Say what you want about Drake - that he’s too commercial, that he sings too much, that he’s a terrible dancer (Hotline Bling, anyone?). These might well be true. But one thing that can’t be taken away from Drake is his unmatchable ability to coin a soundbite. He’s the figurehead for the Instagram generation, with his lyrics providing influencers with a reel of perfect and pithy captions for their next post.
    Some of the Toronto hitmaker’s slogans stop you in your tracks and make you think, while others fire you up and have you puffing out your chest. But we’re not focussing on either of these. We’re looking at the hilarious, and sometimes downright bonkers, quotes that Drake manages to slip into an otherwise hard-hitting rap song. 
    Most rappers would be ridiculed for not taking their verses seriously enough, but with Drake the comedy and self-deprecation are all part of his persona. There’s a reason he’s one of the most meme-able and quotable artists out there. But does he care? If anything, he loves it, and he clearly plays on this. He even got Shiggy, the dancer that made his ‘In My Feelings’ track go viral, to star in the official music video.
    Whatever the motives behind Drake’s willingness to send himself up, we’re the ones that get to benefit from the abundance of hilarious quotes he provides us with. Having scoured every nook and cranny of Drake’s discography, here’s a curated selection of the best ten lyrics that are bound to make you smile, chuckle or maybe even laugh out loud...

The way Drake keeps breaking record after record, maybe it always has been written in the stars for him to hit these kind of heights. But since he was six? Heck, at that age I was still figuring out how to run without falling flat on my face, let alone mapping out my life plan. 

What’s great about Drake, is that he flexes with a twinkle in his eye. It never feels overly serious, and there’s always a sense that he’s rapping tongue-in-cheek (although practically, as a technique, that’s bound to cause problems…).

This track was on Drake’s 2013 album, ‘Nothing Was the Same’, and features 2 Chainz and Big Sean. Fun fact: Big Sean is actually of average height.

What make this so funny in my opinion, is that you can literally imagine Drake posing for the Rushmore architectural photoshoot, and doing a different face for each shot. Serious, pensive, smiling, shocked. It’s just so Drake. 

Once again, self-confidence, braggadocio, and a heavy dose of ego - but delivered with a charming smile.

‘Survival’ opens Drake’s 2018 ‘Scorpion’ album, and is full of ominous warnings to all his competitors, such as “I ain’t even have to cut the tie, it severed itself”. This gravity makes the light-hearted Mount Rushmore comment stand out even more, and epitomises the two sides of Drake’s persona. 

It’s nice to see Drake is a man with his priorities in order. Yes, his relationship is crumbling. Yes, he’s fighting with his girl. But what’s he most worried about? Ruining his chances of being able to go back to his favourite restaurant. 

He delivers this line with the indignant petulance of a baby who’s just had his beloved sweet ripped from his hand. But lesson learnt - don’t come between a hungry Drake and his Cheesecake. Hey, that rhymes, maybe I should be the rapper here…

‘Child’s Play’ has one of Drake’s most famous music videos, and that’s no mean feat considering how viral the visuals for ‘Hotline Bling’ and ‘In My Feelings’ went. ‘Child’s Play’ begins with Drake having an argument with Tyra Banks, who plays his girlfriend, in the Cheesecake Factory that the song famously references. 

Why did the video become so well-known? Because it involves Tyra throwing a whole cake into Drake’s face. As they were beefing at the time, you can almost hear fellow rapper Meek Mill laughing with glee in the background…

It’s cheeky wordplay enshrouding an equally cheeky flex, but I love it. This is definitely one for any of you looking for your next Instagram caption. 

Again, I don’t know if it’s just because he used to be an actor, or if it’s because of how expressive he is in his music videos, but I can picture Drake’s face when he says this. Offended, but also kind of loving the chance to use one of his snappiest witticisms. 

‘Is There More?’ is another track from ‘Scorpion’, and like ‘Survival’ is full of dark musings and intense introspection. You could be forgiven, on the basis of this song, for thinking that Drake has started to take himself too seriously. But fear not, the most memed song of 2018, ‘In My Feelings’, follows swiftly on the ‘Scorpion’ tracklist to reassure you that all is still fun and light-hearted in the Drake camp. 

