Latest / ninetyfive / Destin Conrad: Young, free and unbound by genre - EP12

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Destin Conrad: Young, free and unbound by genre - EP12 · ninetyfive

0:00
SPEAKER_01: You have done the preparation and research this time.
0:03
SPEAKER_01: I've tried, yeah, I've tried.
0:04
SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's go.
0:05
SPEAKER_01: Who are we gonna be discussing?
0:06
SPEAKER_01: This week's spotlight artist is none other than Destined Conrad.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: I think you'll really like it.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's a bit of you, I'll be honest.
0:19
SPEAKER_01: Online view to describe him.
0:22
SPEAKER_01: Simple, young and free.
0:29
SPEAKER_01: Hello, hello, back again.
0:31
SPEAKER_01: Yup.
0:31
SPEAKER_01: New episode.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: Here we are.
0:33
SPEAKER_01: Let's get to it.
0:33
SPEAKER_01: Vinyl of the week.
0:35
SPEAKER_01: It's your turn.
0:35
SPEAKER_01: It's my turn.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: What's in the collection?
0:38
SPEAKER_01: It's one of my faves.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: That's what of course it is.
0:42
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so we're going.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: Hiatus Coyote.
0:45
SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah.
0:46
SPEAKER_01: Choose your weapon.
0:48
SPEAKER_01: This is I don't know what you call these man.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: Funk, alternative, soul, neo soul, fusion.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: They got a bit of like Latin in there, they got a bit of like West African like drums and stuff in there.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: It's a lot, man.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot going on in it.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: It's a lot.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: But they're the guys, like, and this album, I think it's like just amazing.
1:10
SPEAKER_01: It's just amazing.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, everything they put out is really good.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, but this album in particular, obviously you can see the visuals and that.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: I haven't got any inserts for you.
1:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I've got so we've got this, which is like which is like the track list.
1:27
SPEAKER_01: Nice, nice.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then like snippets of lyrics, so like choruses or like whatever they thought was like kind of the most powerful lyrics in the song, nice.
1:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh, which is very cool.
1:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then on the back, you can see something completely different.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, these are the guys, they're the guys in that.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, you can see the band members and the main singer, um Napalm, wild name.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, Napalm, these men are just wild, wild and funky.
1:58
SPEAKER_01: We were talking about like a couple of weeks ago, about like um we're talking about like Parliament and Funkadelic and how they just more like random stuff and then these men, these men are they crazy, they're crazy.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: A little bit about this album as well.
2:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh well first I'll show you the vinyl because I know you're excited to see that.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: So as I said, no no inserts, but we do have a colour for you.
2:22
SPEAKER_01: We've got like a we've got like a uh muted nice muted white, I guess, or grey, I don't know.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: It's not a glow in the dark, is it?
2:33
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I don't know, I couldn't tell you.
2:34
SPEAKER_01: I I didn't think like let's just turn off all the lights.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't tell you.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: It looks like it could be, but I like it.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's pretty cool.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: Little off-white situation with a tinge of green, maybe.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you've got their little their logo and stuff of like the name and stuff.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: It's coyote.
2:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a four, um, yeah, four-disc, no, sorry, two-disc uh four-side album.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh, where the hell is the side thing?
3:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, which is quite cool.
3:02
SPEAKER_01: So I'm just like doing upside that a baticin, a badkin.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: Uh, where the hell is this?
3:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so uh a little bit about the album as well.
3:12
SPEAKER_01: So they were at the time they were signed to uh I think they still are to like fly Flying Bitter, which is done by uh Solam Remy, who like him and Mark Ronson did a lot of the back to back with Amy Wayne Winehouse and stuff like that, and he was working on the following album before she died and stuff.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: So like he's he's the guy.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: In terms of tracks in this as well, uh, I'll give you two big big tunes.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: Hit me, and they're the two last songs on the album.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: So Manasses, big tune.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you'll know if you don't know the song, you'll know a snippet of it through Drake.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: He uses it at the very start of More Life.
3:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you can hear you can hear Napalm singing it, and it's like, oh, this is soulful.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: Like it potentially that's where I found Hyatt's Coyote.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: It might have been before that because they had an album before with and they have a song called Nakamura with Q-tip, and Q-tip's my guy.
4:11
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Tribal Quest, but uh, I don't know.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, but so yeah, she's on that, and she's also on um Drake's album Scorpion, as well, where she sings uh like a snippet of Aaliyah in Is There More at the end of the song, and that's her as well.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: So she's like vocally, she's amazing, like super, super soulful.
4:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and the second song is Building a Ladder, which is the last song.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: I think this is the song that was I mentioned uh in the previous episode uh that Ninth Wonder used in the Kendrick album Damn.
4:46
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the the the people in the scene know that these are the guys, and this is the album, innit?
4:50
SPEAKER_01: Exactly, and just listen to it.
4:51
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot, there's a lot going on in the album, innit?
4:54
SPEAKER_01: But just listen to it and it's like a an experience, I'd say.
4:57
SPEAKER_01: So very cool.
4:59
SPEAKER_01: That's my vinyl of the week, man.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: Like they're the guys.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: I go, I probably go back to this album.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: It's one of the my most listened to albums for sure.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh when I need like just a time to separate myself from the world a bit, this is it.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: Because they talk about like existential stuff, yeah, yeah.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: Like the can even tell by like the track titles, in it.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: All everything's like metaphorical and all of this type of stuff.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: So they're just they're just the guys, and they consistently turn out good music as well.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: Like the other projects are really good as well.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, just give them a listen to and give a listen to this album in particular.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: The artwork's super cool.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh they were just looking for I think they were just looking for some like their Australian group, and they were looking for like Australian artists, and he did the like the painting and stuff, but then Napalm the singer did like some copperizing and like actual metal work onto it to give it a different, like more texture.
5:53
SPEAKER_01: Damn, and then they took a photo of that, so it's like a collaboration between an artist and Heights Coyote together.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: Damn sick.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's cool.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: I love the intentionality behind that, yeah.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: Like thinking about it, yeah, yeah.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: So it's it's mad, it's mad random, isn't it?
6:08
SPEAKER_01: It's it's uh yeah, super random, isn't it?
