The gripping downtempo drive with contrasting heavenly overtones has given MAKK MIKKAEL‘s sultry piece ‘Jungle’ a well-deserved place on NEW LEASE MUSIC’s Song of the Day hotspot.
The song is about sticking with someone who is impossible in hope of a happy ending – only to find out there’s no ending. The accompanied video sees the Canadian singer wearing the colour yellow in which she associates with being bright with hidden depths.
It’s time to check out the video to ‘Jungle.’
ASHLEY DAVID has a smooth, sensuous and addictive voice and for his debut release ‘Touched’, featuring Alicai Harley, his attributes melt into a cascade of melodies for a refreshing and genuine spin on R&B.
Taking in his worldly inspirations, the Londoner embellishes his work with glints of his Jamaican heritage as island music and soul vibes flirt playfully alongside contemporary R&B to make his self coined ‘Island Blues’. Featuring the delectable rap and singing talents of one of the UK’s most recently discovered stars Alicai Harley, ‘Touched’ is seductive and genuine, yet fierce.
There’s little doubt as to how ASHLEY DAVID is so well versed in music creation once you have scraped the surface to this intriguing musician, artist and video director. Born into a multi-talented family, ASHLEY DAVID has been musically cultivated by the strong influences of his uncles who were in an award-winning international gospel group and his older brother, a chart topping songwriter, Varren Wade (Wretch 32 ‘6 words’, Stormzy ‘Blinded by your Grace’).
The smooth operator began his career at an early age, seeing him take to the stage of West End Theatre before moving on to study animation and become a freelance creative director/ animator & graphic designer, providing visuals and collaborating with the likes of H Money, Wstrn, Fanatics, N3GUS, Rhyon , Joivan Wade and John Boyega. It is through his own journeys and those closest to him that he’s been able to nurture and hone his craft, being in complete control of all elements that he displays to the world and bringing him to the point he has reached today, a genuinely “360” artist.
Speaking of the release, which was premiered at radio by DJ Ace on BBC 1Xtra, Ashley said: “I am extremely excited about ‘Touched’, as I have been working on my material over the last year and it seems like every skill I’ve learned & developed within the arts has now converged to this point where the world is now about to see all that I’ve been honing. Music, animation, visuals, the whole nine yards will be released and the excitement I am feeling is palpable, I want to take people on a journey into my very own genre which I call “Island blues”.
Start the journey and hit that play button on ‘Touched’.
DUBZ has a significant legacy within the UK Rap scene and whilst he may not be the obvious choice when drawing for Rap names, he certainly holds an indisputable position in the game.
With a slick feature from upcoming R&B singer Oliver King, ‘Sosa’ bears all the hallmarks of the genuine lyricism and unique tone that has always made DUBZ stand out. The video, released via GRM Daily, is garnering a wave of excitement from fans. Having recently collaborated with Ghetts, Rico Squeeze and Tiggs Da Author, as well as working towards his album, which is set to release in the first quarter of 2018, it looks like DUBZ is going to be a more prominent fixture in the Rap scene than ever before.
Native to South West London, DUBZ made his debut almost 10 years ago with his ‘Ard Doe’ mixtape release. The tape picked up significant support from the then bubbling scene, catching the attention of artists such as Giggs and Skepta, resulting in DUBZ and Giggs collaborating the following year on the infamous 2007 record ‘Pain is of the Essence’. DUBZ has since appeared on Giggs’ number 2, 2016 album release ‘Landlord’ and both Giggs and Skepta have publicly tipped him as their favourite UK Rapper via their social media accounts, helping to reignite the necessity for him to return to the game.
Having to face the realities and adversity of road life and family ties during a period when being a rapper was not providing an income, like many of the greats, DUBZ had to make a decision on where to focus his time and energy and unfortunately for the music, it took second place.
However, in a new era and with his peers calling for his comeback, DUBZ has started to release his arsenal to rapturous effect. In a succession of quick-fire, DUBZ has dropped 3 videos across GRM Daily and Link Up TV, gaining plaudits from fans new and old, but it is ‘SOSA’ that is the real wake up call that DUBZ is still fully certified when it comes to rapping.
