Describe your sound in 3 words
Soulful. Cinematic. Authentic.
Tell us a few things about Beautiful. What is the story behind it?
It’s actually quite an old song, from 2008 or so, and Poetic Pilgrimage had recorded a guide to it. The original beat was made by a guy called Julio Shanakee who was teaching me how to make beats at the time. I was just playing around in the studio after a “class” and totally redid the beat to their guide. I sent it to them, they went back to the studio and re-recorded with Sarina Leah for the hook. It first came out in 2010 but was never on DSPs until 2025.
When crafting the melodic production for it how did you work with the vocalists to ensure the instrumentation elevated their storytelling rather than overpowering it?
So I was lucky in that I got to make the beat direct to the raw vocals, so I tried to craft it to what they were saying, which is pretty deep stuff about abused women.
The Star Women EP features contributions from dynamic voices across the UK and global hip-hop and soul scenes. How did these diverse international collaborations impact the creative process in the studio?
I wasn’t in the studio for the recording and a lot of it was done the modern way, ie remotely, but Poetic Pilgrimage met all these artists on their tours across Europe and Africa.
Moving to “Matar Con Bombas” the track reads like an action-packed cinematic narrative. How did the concept of Pitfall Jorge and his feud with the Estevez brothers first come to life in the studio?
This one was very different. Lethal Ferguson is a dope rapper from San Diego – he’d done a video for one of my tracks with Agallah last year, and we got to chatting and bonded over our love of not just Hip-Hop but also Japanese culture. With this record, he’d already created the persona of Pitfall Jorge, who was on some of his older tracks, so I was really just trying to make boom bap beats for action movies, and this one was like a car chase – lotta fun!
Favourite rapper, lyricist and producer?
Cormega, Scaramanga, Ayatollah
Do you think there is a true underground sound today?
Yes I do. Via Maison De Funk, I’m quite heavily involved in the scene beyond just producing, and there’s definitely a thriving underground hip-hop universe in 2026, just not as much resources or coordinated marketing perhaps, but the artists and music, no doubt. In terms of sound, the current wave is heavily influenced by Griselda, Roc Marci, Mach Hommy – I don’t think that’s an issue though, just like in the 90s a lot of acts were influenced by the likes of Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane and Too Short – I’m interested to see where it goes next!
What does hip hop symbolize in your opinion?
I think it’s a way for anyone, and I mean anyone in the world, to express their message and their truth, whether via words, music, critique or curation – there are no real barriers to entry nowadays – I love that democratic element to it.
Thank you!
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