When I paint the picture of the rise of urban music, YO MTV raps come to mind, Adidas shell toe sneakers and rope chains that looked like they weighed more than the MC paints a vivid picture of how it used to be.
But a lot has changed since then, the artist isn’t just the guy behind the mic. The artist can be the DJ or the producer, the fact of the matter is the game has changed, just ask Kanye West.
And when there’s a trend in the States you can bet your bottom dollar, or pound that it just maybe replicated here in the U.K.
Whilst most producers stay immersed in the lab trailing through old school hits to try and find that killer sample, Bless Beats is busy focusing on driving his record label Blatant Swagger to new heights, ensuring he isn’t stopping for nothing.
‘You can’t sit around waiting to be signed you know, but if you know you have tune and you know what you’re going to do with it, if a record label isn’t going to sign you then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t put your song out.’
‘The advantage of setting up an independent label is that no one can stop you from putting your record out, you can actually just do everything for it i.e. press, video, and give your music a chance, whether it’s a commercial or not.’
Bless goes on the notion that if he feels it’s good, then its good enough to go out. ‘I like the fact that you have the freedom of putting out what you felt meant to be out anyway.’
And when it comes to putting out a track it’s that notion that saw Bless earn mainstream success with the crossover track with Wiley’s Wearing My Rolex.
‘Wearing My Rolex was one of many tracks that I have done with Wiley, I was shocked at how well it performed and how everyone reacted to it.’
Despite the huge success of Wearing My Rolex an ever so focused Bless, stayed clear of the hype and focused on his next hit.
‘The success was a good felling but at the same time I tried to ignore it, when I do any release I like to follow it but at the same time I like to get cracking with the next thing. If you sit there and get complacent thinking to yourself yeah this is what’s happening now and it fades out and you’re still trying to ride off the back off that then you might find yourself not having a second single, so I turned my head to it and was like, I’m going to keep making more music.”
Bless’ work ethic stems from drawing his creativity from everyday life. ‘You just have to branch out and be different, everyday life influences me to make beats. It could just be a bad moment and I could wake up and make a grime tune, I could be sitting down watching TV and think to myself, that’s a really cool sound I want something like that.’
Whilst not many producers in the game can say they are building material for an album release Bless remains confident. ‘I feel confident because obviously you just gotta have bangers, some labels understand it, some don’t. They think I’m trying to make an MJ Cole or Jameson album, but I’m not just doing one scene, I’m trying to experiment and make hit records.’
The album which will most likely be slated for a 2010 release boasts the likes of De La Soul, Wiley, Remi Nicole, and Sabrina Washington with more to follow.
His debut single which sees Wiley return the favour this time also features Charlie Brown and undoubtedly propel the producer who stops at nothing to new heights.
