:07
  And this is before he's even released his own album.
• 22:10
  So he was on Jam XX was on the XX, yeah, and doing stuff with them, but he hadn't released his own album yet.
• 22:16
  Sure, okay, interesting.
• 22:18
  Um, so he remixed it, and so it went from I'm New Here to We're New Here, and one of the songs I know I'm going off, but this is gonna land somewhere.
• 22:29
  This is gonna land somewhere.
• 22:30
  One of the songs uh is uh Take Care of You, which is the sample in uh Big Tune, Drake, Rihanna, Take Care in a roundabout way.
• 22:44
  So Jill Scott Heron is in in that, so I just thought that was quite cool, isn't it?
• 22:49
  So it's he's gone from 1971 all the way up to what's that 2011 popping off in Take Care and that.
• 22:56
  So you can hear his vocals, you know, at the end of the song when it goes, oh no, ha ha ha ha ha.
• 23:01
  That's Jill Scott Heron, that's his vocals, but the melodies basically all taken from the Jamie XX interesting.
• 23:08
  I didn't know that.
• 23:08
  Yeah, so if you go back to the if you listen to the Jamie XX one, it's like the take care melody, but with Jill Scott Heron singing the singing the chorus.
• 23:17
  So there you go.
• 23:19
  So I just thought I thought that's quite interesting.
• 23:21
  That's sick, and that for me is like music evolving and sampling done really well, I would say, because sometimes it's just very obvious is probably the wrong the wrong word, but sometimes it can feel very lazy and like okay, we're just gonna take exactly that and like pitch up, yeah.
• 23:38
  Yeah, exactly.
• 23:39
  Sure.
• 23:40
  But okay, sick.
• 23:41
  Yeah, those are some fun facts.
• 23:42
  One more facts, one more facts.
• 23:43
  So one more Jamie XX actually didn't meet Jill Scott Heron, but he like had to write him letters and kind of send him the music, and then Jill Scott Heron would write back and be like, Oh mad, I approve of this, this is cool.
• 23:55
  Like, can you change this a little bit here?
• 23:56
  Yeah, so they didn't meet during the production, but like they still collaborated, which I found quite cool.
• 24:01
  So that's it.
• 24:02
  That's cool.
• 24:03
  Very nice, very nice.
• 24:04
  I'm done.
• 24:05
  So that's my three solid picks.
• 24:07
  All right, man.
• 24:08
  So let's get into the spotlight artists.
• 24:10
  I'm eager to hear who you're gonna be talking about today.
• 24:12
  Spotlight artists, it's that time of the day where we talk about one artist, maybe potentially one project, and then see if there's any conversations around it.
• 24:23
  So it's your turn to do the research.
• 24:25
  You've got the laptop on the lap, ready to go, ready to spit some facts at me.
• 24:30
  So who we got?
• 24:33
  That is right.
• 24:34
  Uh, so today's spotlight artist is Raheem Bukhari.
• 24:39
  Okay, okay.
• 24:41
  That's right.
• 24:42
  And honorable mention to LVN in this instance as well.
• 24:46
  The reason we are discussing this duo to date um is because Raheem Bakari's got a new album out uh called Sink or Swim, and this is in collaboration with LVN as well.
• 24:58
  Um, so they describe the collaborative album as an anthology of love songs and sexy RB.
• 25:05
  Bringing sexy RB back, I hear it.
• 25:08
  We love it, we love a sexy RB.
• 25:09
  Um, so the pair they wrote, produced, mixed, and mastered all 19 tracks between the two of them, which I think is impressive and speaks to the artistry uh that we are dealing with.
• 25:20
  Um, and so I guess the first question is we've got two artists, what's the what's the difference?
• 25:25
  And what's the what's the vibe?
• 25:26
  So Raheem is the main performer, uh, meanwhile, LVN is the main producer.
• 25:30
  So that's essentially how this partnership is working.
• 25:33
  Okay, okay.
• 25:34
  That that that that clarifies a lot of me.
• 25:36
  That was my first question.
• 25:36
  So yeah, that makes sense.
• 25:38
  Okay.
• 25:38
  So Raheem is a South London singer, songwriter, and producer who professes to make sensual RB, Afro soul, alternative soul, um, and also incorporates um some cinematic storytelling through um through the lyrics.
• 25:53
  Okay.
