LONG TIME NO SPEAK

Well hello. A wise man told me recently that you can make the best tunes you want, but if you don't interact with your fans then ultimately you won't have staying power. I decided this was pretty true so after a pretty busy couple of months I'm starting to write the blog again!

 Basically, I've moved house, set me self up with a little cash in hand freelance courier job (!!!!!!!!!) got a couple of tattoos and been thru another 3 girls (all of whom I thought were "the one" for about 4 days.) I always talk about whats happened to me in life so I've written and produced a little E.P about each of the girls, the over all feel of it is very wintery so I'm planning on sitting on it until the colder months... (although I know our summer has been disgraceful)

 Anyway - until then, you are gonna need some new music from me init... so i'm planning on putting another free mix tape for download by the end of August. All the tunes are pretty much ready but I don't have a name for it yet (any ideas please tweet me!!! @theonlylakey) I uploaded a snippet of one of the tunes yesterday. I produced it and it features UK trap producing DON - Jimmy British. Infact, first of all hear my favourite jimmy british tune ever:


 

Jimmy's done a lot of work with rising road rap star Johnny Gunnz, and I'm keen to get out the tunes I made with him... Heres a snippet of our tune. (Jimmy raps on this, I produced it.)
 

MUNCHI AND LAKES.

I put out my first official video last week. To be honest I've been very pleasantly surprised at the amount of views we have clocked up! We hit 2000 after the first two days, and now we are nearing 4000! You wanna know how I did it? Well basically the tune was produced by Munchi, and the fact is - you most probably haven't heard of him. He makes a kind of music called Moombahton (which you probably haven't heard of either.) Anyway, Moombahton (and Munchi for that matter) are very popular amongst the "cool kids" in the U.S. So popular in fact that people like Diplo and Skrillex are jumping on board.. Munchi's next EP comes out on MAD DECENT soon, and he is there right now touring to promotes its release...


Munchi is originally from the Netherlands, where I lived for six months or so, a couple of years back - we hooked up when I went there through a mutual friend (party animal Shaun Bass). Munchi ended up sending me a couple of beats and I picked this one to vocal... I sent it back to him in December of 2010... he was working on it etc, until he went to U.S to work with Diplo - ( he emailed me at like 4am one night, being like - DUDE IM WORKING ON OUR TUNE IN THE MAD DECENT STUDIOS!)hahaha.. However, shortly after our email session, Munchi had a pretty tough time involving personal health etc, and suddenly had to stop his shenanigans in U.S to go and be looked after by his Mum (would have definitely been my first and only request too!) So he then spent the next few months recovering etc... Let me take this time to say (and no disrespect meant cos I know he will agree) but Munchi doesn't have the best record when it comes to correspondence and time keeping etc.. so when this happend it was a HUGE set back - cut a long story short - he didnt get the finished version to me until June/July of 2011... My good mate Otto Burnham heard the tune and really liked it - he works in Soho in post production so was looking for a way to add to his portfolio.. We came up with this idea and then one thing lead to another and we shot this vid! The thing I wanna talk more about is the way I got the views.. I hit up google blog search, and searched for any one that had talked about me, Munchi or Moombahton in the past six months... Then I got all the contact details I could (no where near as many as there should of been! - Bloggers need to make it easy to be contacted!) The I threw together a little press release with an eye catching subject line and let it loose! Then for the next day or so, there was no response - I was like..... wow, ok, its not as good as I think it is!! Then I woke up on the second day and POW loads of views, and the "Munchi" search column I had up in Tweetdeck was full of blog posts and compliments etc..

After allllll this, I tweeted Sian Anderson from Rinse the video, then emailed her the tune..She played it on her new show last 7-9pm! Thats two weeks in a row fam, REGULAR AIRPLAYYYY!

I gotta sign up to PRS soon, the video got accepted to some Carribean music tv channel (don't ask, I just submitted it to everywhereeee!)

Oh yeh...In case you aint seen it... Here it is!

HOW I GOT PLAYED ON RINSE

I saw this competition last week, and the prize was 3 days recording in the Urban Development studio's with Yasmin (peng) All you had to do was share a track privately with them on soundcloud, and then they would pick the five best entries. The top five would be posted on their FB wall and the one with the most likes would win. I shared "Back in Action" and "Nein man" I could see when they listened to them cos Nein man is farrrr down my soundcloud playlist and no one ever gets to it (sadly) Anyway I noticed they listened to it on Friday, and thought - good, they heard it… But then Monday rolled around and I saw it had been listened to again! I thought ok, sick they must be thinking about it. Then they released the finalists and I didn't get picked! I thought hmmmmm, but they must have liked the tune so I was like fuck it, and when I saw them both (Sian Anderson and Yasmin) tweeting about the comp, I replied saying something like "its a travesty you didn't put me in the final - Nein man is a banger!" To my surprise, Sian replied saying " I can't deny it, I LOVED Nein man…"  I was like ok cool… That was on Monday night and I knew Sian's show was the next day 1pm to 3pm… While I was going sleep that night I had a brain wave.. Let me just make her an exclusive of the tune with her name in it, and then see if I can get her email to send it… So Tuesday I got up at ten, recorded the special on a whim and tweeted her asking for her email… she replied at like 12:50 with her address saying "send it quick" so I did then I loaded up audio hijack and listened to her whole show! Heres what happened like half way through…

