CAUSING A SCENE - CHAPTER SIX: THE NEW WAVE

For the past five or so years, North West London rapper Ashbeck has been centric to the new wave of alternative hip-hop’s climb towards the UK mainstream. Now he, in his own career and as a representative of the scene, wants to leave the underground label behind.

I’m sitting in the back corner of a busy café a stone's throw away from Old Street tube station, sheltering from a spitting early April shower with Ashbeck. The North West London rapper orders an oat flat white, assertive in his decision, clearly not his first rodeo within the realms of cafeteering. I play it safe, sticking to the inscrutable black Americano, the flickers of a hangover enough to put me off an endeavour into dairy.

Not many rappers represent the current alt-rap landscape as succinctly as the 23-year-old sat next to me. His motley sound influenced by trap, jazz, grime and soul nestles itself cosily amongst his contemporaries, who he often collaborates with, yet it is tinged with his own hued signature essence. Across his short but impactful career, he’s shared six bodies of work, including a debut album, with his seventh project – a third in his “Ashlondo” joint EP series with revered scene beat-smith and regular collaborator El Londo – to be released within weeks of us linking up.

Ash and Londo’s relationship originated well before they unveiled their first collaborative EP in 2019. “We were in the same friendship group at school but we weren't like the closest of friends,” he remembers. “He told me that he had started to do production. I was like, ‘Swear down. I've just started to try and rap as well.’ He said come to his crib and we can try to make something together.” The rest, as they say, is history; both have gone onto build impressive catalogues individually and collectively—and now sit as two of the most important figures in alt-rap’s new wave.

Prior to Ash and Londo creating in unison and chiselling their respective sounds in coalescence, the rapper had been discovering his enjoyment and acumen for rhyming atop MF DOOM instrumentals. His musical education was sprouting outwards at that stage, pinpointing “Lifesaver” by jazz-hip hop crossover act Guru as a turning point in his conception of rap music, before discovering the Soundcloud underground rap movement on both sides of the Atlantic. The platform had a huge influence on the early days of the UK movement and was where Ashbeck and many of his counterparts established themselves as artists, doing the bulk of their sonic refinement and hype-building on the now-often overlooked streaming service.  

“Eventually me and Londo made ‘Ashlondo’, which was the first project that we posted on [Spotify],” he remembers when reflecting on the now iconic 2019 debut EP from the duo. “I guess it actually did quite well, to our surprise. People loved it and it got millions of streams. At that point in time, we were 18 and we didn't really look at it like a career. We were just having fun.”

The following year was release-heavy for Ash, who shared his zippy first solo tape, “Starmix”, in the spring of 2020, swiftly pursued by a second in the “Ashlondo” anthology in the autumn, a project which surpassed the likeable first outing in terms of both musical craft and listenership. It was also during this time that the young artist began finding himself within alt-rap’s inner circle.

“We had this little collective back in the day when we were all just figuring shit out,” he recalls on his first involvement with the underground movement. “They put on an event, which was my first ever show. I think ayrtn performed and Kish! was there and at that time he had a collective as well. That was my first time, I think, really meeting them lot. I was meeting these people, doing shows with the same people on the line up each time. MAP Cafe [in Kentish Town] was a place where bare people would be doing shows. ayrtn is someone I’ve known for ages. He was one of the first people that I collaborated with on a track on SoundCloud way back in the day. I've known him since before we blew up at all.”

Through his strive to improve and his inclination to release regularly, Ash became a popular name in the underground, and one synonymous with its aesthetic—fashion-leaning, openly collaborative with fellow risers, and linear to the scene’s sonic etymology. Some of UK alt-rap’s most memorable feature turns came courtesy of Ash during 2020s early years, aiding in the launching of careers with his collaborative stamp of approval; his slick contributions on Feux’s dreamy “Cloud Nine”, Danny Sanchez’s summer evening anthem “Hold Up”, and 5EB’s moody groover “BTC” to name a few, all sit on millions of streams at the time of writing.  

2021 saw Ash at his colourful and playful best on a mutual EP with Billzonthebeat, ”ORGANIC WORKS”, before presenting the so-far most significant drop of his career the following year: his debut album. BEEZY is an amelioration of his previous solo tape “Starmix”; sonically cohesive and cultured with an array of polished but steezy cuts, and a stellar feature list that includes underground forefather Joe James on standout track “SLEEP”. Last year, he revealed his first project in unison with a fellow MC: co-starring with another emerging frontrunner Rushy on the brief but characterful “RUSH HOUR” EP, as well as a series of standalone singles—from slick number “Juice” with SamRecks to smooth and saccharine solo outing “Side by Side.”

“Personally I don't even think I drop that much compared to some people,” Ash insists when I compliment him on his prolificness. “But then I've also seen people who drop maybe once a year and I've just always thought that, as a listener and as a fan of people's music, I like it when they're consistent. I take pride in constantly showing the world where I'm at with my music and showing progression. Also, I’ve just got so much good music that I have to release, do you know what I mean? I think for me, if I sit on a song for too long, I might not like it anymore so I feel like it's important to get it out there.”