6:10
SPEAKER_01: But it's very, very cool.
6:12
SPEAKER_01: So I thought I'd we'll have it on the set today.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: Sick, solid picks, solid pick.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, and that's it, man.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: That's my man of the week, man.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: Let's just get straight to recent rotations, bro.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: Let's get to it, bro.
6:21
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's go, let's do it.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: All right, cool.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: Right, recent rotations.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
6:27
SPEAKER_01: What on earth have we been listening to this week?
6:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna let you go first, as usual.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: So what's your first two?
6:34
SPEAKER_00: I can wrap it up at the end and speak for ages.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: Great, great.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: Let's get into it straight away.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: So, recent rotations.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: My first for today is an artist called Devin Danell.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh, the tune is called 55, uh, similar to us 95.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: It's lowercase and it's joined up.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: We're very unoriginal.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: Um this was released in February, and yeah, he is an artist from Vegas who describes his sound as like a fresh glass of iced tea, familiar, comforting, and made with care.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
7:09
SPEAKER_00: Just like his grandma used to make it.
7:11
SPEAKER_01: Oh, right, okay, okay.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, I really like that because I don't know, it's easy to describe something genre-based, but I like being able to put an activity or a a noun?
7:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I guess.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: Like something that people experience next to it, so you can make that sort of marriage.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: So I like that.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, but into the genre side of things, I would say this chilled RB, very musical.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, this tune specifically has a clean bass line, it's got keys in there, it's got guitar, it's smooth, it's nostalgic at the same time.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, so a bit about him quickly.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, he grew up in church, his mum was a singer as well, so music was very much like around him, and now he makes a lot of music with his best friends, so it's very like community and like familiarity territory, which I guess is kind of like the IST situation.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, March um 2026 or his debut headline show.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I feel like there's a lot more to come from him.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: He's actually released some music since then as well.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: You were cooking now.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: So I feel like we're cooking now, and yeah, when I came across this, I was a fan and his other stuff's good as well.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: So I'm excited to see what Devin has to come for the rest of the year.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, I believe this is I think it's actually um a single from a forthcoming project that he's got coming.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, the tune 55, check that one out.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, and yeah, big him up, he's doing his thing.
8:33
SPEAKER_01: Alright, say no more.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: I've never heard of an artist from Vegas.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that's interesting as well.
8:37
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
8:38
SPEAKER_01: Alright, shout him out, man.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: What have you got for us?
8:42
SPEAKER_01: Okay, my first recent rotation is Leia Luba is is the tune.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: So it's Uber with an L in front.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: Got it.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this came out in April.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: I thought the artist's name was Leia Luba.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: I was about to say it's a serious name.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: Leia Luba.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: Got it, got it, got it.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: And I've been following Leia for a while.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: And RB artists, I'm pretty sure she's from New York.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and it's kind of closer as you're gonna get to like Timberland, Missy, RB era.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: Okay, like all of her tunes slap, like she hasn't got one bad song, I'm not gonna lie.
9:22
SPEAKER_01: So, and she's had an album a couple of years ago that slapped as well.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, you can kind of tell that that's kind of the era that she is really heavily influenced by because um her song previously she had a song called Sock It to Me, which has um Missy Elliott in the in the writing credits through samples and stuff like that.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: Um her one of her most popular songs is called Crazy Down, which is a sample from Brandy's um I Wanna Be Down.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's just like you can see where it's coming from and stuff.
9:56
SPEAKER_01: In this song, she's got production credits as well, and she always she does.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: I'm pretty sure she does her visuals pretty much herself.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: Nice um because she's got snippets on socials of her like setting things up and like she said, like this is what I do, kind of thing.
10:12
SPEAKER_01: She's very like visually unique, and she you can see everything's like very intentional.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: Again, this is one of the artists that I kind of highlight have close to me, and like I know when she drops, I'm like, okay, this is I know it's gonna be a banger every time, every time.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, consistency is top-notch, so um, yeah.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: So listen to the the tune Luba.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I've not heard of her, so I have to.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: I love the seeing the process as well.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: You've definitely heard of her, you've heard of Leia.
10:37
SPEAKER_01: I mean, do you know the song Sailor Moon?
10:39
SPEAKER_01: You've you've heard it, you've heard it, trust me.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: If not from me, I've played it to you multiple times.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh but yeah, shout out Leia.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: Watch it up and see.
10:47
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: Second beach meditation of the day um is an artist called Koto Auto.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, he has uh a new three-track out called Hoodis, and the tune I'm specifically mentioning is also called Hoodis, and it has Mick Jenkins on it.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: My guy, okay, okay.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: So this came out March uh 2026, and Korto Auto, um, he's a Glasgow bass musician and composer who favors jazz bops, he says.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: Oh, right.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: Um very like very artsy, or artsy's not even the right word, just talented, isn't it?
11:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the guy's talented.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so his government name is Liam Short Shortall.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and uh quarto auto means short tall in Spanish.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay, okay.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: I see what you did there.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so he he himself is Spanish-Irish.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: Um, so this is an Spanish Irish based in Glasgow.
11:37
SPEAKER_01: Is that what we said?
11:38
SPEAKER_01: Correct.
11:38
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay, let's go.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: The guy's about, he's about, okay.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: And now he's collaborated with Mick Jenkins.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Mick Jenkins keeps collaborating with UK artists.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: What's going on there?
11:47
SPEAKER_01: But I'm here for it.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: This tune here, yeah, I think you'll really like it.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's a bit of you, I'll be honest.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: It's got everything in it.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: Like mu musicality-wise, bro, bass, synth, drums, sacks, strings, it's happening.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: Mick, he's flowing, and yeah, it's just bouncy, it's a big vibe.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, and yeah, the the other two tracks on the Hoodis little three-track is really good as well.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, but this one obviously I like rapping it.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: So when Mick came in, he was flowing, okay.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: And then all of the other little pockets of the instruments find themselves in, like, it's just very, very high quality.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: There's a nice video um where you've got like kids playing as like the sort of like my main protagonist, yeah.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: It feels fun.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, just check it out.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: Quarto auto uh who dis.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: That sounds like a bit of me.
12:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have to.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have to.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool.
