Following the launch of his party-starting debut track ‘Do It Like’ earlier this year, Lucas Dipasquale has become a pretty big deal. Our Urban Music Editor Matt Tarr spoke to the fast-rising Canadian singer/songwriter recently about his forthcoming project, his desire to play at a UK festival and the pride he feels about Drake repping his home country…
MT: ‘Do It Like’ was the first official track the we saw from you earlier this year. Tell us what your thoughts were behind that being the first track that you decided to put out there…
LD: Off the back of the Popcaan mash-up, I was working with a bunch of different Jamaican producers and artists and when I came over here [the UK] my manager set me up with Stylo G. I wanted to make a fun dancehall record and I just made what was appropriate for that beat. What was cool for me was that I just wanted to make some people dance, so it’s not something that necessarily really reflects me personally, but I really had fun writing it because I knew people were going to react a certain way. It’s worked out as a good introduction because not only is there Konshens, Kardinal and Stylo on it, but people really listened, so it’s taught me a lot about how to make music and also what people are looking for and what they like.
MT: If ‘Do It Like’ is not necessarily a reflection of your thoughts, is that something we’re likely to see on future tracks?
LD: I mean yeah. I was definitely outside of my comfort zone with ‘Do It Like’ and I’d love to get back to that zone. People always say ‘you make your best stuff when you’re outside your comfort zone’ and you should ‘think outside the box’; being a 20-year-old boy coming into this and not really knowing anything, that’s great advice. It’s definitely something I’d like to do again, but now I feel I need to prove myself as a songwriter and a singer and get out there and do things that I was doing before dancehall. The acoustic guitar is the main thing I do, so having that dictates what the music sounds like anyway. So I’m gonna be making some singer/songwriter music mashed in with a load of different elements. But ‘Do It Like’ allowed me to work with the kind of people I wanna work with, whereas if I’m making the kind of music that only I wanna make, I guess it limits who I can collaborate with.
MT: The video looked like a lot of fun too. Did you have much of a hand in making the video or did you just hand the reins over to a team?
LD: I wouldn’t know where to start if we were making a video for ‘Do It Like’ cos we’re just talking about dancing and getting people to dance and I guess above all else I wanted it to be authentically Jamaican. It’s with Jamaican artists, I’m aiming it at a Jamaican audience and I want it to help me relate to Jamaican people, so we got the director to take us to some spots that he thought would be cool and he made it work. I had stylistic comments but it was a Jamaican journey more than anything for me.
MT: Being so young, what was it like working with artists like Stylo G and Kardinal Offishall who are so hugely respected?
LD: It was crazy and it was definitely humbling. So many things in this process have been humbling but I think the craziest was that they were genuinely interested. A lot of things happen because of money and a lot of things happen because of people and this was more that I was in there, had a good vibe and they dug me. It wouldn’t have worked out if we didn’t really hit it off or connect and with both of those guys it was straight off the bat. We really like each others vibes and it was a lot of fun.
MT: How do you feel your music has been received by the UK audience so far?
LD: I think the radio play has definitely helped. I was on BBC 1Xtra two days in a row which was crazy for me cos I’ve never experienced anything like that. But it’s also cool because I can definitely see it working. I’ve had a couple of people from the radio stations big me up and say they liked the new single, plus this is where my whole camp is, so it’s cool.
MT: As a young up-and-coming artist from Canada, you must get asked a load of questions about Drake…
LD: Yeah people are constantly asking me about him and I actually love it because I feel a lot of pride towards Drake. He represents Canada and I think that’s great, but I’m so happy that that’s the guy that’s doing it cos Drake really just went in. He didn’t care what anyone else was saying, he was singing and being emotional, telling people about his real problems and things he actually cared about and to have that guy representing your country musically, cos that’s pretty much what he’s doing at this point, I feel an immense amount of pride about that. I have a great amount of respect for what he’s doing and I also love what he’s doing with his music. I really can’t believe that’s still happening because he’s still the king of the rap game and he has been for a long time now. I hope he stays there too.
MT: Drake headlined Wireless Festival this year and with festivals being such a big part of the UK music scene, is performing at one something that you aspire to do during your career?
LD: Yeah I’d love to! I’ve only ever really been to one big music festival and that was Osheaga in Montreal, Canada and I was blown away. I saw Outkast, Pusha T, Volcano Choir, Haim and so many people. It was just one of those days. I saw J Cole out in the middle of a field and that kind of stuff makes me freak out because it makes me realise that no matter how different everyone sounds, we’re all playing to the same people. You can have your preferences but there are so many people who don’t want to be subjected to just one single genre, so I definitely wanna be playing at music festivals because it’s the exact vibe I’m going for.
MT: What can we expect from you for the rest of 2015 and beyond?
LD: I’m gonna be releasing an EP in October, called Post-Secondary and it’s gonna feature a track I made with Popcaan called ‘No Talking’ and it’s also gonna feature a track with [Jamaican dancehall deejay] Assassin and a few other tracks. So it’ll be original music that I wrote and we’ll see if everybody’s still digging the vibe. I should be back in the UK towards the end of the year, maybe December hopefully if things are going well and I’d jump at the opportunity to play live.
Lucas Dipasquale’s EP Post-Secondary is available to pre order via iTunes now. Grab your copy here.
Matt Tarr
@MattTarrJourno
Matt Tarr
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