The news of the release of “Ashlondo 3” has been welcomed with open arms from Ash and El Londo’s dedicated fanbases, and the wider scene as a whole. It’s been years since the previous two “Ashlondo” EPs, and in the time separating the drops, both rapper and producer have nuanced their craft tenfold. “Obviously because it's been four years since we released our last one [“Ashlondo 2”], a lot has changed with the way we make music,” he says. “I feel like Londo’s production has got way better, and I like to think my rapping skills have got way better too.”

Ash sees the new tape as an amalgamation of the tone of the two previous “Ashlondo” projects, a seamless synthesis of the contrasting timbres that merge to offer the strongest EP in the trilogy. “I think it almost sounds like a combination of both [previous “Ashlondo” EPs]. The first tape was quite youthful and fun and then the second one is deeper; we were growing up a bit more during that time and I'd broken up with my girlfriend. I feel like this third one is the perfect balance between the two: it's kind of emotional, but it's super fun and upbeat.”

Across the 11-pronged “Ashlondo 3”, you can hear a maturity—an added tact in Ash and Londo’s approach. In many ways, it’s a direct continuation of the previous EPs; Londo maintains his rich, splashy and snappy production, and Ash his raw authenticity and effortless charisma. The rapper is certainly not reinventing himself or his artistry, but rather sharpening his sound, bringing more anthemic hooks, vocal assurance, and carefully curating a bountiful collection of features from the scene’s very best—fellow hotly-tipped risers Bawo and ayrtn and alt-rap cult hero, A2. “I’m very specific with who I release with, I don’t just work with anyone. The three artists on the project, I’m a fan of their music and that’s important for me. ayrtn has been my guy for ages, Bawo, I’ve always been a fan of, and A2…I was listening to his music at college, always bumping his tunes in my headphones, so to work with him now is sick.”

Aside from his increased artistic nous, Ash’s added savviness and experience of navigating the industry leave the tape in good stead to be amongst his most effective and wide-spreading releases to date. “For ‘Ashlondo’ and ‘Ashlondo 2’, I didn't have a manager or proper distribution going on, I was just uploading it through DistroKid online by myself. This time around we're trying to focus on making sure it is seen and heard in the right places, getting good music videos done, getting playlisted and stuff like that. Now that I've got a bit of a name I feel like there's more pressure to actually deliver to make sure we're making an impact and not just releasing music willy-nilly. Especially because of how much work we put into the project, it would be a disservice to myself to not try and get the most out of it.”

The underground ethos – being unbothered and defiant against the upper tiers of music populism – is weakening, and to be frank…it’s about time. Ashbeck is amongst a generation of alt-leaning rappers that can taste success more nutritional than cult status and Soundcloud iconism. Who says it can’t be mainstream? “If you're making music and releasing it, most people have the goal of becoming famous and successful,” Ash says ardently. “I don't really see [being mainstream] as a bad thing; if you gradually work your way up through the ranks and you get to the point where you are very known by people, I guess you could be considered as mainstream but I just think it goes hand in hand with being successful. I wouldn't bash anyone for becoming mainstream. I guess there are industry plants now that pop out of nowhere backed by a label and they're already blown. To me, I don't know about that because that's not how I've done it, I've made my way up. But if I've been putting in work for years and then I have a song that blows up and it's on the radio, that’s a win for me.”

Ash and co are pushing the boundaries of what alternative rap in the UK can be; although not rewriting the rulebook sonically, they have shaped a sound that’s audience multiples buy the year, far beyond the demographic that it had previously settled into when emerging on Soundcloud in the early 10s. Ashbeck takes influence from those before him and alongside him, and has gone on to influence the newcomers who have come since; a fruitful ecosystem that grows ever outwardly. “These younger artists doing their thing, I can see the influence that potentially they've taken from our music”, he says. “There were definitely a few people who inspired my music, but I think we were some of the first people to do this kind of sound in the UK. People are inspired by it and more people are making music like it [now], and you can tell that people's ears are opening up to this sound more. It's not so unknown nowadays, you know.”

It’s time then, to dispel it entirely from its label. As the UK rap scene reaches new creative heights and levels of public popularity, it becomes more loosely definable as the thing which most would know it as. The UK underground remains strong, individual and progressive—the best parties are always in the basement, after all. Ashbeck though, and many of Causing A Scene counterparts, are no longer underground. They are on the rise, they are grinding, and they are now invited to the mediocre but stylish party on the ground floor: the mainstream. “People call it underground but I think it's starting to leave that phrase behind now,” Ash says to me as he zips up his jacket and prepares to face the now-overcast afternoon. “I kind of hate that word though. Because bare people know about our music, do you know what I mean?”

Photography by @vickygrout

Styling by @abigailhazard

Interview and words by @tibbitsben

Editorial Director @charlottejmorton

Editor-in-Chief @ellaxwest

Creative Director @jeffreythomson

Art Director @harry_conor

Assistant Art Director @beth1owri

Production Director @bencrankbencrank

Production Assistant Lola Randall

Special thanks to @chocolate.studios