Episode Transcript
[00:00:09] Speaker A: Hi, guys. Welcome once again to this very special episode of the Rajkul podcast. Today I've got a rapper producer.
He's making waves of checked out his music. It's Aaron. Introduce yourself. Aaron Baines.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Yes, man. Thank you for having me on, man. Yeah, my name is Aaron. Aaron Akin. Yeah, man. So a rap thing song, right? And yeah, man, I've been. Been doing it for a while now, to be fair, kind of. It's been a quite a crazy journey, in all honesty. But I'm still, like, not there yet. I'm still, still learning every day, you know, I mean, and I'm still not at my peak, so, yeah, there's a lot more to come. I'm excited.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: I was listening to you, a lot of your stuff because it's you. The amazing thing about this podcast, I discover new artists like yourself.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: I listen to your stuff and you can, you can definitely rapidly.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: Thank you, man. I appreciate that.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Definitely. It's actually really, really cool what you're doing as well. So it was refreshing.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Thank you.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: So hopefully you get even bigger than you, man.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: That's the dream, man. 100%, man. Definitely from when I was doing it.
Like, I've been doing it since school, so rapping pretty much started from school.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: So, yeah, man, it's been like, I don't know, 15 years plus in the making, but I never took it serious, you know, I mean, it's always been. Sorry, it's like the ring doorbell going, you know that app on my phone? I need to mute it, man.
Yeah, man. I've just been doing it since then and it's always been a hobby.
And even to this day, it's still something I like doing. I enjoy doing. But the end goal is, like you said, man, is to just take over the world, man. You know what I mean?
[00:01:54] Speaker A: Absolutely. Just a global combination, bro.
So where about you from, Aaron?
[00:02:03] Speaker B: So, from Birmingham. Originally from London, but moved up to Birmingham when I was like 910 years old. So I've been here, as you can probably tell. The accent's probably completely gone, you know what I mean? The Birmingham accent's just taken over.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Yeah, it has. My wife from London, she visits.
[00:02:19] Speaker B: Oh, seriously? Yeah, sure. Knowles crew, man. The Birmingham accent will end up to take any accent with overpowers and underwent.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: I mean, your accent's stronger than mine.
Yeah, I'm born from. Born here. You're, you know, I work with a.
[00:02:33] Speaker B: Lot of, um, black country people, man. So that's what it is. You're a bit.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what it is, you know.
[00:02:40] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: So, yeah, it's really interesting. So, um, tell me a bit about your child or bro, where about.
You said you lived in London.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: Yeah, man. Born in Red Bridge Hospital, so I believe that's near the West Hamdan ground up tonight.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:02:59] Speaker B: And yeah, man, childhood was, you know, honestly is pretty difficult. Obviously, my parents split up when I was young.
I was in and out of hospital as well, which not a lot of people know. So this is like a new. This is of me opening up, you know, I mean, on the podcast as well. So I was born with club book, so that was club foot.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So that's basically when your bones are nothing straight in a particular part of your body. So in my instance, it was my feet. So obviously everyone's feet is quite flat. My feet were kind of curved a little bit like that.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Yeah, gotcha.
[00:03:33] Speaker B: So I had numerous operations as a kid. Probably the first one I ever had was when I was six months old, I think. So, you know, I mean, not even a years old. I think I had about six operations on each leg. Just constantly in and out, in and out of school as well because of it. Spent most of my childhood in a wheelchair on crutches and. Yeah, man, um, it's been a. Been a. It's been a journey, you know, I mean, but compared to where I was and how I am now, I mean, even the confidence I've got now, I never used to have this at all. It was. I was completely different person.
Completely, completely the opposite to where I am now.
But that's just one of them. You kind of learn as you go along. You grow up a bit. You. You surround yourself with know good people, family, friends, etc. And. Yeah, man, it's, you know, I mean.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: It'S part of life that's pretty amazing because, like, you're saying that, that you. Because a lot of the musicians, I know the best musicians, right? And they're not discovered. They're really reserved and they're really shy.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: I used to know this guy called Jason. Right? He was probably one of the best musicians I've ever worked with. He was like a grade eight pianist. Oh, my bass guitar. But if you see he couldn't make eye contact with you.
[00:04:48] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: Do you know what I mean?
He was that, like socially awkward. Like, he was a lovely guy. One of the best, nicest guys you'll meet, but only when you know him, he'll start to open up. But even I knew him for a while. Even then. Yeah, it was quite so difficult for him to break sort of a break the ice sort of thing. Yeah, it's really interesting to say that. So, yeah, how did you, how did you. Sorry, after you.
[00:05:12] Speaker B: So that's the first time, like, I've pretty much said anyone, so that's an exclusive, by the way. People like, I've never told anyone, been on various interviews, uh, radio station, but I've never really touched on that because it's one of them. It's, it's not something that I'll always open up on as well. Unless someone asks me specifically, you know, what's up. Sometimes I might walk with a little bit of a limb. People might be thinking, oh, is he walking like he's a guy? Because I know I'm annoyed.