• 25:53
  Um, there are some like sort of skit bits in there that help, um, I guess, with the narrative of the journey of it.
• 26:00
  Um, now he has previously worked uh with music and visual arts production uh for SkyArts, BET and MTV.
• 26:08
  Oh, okay.
• 26:09
  Which I feel like partly explains um his ability to storytell through music, but also why his mind kind of goes this way when it comes to the creative output of it, which I thought is quite cool.
• 26:19
  Even if he hasn't intentionally like used them as an inspiration, like you you see it in all around you, I guess.
• 26:26
  Yeah, just naturally so subconscious that it naturally gets absorbed.
• 26:29
  He's also 10 years deep in making music, right?
• 26:32
  Over 10 years deep.
• 26:32
  So he spent time honing his craft, which I feel like um I feel like you can kind of tell um in this project.
• 26:40
  This is the first year I've discovered it, so I've I've missed I've missed a whole chunk, but we're here now.
• 26:44
  That's the bit that's that's the main thing.
• 26:46
  That's the main thing.
• 26:47
  Exactly.
• 26:47
  So to to speak to that, and the sort of I guess the the development of him, he's experimented with different sounds over the years, okay.
• 26:54
  Um, including putting a few videos on GRM Daily, as I feel like every artist did uh in the sort of like 2015 to 2020, maybe even preceding that as well.
• 27:08
  And it feels like he's really found his like sound now in his most authentic and um artistic way.
• 27:14
  Um in a time where I would say that subgenre phases um in UK black music feel like a bit less of a thing than they have been in like eras gone by.
• 27:23
  Yeah, I would say, especially in the times that we've like lived through, we've gone through the likes of um Grime, like UK funky, Afro Swing, Drill.
• 27:34
  Um, and I feel like now it's a bit more well, social media democratize things a lot more, and I feel like you know, there are people like Jim Legacy and artists in that vein who have very much allowed it, well like knock down doors and allowed expression to be a lot freer and not necessarily confined to genre pockets, I would say.
• 27:54
  And so yeah, that kind of contextualizes why you might hear different sounds that he's made.
• 27:58
  Um, some of the stuff on GRM is very different to what he's um he he he's done now, and he's just experimented with different stuff.
• 28:04
  Um, now to your point, I also wasn't consciously aware of him before this album.
• 28:11
  Um, but I came across it and personally was immediately struck by the artwork, yeah.
• 28:15
  Yeah, um, which was my you came across it via me, by the way.
• 28:19
  Just let's clarify that.
• 28:20
  Really?
• 28:21
  Yeah, I chose wait.
• 28:24
  We posted him uh the their project on our page.
• 28:29
  It was from I it was my suggestion.
• 28:31
  It was my suggestion.
• 28:32
  Are you sure?
• 28:33
  100%.
• 28:33
  I don't think so.
• 28:35
  100% that's not how I 100%, 100%.
• 28:40
  That was me, it was me.
• 28:41
  Oh, I don't know.
• 28:42
  We'll check, we'll check, but I don't know.
• 28:43
  It was it was me, bro.
• 28:46
  It was it was me, and I put up the list, and then um yeah, but as you said, yeah, I I would that's how I discovered them as well was the artwork.
• 28:55
  I was like, oh, there's it's just a bit there's a bit of love, obviously, water and stuff.
• 29:00
  It's like it feels a bit like it could be soulful here, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 29:04
  It like alludes to a lot, even though the image itself isn't doing like there's not there's not too much there, just water and two people.
• 29:12
  But um, yeah, that's how I I just we'll yeah, let's revisit that offline.
• 29:19
  Yeah, we're just um but get getting into that artwork.
• 29:22
  Obviously, you've alluded to it.
• 29:23
  It's uh it's a photo of a couple embracing shoulder deep in what I'm assuming is the ocean.
• 29:29
  Anyhow, it's a form of water, some advanced body of water, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 29:33
  Um the photo is taken from behind the man, so you only like see the back of his head, um, and you see like the woman's hands wrapped around um him in an embrace.
• 29:43
  Um, to me, yeah, when I saw that, it felt like high quality, it felt warm, uh, but also had a depth to it and felt like mysterious.
• 29:52
  So I was intrigued.
• 29:53
  Yeah.
• 29:54
  Because you don't see the faces and they're kind of submerged in the water, you're like, like, yeah, yeah, what what layers can we peel back in to get into it?
