First off, what inspired you to start doing these
remixes?
I’ve been a follower of Knxwledge for a
while, a producer from America. He’s been doing edits of old-school Smack DVD
freestyles of Meek Mill, Cassidy and stuff like that for ages. I’d never really
seen anyone from the UK really tackle it. I somehow stumbled upon how he was
removing the beat from the original freestyle videos and said I have to have a
try, I’ve got to give this a go. Ghetts was the first one I attempted it with and
it was surprisingly clean. To be honest, the Nocturnal instrumental that was in
the back originally… To be able to remove those kinds of frequencies was kind
of astounding to me. Later on, I found out that Douvelle19 is another person
that’s been doing edits over here before me, so big him up too.
Do you have a favourite or standout
remix that you’ve done?
That Skepta and Wiley one was a bit fluky because I was listening back to it like, how is it so clean? The flows that they chose to use on that day, it was foreshadowing drill or something. I just followed a very simple drill drum pattern and their flow sat on it perfectly, so really its just a testament to how ahead of its time grime is to be honest.
People are always saying which freestyle or MC to do
next in the comments. Do you take notice of that, or do you just do your own
thing?
It’s a bit of both. To be honest with you, there was a point when I was basing it a lot on the suggestions, but what I think the audience doesn’t realise that some I actually can’t do because there is just too much background noise, the vocal’s already too low in the video, they’ve got it blasting off some crazy soundsystem and it’s distorted from 2005, compressed a million times… I can’t do nothing with this! But there are certain gems, like the Practice Hours with Wiley and Skepta, for example, where everything was just perfectly levelled, it’s like it was meant to be.
How much should we look at drill as a
style and offshoot of grime?
I think it’s the same thing, man. Look, you
guys just talk about killing each other more than they did before. Before, they
was talking about how sick their flows were, how they was going to take your
girl and various few other topics that were bought up a lot. Now, it’s more
clout oriented and it shows in the music, and you think that’s a whole new
genre. You’re just using 808s – 808s have been round since the 80s, you know
what I mean? You’re using oldschool sounds and trying to call it something new.
I understand because it’s a lifestyle. I look at the drill scene and even
aesthetically its different to what grime is, but sonically I don’t feel like
there's that much difference. It’s not defined by the tempo, its more so defined
by the culture and we come from the same place. We come from estates, council
flats. So what’s different?
Ultimately, we’ve always had that though, haven’t we? I would say at a very early point garage saw grime like that - it
was "dark garage" or whatever. But the access to the technology to create those
things, it’s different now. Having a dude with a setup in his crib in 2005 was
a lot less common than in 2021, when a guy with his laptop can sit and watch
one tutorial, and now he’s a producer. So I think it’s a lot to do with that. It’s
cool to pick out the correlation between the two. People are realising more and
more that its not that dissimilar. When I put these grime acapellas on these
drill beats, its doesn’t sound weird for a reason.
You did a vlog on YouTube and you’re
doing some streaming on Twitch, too. Do you see yourself as wanting to branch
out and be content creator rather than just a producer? Is that something
you’re looking at doing more?
You’re bang on. I’m a heavy content consumer and one thing I’ve always done as a creative, what I’ve done is try to make the things that I like. That’s pretty much it - I’m acting out the things that I would want to see. For example, the edits. I would love to hear some of those old things revamped - go and do it. I watch loads of producer content on YouTube. There’s a guy called Ocean I watch a lot. He breaks down his beats, he makes beats, stuff like that. I really want to be that guy, that face, and I’ve always wanted to shine light on people and have the platform to do so. I guess I’m building that.
Had you done that face-to-camera style before
you did the vlog?
I don’t know. I’m a weird guy, I’ll wake up
one day and be like, you know what I fancy doing? I don’t think I’ve ever
really played with that before. With video content in general, I feel like my
show that was on Boiler Room, Crowdsourced, where I bought producers on to make
beats and that… That’s a two hour long show, and it’s live. I feel like doing the
helped me gain the confidence in front of camera. I built a personality around
that. That was my first foray into video content.
