Since moving to the UK from Colombia at the age of 10, Nabsora has been channeling his love of his home country’s MCs…
Blending the rhythmic patterns of his favourite Colombian MCs – those who gave him a connection to his home country – with his love of exploring UK Grime and Hip-hop has laid the foundations of a unique sound and authenticity that is propelling Nabsora to great exposure.
We caught up with the ACM London Creative Music Production Degree student to find out more about him as an artists and to introduce his new video for ‘Proud’.
Tell us a bit about yourself. Introduce Nabsora.
“My fascination with words began very early on after I heard MCs in Colombia on the radio. I was so obsessed that I used to record the shows and play them back endlessly. The rhyming hypnotised me; it literally felt like i was being transported to a different planet.
Once I moved to the UK at the age of 10, I felt like music was one of the only connections to Colombia I had left, one that I could still escape to, something I could still feel at home in such a different environment. As I got older I started listening to Grime & Hip-Hop. It became a powerful influence for me, the culture that it represented, the history… so much so that I began writing my own songs over some of my favourite beats.
I got my first chance to be in the studio at 13 years old and thats where it was all ignited. I began to learn production, started studying music technology and so far I’ve produced, written and released 4 EP’s. I’ve been blessed enough to be able to perform all over London and last year internationally for the first time. I like to give different perspectives on life and people seem to catch a vibe from it so I’m just glad I get to do what I love.
Best way I could describe my style is a diverse and sonically immense lyricist, alongside an alternative collection of underground UK, Latin sounds & rhythms. I bring a collection of social commentary and the different perspectives that you would otherwise find incongruous to the mainstream media. Listen to the message.”
You’ve just dropped a new video for Proud. Give us the song’s background. What’s it about?
“So I wrote this song during the election periods running up to Trumps presidency and Brexit. During those times I remember the amount of discrimination that was happening towards immigrants in the countries that supposedly are the leaders of the world. I myself am an immigrant and i’ve witnessed first hand just how hard working and dedicated the majority of us are. so to see us being defined the way we where during those times it really saddened me the way we where poorly represented.”
“I decided to write proud to celebrate culture. To show the diversity of backgrounds and to not portray it in a way the media loves to portray us – negatively.
The idea was simple… get a bunch of friends from different backgrounds, cultures and come together for a day and have a BBQ! I also talk about what I feel towards the way Trump spoke about immigrants. To try and break those barriers and to realise that London is a melting pot of cultures. The abundance of culture is phenomenal and I feel like we should be able to celebrate it and come together.”
Tell us about the writing & recording process. Did you collaborate with many other artists/producers?
“The song i’m releasing is actually a remix. I first produced this song all in the box and it was very aggressive. I then came together with the band ATBS, who are probably the dopest musicians I’ve had the pleasure of playing with, and during a jam I started rapping the lyrics then Mitchell (keys player) knew the song and did his thing then Alex (drummer) did his thing and thats when I knew I had to do this song with these guys.
We came into the studio and re-arranged the song. Slowed it down so people could hear the song better, changed the grove of the drums and with the help of Marcus Jaman we tracked it and ‘boom’… here we are. I also have Tarik Khan (guitar) on the track and Yasmin Mirdamad (saxophone) to add that touch of jazz. I mixed the song myself and it was mastered by Robin Barter.”
You’ve been running events at The Stane St. Syndicate. How did you get involved and how can people find out more?
“True Emit is a collective of people – artists, producers & DJs from ACM who organise events every other Thursdays at Stane St. Syndicate. The nights are a mix of DJ’s, open mic, jams and other forms of artistic expression. We came together via industry link at ACM and formed the collective as a way of supporting each other as we also wanted to set up nights.
We wanted to give up-and-coming artists a platform where they can feel comfortable performing and know that they’ll receive nothing but love, and at the same time learn about whats its like being on stage. We try to give advice where we can. We’ve been fortunate to have very talented people on stage and we are now organising to have arranged performances on the night. So far its been amazing. We’ve had great turn outs and best of all its free!! Everyone is welcome.
You can find out more on our YouTube channel where we film the acts and give them a digital platform to showcase their talent. Make sure you check it out! You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram.”
What does the future hold for Nabsora?
“The future for Nabs is to keep learning, keep elevating the music, the quality, the knowledge and perfecting my craft. I am currently starting to work on my album which hopefully will be ready by next year, takes slightly longer when you’re the producer, writer and engineer… haha! In the meantime I’ve got brand new music coming out this summer, an EP hopefully, and a bunch of performances lined up.
Peace and love people.”
Follow Nabsora : Website // SoundCloud // Instagram // Facebook // YouTube
If you’d like to study at ACM and follow in the footsteps of our students like Nabsora, please call our Admissions Team on 01483 500 841 or visit www.acm.ac.uk/open-days to book a place on an ACM Open Day today.
