2021 Q1 Roundup
For the first three months of 2021, the UK has been subject to a third national lockdown. With music picking up again and a roadmap in place to ease the lockdown restrictions, we take a look back at these first three months and peer into where the SOuthside is headed in 2021.
Despite the lockdown, we’ve seen a lot of intriguing activity in the music business. Muru’s re-release of Poet & The Engineer set Southampton on fire, Jayedee’s What Happened To Rapping? single reignited British boom bap, and AK’s relocation to the capital city promises big things for him while still working with the management of Simon Turner. This is all without mentioning Basingstoke R&B prodigy Tyrell Trey’s single Get Like Me, which harmonises R&B spit over drill instrumentals, and attracted its fair share of media attention when it released back in February.
Our highlight for the first quarter of 2021, though, was Kasey Couzens’ The Come Up single - an inventive concept that plays on the role of his trade as a painter and decorator. The song exhibited the best of KC’s renowned diction and was blessed with a creative music video storyline, which is said to have been inspired by true events, as well as being advertised on billboards in Southampton to complete the package.
“I didn’t think we were gonna be able to pull it off as well as we did”
“That was in the making for a minute,” Kasey told SOuthside in an interview earlier today. “I didn’t think we were gonna be able to pull it off as well as we did, but everyone turnt up and smashed it.”
Couzens also explained how he’s kept positive and productive in lockdown V3 - through focus. “Keep working… I constantly keep grinding and keep putting my best foot forward I think, because as soon as I stop grinding I start getting loads of anxiety and shit and I just start drinking too much,” he half-joked. “The drink is always there anyway, but at least if I’m working towards something that’s when I’m at my most happiest. So yeah man, just keep working. Puttin’ in that work!”
There’s the hindsight. In foresight, it's exciting to have things moving in the right direction again. Q2’s already making noise: Forbes’ Vibe Chemistry-produced Dat Guy released earlier today, complete with a Ged Wesley music video to make Dat Guy another certified banger from the Southampton vet. On Wednesday this week, 7th of April, Basingstoke’s Fats Spacegang is releasing his first EP titled Universe 1. We’ve heard Universe 1’s previews, and it's legit AF.
In addition, live show dates are starting to line up - slowly, but surely. An urban day festival in Southampton city centre is also rumoured, set to showcase some of the South Coast’s best emcees and deejays in a multi-venue hip hop hootenanny. If our tip-off turns out to be correct (fingers crossed they are), such an event will definitely not be one to miss!
From all of us at SOuthside: hang in there, stay positive, and look forward to brighter days… they’re coming. Thanks for the first quarter and let’s make the rest of 2021 the best of 2021.