Meet Kwasi, London rapper and director, as we talk short films, contradiction, and musical sounds.

Meet North London rapper and director Kwasi Arthur as we talk all about making short films, his creative process behind the talent, his different sound when it comes to music, and his contradictory mind when it comes to being a creative. A huge thanks to Kwasi for his time and efforts in speaking with us, we cannot wait to see everything he's been working on this year. To be sure that you can keep in the know too, head over to his Instagram @lifeofkwasi, you will not be disappointed.

Hey Kwasi, please can you give an introduction as to who you are for anyone who isn't yet aware of your work?

My names Kwasi, I'm a rapper based in North London, I also make videos and direct them.

How long have you been making music for?

So I'm 24 now and I've been making music since I was twelve. I was just freestyling and rapping in the playground, and then when I got to secondary school it was kind of the same thing. Then I started taking it seriously when I left sixth form so around eighteen. I just started writing as much as I could and started writing for other people.

Who were you listening to growing up?

I listened to a load of grime music growing up, a lot of it like Tinchy Stryder, Dizzie Rascal, Coldplay as well, I like a lot of indie music, so Coldplay mainly and a couple other people as well, Kanye West too, and Drizzy Drake.

Would you say that there was a huge difference between UK and US music?

There's defiantly a huge difference, I think US music is a lot bigger, the country as a whole is a lot bigger, so the influence of hip-hop transcends their nation by itself. Whereas, UK music's a lot more underground and it embraces a lot more inner city London culture more.

Do you think that the UK music scene is missing anything right now?

I think it's missing a bit of playfulness, I think everyone's so serious all of the time. It's just missing a bit of happiness and euphoria, for some reason I think I can fill that spot with a bunch of people like me from London.

For sure, how would you describe your sound?

I would describe my sound as happy but sad at the same time, euphoric but depressing. It's a constant contradiction, it's like being happily sad is the best definition of it. I'm a bit of a walking contradiction, my music, and that is the beauty of it all.

I hear exactly what you mean, what's the goal for you?

The goal for me is to create some crazy projects, some crazy crazy ones, just like Kanye West has done, and let that be a testament to show what great music is as a pose to talking all the time like some of these people do, but yeah, to create some great projects and some great art, you know?

Let's touch on the acting and filming you mentioned, how did you get into that side of the industry?

So my secondary school was a performing arts school, but I never took it on because I just didn't have the mental capacity to do it as coursework, but I always enjoyed it. There was a certain guy called Stephen Graham, a wonderful actor, and I just started to watching him a lot through the pandemic. I just love films, my favourite film is Interstellar, I just like watching music videos that give me film aesthetics and vibes so I started bringing that into my own videos.

Speaking on your latest short film, how did the idea come for that?

I got the idea from watching Wes Anderson, and the song I had at the time 'Lonely for the rest of my life', which is what the films based on, the title was very morbid but that's not how I meant it, it was meant to be a happy song. I was trying to show that in the short film, and then my friend Mason had a conversation with me and it was almost like it was therapy, and so we wrote it together, that was the concept and hopefully we manage to show it in a short film.

That's amazing! What's next for you in the filming side of your creativity?

I told my friends at the beginning of the year when I was explaining my goals that for the rest of the year I'm going to try and make more short films and maybe even longer ones, if my brain works. Also, I would like to get into the theater as well, and I've been blessed enough to have friends that are actors so it would be nice to have their input in a lot of these things.

Have you got anything else in the works right now?

I'm actually currently working on an EP, I'll give you a bit of an exclusive here, why not, it's called 'Life's Very Own Theme Park'. I've got a single coming before that called 'Roller coaster'.

How does releasing music make you feel?

It makes me feel two things honestly. The first is, it makes me feel great that I can share what I've been working on with the world and the people that listen to me but it also makes me feel a sense of sadness sometimes, because you can't really control what happens next, it's a bit sentimental but it's the truth.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to start music properly?

Don't start because everyone else does it, figure out exactly why you want to do it, the best advice I ever received was, that nobody knows what they're doing and so you have to freestyle and see where it can take you, and so that's what it, that's what you can do.

Finally, do you have anyone you would like to shout out?

The biggest shout out I'm going to give, are to my friends, they will know who they are but I want to shout them out because before I put out anything, they're the one's I send the links to, to get their feedback, they're my first audience. My producer and my mentor, Jazdeep, because he has to listen to the good stuff but the bad stuff, he's really helped me along the years.

Thank you so much for your time Kwasi, we can't wait to see you shine!