Cover Story - BLK BRIT Meets: Blue Lab Beats
Photography by Ogaga Blessing
The dynamic duo that is Blue Lab Beats; Namali Kwaten and David Mrakpor aka NK-OK and Mr. DM need little introduction. The brilliance of their productions draw in both older and younger generations of listeners, a true definition of mass appeal with authenticity. These award-winning artists captivate their fans with eclectic live sessions and stellar performances in their shows throughout the UK and internationally.
In a lively, insightful conversation, Blue Lab Beats goes into the making of their latest highly anticipated 4th studio album Blue Eclipse, the power of collaboration, sourcing inspiration, global audiences and the significance of community.
Your 4th studio album Blue Eclipse is out April 19th, a nod to your Blue Skies EP, featuring artists that you’ve previously collaborated with, as well as some new. What were some of the challenges you faced in coordinating and creating such a brilliant body of work?
NK-OK_ Thank you, this is our 4th record producing, and when you get to album 4 weird stuff happens! (both laugh).
Because you’re just like, where do I go? Your 1st album is like, yes, creative freedom, 2nd album is, I want to copy that again. 3rd is like, don’t do that we’re going to do creative freedom again and then album 4 is like, where do we go? And we were like, oh wait, we have loads of catalogue, so it’s just like copying some bits from that but refining it even more. Our tune Guava is basically like Pineapple part 2 -
Mr. DM_ Yeah, a sequel!
NK-OK_ And then Take Time is like Hi There part 2, and then Never Doubt is like Movement part 2. But the challenge for us was with Never Doubt in particular-
Mr. DM_ Oh yeah, that was a madness! The files went missing, everything was gone -
NK-OK_ Yeah, yeah. We finished the demo and was like we can’t wait to get this mixed and then literally my computer said, ‘Hello Apple user, welcome, can you please select your language,’ (laughs) like startup tings.
That’s awful!
NK-OK_ And then I had an MP3 document on my phone, so we then recreated the whole thing, which is a lot.
Mr. DM_ But luckily our memory started flooding back, I could remember.
Wow, thank goodness! So, in terms of coordinating artists and sessions, was that challenging? Did you have a timeframe that you wanted to complete the project in, or was it a case of you just know when it’s done?
NK-OK_ This album in particular, it was nearly 2 years we worked on this and it was just when it felt right kind of thing. But then also, we still gave like fake deadlines to ourselves as well just to be like okay, we don’t want it to be continuous in an endless cycle of not finishing (laughs). We did kind of do that because we hit like 100 demos with this album and then chose the best 12.
Oh wow! How do you select and bring it down when you have so many? What is it in particular about this 12?
NK-OK_ Whenever we are in sessions, we will make like 3 to 5 ideas and then each idea will be in its own theme. And then when we have like 12 that’s in one theme, then we’re like cool, this is the record. But it took a bit longer because obviously going through 100 demos!
Mr. DM_ It’s a bit of a problem when all 100 of them sound good! (both laugh).
NK-OK_ That’s literally it, because when we’re saying demos as well it wasn’t like 8 seconds or 30 seconds, it’s us doing like full songs times 100.
Mr. DM_ 300 minutes at least.
The creative selection process is really difficult. I did see on IG [Instagram] sometimes you’ll be like, ‘Hey, I can’t use this, I’m putting it up so you can use it for reels.’ That's crazy!
NK-OK_ Ah yes the Blue Lab Challenge!
Photography by Ogaga Blessing
Yes! Because you create at such a quick pace, where do you both get your inspirations from to produce that amount of content so heavy in quality?
Mr. DM_ From my personal side, I look for inspiration from records from older generations like Patrice Rushen, Anita Baker, Herbie Hancock. Their songs have multitudes of different stories. I remember Duke Ellington had an interview and someone asked him, ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ His answer was, ‘Ideas, no, I have a million dreams.’
