Artist Spotlight: DeBe
Shot by @alexpotton
DeBe is one of the most compelling upcoming rappers in the UK. He is brash, honest and emotionally expressive, and brings a raw vitality to his music that is extremely rare. The guy seeps authenticity and talent.
The Northampton spitter dropped his debut body of work, the eclectic, animalistic and subtly witty ‘The Last Breath’, early this year, and has since released a run of intoxicating singles designed to elevate his budding acclaim and illustrate his impressive versatility. ‘LIKE FIDDY’ showed the rapper at his brutal best, clashing with himself over the mic in aggressive decadence, whilst ‘NOT COPS’ offered a bruising criticism of UK policing that was only furthered by DB’s run in with armed feds. His most recent number, ‘NICE GUY’, was unleashed into the world last week, and sees DeBe highlighting his introspective and imploring character as he violently questions his own choices and morals over a sparsely robust instrumental.
Ahead of his highly anticipated The Pit LDN Live debut at Colours Hoxton on 28th October, I caught up with DeBe to discuss his new single ‘NICE GUY’, growing up with slowthai, and standing out amongst the masses in a cluttered UK rap scene.
Where do you see yourself within the wider climate of UK rap?
I’m not really trying to fit into it, I’m trying to pave my own way. I don’t think I fit into it, in terms of sound. The majority of music I hear is a replica of something else, whereas I’m trying to be different. It’s not a specific sound, if you heard the demos I’ve got, you’d think it’s about 6 different people. I’ve got tunes where I switch my tone and cadence half way through the verse and it sounds like a different person. I’m trying to be a pioneer in UK music, I want to be something new.
That’s great to hear! Within that, I think it can be harder to ascertain popularity, as many people just want to hear a sound that they are familiar with.
Yeah, it’s not easy. If I wanted to make a slapping drill tune, I could. People have suggested it to me before and I tell them to leave it out, I’m not about trends. ‘NICE GUY’ is a prime example of that. When I first heard the beat I thought it was weird, but good weird, and then I started writing and I just knew it was gonna slap.
You’re from the same city as slowthai, there seems to be some kind of influence there?
I grew up with thai. From young. Thai used to go college in the morning and then come mine and make beats. Our parents are friends.
I think one thing you and him have in common is the energy you bring to a performance. How do you maintain that high octane, in-your-face delivery?
I never sit still, unless I’m on logic. I’m always active, doing something. When I’m recording I just let all my energy out. I’ve got a lot of mental energy tucked away that is always ready to go. I can’t wait to get to more shows. It’s more intense at shows as well, with the crowd giving you their energy back.
The beats you tend to use match your vocal energy and are really robust. Why do you opt to use that sound?
It just grabs me. I love punchy kicks and snares and slapping 808s. Even slower vibes, some unreleased stuff, it’s still punchy kick and hard 808s, proper subby. I love when tracks are all over the place sonically, having hats panning left and right, and synths in the mix sounding mad.
As you’re growing up and maturing as a person, how do you see your sound evolving?
It’s quite mad to be fair. People that know me or knew me from back a day will think I’m the same shithead, putting out tunes like ‘NOT COPS’ and ‘NICE GUY’. But I’m speaking from a point in my past. Especially a tune like ‘NOT COPS’; the things I’m saying, that’s me when I was 16 or 17. People assume that I’m still doing those things, but I’m talking from a place of experience. I will always be ahead of what ‘DeBe’ is.
Consumers hear a song and think it was written yesterday.
Yeah I sat on ‘NOT COPS’ for about a year and a half.
You definitely released it at the right time with everything that went down with it! What actually happened there?
It was mad you know. Isus edited it into existence. He had an idea for the artwork with an X5 behind me. A couple weeks later we’re shooting the video, it’s about half 12, driving up one of the main roads in Northampton and an unmarked X5 comes behind me. I knew it was feds so I just pulled over and parked up, thinking I’ll just let them past by. About 10 minutes later they come back past, turned round and went past again. I turned left off the main road and they started following me, for about 15 minutes. I pulled into a petrol station thinking it was going to be the one car pulling me, like a normal stop search, then like 5/6 cars come out of nowhere with bare feds.
I don’t understand why they showed up, did they get a tip off or something?
I don’t know. After they found out what was going on, they said someone reported someone having a gun in a car. But I’m pretty sure if that was the case they wouldn’t have acted so shady. I’m going to sue them so I’ll deffo find out because the solicitors will request from the police that they prove that there was actually a call in. It worked well anyway, it was good timing.