• 30:01
  So I felt like that is really good art, even that as a photo, I'd probably hit like have one uh my wall, and personally found that was enough to press play.
• 30:09
  Yeah, yeah.
• 30:09
  Shout out, shout out to whoever did the cover up.
• 30:11
  Big big demo.
• 30:12
  I also saw a very beautiful piece that he posted online, which is basically the artwork, but it's like a video in it.
• 30:17
  So you just see emotion, so you see the water rippling and you see the couple like bobbing up and down.
• 30:21
  Yeah, like yeah, it's very, very pleasing.
• 30:24
  Okay, okay.
• 30:25
  Um, so speaking about social media quickly, he doesn't do much much talking um or much sort of like social media promotion.
• 30:33
  Okay.
• 30:33
  You know, obviously a lot of artists nowadays is like posting every day, yeah, yeah.
• 30:36
  And it's like months lead up before we get into dropping.
• 30:39
  Um, however, what he has done here feels very intentional.
• 30:42
  It feels like it's in a world, it feels like it's in a sort of like a colour palette, and yeah, it's just high quality everything.
• 30:48
  It's very deliberate.
• 30:49
  There's some interesting angles in there, there's some interesting sort of just concepts in there, and I would say there's been a very clear elevation of that quality and also the mood of the rollout compared to previous stuff that I can see on his social media.
• 31:01
  So big up him and the team for conceptualizing this.
• 31:04
  Feels like he's gone away, made the album, come back, showed a bit of the process, yeah, and then just with like the messaging around, it was like album's out on the 13th of March.
• 31:15
  And it was all sort of like funneling people's attention towards that release day.
• 31:19
  Okay.
• 31:19
  Um, so with that being said, let's get into the music.
• 31:22
  There's 19 tracks.
• 31:24
  Uh, the majority of them are sort of like two to two and a half minutes, so they're almost like little different vignettes of essentially um a love story and the journey of romance.
• 31:36
  Um, so the first track is the title track, Sink or Swim.
• 31:39
  Um, gonna do get into a few of like the topics of the records, yeah, yeah.
• 31:44
  Uh, but not all of them.
• 31:45
  So essentially we start with this one, which is uh uh a letter to his love interest asking if they can give it a proper go, really.
• 31:52
  Um, hence being the title track, and uh the girl's response essentially means that it's sink or swim if they if they jump into it.
• 31:59
  We've got a few other tracks uh that sort of like paint the picture of what forever could look like, should they sort of get into it.
• 32:04
  Yeah, track three is called higher frequency.
• 32:08
  This uh showed a bit of a slight change in the sonic, um, which I personally appreciated.
• 32:13
  Yeah, and I was like, cool, we're getting into versatility.
• 32:15
  This is sounding like cohesion but the of an album, but there's a difference.
• 32:19
  So I was like, cool, I'm invested for the rest of the album.
• 32:22
  It's like 43 minutes.
• 32:24
  So I was like, Yeah, we can yeah, yeah.
• 32:27
  I'm here now, I'm here.
• 32:28
  Yeah, exactly.
• 32:28
  That's one of the things I appreciate about the album.
• 32:30
  It's just like the chopping and changing of like different types of sounds and stuff.
• 32:34
  They weren't afraid to yeah, to go into different kind of subgenres or or what what have you, right?
• 32:40
  It's not like although it is like R and B.
• 32:44
  This there's different facets, which was good.
• 32:46
  So exactly.
• 32:47
  And then track four like had a nice sort of like moment where there's like a guy doing a voiceover, basically, is like a low male voice, and he's now you are now listening to the sultry sounds of everything in the car.
• 32:59
  Yeah, yeah.
• 33:00
  And I was like, okay, cool.
• 33:01
  This is this is cold.
• 33:02
  Sounds like you're in some sort of like smoky, dark jazz bar type thing.
• 33:07
  Yeah, yeah, it's like quiet storm RB, like 980s vibes.
• 33:11
  Yeah, I'm here for it, man.
• 33:12
  But then we kind of almost like start speaking to the directly to the female audience, but also the audience in general.
• 33:19
  I think speaks to his like previous work and you know that we that we alluded to before um with Sky Arts and the like.
