Frenzo clears the air…
Hello Frenzo thank you for your time..
1. Your track Chaabian Boyz has been banned by the BBC. Tell us your initial reaction to this and what you were trying to do with this track?
This track was meant to be raw and gritty, I wanted the listener to have a clear picture of the scene I was painting. “Harami” is a character I’ve created and he’s involved in drugs and prostitution, the track was meant to sound real but I was surprised when I received an email from a Media Correspondent at The Times. I honestly didnt think it was that deep.
2. Were you trying to glamorise prostitution?
Sex and prostitution have been glamourised in music and television for many years. Lady Gaga and Cardi B were both strippers, virutally every rap songfrom the 90’s references prostitution in some way. One of Jay Z’s biggest tracks was called “Big Pimpin”. Julia Roberts played a sex worker in the classic “Pretty Woman”, which also glamourises prostitution and wasn’t banned! “Roxanne” by The Police is another classic song that is all about prostitution. In England, having sex for money is legal! It’s actually a very glamorous lifestyle if you’re earning hundreds of thousands of pounds
3. Who do you make music for, yourself or the public?
I have always enjoyed producing beats and writing lyrics for myself as ahobby. ‘Chaabian Boyz’ was actually the first track that I wrote with the intention to release to the public. The first 16 bars were for the Punjabi/Urdu speaking Asian listeners. The rest of the track was just raw realness. The main objective of this song was to shock the audience and catch their attention, I think we managed to do that!
4. How did you get your start. Tell us about the beginnings?
My brothers have been telling me to release music for years but I was never really interested. It wasn’t until Shak posted a video of me rapping on his instagram in December 2018 which boosted my followers, they eventually convinced me to release more music. That’s when I finished writing “Chaabian Boyz” and dropped the audio on YouTube.
5. You are connected to Shaker, Richie Rich, tell us about this.
I’ve known Shak since I was a teenager, we met through mutual friends and have been very close ever since. Thats bro, it’s way deeper than rap. Rest In Peace RICHIE x
6. You have used instagram as a platform and released all your music independently, tell us about this.
I’ve been getting a lot of love from instagram, this is probably the main reason why I’ve decided to continue releasing music. My project “ChaabianBoyz – Volume 1” featuring Shaker The Baker is available on my own You Tube channel, as well as Spotify and Apple Music. I also have 2 music videos on GRM Daily and recently did a freestyle for Mixtape Madness.
7. What next songs can we expect from you?
Me and Shak have got some real UGG (fire) coming. I’m also working on 2 bangers with Sevakq, proper Pataka’s. I’ve just done a track with Pak-Man and Shaker. I’m also speaking to some other known artists about future collaborations. We’ve already started working on ‘Chaabian Boyz – Volume 2’
8. What is currently inspiring you, music, fashion, culture?
I love reading and writing poetry. I’m also inspired by the visual arts, as well as my own personal life experiences.
9. Who is Frenzo as an artiste. What are you trying to get across?
I haven’t got a particular message that I’m trying to send out, I’m just trying to express myself like any other artist and I think some of my words have been taken completely out of context.
10. What are your plans going forward music wise?
I dont have any specfic expectations from music at the moment, I’m justhaving fun and seeing where it goes.
By Marian Kwei