Nein Man Live on Rinse FM - Sian Anderson Show by LAKEY MUSIC

This is a sick example of how social media and the internet can help us alll! If I can do it so can you - if you got bangers like me of course…

Oh and by the way, I know some of the tunes I've posted from my sound cloud below are no longer available, this is because I'e taken a few down which will be on my new MIXTAPE!  I'm gonna put it for free download when the video for the tune I did with mad decent new boy - Munchi drops on Friday… (yes its had 11000 plays on soundcloud)

SAFE.

SINKING SHIPS IN PARIS.

I hate Kanye init, so the first time I ever heard this beat was on New years when this girl was at my house and trying to get over finding out that her man had cheated on her with a transvestite..(She read a text on his phone that was to "Arrianna TV" and said something like… "Thanks for last night gorgeous, next time we should switch role's, my c*** is more dominant in my straight life…." So basically, her man got f'd in the a by a ladyboy. She went skizo, locked her self in the bathroom with his phone and forwarded everyone in his phone book the message!!!) ANYWAY, then I heard Maximum play it when Wiley was on Rinse the other day, and I couldn't remember for agesssss where I had heard it - then I thought a grime producer had made it (sounds well like a grime tune) Then I stumbled across this girl rapper on Facebook. and what do you know?? I found it.. took me like 4 hours from finding the tune to finishing the freestyle.. the beat is wayyyy too much fam.




N****S IN PARIS FREESTYLE by LAKEY MUSIC .


I've been on a cruise before, so hearing about this ship sinking was quite interesting… Then all this scandal started coming out about the captain and I was well interested! Turns out he was trying to get close to a small island so he could WAVE TO HIS MATES???!?!?!?! are you nuts!! What an idiot, no surprises then, that when the ship ran aground and started to capcise, that he was one of the first off the boat… He's now saying that he "fell into a life boat by accident" this guy is making me laugh man. SNAKEY MOVES. More info here…

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/italy/120118/cruise-ship-costa-concordia-captain-francesco-schettino-lifeboat

B*****' S LOVE BEANIE. WOW!

All I'm gonna say about this is turn your bass up and your lights off. I had a lot of fun making this video - as you can probably imagine... Beanie was a little un cooperative but nothing that couldn't be solved with a bit of tuna.. This is my attempt at a gimmick. And hold tight all the girls involved.. and Beanie of course.

MONEY MAN MANSIONS STUDIO.

Basically, I linked up with my good mate Jimbo British yesterday.. I have to say - we started working on a BIG tune. I've basically made this tune called "That Guy" - I recorded the first verse and the chorus, then sent it out to a few rappers I know that are in the same boat as me..I'm gonna try and make some epic like 6 minute tune with BAREEE guys doing verses.. Jimbo was at MMM (money man mansions) so I played him it and the beat was toooo much for him, he had to go innnnn init?! haha. Any way here's a little tiny vid of what he was saying: I think it will be a while before you hear this track, its gonna take me ages to get all the parts in from these LONG MCS! Here's all the dudes I'm hoping to get on it tho.. PIPEDOG: Latest tracks by pipedoguk OI you see why I rate Pipedog... He's in exactly the same boat as me - and he's pretty much the only person I see making the same amount of tunes as me - and I met him longg time ago at Axe FM - he's on a level. We did this tune together stillll: Dirty face - Lakey and Pipedog by pipedoguk The other guy I'm waiting for a verse from is Static.. This guy is a little don, I met him when doing some MC related youth work, we did one tune together and it was a banger so we kept in touch and now I'm back on this tingggg I'm all about doing tunes with him, he's only like 16 or something and already sounding a lot better than these Micky Mouse guysss . Latest tracks by static4narm Any way that's it for today - just a cheeky progress report... I'm gonna start writing for this now - http://www.cheapthrillsrecords.co.uk/herve/news/herve-launches-singer-search-competition/ so should have some new music for ya by tomorrow afternoon.

NEW VIDEO FREESTYLE!!

Oi man this took me ages to edit - probably because I've never used iMovie before.. but yeh, me and my accomplice (Delibar- @apassengerspeaks) went on a bit of a recording rampage on Saturday - we even got footage of me doing bars walking around the Tate but it looked shit so I couldn't really use it! Also - we saw Jo Brand on Southbank when we were doing our thing - I wanted to video me talking to her but Delibar said I weren't allowed…. ANYWAY - CHECK OUT MY NEW VIDEO - SIDE PARTING.