In my view, Drake is at his best when he is self-deprecating. It is the antithesis of everything that rap stands for, and that’s why it works so well. He perfects this in Chris Brown’s recent video for ‘No Guidance’, where the two recreate their infamous club fight in the form of a dance battle. 

Chris Brown dazzles with his dancing, before Drake comes out with an embarrassing array of moves, and his entourage ditches him. But it’s great that he’s willing to send himself up, and not take himself too seriously - the music industry could do with a bit more of that. 

‘Passionfruit’ was one of the best performing singles from Drake’s 2017 ‘More Life’ project, and covers familiar territory for the rapper in that it’s about struggling to find trust in a relationship, especially a long-distance one. Despite this, the tropical beat gives the song an uplifting atmosphere, underlining Drake’s ability to turn a sad song into a smash hit. 

Pop Culture reference? Check. Play on words? Check. Humour aplenty? Triple check.

I’d love to know if anyone actually calls Drake ‘Chaining Tatum’. And if they didn’t before, I really hope they do after this lyric. On another note, anyone wondering if a collaboration with the real Channing Tatum’s partner, Jessie J, would ever be on the cards for Drake? 

Mmm, probably not. I’d imagine Drake’s too concerned with his designer Price Tags for her liking…

‘Pop Style’ stirred up a lot of controversy, because it initially featured Hip Hop royalty, The Throne, aka Kanye West and JAY-Z. However, when the album ‘Views’ dropped in 2016, ‘Pop Style’ was on it, but Kanye and Jay’s verses had been axed. Drake played it off as a simple artistic choice by him, with no bad blood involved. But considering him and Kanye have now gone from friendly Calabasas neighbours to mortal enemies, one can’t help but think there was more to it than meets the eye…

‘Back to Back’ was the famous Meek Mill diss that Drake dropped amidst the fiery feud they sparked in 2015. Meek claimed that Drake didn’t write his own lyrics, and Drake responded with ‘Charged Up’, followed swiftly by ‘Back to Back’, in a rapid one-two sucker punch. To be honest, no-one really remembers the disses Meek released. 

This lyric is a reference to Meek going on tour with his then-fiancée Nicki Minaj, but only as her support act. She was obviously a lot more famous than him at the time, which is why Drake is taking shots at him for hanging on her coattails. Regardless, Meek and Drake are back on good terms, and they dropped their hit collaboration ‘Going Bad’ last year.

This is probably my favourite of the list. It’s classic, self-effacing Drake, lamenting his girl troubles. She says she’d rather listen to Ludacris than Drake, the guy she’s dating. Ouch! Poor Drizzy. 

His comedic timing is on point once again, with the pause after “oh, word, true s**t” emphasising the hilarity of the situation. It’s one of those lyrics that always makes me laugh, but then I feel bad for laughing after. Although, as Drake breaks yet another Beatles record, something tells me he doesn’t really need a whole lot of sympathy the way he’s bossing the rap game right now. 

‘How Bout Now’ was originally part of Drake’s 2015 ‘If you’re reading this its too late’ mixtape, but was recently added to his 2019 ‘Care Package’ album, which serves as a compilation of his best unreleased and bonus tracks.

We all know Drake loves to be up in his feelings, but he also loves a good party. Whether he’s at the strip club, on a yacht, or at a house party, he’ll turn up. But he also seems like the politest strip club customer going, and that just makes us love him even more. 

‘All Me’ is one of those songs that didn’t do tremendously well in the charts, but has become a Drake fan favourite, due to its combination of uber-braggadocious lyrics, and the humorous wordplay found in each verse. As mentioned before, it was the final track on his 2013 ‘Nothing Was the Same’ album.

This is actually super deep. Every now and then, Drake drops a particularly perceptive lyric that really hits you, and this underlines his dexterity as a rapper. I feel like it’s true, though. We’re so busy comparing our lives to other people’s, that we often forget to stop and be thankful for what we have in our own lives.  

