PAUSE MEETS: YOUNG T & BUGSEY

PAUSE MEETS:

YOUNG T & BUGSEY

Speak about getting used to fame without compromising their uniquness.

PRODUCER & STYLIST: RHYS MARCUS JAY // @RHYSMARCUSJAY

INTERVIEWER: LYNN MOYO // @MELIIMOET

STYLING ASSISTANT: SERGIO PEDRO // @SERGIOPEDRO__
PHOTOGRAPHER: JOEL SMEDLEY// @SMEDLEYSHOTS
VIDEOGRAPHER: JOE RICHARDSON // @JOSEPHLEERICHARDSON

MAKE-UP ARTIST: ELIZA CLARKE // @LIIZA.J
FEATURING: YOUNG T & BUGSEY // @ YOUNGTANDBUGSEY

“We’ve always wanted to do music”

On a trajectory that will undoubtedly lead to stardom, Young T and Bugsey are the energetic duo from Nottingham shelling out hit after hit.

With a pedigree of hits like Fredo’s ‘Ay Caramba’ and the latest release ‘Strike A Pose’ which features Manchester’s own Aitch, playing in clubs and stereos all-over, we caught up with the young stars at Browns East store to talk fame, music and fashion. Here’s what went down:

Let’s start from the beginning. You guys met when you were 15. How did you actually form the duo?

T: We had mutual friends, and there was a group of us that did music. That started in school and then through say about 16, and probably a year after that everyone started doing their own thing and not doing music anymore or they just got a job or whatever. It was just us two left that were consistently doing music and then through we just become close friends and we always made music together. So naturally we became a duo. We didn’t plan or sit down and say we want to become a duo, it just sort of happened.

In that time, when was that you realised that music was going to be your careers? That you were going to go for it?

B: We’d always wanted to do it. We’ve always wanted to do music. It was always one of our passions, and it always always been what we wanted to do. There hasn’t been a time when we’ve said ‘Let’s do something else,’ we’ve always wanted to this since we was kids. It’s always been more about pursuing it

Do you remember the first bars you spat?

Both: Nah

B: I actually don’t. I wish I did though.

A lot has happened since then, starting out at 15 and now racking up millions of views on YouTube. How would you describe the journey you guys have been on?

B: Rollercoaster.

T: Yeah, it’s a rollercoaster.

B: It’s a rollercoaster but its fun. Some parts might not seem fun, and it might seem super scary, but it’s going to back up, and it’ll come back down, you know what I mean.

Young T Hat: Y-3 x Adidas @ Browns Fashion, Sunglasses: Louis Vuitton, Earphones: JBL, Coat: John Lawrence, Jumper: Fiorucci, Trousers: RAF Simons @ Browns Fashion, Trainers: Nike @ Schuh. Bugsey Hat: Napa x Martine Rose, Sunglasses: Louis Vuitton, Jacket: Gucci @ Mr Porter, Shirt: Balenciaga @ Browns Fashion, Trousers: RAF Simons @ Browns Fashion, Trainers: Nike @ Schuh.

Has it been what you thought it was going to be?

B: You know what, erm, no.

How did you think it would be, compared to what it actually is now that you’re here?

T: I don’t know to be honest,

B: I actually don’t know what I thought it was going to be. I just thought I would do my music and then eventually it would click init. I don’t know what I actually thought life would be like once the music started doing good or once man started having songs that people know. I never actually thought about what it’s going to be like, just more about actually being a good rapper.

T: And I think we focused on more, what we actually have to do. As long as focus on what we have to do, for example, our work rate, doing this, doing that. That’s what we focused on mainly and it wasn’t really the life but making sure we do what we have to do to get where we want to get.

That’s a great mind set to have. Your work rate got you a nod of approval from Stormzy. You went back to back with him at Westwood crib sessions. What was that feeling like? Getting the stamp of approval from someone who’s now a superstar in the game.

B: It was just sick init. At the time, we were young, so it was just sick. A sick experience. From him just being there and actually messing with man from back then and still messing with man now. It was just sick.

Then ‘Ay Cramaba’ comes out, and you guys are on the hook. Catches fire and is playing everywhere. Did you always know it was going to be a hit or were you surprised by it all?

B: We actually made the song in 2016, and it was literally just us on it. Then Fredo done two verses for it and then eventually came out in 2018. So the song was already two years old by then. We already knew it was a banger, that’s why we kept it. We wanted to make sure we packaged it right so that it would connect how we wanted it to.

What’s the feeling like when you put a song like ‘Ay Caramba,’ that you’ve been working on for two years, and its a hit?

