E.MAK- “The Underdogs Will Rise.”

Hope Primus | 24th July 2017

“The underdogs will rise” is an understatement as E.MAK is taking over sound-waves in the UK. With over 10 years of the music industry behind him and sharing platforms with the likes of Jamaica’s Tony Matterhorn and American Rapper Young M.A, the ‘Cold Outside’ rapper has already set the UK’s music scene for this summer.

I caught up with E.MAK about his 1XTRA hits featuring Big Zeeks and his latest release ‘Cold Outside’.

(Courtesy of E.MAK)

Hey, you looked like you had an amazing time in Jamaica. What were you doing over there?

I was performing at the BritJam Spring Break Music Festival in Montego Bay – I performed at 4 of the festival nights with Big Zeeks, amongst the likes of artists like Young M.A, Tony Matterhorn and more, it was a really good experience. It was the first time I’d ever performed outside of the UK and the crowd was amazing. It felt special to do my first international show in my parents birthplace. It’s known to be a tough crowd, but the reception and feedback was sick. I also shot the video for ‘Likkle More’ over there too.

What genre would you describe your music as?

I let people define it. There are two different sides to me, songs like  YO! are dancehall influenced, but I’m also influenced by old school rap and hip hop.

 

I noticed in your ‘Heaven and Hell’ freestyle that you covered ‘Luniz- I Got 5 On It’. What made you choose that beat?

I don’t know to be honest… I just liked the beat, I was freestyling one day and a friend suggested I should record something on it. I keep up to date with a lot of rap music and I think hearing Meek Mill and Lil Snupe’s freestyle cover of this made me like the beat even more.

How long have you been in the music industry?

I’m not sure I’d say I’m “in the industry” just yet… I’ve been engineering for about five years. I’ve recorded and/ or mixed a lot of artists in the industry like Stormzy, Wretch 32, Loick Essien etc. Even though I’ve been engineering for others I’ve been recording myself and local artists from my area; Hayes for over 10 years. When I dropped YO! And felt the energy around the song I said it was artist time. The way I’m working now I’ve been speaking about for years. YO! actually came from a previous song ‘Likkle More’, me and Sunny Kale started both of these records in 2015, but I ended up releasing YO! first.

https://youtu.be/r3_EStdUhx4

Your latest video ‘Cold Outside’ seems to have encoded messages, what’s that all about?

The concept of the ‘Cold Outside’ video is to make it clear that it’s not about the weather. It’s mainly about London, but the world in general and how ‘Cold’ it can be. The issues surrounding race, lifestyle and prejudice. Even though I used some American clips I tried to make sure they funnelled through to our lives in the UK like the black panther movement and most recently Donald Trump.

What was your message behind the abused the teddy bear?

It represents something or someone beautiful and precious that can go through so much but we still hold onto it because of its prior state or what it means to us. It shows how we hold things close to help us get through the ‘cold’ things that might not be understood or comforting to people who don’t have a similar lifestyle or are from a different environment.

Do you think attending University has had an impact on your career choices?

I feel about uni how I feel about college, I didn’t need it to know what I know musically but I needed it in my life at the time. My current manager was actually on my music management course. I learnt some valuable skills and made some good relationships. It wasn’t a waste of time at all, it’s just I was so hungry early on I ended up going over a lot of the things I already knew.

 

You don’t seem to use risque images in your videos, is that deliberate?

You don’t have to put everything out there. It’s nice and you get attention and views but that’s not the first thing I want people to associate with my name. With a lot of my music it’s not needed.

 

How does your family feel about your career?

My mum has been supportive since day one. As long as I’m not doing nothing or troubling anyone she’s cool! Now there’s a few of my songs that are on rotation on a lot of stations I think she can finally see that I’m making progress and she’s happy.

Courtesy of E.Mak