The Toronto megastar manages to inject a dose of humour, though, to add some levity in his response to the girl. I think it’s what most of us say in our heads when we hear this bit of heavy philosophising from him… 

“Well, goddamn” 

‘Heat of the Moment’ is another track off of Drake’s 2019 ‘Care Package compilation album, but was originally released as part of a trio that were meant to be on ‘Views’, but that hackers got to first. 

Yours sincerely, but not too seriously,
Maxim Mower

​Read a review of Drake's 'Scorpion' here
​

It's clear that we often lean heavily on music when we are going through something. It has the powerful ability to lift you up, to relax your mind, or to simply let you know you're not alone in your struggle.

Of course, usually music alone is no remedy to the troubles we face, but it can be helpful nonetheless. Different people can draw out different meanings from various sets of lyrics, such is the subjective beauty of art. 

The following is a selection of hand-picked lyrics that are aimed specifically at easing your worries and allaying your fears. Some may become new cri de coeurs, some may simply wash over you without having much effect. But hopefully in shining a spotlight on particularly useful lyrics, there will be at least one that will really resonate with you...
​

​1. Swedish House Mafia, Don't You Worry Child

You don't have to believe in Heaven, or be religious at all for that matter, to appreciate this.  Personally the message I gain from this is that no matter how low you are feeling, or how difficult it may be right now, in the long run you will always be okay. I have a saying that I'm always annoying my friends with - 'Even when it doesn't go to plan, it does'. This could be God's plan (shoutout Drake...), the Universe's plan, or simply your ultimate plan for your life. In the end, the struggle makes you who you are. 
​

​2. Ed Sheeran, Put It All On Me feat. Ella Mai

I really like this one, because it sounds fairly generic at first, but peering deeper into it reveals a significant message. For me, it's the idea that it's okay to ask someone for help when you're going through something. Don't be too prideful or too ashamed to lean on other people. There's a good chance they're going through something similar. 

Have a look at my review of Ed Sheeran's 'No.6 Collaborations Project' here

​3. Zac Brown Band, No Hurry

This is the central Zac Brown Band mantra of 'Que sera sera', and to not let things that are out of your control get you down. If you have a problem, address it, and if there is a solution go about achieving it. If there is no solution, then leave it behind. It's irrelevant. 

Check out a more detailed look at No Hurry in this Self-Help Songs post

​4. James Bay, ​Let It Go

​This is a great quote, because it echoes the previous notion of letting things that are out of your control go. Often we can torment ourselves over what could have been, or what we should have done. "Leave it to the breeze", and don't be stuck in the past. Also, this takes on another meaning in the sense of what you might see as 'broken' parts of your personality or appearance. Just be yourself - we hear it time and time again, but it's true. Why be someone you're not, when you're awesome just the way you are (shoutout Bruno Mars...) 

​5. Chance the Rapper, Work Out

​Okay, this seems like a random quote to have included. But it resonates with me quite strongly, because I think we can overthink the details of our lives, and be too hard on ourselves when we don't match up to our expectations. It's great to be disciplined and driven, but cut yourself some slack - don't be too hard on yourself (shoutout Jess Glynne...okay, I'm going to stop with all the cross-referencing now...!). Also, remember to have fun! Charlie Hoehn wrote a great article about how 'Play' cured his anxiety, read that here.  

You might also like...Self-Help Songs, 'How to Be Positive', by Chance the Rapper

​6. Zac Brown Band, Knee Deep

Yes, I know, it's ANOTHER Zac Brown Band song. Talk about biased. But this artist more than any other epitomises for me the feeling of just kicking back, relaxing, and taking the strain off of your mind. They're not talking about a literal vacation here, it's a mental one. We all carry around with us personal spas in the form of meditation. Get away for free! 

​7. Bastille, ​Joy

​Another poignant lyric about letting the past be the past. Don't agonise and torment yourself over something you can't change. Also I added the second part of the lyrics, because it emphasises the positive message of the song. Just when you are thinking of giving in, don't! Relief from your pain could literally just be around the corner. 
​

​8. The Beatles, Let It Be

​This iconic song is probably most famous for having an amazing melody, as all The Beatles' songs do. But the lyrics really hit home, and underline what a lot of the other lyrics in this article have been saying. Don't fight against an immovable obstacle, especially if it is behind you - turn around, and let it go. Let it be. 