That’s beautiful. What is it about the older generations and the era of that music that you gravitate to and how you marry it with the new? It gives you a very varied audience that listens to your music. And I love that you have the vinyls and intimate elements incorporated into your tour.
NK-OK_ For Blue Lab, our whole objective very much was we want us lot to enjoy actual soulful goodness in music, instead of just what is happening in charts. And also building community around that as well.
Like I’ve been holding jam sessions from way, way back when like basically one of us lot weren’t getting booked for gigs (laughs). We had our album listening party the other day literally and we hosted it in the Total Refreshment Centre and that’s basically where lots of boiler rooms were happening. Like The Ezra Collective, basically they had their breakthrough gig moment there, they went completely viral and we were in the same exact room. And loads of people from the UK jazz and instrumental scene also rehearsed there as well. So it’s just important to remember community in the essence of music especially genres like hip-hop, jazz, RnB are just heavily based in community.
Speaking of community, please do go into how you both met and came together creatively, and how important it is keeping the arts funded for young people. As we know, there are lots of cuts and it really affects the quality of output for the next generation, because many creatives do start out young.
Mr. DM_ We met at a place called Weekend Arts College in Belsize Park, it’s an organisation that’s been going on for 45 years, one of the co-founders was Celia Greenwood and she gave a lot of young people the opportunity to indulge in creative arts like singing, dancing, playing instruments, acting, videography. A lot of people came out of there, like Daniel Kaluuya, Ms Dynamite, a lot of great jazz musicians [like] Alex Garnett, Julian Joseph, Steve Williamson, just a multitude of different talents came out of that one organisation.
NK-OK_ We met and I was like 12,13 and you were 18, and I was doing music production and he [David] was doing live music and he just heard my beats in the lunch hall and people rapping over it, was proper like a hip-hop movie scene (laughs) and he was like, ‘I’m literally just down there just rehearsing,’ and I saw this man pick up like 4 different instruments, like keyboard, drums, bass guitar, he plays more! (laughs).
Wow, so were you classically trained? Or is it a bit of both with self-taught?
Mr. DM_ Classically trained, but it's a combination of learning some jazz standards at an early age and also listening to the RnB stuff at home and a bit of sight reading here and there, a combination of that.
You have come together as a duo but you do things solo as well. When you collaborate with people, what is the difference between collaborating and choosing to have a partnership with somebody? I guess there would be a different type of synergy when you pair as a brand as opposed to say a one off?
NK-OK_ I think the main difference with collaboration is you are wanting the input from that other person and also learn from them, not even intentionally but it builds your musical vocabulary to greater heights. It’s important to be constantly inspired, so that’s why we collaborate so much, either as a duo or solo projects. That’s why we collaborate so much, either as a duo or solo projects.
Mr. DM_ And the sounds will always be different.
NK-OK_ Yeah, it’s like learning other people’s techniques and then it’s like oh, I can do that, but my own way next time.
Photography by Ogaga Blessing
How have both of your cultures influenced and contributed to yourselves and how your music looks today?
Mr. DM_ For me, going to Ghana. That heavily impacted the Motherland Journey, the making of that album, it really strengthened it and having Fela on the record as well, he’s Nigerian too like me; that was really spiritual.
NK-OK_ Mainly like even just being in London, being a creative and being inspired by just everyone and everything, moving about and seeing different types of nightlife is always so inspirational for me.
With the UK, I feel especially in the last 5 years there has been a larger global acknowledgement of talent coming out of the UK; what do you think is different now? As we’ve always had great talents, but seems to have more traction, especially within the US.
NK-OK_ I think because the independent market for music had just exploded, especially the past 3,4 years definitely. And that has helped incredibly well. Then you’re seeing bigger corporations trying to get into this as well, but then you’re like this is community based and driven, you can try your best but it’s like people can feel if it’s fake or not. And stuff like people will tweet, ‘RnB is dead’ and this and that but then you see people like Victoria Monét and the like selling out crazy amounts of shows, Coco Jones, all of those incredible artists-
Mr. DM_ Raye is doing well!-
NK-OK_ Yeah! Raye obviously you know, you see her completely wipe out the Brit Awards and this is an independent artist, you know. And you’re like, this is just so inspiring to see.