I was born a club foot, you know, I mean, I've gone through numerous operations and stuff, so I might walk a little bit of a limp. But, um, yeah, man, it's one of them. It. I feel like I'm at an age now and a stage in my, my life and career where I can be open and I'm, I'm not going to shy away from that, you know, I mean.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: Absolutely. And so you should. Yeah. There's nothing to be ashamed of where you're from. Yeah. So how did you get into music?
[00:06:05] Speaker B: Music? Oh, man, music, you know, it's always been a part of my life, man. I've always loved just listening to music at first, obviously, you know, the old school m and m, 50 cent, g unit, the american rap west coast, east coast.
[00:06:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: And then from school, to be fair, we used to have like, music lessons and there used to be like a lot of rap battles and stuff in my school.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: Really?
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So, like, that was kind of like when grime, you know, was, was popping back in 0809, Jurassic Wiley's and all that kept us the roadie.
So we used to, there used to be a lot of rap battles in full of the older years, so it's just intriguing. And I used to always go around, like, everyone used to crowd around in the playground, you know, and all you have to go and see what's going on, you know. I mean, it's either one or two things. It's over a fight or a rap battle.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: Was this in the secondary school?
[00:07:01] Speaker B: Secondary school, yeah, yeah, secondary.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: Do you know what I was doing in secondary school?
[00:07:04] Speaker B: What was you doing?
[00:07:05] Speaker A: We was having knuckle fights, entertainment, to.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Be fair, that happened in school as I was. But like me, it was just rap battles and like, so that that enticed me, and I was very intrigued by it. I was like, what's going on here? So then you'd see, and then from there, you'd have certain people sending around, like, you know, like grime songs, people in a local, lads from around the area and stuff like that. And then just from there, man, I just really. I just. I don't know. I took to it and then I started to try write myself, you know, write my own lyrics and stuff.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: Did you take part in sort of at school in these battles, or did. Were you listening at first?
[00:07:47] Speaker B: No, but when, like. Because I didn't. It was a weird one. I didn't start doing music until, like, the lap, the later year, the later lock stages of my year, if that makes sense, the later stages of, like, year ten and eleven.
So I was listening to him, and obviously I was there just watching, analyzing, you know what I mean? But when it comes to me starting to rap, I did have a rap battle or two, but it was a really weird one because my school, you see, there's not a lot of asian people there. Not a lot of asian students, primarily white based white students, because it's the Catholic. I think it was a catholic school, St. Martials. It's like a church.
So for me to rap, people are just automatically assuming, oh, this brown boy can't rap. You know, I mean, just that. That kind of segregation. Oh, like, he can't rap. He's a brown boy. He's not going to rappy. He's on criticism.
They're thinking, what's going on here? He's having a laugh. And then I must have went into school one day, and this is like a week of me telling people that I'm a rapper or, you know, I mean, I like rap, and I'm starting to rap. I had a diss track sent for me. Someone sent a diss track out, and they were sending it around the classroom. So I'm like, oh, my God, you know what's going on here? I've just told people I'm rapping, and all of a sudden I'm getting the diss track sent around.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: Hi, guys. This is Raj Kaul. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast. If you want to support the rest of my music, if you could go and check me out on Spotify on Apple Music and add my songs to your playlist if you like them. Thank you.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: So I heard it, and then literally that same day I went to, I think it was Curry's or one of these kind of places I bought one of these really terrible mics. I mean, it was like a three pound one of these ones. You just, like, a usb one.
I think the apple used was audacity. I don't even know if people still use that anymore.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: Yeah, they do.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: That's mad. So I was recording on that, bearing in mind I don't even know how to edit anything cool. You know what I mean? That's just me just playing around. I'm like, I need to get something out for this guy, send it back around, because, you know, I'm not having my name tarnished. So I've done something. I did like a 1 minute track, wrote all my lyrics the same night as well. Recorded it the same night, converted it onto my phone. Obviously, these times I had, like, one of them Sony Ericsson phones. And then the next day, I was just sending it out to people on Bluetooth. And then people are like, no way. You absolutely murdered him on this track. And I was like, oh, thanks, man. Bearing in mind the production, terrible. So, like, mediocre. Like, you can't really hear what I'm saying. It's just very, you know, I mean, like, the first time I've ever edited a track, and I don't know how to do that, even though.
Yeah, man. And that from there, just. We had a little rap battle off. Off the back of that because he was not happy with the diss track that I sent back. I don't think he expected it to be fair.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: So can you feel the. The listeners in and myself?
[00:11:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: What a diss track is and. And what the process?
[00:11:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
Like, um, I guess it's just, you know, going for the jugular, you know, disrespecting someone's, you know, it could be their job a lot of the time, you know, especially back in the day with people's family members.
[00:11:25] Speaker A: So. So by diss track. So the guy. The guy wrote this track against you?
[00:11:32] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: And how did you become aware of that? Was it was on a USB or CD or what?