12:36
SPEAKER_01: My number two of the day, so my second recent rotation uh is a track from 2020.
12:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh so we're going back a little bit.
12:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh it is uh Nutty Nice is the artist.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and the song is The Promise.
12:52
SPEAKER_01: Um and you wouldn't believe it.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: We're going back to South Africa, bro.
12:56
SPEAKER_01: We're going to get South African Madden.
13:01
SPEAKER_01: They know how to do it.
13:02
SPEAKER_01: They got they're musical, bro.
13:03
SPEAKER_01: They got them tunes.
13:04
SPEAKER_01: So this is South African like DJ producer.
13:07
SPEAKER_01: I think he's been about for a long time.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: Like from what I read, he's been DJing since like the 90s kind of thing.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: So this is like a established me just discovering him, but like he's he's the guy in the scene already.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: And the reason I chose this song is it's kind of it's my like early summer dance tune because it's like very housey and stuff, but like it's like um the song's about it's called The Promise, and it's about the lyrics are like I'll handle you've care.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: It's like that, it's like a loving thing, and there's like a kick that kind of just pumps, but it's not like heavy, heavy house, it's more like chill dance, and yeah.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: So I thought there was the per kind of the good time into summer and stuff to be listening to these type of tunes.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I hear it.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: Seasonality and that, yeah.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: This is it, this is it.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: So that's why I chose him.
13:57
SPEAKER_01: I don't really know too much about him or anything, it was just kind of more a choice to like you listen to it, yeah, and you're in the mood, bro.
14:05
SPEAKER_01: You're in the mood.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: So I'm here for that.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: That's yeah, I I need the transition into that.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm waiting for a lot of artists to be dropping some summer bangers.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, yeah.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: This this is one, bro.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: This is one for sure.
14:15
SPEAKER_01: There's not, it's not like super like too much lyrically happening, but the vocals that are there are are good and it's kind of repetitive throughout.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: And then it's like little in the production, there's like little things that come in and then come out, like different types of like drums and stuff, or like simphs that go up and down.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: You're like, oh, okay, like and you're like still going and you're like, oh, yeah, so it's one of them, yeah.
14:37
SPEAKER_01: As I said, early summer tunes, bro.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: Because some of them tunes can be quite monotonous, yeah.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: It just goes on for like six minutes for no reason, so that's nice.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: No, this one is yes, it's per perfectly um placed in its length, and it's it's just a good tune, bro.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so give it a go.
14:51
SPEAKER_01: Nutty nice, the promise.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: Lovely.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: So my final one of the day.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: Last time out, we took it back.
15:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but I'm a drink now, yeah.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: Bro, it's happening again.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: It's happening again.
15:05
SPEAKER_01: You're trying to compete with me.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: You're trying to where where you've thrown it back to me.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: I gotta show the people's that I don't know.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: They don't just exist in this decade.
15:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's crazy, man.
15:15
SPEAKER_01: I've I've never penned you to be doing these three.
15:19
SPEAKER_00: Not many, not many.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh colour me surprised, bro.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: The household I grew up in was listening to the Beatles status quo.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: So I've had to explore and find music uh for myself.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so what have we got?
15:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, so we're going back to 1985.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and we're going Alexander O'Neill.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay, what's missing?
15:35
SPEAKER_01: Okay, what where are you finding these tunes?
15:38
SPEAKER_01: Alexander O'Neill with that.
15:41
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay, what's going on?
15:43
SPEAKER_00: This guy is shocked.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: What's happening?
15:45
SPEAKER_00: What's happening?
15:46
SPEAKER_00: I don't know where I found this, yeah, but I I did.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: And I I liked it.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: All right, which is why it's coming up.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, so this tune, What's Missing, is produced by uh Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: The guys, we they've we mentioned them a lot, or like at least they've been in production a lot of songs that we mentioned.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, they've been in the conversation.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, but for the for the sake of this bit of context, um, they've achieved 16 Billboard number ones and are among just a small group of people who have had number one singles spanning three separate decades.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: They're they're serious, bro.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: Serious people here.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: Their credits also include Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Boys to Men, Usher, and the list goes on.
16:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, so it sounds great, as you can imagine, based on that.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, what's missing?
16:33
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, it's speaking about love and things that are missing from love and how you like develop the relationship and get get back on track and all this sort of stuff.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: So it is the lyric is almost in contradiction to the Sonic because it feels quite uplifting and quite hopeful.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: So he's presenting, I guess, of what's missing and how do we get there rather than like despair, what's missing.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, it's grooving, funky, RB soul, again, disco infused, punchy drums, lots of keys, a good bass line.
17:04
SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, all of those elements was what I guess pricked my ears up when I heard it.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, and yeah, I've been enjoying discovering some older tunes.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because I feel like ain't no one making that sort of music anymore.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's not that sound like an old head saying that, but just no one people aren't making that unless I'm aware.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: If people are, someone let me know.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's what we're here for.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: We're here to discover these new sounds because yeah, I'm the same.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: Like, I always go back because especially yeah, that mid-80s era, thanks to uh like producers uh like Jimmy Jam and Lewis and that.
17:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, there's just a bounce, there's just and it's just like fun.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: Um, yes, it's yeah, it's hard to find those now.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: I say people aren't making that anymore, but this is new to me.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: So for me, it's a new tune, which is great.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: I'm happy for you, man.
17:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm really, I'm really happy that you're like into these tunes because you were hating of me throwing it back before.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: So now you're throwing it back, like, welcome to the party and that.
17:58
SPEAKER_01: So that leads me to my third, third tune.
18:02
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
18:02
SPEAKER_01: So my third recent rotation, you know what I'm doing.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm throwing it back.
18:06
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm living in the 1970s at the moment, to be honest.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: So we're going 19 1972 this time.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: The OJs.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: Tune Backstabbers.
18:18
SPEAKER_01: Now.
18:19
SPEAKER_01: This now OJs go in.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you'll know, you'll 100% know um their most popular song, which is Love Train.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, but this was kind of the song that this was their first breakthrough tune, I would say.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: Because basically they got signed by like Philadelphia International Records, and they lost, they were originally, I think, four, and then they went down to a trio and yeah, through this label, this was kind of their first song that they released, and it was like instantly bad first song.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: It was instantly a banger, it got it was put into like a movie with Diane Keaton and stuff, so it was like it was big, and yeah, the reason I actually chose this uh was me typical me listening to a song and be like, oh, I want to go to the sample and stuff.