Maxim Mower

I recently sat down with up-and-coming US rapper, C Woodz, for his first ever UK interview! 

Among other things, we spoke about his influences, how he got into music, and the meaning behind last year’s EP, ‘Born in October’. It was awesome to get the opportunity to chat with such a humble, but clearly driven, artist, and it was refreshing to hear him talk about the positive effect he hopes to have on his fans, and his ambitions for the future. 

Check out the interview below! 
​

How does it feel coming off the back of the release of your new single, ‘Drip or Drown’?

I love creating music, it feels good. Every single I release is a big moment. The video’s coming soon too! 

Is there a new album on the horizon?

The album right now is not together. There’s a collection of singles that I’m focussing on - I’m going to release 6 of them over the next six months. The album, that’ll be sometime next year. 

You recently shot the video for ‘Please Don’t’ in London. In the song you say you flew there without a case - is that true?! 

I actually did! I go to London like twice a year, I love it there. Also ‘Please Don’t’, that song was one of my favourites off the EP ‘Born in October’. 

In ‘Please Don’t’, you sing 'Please don't send them my way'. What are you referring to here?

Basically, it’s my experience when I first went to London, my first experience, I was so happy just being out there. The city showed so much love, I was inspired by the people, and how they gravitated to my music. It was all very overwhelming, so yeah, it was inspired by my first experience going to London. “Please don’t send them my way” is basically talking about negativity, don’t send me any negativity. You can relate that to anything. 

You mentioned recently that “It’s time for me to reroute my message”, and your recent pack of singles, ‘Different Smoke’, was full of lots of positivity, love, and was about you dedicating yourself to your girl. How would you describe this new message, and what side of C Woodz are we going to be getting from now on? 

As far as that, the whole concept is about changing up the direction of my lyrics. I’m in a different space now. Going forward, when I am dropping new projects, I really want people to hear a different perspective to my old music. I basically want to impact people differently, and not just talk about the same things, but still give them the same impact in that transition. As far as visuals, lyrics, when I’m writing them, everything is rerouted to get a different perspective. 

Which artists inspire you the most?

That’s kinda tough! I’m inspired by a lot of artists. First off, the rapping side of me was inspired by Lil Wayne. I’ve been listening to him since the age of 8. Then there was the transition where Chris Brown came along. Also other artists like Tory Lanez, Meek Mill, all of those artists, they inspire me, along with others.

You talk about being inspired by these artists. How does it feel to be in a position where you are inspiring your fans, and you are a role model to them? Do you feel any pressure in this responsibility? 

I treat that as a proud moment, I’m just starting to see people gravitate to my music, loving my lyrics, reciting them in videos. It’s great. There’s no pressure at all, it actually drives me to produce more music that they want to listen to. I love that feeling. ​

What was the mentality behind your first EP ‘Born in October’, which you released last year? What space were you in when you wrote that? 

When I was creating it, this was one of the first projects I really sat down and thought through. I wanted to do it the right way. ‘Born in October’ has acronyms, symbolism, there’s a lot of meaning in there. First off, I was born in October, that was the first symbolisation. Secondly, I felt reborn again, going through the process of creating that music. Basically I just wanted to give everybody that was born in October, or whatever month they were born in, to connect with this EP. Because when I was creating it, with each song I was going through different emotions and trials, and I was putting those things in my music. I was feeling recreated, rejuvenated, and reborn, and it added a whole different perspective to who I was. I felt brand new. 

What’s the thinking behind the album cover, which shows a figure meditating in the grasp of a dragon’s claw? 

The whole meditation part, that’s an actual silhouette of me sitting down, just meditating and relaxing. That whole image just symbolises me feeling born again. The dragon that you see, that’s to symbolise luck. Also, when you think of a typical lucky number, what number do you think of? 7. That’s the reason there’s seven songs, the dragon is lucky, it’s all a symbol of completion. Feeling completed as I was writing this music. ​
​

​What direction do you see the future of Hip Hop going in? Does 'mumble rap’ have a future? 

