1. Thank you very much for your time! Before we introduce your new release to our readers – what kind of drink would you recommend to zip on while they listen to your new music?
Thank you for asking me these questions! If you’re listening to my new album at home, I would say enjoy it with a nice cold Pepsi or Coca Cola, but if you’re listening at one of my shows, you have to try a special Monk Pop or Uptonic, that are only available when I perform!
2. Please give us an update about – new single, new album, tour dates, new videos?!
I have a new album that I just released called ‚Uptown Intern #333‘. It is dance music, it is hip-hop, it is R&B and pop, and it tells the story of The Intern, a character I created who is so in love with music, he will do anything to see that love realized. The character takes an internship at legendary label Uptown Records, famous for creating the New Jack Swing sound of the late 80s and early 90s, and travels through the Uptown halls, the eras and sounds, to develop his own New Monk Swing.
3. We live in times of many conspiracy theories. Which, harmless, theory would you wish were true? (For example Dinos living inside Earth or E.T. living in a home in California)
I wish 2Pac was still alive and living in Cuba! It would be great to meet him and talk with him, and see what he thinks about the state of the world today.
4. What fashion style or brand would best describe your music?
It has to be colourful 90s fashion. Loud patterns, bright coloured shirts and jackets, Polo and Tommy Hilfiger, and either really baggy or really tight jeans, depending on how I’m feeling.
5. Tell us more about your songs! Topics! Message!?
A lot of my songs are about love, whether that’s the desire for someone and their love, or breakups, and the darker side of relationships. And on this new album, I use those situations as metaphors for the storyline, with each song being both about romantic relationships, and the relationship between The Intern and Uptown. So in songs like ‚2 & A Half‘, you’ll see that I’m talking about the end of a relationship with an ex, as well as The Intern realizing he’s maybe better off apart from the label.
6. Beside music, do you have any special talents?
I love playing soccer, and I would say I’m a pretty skilled midfielder! All of my energy on stage and in the music comes out on the field, running from box to box and hoping to get a few assists each game. I hope one day they do an MLS All Star Celebrity Game in the US like they do with the NBA, so I can play in it (if I’m enough of a celebrity by then)
7. Name 5 things we all should know about you as an artist?!
1. I make dance music meets hip-hop, in a unique brand of music I call New Monk Swing.
2. I’m originally from London, UK, and I now live in Toronto, Canada.
3. I play on stage with a band, and it’s always a different experience from the recorded music, so I hope everyone can see me live one day.
4. My music is inspired by artists like Prince, Michael Jackson & A Tribe Called Quest.
5. I was a dancer before I was a musician, so my whole musical journey has been about making those 2 sides of my personality coalesce.
8. How did you learn to sing/ to write/ to play??
I sat in my living room watching MTV music videos all day, copying what the rappers were doing, what the singers were doing, which dance choreography they were performing, and internalized and copied it until I began to write my own lyrics, sing my own melodies and choreograph my own steps.
9. A question you’d like to answer, but never been asked in an interview before?! + Answer pls
Why is what you do important? – I think what I do is important because everybody gets put in boxes, based on what you expect of them when they present themselves to you. If I say I’m a hip-hop artist, there might be a certain sound or identity that you visualize in your head, but I try to stay away from the conventions that don’t fit who I am. The box you may put me in based on my genre, race, gender, whatever it is, I’ll stay out of as I pursue my own style, and I hope I can encourage people to do the same.
Instagram: @ltthemonk