NEW MUSIC | D’STIL TEAMS UP WITH HIP HOP EMCEES RIC FLO AND MAEAR BRINGING BACK THE UK GARAGE VIBES WITH NEW SINGLE ‘BAG DOWN’

Birm­ing­ham pro­du­cer D’Stil kicks-off a big year of releases with a mon­ster UK Gar­age col­lab­or­a­tion ‘Bag Down’. The play­ful floor filler, out 31^st Janu­ary fea­tures verses from UK hip hop favour­ites Ric Flo and MAE­AR (both from the highly acclaimed col­lect­ive Jungle Brown), as well as an infec­tious hook cour­tesy of multi-tal­en­ted sing­er Karl Wil­li­ams.

Known for a more RnB lean­ing out­put to date, Bag Down show­cases D’Stil’s ver­sat­il­ity as the producer/artist deliv­ers an old skool UK Gar­age inspired anthem that is set to ignite the bub­bling new UKG scene. The flex­ible duo, Ric Flo and MAE­AR bol­ster the track with their hip hop approach, skil­fully jux­ta­pos­ing an enig­mat­ic under­tone with some cheeky and fun vocals. Adding some more con­text to the release, D’Stil explains:

“I rep­res­ent a Gar­age sound that is made for the club­bers and liv­ing room ravers. It’s all about put­ting that Bag Down and enjoy­ing the moment.”

Since mov­ing to Lon­don from Birm­ing­ham in 2016, D’Stil has col­lab­or­ated with vari­ous Lon­don rap­pers and sing­ers, with such releases sup­por­ted by BBC Intro­du­cing, Rinse FM and Flex FM. After an excit­ing 2019 for D’Stil and Red Side Records (which he co-owns), includ­ing sup­port­ing Art­ful Dodger, Bag Down’ sets the tone for a series of new col­lab­or­a­tions and singles this year, with plans for a highly anti­cip­ated second EP to fol­low the suc­cess of his debut By Your Side’ EP in the pipes.

As a proud Brit­ish Indi­an he has had dif­fi­culties break­ing norms and ste­reo­types as a pro­du­cer, sing­er and song­writer. Through his music and act­iv­ism, he aims to cham­pi­on Brit­ish Asi­an tal­ent, across the arts and bey­ond. As a suf­fer­er of eczema his whole life he also works to raise aware­ness for eczema suf­fer­ers as well as cre­at­ives with eczema who struggle to gain recog­ni­tion due to the stigma attached he high­lights this work with the hasht­ag #EczemaWar­ri­or.