On the rise from his corner of West London and embracing a hustler mindset, Riskii LLB is the emerging and unbridled new UK Rap figure of today. As a young artist, he never thought that he could one day earn money from his music until his friends and network started to notice his potential. Now, tracks like ‘ICE COLD‘ and ‘MORE TIME‘ have collectively racked rup thousands of streams and views. His “Hustle Go Mode” approach is backed up by a great team around him, something he even marks in his name: ‘LLB’ standing for the group Lizzy Lane Boyz, comprising other emerging artists striving for seemingly unattainable goals. Riskii’s music draws from motivation, chasing money, and recounting chapters of his life experiences, adding Caribbean slang to leave his distinct signature in each of his tracks. Check out the exclusive Interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
RISKII LLB: I was born and raised in West London. I started my music journey in a studio flat in Streatham when I was 16 years old. A close friend of mine always went to the studio and I always wanted to try it as I was amazed when people made songs. I was always thinking, “how did they come up with that?”.
From 2016 to early 2020, I used music like a diary entry of events that happened to me and wrote songs of how I was feeling. It was like therapy to me and eventually it turned into one of my hobbies with my friends during the years. The first genre of music I tried was UK drill, as that was quite popular during 2016 to 2019 and then eventually went on to write songs in the style of Afrobeats as well. I didn’t take music seriously until 2021 because as a teenager, I didn’t fully understand what could happen if you take music seriously and how you could make it into a career. Over the years I’ve researched and networked which avenues I can go through to try and make a career out of music.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
RISKII LLB: It’s bit of both really. When I first started out, my friend was rapping and he used to help me with writing lyrics. As I was 17, I moved around London a lot meeting a lot of creative people including sound engineers and producers that had knowledge in producing and working with professional artists, so I gained some tips and studio sessions from them. With experimentation and determination, it took me 5 years to get my own style of rapping/flow. After 2019 I lost consistency, I lost my identity in my songs. So, I had to start completely fresh again in 2020 so I have my own style.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘RISKII LLB?
RISKII LLB: When I first started out during 2016, this was the era of Drill music starting out so there was quite a lot of rappers/groups from London and Manchester who I listened to and had influence on my writing style and slang.
However, I am a bigger fan of the 90’s Hip hop era, where Groups/ Rappers like Wu-Tang Clang, Nas, LL cool J, NWA, Ice Cube and Mobb Deep were excelling in their rap careers. I started out rapping on 90’s beats as well just to see what my actual style was.
Riskii is actually what some of my close friends used to call me as a nickname when I was 17/18 as I was a person who didn’t really care about the odds or if the outcome was risky, I would still try to do whatever it was no matter how risky it was or the how low the odds were. So when I started rapping , the name fit as it defined who I am. The LLB part is the acronym from a group/crew I am in with my friends. LLB stands for Lizzy Lane Boyz. Lizzy means money in UK slang , Lane means the path we are on which correlates with the Lizzy meaning as it defines that you are chasing money in your own lane, and Boyz meaning is me and the guys, so that’s how we came up with Lizzy lane Boyz.
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
RISKII LLB: My music resonates with listeners who like motivational music and “grinding” songs, as well as people who have grown up in areas like mine, where they are accustomed to the same type of life within the UK.
As there a lot of people who are just like me trying to do something that they dream of to do well in, they can relate to some of my lyrics . As my beat selection is a jumpy vibe, people who go the gym or need music to boost their energy, I feel like my music is the energetic boost they need, as it’s a thrilling type of vibe.
5. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
RISKII LLB: I mostly focus on the themes that are important to me such as cultural and some part political in some of my songs which is not released yet. I think it’s important to mix your lyrics with a personal narrative, and cultural & political as you do have a bigger chance in being heard in a larger audience. However, I only write lyrics about cultural and political themes if it correlates with my life or narrative as I would have more knowledge about it as they would be important to me.
6. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
RISKII LLB: Without consistency, music is very hard to make a career out of, especially if you don’t have funding. One with out the other you will eventually fall short within the music scene; my case is consistency however I have the opportunity and enjoy networking and working with different producers/engineers and a couple of artists who I have songs to release with. My expectations are for the future, if I’m more consistent and release music instead of keeping it hidden then my future will look bright within the music scene.
7. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
RISKII LLB: It may be common sense but balancing my personal life and my work when doing music, is harder than I thought, I thought music would have helped during the tough times, but it doesn’t for me as I’m trying to do it as a career.
When certain situations happen, they might often give you a mental setback , meaning you may not be able to write songs properly, which means you have writer’s block. I got it quite a lot so far in this year which led to frustration. It had impacted my target goals I set for myself for music. Sometimes it’s just a phase and I use it as fuel for my hunger for success.
8. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
RISKII LLB: I’m not a big artist yet but when I was filming my second song “More Time” in Waterloo Graffiti tunnel, 2 people came by and were impressed by what they were hearing and approached me to ask for my YouTube channel and social platforms to follow me. Now to me that was a proud moment as it helped me and showed me that I was going in the correct direction with my music and gave me even more hunger to do well within music just to have more moments like that, to me that’s priceless because it made me feel like I’m connecting with listeners.
9. With social media having a heavy impact on our lives and the music business in general, how do you handle criticism, haters, and/or naysayers in general? Is it something you pay attention to, or simply ignore?
RISKII LLB: To be honest I just ignore it and just focus on my music. And I would say the same to anyone else who does anything where they would have to use social media to advertise whatever they are doing. Just focus on your work, as haters/naysayers don’t get you paid !!!
10. Creative work in a studio or home environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?
RISKII LLB: As I haven’t had the privilege to have an interaction with a live audience, creative work in a studio excites me the most as I’m one of the only people in the world to see how the song was planned and how it started to then hearing the completed song. To me that is amazing, as you get to see the transition and creation of the song from start to finish.
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