INTERVIEW | YXNG LOOSE DISCUSSES HIS LATEST TRACK ‘GWOPANESE’

Embark on a jour­ney through the vibrant music­al land­scape of Yxng Loose as we explore the gen­es­is of his latest track, ‘Gwo­pan­ese.’ In the heart of a stu­dio ses­sion with pro­du­cers Wez and Sham­s­chi, Yxng Loose dis­covered a pro­found love for the Detroit style of rap, spark­ing a desire to elev­ate this genre with­in the UK, par­tic­u­larly in his homet­own of Manchester. ‘Gwo­pan­ese’ rep­res­ents a son­ic depar­ture from Yxng Loose’s earli­er works, show­cas­ing a return to his hard­core rap roots and an effort­less abil­ity to craft nar­rat­ives with­in the Detroit style. The track, a fusion of groovy Detroit rap and a ‘get rich or die try­ing’ men­tal­ity, stands as a test­a­ment to Yxng Loose’s life exper­i­ences, humor, and resi­li­ence. As we delve into the inter­view, Yxng Loose shares insights into his evol­u­tion since 2018, emphas­iz­ing a new­found focus on punch­lines. Bey­ond music, the artist unveils plans for a for­ay into film­mak­ing, hint­ing at a sig­ni­fic­ant pro­ject in the works. The inter­view con­cludes with a teas­er for the visu­al accom­pani­ment of ‘Gwo­pan­ese,’ prom­ising an unex­pec­ted exper­i­ence as Yxng Loose declares his intent to make waves in the music scene. This inter­view offers an intim­ate glimpse into the mind of Yxng Loose, a vis­ion­ary artist poised to reshape the soundscape.

Can you tell us about the inspir­a­tion behind your latest track ‘Gwo­pan­ese’? How did the idea for the song come about, and what mes­sage or story are you aim­ing to con­vey through it?

I was in the stu­dio with Wez and Sham­s­chi (both are pro­du­cers). Wez has been into the Detroit style of music for a long time and when he played me some of his beats, it just hit me like a bul­let and I instantly loved it. I noticed not many artists are look­ing into that style of rap and I aspire to make it a big sound here in the UK, espe­cially in Manchester where I’m from.

‘Gwo­pan­ese’ seems to show­case a dif­fer­ent sound com­pared to your pre­vi­ous work. What motiv­ated this son­ic shift, and how do you feel it reflects your artist­ic evolution?

Well, actu­ally the first style of music I was into was hard-core rap, which was not too far off from the Detroit style that I’m using now, so I real­ize that when it comes to mak­ing com­mer­cial music, such as the oth­er genres that I put out, I noticed it used to take me weeks, even months to write a song but with this new style of wrap, it takes me about 10 minutes to write a song and that’s because this is the type of rap that res­on­ates with me in terms of my life exper­i­ence and it’s very easy for me to express myself on these type of instrumentals.

‘Gwo­pan­ese’ com­bines groovy Detroit rap with a ‘get rich or die try­ing’ men­tal­ity. How did these influ­ences come togeth­er in the cre­ation of the song, and what artists or exper­i­ences inspired this fusion?

Well, that wasn’t really much of an influ­ence on the song itself. How­ever, I real­ise that this style of music por­trays not tak­ing life too ser­i­ously and enjoy­ing it and just being ran­dom and that’s why I really like the style. It’s some­thing people can not just listen to dance to, but also laugh because there’s some comed­ic punch­lines. PS, I got the best punchlines.

Hav­ing grown a sig­ni­fic­ant fan­base since your debut in 2018, how do you think your music has evolved over the years, and what do you believe sets ‘Gwo­pan­ese’ apart from your earli­er releases?

Well, ‘Gwo­pan­ese’ and all the oth­er songs that are com­ing out after it are dif­fer­ent from my old music because this new music is focused more on punchlines.

Your jour­ney into music was driv­en by the chal­lenges and struggles in your com­munity, par­tic­u­larly after the loss of a friend to knife crime. How does ‘Gwo­pan­ese’ reflect your per­son­al exper­i­ences and emo­tions, and what role does music play in address­ing such issues?

The exper­i­ences I went through and the trauma only made me go harder and it got to a point I was writ­ing three songs a day like every morn­ing. I’d wake up and write three songs before I’d even go out to work.

With big plans both in and out of music, you’ve hin­ted at a move to the big screen in the future. How does your exper­i­ence in the music industry influ­ence your aspir­a­tions in oth­er forms of enter­tain­ment, and what kind of roles or pro­jects are you inter­ested in pursuing?

Well, I’m actu­ally work­ing on a film right now. Yes, I can’t tell you what the film is about. Yes, we’re work­ing on a very very big film and it’s known that it has taken us a couple of years from now get­ting into the pro­duc­tion stage, so that’s where I actu­ally want to take my career. Music is just a hobby that I love doing, I’m much more ser­i­ous about the film.

The track fea­tures twink­ling keys and hard-hit­ting kicks. Can you walk us through the cre­at­ive pro­cess behind the pro­duc­tion of ‘Gwo­pan­ese,’ and how involved were you in shap­ing the over­all sound and atmo­sphere of the song?

We were at the stu­dio and when the beat came on we were just free styl­ing it and hav­ing a joke, out of nowhere this song became ‘GWO­PAN­ESE’. This is the hon­est truth.

As an artist who has built momentum through­out 2023, how do you approach each new release to ensure that it con­trib­utes to the growth of your career and con­nects with your audience?

I’ve noticed that my biggest prob­lem over the years is that I got in my own way a lot. Now I’m going to change that and give my people what they deserve.

‘Gwo­pan­ese’ is described as a cul­min­a­tion of your slick style and unique palette. How do you define your artist­ic style, and how do you ensure that each release main­tains a sense of con­tinu­ity while explor­ing new cre­at­ive directions?
I’ll drop two songs a month if I have to and I’m gonna have a count­less amount of mix­tapes and maybe even an album.

How do you believe the visu­al ele­ment com­ple­ments the mes­sage and vibe of the song?
They should expect the unex­pec­ted. We are com­ing for the music scene!

Sup­port Yxng Loose on Social Media 

Ins­tagram 

Listen to more of Yxng Loose

Spo­ti­fy | Apple Music

The fol­low­ing two tabs change con­tent below.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Rishma Dhaliwal

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds

Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voice­less. Cur­rently work­ing in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media know­ledge to I am Hip Hop and oth­er pro­jects by No Bounds.

Latest posts by Rishma Dhaliwal (see all)

• REVIEW | USH­ER ‘REN­DEZ­VOUS IN PAR­IS’ A CINE­MAT­IC CON­CERT EXPER­I­ENCE LIKE NO OTH­ER — Septem­ber 11, 2024
• ELIZA, EARL SWEAT­SHIRT AND NILS FRAHM TO PER­FORM THE INAUG­UR­AL JAZZ CAFE FEST­IV­AL — Septem­ber 3, 2024
• THEATRE IN LON­DON | JOY­WAY LON­DON PRESENTS ‘WING CHUN’ AT THE SADLER’S WELLS A FUSION OF CON­TEM­POR­ARY DANCE, DRAMA AND MAR­TIAL ARTS TELLS THE TRUE STORY OF GRAND­MAS­TER YIP MAN, TRAIN­ER OF BRUCE LEE — August 29, 2024