[00:11:39] Speaker B: No. So when I was in, because it was going around, like the classroom and stuff like that, and people were like, oh, Aaron, so and so has done this track about you. So then I've listened to it, and then the lyrics of, like, yeah. Like, oh, you something, something. I don't remember. He did say something about me being on crutches. It's an obvious kind of thing to pinch because I was on crutches. And it's an easy thing, you know, when it's a rap battle and diss track. People normally go for very personal things or something that's gonna get someone wound up, you know, I mean, so was.
[00:12:08] Speaker A: That, was that, was that like, um, uh, excuse my ignorance, I'm a bit older, so you're, you're, you're, you're actually teaching me something right now. So, um, was that a malicious thing or was it just like fun and games or was it an actual serious thing where he's bullying you?
[00:12:25] Speaker B: Well, again, that's a good question, to be fair, because looking back at it, you could kind of class that as bullying in a way. Um, but I think it's just one of them. He's just trying to. Because we would always have, like, you know, in school, you'll cut people and.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: You have, you have banter. Like, was it banter or was he just, was it actual malicious where he's speaking on you?
[00:12:46] Speaker B: It was banter because he weren't someone that we, you know, I disliked or he disliked me. We used to be like, kind of like friends in a way, without banter. He'll take the piss out of me. Can I, can I play?
[00:12:57] Speaker A: Yeah, just keep it as clean, as clean as possible.
[00:12:59] Speaker B: He'll take the mick out of me.
I'll take the mick out of him, you know, I mean, that's what you do. There's a lot of lads school, but obviously it resulted for him. As soon as he heard that I was rapping, he resulted to him doing a diss track.
I think it was just one of them. He's just trying to market superiority over me. Like I'm the rapper here. You're not a rapper. You can't kind of thing. And, yeah, man. And then from there, from there, then.
[00:13:25] Speaker A: It'S funny how singers, like, especially on the ground level, like, you know, the ground roots level, have that, like, I sang out a place once. Sorry, I'm going off a tangent. You just reminded and someone, I was singing at someone's party once, and so who was like a wannabe, like a singer, as I was thinking. Yeah, that's the mic from my hand started just.
Yeah, it's funny. That happens.
[00:13:50] Speaker B: It's like that fear factor that people have, that people don't like to admit to it, but you know a lot when you see someone doing something else and they're better than you or you hear everyone else, you might not think that, but everyone else is saying it around you, then you, then you automatically you're going to start thinking, oh, God, like, you know, maybe he's better than me. So then you have to kind of put your stamp your mark on it kind of thing, you know? I mean, you know, like how a dog marks their territory by being on a tree or something. Yeah.
I guess as humans, we're like that, aren't we? Like, we. We want to be more dominant. Overdose. Yeah. Yeah, that's it, man. Especially with Bundy. You know what I mean? You know how we are.
[00:14:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: Yeah, man. And then from there, so I done my dish track and then sent it around to people, and people are liking my dish track more than his. That's where he was getting a bit annoyed, you know, I mean, and then he was like, you know what? We're gonna settle this. We're gonna go to the playground. We're gonna have a rap battle. Dinner time. Be at this place in the black, in the playground. So obviously, before then, he's telling me this in the morning. So then from the morning, we have, like, two or three lessons up until lunch. So in my head, I'm thinking, obviously, I'm a bit, like, anxious. I'm like, I've never really done a rap, but I've seen it once or twice in the playground, but I've never really participated in one. I don't know what to expect. Am I gonna, like, flop? Am I gonna. Is my words gonna come out?
So, yeah, man. And then it happened on that. On that same day, lunchtime, we went into the playground, and then he was there. Had a few of his mates around him. I had a few of my mates around me, and then someone just put a beat, like an instrumental on their phone playing it.
So he went. He was meant to go first. We don't like a coin flip. Heads or tails. If he gets heads or whatever, he goes first.
So he got heads and he went first. But he didn't say anything. He was just standing there, proper, like, eminem moment. Seriously. He just didn't. Didn't say anything. Was choking. He froze, all kind of. And he was just not saying anything. And I was like, this is really weird.
And I was like, is he nervous? Is he? And everyone's like, come on, man. His name was Chris. Um, but everyone's like, come on, Chris, come on, Chris, like, and he wasn't saying anything. And then, obviously it was my turn. I done my thing, and everyone was like, oh, whoa. Then it was his turn again. So we were doing verse for verse that he was doing a verse, then I'll do a verse, then he would do a verse, then I would do a verse. Kind of like going back and forth, but he just wouldn't say anything. Nothing would come out his mouth. So I don't know if it just trolls him or maybe, like, people watching him. Because sometimes it's not performing in front of people, it's kind of nerve wracking, you know? I mean, it's different doing in your bedroom or on the mic in the studio, but when you're doing it in front of people, it's a totally whole different ballgame.
