Music
"There was a spark as soon as we met" – meet the winners of The Cut
When Nic Da Kid was paired up with producer Rasstokyo on songwriting show The Cut, the two hit it off instantly and went on to win the whole thing. We asked them about their experience.
Nic Da Kid knew that he'd found what he'd been looking for almost instantly. The Nottingham-based artist was taking part in The Cut – Red Bull's competitive songwriting show putting artists together and challenging them to write a hit track – when he and producer Rasstokyo were introduced to each other. Right away he knew this was a person he could write with, hang with, vibe with.
"There was a spark as soon as we met," recalls the songwriter and rapper. "It didn't take long at all to be like, 'great, we’re on the same wavelength, this guy gets it.' I understood him, he understood me – the chemistry was there from the jump."
Nic's instinct was spot on. The Cut saw nine artists and nine producers pair up and face off – every one of them an unsigned underground talent fizzing with energy and creative ambition. At the end of the series, Nic and Rasstokyo were the duo that came out on top, winning the competition with their bass-heavy anthem, Would You.
Watch the grand finale of The Cut below:
34 minuta
Choose your instrument wisely
The top three teams of songwriters and music producers have one more challenge before they claim victory.
"I’m still reeling to be honest with you," laughs London beat-maker Rasstokyo, who agrees that there was an immediate connection between him and Nic. "Some people just have that mindset of being genre-breaking. They don't care, they’re not bound by any rules. His music as an artist was completely different to mine, our vibe was different on one level, but he was able to totally float over my stuff. We just gelled."
As anyone who's watched The Cut's four episodes will know, the duo had stiff competition. From the smooth melodic dreamland conjured by Lily Kiing and Melle Brown to the uncompromising rhymes of Iranian-British MC Shay D, working with AJ Tracey collaborator A Class, the talent on display in The Cut's grande finale was overflowing. Nic and Rasstokyo eventually won on a tie-break, walking away with a publishing deal and studio time.
"Winning The Cut was incredible," says Nic. "Every bit of it was something to remember and a lesson to take away. The most memorable parts were just coming up with ideas with Tokyo: creating together, just figuring out the puzzle that is the music."
Now that the two artists – strangers before hooking up on The Cut – know that they're on to a good thing with each other, what next? And who exactly are Nic Da Kid and Rasstokyo?
Nic Da Kid (left) and Rasstokyo (right) with The Cut's host, Tiffany Calver
© Marcus Maschwitz/Red Bull Content Pool
Winning The Cut was incredible. Every bit of it was something to remember and a lesson to take away. The most memorable parts were just coming up with ideas with Tokyo
When Rasstokyo was asked to describe his genre-eluding music, he chose to call it "water music", because it's fluid and constantly in motion, like a river tide. "It's about that fluency that can't really be contained, or told to stay still," says the Londoner, who raps as well as creating daring, driving soundscapes. "You can't tell the ocean what way the waves should go. It just happens. That's what inspired it, the idea of water music."
It makes sense, too, when you listen. The producer and musician – known as Tokyo The Producer until a recent rebrand – fills his songs with wall-shaking 808 bass-lines akin to Kid Cudi and Travis Scott, but there are powerful melodic flourishes, too. Coldplay and Adele are two other big influences, he explains: "It's a sound I came to pretty organically; it can go anywhere and do basically whatever."
A former student at London's prestigious arts university Central Saint Martins, Rasstokyo was "at an early point in my career, just building my catalogue" when his manager put The Cut on his radar. With an EP released at the end of 2019 (complete with political artwork) and a single in the can for early 2020, he was looking for the next step.
"My music was doing alright on an underground level, but I knew doing The Cut could help push it towards the mainstream, where labels and brands might be more interested. It's boosted my profile in the industry already. People are excited now to see what happens."
Nic Da Kid was at a similar stage in his career when The Cut came into view. It was a private message that put it on his radar. "Someone slid into my DMs!" he laughs. "I'm glad they did now."
Nic's own sound is a cocktail of hip-hop inspirations and rhythms mined from his reggae obsession and Jamaican heritage. "My influences vary based on how I'm feeling that day," he explains. "If I'm feeling very melancholy or introspective, I'll be slapping on a bit of Drake. If I'm feeling like I'm a god, it's got to be Kanye," he chuckles.
Listen to The Cut: UK Mixtape Volume 1
Nic actually began singing way back when, at the age of seven, and has been honing his artistry ever since, moving gradually into a style that combines hypnotic melody with personal storytelling. "The songs are about my life experiences and my friends' life experiences," he tells us. "It's all about getting the life lessons I've learned off my chest and sharing it: the things I’m going through, what I want to achieve, the girls I fell in love with, the girls I want to fall in love with."
"When life hits me, I like to write about it," he adds candidly. "The songs are me, they’re not exaggerations. It's just a little bit amplified, a little bit edited."
Case in point? Try the singer's GRM Daily-approved recent single, P.Y.T. – an infectious slink he describes as a "fun track, basically about a guy trying to move to a girl he likes. It’s a situation that’s pretty relatable," laughs this self-described young Casanova. "I'm trying to merge R'n'B and dance music; a more electronic sound. I want everyone to start feeling lovely again."
Nic Da Kid definitely brought that sunny vibe to The Cut. But it certainly wasn't all plain-sailing. At one stage, Nic and Rasstokyo hit a brick wall with one of their ideas – not ideal when you've got just 12 hours to nail a track.
"We just weren't feeling it and didn't know where to go," explains Rasstokyo. "The question was: do we keep going, or abandon this and start fresh?" adds Nic. It became a valuable learning experience. "I've had sessions where it's like, 'okay, this isn't going well guys, let’s call it a day.' The episode I'm talking about, it showed me: don't just give up. Try to get over that brick wall. Go around it, go through it, accomplish something. It showed me that work ethic is important. With work ethic and talent you can achieve anything you want to."
It wasn't the only takeaway for the pair. "This was the first time I'd done something so professional," admits Rasstokyo. "It made me feel like maybe I can be an artist for the rest of my life. Which is sick, because that's all I’ve ever wanted.
Listen to Pass The Aux Takeover: Nic Da Kid & Rasstokyo
"I've always had a mindset of 'I can do this’. Doing The Cut made me feel like it's happening now, though. This was an eye-opener into what success actually feels like. It confirmed that this is what I want to do and that I've hopefully got what it takes to do it. It also opened up my mind to how big collaboration can be. It wasn't just a case of me sending an instrumental to someone and then sitting back, waiting to see what they do. I've always been a collaborative person, but the scale of it was definitely revealed to me with Nic."
Tiffany Calver (centre) with The Cut's songwriting competitors
© Marcus Maschwitz/Red Bull Content Pool
The Cut showed me that work ethic is important. With work ethic and talent you can achieve anything you want to
With The Cut behind them and their profiles raised, both artists are now looking to the future. "I know I'm only going to go up from here," says Nic. "The Cut has put me in certain rooms, but it's also put me in a mind state of, 'yeah, you can do this'." The Nottingham MC has got one project dropping in the summer and another planned for the end of the year. Rasstokyo, meanwhile, has been cooking up future releases and a new YouTube video series following him and his collaborators in the studio.
Whatever they do, though, expect their paths to keep crossing. "We're back in the studio together in March," beams Nic. That chemistry that was there from the jump? It's only just beginning to fizz.