When I think about Hip Hop and R&B, I think that it’s all about life right now. You know, when you see an old tree, and it’s been there for hundreds of years, it may look old but it continues to grow. That’s how I look at music, it’s going to continue to grow and evolve. No matter where we are at, great music lasts forever. Mumble rap ain’t gonna stick around, because people want to hear something that’s going to keep them sustained when they’re going through certain things. The music is going help them get through that. As an artist, I obviously have to adapt to the music that’s being created and that’s popular, but also put my own style on it. I’m not a mumble rapper, but I have to adapt to it. 

How did you first get into music?

My favourite rapper is and always has been Lil Wayne. Like I said, it started right there when I was 8, and I went to a Lil Wayne concert. My brother rapped too so that was a big influence. Music was really all around me, so as I got to 16/17, I wanted to start creating. My first time writing, I basically took Tha Carter I or II, and I switched all the words around. If he said ‘red', I said ‘blue’, and so on. That was my first time writing, and that helped me to learn how to write. At 17 I wrote my first song, and when I look at the lyrics now it’s funny to me, but I can see where I was trying to go with it. As life went on, I learnt how to do it. During that era, when I was 17, that’s basically when Chris Brown came along, and everyone was gravitating towards him. There was the whole thing about him dancing and singing, I just liked his style. That paved the way for me, that’s how it all started. ​

Where do you see yourself at the end of the year?

Winning ‘Best New Artist’ at the BET Hip Hop Awards. I want to be doing music full time, if I can do that, that’s when I’ll feel like I’ve really made it. 

Are you independent, or signed to a label? 

I’m independent, not signed. All my videos and me travelling to shoot them, all that is at my own expense. 

What would be your ideal collaborations?

I want to work with Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Tory Lanez. But at the moment I’m working with no features. Lil' Keke is an artist that’s becoming really big over here in America, and I have a song with him [called Real and Fake]. He’s a big feature for me to have secured. But other than that, I would only do a feature if it was a big name artist. I’m really just focused on getting my own music out there right now. 

I have a section on my blog called ‘Self-Help Songs’, where I analyse a particular song’s lyrics and see what lessons we can gain from it, because I feel like artists are in some ways today’s philosophers. They’ll be going through something, and they pen lyrics that can really help the listeners who are going through a similar struggle, but perhaps shed new light on it or shift the perspective in a really helpful way. Off the top of your head, which of your lyrics would you say you would want listeners to pay close attention to, that you feel can help people the most?

It’s a lyric on my ‘Born in October’ EP. It’s the first verse on my song, ‘Born’. It goes, 

​It’s real, and basically it’s saying that they never know what you been through until they walk in your shoes. 

Interview by Maxim Mower 

Stream C Woodz’ summer anthem, ‘Drip or Drown’, out on all platforms, and watch his video for ‘Please Don’t’ here.

Big Sean has made no secret of his mental health struggles, revealing earlier this year that he decided to start getting therapy. Despite his last album, ‘I Decided.’ being an inspiring journey through Sean’s mental struggle that ends on a positive note, it still left a feeling of there being more steps left that had to be taken. 

‘Single Again’ is a celebration of his freedom from a relationship, a true break-up anthem. Now, Sean has dropped break-up tracks in the past in the form of ‘IDFWU’ and ‘Beware’, where he spits acerbic bars about his ex-girls. ‘Single Again’ is delivered in a completely different vein, with Sean poking fun at his past attitude in the lines, “Got me feeling like ‘I don’t f*** with you’/Oh nah, nah, that’s the old me”. 

He goes on to muse, “Honestly, all the disrespect had damn near ruined me”. Despite being intensely introspective and soul-baring, the general mood of ‘Single Again’ seems positive, and not even in a trying to find the silver lining to the darkness kind of way, in a genuine way. It is uplifting to sense that Sean is making progress with himself - and this is his new focus. 

The caption to the artwork is:

​Even the Detroit rapper’s delivery seems less fiery, and more peaceful. And to put your ex-girl on the actual song where you’re rapping about the break-up, that’s going to come up one of two ways. Either it’ll seem incredibly bitter and publicly ridiculing, or it’ll emphasise how accepting you are of how things worked out. 

