Music
Exclusive: Watch the video to Capo Lee’s Dream
The North London grime trailblazer drops new visuals for the standout track from last year’s Capo The Champ EP.
Capo Lee is widely regarded as one of the finest young spitters in grime. Starting his career as a DJ, he properly transitioned into an MC in 2014, and quickly made a name for himself, winning the patronage of top producers like Sir Spyro and Spooky and turning out two instalments of his collaboration-packed Why Not? mixtape.
Arguably, though, he really arrived as an artist with last year's Capo The Champ EP – a lean seven tracks that mixed old-school grime flavour with hints of rap and drill, and featured appearances from D Double E and Bossman Birdie. Now, one of the EP's highlights, the Teddy Music-produced Dream, has been blessed with brand new visuals courtesy of Chasappeti. Check it out above – then read on for an interview with Capo himself, conducted at Red Bull Studios London.
Hi Capo. Where was the video to Dream shot?
Just around North London, local to me. Everyone's trying to recognise the shop, but there's a million Greek, Turkish off-licenses that never close.
When did you record the track?
Last summer. It was the first tune that made me realise I wanted to put together an EP. I've put out a couple of EPs before, mainly with one producer – I did an EP with Spyro, and an EP with Spooky. But this was the first EP where I felt like I could really express myself - different beats, different tempos. So that was sick to put together. It came out last November. I've got Teddy Music on there, a track by Spyro, a track by Blay.
Dream is a track made for the grafters…
You know what it is, I've got a lot of friends in my area, but not a lot of my friends do music. Last year I was doing loads of shows, loads of festivals, and that. But I always felt like I was by myself – like, "I'm rising, but I'm by myself”. So the idea behind the track is, it's always better to win with your people, your gang – to all go through together. To win with your people, it's important. I work a lot with other MCs, but I’m always more interested in working with producers. With an MC, you always kind of know what they're going to say, but with a producer, you can travel into other areas together.
I used to get lunch money for school, so I stopped eating at lunchtime, and spent it on records
How did you get started in grime?
I used to listen to pirate radio. I wrote a lyric back when I was in school. But I remember going to my friend’s house and I was MCing on the mic and I thought, my voice is way too squeaky for this – I need to do something else! I remember my dad brought me a mobile phone, but I wanted decks so I swapped my mobile phone for a pair of decks. I was stupid back then – I had two decks in my house but no amp! And I had one 50 Cent record, so it was a shambles. But I used to get lunch money for school, so I stopped eating at lunchtime, and spent it on records. I had no lunch for about a year, but it was worth it! You know what, my voice, it's still got a high-pitched twang, a little bit.
The best grime voices have a bit of character.
People say that my voice is quite distinct, so I guess it worked.
Is grime in a good place?
Yeah it is. But also there's like - every month there's another new genre born. People have got a lot of options. But grime's definitely in a good place. The producers in grime are very good right now, there's a lot of different sounds, it's a bit more diverse and it gives people a chance to get their foot in the door with their own sound. I rate Spryo obviously, P Jam's sick. I’m working with this young producer Izco, and I like Z Dot. Also I want to do some work with LUCY and Anz. I love seeing girl producers, it's so sick - there are so many males in the industry, so it's intriguing to see what a female producer is going to make. I'm a grime-grime boy, and the stuff that Anz makes, some people might not even class it as grime. But I can hear it and I get it – I can vocal it, you know? It's sick, man – I rate her.
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