The road that an independent artist travels on can be a long and lonely one, not too dissimilar from the one I now found myself on, with HMP Pentonville looming ominously behind me. Beside me, was a North London housing estate covered in scaffolding, presumably being prepped for another one of the governments “regeneration” projects. Which funnily enough, actually makes for a fitting visual representation of the state of the UK music scene at the moment, clearly years past its best, and in dire need of revitalisation. The focus has become instant gratification, with innumerable sample driven TikTok sounds that we’ve been force fed by the labels; while our hunger for something meatier remains largely unsatisfied.
Amidst the banality, there remains a precious few artists that have been cooking up just such audio delicacies; hoping to usher in a new dawn in the process. Grandiose goals indeed, even for the most established artists, not something you’d expect from a plucky young South Londoner. But Proph has been planning this precise moment since his early teens, where he began putting together five and ten year plans for the odyssey he was about to embark on. This clairvoyance wasn’t the only thing that separated Proph from his contemporaries, it was the fact that he was voraciously writing short stories from as young as seven years old. Like many of us inner city kids, those short stories eventually morphed into 16 bar verses as puberty hit, as we sort to break new ground with our new found form of self expression. This wasn’t just a teenage fad for Proph, he became obsessive about the instrumentals too, and began to teach himself how to produce.
As Proph withdrew from the outside world, he sort solace in the worlds he could create for himself in the margins and on the instrumentals where he could truly be himself. Proph was not alone on this journey, he was shepherded by the likes of Lauryn Hill, Tupac and Notorious B.I.G; who helped refine his palate, and inspire the music he would come to create. Although we’re certainly seeing the pendulum swing back in this direction musically, Proph was recording himself on Tupac beats, and bootlegging Ashanti samples while he was still in Secondary School, many years before the trend would began to surface on social media. His digital footprint belies that, as the earliest Proph recording available online is his Bl@ckbox appearance in early 2019, when he still went by his old moniker, Prophet. Rarely before has a comment section been so right, each one forecasting greatness in Proph’s future, something which we’re now about to witness with the release of his debut EP L.I.T. The project is entirely self produced, and apart from a couple of guest vocalists, is entirely written & performed by Proph as well (this includes some great melodic flourishes of his own). We were lucky enough to join Proph during one of his recording sessions to discuss this journey to self actualisation, and discover more about Thornton Heath’s next breakout star.
When did you first fall in love with music? And what are some of your earliest memories of trying to make it?
“I been in love with music from day init, like since I was a child. The household was very musical init, there was always music being played all the time, every day. I grew up on like 00’s-90s hip hop kind of stuff, soul, lovers rock like reggae kind of shit. It’s always been there. I think when I was seven years old I was writing some horrible shit in some little book. To be fair, for a seven year old it’s actually decent, its better than some guys now (laughs).”
In terms of artists, who are some of your inspirations?
“Lauryn Hill I always put at the top, she’s one of my favourite artists. The Miseducation album, one of the greatest. But there’s so many reasons why its so hard, its crazy. I feel like its a blueprint for great music. Especially Hip Hop as well, cause she can bar like better than bare man, people forget that she can actually rap circles around N****s. Obviously her voice is crazy, the production is crazy, the writing is crazy. So yeah I was listening to Lauryn Hill, Bigge, Tupac – those kind of guys when I was young, so that was the foundation.”
What was it about writing that you were so drawn to as a seven year old?
“When I was in primary school I wanted to be an author, so I used to write bare fictional stories. They were interesting still! I was just always interested in writing, and I feel like in school you get like the English guys and then you get the Maths guys, I was just like fuck Maths, I was never one of them guys! I’m just not really a numbers guy at all.
“I think I’ve always liked just being in my own world, I think even when I was a yout, I was a very much a in his own world kind of kid. So I’d just shut off from everything around me and just create bare things in my head, and I’d just be content. So I feel like thats where I got that from, so all throughout primary school I wanted to be an author, and I guess it just turned into music as I got older.”
