First Listen: Nico Blxck 'Fantasy' Ft. Kid Alpha

Recently New Wave caught up with the up-and-coming Manchester-based artist Nico Blxck to talk about his new single 'Fantasy' featuring Kid Alpha, as well as his love for 90s and early 2000s music and why individuality and longevity go hand in hand with each other. 'Fantasy' is the artist's first official release under the name Nico Blxck. He also speaks on the shout-out from Mimi The Music Blogger on Twitter.

Artist Perception

NW: How would you define your music?

NB: "Unique. I feel like we all are so lucky. We all go through similar stuff, like everyone that’s doing music. A lot of us all rap similar stuff. But my music is something that no matter what you're doing, you can play it or no matter where you are. I don't think you can really do that with a lot of songs out there."

When asked how important versatility is to him in music, Nico Blxck pointed out that one of the artists he admires most is J Hus, because his "music is low-key timeless". Explaining further he says "You still go out and people are playing 'Dem Boy Pagans', do you know how long ago that song came out? These songs came out 2017, 2018, bro we're in February 2022 you feel me? That’s like what four or five years ago, near enough that these songs came out and even on Big Conspiracy they have 'Play Play' with Burna Boy. And yet so many songs were charting like 'No Denying', 'Must Be', these songs are timeless... You will listen to them this year, you can listen to them next year. And that's a big thing for me I tried to make sure that the music is something that can last for a while because me personally, I'm here to stay. I'm trying to just make sure that if you hear me, for one, it gets you out of your seat, and it's like, okay, cool. But it's something that maybe you can come back to next year or the year after that."

NW: Would you rather imitate J Hus and create something timeless or make a track that’s considered a UK Classic?

NB: "I don't know because I feel like when you try to make a hit, it doesn't succeed... If I was to have the aim of 'I need to make a song everybody can dance to you or listen to' I feel like that doesn’t work. I've tried that. And I've listened back to the songs, and I don't feel like myself. I don't try to go studio trying to make a hit. I feel like stuff like that comes naturally or comes you when you're not expecting it."

NW: Who else has influenced you?

NB: "Hus' stuff is something that I can relate to. Obviously, you get people like Dave, Dave is out of this world. I like listening to CKay he’s cold.... and you got WizKid, Burna Boy. At the same time, I like old school music. I like listening to the 2000s era. Like that's the music that I can always sit there and vibe to, I can’t skip a song."

NW: Would you see yourself sampling old school rap hits in the future, like Digga D did with 'Pump 101'?

NB: "Yes and no, because for one I wouldn’t want to tarnish it if that makes sense. Like for example, 'Pump 101' is a banger. I've listened to that day in and day out. And I'm not saying that Digga D didn’t do his ting and Still Brickin'. But I'm saying something like that is so cold or because I like it so much, I wouldn't want to give my take on it. I want to bring out something different or be influenced by it. I might be like, okay, cool. Let's make a beat similar to that but I'm not going to use that beat. Because I don't want to ruin what you've done you get me. Like, whoa that's a banger. "

NW: How important is that 90s era/ early 2000s to you and would you pull up to a 90s Rave?

NB:" it's banging, listen, the mandem all pull up wearing baggy jeans, baggy shirt. When I'm there, I'll take my mask off. I'm happy to do so. We had so many big artists from them times. Ja Rule, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes all these people man, I listen to all of them religiously even Mariah Carey. She had hits, JLo, I’ve always listened to this kind of music and vibe to that, but the times have moved on from them. But again, that music is timeless and that's what inspires me. I want to make timeless music."

NW: How did it feel with Mimi the Music Blogger shouting you out?

NB: "First of all, I think it was TTG Music Connoisseur from Twitter, he heard the track and then he put Mimi on. And then, you know, I see it, I think she said, who’s Nico Blxck? And I'm just like I swear that's Mimi. And then I preeded it and I was like nah that can’t be the same one. And then I see it again. It feels like validation, you know when you know in yourself that you've made something, Created something proper. Sometimes you don't need the approval of others. But having that there, let me know that me and Alpha had made something. So shout out to her and Music Connoisseur for the love."

Speaking about the process of creating the visuals for 'Fantasy', Nico, goes into detail about wanting demonstrate his artistry and working with long time friend Camilo who was the director, "me and Camilo have been boys for time even before I was doing music or rapping and he is a proper sick videographer, I don't think he gets love like he deserves. I had an idea and I wanted to make sure that I did something a little bit different in regard to the visuals."

Aiming for something "out of the box", he poses the question "Why can't I shoot something that represents something? Let’s stand for something. So I went heavy on the visuals because I want to be out of the box completely."

NW: What’s your relationship like with Kid Alpha?

NB: "I feel like if Alpha isn't top this year, in whatever he decides to pursue, something's going wrong. Something's wrong out there because Alpha is cold. Me and Alpha's manager have the same mutual connection. And when I was just putting out music under a different name the mutual connection basically hooked us up. And then I realised I had already heard one of Alpha's tracks called 'Colours'. I heard the song and I was like, 'Yo, we got to work together'.

At the time I didn't have a producer to make me beats. All I had was just songs or beats that have been sampled from YouTube and stuff like that. And when I spoke to Alpha, he was very Afrobeat whereas the beat that we got was an Afro swing kind of beat. So, he was just like, yo, it's got to be something that l can feel as well. I was like okay cool I really like this guy I want to work with this guy, but I need to get something that matches us. I had an idea. It was crazy because I always have ideas for beats. I can't produce beats, but I always have an idea of how I want to beat the sound. So, I'll come up with something and I’ll try send it via voice note.

The beat was made and then I sent it to Alpha and then it just got cookin'. And then that's it. he sent me back the first verse. And then he sent me the chorus. And I was like, bro, we got something like we've actually got something. You get me? We got a hit. So that’s how me and Alpha linked up anyway, we basically got mutual circles. And I found a producer that could give both of us what we both like."

NW: Obviously, the scene right now is a lot different to how it was 10 or even 5 years ago, a lot more people have stayed independent. Is that something you've thought about?

NB: "I was watching DJ Akademiks and he's talking about people in the industry especially in the American industry. I'm not sure how it really is compared to here. But I was watching DJ Akademiks and he was talking about how the industry goes and stuff like that. For me, if I was to ever go into a venture with somebody... I want to make sure it's beneficial for both of us you get me. Not just them, I want to make sure that there's a strategy. Right now I’m independent and I want to just keep myself focused because I feel like if you get a label behind you, they might demand something that maybe you don't what to do or you're not comfortable with. For example, I see people signed to a label and they start making music that don’t sound like them and it fades out. So, I’d only ever go with someone who's got my best interests at heart."

"Fantasy" by Nico Blxck featuring Kid Alpha is out now.