Held at the swanky Cuckoo Club in Regent Street, I arrived there early (super-early in fact) to see the guys set up as the crowd slowly came in, which worked out as I luckily bumped into Metis! For a guy throwing a huge launch party he didn’t seem to be nervous in the slightest as he humbly told me of his excitement to perform a few tracks for us later. Ratings! – So after taking a few snaps, having one (or three?) drinks and now with a packed room of eager faces, the born-in-America-but-now-a-fellow-Londoner-rapper took the stage!
With Whoo Kid on the decks, Metis graciously thanked everyone for coming before addressing the crowd he’s about to “go in”, let’s go! I shuffled to the front of the stage to in time to hear Whoo Kid drop the debut single “Champion” – “I want it so damn bad I can taste what it might be!” Metis’ opening line as he swaggered around the stage confirming to everyone this will be the start of a blossoming career! Unlike the usual “drowned out by beats to not hear the MC’s bars” in music these days, Metis’ illustrates through power bars on Champion that lyricism is clearly alive!
It was hard for even the bar staff to not bop their heads to the mellow beat of “The Way” when Whoo Kid dropped this banger, supported by the soft vocals of Sophie Delila, the song just portrays Metis’ variety of style, but the performance of the night for me personally was of “The Middle Intro” – the passion in his eyes as he delivered each verse was inspiring, a salute to those supporting his movement!
We let him relax for a bit before clinging a glass to celebrate and have a little sit down with himself and Whoo Kid, here’s what they had to say:
We’re chilling here with Whoo Kid and the main man himself, Metis, how are you feeling?
Metis: I’m feeling good man!
We just ended your launch party, you just performed, has it all sunk in?
Metis: Yeah man! I’ve been looking forward to this shit for a while. We came over from New York to do this, it’s a good look!
DJ Whoo Kid: We came just for this, you know not to mention the good designer of moisture here… (Laughs) but I came here to hang with my man with the hot mix tape we done and we just did it… crazy!
We spoke to you (Whoo Kid) a few days ago, you told us you lost your luggage when you got here right? Do you want to elaborate?
DJ Whoo Kid: Yeah, they robbed my kicks man!
Metis: Yeah, I saw that shit on twitter dog! (Laughs)
DJ Whoo Kid: Yeah man, its whack! You know they got robbed in New York and they got robbed in the UK! And I know the UK is notorious for robbery. But I don’t think they’d go as low as sneakers…
So Whoo Kid when you play Metis in the States, what’s the response usually like?
DJ Whoo Kid: Yeah it’s good! You know the response is like even if you don’t get a negative situation in America we are the worst when it comes to opinions, they be calling like “Yo take that shit off!..
Metis: (laughs)
So they’re very critical?
DJ Whoo Kid: Yep! Like every time I throw MIMS they be cursing me out. So if I put on a new joint and say to them, “Call me up and let me know what you think” and all of America is tuned in and you don’t get no reaction, then it means nobody is hating. You get haters that hate anyways, but with Metis we didn’t even get those dudes so it takes a little time till it gets into the motions.
We hear that. So Metis, talk through the process of the mix tape?
Metis: I have loads of songs, but we wanted be strategic. We were waiting on the right time, the right link. You know the right outlet to really do it and when Whoo Kid started to get interested we started to put together a set that we thought would work for him. We sent it to him, he organises the mix tapes himself. So when we sent them, he told us what he was feeling and we put it all together!
DJ Whoo Kid: Yeah, he sent me his own list… I was like (funny face)
Metis: (laughs) yeah, I was like this is the playlist, this track after this, put some shit in here and he was just like erm…
DJ Whoo Kid: I mean it’s kind of cool if I do that, if he wanted it, but I gave him my honest opinion and he respected it!
What was it about Metis that made you want to get involved?
DJ Whoo Kid: Culturally, he got all the angles covered. It’s not the same old hip hop shit that I hear. Not to mention coming from here is another sound because the same way I f*** with Tinie Tempah which is one sound, I do the same with Skepta as he’s another sound, Giggs is another sound, so I don’t want to mess with people who have the same situation. I like Metis flow and his swag, He has swag to him, even though he may look Moroccan he still got swag! (Laughs)
Metis, speaking of your sound, how would you describe it?
Metis: I mean for me I feel like its inspirational… the shit I talk about is overcoming hurdles. The hurdles I overcome maybe different to the hurdles you overcome but that’s what I’m talking about. So whether you from the hood or Morocco (laughs) for me it’s all about learning how to get from A to B and that’s generally what I talk about, that’s me.
Metis: It’s funny because my background is obviously really different than music so in the beginning I was writing music at home, you know, real quiet, getting real analytical. But the more I started getting into the studio, getting with the right kind of producers, like with this whole mix tape, I wrote this shit in one whole week. You just know when it’s right, the vibe is right, you got the right smoke in the studio, most of this shit I wrote on my Blackberry whilst I was in the studio! I feel a vibe, that’s where it’s been coming from, just kind of spur of the moment.
What would you say your favourite track is on there?
Metis: My favourite track?
DJ Whoo Kid: Damn, you f*****g making it hard for him… (Laughs)
Metis: You know what, clearly Champion, the one I’m putting out!
DJ Whoo Kid: Powerful, powerful record…
Metis: But you know the one I’d probably listen to the most is probably the middle intro…
DJ Whoo Kid: Yeah that’s hard! I screamed at him, because I was like what the f***? Why is this in the middle? But I guess he had his own, I just have never seen that! I mean no one ever put the intro in the middle!
Metis: Yeah, I put the intro in the middle… f*** it! I’m feeling that too, those are my favourites!
We saw you perform earlier, that was a sick performance! Do you feel that it’s important for artists to do live shows rather than just music videos?
Metis: Yeah man, I mean for me that’s what it’s all about. It’s more about the experience, there is a business side to it and there’s all the other shit too, but the purest form is just coming out there and rocking it! You know, having fun and being in the moment with it. So this is my favourite part of the whole game, getting out there and doing the thing.
Apart from the new CD, what can expect from you in 2011?
Metis: Okay so the mix tape is out, we starting to go out there with that in America the UK, France. Champion is going out to Radio all next month, release date being May 2nd. We doing various remix’s in different countries to kind of pop it off there and that will be the big push. We got a few singles that nobody has even heard yet, they’re waiting to come out after this. I mean we got enough tracks, I made these a long time, we’re just waiting on the right avenue, as soon as the door opens, I’m about to flood that shit. That’s what it is!
INTERVIEW BY RA’ED POETICAL (@MrPoetical)
Thanks to LUCID ONLINE
Photography by: Storm Parties