So that's what happened, man. And then from there, everyone's like, by default, I won because he didn't say anything, you know, I mean, so if you can't say anything, you forfeited. Really.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: So how did you, like, prep for that? Because I'm really interested, like. Yep. Because did you go home, prep for this rap battle or was it.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: Well, as soon as I went home that day, soon as I found out he sent a diss track for me, I went home that day, like I said, I bought the mic, this and that.
How not. It was kind of like.
It was weird. I kind of knew. But the thing is, I didn't do the whole, the whole of my lyrics because it talked twice. I only had, like, time to get out, like two verse, one and a half verses and I was done. But I kind of remembered it well. I don't know if it was just the adrenaline of everything going on and I was so hyped for it and amped and obviously I listened to my song a few times as well, like on the evening, kind of like, recall the lyrics and stuff like that. Um, and, yeah, kind of like, I didn't do the whole song because people wouldn't let me. By the time I got to, like, the fourth and fifth prolific, everyone was like, oh, oh. And then it just kind of naturally just.
Everyone just kind of like, stop.
[00:17:50] Speaker A: So.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: Yeah, man. Um, I guess it was just the adrenaline, man. I loved it even to this day. Like, I'd love to rap battle, man, seriously, I've not done one in a while. Um, that's probably one of the. Yeah, that's the. One of the kind of like, key propellers, man. That kind of just pushed me to wanting to do it all. And then from there to kept writing lyrics. Writing lyrics. I think it was more. So the reaction I got from people, people were loving it and that shocked me because I didn't expect that that was a.
[00:18:18] Speaker A: Really boosted your confidence.
[00:18:19] Speaker B: Yeah, massively. Just in general, you know, I mean, as well, not just musically, just as a person. Yeah, I was very. I've always been like quite bubbly and talking to people and, you know, have, have fun and banter and stuff. But as a person, that made me a bit more confident as well, man. Especially. What, because I was on crutches as well at the time, just made me feel a bit more superior and like, people knew who I was kind of thing like, oh, he can rap, he can. So that kind of stuck with me, man. And then from there it's just, yeah, man, we're here today.
[00:18:49] Speaker A: So how did you progress from there, from rap? How did you actually make a. Did you, did you, after that, did you carry on practicing or did you go straight into a track? How did you release your first song?
[00:19:01] Speaker B: Yeah, a lot of practice. So I used to go to my nanny's house with my cousin and he used to kind of rap as well back in the day. Like a little bit here and there. So me and him would sit there together with white lyrics together.
I'd get a lot of people sending me beats and obviously a lot of like instrumentals and stuff are going around in school.
And then times we didn't have YouTube and I think it was all like MySpace and stuff. Bebo, MySpace, I remember that. Yeah, yeah, Soundcloud as well. Soundcloud is really big then, but from there a limewire as well.
Limewire.
Search the beat and stuff, man. Yeah, and get. Download the beat, whack it onto my phone on the USB. And I loved it. I just, the whole thing of just writing to like instrumentals, sitting there, got like rapping it, practicing it, and then just from there, naturally I kind of connected with a few more artists, a producer, a mix and sound engineer from like the area that I'm living in. I used to go to the studio a bit more once a week, maybe once every two, three days, just start going through the more from there, doing more songs, and then from there it was just something I really love doing, you know. I mean, I've got a passion for it, but like I said, it was never something that I took serious. It was just for the love of it.
I enjoyed it so much, you know. I mean, like, I used to, you know, like kids love playing football, used to love playing football, playing games and stuff, you know, like PlayStation, Xbox, low key. But also the music thing was one of the key elements, man. It really, it kind of made me feel like I had a bit more of a purpose, you know, I mean.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: Hmm.
[00:20:42] Speaker B: And I just loved it. Yeah.
[00:20:43] Speaker A: So, so what was your first experience? Because like, it must have been really different for you.
Doing rap battle in the. In a playground, right, or school ground, whatever you want to call it.
Playgrounds for infant school.
Anyway, so how did, what was a, what was a difference like that going from there into a studio?
[00:21:08] Speaker B: Lot more different because going into a studio, you don't realize, like, how much, like, the finer details, like, you could be on the rapping in general, you might be shouting, but when you're in the studio, you can't just shout on the mic because it'll sound totally different when it comes out. Little things like that, you know, back in a track, I've never done that before. So you have to layer your ad libs and everything, the whole, the whole works. Structuring a song. I didn't know back then how to structure a song. For me, it was just lyrics, lyrics, lyrics, lyrics. But then as you start going a bit more often, then you realize, you know, you can do a verse, do a chorus, a pre hook, a hook outro intro. You start learning all these little things. And then from there, I guess you just develop your own skills as well, because the more you go, people say practice is perfect with anything. So the more you go, the more confident you get, the more you start developing, you know, your, your own style, your own kind of way of making a song. And from there, I think I just picked up little things and they still stuck to, stuck with me, you know, to this day when I go to the studio. And that's because of, I think it was just because of the, the enjoyment I got from doing it. You kind of naturally pick up skills from it, which, you know, practice makes perfect, man. And, like, a long time. I've been doing it 15 plus years, maybe longer. And that's a long time. And it's not like I've been doing it one or two years. No, it's a long time coming. It's been something that's been instilled with me from back in school.