If you’re a regular visitor of NEW LEASE MUSIC, then you’ll definitely know Javan Wright – aka J. KAS. He’s sitting pretty in the interview seat this month as his music video for fiery single, ‘Rio’ was the most viewed production on the blog in October. It’s time to get to know Sheffield’s most consistent emcee and his extensive plans for the rest of this year and beyond.
NLM: First of all, thank you for agreeing to do an interview with NEW LEASE MUSIC
JKAS: Thank you for your time and efforts and I’m grateful to New Lease Music for their endless support.
NLM: When did you have that ‘eureka moment’ of becoming an artist?
JKAS: I’ve always enjoyed singing and dancing from an early age as I’d always be entertaining my family and my peers at school, so I guess it was a natural thing to become a performing artist.
NLM: Lately you’ve released a string of music videos – more recently for the single RIO – what’s the public’s reception on the production so far?
JKAS: I’ve been fortunate enough to collaborate with different people in order to produce the latest video’s and we have many more which are yet to be released.
‘Rio’ is one of my favourite tracks, it’s vibrant, full of energy and good vibes. When you watch the video it makes you wanna just dance, and the reception we’ve received for it has been extremely positive. I believe it will grow bigger in popularity over time.
NLM: You have an extensive (and pretty dope) discography. What’s your proudest track and why?
JKAS: As for my proudest track that’s very difficult to say. But If I had to choose one I would say ‘I Will Not Lose” taken from my EP “The ‘MVP’ Project” as that was the beginning of J. Kas music.
NLM: How would you describe your sound to potential fans?
JKAS: My sound varies from project to project. I’ve gone from dark rap like on The ‘MVP’ Project to more upbeat and conscious #Hometown and then onto commercial sounding vibes of One Six & Snapchat EP. So I’m very versatile, whilst keeping it clean-cut and fresh throughout. You could say my sound is universal.
NLM: If you had to collaborate with ONE mainstream artist who would it be?
JKAS: That would have to Kanye West. Many people have said that would be a likely collaboration. It’s like we are the same but different.
NLM: If you had three wishes to change the music industry today, what would they be?
JKAS: I wouldn’t change anything. It is what it is.
NLM: So what are your plans for the rest of 2017 and 2018?
JKAS: I’ve just done a collaboration with Sheffield band Cellar Door Moon Crow for a track called ‘East To The West’ which is a single taken from their forthcoming album which was released at the end of last month. They recently dropped a video to accompany the track.
We have a performance for Google in Sheffield in December which were looking forward to. Hopefully a trip to Germany by the end of the year for on another musical venture. We recently travelled to France & Belgium for my ‘Dreamlife’ tour which was to film videos to tracks taken from my forthcoming EP ‘Dreamlife’ which will be out January 2018. Whilst out in Belgium we also caught up with my brother 87Buj and recorded a freestyle video which is doing well on social media.
2018, we plan to continue to be consistent, make as much noise as possible and collaborate with more artist domestically and foreign. Enjoy life and do what we do best.
I have a quite a back catalogue of music ready to go and 2018 looks set to be a pretty noisy and busy year.
Also myself and my man Ruell have a collaboration EP arriving in 2018, which is sounding large – so look out for that!!!
NLM: How can potential fans make contact with you?
JKAS: All my social media handles including Snapchat is JKASMUSIC apart from YouTube which is MUSICJKAS
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
NLM: Finally, if music didn’t exist, what would you do?
JKAS: I’d probably be that person inventing it.
JJ McGUIGAN caught the attention of radio programmers and music journalists with the first two singles from his EP, Dissociative. ‘Letter’ and ‘Home’ received both critical praise and airplay chart success, reaching the New Music Weekly country chart Top 80, as well as the Top 40 Roots Music Report Americana chart. ‘Letter’ earned McGuigan an Akademia Award for Best Alternative Song in January 2017.
Now, McGuigan returns with his latest single and lyric video for ‘In All Honesty,’ another track on Dissociative. Written by McGuigan and Garrett Crow, the song features vocals from Scott Spriggs.
Have a listen.
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