• 33:26
  Because there's a the bit of that's that sort of voice over that says, for all the ladies out there, light a candle, chill, put your feet up, and fill the vibes, um, which I really like because it feels like it sets the scene, yeah, and it's almost an instructional way of how telling fans how is best to receive and listen to this music, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 33:42
  Um without without actually addressing yeah, saying like this is kind of what's coming in terms of mood, but like, yeah.
• 33:50
  And then we've got like um a track called Floating, which talks about how he feels like he's floating with his lover, and on this one he also raps, which I was like, oh, okay, so we've we've done musical versatility and now we've got performance versatility, yeah, yeah.
• 34:02
  Around the same time as like the new Jack Swing era, like they had like a lot of RB artists that would like spill into like the second verse or the bridge, they'll just randomly be pulling out raps, and you're like, Oh, okay, I didn't know, I didn't know you man had that in you kind of thing.
• 34:15
  Um, and that's as soon as I heard that, I was like, Oh, right.
• 34:18
  And it kind of gave me that same type of feeling.
• 34:20
  So they're still like they're pulling from like kind of old um, I guess kind of uh styles, which is pretty cool.
• 34:27
  But if and it feels like a really nice, nice, effortless way to be showcasing like full realm of artistry, five five tracks in.
• 34:35
  Like there's a there's a lot going on, and it feels like he's built sort of like a world, um, like a sonic world, yeah.
• 34:41
  Um, which I definitely appreciated and found like quite um yeah, captivating.
• 34:46
  And even some of the little skits between um him and the the female, like you basically you're hearing excerpts of their private conversations and stuff, and it feels like that is a nice sort of like thread throughout, which ties it all together.
• 35:00
  And so then we go from floating into some more like hardships within relationships.
• 35:05
  Uh, one of the tracks is called uh Tough Decisions.
• 35:07
  There's another track called Let's Move On, and so you're starting to get like you've got past the honeymoon phase, and it's now like we've actually got to deal with real life stuff within a relationship, and where where do we where do we go from here?
• 35:17
  There was a nice lyric in Tough Decisions that stood out to me that said, Um, I don't talk much, but I'm not a fool.
• 35:24
  I might love hard, but I can't be used.
• 35:26
  He makes it rhyme.
• 35:28
  Um and it's out, and uh yeah, there's just some nice bits that stand out, and you're like, okay, cool, you can see like almost like the inner conflict of like where where we're at here.
• 35:37
  Yeah, then we've got a nice feature uh from an artist called uh Malik Lives in on track nine, um, which is like sort of rapslash poetry-esque, just nice delivery.
• 35:49
  He's got some really nice, uh, nice lyrics in there.
• 35:51
  Um, so shout out him.
• 35:53
  Uh, we've got a little interlude, which is like a cassette recording um halfway through.
• 35:57
  Um, I'm not quite sure what the context of that is, could be like him and a family member or something that's like some sort of like proverbial thing growing up or whatever, but that was nice as well.
• 36:08
  Um, and again, just nice to bring that to bring that in.
• 36:11
  Track 11 um is a track called Something Spiritual.
• 36:14
  He refers to his father's passing uh in this, which was only June 2025.
• 36:20
  Oh wow, so super recent, um, and certainly adds like another layer to how to like the processing of a romantic relationship when you're also dealing with that and your own process of grief yourself.
• 36:34
  Yeah, yeah.
• 36:34
  I I haven't found the whole thing.
• 36:36
  It was on Hoxton Radio, but he did an interview um where he spoke about um after this um life almost forced him to slow down.
• 36:44
  He had writer's block and was someone who's like a perfectionist, so he was just like really battling with how do I get my creative output happening.
• 36:52
  And then he said um he spoke with LVM and getting in the studio with him really helped that process.
• 36:57
  He really helped him take the pressure off and create freely.
• 37:00
  And um LVM pointed out to him that he often like can overcook things um to the point of quote burning the stew, okay, which I thought was quite a nice, yeah, yeah, nice sort of an analogy of like, bro, like at a certain point let just things be done because overcomplicating stuff can actually ruin it.
• 37:20
  And he and uh Rahib said that this collaborative process helped him to feel more relaxed um and take the pressure off the music making.
• 37:27
  So um yeah, it's it's crazy like what loss can do to an like an artist and and how that can um kind of move things because one of the artists that we mentioned before, Icon, that was one of the reasons that he went back into music and created his project was because of the loss of his dad as well.