[00:22:44] Speaker A: Did you, did you have to refine technical skills? Like, sort of. I'm coming from a singer background now, so.
[00:22:51] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:22:53] Speaker A: When you're singing, sometimes you have to go off beat. On beat. Yeah, things. Did you incorporate those or was it just always something you've learned or yet to learn?
[00:23:03] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, I'll be honest, I'm not even trying to sound big headed with me when, when it comes to, like, making a song. I've always been on beat. I've never been offbeat. And I don't know if it's just, like, a natural thing where I hear, like, an instrumental. I know, I know. Like, I can match the pace of that instrumental kind of thing and make sure it flows right for me, even with music.
I've always liked flow. Like, I always feel like a song needs to flow. Like, when I hear a rapper or even like, a singer and it doesn't flow, I feel like it just doesn't. You can't really connect with it, but when it flows, you kind of just, you know, I mean, you can feel it a bit more. So I feel like I've always had that natural, natural kind of thing in regards to, like, flowing on a song. I've never really been trying to recall all my previous songs, and I've. I've never had that struggle of being offbeat on a song.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: I don't mean tens of struggle, because as a singer.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: Yeah, intentionally. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:24:01] Speaker A: So, you know, when you go, like, sort of like one and one and.
[00:24:05] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:24:06] Speaker A: Rather than one, you go one and two, you know, so you come off.
[00:24:10] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:24:11] Speaker A: Come off the offbeat and stuff like that. Is that something rappers do?
[00:24:15] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. 100%.
It depends on, obviously, what kind of song you're making.
Slower taps, slower tempest like. I like to do a bit of faster tempo and slower tempo. Do rap grimes. A lot more faster than rap grimes just, you know, but raps just. You can kind of take your time and just. It comes out to be a bit more clearly. But, yeah, man, it definitely. It definitely helps sometimes just having it in the background as well. That, and then, you know, kind of the gap between the second, you know, the first and the second bond.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: Did you get.
What about your production side? How did you find that production side?
[00:24:54] Speaker B: Even to this day, I don't really know how to. I don't produce my own stuff, so I don't care. Yeah, yeah. I write my own lyrics. I write my own songs.
But production, I've got, like, people around me that I know that produce stuff. So I've got friends that are producers.
[00:25:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:10] Speaker B: For instance, this weekend, coming up tomorrow, I'm off work. I'm going out to Bristol for the weekend because I'm meeting one of my producers who lives down Bristol way, and we're going to spend the weekend basically, like, making music. So we've got, like, a productive weekend. But, yeah, production, I kind of know when I sit there, what's what. But if you asked me to sit there and edit a master a track, don't ask me to do it.
[00:25:36] Speaker A: No, but you. What you're doing, you know, in your head I want this type of beat of, oh, yeah, I want this here. So you. You're. You're. You're, um, uh, collaborating with the. With the producer and sort of dictating it, aren't you? That.
[00:25:50] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kind of like structuring the song myself and kind of. Yeah, yeah. In that sense, Stephanie, like, I know what I want to. How I want the song to sound like, and I'll tell the producer or my engineer, this needs to be there. That needs to be there. And even sometimes I like, I like to, if I'm in a studio and I always tell the engineer, if there's anything that sounds a bit off, let me know as well, because you, you get. It's a different kind of. It's different ears, you know? I mean, when you. When you're listening to the rapper, it's different for me to. I won't pick up on certain things that the engineer will. He might say to me, oh, you've done that a bit loud and you do that again. Or the little things always say to people, to be honest to me, because you have to have constructive criticism as well, because that's the only way you're going to learn and develop. You know what I mean? Like, if I was. If I had people around me that always going to tell me, oh, that's really good. That's really good.
[00:26:43] Speaker A: Hi, guys. This is Raj Kul. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast. If you want to support the rest of my music, if you could go and check me out on Spotify on Apple Music and add my songs to your playlists, if you like them. Thank you.
[00:27:12] Speaker B: Mustafa. Sound the same?
Absolutely.
[00:27:15] Speaker A: Yeah. What's, what you set up right now at home? I can see. I can see you've got a bit of sound.
[00:27:21] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So this is kind of like a little office studios space where if I write a song and I want to just write about, I'll come in, you know, come in here, um, and just write my own stuff. So I've got, like, soundproof walls, um, speaker, computer. That's it, really. I haven't got, like, mixing equipment or anything like that. So when I go to record, I'll go to an actual studio, but this is just my little space where I can just go and kind of, you know, listen to, like, if someone sends me instrumentals, someone says, can you go for this? Can you go for that? If I got any, like, admin to do music wise, sending out songs to radios and stuff like that, this is all come to kind of thing so you need to kind of keep it away from the house as well, because I feel like in lockdown, I was doing it all in the house. And it's good, but at the same time, you're. You need your own little space. It's like a little creative space. I mean, if you're doing it in the house, it's just the same four walls. You need to be in a different place, I think, sometimes as well, just to kind of open up a bit more.