You began to take music seriously at 16, but what gave you such incredible drive at such a young age?
“I was one of them mad kids, like I’d tell myself this is it. There’s no other way – I made it my whole fucking life, thats why from like year 9 or year 10 I just shut off, like I was there, but I wasn’t really there. I would just be on my ones all the time.
“But I think a lot my motivation comes from what was happening in my life at the time, and it just forced me to want to be in a better position for myself and for my family. That’s also the same time that I became religious as well. So I had that to motivate me, cause I felt like it was a path. If I don’t walk in these steps then I’m doing a disservice to whats been laid out for me. I think thats where it comes from.
“Especially when I started out, it came from a lot of anger as well, I was an angry yout, a lot of my motivation back then was I’m just angry so I need to put this energy somewhere, and I just wanna like shit on everyone. That’s kinda where it came from if I’m being completely honest. I was kinda like a fuck this kinda guy, but now I try to find more motivation from other spaces.”
Talk to me about the origins of your name?
“The name came from my granddad. This could be one of those old Jamaican stories that never happened, but I’m gonna say it happened. When I was born, apparently my granddad was there, so when he saw me the first thing he said was “Prophet Jeremiah”. That was his version, obviously I already had a name, so they made my middle name Jeremiah and obviously I got Prophet from there, but we’ve cut it down since then to just Proph.”
I know you produce all your own stuff, but have you ever thought about doing production for anyone else?
“I think for me, I kinda wanna do it later down the line. When I have time to do it as a passion project, you see what I’m saying? When I have time, and when I’m stable enough to do that. I feel like now all my focus is just on me, like now if I make a hard beat I’m like nah I don’t wanna give this to no one else.
“But yeah I definitely wanna get into things like executively producing albums and shit like that a couple years down the line. I definitely wanna do that, cause sometimes I listen to some other guys and I’m like if you literally gave me the control, I would know how to take you from here to the next level.”
What do you think makes your beats so distinctive?
“I always use this term when I’m talking to the mandem, I always say, life. It’s kinda hard to explain, but I just say it has life in it. That’s how I used to rate songs, like if I fuck with it or not, man would say: “does it have life in it”? For example, with this whole kinda Hip Hop trend that has kinda started in this country, its interesting cause a lot of the beats I hear have no life in them. They sound like someone just tried to make a Hip Hop type beat you get it? The thing with these Hip Hop beats that is so important that no one really understands is, back in those days there was a specific way that they were made, they weren’t made with all this high tech stuff, but they had life in them, it had meaning. It’s hard to explain but it just had feeling. I think cause I grew up on so much of that music I know what to capture, and what it sounds like when you do, you get what I mean?
“Because even like, before “High Horse”, I was dropping freestyles on like Tupac beats, before this shit was trendy or whatever I was doing that kind of shit, So, I feel like my beats just have life in them. I tried to just switch it up all the time, I wouldn’t really call myself conventional or nothing like that. Even when I have like sessions, I’ll be honest I don’t know all the technical stuff properly, but I just know what I do, and I can just make it sound hard. In music, thats all you need.”
You’re very clearly influenced by a particular era, what is it about that era that inspires you so much?
“I think just like everything, its just the life in it like I was saying. It feels like music with intent you get me? And when I say that I don’t mean that everything has to be mad conscious, you can talk about fuck all and it can still be hard you get what i mean? Its about the life behind it and just the actual intent, and if I can feel you’re in the music.
“I feel they were way more unapologetic back in those days, you had the big huge stars and that, but like it was never as big as it is now; in terms of the money, politics and everything that’s involved. So even just the way that people, would make music back in those days its not as wrapped up in all that shit as it does these days you see what I mean?”
Why do you think we’re slowly seeing a resurgence of this style of music?