19:06
SPEAKER_01: So um, this is used in a big, big Neo soul RB tune, the late great Angie Stone, Wish I Didn't Miss You.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: So it's using the same melody, essentially.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: So when I was growing up, I didn't realize this was a sample because I thought this was just her.
19:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I was like, this is crazy, like the beat itself is crazy.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, it's it's this is the original, essentially.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: And then yeah, backstabbers, as this as the title says, it's like about um, it's actually about um your like a male friend going behind your back and trying to take your girl, is what it is.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: And this the lyrics is like the lyrics is they're smiling in your face kind of thing, but like they're backstabbers essentially.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: The lyrics are like talking about guys coming to your yard and being all friendly and stuff, and then coming to the yard when I'm not there and taking the girl and all of this type of stuff.
20:02
SPEAKER_01: So it's very dramatic.
20:03
SPEAKER_01: And if you listen to the melody, you're like, oh, like this is a bit eerie and dramatic and turbulent.
20:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's that's the main reason um was for the sample, but the tune itself is great.
20:14
SPEAKER_01: Um lyrics, um, lyrics, vocals, excellent.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: OJ's just uh I think I think the lead singer's Eddie Levert, I want to say it is, um, and he's he goes off.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
20:28
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, definitely listen, listen to it, give it a go.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: The OJ's backstabbers throwing it back.
20:33
SPEAKER_01: Very nice.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: And on that note, should we get onto the spotlight artists?
20:38
SPEAKER_01: It's me.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna find out who it's gonna be.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
20:42
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: Right.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: It's time to get into our spotlight artist for the week.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: You have done the preparation and the research for us this time.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: I've tried, yeah, I've tried.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: This week, Spotlight Artists is none other than Destin Conrad.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: He spoiled us to two albums last year, and he's just come off of a big tour, US and UK, and I think he's just wrapping that up now.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: So one of the albums isn't exactly what we expected it to be.
21:11
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna talk about that a bit.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
21:13
SPEAKER_01: Just a quick one-liner for you fit to describe him.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Simple, young and free.
21:19
SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm going for.
21:21
SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm gonna do.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I hear it, I hear it.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: I think it's good.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: Quickly, some of the influences that he's mentioned before I get into his kind of story and his discography.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, Music Soul Child, Beyonce, Brandy, and all the pioneers of RB.
21:36
SPEAKER_01: And he's mentioned Brandy multiple occasions, so I'll put that one at the top.
21:40
SPEAKER_01: The vocal Bible is what they call it.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: He's a man about his vocals, yeah.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna go just through early timeline, we'll go to the discography and then lead up to where we are now.
21:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we'll go from there.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so he's 25 at the moment.
21:55
SPEAKER_01: Uh, he's born in Tampa, Florida.
21:58
SPEAKER_01: So uh quick mention.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: The Florida scene.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of RB.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we did Sailor, innit?
22:04
SPEAKER_00: Did Sailor.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: So Sailor, Dogce, Flozig, Isaiah Fools, Gabriel Japacoby, although he's um in South Carolina from South Carolina, but he's Tampa raised.
22:15
SPEAKER_01: So there's a R something in the water.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: Still down south is happening in the RB scene.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: So it's good to see.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: It's good to see.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: Because I'll I've only been to America twice, and one of the times was Tampa, I believe.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: And it was quite a sleepy, sort of sleepy town.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I feel like we don't as tourists, you don't really see the proper Florida, right?
22:38
SPEAKER_01: Of course.
22:38
SPEAKER_01: I've I've been fortunate enough, I've got like family there and that.
22:41
SPEAKER_01: So I see a man of culture, you see, see what's popping.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: Because essentially, obviously, I'm like Jamaican background on my on my dad's side.
22:49
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of the the main places that people commute um when when they um left Jamaica was the UK, Canada, and America.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: In America, a lot of the time it's Florida.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of my family are from there, and it's it's the same with Destin, essentially.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: His mum is Jamaican-born.
23:06
SPEAKER_01: Um, so that that's that's why he kind of he's from Florida, essentially, right?
23:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, similar to the artist that we mentioned in um Keanu Major 9, who's also Jamaican, Destin is as well.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: So you you have a bit of those kind of cultural influences in his music, and you kind of you kind of can hear that throughout.
23:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
23:25
SPEAKER_01: Just go in going off of something that he says.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: He says, I grew up on a lot of music and things that were regionally exclusive to there, growing up around a lot of Caribbean people and being Jamaican myself plays such a huge role in music, so he is aware of his influences around him.
23:41
SPEAKER_01: Nice.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: So when he started singing, was um again similar to Tiana Major 9, was in the church at church events.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: His aunt would take him and make him sing at events and stuff.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: So he was always a fan of music and being wanted to be out there.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, his older sister um he says is a major RB head, so she would put him onto music basically.
24:04
SPEAKER_01: Literally.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: Anything that she liked, he would like as well.
24:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, by default, it's like and I think that's the case to this day.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: They I think they're still very close, and um that that's always happening.
24:15
SPEAKER_01: By age 11, he had moved from Tampa to LA, the city of Angels.
24:21
SPEAKER_01: That's all happening.
24:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's what a big move.
24:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that's influenced, like been a big influence to him moving into LA, and I'll speak on that in a second.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: He actually gained popularity before singing and being an artist somewhere else.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: Did you were you aware of this?
24:37
SPEAKER_01: So he was popular on Vine.
24:41
SPEAKER_01: Oh, seriously, as a teenager, yeah, yeah.
24:43
SPEAKER_01: What a throwback.
24:44
SPEAKER_01: So he first gained popularity on Vine in 2014, right?
24:47
SPEAKER_01: So he was just like a young kid, basically, and he had like a million followers.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: Oh, is it?
24:52
SPEAKER_01: So he was like a social media influencer on Vine.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, Vine like fell through R Ip in that.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: But through Vine, he met Kalani, and that's they built a relationship off of that.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: So before how interesting.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so before that he even like started doing music, he already had like a an audience, yeah, yeah, and like a big artist in connection.
