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INTERVIEW
"IT'S
MY TIME NOW."
CONNOR
STEVENS
Connor Stevens is having
the time of his life right now. The new up and coming teen has just released
his first album at the age of just 19! The talk and rumours about this kid have
been crazy! Everyone would love to know what it would be like to be Mr. Stevens
at this point in his career. Yes we said it … career! Connor Stevens has got
that fresh new vibe about him that we need in the music industry. "With all
these 'new' artists coming out, I want to be that guy who stands out from the
rest. I want to be that guy who puts soul and meaning into his music that can
really touch the public." You heard it here first! Connor is ready to take
on the battle of becoming a huge hit in the music industry. We went to catch up
with him in his very own recording studio on the streets of London to find out
more about his upbringing. We arrive at Blanchard Records in London's Kings
Cross. Stevens is looking stylish and urban displaying those Puma suede’s, some
tight fitted light jeans and a standard printed t-shirt, sitting in the studio
with an early morning drink.
Stevens’s first single
‘Broken Promises’ wasn’t a massive success, however he certainly made up for it
with his second single ‘Explanation’. Now he has an album out! Which has
already been a massive success selling over one million copies in the first few
days of release. "This album means a lot to me as it's how my career got
started. I am grateful for the opportunities I have been given including some
luck upon the way, but I am hoping now that I can make the most of what I've
got." The well-spoken 19-year-old is not your typical rapper; some compare
young Connor Stevens to a very successful artist that we all know very well
here at RELOAD magazine who goes by the name of Professor Green. A lot of
similarities can be made between the two, not the best upbringings, made it on
their own, same dress sense, and both very well spoken.
In his journey to get to
where his is now, Stevens has had some help from a few artists that have also
featured in our magazine. You may know of Devlin who is also quite young at the
age of 22, has only recently in the last year has made it as very famous
recording artists. The two were have supposed to have competed in rap battles
before and then went onto becoming close friends, each sharing their passion
for music. "I've known James (James Devlin) for a long time now, back in
the day we used to kick back and cotch, sharing our interest in music. We
didn't live that close to each other actually, but you could say that music
brought us together." Connor spins around in his chair with a surprised
look on his chiseled face. I asked him what he had been up to recently? Well,
obviously you know about my album that's just been released, everything has
just been based around the album itself. I made a promise to myself that by the
end of this year I would of release my first album and I have, so yeah it's
been a really busy year but it has definitely been worthwhile.
What do you mean by
that? Would you say your life has changed now that you are an established
artist? I suppose you could say I get a lot of publicity now that people know
who I am, I've made a name for myself and I want people to listen to my music,
it's not all about the parties, the money, the girls… I could go on (laughs),
but in all seriousness I make music because I love doing it and I want to
express myself through my music and hopefully people take a liking to it. Well
it seems your music is growing on people after your first single, tell us about
the name of the album, what's the meaning behind it? Yeah that
single didn’t do as well as I hoped it would but I was proud of my second
single, that was a success. The meaning behind Venture is my journey
to where I am now and how I've done it. The word venture actually means
something like a dangerous or risky journey and this is relatable to me as I
had to risk a lot of things in order to become who I am today, some things I
can not mention, the tracks on the back of the album are sort of like a
chronological journey of my life and yeah you could say it has been dangerous,
I have crossed a lot of paths to benefit myself and the music and I have made a
lot of enemies mainly from shutting people down in the rap battles back in the
day. (Laughs)
Sounds like you used
to get into a lot of trouble, did you ever try and release any other type of
album or tracks that you had recorded yourself? I would say that, but I
wasn’t exactly the perfect little boy a parent would hope for. And no, I've
never actually released anything to be sold, obviously I've recorded a few
tracks of my own but that was only to listen back to what I had done and
improve it. Now that I've got the right help in the promotional side of things,
I think you could be hearing a lot more of me. I look forward to it, tell us
about your upbringing, what sort of background did you grown up in? My background
was very poor, I came from the rough end of London, that shit hole called Hackney,
to be fair Hackney has taught me a lot about the world and introduced me to my
limits in life, thanks to my childhood I've experienced both scales of the
world, the scum and the scum, I'd like to think I'm somewhere in the middle. I
grew up with a lot of bad influences as a kid, I didn't do well in school at
all, didn't really have the right help. I still keep in contact with a lot of
people that I grew up with some have done really well for themselves and some I
keep in contact with simply for the links, if you know what I mean. What
about your family you don't seem to mention them a lot? I like to keep
my family to myself and close friends, let's just say I was very independent as
a child. You say you didn't do well in school, how have you grown up
speaking like you are from Chelsea? (laughs) I was never one
of those dumb kids in school that didn't have clue what time of the day it was,
I just wasn’t that interested in school and didn’t go that often. I was always
focusing on my music and hanging out with others that took an interest in music
as well. I did move areas for a short space of time due to personal reasons and
went to live with my Uncle who was brought up very well. I suppose he was very
influential, he always corrected me with how I spoke to people and to this day
he has taught me most of my general knowledge.
Who has been your
inspiration and influence to make you want to evolve into the rap industry? I grew up
worshiping people like Eminem, Biggie Smalls and Tupac. The way that they presented
their lyrics were so real and meaningful, none of the crap you see today where
people rap about random stuff just to make money. If I could wish for anything,
it would to be as successful as Eminem or Tupac and I don't mean successful as
in money, I mean successful as in being so lyrically capable to express your
feelings onto a piece of paper or onto your phone and produce music from it
like that! (Snaps fingers).
Tinie Tempah said he
likes your music and says you are what we should be introducing in today’s
music. Have you called him for any advice? He said that? Wow, I mean
comments like that just make me realize why I want to produce music, it's so
beneficial and I love what I am doing at the moment. I haven't called him no,
if someone could arrange a meeting with him I would love to go and chat with
him. I rate his music, he is a great artist, he puts so much energy and life
into his music, which it gets you buzzing when you listen to his lyrics. What
will be seeing of you in the next year? I’ve got a few surprises
up my sleeve that you’ll definitely enjoy. You will be hearing a lot more from
me, that's for sure! It’s my time now! What do you mean by surprises? Well, all I
can say right now is tune into BBC Radio 1 on 25th of Feb, you won’t
be disappointed.
