When it comes to grime music, Saskilla’s name resonates strongly within the community, having built his rep as a founding member of the pioneering grime crew Nu Brand Flexx. He’s been there from the start and has been an instrumental part of the culture’s growth, having collaborated with the best and helping raise other artists too.
Saskillaβs latest album βGodson 1.8β is a 10-track testament to a field of music that has helped reach the levels it has thanks to the contributions from the South London based rapper. We spoke to Saskilla in this exclusive Q&A –
Your album deals with the monumental pandemic on tracks such as βNHS Thankyazβ and βNo more covid-19β. Were these songs written over a longer period of time as the pandemic grew worse? Or were they quick reactions to the outbreak early in the year?
They were in fact reactions to the pandemic. Whilst seeing it all getting severely worse, I couldnβt just make one song on this subject as it took up a large part of my 2020, so I had to cover it with 3 different songs attacking how bad things have got from all three fronts – the THE LAWS, THE NHS,THE VIRUS.
In terms of producing and writing the album, what obstacles in 2020 did you have to overcome to get the album finished?
In order to get the album completed, I had to overcome firstly not always being able to be in the studio with a lot of my collaborators, as during the year the rules stopped some natural studio artistic vibes, that could have happened had we not been in lockdown. This could have created better chemistry on some songs even with the producers, etc… but ultimately it was the death of my grandmother just before the release of my album that almost halted the whole project. But I knew me getting my truth out there is what she would have wanted.
You have been politically outspoken over the years, but will the events of 2020 inspire future projects to get more young people aware/involved in UK politics?
What are the most significant learning experiences from Nu Brand Flexxx days that you carry with you to this day?
My New Years resolution is to get nominated for a MOBO and GRM daily Rated award.
Check out Saskilla’s latest album Godson 1.8 via all streaming platforms here.