25:14
SPEAKER_01: So that that's yeah, quite cool.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: So by um 1718, obviously Vine is now gone.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: So he's like, what else am I gonna do?
25:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh being in LA, he's got friends like Kalani and and others that are going to a studio regularly.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: Um, and they would kind of basically take take him with them, and like he would just be there.
25:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then he kind of started to learn how to songwrite, and that was his first step into music, so he wanted to do songwriting.
25:45
SPEAKER_01: And he says, being raised in California, uh LA specifically, it gave him the sense of freedom to create and uh up close examples of people making their dreams happen for themselves.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: So he was seeing other people's like grow as artists, and he was like, I'll I'll have a piece of that.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how interesting.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: That's such a unique circumstance.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, imagine just being around like a bunch of people who are talented producers, like artists, and you're like, Yeah, I'm gonna do it.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: And you're literally just a flyer on the wall.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: So he started being a songwriter, um, and basically what turned him into a singer is basically after a while he's he'd write songs, and he was just like, I don't want to give this away.
26:23
SPEAKER_01: This is this is something that I this is something that I want.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: Fair play.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: So uh eventually, and that's what inspired him to be like, I'm gonna start recording, I'm gonna do an EP, which brings us to the discography.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: So 2019, first single, Cautious, which is actually where I step, I step in as a listener.
26:41
SPEAKER_01: I actually do say you step in is crazy.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: Imagine that.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: This is this is where I am.
26:46
SPEAKER_01: This is my pop and my value.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: This is my story.
26:49
SPEAKER_01: No, no, yeah.
26:50
SPEAKER_01: So 2019, Cautious is a single, and it's like mellow, RB.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: As I said, you get hints of like Caribbean influences through its flow.
26:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's like a song, a song about essentially a lover um kind of scared to try something new or someone new.
27:06
SPEAKER_01: It's interesting because obviously this is him trying something new as well.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: This is his first song.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: That being said, it took him 45 minutes to jar this out top to bottom.
27:16
SPEAKER_01: So it's obviously like insane talent already.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: He knows how to make a tune.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: Um so he's he's he's ready.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: So he does this hurt for 45 minutes.
27:27
SPEAKER_01: 2019, he's gotta be maybe like 19 or something at the time.
27:32
SPEAKER_01: Um and he's like, Yeah, that'll that'll do me.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: And it's received really well.
27:37
SPEAKER_01: So, and he he already has in his mind that he's gonna make an EP as well.
27:41
SPEAKER_01: So that's 2019.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: 2020, he releases three singles, um, and all leading up to his EP, and he's writing credits off the bat on Kelani's album It Was Good Until It Wasn't, which is up till now, probably before the folded album comes out, is her biggest album, yeah.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: Right.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh so he has writing credits on the song Water on that.
28:06
SPEAKER_01: So already he's like he's got he's got what four songs and writing credits on like one of the biggest RB albums of that year, which is insane.
28:15
SPEAKER_01: So that's that year.
28:17
SPEAKER_01: 2021 is the debut EP, right?
28:19
SPEAKER_01: And it's a nine-track EP called Colourway.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh the album cover's quite cool, it's like uh um a blurred portrait with a rainbow kind of overlaid and like washed over over his face, which is quite cool.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: And he says it's about how colours come together to make one thing, um, and he kind of applied that into the his theory of music as well as the lyrics, um, trying to turn songs into one body of work, essentially, yeah, which is pretty impressive for your first EP.
28:51
SPEAKER_01: A lot of the time you have a first EP and it's more just showcasing what I have, but he's already thinking about bodies of work, yeah, yeah.
28:57
SPEAKER_01: And you can this is something that he kind of keeps with him throughout his musical journey, I would say.
29:03
SPEAKER_01: Just off of that, two credits to pick out off of that EP.
29:07
SPEAKER_01: Singer songwriter Ombre.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh she is a name feature, and she's writing credits throughout this EP as well.
29:15
SPEAKER_01: So uh the second is producer Louis Lastick.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, and basically just keep remember that name because you're gonna hear it, you're gonna hear me mention this throughout.
29:27
SPEAKER_01: So this the this is him collaborating with his friends, right?
29:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but as a first production, yeah, he's basically on most of the songs as a as a producer.
29:37
SPEAKER_01: So that's uh March 2021.
29:40
SPEAKER_01: 2022, he's he does another EP, he's out again, he's doing another one.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh again, production Louis Lastic throughout uh again, features with uh a song with Ombre and writing credits with her as well.
29:55
SPEAKER_01: So she and she actually in this one she earns herself um an interlude, so she has uh a whole interlude for herself.
30:02
SPEAKER_01: And Kalani returns the favor writing credits, and now she's she's now credited on the on this EP in the song Down Bad as well.
30:09
SPEAKER_01: So there's they're still having that relationship back and forth and helping each other out.
30:13
SPEAKER_01: Probably they're in studio sessions together all the time.
30:16
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, he he's he calls Kalani like his big sister, so um that's happening.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: So that's 2022, 2023.
30:25
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
30:26
SPEAKER_01: We've got another EP, we've got another nine-track EP.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: So this one is submissive.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: Gosh, we're really borderline EP versus like LP here, isn't it?
30:35
SPEAKER_01: We're we're right on the edge, we're right attention, we're right on the cusp of it.
30:39
SPEAKER_01: So this is submissive, nine-track EP, exact produced by you guess it Louie Lastic.
30:45
SPEAKER_01: He's there again.
30:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, this one has two name features on it, and it's um artists that we've mentioned on the pod.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: Jordan Ward, the guy, the guy, uh, and Missego as well.
30:56
SPEAKER_01: The guy as well.
30:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm a hater of Missego, but he's the guy.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: He's the guy.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's super musical, isn't it?
31:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: And uh this is the first time he has interaction with Sasha Keeble as well.
31:05
SPEAKER_01: So in the first song, Mariposa, she has writing credits on this as well.
31:09
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so it's building it's building a circle, it's kind of making it.
31:13
SPEAKER_01: I hear it.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: And speaking of transatlantic, next year, so 2023 submissive, 2024, submissive two.
