Tag: rap

Nelson Navarro brings Soul to R&B with Thought Provoking Rap Lyrics

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Photograph by Elias Kerasidis (Insta:@krsds_)

Nelson Navarro born and bred in Sunny Worthing, a small coastal town in the South of England. He may be from a small town but he has a worldly sound. The music released by Navarro combines multiple genres of music bringing the Soul to R&B with catchy rhythms alongside thought provoking Rap lyrics. Navarro enhances all of your musical senses with a variety of different collaborations with various artists. Scrolling through Navarro’s Spotify you can experience Drum & Bass remixes of original songs by the likes of Ben Rolo and Alfie Frank. One of my personal favourites of his songs is ‘Picket Fence’ – GiwHa Remix. It makes me imagine summer days laying on the grass and staring up at the blue sky contemplating the meaning of life (in a good way of course).

Navarro is constantly bringing out new songs and music videos on his various social media platforms. Engaging his audience not only with the music but with his edgy appearance, head full of dreads and unique clothing style. Is it feelings of adoration that he arouses or do we just plainly want to be him ?

‘Late Nite’ by Nelson Navarro

The latest music video release of Late Nite, has a classic old school HipHop instrumental with Navarro rapping to the tune of pursuing a woman. The video itself is filmed like a 90’s homemade video, giving off nostalgic retro vibes. The art of a good rapper always lies in the flow and rhythm of the bars. It is safe to say that Navarro has nailed it down to the T. Check out the link above to see more.

Navarro has been getting noticed in recent months featuring on BBC introducing and getting well deserved radio time. He is not only a singer/songwriter he is also involved in the production side of every song release to date. He goes on to say:

“I’ve been recording and mixing my songs for like, 11 years. Shits crazy, when I see that number written down and I’m telling the truth. I started when I was using GarageBand at 14 and kept it moving ever since. Let’s go!”

Nelson Navarro

Collaboration is such a huge part of Navarro’s creative process that he even has a list of artists that he would love to collaborate with on his iPhone. He explains the reason behind it and whose on it:

“I keep a “Dream Collabs” note in my iPhone for manifesting these kinda things. Anderson Paak. Smino. Most recently, Rick Ross. I’ve been reading his book about Bossing Up and that sh*t slaps.”

Nelson Navarro

NOTE: For those of you who aren’t down with the latest slang; “slapped/slaps” means ‘to be excellent or amazing’.

‘Virtuoso’ by Nelson Navarro

As many great musicians, music has been a big influence in his childhood years. His parents met through being in bands, and thus grew up listening to his mum singing and watched his Dad produce music. When asked about his creative process when making music he responded with:

“Nowadays I’m getting really collaborative and that’s great. I’m frequently finding beats online and inviting new producers to the studio because for me it all starts with an instrumental. Once that’s there I start freestyling and recording and I keep going until the songs’ done! I gotta have some time too. Don’t rush me. Give me 2 hours tops. That’s the whole song, top to bottom, mixed and mastered. Done.”

Nelson Navarro
Photograph by Elias Kerasidis (Insta:@krsds_)

With music literally pumping through his blood, it also runs right through to his fingertips being able to play all the western classics like drums, guitar, bass, ‘keys, saxophone and ukulele. Although talented in many musical instruments his main focus at the moment is on vocals. When asked about what music Navarro grew up listening to, he responded with:

“My parents played so much sh*t as I was growing up that slapped – Marvin Gaye, Sammy Davis Jr, Bob Marley. Particularly my mum nurtured my Craig David obsession and looking back, that has been monumental in terms of the flex I come with on tracks these days. Entaa selectaaa.”

Nelson Navarro

You can find out more on Navarro and his inquisitive nature through a series of short videos on TikTok. In which he talks about current trending themes like positivity and manifestation. He conveys personal opinions and words of wisdom, giving a greater understanding to his audience about who he is and why. The short videos reveal the mind behind the great lyrics of his music, which is just fascinating to watch. To see what I am talking about, watch the video below.