• 37:45
  So um it's I I guess you become kind of focused, I guess, right?
• 37:51
  Yeah, um, and you need like an outlet for for for all your feelings.
• 37:55
  So yeah, it's it's interesting how yeah, artists interact with things that are happening in their lives.
• 38:01
  100%.
• 38:02
  I think music is also like therapy for a lot of people because it's cathartic.
• 38:06
  Yeah, I guess the beauty of music is that you're forced to kind of confront that because you're writing a lyric down, so you have to believe what you're saying is how you actually feel at that point.
• 38:16
  Yeah, especially if you you're an artist that wants to be personally in touch with your music.
• 38:20
  Yeah, I guess you have to you have to just put it all out there, right?
• 38:24
  So yeah, it's yeah, it's really it's really it's really interesting.
• 38:27
  Yeah, and and super impressive as well.
• 38:28
  Because I think you know it requires a lot of courage to be candid with those sorts of things.
• 38:33
  Yeah, fair play.
• 38:34
  Um gonna skip down a few tracks.
• 38:37
  Track 17 is called non-disclosure, and it features an artist called Carly.
• 38:40
  I thought it was a nice to have a little female vocal come in there, feel like a nice addition.
• 38:44
  Again, adds a bit of variety, and then there's interlude.
• 38:47
  Um, track 18 is called SOS, which is obviously like an acronym of the album title, Sink or Swim, but also um a signal of distress, often used at sea.
• 38:58
  So I thought that was a clever incorporate incorporation of like a like a cry for help within a relationship, but also the ultimatum of this is Sink or Swim.
• 39:06
  I have to choose if I'm gonna engage or not, almost.
• 39:09
  Um, and there's some really lovely sort of like this is a it feels like a bit of a poem, really.
• 39:14
  This um, and yeah, a lot of references to the water talks about finding the rhythm of the water, um, the sea of love is never still, and this sort of stuff.
• 39:22
  So it's nice sort of imagery that you can that you can um pick out there.
• 39:27
  Okay.
• 39:27
  Final try deep end, don't let me down is a repeated lyric here, and he's basically taken the plunge into the deep end of love and is hopeful of um what will sort of come of that.
• 39:38
  And so that's kind of the project in a nutshell.
• 39:41
  I think it's a very impressive example of a cohesive project that tells a story around a subject matter, yeah, with clear sections throughout, but it doesn't feel like it is like conclusive, yeah, like in a good way.
• 39:53
  Like it's not like here's my take on love and here's how you make it work, but it's more just like his personal experience um with some intertwined like hiccups and his kind of like my stream of consciousness as to like what goes through the mind of a man in a relationship.
• 40:07
  Yeah, so yeah, and I I thought it was an impressive elevation from some of his previous uh work, just in terms of like having checked some of it back in terms of clarity, in terms of production, incorporation of different sounds, and then the visual roller, as I say, um, albeit condensed, I thought, um, yeah, it's high quality.
• 40:27
  Yeah, I I guess in terms of that clarity, um, as you said, it helps when you're working alongside someone, right?
• 40:35
  Because they can kind of almost like check what like our progress and be like, do we need to have all of this thing, all these things in, or does it match what we just made before?
• 40:45
  Whereas like I guess if you have a project that has loads of different people involved, yeah, it can just go anywhere, right?
• 40:52
  Like we spoke about it with um with Dave and kind of he only had like a few collaborators, but that that's what keeps everything the same almost, right?
• 41:01
  So yeah, it's cool.
• 41:02
  And to that point, quick question actually.
• 41:04
  So what is uh well like we talk talk about the value of collaboration?
• 41:09
  Um if you obviously we spoke about LBM being very um yeah, like pivotal in the process of this, not just because of his artistic talents, but because of what he how he helped Raheem to kind of relax into the process.
• 41:22
  Um if you were an artist, what would your like process be?
• 41:26
  Would you want to be around like a few or collaborators, or would you want to be like everyone send me stuff and I'll decipher what I think is good?
• 41:32
  I think there's a there's multiple ways to go about it, I feel.
• 41:36
  Um, I think what's from a lot of the projects that I like, there seems to be like an artist and like an exec producer slash producer alongside you when they're doing a project.
• 41:49
  And then so you can still be bringing in different producers and different artists, but then you both have that clear message, right?
