Ashbeck Is Riding The Scenic Route To The Top Of UK Rap [Interview]

In this modern era of ambiguous algorithms and social media stardom, the pathway towards acclaim for any budding artist is much like a car journey. Some hurtle along in a 90 mph blaze of glory only to end up with an invariable ticket, while others grovel down a speed-bump-plagued estate with a primary school near by. North-West London spitter Ashbeck, however, has cruised along the dual carriageway, taking in the sights, comfortable and confident in his ability to manufacture his own unique lane. His rise within the scene has not been an unnecessarily swift ascension; his skill, graft and popularity have all coincided in metamorphosing, which, at this point in his career, is spearheaded and showcased by his elegant, engulfing and entertaining new album, BEEZY.

An integral talisman in the squad of young players vying to follow the blueprint of rappers like Knucks and Sainté in merging the weaning gap between UK ‘underground’ rap and its more mainstream counterparts, Ashbeck is the kind of artist who rarely surprises you with his releases - in the best possible way. His musical palettes are instantly recognisable; whether sonically backed by regular collaborative producer El Londo, or an array of UK alt raps finest beat-makers, or his own more recent production craft, an Ashbeck beat is enlaced with effortless energy. His flow cuts like a serrated blade and his delivery is cheek-laden and charming, whilst his spirited lyricism rarely drifts away from from his personal manifesto of casually, lavishly and convivially succeeding in his aspirations.

BEEZY, which dropped towards the beginning of July, is Ashbeck’s finest moment to date, and among this year’s most consistent, condensed and charismatic bodies of work in the alternative rap space. The thoughtful mood and playful tone is upheld across the album’s thirteen tracks, with features from three of the scenes other brightest sparks - 5EB, Rushy and Joe James - all maintaining the introspective gusto that seeps through the project. Having already released an astounding five bodies of work at the tender age of 21, Ashbeck has barely began his drive along the winding road of UK music.

New Wave connected with Ashbeck to talk all things BEEZY, his outlook of the UK underground rap scene, his love of collaboration, and breaking the mould whilst staying true to himself.

Who are you listening to?

Andre 3000 is the goat. Larry June’s new tape. Bit of Frank Ocean.

What are your musical origins?

When I was a kid, my dad used to play bare music all the time, at his crib, in the car, always playing good music. I’ve always had that love for it. Then in my teenage years I started finding my own music, listening to more hip hop. When I was like 13/14, I started listening to Odd Future, MF Doom, J Dilla. The first instrumentals that I used to rap on were Dilla beats.

How did that initial love translate into your musical style?

At the same time as I was listening to Doom I was listening to Playboy Carti’s old shit. So I had these two sounds in my head; I had the hip hop sound and the new trap sound. A lot of my music nowadays is very trap influenced with the synths and the drums. I was listening to the grime scene too, a lot of D Double E. The three things that merged in my head were trap, grime and hip hop. I use a combination of grimy flows and hip hop flows but over chill trap beats.

What, to you, does your music represent?

It feels like my purpose. When I wake up in the morning, the only thing I want to do with my day is make music. Even on a day where I might be trying to relax, I might link up with my boy to watch a movie or something but we’ll always end up making music. It’s natural, it is second nature - it feels like breathing.

How would you describe your sound?

Mellow. There’s always a lot of mellow undertones in my music matched with punchy drums and flows.

I’ve loved watching your rise, you’ve really made your way up through the UK underground, was it a purposeful decision to come up with authenticity in that respect?

Not at all. Nowadays I do a bit more, but at the start there was no planning. I wasn’t thinking about how I wanted to grow. It just happened like that by staying consistent with the music and people just kept finding it and loving it. It wasn’t something really intentional, it just happened.

Was there a moment when you knew you wanted to be an artist?