It’s definitely the latter, with photos of Sean and his old flame Jhené Aiko hanging out together surfacing on Instagram a couple of months ago. It’s a bold move, but it comes across as being 100% a good-hearted, and rather sweet, way of saying, ‘hey, we’re good’, as opposed to a mere publicity stunt. Sean’s new message is the antithesis of superficial. 

So as a new album is readied, let’s hope Big Sean continues to get his mind right and place his wellbeing as the priority. I loved the old-school Sean party-starters, the tongue-in-cheek lyrics and ferocious rhymes. But I have to say I’m more excited than ever about the new Sean Don, where the maxim (knew I’d find a way to work that word in…!) at the heart of the music is way more important than the braggadocio and flexing. 

Yours sincerely, but not too seriously,
Max.i'm

Buy Big Sean's Last Solo Album, 'I Decided.' below

The Critic: Jaden Smith seems to occupy a peculiar space in modern Hip-Hop. Most people have heard of him, but almost none have actually heard him. He has inevitably so far stood in the megastar-sized shadow of his father, Will Smith, and the mediocre success he has enjoyed is, perhaps unfairly, dismissed by cynics as being a result of Will. On ‘ERYS’, Jaden makes a mockery of them.

It is heavily experimental, and the plot of Jaden being some kind of futuristic drug dealer who sells a mind controlling substance called ‘Pink’ to the world, and everyone subsequently degenerates into masses of zombies, is wacky to say the least. It’s interesting, but I wouldn’t say that when I listen to the album, it’s a story that can be easily gleaned from the obtuse lyrics.

The opening track is peppered with left-field musings such as, “The gold and diamonds could dissolve his pride”. It’s the sort of whimsical statement I put in my University philosophy essays to try and con my tutors into thinking I’m cleverer than I actually am.

But Jaden never comes across as someone who is trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. As a whole, his plot makes sense, and he deserves respect for providing us with often witty lyrics that do not succumb to the Hip Hop stereotypes of sex, money and drugs. Of course, such references make their appearances, but as a whole this album plays with a higher purpose than merely flexing and impressing the listener.

It is deep, but also kind of accessible. The spacey production, vocal distortions and mercurial features come together to form a project packed full of beautiful moments, with each off-kilter idea improving the overall effect of the album. Some artists experiment for the sake of experimenting, and even use this to hide their actual lack of originality, with the only result being music that is nigh impossible to make any sense of.

Jaden is not one of these artists. Admittedly, it could be argued that his auto-tuned, emo rap style is heavily derivative of Kid Cudi and Travis Scott. There are definitely moments, particularly when rapping alongside Cudi on ‘On My Own’, where it is apparent where Jaden gets a lot of his inspiration from. His outlandish, self-assured antics coupled with the twitchy, euphoric nature of some ‘ERYS’ tracks provoke easy comparisons with Kanye West. Equally, Jaden’s move to regularly opt for soul-baring laments over braggadocious bars could render him a student of the Drake school of Hip Hop.

But what is this really to say? Quite frankly, 80% of rappers in today’s charts have drawn stylistic influences from at least one of Kid Cudi, Kanye and Drake. Jaden is in his own lane, and that lane sounds pretty darn good.

The Fan: My favourite three rappers are undoubtedly Kanye, Travis Scott and Drake, so to see Jaden combining numerous strands of these artists’ styles, and then putting his own stamp on the resulting concoction obviously plays right into my hands (or my ears, I guess…).

I love experimentation in rap, but often artists such as Tyler, the Creator, Daniel Caesar and Frank Ocean are a little too introspective and cryptic for me to really get on their wavelength.

I feel like Jaden strikes the perfect balance here between being innovative and being intelligible to the listener. Oh, and there’s also the small matter of it sounding awesome - you can turn up to the electric, hard-hitting rhymes of some songs, and then wallow in the fragile sorrow of other tracks.

Standout Track: ‘Summertime in Paris’

Hidden Diamond: ‘K’


Yours sincerely, but not too seriously,
Maxim

I wanted to ask you about the origin of your name, THEMXXNLIGHT, and the reasoning behind switching the O’s out for X’s. 

