#N9neThoughts – Underrated II
Underrated. – to rate too low, undervalue.
Welcome to Week 2 of #N9neThoughts. These thoughts are all based on conversations, things I’ve read/seen & watched throughout the whole week. Let’s get straight into it. Underrated II
It’s funny how all this interlink. So just after writing ‘Week 1’ I was going through my drafts and came across a list of artists that I wanted to write about on the second part of my Underrated piece (check out the first one if you haven’t done so #QuickPlug). I really wanted to crack on and share it but at that moment I had no idea what to even write for Week 2 and my to-do list was looking Big Narstie! So I decided to leave it for now. Here comes the craziest part. All three artists that I was going to write about came up in conversations, on the same damn day. Let me tell you about them…
NAO
NAO is a British singer-songwriter from East London, Hackney. You may recognise her on ‘Velvet / Jenny Francis (Interlude)’ on Stomzy’s Gang Signs and Prayers album, which she co-wrote. And her feature with Disclosure ‘Superego’.
I was kicking it with my homie, let’s call her L, we were conversing the R’n’B scene in the UK. How this genre is a dying breed & who is pushing the renaissance. We were throwing names out and Ray BLK came up, she said..
‘I lowkey don’t like Ray Blk’
Then I said..
‘It’s crazy because I love her as an individual, she’s amazing but her music is lacking man.. after I heard ‘My Hood’ I haven’t heard anything better.. NAO is head and shoulders above her in this ting’
We instantly agreed. NAO is the coldest R’n’B artist in the UK game right now, her thing is so different. Now, let me explain to you why I have so much time for her.
Her current album, ‘For All We Know’, is by a country mile my favourite UK R’n’B project. Even though it’s a mixture of Jazz, Electronic and funk. You can really feel NAO breathe her music influences into this project. The rhythm class of Destiny Child, the harmony of Brandy and the narrative thinking cap of Nas. What I specifically enjoy about NAO is her voice, if I were to describe it I would call it something out of this world. No literally.
‘Fam you see NAO yeah, if aliens could sing she would sound like that’
I really can’t describe the collective sound that she is displaying, similar to when I tried to describe Kaytranada. I simply enjoy her electronic sound fused with her ‘Jazzy’ artillery, shown in ‘Fool to Love’
‘Aye big up producer GRADES x10, the geeza’ is the illest!’
You hear such maturity in her sound despite her only in her early 30’s, so you can tell that she is heavily invested in her specialised segment. She studied Jazz at School and went on to sing back up for a few notable acts. Even the album title goes back to the 1930’s, a popular Jazz track written by John Coots and Sam Lewis which has some notable covers done by artists such as Ray Charles, Alicia Keys, Clint Eastwood, Nina Simone and much more. Paying homage to the finest degree.
What I enjoy the most about this project is her storytelling, her relationships with all mediums - lovers, friends and even herself. She articulates her feelings so well on this project, you can hear the frustration, the pain, the sorrow in her heartbeat. It’s seriously cold.
French Kiwi Juice (FKJ)
French Kiwi Juice (FKJ) is a multi-instrumentalist, electronic artist from France. He’s known for his ‘Electro sound’ which is mixed with the Jazz, Blues, R’n’B and Soul sound. He’s even labelled ‘The Future of French Touch’, that’s kinda mad!
I was first introduced to FKJ months back. I was in the lab with the team just working on a few things, we’re kicking it watching some videos on YouTube and what not. When someone asked me whether I knew who French Kiwi Juice (FKJ) is..
‘Fam if it’s one of those Lil Uzi bum ass looking dons then I don’t even have time for that’
He just replied saying..
‘One sec’
He loaded up the video to ‘Skyline’, his latest single. Yo I was blown away.. I kept on saying..
‘Who is this demon? How does one understand music so well?!’
When he told me that he directs & produces his own music I nearly fainted, I swear to you. But that’s not even it. The same day I was with L, I bucked up with with one of the the G’s. We’ll call him J. So throughout the whole day I’ve been telling J that I’ve got this artist that he needs to listen to, the donny is CLEAN! We get to mine and I told him to get up YouTube on my TV while I run upstairs to get something. As soon as I got downstairs, I saw my man playing the Skyline video lool.
‘Wait, what type of black magic did you cast? I was going to play this to you’
My favourite artist at this current moment, there’s no questioning. Sonically, visually and lyrically he’s on an immaculate level. I have so much time for artists that really study their craft and become astonishingly good, I mean he’s an ex-movie sound engineer, fluent on the keys, bass & electric guitar and saxophone and he has vocals like he’s fresh outta Heaven. This is a recipe for a Genius, yet so incredibly humble.
‘Yo this don has gone 3 projects deep with him being the only producer, someone test this guy if he’s human’
I don’t want to go into too much detail about his music, I’ve got way too many things to mention. So I’m going to describe him in 3 words..
‘FKJ is Spontaneous, Smooth & Groovy’
NoName
Noname is a Poet / Rapper from Chicago, Illinois. You may recognise her from her feature with Chance the Rapper, Lost from the ‘Acid Rap’ mixtape.
The final part. Funny enough, J and L both step out with me. We’re on the train en route to see Monte Booker live. I was running L through a playlist that I made. I was just looking for that killer track to round it all up. Scrolling and scrolling.. all of the sudden all I hear is..
‘Stop!’
My finger was placed on Noname - Bye Bye Baby, those who know this song know it’s incredibly catchy. We were singing this all the way to the venue.
‘My baby needs some milk & honey.. my baby needs some milk & honey..’
This is where it gets mad. We arrive at the venue, Monte is already on the decks shelling it down. I go to the bar to get myself a drink. I turn around and I see an Afro, but it’s one of them ones that I recognise. Her back is facing me so I wasn’t able to fully make a full examination. I turn to L like.
‘Aye.. Is that NoName?’
She walked towards the entrance, so I thought let me pree the situation properly. I managed to get her attention and I was right, it was her. Let me show you some of the dialogue that went on..
Note to self - This slang talk needs to stop!
‘Fam! Your ting is so different.. I rate it still! *Spuds*’
She looked at me with so much confusion lol. But as soon as she saw the spud she replied with the ‘aw thanks’ and spudded back. I told her that I’d be writing about her, so if you’re reading this Noname what I meant to say was that your music is hard lmao.
I love her uniqueness, as opposed to Chance or Chief Keef, she tells a different story of Chicago. Her voice and delivery, similar to the first time I heard Mike Skinner, The Streets, at first was a bit different but really grew to love it. Even down to the name Noname, I feel like she wants to cut off any boundaries of limitation and maximise the area of creativity within herself. You can hear the freedom she has in her music. For instance, on Casket Pretty on a warm & open production with a baby sample, you’re surprised with a pretty dull storyline.
‘For whatever reason, I tend to find melancholy in instrumentals that people think are innately happy’ - Noname
It’s raw, from the heart, relatable and sonically amazing. Like, this is possibly the best production I’ve ever heard in an album. No joke. And meeting her in person and just confirming that she is what she raps about makes this 10x better. What an amazing human being.
Click on the hyperlink below for the playlist! Thanks for reading, take care of yourself & see you on Week 3!
@AjDotty
