Industry Reviews is excited about today’s featured artist Mr. Baker
Check out our interview with MB (below) and his single Running (above)
IR: Let’s get to know a little bit more about you and how you grew up. So where do you consider hometown and what type of kid were you growing up?
MB: I’d say I am Lebanese/Palestinian first and foremost. I grew up in London but the culture, as well as the accent, actually, never fully caught on. But London is home nonetheless, that’s where my parents and friends live. I was (and still am albeit a little less) super social as a kid, but also very private when it came to things that were important to me.
IR: How old were you when you developed an interest in music?
MB: I must have been around 8 or so.
IR: What was the first album you ever listened to? Can you remember back that far?
MB: As weird as if sounds the first album I ever listened to was was probably Shaggy’s Boombastik. If not it must have been Van Morrison’s Moondance. Just the stuff my parents kept around the house really.
IR: When and how did you begin your journey in the world of music?
MB: I found those albums looking through my dad’s CD collection. He had hundreds of them at home so when I’d get back from school I’d just sit and go through them on my mother’s old Walkman. I must have been around 10.
IR: What influences shaped your musical style?
MB: Musically, definitely the old stuff my dad used to listen to. I listened to loads of Rock N’ Roll, a lot of Bob Dylan too. I try to use those roots when making beats and I’ve played guitar on several of the tracks already released. But lyrically what I’m doing at the moment comes from a whole different time, maybe when I was 15 or 16. Without comparing myself to them I’d definitely say that Nas and Tupac, above all, influenced me the most. Kanye, through the constant evolution of his music and his hunger for innovation, also influenced me. The College Dropout has to be in my top 5.
IR: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard it before?
MB: It’s the fruit of my influences. I only go for authentic beats, try to have as much real instrumentation as possible, and keep the words truthful. There’s no need to talk about things that never happened, we’ve all got a story to tell.
IR: Do you write a lot by yourself or do you have a partner or a group of people you work with?
MB: I write a lot by myself. My favourite time to write is probably right before I go to sleep, late at night. It’s the coming together and rationalisation of all my thoughts and emotions from the day. But I started writing and rapping with my two best friends from high school who are now an integral part of Baker Family, and we still kick back and write together whenever we can.
IR: What is your main goal at this point?
MB: My goal is still the same as when I first got into the studio and it will probably remain the same until I reach it. I want my music to be remembered, for people to know who I was and what I did for hip hop twenty years after I’m gone, for my grandchildren to be proud of their grandfather.
IR: Have you learned any lessons so far and if so, what are they?
MB: Trust nobody except for the Baker Family, and your own. Everyone else wants something. We all have our own agendas.
I’ve also learnt never to get overexcited about anything. The only thing that expectation creates is deception and disappointment.
IR: Are there any artists you wish to work with in the future?
MB: Loads. Too many. I’ll give you Nas, Freddie Gibbs, J Cole, Big KRIT, Madlib, Cookin’ Soul, Just Blaze…. The list goes on. One rock producer I definitely think would do a crazy job in hip-hop, and who I would love to work with (holla at me Brian) is Brian Eno.
IR: If you could create your dream tour, who would be a part of it?
MB: First and foremost the guys I came up with, for sure. Then probably Kanye or Jay Z, just for their sheer energy on stage, their stamina, their commitment. When I was like 16 they came down to London and blew out the biggest arena in town for 2 and a half hours straight. One of the things I dislike the most in hip hop is the shortness of some artists’ shows, so Kanye and Hov get on my tour just off the strength of their set length.
IR: Where can we find your music?
MB: Online on;
IR: We ask all the artists we interview, what’s the best piece of advice someone’s ever given to you?
MB: Don’t believe the hype. Until your album is in the top 10, you haven’t made it. That’s probably the single best piece of advice I’ve heard. It’s a stay on your feet sort of thing, walk before you run. My manager and main man Nick Treloar repeats that to me almost every day.
jason
this kid is dopeeeeee