• 41:57
  So you have it on both sides, you have it on the in terms of the the vocals and how you want things to sound and the actual production itself.
• 42:05
  Um, I think I feel that's the key.
• 42:07
  Like I'm always impressed by people that can do just like an album by themselves and stuff.
• 42:12
  Because that that because that is for me, that sounds like very difficult to do.
• 42:17
  I think you need at least at least one person throughout kind of thing.
• 42:20
  Like Drake has like Jordan Ward has Lino, and like you need you need someone next to you.
• 42:27
  I I feel, anyways.
• 42:28
  No, for sure.
• 42:29
  I think to anchor it and to keep it consistent, because if you as the artist don't have um production like mouse, then it's great to have someone who keeps things in the same vein, yeah.
• 42:40
  Especially if you're wanting to have a thematic project, yeah.
• 42:42
  And sometimes it could just be just so you can have a majority in the room kind of thing.
• 42:47
  Because if if it's like if I'm just an artist and I'm with someone else, they could want to put their impression, which is good to a point, but like they could want to make it something completely different, yeah, yeah.
• 42:57
  Like it's good to have two of you to be like, whoa, like let's we've got to go down.
• 43:01
  Yeah, yeah.
• 43:02
  So I think that's yeah, I think you need one person.
• 43:04
  I agree, I think I would do the same.
• 43:06
  Can I put my hater hat on for a sec?
• 43:09
  Yep, my my weekly hater hat.
• 43:11
  This isn't a this isn't hate, this is a qu a question as well.
• 43:17
  Um, how do you feel about skits in general?
• 43:21
  Because I'm not a huge fan of skits, um, and I don't like skits at the start of a song.
• 43:30
  Is I I don't mind at the end of the song because if it bangs, then I'll leave it on.
• 43:35
  If it doesn't, if it doesn't, it's fine, we move on, isn't it?
• 43:37
  But at the start of the song, I don't know how I feel.
• 43:40
  Like one of the skits in the in this album in the Sink or Swim that I really like is um I can't remember the song, but it's like this sex, the sexy RB insulin.
• 43:51
  And I really like that because they've still got the music in the background, like you, and you can feel that they're in the studio, and it's like it's like you've got these tunes, and I'm I and I I'm listening to it like oh I want to hear what that is like these men are cooking yeah yeah yeah so then like and that's its own track I guess so I I guess I don't mind if it's own track sometimes as well but the start of the song I'm not huge on how do you feel about it?
• 44:16
  Yeah I agree I don't love skits yeah I don't love skits um in this instance I think because it's a common thread throughout and there's clearly one narrative that he's telling and it's clearly deliberately he wants to create this sort of like um continuity yeah I of the story it makes sense yeah I understand the purpose of them yeah I I even for for this I still don't love it in it yeah like he he's he's done it and it's it's good because it's helped me to make sense of the story he's telling but like sonically I I find skits jarring in it yeah why why for me just put it on the back like literally just put it on the song before like the back end of the song before yeah I agree I don't like it at the start at the end is okay but then I'm but then yeah I I agree with you I like what he's done with this yeah track uh 15 is called bring back sexy R and B around Skit yeah and yeah he's basically playing around with ideas in the studio of his guys in it so it's been too long like we need to make music da da da da and so I quite because you can shut your eyes and be like I can picture these man yeah and he's sharing ideas they're like we need to we need to do this so I I do quite like that what I don't love is when people are like just randomly talking and stuff.
• 45:29
  Yeah it's just for me it's just at the start of the song I know we need like sometimes in projects we need it but just put it at the back of the song for me.
• 45:37
  Yeah agreed I I personally would prefer them without the overall I think the place for me the place for for that is adding it into a music video like creatively when you're also sitting the scene and you can I can picture it to I I I don't mind it in the in the in the in there but I just want to have the option to not listen to it.
• 45:57
  I think that's that's all it is for me.
• 45:58
  Yeah true so it's either if it's one if it's a single song that's fine or the single skit in itself that's fine because I can skip it.
• 46:05
  If it's at the back end then I can skip it.
• 46:08
  If it's at the start it's obviously I can scroll all across scroll across and be like whatever and I remember what how long the skit is or whatever but yeah I'm just that's just my take on it.