@nelsonnavarrouk

Which do you default to: sympathy or empathy? 🤔 #emotionalintelligence #wisdom #question

♬ One Love – Bob Marley
TikTok: @nelsonnavarrouk

A reason to start following and look out for Navarro in the future is the big plans he has for 2022. He has 3 albums planned to be released throughout the course of this year. To make sure to keep up to date, here are his social media platform links: Facebook, Spotify, TikTok, Instagram, Youtube.

Finally, a question that I love asking and will carrying on asking even if it is unanswerable – Favourite song of all time, Navarro say’s:

“Dude! How you gunna stick this on me?! I can give you my favourite song of this moment which is 2AM by Don Toliver. Now that’s some sexy shit”.

Nelson Navarro
Photograph by Sam Rogers (Insta: @sambooka_shots)

CultDeep Record’s Lyricist Idyll.

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Idyll is a lyricist that was born and bread in Brighton. Signed by CultDeep Records he has released songs with King Girl which encapsulate songs of guitar infused alternative Rap. He gained his love for music from his parents, they were Punks back in their bygone days. At just 4 years old he was gifted his first guitar which sparked his motivation to learn and create music.

Idyll’s latest 2021 release.

Being signed to CultDeep records it allows Idyll to meet and work with other Brighton based local talent. He is a huge fan of the both Brighton and Newcastle scenes with his main music inspiration coming from people he gets to work with.

“Writing songs is just as natural to me as someone else making a toastie”

As we approach to end of lockdown and hopefully a bit of normality with gigs starting out again, it sparks the question of who would be Idyll’s favourite artist to open for.

“Opening for Mike Skinner would be idyll, his shows look insaaanee and he’s a proper vet, went on tour with a broken arm ‘n’ that, pure legend.“

Idyll has a few projects that you should look out for in the future including some self produced songs steering away from what fans are usually used to. A track with Taff and Jamie Unknown is also in the works for Idyll which is an underground dance record and something that he is very excited for.

Idyll’s favourite release so far is a song called Apples & Pears by Idyll and King Girl, which he says “describes my sound down to a T.” Check it out below.

You can find Idyll on various social media platforms including Instagram, Spotify and Youtube.

10 Playlists for your every Mood

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Music for me is a way of dealing with whatever life brings. Whether it is heartbreak or love, Monday motivation or Friday night tunes, empowering anthems or badass hardcore rock. Whatever it is, music has the capability of enabling your mood through a creative outlet. Lyrics to songs are a common way of me categorising music into playlist, along with genre and tempo. I like to understand the intentions of the artists message through their songs. Then relate them to an appropriate group of songs that compliment each other. Spotify being my main source of music streaming, here is a list of some of my favourite playlists that I have created and listen to for every kind of mood.

1.Sunday Morning: the day of rest, the day of love, the day of gratitude.

This playlist has a mixture of genres and a variety of artists. There are some feel good classics and some mellow acoustic songs to make your Sunday morning breakfast more enjoyable.

2.Boss Lady: “We have to teach our girls to reach as high as humanly possible!” – BeyoncĂ©.

The motivation behind this playlist was to empower women of all ages. It features some of the most influential women in Pop. The themes of the each of the songs have the power to remind each and every girl out there, that they have what it takes to go after your dreams. That being a woman is something to be proud of, and that you should never let anyone take that away from you.

3. Club Nights in my Head: Stuck in Lockdown but still want to feel the Friday night vibes.

This playlist has a combination of new and old club anthems. With all bars and clubs closed for over a year now, reminiscing a good night out with my girls is a common occurrence for me. Before the pandemic crept up on us like annoying pestering little brother, dancing in a club until 5am was one of my favourite forms exercise. Club nights in my head, because that’s the only place I dance nowadays.

4. Friday & Saturday Mash: Funky, groovy and uplifting modern soul vibes

Originally, I had created this playlist for a restaurant that I used to work at in the fun but dark city of Copenhagen, Denmark. With a complete new management team where we were all under the age of 28 of an 150 seat restaurant. Innovation and creativity were key to bring life to the place, to make sure that the right ambience and mood was created. This playlist did just that. The Friday and Saturday Mash was put on at exactly 8pm every weekend. You could feel the switch up in motivation of the staff, as well as in the customers, drinking their cocktails ready to enter their weekend with a bang. It is a great playlist for all ages.