“So in Hindi our last name means ‘the moonlight’. And then we just felt spelling it with the X’s made it more mysterious, as well as being symbolic of us being twins.” 

A year before you secured the Rolling Papers 2 features, you were recording in your dorm room on the 2004 version of GarageBand. I wish it could make me sound like that! Have you upgraded your kit since then?

“(laughing) No! It’s still hella old, a really, really old version of GarageBand. I think it’s the 2007 version.”

You rejected offers to play basketball at MIT and California State, and instead ended up graduating from RPI in New York with an engineering degree. A lot of readers will be at that point in their lives where they are having to choose between what they’re being told they’re supposed to do, i.e. get a degree, get a Masters, get a secure job, etc., and their hobbies. What made you take that leap of faith and opt for music over engineering and sport?

“That’s a good question! Somehow it worked out perfectly with the timing. At first, we imagined we’d play basketball for four years while doing our degrees. But within the first two or three months, we just didn’t feel a connection with the coach. It was a new coach, as the coach that recruited us had left. So we decided to drop from the team. Initially, we just made songs for fun, but by the tenth song, Wiz discovered us! That was two and a half years into making music. We graduated, then Rolling Papers 2 dropped in July. So it didn’t really involve any leap of faith before then, it was after that album released that our parents were like, ‘Ok, you can take some time away and focus on music’. It was a family decision, it wasn’t a rebellious, 'We’re running away from home’ kind of thing. Our parents said, ‘We’ll support you, and you guys can pursue this, and see how it goes’. 

You’ve spoken in the past about how your sound has been heavily influenced by one of your favourite artists, The Weeknd. What drew you to his style of R&B? 

“In high school, we were kind of shower singers. We always took instrumental lessons, but we were never trained vocally, and we still haven’t been, even though we do want to be. We were kind of singing around campus, and then we first heard ‘The Zone’ by The Weeknd one morning before getting dropped off at school. We just thought, ‘Yo, he sounds super unique, he sounds like an angel.’ He’s Ethiopian too, and his music actually has close tie-ins with Indian music, so immediately we felt very accustomed to his sound. We did a few The Weeknd covers and put them out on Soundcloud. They got shared by a couple of OVO and The Weeknd fan pages. It was crazy, it felt like our idols were slowly turning into our reality.” 

Speaking of Drake’s OVO label, you recently shared a photo with Roy Woods on your Instagram. What features can we expect from the upcoming EP and album? 

So we have one song with Chevy Woods, that’s going to be on his album in the summer, we can’t say what it’s called just yet. Then for our own projects, yeah, we have Roy Woods and Ye Ali. We've also worked with Megan Thee Stallion, she hit us up after the Wiz songs. She sent us a song which had two verses, but the hooks were blank. We recorded something, and she replied saying, ‘Yo, my mum loves it, my whole team loves it’. To be on her album would be a major honour, she’s an amazing female artist doing great things right now. Also TM88 is producing his album sometime this year, we have a song on there that’s co-produced by Sledgren. Also, Roy Woods has a full EP in the works. We have a collab project with him too that we’re excited about.” 

Wow, so a lot to look forward to! I wanted to talk to you about your Indian heritage, and how big a part that plays in your music.

“It definitely plays a big part. Jay Sean inspired us a lot, it feels like the entire world still doesn’t know he’s British Indian. Obviously, NAV with XO, signed to The Weeknd, we would love to be a part of that. It’s clear that The Weeknd supports artists no matter what their culture is. Him putting on NAV was pretty crazy, and a great step for our community. Again, NAV paved the path for South Asian artists to really make it in genres other than Bollywood music.” 

How does it feel to be role models for minority groups pursuing careers in music, particularly Indian Americans, because apart from NAV, there aren’t many in the game at the moment?

“There is a lot of pressure to please the community, because we can’t do a lot of the same things. Obviously there are a lot of drug influences in NAV’s music and videos, his background is more from Rexdale from Toronto. So it’s hard to find the balance for us. Based on feedback from the community, I think we can be good role models. Local high schoolers come up to us like, ‘Yo, you guys are legends, you’re the biggest inspiration for the Indian community’. We wish we’d have had an Indian rapper come to us and say, “Yo, you should pursue music’, then we would have been way more inspired from a younger age. What’s great as well is that people from all over India are also noticing us.” 

