Music
Ocean Wisdom picks the UK rap tracks that inspired his style
Long considered one of our most skilled and versatile wordsmiths, Ocean Wisdom shines a light on the lyricists that inspired him to get on the mic.
When he warms to his subject, Ocean Wisdom speaks like he raps, with wickedly precise enthusiasm working methodically through ideas with style and imagination. Even in the pauses you can hear him jumping on to the next thought. And when he’s talking about his inspiration it doesn’t take too long before he warms to the subject.
Listen to Ocean Wisdom's Big Talk Vol.1 mixtape below.
His sick new mixtape Big Talk Vol 1 is easily his most diverse set, showcasing a breathtaking versatility even compared to the broad canvas of his last album Wizville, and arguably his best work to date. To celebrate we asked him to pick eight classic tracks from his favourite UK rap lyricists and explain how they influenced his style. His list illustrates the connect between his achievements and those that paved the way, not only the legendary godfathers of his many impeccable styles but those that help him add flavour to his plate.
“Dizzee and Ghetts are the persons that taught me how to cook the basics,” he explains, “and then how to cook the more advanced stuff. Now it’s as if man’s at a Michelin level and I might just pick up subtle little seasonings from next man.”
1. Dizzee Rascal – Fix Up, Look Sharp
“I was walking through London with my dad and Dizzee was on the cover of a magazine looking like a rudeboy. I remember just being immediately interested. And then from there I just went away and researched him. You can’t really make another tune like that – it just stands in its own realm. That one was a hard rap tune, but at the same time it’s so commercial just cos it’s so sick. Someone like Dizzee doing Fix Up, Look Sharp, even though he’s considered a grime guy – really that’s helping pave the way for my sort of music.”
2. Dizzee Rascal – Face
“Face is the one that’s really resonated with me in the last couple of years. Now I can appreciate how hard it is to do what he’s doing. When you break it down the way he puts the two verses together is crazy, I love it. The same with at the end of Jus’ A Rascal – he does this flow where it’s like he’s so angry that he can’t get even the flow out but the way he does it is just like tetchy, kind of skippy, kind of you can’t really understand what he’s saying. It’s just levels.”
3. Klashnekoff – It’s Murda
“That was on Channel U all the time, I swear. 'Hotter than flammable rocks from the manor where man are animals yamming you like fox', yeah, that’s proper. That song kind of reflects the line I walk because I’m often called a hip-hop artist but then I do grimey stuff and then I’ve got drill artists on my tape. I’m grateful to people like Klashnekoff so that I can walk that line and make money off it and I don’t have to compromise my sound and it can be like greazy hip-hop or whatever you want to call it.”
4. Ghetts – Skinny Sort
“Obviously back in the day I was skinny, innit. Imagine I was skinny for a second, yeah? I’m young, people are trying me, and then you listen to that tune and it’s like ‘uh!’ That song just used to gas me up so much. To be honest with the Ghetts one it was really hard to choose which songs because Ghetts was just, and still to this day, a master of his craft. He’s grown over time. But the time of my life when I was listening to it that sort of aggression just heavily influenced me.”
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5. Ghetts – Commandments
"The opening bars are just powerful, legendary. I was just listening to it when I was 16, 17, the worst time of life. And you’re angry, and nothing’s going your way. Growing up mixed race, growing up black in England you feel like you get pushed into a box and it makes you want to lash out and smash the box up. Luckily I found a way to channel my aggression into music and when I hear other people like Ghetts doing that I just think, ‘yeah, wicked, I can relate to this’, and it resonates strong with me.”
6. Blade Brown – Intro
“This is the intro to his mixtape Bags And Boxes 3 but I could have chosen any Blade song. It’s very hard for people to tell you stuff when it’s about hard work and stuff. They have to be doing it themselves, be cool, and be someone you can admire. Blade Brown is the sort of person that makes you want to get money rather than just take drugs and get on a wave too much. If you take the right messages from what he’s saying it’s basically you have to work hard, just grind to be successful. I always looked to him as like someone that had his shit together.”
7. Reekz MB – Blueprint
“I just love that song. The beat, it’s so menacing. I don’t know whether it’s just a random coincidence but if you go on my Spotify all the artists I listen to are just from Brixton. Like Tef, Blade, Reekz, and then obviously LD, and then people like K-Trap, they’re all from the same area of London. Maybe it’s the accent. Reekz is a savage on the mic with this tune. When I listen to tunes I want to believe it and I want to feel the anger and the rawness. Those guys are the epitome of that. People that love drill, they all know about that song.”
8. Youngs Teflon – Broken Safety
“Youngs Teflon is one of my favourite artists, he’s incredibly cold. I was talking to LD about it – he was saying the way that guy puts stuff together is like a machine. And that’s what people say about me: ‘You just write stuff like it’s nothing’. I can tell Youngs has the same thing cos he’s got so many tunes, so much content, so many different concepts. He can be greaze when he wants to, he can be reflective when he wants to, he can make a song for girl when he wants to. We’ve got a completely different sound but the goals are similar, I think we’ll probably end up working together in the future. Everyone I know that listens to Youngs Teflon, he’s one of their favourite artists. Anyone on this list, they’re MC's favourite MCs. If you know about rap then you understand these guys are sick.”
Ocean Wisdom's Big Talk Vol.1 mixtape is out now.