Meet Kensaye. He’s from Paris, but lives in London. His mum is Haitian. His dad a New-Yorker. He performed as a percussionist for artists like M3NSA and Jesse Boykins iii, his music was featured on one of the Mercedez Benz mixtapes and DJed for the BET awards UK Cypher in 2007. Not bad right? But the reason we sat down with him was because of his soundcloud account that’s chock full of awesome remixes.
Check the interview below, where we also feature some of the remixes that really stood out to us.
Kensaye, over to you: Give us a quick intro of who you are, what you play and who you run with!
My name is Kensaye, I am a French producer based in London, UK. I focus on soul/hip-hop/electro/chill music. My main instrument is the drums and Afro/Carribean percussions. I don’t get to play the drums often anymore because I don’t have a kit and it would drive my neighbors crazy anyway. I do have all sorts of hand percussions, shakers, bells and whatnot that I include often in my beats. People I consider to by in my crew are artists like Dorsh (an MC/singer/producer from Houston), Fino du Rap (an MC from Brazil), Cage Lu (UK/Ghana MC) and a few others. But to be honest I’m pretty much a standalone producer at the moment. That’s why I’ve been working on remixes recently… I can be self sufficient and just depend on me. There are no disappointments that way.
What was the last physical record you bought?
I buy records all the time, I play them on my turntable in the studio. It’s usually more for sampling purposes than listening pleasure though. Recently I’ve bought quite a few World music records, which for the life of me I cannot remember any names… The last record I can remember that I bought was a 1920’s Jazz album, a best of King Oliver. But when it comes to actual CD’s for listening pleasure, it was about 8 months ago at a Gilles Peterson (BBC Radio 6 dj) event. A band by the name of Owiny Sigoma was peforming, and selling copies at the end of the gig. They were dope so I copped the album.
Your favourite new producer/artist you discovered in 2012?
This one’s easy… fLako. A dude from Germany who now lives in London. I listened to his latest EP “Eclosure” in a loop. For me this is music of the future. Its a beautiful mix of live instruments & synths with an experimental soul hip hop twist. I’m not sure what box to put it in, but it’s just awesome. Also the dude’s mixing and mastering skills are amazing! All the sounds sit so well together. Definitely one to look out for!
Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Well, If I’m being ambitious I would say Kendrick Lamar right now. He is my favorite MC at the moment. He represents our generation. A cross between hood and geek. He is just real and down to earth and he is open minded with his choice of music. So yeah, he would probably be my number one choice. But this changes all the time. In general I’m keen on working with talented independent new artists. People who have content in their lyrics and are open minded enough to create something progressive.
What do you associate with Brooklyn?
Woody Allen, Hip Hop, the projects, hipsters, good food joints, the Zoo. I’m a serious Hip Hop head so for me Brooklyn represents Biggie, Hova, Mos Def & Talib Kweli, Busta, basically some of the best MC’s that ever existed… My dad is from New York, but uptown Manhattan sort of area, so I never really stayed in BK, but from what I hear it’s very similar to the Shoreditch/Dalston area in London. An area that’s become extremely trendy, with cool bars and restaurants, try-hards and wannabees. Ha! My wife went to New York a few months back for the first time and completly fell in love with Brooklyn. She lived with my fam in Manhattan but travelled to chill in BK everyday. If I wasn’t living in London I would probably be in Brooklyn. And who knows? Might still do….
Any new projects or releases on the horizon that we should know about?
You should expect a few collaboration projects between me and some dope female artists. I can’t say much yet but some banging tunes are in the making! In the meantime I will carry on blessing the internet with my remixes. My aim originally was to drop one a week, but I couldn’t keep up with it. Shame on me…. Nevertheless, I will be as productive as possible. So stay connected to my twitter and like my Facebook page for more info.
Thanks Kensaye, we’ll keep an eye on you in the coming months!