Yes, I feel the level of authenticity and not being dictated to for sound really has helped draw audiences in. So, with yourself (Namali) you had a full circle moment. I saw you posted a video of when you met Flava Flav-
NK-OK_ Wow! You did your research, okay! (laughs).
Sure did! (laughs). That was a particular moment where you were heavily inspired, when did you both realize that you were going from being inspired, to also becoming inspiring to other people?
NK-OK_ The moment we went from inspired to inspiring other people - that’s a great question, thank you. Honestly I think Motherland Journey. And another thing was when Blue Skies hit I think number 4 in the Japanese Jazz chart, I was like, oh okay it’s actually reaching, this is mad. That was back in 2016 and they were literally patiently waiting like six years, so yes, 2022 we did our first gig in Japan and when we first announced they thought it was fake news. They were like, ‘No way!’ And then we did like four dates there, it was insane, so yes, seeing that and especially Motherland Journey it was like we’re really helping people, you know. Our music is doing that. And the Grammy Awards as well, seeing how people were influenced by us in that time, was really crazy.
Photography by Ogaga Blessing
You are both so hardworking and busy. How do you balance it all, your schedules, solo, duo, musically and otherwise?
NK-OK_ I think just the importance of having breaks definitely. You need fuel sometimes-
Mr. DM_ Knowing when to sleep!
NK-OK_ Wise words! (both laugh). For me, it’s like my other hobbies like I love to cook, like loads. Before music from like age five I’ve been like cooking for family.
Mr. DM_ As like a child slash teenager I loved drawing, and Marvel comics too. Recently, also cooking, just a tiny bit.
Most creatives are usually creative in other aspects too so this doesn’t surprise me. There’s an art to cooking. So there were no football dreams for anyone, no?
NK-OK_ (laughs) I’m in the kitchen with a pot cooking for two to three hours and doing massive meal prep at that so I’ve got my wonderful creation just in there, and go back to it at any time.
Mr. DM_ I did have my goal-keeping phase.
I knew there was football in there somewhere for somebody! (both laugh). With how hard you both work I know how important it is to have a community of people behind you. How does that look for you?
NK-OK_ Mainly for us it’s jam session wise really, and having that constant inspiration of musicians around so then you’re learning from each other. Musicians and people in general, your style sparks and their style spark, so like constant amazing flares of creativity going on, it’s the most important thing really.
Last question; in interviews, what do you not usually get asked that you are passionate about but don’t really get to speak about?
NK-OK_ I think probably if interviews aren’t as random as Nardwuar, he’s like my favourite thing to watch. Japanese interviews can be a bit like that, they will be like, ‘Your dad was a producer back in the 90s and he produced this,’ and I’ll be thinking how do you know this stuff! (laughs). I also like when people are focusing on community aspects within the UK and actual artists and bringing that up more. I think that’s like a job as well, because with bigger corporations they can just strip that back very easily, so it’s important to remind ourselves. That person is big and number one, but there was the community aspect of it because you could feel that from their older works. So just remembering to bring it back to that. Especially for music genres like hip-hop, RnB, soul, jazz, Black genres of music; it’s coming from a personal struggle, talking about it and sharing the experience because it’s relatable between us and the wider community.
Mr. DM_ Pretty much along the lines of what NK said, especially even with the word jazz, some artists tend to not like that word because the word feels like a box. To be honest, when it comes to Black music, there is no box if you really think about it. Because if you think about all those that came before that look like you and the type of work that they’ve done, their art is a reflection of what they have gone through at the time; it’s hard to define that.
Editor In Chief Raissa Coulibaly, Editor Charlene Haylette, Photography Ogaga Blessing, Interview Savannah Brown, Assistants Jodi Clarke & Destinee Kouassi, Talents Blue Lab Beats