SIDE PARTING

I started recording this yesterday but had a little tasty round in the evening so didn't get to finish it… I'm writing this as I wait for my house mate to get up so I can get in the lab and finish itt.. Obviously you'll be reading it after I recorded.. but yeh… This is another short but sweet offering… playing around with flows on a simple skippy beat I made.. I've realised that content is key, I don't mean in lyrics (even though thats obviously very important too..) I mean internet content or media. The more stuff people have to remind them of you then the more chance you have at them remembering your name - and thats basically the goal right???

Side Parting by LAKEY MUSIC


So yesterday was a big news day… Kodak went bust, and Romeo went in the Celebrity Big Brother house, and Lil B done a new tune!

Kodak going bust is actually nuts, I was only talking to my Nan a week a go about how digital things have ruined some traditional things…. The one we decided it effected the most was family photography - its made it well difficult for people of older generation to get their hands on family photos an stick them on their mantle piece etc.. now my nan has to go my aunties to look at photos on Facebook etc.. Kodak going out of business is literally the END of physical photography and it won't be long before other types of media go the same way (music is basically already there…)

Ok so.. on to a more controversial topic.. LIL B. The thing about Lil B is that he s actually shit at rapping, I don't care what anyone says.. BUT he makes it look soooo good that it don't really matter.. him and soldier boy have basically made it ok to be poorly talented but look fly… i aint sure if this is a good or bad thing.. (i've got both… HA) check this out, I like the naked bathroom with my gun bar the most.. lol.



Also - Romeo is in the big brother house… if you used to love So solid like me then you will understand the importance of this… And I'm talking about before they charted with 21 seconds.. I'm talking Delight FM and So Solid sundays fammm. When Asher D and Harvey were sparring partners and toooo sick.. Oi whose heard that Romeo, Megaman and Neil T set from Delight… I'm gonna try and find it and post here it SICCKKKKK.

Anyway… see how Romeos going on here:



I found out the tune I did with Moombahton hero (Munchi) has got 10,500 plays today… I was amazed - actually think about that. 10,500 people have heard my voice - thank you I guess. Does that mean 10,500 people would buy my L.P? Probably not… YET!

It got played on Radio yesterday still….. The shows actually quite sick, hold tightttt DJ Kalite, that really is family treeeee all the way back to the sugar cane home land stilllll.

Check 18:40 onwards for my bit:

TRIBOS PRESENTS 2012 BITCHESS! by TRIBOS PRESENTS

Y.O.L.O

I'm not gonna lie, I wrote the first half of this like a month ago when I first found the instro. Then I just forgot about it as I was working on other stuff and I always get a bit hesitant to do versions of tunes etc.. But then I saw Krept and Konans one and thought I might as well do it anyway stilllllll..

Here's their one:



Here's mine (Lyrics in the description)

Motto - ReLay by LAKEY MUSIC

By the way I've decided whenever I do like a version or refix of a tune, its gonna be called a ReLay.. cos it's like remix and Lakey mixed together... ya see me?

Starter (jacket)

When I came back from Holland last Christmas, I put all the tunes I made into a handy little zip folder and sent them out to the few contacts I had - I got a reply from a good guy called Joe at Cargo Records - we talked for an hour on the phone and the outcome was a pretty generous distribution deal! How ever around the same time I got side tracked massively by other parts of my life... so I never got round to making the new material. After a year making beacoup money as a freelance writer, something happened and it made me re-evaluate - I realized I need to start making music again. That's when I made this.. and probably why it's so short, I was just getting back in the mood...

ANIMAL by LAKEY MUSIC

I like that tune a lot - it makes me feel like I'll take you on. Actually let me take this opportunity to say that I love all my tunes, they are exactly what I want from music, which is why I make them. I love it when people try and take the piss for listening to my own music.. Well, if I can't listen to it over and over again then how I can I expect any one else to?

Any way, as I said, something happened and I was forced to re-evaluate certain things in my life.. and this tune pretty much explains what was going on...

Back in Action by LAKEY MUSIC

I sent both these tunes to Joe yesterday and he said he's interested in talking again... I have phone meeting with him on Friday - will keep you posted!

"FIRST THINGS FIRST..

man your fucking with the worst, I be sticking pins in your head like a fucking nurse."  (I'll give a free bottle of tonic wine to the first person that emails me the name of the person that wrote this bar.)

nah but really..

I've started a blog because I think that's what your supposed to do when your in my position. My position is that I am rapper/producer who is trying to find a way to get paid from this dumb music industry of ours...

I think this will be a good way to chart my progress, it might even help my progress - and one day I hope people will use it as and when they are starting out etcetc.

Let me conclude my first post with the tune I haven't been able to stoppp listening to for the past few weeks. Don't care if its old. Try and tell me Wayne is not a boss with the Autotune...