With his latest EP No Ego due out next month, Matt Tarr caught up with North London rapper/songwriter Yellows to discuss the upcoming release, his collaboration with Paigey Cakey and where he aspires to perform in the future.
MT: How would you describe yourself as an artist?
Yellows: I would say I’m all about consistency. I’m young so I do capture that within my music. To me that’s important cos I feel like I’m representing the age group, the generation if you get what I’m saying, so it is important that I capture the fun and young side of things. But at the same time I feel like I do always try to focus on the reality of things that are going on in my life and other people’s lives. It’s more about the reality and getting the message across.
MT: Is that something you consciously think about when writing lyrics and making music?
Yellows: Yeah, yeah definitely. I always think about how this will be perceived even to the way I’m wording something and if I word it and I know what I’m talking about the audience might not know what I’m talking about, but you haven’t got a chance to explain what you mean so it’s like you have to make sure everything you’re trying to execute is executed in the best way possible for you. So yeah I definitely try to keep it real and very toned down in the studio rather than getting gassed and saying something that’s not necessarily true or that I don’t do.
MT: Do you feel that your previous mixtapes like Yellows Pages 2 have represented that in your career up to now and that with No Ego you can still fulfill that and stick to your main aim?
Yellows: Yeah, I don’t feel at any point that I’ve gone too far off the path I’m on now; I’ve just taken every stride as it comes and I feel its just come naturally, Yellow Pages 2 was me trying to prove to myself as well as everyone else that I can spit, that I can write a lyric; I feel like I’ve practiced so much from years back that I feel like I can now release something that is worthy of getting played on radio or something. Nothing got played off Yellows Pages 2 per se but I feel like it’s that time to showcase that and I feel like yeah it definitely captured that. It’s happened more naturally but my last two intros from my projects, Yellows Pages 2 and No Ego, have been more heartfelt, real, very stripped back and very musical; like hear me out, hear what I’ve got to say kind of thing. So I feel like that’s a very natural thing that’s come out. I haven’t really thought let me make every inch of my project a heartfelt track, it’s just come out like that,
MT: Being a UK urban artist, people tend to categorise you as either a rapper or an MC. What do you see yourself as?
Yellows: I see myself as an MC/rapper/songwriter. Only because, to me, an MC is more of a mic controller and will write a lyric; a rapper is someone who can rap on a rap tempo and a songwriter is someone who can sit down and write a song either for them or for someone else. So that’s what I class myself as because I feel that I can rap on a rap beat, I can mic control on a grime beat and I can write a song with just a guitar.
MT: As you’ve mentioned, your new release is titled No Ego; is it an album? Is it a mix tape? Is it an EP? How would you define it?
Yellows: It’s definitely an EP. I would describe it as a nice, cute project before we get into something more serious. So yes it is a serious project but it’s more me trying to exploit the fact that I can perform right now, I can make a song that can be performed e.g ‘Cake’, at the same time as executing certain concepts that I haven’t necessarily spoken about in the past. I’m speaking about the struggle I was born into, the things my mum has been through with me, the position of people in my family, just little things like that, that’s what I’ve focused on in No Ego as well as trying to execute a good performance track.
MT: In terms of the sound on the EP, what can we expect to hear from it?
Yellows: It is very upbeat. As I said you’ve got the intro which is very heartfelt; I wouldn’t say more musical than any other track but it is just very heartfelt and very raw and straight to the point. The first few lines are going to capture you. If you’re interested in hearing about me then it’s going to capture you because you’re going to learn something new. I’m not trying to make any hype LA music or anything. It is just real music; me and the producer, all UK based, just going off so yeah there isn’t a specific sound.
MT: Talking about upbeat sounds, I’ve noticed from listening to your previous releases that you tend to spit over various tempos…sometimes hip hop beats, sometimes more upbeat grimy beats. Is there a style that you prefer?