31:21
SPEAKER_01: So that's another nine-track EP.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's too submissive, bro.
31:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we've got another nine-track EP again.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, what's with these nine tracks?
31:32
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: He's scared of the double digits.
31:34
SPEAKER_01: All EPs are nine nine tracks, so I don't know.
31:36
SPEAKER_01: He's there's there seems to be a running thing.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: They're churning it out to be fair, in that goodness.
31:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this time credits, uh, Sasha Keeble again.
31:43
SPEAKER_01: K1's in the mix now as well.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and Matt Keene on production as well.
31:48
SPEAKER_01: Once again, Lou Lastic is about, he's about he's about again.
31:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and K1's actually on the production side as well, as well as writing credits as well, which is cool.
31:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh, which is obviously one of our spotlight artists.
32:00
SPEAKER_01: So if you haven't listened to us talk about K1, run that episode.
32:03
SPEAKER_01: Go back episode one, the debut.
32:05
SPEAKER_01: Go back and listen to it.
32:06
SPEAKER_01: Look in.
32:07
SPEAKER_01: So that's 2024 wrapped up.
32:09
SPEAKER_01: In between these, by the way, he's still doing like separate singles featuring with people, but I thought I'll just concentrate on the actual projects themselves.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: Make sense.
32:16
SPEAKER_01: So every year since he's come out, there's an offering, there's an EP, every a nine-track EP and like a mixture of singles and stuff as well.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: So he's churning out music.
32:26
SPEAKER_01: He's there's not there's non-stop.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: So that's 2024.
32:29
SPEAKER_01: 2025, it's the debut album, right?
32:34
SPEAKER_01: It's taking it there.
32:35
SPEAKER_01: It's love on digital.
32:36
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh, 15 tracks, healthy.
32:39
SPEAKER_01: That's what you want.
32:40
SPEAKER_01: That's solid, solid.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: That's what we want.
32:42
SPEAKER_01: That's what we want.
32:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so love on digital, or as the name suggests, it's kind of a love, uh, an ode to the digital era of RB, um, but also the um kind of situations of like love through digital means as well, right?
33:00
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, he chose he chose this because this is essentially the RB that he grew up with, that those those 2000s RB, um, when it kind of sonically changed to being digital instead of like analog in terms of instrumentation and stuff.
33:13
SPEAKER_01: So he wanted to make that sound.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: So it was heavily influenced by producers like Timberland, the Neptunes, um, Dark Child, and and artists like that.
33:24
SPEAKER_01: The main aim for this album was to be fun, is what he is is what he said.
33:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and essentially this, yeah, this was kind of him like obviously first prod like album is him putting a stake in the ground saying, This is me, bro.
33:37
SPEAKER_01: Arrival moment, I'm here.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh, so that was exec produced by Louis Lastick, and it got them uh a Grammy nomination for Best Progressive RB album as well.
33:49
SPEAKER_01: So he's uh he's he's he's it's slapping off, bro.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: Grammy nominal for your first album, fair play, fair play.
33:55
SPEAKER_01: It's slapping off, bro.
33:56
SPEAKER_01: So that's April 2025.
33:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is where it gets interesting, yeah.
34:00
SPEAKER_01: August 2025 is another album.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
34:05
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's that's work crazy.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what's going on.
34:08
SPEAKER_01: It's another album.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh Whimsy is the album.
34:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a jazz fusion album, 11 tracks.
34:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, it essentially represents a passion, uh, like a passion project um that was kind of off the cuff, and basically, yeah, he just wanted to do do a jazz, a jazz album essentially.
34:29
SPEAKER_01: He was when he was younger, he was in a jazz choir and jazz bands, so he's always kind of a fan of the genre.
34:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: Um, and the front of the album uh is titled an alternative jazz album, is what is what's labelled as uh by Mr.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: E.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: So he's created like an alter ego um for for this album.
34:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh his older ego, Mr.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: E, is he says is from London, smokes a lot, and loves jazz.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: So I didn't know that.
35:01
SPEAKER_01: But is he from London?
35:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
35:02
SPEAKER_01: So he's made an older ego.
35:04
SPEAKER_01: Just like hoaxed.
35:05
SPEAKER_01: So obviously the artists love our alter ego.
35:07
SPEAKER_01: Just a couple I thought I'd mentioned just a couple of other alter egos.
35:09
SPEAKER_01: You got obviously Eminem and Sim Shady, yeah, you got Beyonce and Sasha Fierce, yeah, you got Prince and Camille, uh, and uh obviously our favourite is George Clinton and Dr.
35:21
SPEAKER_01: Funkenstein.
35:23
SPEAKER_01: So I thought I thought I thought that was a bad time to bring a little segue.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: If you've not listened to that episode, run that one back, isn't it?
35:32
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
35:32
SPEAKER_01: Go back to that that episode, mate.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, so in an interview for uh for his first EP, so back in 2021, he says he wants to be free and uh he doesn't want to make just one style of genre and he wants to experience and create because that's what life is all about.
35:50
SPEAKER_01: So he from when he first became an artist, he already said that he wanted to do different things, he didn't want to be kind of um put into a pigeonhole, essentially.
36:00
SPEAKER_01: So um the core themes of this album uh is still very much what he's been doing in terms of like romance and heartbreak.
36:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, but in this album he kind of approaches it in different angles.
36:15
SPEAKER_01: So two songs that kind of show that is uh Love, which is very much what the title says is super sincere to love.
36:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, but and then on the opposite side, he has a song called Boredom, which talks about um kind of there being no spark in a relationship.
36:34
SPEAKER_01: So he's he's already like doing like different things within within the album.
36:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, and with these contrasting feelings, the album still manages to stay quite consistent in the way it sounds, yeah.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think that's largely thanks to the production, right?
36:50
SPEAKER_01: So uh a couple of credits on that is uh Keon Harold, who we mentioned in the Tiana Major 9 uh episode because he was on the energy tune, my favourite.
37:00
SPEAKER_01: So he he's he's on there.
37:02
SPEAKER_01: Terrace Martin, who we've mentioned, is the guy, the saxophonist, the guy.
37:06
SPEAKER_01: Matt Keane is doing production as well, who again who we mentioned and exec produced by Louis Lastick, of course, keeping it all all together.