5. Broke Up with your Ass: “I hate you, I love you, I hate that I love you”

Have you broken up with your partner of 5 years ? Or have you have unrequited lover? Or maybe you just got ghosted. Either way this playlist will get out your frustrations. It involves some of my favourite break up songs of all time, including “Fuck it” – Eamon (Gen Y’s guilty pleasure) and “Bad at love” – Halsey. Another one of my favourite songs is “Hi, its me” by Ashnikko, your go to tune for the weak days.

6. Gaming Vibes: Gamers don’t fear the apocalypse, we’ve seen it many times before

One of my preferred ways pass my time, is through gaming. I love great storylines, 1st person game play is my best-loved gaming modes. I like to set myself up with some chilled Rap music, a nice hot cup of tea and lose myself in the world of virtual reality. It calms the mind, rids of the spontaneous in-game frustrations and sets you on a path of victory.

7. Electronic chillin’ maybe trippin’

This one is hits the nail on the head for multiple moods that I have risen, including chilled solo drives, adventurous connection to higher self moments or just letting my mind wonder into day dream. Check it out.

8. Bedroom Steam

This is playlist is pretty self explanatory. If you know me personally you would know that I am a complete cringe ball and hopeless romantic. Some people might find it awkward to play music during their intimate antics, however when you find that one person that you connect with on a completely different level. Music for me, encourages the romantic energy when words of love fly in the air.

9. Heal the Earth

This playlist was created by Elizabeth April, she is a spiritual channeller and influencer. I wanted to include this playlist because of the magical way it makes you appreciate life. The music is alternative tropical house themed. I am lucky enough to have the beach just 5 minutes from my flat. I find myself taking a break from life by going to the beach, putting in my headphones, listening to this playlist and merely appreciating the natural beauty of the crashing waves.

10. Nuko Kind of Love: “Love is not what you say, its what you do.”

This encapsulates pure love energy. Unconditional love. The kind of love you would dream to be your forever.

Spirituality and Music, Can they be mixed? Interview with Opvious

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Opvious he may be, but not so obvious to all. Upcoming spiritual Rapper, Producer, Podcaster, Youtuber and what I would like to call a TikTok teacher.

This year has been one of those years where the world has been turned upside down. Everything as we know it now has this “new normal” tag stuck to it. Some have survived by baking bread and buns, some have survived making TikTok videos, I survived this year by exploring and expanding my knowledge to the unknown. By this I mean the indefinite probability of the thought that humanity is not the superior race in the cosmos. The chance that in fact we are souls taking our body’s for a ride for a 90 year lifespan (if we are lucky). The understanding that everything in your current reality is made up of either low, moderate or high vibrational energy. High vibrational being the source to your happiness.

This time last year I had reached a phase in my life where I knew I needed change. I had spent the previous 5 years in the vibrant, cold but fun city of Copenhagen, Denmark. Falling in love, falling out of love, working jobs that didn’t fill my full potential, it was a life that wasn’t living at my highest vibration. From one day to the next I decided to leave my life behind, start new. I moved back to the UK, to a quiet coastal town, to study my final year of university. I started to take chances, choose paths and got rid of anything that wasn’t benefitting my life to its maximum potential.

I took drastic changes in my life and started practicing meditation, reading about alternative world theories and studying symbols of the past. Opvious is a rapper who basically describes what I have invested the majority of my time in this year, which is why I resonated with what he does so much. He incorporates spiritual meaning to his songs, spreading the message and attempting to widen people’s minds. “Music is such a powerful tool to connect with people and I want to inspire as many souls as I can while I live here on earth. Incorporating spiritual meanings in my music, it helps so many people heal and learn more about themselves. I believe that it’s one of the most important meanings that could be in a song.”

Opvious’s latest self produced single Danny Phantom.