• 46:19
  Like I I don't mind hearing them especially the first time you listen to it listen to a project I'd like I'm like yeah yeah it's world building in it like I'm here for it but then when I'm just like I wouldn't get rid of that version.
• 46:31
  Yeah now I'm just here for the tunes just put it at the back but that's that's my take that's that's my I hear it I don't disagree okay let's bring it back into more positive energy so favourite songs favorite songs you want me to go first yeah my favorite song if you ready let's go so I've got two same okay great uh so my favorite song is floating okay um and that's because the production's really good I I really like the the kind of the bass line as well I'm like a sucker for a good bass line um but the production as well it leaves enough space yeah which is like yeah so yeah well exactly that's floating and which is super key for me because it means like Raheem can be in the pocket and like he's just going off in it which I find yeah so that that's that's my that's definitely my favorite the other the other one is the one that you mentioned is the something spiritual uh because vocally he's just going he's going off yeah and it's like you can like the song is about his vocals in it like it's not like lyrically heavily he's just saying something spiritual yeah but he's showing like the runs and stuff and it's like building you're like okay like this is and it is feel it does feel spiritual right so uh that yeah they're my two nice what what are you saying am I have I taking one of yours yeah we we've got overlap uh I've got two one is also floating yeah yeah I'm not gonna expand on that because okay yeah if anyone who's listening just check that one out it's good yeah yeah yeah yeah um the second one is crushed velvet uh which is track three if I'm not mistaken um yeah so crushed velvet is the is the voiceover intro right yeah yeah yeah so after like the radio where we're getting into it we're getting we're getting sexy R and B here yeah that's when you know like okay crush like crush velvet in itself the song title you're like okay this is essential and then the voice you're like okay okay we're here yeah for me for me track tracks three and four you've got high frequency into crush velvet or the interview into floating and I was like we're doing lots of different pockets here and crushed velvet in the middle I was like to be fair this stands out and I can it's one of those ones where I can close my eyes and feel like as I said where where where you're listening to it I thought the incorporation of different instruments was really nice yeah um and yeah it's just a vibe in it so those are my two nah you're you're right the that three tracks sequence is is cold yeah that's a run right there that's cold that's cold that locked in like yeah that's cold really if I'm if if I'm being very objective I would say that is the strongest part of the album and that's what locked me in exactly that's what locked me in.
• 49:09
  And then I would say I would say mu mus musically it it started to blend a bit more towards towards the end um but obviously we completed the story that that um he was telling but that right there excellent execution yeah um and yeah as you say locked us in to listen to the whole album yeah this is why we're now have this discussion yeah these three tracks are while we're talking today so so big up Raheem and Lvion on that one for sure yeah and then I think we're just gonna gonna gonna wrap it pretty shortly but I would say for anyone who's not heard of um not heard of him defo give it a listen if you're still unsure as to the pocket that he sits in I would say personally and I'm interested to hear your opinion as well but this is for fans of people who might like Jack James okay yeah you might like Koji Radical Giveian and Brent Fires.
• 49:57
  Okay yeah I hear it I would this is a weird one I would add Thames into there as well oh interesting just because vocally some of the runs that I've heard I heard throughout the album were very like Thames adjacent so obviously it's it sounds different but like the way the way it goes yeah I was like ooh okay like there's there's different moments in the album where you can see that he's using different techniques and like vocally yeah so it doesn't necessarily sound the same throughout which I find really cool because the vocals change and so does the production but they still manage to keep it into yeah it's impressive into one thing which is why like I was hating before but I do think the skits do help that as well it does help like tie it all up so yeah I would put Thames on there as well.
• 50:45
  Nice yeah very cool so yeah do do check him out do check him out he's um I think he's released like four four albums over like a 12 year period or something so I hope I would love to see more consistency from him because I was you know as my first foray into him I was um I was impressed by this and I would like to like to see what else what else he's got cooking especially as per that sort of like skit track of like bro what else have you got in the locker yeah yeah show you more um so yeah big em up man I mean I this this release did feel like a a moment so let that let's see how it builds and goes and we're look we're looking forward to following it you've got two bats now and hopefully a couple more from this conversation yeah this is the whole point I feel like he's kind of goes under the radar a bit so hopefully um we can show people some good music coming up the UK specifically south London so yeah big up Rahim Bakari and I'll be able to think of a swim out now go run that one up.
• 51:39
  Yeah sounds good let's call it