You mentioned how NAV has the freedom to make a lot of drug references in his music, and modern R&B as a genre definitely contains numerous themes of drug use, with The Weeknd, for example, also following this trend. Do you feel, as artists that are just coming into R&B and are perhaps still seen as outsiders, that there is a pressure on you to conform to these stereotypes of R&B music? 

“Yeah, good question. Not really, it’s kind of the theme of R&B to be on a druggy vibe, to put you in a high mood. We don’t feel pressure to do any of that stuff. Obviously singing about it makes sense because that’s the style of music, R&B is typically very sensual. If you want to do drugs, if doing drugs helps you in listening to that kind of music, then we’re not going to judge anyone for what they want to do. But there’s no pressure for us to partake in that. Our music is not heavily drug themed, there are very, very few references to drug abuse. We focus more on passion, and love story type stuff. There are some references, because like I said, it comes with the territory, but generally that’s not what we aim to sing about.”

Finally, for my blog I have this concept called Self-Help Songs, where I pick certain lyrics that people can learn something from, and I thought it could be cool to ask you about some lyrics from one of your newest Wiz features, ‘All For You’. Your chorus reads, “If you need someone to treat you right/If you need someone to talk to, call me/I’ll do anything you like/I wanna do it all for, all for, all for you”. What was the inspiration behind these lines?

“Yeah, so it’s kind of the beat that carried it. We heard it and it had that really reminiscing, slow jam R&B vibe. But we could also imagine Wiz going crazy hard on it. We thought we could make something that pleases both R&B and Rap fans. In terms of what inspired the lyrics, we came up with this story. We were kind of imaging a scenario where one of us was with a girl, maybe taking her around a shopping mall, treating her right kind of thing. Basically it means using your success in the music industry, to give back to your girl, and being unselfish, like ‘Everything I do, I’ll do for you’. Both songs are kind of about greatness, and giving back, and reminiscing.”

Interview by Maxim Mower

Hear THEMXXNLIGHT on Wiz Khalifa’s latest album, Fly Times, Vol.1: The Good Fly Young, and stream their brand new single, ‘Good Things’. ​

An album cover of a guy with his head set on fire? Yawn, seen it all before. But an album cover of a guy with his head set on blue fire? THAT. IS. AWESOME. For those of you wanting depth, you'd better move swiftly onto Song Title of the Week, because I chose Dave's Psychodrama on the basis of one criterion: it looks pretty darn cool. It's quite sparse and basic, but in a minimalist, artsy, electro-future-fire-mutant kind of way. And I like the colour blue. 

Song Title of the Week - Drake, Lust for Life

An homage to the great Van Gogh's biography, this title on Drake's recently re-released So Far Gone mixtape is succinct, meaningful and evocative. The fact that this was the career-defining mixtape, one that dropped as Drake stood on the brink of his destiny to become the biggest rapper in the world, only serves to add to the poignance. Drake eventually got the life he so publicly lusted after - just maybe not the woman (but what was there not to love, Nicki?). 

Music Video of the Week -
James Blake- Mile High (feat. Travis Scott and Metro Boomin)        

Trippy and, perhaps a little guilty of self-indulgence, but nonetheless it's fun to watch, and matches the mood of the track perfectly. The video starts with Travis Scott's confused face disappearing into a tunnel of blackness as he tries to wake Blake up, before we become immersed in the UK artist's mind, which, spoiler alert, exclusively features himself and Travis Scott swirling around aimlessly. Hey, I'm not judging, 'aimless thoughts' sounds a lot like the inside of my mind. Like I said, the video's a tad over-the-top, but maybe that's what makes it so entertaining. 

So these are my Aesthetics of the Week! Feel free to let me know of any good lyrics, titles, covers or videos I may have missed...

Yours sincerely, but not too seriously,
Max.i'm

P.S. If you're looking to buy the Aesthetics of the Week:

• Florida Georgia Line CD
• Dave CD (Preorder)
• Drake So Far Gone CD
• James Blake CD