There was definitely a moment when I started taking it seriously when I was doing my A Levels. I started dropping shit on Soundcloud and I was getting a couple of thousand streams. When I got to like 10k streams, to me that felt like a million streams on Spotify. Even then I wasn’t fully serious but that’s when I had the idea in my head, realising that people were listening and that I could actually make a career out of this. At the end of A Levels I decided I didn’t want to go to uni and that I wanted to just work a day job and make music. I literally quit my day job like 3 weeks ago. Depending on how my next deal goes, it’s a possibility I’ll get another job, but right now I’m just enjoying doing music. Having a job is nice with the security of getting a pay check every month, but I like the pressure of knowing that I have to make it work.

As a pivotal figure in the scene, do you think UK underground rap gets the respect it deserves?

If people know then they know, and in that way it gets respect. At the same time, a lot of us are still quite young. I’m only 21. Even though me and others have dropped a lot of music, I feel like I’m only at the start of my journey. I feel like I still have a lot of time to do big things. I feel like it’s a sensitive time where I can really make it really push my sound and hopefully make a big name for myself. I don’t want to stay where I am - that’s why they call it underground, because there’s less recognition. At the same time, you see us selling out shows, I’m doing my first tour. People are respecting, but it just doesn’t get the recognition of genres like Drill. Knucks is someone to look at to show that you can be in the underground and then take it mainstream. I feel like I have time to become that too.

You’ve collaborated with so many legends in the scene, what is it about collabs that you love?

I just love working with people. If I enjoy listening to their music and like the way they rap/produce, I’m going to want to work with them. I feel like some of the best music is made when creative put their heads together. There’s something special about collaborating. It gets boring working by yourself every time, sometimes you need that outside voice to bring the best out of you. I’d say some of my best music is collaborations.

I love the features on the new album BEEZY - three feels like the perfect amount. Did you plan that or did it happen to be that way?

I always knew I wanted features, I think they are so important. It just came naturally. Rushy’s my boy so we just linked up and made ‘RAIN’. Same with 5EB, it was a very natural process. When I make a song, sometimes I’ll know who needs to be on it. I wouldn’t say when it came to the tape that I knew who I wanted on it, it just came from the individual tracks. I had all these tracks and wanted to compose a project and these ended up on it.

What was the overall creative process?

I was working on it for quite a while. After Organic Works came out, I’d just started producing and my initial idea was that I wanted to produce the whole tape myself. But then I kept making songs with other people and had too much heat to not release. I ended up producing 3 of the 12 tunes. This tape is a fun tape, it’s the type of thing you can listen to when you’re out and about. I wanted to make a tape that’s easy to listen to and isn’t too deep. I think the next project I’ll go a bit deeper.

What are the main themes of the tape?

It’s a lot about getting my goals. I’m quite a positive person, succeeding is my focus in life. When I listen back to my old projects, I’m saying a lot of things that I wanted to do and was trying to do, and I’ve now done all of it. It’s almost like manifesting motivation, making things happen. Also having fun, a lot the songs are about having fun. It’s the balance of making your money and getting shit done and having fun as well, living life. If you are just caught up in getting the bag then you are going to end up depressed.

Where do you want to take your artistry?

I want to break out of the underground scene. I don’t want to just be known as that, I want to be known as a UK rapper. I look at people like Loyle Carner, you wouldn’t call him underground. People like that inspire me, it shows me that you can really take it to a higher level. I want to take my art to a different level and make myself an established name in the industry. Whilst doing that though, I want to stay true to myself and not try and please people. I’ve built a unique sound that’s me and I always want to have that. I want to know when people hear an Ashbeck tune, the essence of it. You’re not gonna catch me making pop songs, unless it’s with Jim Legcxcy.

Short term, what have you got coming?

I’ve got my tour at the end of September, and then more music. My next project is loading and it’s bare good, it’s more of a winter project. It’s more personal but not deep conscious rap, I’m just saying more on the beats. I just want to stay consistent. We are finally at the point where we can spend a bit more money on videos and marketing, so everything is cleaner and better. For example, I got a billboard for BEEZY, I want to keep going stuff like that. Everything is going to be bigger from now on.

Words by Ben Tibbits