Sneakbo shows us the wave

Sneakbo has just independently released his dance-influenced single ‘The Wave,’ which has been playlisted on Radio 1’s B list, and is produced by the dynamic duo Ill Blu. The single comes with a Nu Skool remix from Mike Delinquent, along with a Sibling dubstep remix and various others. The South London rapper can let his amazing Youtube and download hits speak for themselves.

His recent mixtape ‘I’m Buzzin’ obtained 5,000 downloads in just a day and a half, and his Youtube hits reached 5 million in 5 months. Along with this he has opened up for Rick Ross at his London concert, and released songs with Chipmunk and Mavado, not bad for an 18 year old….

Does your heritage of being from Lagos influence your music in anyway? Yes my mum listens to a lot of Nigerian music so growing up in the house there was always a lot of that around me.

How did you first get into music? I was more on the road but a lot of my friends were doing music and I thought for fun let me try and everyone kept saying I’m good at it.

How old were you when you wrote your first lyrics? Around 15.

You’re 18 now, but when you’re 21 what do you want to have achieved? I want to have at least one BIG album out and I want to be touring the world.

How did being in prison change your mentality? Being in jail makes you appreciate your freedom and things you take for granted like your friends and family. I try to see them as much as I can.

Where did the phrase jetski wave come from and what exactly does it mean? Jetski is something I used to say in my lyrics and it just stuck. It means fun because Jetski’s are all about fun and holidays. And its a wave life, is a wave to me with all the ups and downs.

Do you feel by coining phrases like ‘wave’ and ‘Dagga Dagga Da’ that it makes you instantly recognisable? Yea definitely but I’m not just narrowed down to those catch phases, I have mixtapes full of songs about my life experiences.

Tell us more about new single ‘The Wave,’ how did the song come around and what’s it about? It was mad because Semtex hollered at us to do a dubplate for him which we did, and it was over a dancey beat and when I did it we all thought the song sounds big almost too big for a dubplate. So we decided to go back in the studio and make it an original song, but using my bars that everyone knew from my street record ‘touch a button.’

What are your thoughts on the Nu Skool garage remix done by Mike Deliquent on ‘The Wave?’ It’s for the Garage fans I try and connect with as many audiences as possible, so I’m hoping this will get played by people like DJ EZ.

Do you think other genres have taken over the UK scene such as grime and dubstep, or do you think garage can make a comeback? I don’t know, Garage isn’t really being made how it was back then, but they did make some timeless records like 21 seconds and those will always come back around get played in the raves.

Do you feel a certain pressure knowing you have such fantastic downloads on your mixtapes and hits on YouTube too keep up and make it better? I just do what I think sounds right and hope for the best. Sometimes it connects sometimes it doesn’t you wont know until you try.

You’re known for shooting and uploading video’s on the same day, and then in the next 24 hours pushing them. What is the time difference between this and you writing the songs and thinking of what video direction to take? I write pretty quickly, and if I like a beat I can have the lyrics within minutes. We do freestyle videos so we don’t really need direction just a location and the lighting and we shoot it then and there. I used to edit my own freestyles aswell lol.

How do you feel when you hear your songs in a club? Its incredible I’m new to this, so I’m still not used to it.

Many artists are becoming business men too. We know you have the Jetski Wave clothing, but are there any other business ventures you would like to get into? Yea the clothing is on www.jetskiwave.com LOL, but yea I would like to invest money in property one day or even in up and coming artists.

What are your thoughts on the new wave of UK rap, and which artists here are standing out for you? Its good there’s a lot of young energy and a lot of different styles. I made my statement by jumping more on dancehall than just rap beats, but I think its started a new wave and a lot of rappers are now mixing the dancehall with rap music.

What sounds can we look forward to hearing from you next? The unexpected. That’s all I’m saying lol.

Is there an album in the pipeline? Yes definitely I would like to have it out by next year fingers crossed.

Interview By Shireen Fenner