Yellows: There isn’t a specific type of music that I prefer but I do prefer, tempo wise, grime, only because I started there and as I started I couldn’t necessarily flow or say everything that I wanted to get out. Now I feel like I’ve learnt my craft enough to know how I want to flow, how I want to sound, what I want to say. Grime is very fun to go back to; at the same time another one of my favourites is acoustic, whether that’s guitar, drums, keys anything. The rawness of that and the musical side of that is very sweet on the ears, with my tone. Not being big headed, but my tone is complimented by the beats so yeah the acoustic thing definitely, I like that. It’s sweet to the ear.
MT: In terms of live performances then, have you done any acoustic sets?
Yellows: It’s funny you say that. We done one recently called the tenLetter take over. It was at the Box Park in Shoreditch and it was probably the third time I’ve worked with a live band. We had the keys there, the guitarist, the bass and whatever. It was proper sick; even that side of stuff is fun because you get to recreate songs that weren’t necessarily made like that. I mean ‘Cake’ wasn’t made with live instruments so hearing it with live instruments is a whole new element; it brings it into a whole different dimension. It was definitely fun; I love doing acoustic.
MT: As you enjoy live performances, what would be a venue that you would aspire to play in the future?
Yellows: I’d love to perform at a festival, whether it’s V Fest or Wireless or whatever, I’d love to do one of those festivals simply because everyone that’s is at the festival or 90% of people that are there are music lovers and are die hard music fans. To have so many people in one space who feel so passionate about it from the music executives, to the producers, to the fans, to have all of that in one space is incredible and it must be a mad feeling to be able to go up there play your track and have thousands of people shouting it back at you.
MT: Earlier you mentioned ‘Cake’ a track taken from No Ego that features Paigey Cakey. I know Paigey is part of the Alwayz Recording team with yourself but how did the track come about in terms of the content, video etc?
Yellows: Basically what happened is I got to the studio one day and we both work with one producer more or less, obviously we work with other producers but we’ve got one main producer we both catch a crazy vibe with; his name’s Prince. He made ‘Cake’ half of Yellows Pages 2 and most of this EP. I’ve gone to the studio one day and he’s shown me the track and said, “I’ve got a new song called ‘Cake’”. He played it to me and I said obviously you’ve got to put Paigey Cakey on it, It makes sense. I ended up going to the studio session with her to make the song and as she done the first verse she’s like “Yellows man, you might as well jump on it man, come in, catch a vibe and see what happens”. So I just wrote my verse and then it just turned out sick, so I just told her please let me just do another verse and then we can share the tune and put it out. She’s like “yeah man, why not” so I did another verse and yeah man there it is. It happened so naturally and organic. I feel like it was perfect in the sense that it’s called ‘Cake’ and that Paigey Cakey is in arms reach of everything that I’m doing; it all molded together so well.
MT: You say the EP came together naturally and that the tracks are really organic, but in terms of inspirations, who or what inspires you when writing lyrics?
Yellows: I don’t have a ritual that I do or a person that I particularly listen to before I write or anything but one of my strong influences is Tupac; just from the simple passion that he had for the craft and his consistency and everything. As a figure I can watch him on YouTube and watch him on interviews so as a figure, he is a very big inspiration. Rapping-wise, J Cole for his style of rapping; he’s very melodic, very lyrical and he’s got a lot of charisma. I just like his way of rapping, opposed to the commercial stuff that everyone likes, the Drakes, the French Montanas; obviously I like them as well but the way J Cole executes his concepts is sick. Also Tyga, just because of his simple style and I think his style has a big influence on me because I understand the vibe that he brings to the table and I love that vibe so I try and remember what a certain type of music can do for you in a club or in a car and I think Tyga is someone who executes that perfectly and that’s something I admire.
Yellows brand new EP No Ego is due for release on 22nd September 2014 and you can pre-order your copy on iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/id910477649
To keep up with everything from Yellows, follow @YellowsUk
Matt Tarr
@MattTarrJourno
Matt Tarr
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