- Words Ryan Cahill
We hear the first track lifted off the London collectives first mixtape.
NiNE8 collective are a group of young creatives hoping to showcase their talents. With everyone from musicians, photographers, designers and videographers in the mix, there’s a plethora of diverse expertise and talents to be called upon – perfect for collaborative working. So far, they’ve successfully navigated the epic release of Big Piig’s album, launching their very own dedicated Depop page and cemented themselves as some of London’s most promising new talent.
For their latest project, they’re releasing their very on mixtape, and the first single “Pusha” is premiering exclusively at notion.online. To celebrate the release, we put NiNE8 founder Lava La Rue in a room with musicians Nayana and Bone Slim to get the latest on their new musical output, and you won’t be disappointed!
"Pusha" by NiNE8
Lava La Rue: Who are you?
Bone Slim: I’m Marine Biologist for nine8 collective.
Nayana: I’m Nayana aka IZ (I-Z) – derived from the meaning of my name in Hindi – ‘eyes’. I eat sleep breathe music, the youngest buck of nine8 collective
Lava La Rue: How did you come to be in NiNE8?
Bone Slim: I knew mac from about so we were always making music. Nine8 began with Lava, Mac, Piig with a few others then I was in it. Mac Wethas music class was crazier than the class of 1984, Lava and Piig were also in that.
Nayana: I met Lava first a little over a year ago and slowly met everyone in nine8 after that. Next thing after everyone heard me spit and sing we started doing up a couple shows round the UK, during that period I was still at school which wasn’t really getting me anywhere where I wanted to be. I knew I had to drop out and take the leap. It just happened really, was no blood ritual!
Lava La Rue: Tell us about the mixtape and what to expect?
Bone Slim: the tape is 7 tracks, it’s probably about 25 solid minutes of music, I’d break it down to estimates of 12 minutes in total of solid rapping 9 of singing and 4 minutes of empty fire beat so we’ve made something quite spectacular in such a short space for the listener. Expect audible frequency rages of sounds inducing serotonin and inaudible subliminal frequencies influencing muscle movement in rhythm.
Nayana: What he said. Expect some beautiful music, each track I fuck with very heavily if I say so myself <3 (which is rare for me). Catch me going soprano to bass in “Pusha”- never pitch shit.
Lava La Rue: What genre is it?
Bone Slim: Sci-Fi Thriller.
Nayana: Bollywood music!
Lava La Rue: Tell us about the process of recording, how did the song come about?
Bone Slim: I came studio, Mac was there with Nay, he just made the beat iz sang the hook, I wrote a verse then she did one, after that we had a song. Then we mixed it. Now it’s finished but timeless.
Nayana: Mac started playing the beat at a nine8 rehearsal. I started humming this melody, which is now the melody of the hook. Bone started spitting, I laid down my verse after and yeah it all came together really quick, it’s one of my favourites out of tracks I’ve made for sure.
Lava La Rue: Describe the mood.
Bone: Overcast!
Nayana: HA!