Ahead of our event at The Antwerp Arms on Thursday 26 July we had a chat with one our performers, CR Fredro. Reserve your free ticket on Eventbrite and see an array of musical talent from in and around Tottenham.
When did you first get into music?
I’ve always written. From year 3 I’ve been writing poetry, publishing books and stuff. It was just a natural progression to start rapping. I’d say rapping from 11 or 12 years but before that I’ve always been writing and doing poetry.
Is it a bit of a process for you?
100%. This is my therapy. I’ll be writing ’til I’m old and grey. I definitely have to do it.
How long have you been in Tottenham?
I was born and bred here. I’m from Bruce Grove – I’ve lived here all my life.
What do you most enjoy about performing and making music?
Performing – I guess when you actually get to see how people react and vibe to your music and just playing it out loud to the world. As artists, I speak for myself but I’m sure I speak for a lot of other artists as well, we’re our own biggest critics. I’m very particular about what I put out so when it gets to the stage where it’s out and it’s released and I’m performing it, it’s nice to see what it does and how people react to it.
Making music, I think for me it’s just getting what’s in your head out and trying to execute it as best as you can. That’s what I love about making music. Whenever I make a track I will be testament to it. ‘Nah, that’s not good enough,’ make it again, do it again, do it again, do it again and just getting it to that point where I’m happy with it and I don’t even care what anyone else thinks.
Do you make your own beats?
I don’t make my own beats, there’s quite a few producers that I work with, really talented people. Hopefully one day I’ll pick that up.
How do you get into the mindset before a gig?
I think about how best to connect with the people. How do I want people to feel? If it’s a mellow tune I think about how my expressions and how I perform the track will convey that. Apart from that I don’t really think, I just do.
What can fans expect from a performance?
Definitely a lot of energy. They’ll probably see me and not expect to hear what they hear. There’s going to be a lot of lyrical content but it’s going to be very honest.
Is it from the heart?
Music is literally, writing is literally, therapy for me so I can only talk about my experiences and things I see and do. Totally from the heart.
Can you tell us a bit about your latest track Lust for Life.
Lust of Life, as the title suggests, is about what I appreciate about where I’m at right now and one of the main things that speaks to me at the moment is travelling. Myself and my friends try and travel as much as we can within a year. That track is about the different holidays and the different countries that we’ve been to and yeah just taking it all in and just appreciating it.
Where have you been this year?
I was in Miami last month. I went to Morocco for my birthday in February. Last year was crazy, last year we did a lot.
Here’s a sneak peak of the new video for Lust for Life, out 25 July.
Flex & Wave reached almost 12,500 streams on Spotify and No Hooks on GRM is nearly on 18k. That’s a pretty good accomplishment for an emerging artist. Can you tell us about your plans for the next couple of years and your career overall?
For the most part as an artist I want to be recognised for the good that I do, rather than being someone that’s famous… It’s more about getting the art appreciated first and foremost. I’m currently working on putting together a project but my main thing at the moment is just making sure that the quality of the music is undeniable, totally undeniable. Doing that as well as working on videos on the side so just taking everyday as it comes really and making sure that everything is quality.
What’s the new project?
I haven’t titled it yet, it’s a group of tracks I’ve been working on for the last year or so. I thought, ‘you know what? These all fit together. Let’s see where we’re going to go with this.’ It’s like a playlist.
What are you looking forward to most about the DT gig?
Performing in Tottenham, being able to perform in my home town, obviously that’s sick. Secondly, I love performing – performing in general and performing to people in my community. As an artist, trying to put yourself anywhere and everywhere, you can easily forget about home. I really appreciate the opportunity.
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