I Did My Best I Swear refuses to define his sound, and that’s part of what makes the music so intriguing.
Hailing from North London, the rapper – having recently been signed to independent artist branding label Cult Music – is set to embark on a monumental career. Releasing his single “Die Cool”, featuring Stylish Vox from Crim and produced by Paris Shields, I Did My Best I Swear is joining an established group of artists creating atmospheric, lofi music.
We sat down with the artist to talk dream collaborations, what inspires his lyrics and his musical influences…
How did you get into music?
I honestly don’t remember. No one in my family is particularly musical. I’ll have to chalk that one up to being one of the mysteries of the universe.
Who were you inspired by growing up?
Ian Wright. I cried when he left not realizing that he was thirty-five and way past his prime. I didn’t care. Everything is timeless when you’re young.
I’ve heard you don’t like classifying your genre – do you just move with the flow of whatever inspires you?
I have a severe medical condition that prohibits me from doing anything too cliched. No but seriously, if I’m overthinking it I’m doing too much and I’ll come out with nothing. All the contextual materials are all automatically on board, through everything I received in life, through my senses. So when I sit down to work I just disappear and let the music come. But I have to tell you I honestly have no recollection of writing or producing any of my music. Spooky, right?
How has being from North London influenced your music?
I don’t know. I’ve been here practically my whole life, so it’s very difficult to disseminate how this may have influenced my music. I’m more than my postcode, I guess it has afforded me certain things and allowed me to flourish in ways I might not of being from somewhere else. I mean, I was born in the South. But I had no control over that or where I’ve ended up. Life just does its thing. You’re just playing the hand that a strange intergalactic croupier has dealt you. Do your best. You can turn a penance into a blessing and you can fuck up a fortune. Everything is significant so nothing is. I am alive. Just another local loser trying to make something out of himself before his ticker gives out.