[00:28:20] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah. So tell me about your first. Your. Your actual first song you've recorded. And pretty please, this is a long time ago.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: Are we talking from when, like, I was in school or, like, from school?
[00:28:38] Speaker A: You tell me from school, and we'll take it from there.
[00:28:41] Speaker B: From school, I'd probably say.
I can't recall what the exact song was, but I remember it was a grime song. Definitely a grime song.
And it was just one of them where I didn't actually have a meaning to the song. It was just lyrics I was writing anything that I could do to make punch lines, you know, like, making everything punchlines and flows. And that's all. That's all I cared about back in the day when I was, you know, in high school and college, just trying to make lyrics that people are like, oh, my God. Yeah, that's, you know. Wow, that's mad Dave. How did he think of that? That kind of thing? Yeah, I kind of wanted that reaction from people. So, um, yeah, I've done, like, a grime song. I think it's two minutes and a half. Just pure lyrics. Pure. Just spraying out. Kind of just free styling on it.
[00:29:27] Speaker A: What, did you record that? What did you record that?
[00:29:30] Speaker B: Um, I recorded that. A guy called Res man. So he was the DJ.
His name is Lee. Big up him, because, you know, he taught me a lot of things as well, to be fair. He was one of the first studios I went to back in the day. He used to charge me, like, three pound 50 a song.
[00:29:47] Speaker A: Really? Wow.
[00:29:48] Speaker B: Back in the day, like, three pound 50 to record a song, first track. So I used to go there sometimes. I'm like a tenor. Two or three at once, get my money's worth.
[00:29:58] Speaker A: That's even. Even at that time, that's really, really cheap.
[00:30:02] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I mean. And look at nowadays, it's like 30 pound an hour. 40 pound an hour.
[00:30:06] Speaker A: Because I remember recording that time, it was 2020 pound an hour minimum.
[00:30:11] Speaker B: No way. That's mad.
[00:30:13] Speaker A: Three pound 50. Gosh.
[00:30:14] Speaker B: Three pound 50.
[00:30:15] Speaker A: He must have really liked you?
[00:30:17] Speaker B: Yeah, you know what we've got on anyway. But like he had his own little bedroom set up.
It wasn't like the most extravagant studio but he knew what he was doing. He knew how to edit stuff properly. And also he was a DJ. So like he used to go to a place in Birmingham which old school grime heads would know maybe musicians as well called oxygen rooms. So based in a jewelry quarter, kind of like hockey jewelry quarter. So we used to, he used to do sets there. So he used to dj on a deck, get four or five MC's which he used to know as well. Part of his kind of like, I don't know, like MC crew or music crew, whatever you want to call it. They used to go there once a week on a weekend. He used to dj for like 2 hours, book the room out, open a mic, attach him to the deck. He's got like a, he's got back in the day as well. He's got vinyls, you know, I mean there's no like usb or nothing. Everything's vinyls. He's got like loads of instrumentals and all these vinyls. DJ and them in massive like two hour long sets. Everyone's just going for it on the mic and it was so fun, you know, I mean if you get a reload, you get a reload.
You're just in there having such a good time, man. And there's like five of you passing the mic, you know what I mean? Passing the mic around freestyle.
[00:31:28] Speaker A: You did that just off the cuff or.
[00:31:31] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, sometimes it was off the cuff and sometimes it would just be obviously lyrics that we obviously already had to. Certain songs and stuff, just grime lyrics because once you match the bp you can do it over any grime instrumental. So yeah, he used to do them as well. So from going to his house and recording, he used to invite me to these steps as well and I used to meet, you know, their mc's and stuff. And I used to love that because the energy from doing that, I mean the music so loud in the DJ room, he's djing it and everyone's just attempting to get that reload, you know, I mean trying to get that reload lyric.
[00:32:02] Speaker A: What does reload mean? Sorry.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: So reloads like if you're on the set, the DJ is on the set and so you're spitting your lyrics or your bars and if something sounding good or it's, you know, meaning it's the type that hyped the DJ would just pull it back basically and you go again, you get a reload. Everyone that, like, the adrenaline pumped, like, yo, that's sick. Pull it back, put it back, put it back. And you go again, kind of thing. So that was kind of like a little competition as well when using there, because it's like, who can get the most reloads today? And you'll have a little challenge between yourself.
[00:32:34] Speaker A: You're a brave guy. Brave guy, to be fair.
[00:32:37] Speaker B: I loved it, man. I swear. The adrenaline was different. It felt like.
I don't know how to explain it. You know, like how people might say that they go, like, bungee jumping and you get that adrenaline rush. For me, that's how music was, and it still is, you know what I mean? When you're in the set, when you're in the studio on stage, that feeling, it's. It's unmatched. I don't feel like no one. You can't really understand, obviously, until you do it yourself and you're on stage or whatnot. But it's a crazy feeling, man. And it feels so good. You feel like you're on top of the world.