One thing about your writing that stands out for me is that raw honesty that is always present. How important is maintaining true authenticity in your writing?
Down to names. Sometimes if I say a name and it rhymes, it’s not just because it rhymes. I keep it legit. For me, it’s just laying out situations I’ve been in, bullshit I’ve been through and mistakes I’ve made. In a song, I’ll often go through the story and by the end of it there will be some kind of message behind it and something that the listener can take from it, while interrupting it how they want. A lot of the reason why I push my music is because it is pleasing to me to talk about things that have caused me negative emotion in the past and to use those stories to do things that make me feel positive. That plays a big part in the humility of owning who you are. It’s therapy. What’s that saying… when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
That’s another thing that sticks out about your writing to me; the anguish and openness of the pain you’ve experienced is really compelling. How do you fathom being so upfront about your emotions?
Growing up, I used to box up my emotions. I never used to try and be melodic in my music, I’d just make angry rap. That was the only emotion I’d show as a kid, anger. As you get older, you grow and mature and learn about yourself and how the mind works. You try different things to fulfil different emotional needs, and for me it’s experimenting with my music. A lot of it is accepting yourself, especially as a man, you’re not supposed to cry or show emotion like that.
It’s empowering. To be comfortable to express how you feel is a trait within itself.
Yeah, it’s taken a while. I wouldn’t say I’m mentally straight now either, I’ve got a lot of growing to do as a person and a musician, but I’m aware of how I work and act now. The music is the key to maintaining it - I’ve gotta keep it going.
‘NICE GUYS’ then - sick tune! It’s a bit of a change of direction, I think it showed you musically and personally in a bit of a different light. Why have you decided now to show this side of your artistry.
I had a different tune ready to release, but something wasn’t right. This had to be next. We had to get everything done quickly. It’s just keeping that energy up. There’s a lot more deeper, emotional vibes to come.
Can we expect more stylistically variation then? Are you going to experiment a lot more?
Yeah 100%. I aim to surprise with every release. There’s some things I want to keep that are true to me. The freestyles I will do forever, but my actual tracks will always be different things.
There’s nothing worse than a new release from an artist that sounds the exact same as the last one!
A lot of people do it as well because they think it’s what people want, but it’s not always the way.
Do you get a wide variety of beats sent to you?
Yeah, too much! A mixture of beats that are sent to me and my own beats. It can be overwhelming, it gives me the option to be lazy because I can just flick through beats rather than write. It is nice to have options though.
Would you ever want to get to the point where you only use your own beats?
Nah. It would be cool, but part of the mission is to break bread. I’ve got a team and we eat together. Some of the best tunes I’ve got, I just let the producer do their thing and get their vibe, and then I write from that. They like that as well, it’s their little pocket of creativity.
Yeah, I think producers having to cater to artists all the time can diminish their creative outlook.
A couple of them have said it to me that they like working with me because I allow them to experiment. A lot of them say that they’re just sick of making drill beats all the time.
Your visuals are always crazy creative. I really liked the videos for ‘Drama’ and ‘Water’. How do you conceptually go about making them?
From the start it’s just me and my manager really. My manager knows me really well as a person. When we go to do a video, once he hears the song he understands it, he can relate it to me directly. When he comes up with video ideas, they are always conceptually spot on. I’m not visually the best, I just like things to be symmetrical and he likes angles. I’ll come up with more locations and actions rather than shots etc. That’s more Alex Potton as well, he’s on board with a lot of ideas. Two of those videos were shot by this production company called Explore Impossible, they’re sick guys and it was more of a team vibe with long shoots. More time though it’s just mandem having fun.
To me, the synergy between the tunes and the visuals is always on point.
We always try to keep it aligned between the sound and the visuals. The first three videos we shot were all shot on iPhones. It was a strategic move from Isus. When shooting the first video I wanted to go all out but he was thinking big picture about later video and how you’ve got to show progress. The visual progress has to build with you and the audio.
If you are introducing yourself to a new listener, what track are you playing for them?
Probably ‘Drama’. The beat man. When I first heard it I jumped off the sofa and begged for it to be sent to me straight away.
What’s next for you then? You building up towards another project?
Yeah, I’ve got one ready but I’m aiming to switch out a few of the tracks. It’s not that I’m not happy with the tracks there now, but by the time it comes to release I’ll have written better ones. I keep doing it now, it’s hella annoying.
Is it going to be an album or an EP?
EP. I’m probably going to stick to short and sweet projects for the time being.
See DeBe live for The Pit LDN on Thursday 28th October: tickets here.