I saw you put out a Legend of Zelda-inspired
beat, and saw you making music on Mario Paint as well. Do you take inspiration
from gaming and video game music?
I went through a whole era of people saying
my music sounds like its from a game. When I was big on SoundCloud, from like
2015 to 2019, I was going for a lot of that whole retro synth sound. Kind of inspired
by the kind of thing Joker does, or Swindle. The melodies they use are very retro
and playful, very rhythmic. I’ve always taken influence from games I used to
play. Back in the day, a song in a game would loop for ages. There’s not much
memory on those little cartridges, so you’re getting a 30 second 8-bit loop.
You’re going to know it, its in your head, its ingrained. I think I did that
enough where it started coming out in my music.
For me, it’s probably the Pokémon
soundtrack. Those really infectious sounds that get in there and just stick.
This is exactly it, and it’s fascinating to
me to think about the limited equipment they had and what you were creating
with it. Back then, on Gameboy especially, I believe it was only 4 voices you
could have going at the same time, 4 different instruments. How on earth are
you layering, creating chords and creating such a beautiful masterpiece with only
4 8-bit sounds? It’s insane.
Can you see yourself not just doing
remixes inspired by video games, but doing actual soundtrack work in the future?
Is that something that interests you?
I would love to, man! If I knew how, I would leave it all and go work for Nintendo, I’m telling you. Where’s the point of access? I wish I knew.
legend of zelda drillin .. been stepping on ganon's block from time pic.twitter.com/sp8d2K4vhK
— WIZE (@wizetheproducer) January 6, 2021
What are you most likely to be listening to day to day?
Right now, I’m heavy into the whole Upstate
New York sound. Griselda Records, Roc Marciano, 38 Spesh, Trust Gang, all of
that. That’s my bag right now. But it depends, if I get up and its edit day, I put
myself in edit mode. I’m going to find the backup grime channels like Off The
Radar, go and listen to the classics to get some inspiration. I guess I put myself
in modes. Some days it’s a lot of the more smoother jazz hiphop sounds, sample-based
East Coast stuff, sometimes its just grime or drill.
If you were going to name an underrated
grime producer who hasn’t had the recognition you think they deserve, who would
you say? If there was going to be a history book of grime production, who needs
to in be there that you wouldn’t trust the writer to include?
Can I say two? First of all, Flukes. Flukes
100% inspired the hell out of me as a kid. Melodically, the kind of styles he
was using, hip-hop soundbanks but making grime with it - it was crazy. I’ve
always found him sort of otherworldly. Secondly, DaVinChe. I think DaVinChe is an
unspoken legend. I think he was one of the first people to take grime to the next
level, to the point where it could be played on radio and it didn’t sound weird
playing with pop music. I don’t feel like people really know too much about
him. There are legends that stand out that people pay homage to, but DaVinChe
and Flukes for me.
And if I asked the same thing for MCs?
For MCs, I think Maxsta doesn’t get enough
love for how long he’s been about and what he’s done. I also think I’m going to
say Lil Nasty. I always thought he was so strong on every set, I feel like he
stood out so well. Being related to Griminal, maybe he didn’t get as much of a
look in. But I always thought he was just so sick.
What’s your favourite grime beat of all
time?
Of all time, it’s Dot Rotten, “Hoody and Hats”. That beat right there is absolutely ridiculous. The way he’s chopped that Arabian sample… And then the drum pattern he used. If you listen to the skip, it’s a precursor to drill, and even now it’s my training beat. When I’m writing my bars and preparing for a set, I’m slapping that beat on.
What can we expect from you in the
future? What are you aiming for?
I’m releasing a project with my friend’s label Truth-Hz. It’s dope. For the rest of the year, you can be sure that I’ll be on there with the content, that’s all I can say.
Find Wize on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates on his future projects.