[00:33:07] Speaker A: Do you still do that or.
[00:33:10] Speaker B: I don't think many go around as much as they used to. It's kind of like a thing in the past. But I think they started to do a few in Birmingham again. So I'm trying to, you know, speak into a few dj's and radio presenters and stuff, and I need to just go down and just show people what I'm about. I need to get back on there.
[00:33:29] Speaker A: We would. We were actually trying to think of a place, me and. Me and one of my band members, we were thinking, imagine we had a place like a hub in Birmingham where any musician can come.
[00:33:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:43] Speaker A: What you do, like, you might rap, you might sing, you might. You might play bass, but come and just jam.
[00:33:49] Speaker B: That's it, man. I think we need a bit more that in Birmingham, do you know what I mean?
[00:33:53] Speaker A: If we had that kind of space, like a safe space. Yeah. And there's no pressure. Everyone's there just to have a laugh.
[00:33:59] Speaker B: That's it. And the same time you're networking as well, because you might meet people that you, you know, I mean, you. You never would have met. And then by then you might, you know, I mean, who knows? You could be making songs together. They could be doing a tour. They might want you on their tour or something, you know, mean anything could happen.
[00:34:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:15] Speaker B: I just think a bit more, especially in Birmingham. I feel like more networking is needed in Birmingham. I feel like that's probably why I. That's kind of what's hindered Birmingham. What's Pop Birmingham, but definitely hindered Birmingham. Like, when you look at London, everyone works with each other, everyone's doing stuff with each other. The music theme there, massive. I mean, you know what I mean? But in Birmingham, it's like you got. You get certain artists, you get certain individuals, but everyone just keeps to themselves and their small circle. But if everyone come together, I mean, take over as possible, you know what I mean? It's there. Mandev, the talent there, 100%.
[00:34:50] Speaker A: And that's how it was back in the day as well. All the famous rappers, you know, they were in these circles, but they were. Everyone would meet up in the studio and do their bit.
[00:34:59] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
You know, so it's a lot more.
I don't know, it's a bit more different. Like, obviously, people are. Some people are like, managed by labels. Some people are working with certain individuals, some people just don't want to mingling with other people or, you know, I mean, and everyone's on different kind of different paths. Certain people just want money from it. So, you know, I mean, it depends on if you get, I don't know, in touch with an artist that's on the same wavelength as you, 100%. It makes all the difference, because certain artists only want money, you know, I mean, whereas I do music for the love of music, for me, it's not about money, obviously. Don't get me wrong in the long run. Yeah, that would be nice. That's probably everyone's goal. But I love and I enjoy doing music for the sake of me loving music, you know, I mean, then that's that.
[00:35:51] Speaker A: And for me, sort of chain of investment, sort of, if you. If you're paying someone a certain amount of money.
[00:35:56] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:35:56] Speaker A: But then, you know, it's not going to really go anywhere. Do you know what I mean? So why don't you sort of work together then? If it goes somewhere, you're in it together.
[00:36:05] Speaker B: Exactly. There you go.
[00:36:06] Speaker A: I mean, rather than paying you in this thingy. So it's. Yeah, I totally get what you're. What you're in a bit. So we're coming to the end of the podcast. Um. Uh, it's flown past. It's almost 40 minutes now.
[00:36:18] Speaker B: Oh, it's a bit already. No way.
[00:36:20] Speaker A: It's almost five to six.
[00:36:22] Speaker B: Wow, that's gone quick.
[00:36:23] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Good conversation. So, um, the. What's the future for you?
[00:36:32] Speaker B: Well planned. I mean, the future is me just taking over, man. I've got more music videos to do.
I've got the Maddie thing is, I had an album which I recorded at the beginning of the year and was meant to drop it the end of this year, but I've been working with, like, a label recently doing a few things, so it's kind of put that on hold. But the songs, the album's done, so the album will be dropping at some point, but I don't know if it's. I'm not sure if I'm going to put it out this year. I might put it out early next year, but there's an album there. There's another music video coming out. I think in about a month's time.
There's a few more collaborations coming out.
Like I said, I'm in the studio again this weekend, so there's a lot going on. I just feel like I'm not nowhere near where I want to be, and I just needed to keep working, man. I'm just pushing myself.
[00:37:22] Speaker A: Absolutely. It's a journey, isn't it?
[00:37:24] Speaker B: So, yeah, I'm always a bit. I never feel too happy with where I am, but I feel like that's just kind of like I set myself a bar that high, and if I don't even get anywhere near it, I just get really frustrated. But there's a lot to come. There's a lot to come. I'm nowhere near my best chair. Like, there's. There's. There's plenty more music to come and I'm excited for people to hear what's next.
[00:37:46] Speaker A: To be fair, how can you improve? But you know what? You know when you're your best, so.
Yeah. Yeah, good question.
[00:37:55] Speaker B: I'd say improve with maybe doing a bit more. A bit more consistency in regards to putting more songs out there on a regular basis.