37:15
SPEAKER_01: So we mentioned last episode about having when you're creating something, kind of having that one person or or or whatever to build something to make it cohesive.
37:26
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's an this is an example of that.
37:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, especially it's interesting because it's like you're obviously changing genre, yeah, but you've still got the same guy as you're right at hand, yeah, yeah, yeah.
37:35
SPEAKER_01: Well, I I think um it's credit to the to Louis Elastic and Destin that they've let the artists come in, the jazz artists come in and kind of do what they do, yeah, but and leave enough space in the production for them to really show their instrumentation, I would say.
37:54
SPEAKER_01: Um because if you control that too much, then you're taking the jazz out of the music.
37:59
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, exactly.
38:00
SPEAKER_00: Especially in that genre as well.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: You can't be too prescriptive with these guys, isn't it?
38:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: So that that's oh, oh, sorry, that's not we're not done.
38:09
SPEAKER_01: We're not done with the music.
38:10
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: I thought I thought that was it.
38:12
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, so he's obviously done two albums in 2025, yeah.
38:15
SPEAKER_01: And then this year in April, he releases uh a deluxe of Whimsy, uh, which is seven additional songs on top of the what what did I say, 11 tracks previously.
38:29
SPEAKER_01: Yes, a lot of additional tracks that so I mean that's an EP in itself, yeah, really, isn't it?
38:34
SPEAKER_01: So I mean not by his standards is it?
38:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, yeah, it's too short of an EP.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: Spare.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, so it's it's a lot, it's a lot, yeah, a lot's going on.
38:42
SPEAKER_01: Um so just going going back to whimsy in general, yeah.
38:45
SPEAKER_01: How do you feel about moving from RB to jazz?
38:51
SPEAKER_01: And do you do you think this was done successfully?
38:53
SPEAKER_01: Whoa, whoa, whoa, what we said.
38:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a good question.
38:55
SPEAKER_00: It's a good question.
38:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh obviously you've described him as young and free, and he's self-proclaimed, like he wants to do that right and be able to sort of experiment with sounds and sort of just be the I guess occupy the full spectrum of what it is to be an artist.
39:10
SPEAKER_00: So I guess when someone prefaces a career with that, you can expect pivots.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
39:18
SPEAKER_00: How do I feel about it?
39:19
SPEAKER_00: This album Whimsy, it's it's it's well executed.
39:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a level of quality and excellence to it, which is a testament to, as you say, him to Louis and to the collaborators that they brought in, yeah, who are like very much uh anchored in integrity in that genre, um then make it a quality, a quality project.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would say I can appreciate it.
39:42
SPEAKER_00: I probably prefer, yeah, I definitely prefer him in RB.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: So it's not is it something I'll come back to?
39:47
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
39:49
SPEAKER_00: But hey, being an artist is that freedom of expression, right?
39:52
SPEAKER_00: And so I have a lot of respect for him to be able to execute that with the degree of quality that he has, and also 18 tracks.
40:02
SPEAKER_00: Like, this isn't a throwaway, isn't a throw, you know, we we obviously spoke about Jack Harlow previously in Monica, and that was nine tracks, and again, that was with a select group of people, and nine tracks, you know.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: Um I don't know how much time he spent making that, but I think e it was probably a significant period.
40:19
SPEAKER_00: But I when you talk about 18 tracks, yeah, so it's clearly been dedication to this.
40:23
SPEAKER_01: We say this, so the whimsy album, the 11th track, uh was made in a two-week span.
40:31
SPEAKER_01: I've been I should have known when his first track took 45 minutes, turns out things quickly, and basically he had songs already there that weren't they weren't jazz, they were the RB or whatever genre that he had, and he was like, I want to do an R R B a jazz album.
40:49
SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's just jazify this up and let's get going.
40:52
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, just smashed it all out, smashed it all out in two weeks, which is crazy.
40:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh, yeah.
40:58
SPEAKER_01: I mean, my take on it is obviously I'm a bit of a jazz cat.
41:03
SPEAKER_01: So I'm about it.
41:05
SPEAKER_01: I I think it's uh excellent, excellently executed.
41:09
SPEAKER_01: Um and I think the the difference between the Jack Carlo and the Destin Conrad, one obviously Destin is vocally very good, right?
41:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
41:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh and so he he just in this he more uses vocals as an instrument rather than being it's not like lyrically super heavy or yeah, but that's jazz, it's a drama, right?
41:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
41:38
SPEAKER_01: So he does dip into jazz really well, and I feel like his vocals aren't necessarily in the forefront of the songs as well.
41:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would agree.
41:47
SPEAKER_01: It's a lot of the instrumentation is is is what you're listening to, more so, right?
41:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, I'm I'm about it.
41:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh and as that as the title suggests, it's whimsy, isn't it?
41:58
SPEAKER_01: It's on a whim, to get me.
42:00
SPEAKER_01: So like he's he's not this is just a passionate project.
42:02
SPEAKER_01: I am surprised that he released a deluxe version of this, um, instead of going back to Love Love on Digital um or just doing something new because especially because the tour that he was on was a Love on Digital tour.
42:18
SPEAKER_01: So I would have thought he would have doubled down on his album before instead of doubling down on the Passion Project.
42:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, my a presumption from me on this is that it was always 18 tracks, and then he thought how palatable is that as a as an intro, is a introduction point to people for me in this space.
42:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
42:37
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I mean hey, who knows?
42:39
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I mean uh a part a part of the extra 18 uh sorry, extra seven songs is uh kind of a relook at the love song uh with um this time with like John Doe, and it's called More Love.
42:55
SPEAKER_01: Um and then there's a cut there's uh Okay, maybe not then Yeah, there's a um kind of a vocal like skit like Check In, which is called Michelle checks in.
43:05
SPEAKER_01: Um and the the rest are are songs essentially.
43:09
SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, I think he probably just had more, just more ready ready to go, right?
43:16
SPEAKER_01: Um and then he was just like, yeah, let's just let's just release it, which is always interesting.
43:21
SPEAKER_01: Do you have any um favourite songs on the on the album?
43:25
SPEAKER_01: Probably not to be fair.
