Breaking through onto the ever-growing UK music scene is West Londoner Kyzino with his new single “Family Ties”. Riding the triumphant drill wave that is currently taking the scene by storm, the rapper furiously hits out over a gritty 808 beat, and goes back and forth with fellow rising artist RD3. With a snappy delivery and rapid wordplay, the rapper chews up with Bruskii Key beat and produces a track that stays true to himself and his environment.

“’Family Ties’ represents the unconditional bond between brothers who will always be there to support you, a team full of members whose best interest is the success and safety of one another,” explains Kyzino.

Pulling on his love for fellow West London rapper Nines and K Koke, the rapper focuses on his experience growing up in the jungle of London, as his lyrics frequently tap into the highs and lows of a young man trying to find his place in a fast-changing world. With the rapper promising more content and his first mixtape this year, we caught up with Kyzino chatting growing up in London, developing his sound and what he’s got planned for 2021.

Check out the interview below…

Hi Kyzino – how have you been during this uncertain time? How has it impacted your music and creativity?
Overall I’ve been good. At times I’ve struggled to find motivation or inspiration, but generally it’s been good to have so much time to actually be creative with less distractions. The best parts about this time is that I’ve been able to develop myself as an artist, perfect my writing skills and take time to find a sound I enjoy and feel comfortable with.

How has West London influenced you sonically? Who are your musical heroes?
Being born originally in North-West London, I find that a lot of my influence comes from artists I grew up listening to like Nines or K Koke, as well as other UK rappers from around London. I think West London’s influenced me just in everyday life, in the way I behave, I dress, the way I talk etc. What I talk about in music are the things I experience or have experienced living in West London, including my friends and others around me. Musically, my “heroes” are just people who’ve been in UK rap for a long time like Nines, Skrapz, Blade Brown, Joe Black, Giggs etc. However, I also feel that being of Caribbean (Jamaican and Grenadian) descent, I get a lot of my inspiration from myself, my family and my heritage.

You started out releasing YouTube videos and uploading tracks independently to Spotify and Apple Music – how have you developed and honed your sound along the way?
I began with just putting out music videos here and there on YouTube, as well as uploading songs onto Soundcloud, before eventually progressing to upload onto Spotify, Apple Music and other platforms. I’ve done this just naturally talking about my life in different ways, expressing the positive and negative things I’ve seen and felt throughout my life, and seeing what I feel comfortable with as well as what people like. I’ve been doing this for a while so I’ve had to time to learn myself and develop.

Congratulations on your new song “Family Ties”, which explores the bond of those we love around us – what was it inspired by?
Really it was just inspired by me and my manager, who’s also my cousin, sitting down and trying to just create something we like and relate to. One of many ideas we’ve had but this came from wanting to show that in our team we support each other. This was done with the video, by inviting some friends and family members to the shoot to take part, the artwork showing pictures of myself & RD3, created by my good friend and graphic designer, Tashan Matthews.

What’s the message you’re trying to send with it?
That we support one another in all situations and that family and togetherness is important and one of the main ways to build something special. Postboys, the collective, is a group made up of friends and family who have known each other and been connected for years, and as a collective we are trying to show exactly who we are, what we’re and what we’re planning to do in the future.

And the music video really captures the essence of London – what did you want to evoke with it?
I wanted to show the same message the song shows, that we are connected and all together. As well as show that the team, Postboys, is here and ready for everyone to see what we’re on. We brought through many different people to the video, also as an introduction to people about the new vibe of Postboys coming from West London. With this video, as with our others, it was important for us to show what life is like for us living in West London, showing any similarities or differences with people from other sides of the city.

Your music centres a lot on London and your life experiences – are there any unusual places you take inspiration from?
I listen to a lot of different music of different genres from many different cultures so I tend to get a lot of inspiration from that. Other than that I get a lot of my inspiration from myself or the people around me. A lot of my songs, especially the more personal songs, all come from my own personal experiences, positive or negative, and the most unusual place I can think of taking inspiration from is taking a negative situation and turning it into a positive by using the situation or feeling to create something great.

How does it feel releasing new music when the world feels so uncertain – what do you hope your music will bring?
It’s a bit weird not knowing exactly what’s going to happen and what to expect, but I’m comfortable knowing that pretty much everyone is in the same boat and all you can do is release and hope people enjoy. The positive of this all is that I’ve had the time to develop and work on music throughout the lockdowns, I’ve been able to work on different types of music and see what I like and what works for me. The next step after that would be to just test it among other people, release it and take onboard how people respond. I hope my music will show what I and what Postboys can do, as well as what we’ve got coming. Also, I wanna shine a light on West London and show that it’s poppin all over west.

What’s next for you? What are you looking forward to in 2021?
For me this year, I’m ready to consistently release music, music videos and at some point release my first mixtape. I’ve got a lot of music ready to go and a lot more to make so this year, so I’m not stopping. I’m just trying to remain focused on creating more music and more content and growing my fan base. I’m looking forward to dropping loads of music of loads of different sounds, and my main goal is for more and more people to listen. 2021, more music, more videos, more Kyzino.