[00:38:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:04] Speaker B: So I feel like I don't put out songs once every month. It's once every two months or once every when it happens kind of thing. I'd love to put out one song a month, like maybe every four weeks, because I've got the songs there to do it. So I just need to sit down and just plan and so, hopefully this weekend, I'm meeting one of my producers. We're going to go through all the stuff we've got together. Hopefully schedule, release a few of them as well, because some of the songs are done. But, yeah, I think that's been a bit more consistent in regards to putting music out there and just keep networking, man. That's what I want to do. Meet more artists, collaborate with maybe a few, you know, a female singer. That's not something I've done before, so. Something like that? Yeah.
[00:38:41] Speaker A: Have you ever, have you ever thought of rapping in Pajabi?
[00:38:45] Speaker B: See, I can and I can't. I'm not the most fluent, so if I feel like if I do it, I don't want people just ripping me.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: It's big now, isn't it, though? Punjabi rapid?
[00:38:55] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I can, you know, I can say like a few words here and there, but I can't completely do a whole verse in Punjabi. No way. Like, yeah, that'll take some practice, but definitely on the cards. I need to do a few more punjabi songs. I haven't done one in a while, so. Yeah, definitely on the cards, so.
[00:39:15] Speaker A: Okay, so the purpose of this podcast is the pursuit of musical excellence. What advice would you give myself or. And the audience and how to pursue musical excellence?
[00:39:26] Speaker B: I would say never give up because it's easy to give up, especially when things aren't looking up. Easy to get frustrated, but just, you know, if you love and you enjoy making music, just keep doing it. Also surround yourself with good people, man, because that makes a world of difference. I mean, I used to surround myself with all kinds of people, but then you kind of take yourself away and then you have to think, you know, what's it good for yourself? What's it good for your career? If you keep yourself as like, positive people, friends, family, it makes the world a difference, man. And also be consistent. Just keep putting. Does that matter if you feel like you're annoying people? Just keep sharing, you know, sharing your music, man. Just keep doing it. Because all it takes is that one person to listen to it, sharing it, and that's all it takes, man. And if you don't put yourself out there, then you'll never know and you will regret it, you know? I mean, so just keep. Keep pushing yourself.
[00:40:21] Speaker A: Brilliant. So, yeah. What do you think of slot?
[00:40:29] Speaker B: I'm happy with him.
[00:40:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:31] Speaker B: I feel like he's made the team a bit more.
The word stable, man.
[00:40:36] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a bit more like it's not all gone ho. It's a bit more controlled, isn't it?
[00:40:40] Speaker B: No.
Yeah.
[00:40:42] Speaker A: We can turn the rest of this into Liverpool podcast.
[00:40:45] Speaker B: All right. Yeah, that's it, man. Everyone. Sorry, man, if you have to listen to this, but slot is good. I think the thing is as well, he's still got a lot more to show.
[00:40:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:55] Speaker B: And it's going to come in time, you know what I mean? But I mean, right now we're like, eight games at a nine. We've won top of the table for now. Can't complain too much, man.
[00:41:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:06] Speaker B: We're not really letting in many goals either. Clean sheets are imperative, and that's. He's showing the way, man. So I like it. I'm happy with him. What about yourself? Do you think he's good?
[00:41:15] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. He's done a great job, apart from the Nottingham forest result, but he's new into the job, so he doesn't know the players as well, maybe, you know, as well. But despite that, we're top of the table at the moment, so. A long way to go yet, but.
[00:41:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I expect a few bumps along the road. We're not going to win every game, but.
[00:41:36] Speaker A: But defensively, we're a lot more sound, don't we? Defensively, we're a lot, lot more sound.
[00:41:40] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. And I think he wants that. He wants us to be a bit more controlled. If we go two nil up, just keep the ball, don't go crazy on the clock. My heart was going every week, man. I don't know. I don't know.
We'd go, like, two nil up and then all of a sudden we're like, two, two, and I'm like, what the hell should happen? Yeah. Yeah, man. Like, that was like gung ho back for, like, a basketball match. This just Scorpio, guys.
[00:42:06] Speaker A: All right, Aaron, where can people follow you on social media?
[00:42:11] Speaker B: So my main source of social media is Instagram. So that's Aaron Akbainz, and that's two a's. R o n ak Baines.
I'm also on, obviously, Spotify, Apple Music, all them streaming platforms. If you type in Aaron Akin, you get all my music. And, yeah, man, that's the main, kind of, like, source of my, my social media say all my updates will be on Instagram. So, yeah, man, there's a lot more to come. Videos, songs, collabs, potential album coming, so. Yeah, man, just. Just keep supporting and thank you, guys, really.
[00:42:45] Speaker A: I look forward to it. So, guys, that was Aaron. Make sure you check him out, make sure you follow him. And if you can, leave a review on the podcast, if it's on YouTube, drop a comment. If you see a clip on Instagram, drop a comment. And make sure you share Aaron's stuff as well. So thank you so much and see you in two weeks time. Thank you.