43:26
SPEAKER_01: No, probably not.
43:27
SPEAKER_01: Just just uh just a big a big slur of jazz.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was that was that was so much jazz.
43:35
SPEAKER_00: That it did kind of feel like a like a long continuation of a of a session in a way, yeah.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: Um but just kind of like yeah, to the genre, yeah, and it and I think it's um it speaks to how it was recorded as well.
43:49
SPEAKER_01: Like it was all yeah, concentrated, yeah, concentrated, like some of the songs were done one takes, um, which is crazy as well.
43:58
SPEAKER_01: So I that I think that makes sense.
44:01
SPEAKER_01: It makes sense to me.
44:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, I mean my favourite songs are probably the more popular tunes, uh, which is like Wash Your Way, um, which is the like one of the singles for the m the first release.
44:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh with Terrace Martin, obviously the saxophones going in.
44:20
SPEAKER_01: Um and yeah, it's more I I think it's probably the most complete like actual song.
44:27
SPEAKER_01: Song, yeah.
44:28
SPEAKER_01: Whereas a lot of it is like kind of jazz snippets.
44:31
SPEAKER_01: Um like I like I do like love, but it's like a minute and a half or something, and it's just like a hella jazz going in the background, and you're like, oh great, what's happening there?
44:42
SPEAKER_01: So like if you're I guess if you don't like that genre, it's gonna be quite overstimulating.
44:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's too, it's too much, it's it's too much at points, but yeah, I mean I'm I'm here for it.
44:51
SPEAKER_01: I'm here for it.
44:52
SPEAKER_01: He's another one of those artists that I think he hasn't released a bad song.
44:57
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's the thing, and when it's good quality, there's you know, obviously that's my personal preference, yeah.
45:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
45:02
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like I feel like the best artist should be able should freely express and do a bunch of different stuff.
45:08
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like sometimes fans can be too entitled with saying stuff like this is all we want from you, and like even like obviously Drake enters different pockets a lot of the time and a whole flipping like dance album, but like, bro, also you know, it's kind of like what Elijah says, you know, the Yellow Squares guy.
45:26
SPEAKER_00: Like, if you love music, you should learn to DJ.
45:28
SPEAKER_00: If you love music, you should make music.
45:29
SPEAKER_00: Like, if you love music, be about it, be a student at the moment.
45:33
SPEAKER_00: Be about it, bro.
45:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, trust me.
45:34
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, obviously, growing up with East Coast, West Coast, Caribbean heritage, obviously UK connections and stuff, like all of it he's anchored in black music heritage, yeah.
45:46
SPEAKER_00: So it makes sense if you explore those genres, yeah, yeah.
45:49
SPEAKER_01: So he explores the different regions.
45:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh, in this album, uh he lived, I think he lived in New York for a time as well.
45:55
SPEAKER_01: So there's a song called Bed Sti that that refers to kind of that time as well.
46:00
SPEAKER_01: Right.
46:00
SPEAKER_01: I think he says like London is like one of his favourite cities, and that's why he collaborates with so many like UK artists and stuff.
46:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so uh it makes sense that he's got all these different sounds and different like pockets that he wants to experiment, and he yeah, doesn't want to be pigeon-holded, so he just does like everything, right?
46:18
SPEAKER_01: And I guess could he burn himself out by doing stuff like this?
46:21
SPEAKER_00: Like, he's done a lot of music, the work rate is insane.
46:24
SPEAKER_01: He did like a 47-date tour, yeah, is what he's just come off of.
46:28
SPEAKER_01: And he's been banging out tunes in short periods of time product producing this as well.
46:32
SPEAKER_01: So, like, is do you do you think artists can burn themselves out a bit?
46:36
SPEAKER_01: Like, we I mean, we're the all like the listener, we always want something all the time.
46:41
SPEAKER_00: Of course, I just feel like so long as you can do it sustainably, then great.
46:44
SPEAKER_00: I think you know, you mentioned Amy Winehouse sort of like loosely earlier on the episode, and I think you know, you got tragic instances like that, and I'm just like so long the health of the artist has to be paramount, yeah.
46:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
46:58
SPEAKER_00: That word was what came to my mind, and so it's like so long as uh they can execute around that and they can be in good health, like yeah, physically and mentally, around that, if if they have a persuasion to work super hard and they've got the energy for it, then absolutely.
47:11
SPEAKER_00: But I think so long as there's regular dialogue and we're making sure that they're cool, yeah, then yeah, more.
47:18
SPEAKER_00: Feel free to give us more.
47:19
SPEAKER_01: But like touring is yeah, I think that's what's good about Destiny is because he collaborates with his friends and he creates such a good energy around him, it probably makes it easier for him to make these songs and make them quickly and in like quantity, essentially.
47:34
SPEAKER_01: Um because he seems to clearly is enjoying it all.
47:38
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, absolutely.
47:39
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, pick him up, man.
47:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man, pick him up.
47:41
SPEAKER_00: So that's that's that's my notes or anything, unless you have any other questions and that.
47:45
SPEAKER_00: Nah, I think it's great.
47:45
SPEAKER_00: I think it's great, and you know things like this I do like because it it causes it's a good cause for conversation, isn't it?
47:53
SPEAKER_00: Like I think um the best of obviously music is art, and the best thing about art there is is it is subjective and it gets people talking, there's a dialogue, people can have preferences, and it's okay to like different stuff and that.
48:05
SPEAKER_00: And as a young guy pushing boundaries like this, I think is sick.
48:08
SPEAKER_00: So nothing but respect, in it, really.
48:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so yeah, shout out to Destin Conrad.
48:12
SPEAKER_01: And I learned some stuff, so it's good.
48:14
SPEAKER_01: We're learning jazz, bro.
48:15
SPEAKER_01: We're learning jazz.
48:16
SPEAKER_01: We seem to have talked about jazz quite a bit of their story, so uh it seems to be having um like a movement, this kind of jazz fusion.
48:23
SPEAKER_01: So um and yeah, Destin Conrad's dipped into it and executed very, very well.
48:29
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, listen to the album if you haven't.
48:31
SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, that's uh shout out to Death Desk whimsic.
48:36
SPEAKER_01: Cool, I'm gonna go.