“I feel like for a while now, there’s kinda been a drought. We had like a boom maybe like five to seven years ago, when the scene really took off. And now those top guys are cemented, but everything else is kinda plateauing, people don’t really know what to do. Especially with like TikTok happening now and Covid, the artists don’t even really know what kinda music they’re making. The labels don’t even know what they should do, cause they put their money into something, put it on TikTok and no one really cares. Cause the whole game has just changed, so I think its just set up a new playing field for artists, actual artists. I think people in the UK are catting for actual artists, not just songs. I feel like a whole new wave of guys are gonna come through and take it to a new levels. “
Talk to me about the process of putting together your debut E.P L.I.T?
“It was an idea I had in my head when I first figured out I wanted to do music. So I’ve had this idea since I was like 16. I was that very brazen, just musically obsessed angry kid at that age, so all I did was just think. There was nothing else to do at that age, so all I’d do was just think, in my own world. So I’d plan out the next five years, next ten years cause thats how crazy I was. Call it crazy, call it what you want, but thats just how I was wired. I want my first EP to be called this, I want it to be about this, I want it to have seven songs. Thats an idea I’ve had since I was 16. And obviously, I never committed to it, cause I knew musically i wasn’t good enough, cause I wanted it to be like crazy.
“Cause I took a lot of inspiration from Miseducation, it was her first actual studio album, and the only one that she ever did, and its such a classic. That’s just gangster, she’s a g, so I want my first project, EP even if its not an album to just be like that, to have that essence and I wanted to put as much into it I could at that point, so when I felt like I was ready to actually musically commit to it, which would of been when I was like 18? Cause we’ve been recording for about a year and six months? a year and seven months? So then I was like musically I’m at a point now where I’m actually good enough to actually do it as well and it felt right.”
How did you know you were good enough?
“Cause I was feeling my music, and I’ve always been my harshest critic. So for a while when I was first making music, I struggled with my delivery, I felt like I always had bars, but I couldn’t really get it across. Cause I was so angry init, I was like shouting on the mic, like no breath or nothing, I didn’t understand the importance of cadence. I didn’t get any of it, I used to be frustrated a lot, like I’m writing it and I think this is sick, but when I spit it and I listen back, it wasn’t hitting.
“I feel like when I was past that point, I started to think yeah I can do this, I like where I’m at, and obviously this process is gonna make me grow. And I feel like in the process of making this project I’ve definitely grown so much. In every way as well, musically, also as a man as well you get what I’m saying? I’ve just grown a lot so its been a good thing.”
How did you decide on the title of the album?
“That came from a few things. When I was a teenager, when I just shut off and let this whole thing just takeover my life, I felt like the only way that I could communicate my feelings was through music init. So thats kind of where Lost in Translation came from, cause its like when I’m speaking or in conversation, I just found it hard, I didn’t really know how to do it, I feel like I found it hard to relate to people, there was so much going on in mans head that even when I’m just coming now to speak to people I just found it hard.
“And obviously music, when I’m just by myself writing now its just feels natural. And I guess the whole point of it was talking about people in general where I’m from. Like where I was at that point of time in my life as well, things like what you’re raised on and shit like what man will tell you, like school or your parents or even religion or whatever, just like life lessons and how they can get warped by where you’re from.
“And what where you’re from expects from you, rather than everyone else. I feel like its just a cycle of just miscommunication theres just bare barriers and bare different things happening, and everything you’ve said just gets fucked up and muddled up and you just end up going wherever you go. Its just a culmination of just a few ideas kind of based under a main theme. Because theres so much in there as well, like, I never like tell people this before they hear the project, cause I want people to find it for themselves and take their own meaning from it. I feel like its dense enough where there’s something for everyone.”
What’s coming next for Proph?
“So we’re working on a headline show, hopefully sometime at the end of this year. More shows obviously this year, festivals and stuff. Obviously working on the second project already, I’m always working on bare stuff. I want to take it to that next level, me personally I’m just excited about the music that is gonna come out. As a fan of the scene, I don’t really put a limit on what we can do.”