His songs talk about different teachings that used to be explored in ancient civilisations. Interpretations of messages that were discussed in the past, and exploring the ability of astral projection. The phenomena is achieved by going through an intentional extreme state of relaxation to induce an out of body experience and therefore visit the astral realm. The Astral realm is a plane of existence beyond this physical reality. Its limitless in actions, the realm’s time is no longer linear and anyone can succeed in doing it with practice. It can be achieved through the practice of many different techniques, including meditation, mantra, lucid dreaming and the not so favourable near-death experience.

In order for someone to even believe this kind of thing, generally you have to go through a spiritual awakening. The person stuck in a 3 dimensional mind frame of life which is purely an eat, sleep, work repeat routine. Generally, you won’t have the capacity of understanding that something like this can be a possibility. Which is nice to see a different form of art expression including these teachings. Through various distribution channels like Youtube, Spotify and TikTok videos. You can check out his TikTok channel below.

@opvious

#mindblowning #universe #asabovesobelow #spiritualwake #trippy #trippyvibes

♬ Mild High Club – Homage – lovdfilmz

What about Opvious’s awakening? “My life turned around once I learned about the Law of Attraction and astral projecting. I was immediately fascinated that those things exist, and wanted to learn how to astral project. I began learning everything there was to know about these topics and by doing this I started to learn so much about other spiritual topics as well. My whole life dramatically changed as I found out the significant impact that my thoughts had on my reality and how everything in life is all connected.”

I first watched the movie The Secret when I was around eleven or twelve years old. It dives into the law of attraction which is the philosophy of how one’s thoughts shape your reality. Being able to control your mind to the point where you can filter out negative thoughts with positive ones will therefore give you good things in life, whereas negative thoughts will attract negative experiences. A similar philosophy to this is manifestation, the main difference being that with manifestation attributes to something that does not exist, whereas the law of attraction you attract something that already exists. What makes this topic even more interesting is that the CIA have released documents expressing that manifestation is in fact real. Take a look at the CIA small clipping shared by @youarecreators below.

This led me to understand consciousness, this is merely the awareness of yourself. Like the taste of that Mojito you drank on Saturday night, or the lust you felt on your first date, the memory of you falling off your bike at 6 years old, your thoughts, sensations and environment. Your own individual awareness is unique to you, if you are able to describe something in your own words, that is part of your consciousness. Being self aware allows you to therefore connect to your higher self. The ideology of higher self is being able to connect to the eternal, omnipotent, conscious and intelligent being of ones true self.

How do you practice connecting to one’s higher self? Opvious goes on to say, “Meditation is number one. When I learned to meditate it helped me separate the ego from my higher self. I believe that the higher self operates from a dimension of love, so by meditating continuously, I am connecting with my higher self. Astral projection is another thing that has helped me connect with my higher self because the communication between me and my higher self becomes much clearer.”

The first written evidence of meditation was found in The Vedas religious texts originating in India around 1500 BCE. It is a practice that has been around for a long time, and has many benefits. It allows you to manage stress, increase self awareness, being able to focus on the present, reduces negative emotions and increases your imagination and creativity (last one great for practicing astral projection).

How can you incorporate spirituality in your day to day life?
“We always have thoughts and decisions that we can make in our day to day life. It’s called being alive! By incorporating spirituality and focusing on love, I’m able to make decisions that are love-based. These love-based decisions are ones that enable me to manifest greater things. Decisions made from the energy of love are extremely powerful! It also helps my relationships with everyone around me because the recognition that all is one, means that I will be spreading more love to the people around me- knowing that they are me and I am them. It gives me a better outlook on things, as I am kinder to myself and others.”

You might think that love based decisions are common and easy, but if you actually take a step back and actually ask yourself why am I making this decision? The most common answer amongst the population will be for self gain, greed, other’s opinions, other’s approval. Out of the millions of actions that you take in your day, which ones are taken out of pure love. Something for you to ponder over.

All in all I think combining music and spirituality is a great way to expand people’s mind into the unknown. To plant seeds into people’s consciousness and therefore encourage people to only exist on a frequency of love is the type of music that I would want to support. Opvious will be releasing his new EP with Bizmark soon called “Retrograde Divine”. Make sure to look out for it on his various platforms Youtube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, also available in iTunes.