T: It just makes you feel like you know exactly what you’re talking about.

B: Because we knew!

We’re in a really funny time in music right now, where there a lot of people making good music but there is an element of people sounding the same. How do you guys manage to keep your sound unique but still relevant?

B: We don’t saturate our music, I don’t think we saturate ourselves. We don’t just dash bare songs out there where it’s like the same thing over and over and over. We make sure everytime we drop, we feel like the song itself is a very good song. We’re not even trying to fit in with what’s going on in the market right now, and we’re just doing our thing, we’re just dropping what sounds like good music, and this is good Young T and Bugsey music, and that’s what is it init. Because I feel like the more and more we continue on this path, the more people will come to us for the Ay Caramba’s and the Strike A Pose’s, because they know with Young T and Bugsey you’re getting a banger. And now, our whole brand and price is off the roof because now they know.

You guys are from Nottingham. How would you describe the difference between the music scene in Nottingham and the music scene here in London?

B: London, there’s more people that’s active. That’s fair to say that.

T: In London, I guess there’s more people that are willing to work in different departments of music and industry. That’s what I would say. I think Nottingham, there’s people in place and there’s people who are definitely willing to work behind the scenes, but I feel like we just need a bit more of that in Nottingham. Once we get that we’ll be able to build our own infrastructure in Nottingham, have our own bases and have our own teams.

B: Then we won’t have to come down to London to go studio or go to do whatever, you know

Is that what you guys are doing now?

B: Yeah, we come down to London basically for work, but we won’t have to do any of that. We want to eventually be in-house in Nottingham.

Being from Nottingham, would you say that’s influenced your sound at all?

B: Yes, most definitely. It’s made us unique and has made us experiment a bit more. Because we clocked on with the Nottingham thing quite early on it gave us room to experiment and the room to try different sounds, because people are expecting different sounds from us anyway because we’re not from London so it gave us that room that we can do a tiny bit more because we don’t have to conform to the same London rules because we didn’t grow up here. So If I come with a different sound, people accept it because you know, here’s from Nottingham, so that must be what they’re on up there.

You’ve since taken the UK by storm, “Strike A Pose” your latest release featuring Aitch is playing everywhere. How did that collaboration come about?

T: Literally, we made the song at the end of last year with Toddler T, and it was like a last minute session went did together. Bugs had the hook, and we basically had the basis of the song, the beat was quite quickly finished.

B: There wasn’t really much thinking, it was just, we were in the studio, the beat is playing, let’s write a hook, let’s get it going, you know that type of thing.

Is that how you always make music?

B: Not all the time, but it depends on how relaxed the atmosphere is. Because sometimes you can have a session where it’s like ‘ okay cool, in this session we need to try and crack this out, ‘ but sometimes its sessions where its a relaxed session and there’s no biggie whether we finish this song in this session, there’s no biggie. But sometimes them sessions there, you’re not even thinking about making a banger, you’re just thinking about what works for this song, then the magic happens

T: And when it comes to you, it comes to you. I think we have a nice approach to making music. We make music from scratch and we always kind of go off the feel, you know.

Well, music is feeling. On the back of that, what is the most rewarding thing about making music?

B: Most rewarding thing, erm.

T: I think there’s different stages. There’s making a song, and sometimes you can be in the studio halfway into making a song, and you know where you want this song to go or how you want it to sound, or you might take 30 minutes trying to crack it. But as soon as you crack it, you got it. That’s a bare rewarding feeling.

B: There’s bare rewarding factors in music. Like radio, there’s been bare times when mans in an Uber ride and Strike A Pose comes on, but I’ve completely forgot who I am. You’re like deep in thought, and you’re not even thinking about music or career. You’re just in an Uber ride, and then you catch yourself, and you’re like oh this is my song, man-made this you know.

Then there’s moments when you see fans and supporters. Like when you really see them connect with the song. Like take Ay Caramba, that song was made in 2016, I’ve heard thousands of times, to me it’s just a song, but some people, I hear them singing it, and I can tell they’re really loving it and that gives me a feeling, like mans really doing a good job. And that’s the whole point of it, to make people feel good, our music is mainly feel-good music, like music you dance to and vibe to and just feel good, so if that’s working then I’m doing my job.

Young T Jumper: GMBH @ Browns Fashion, Trousers: RAF Simons @ Browns Fashion, Trainers: Nike @ Schuh. Bugsey Earphones: JBL, Jacket: Heron Preston @ Browns Fashion, Jumper: Fiorucci, Trousers: John Lawrence, Trainers: Nike @ Schuh.