The internet has birthed a lot of careers, some have skyrocketed to recognition over the years whilst others have laid dormant and in the shadows. New groups are still managing to make themselves through the internet as opposed to waiting for a label to discover and own them. The MOtiVe boys are one of the biggest presences coming out of London through your computer screen, marketing themselves through twitter and broadcasting to the millions through Youtube- they are on fire at the moment. From the grainy ‘Ultimate Otis’ to the high definition ‘Booties‘ they’ve managed to produce some astounding numbers on Youtube. They’ve gone on to perform at the Hackney Empire and Biggafish, among other venues and done it all on their own through the internet. I decided that it was time to get to know more about MOtiVe as a collective, YSK was kind enough to give up some of his time to give me the first interview and answer some of the questions I had for him.
[Me]: Obviously you guys have been doing your thing, you’ve picked up a massive following and the fans’ll want to know more about the group itself- where do you guys know eachother from and how did you get together as a group?
[YSK]: We’re literally childhood friends, Marky Weapz, Mikez and I went to the same primary school and live in the same area- Mikez and I went to the same secondary school as Valence. Mikez and I were on a comedy wave since about 2009 and Valence was already in a musical group, we joined forces to do something different in 2010 and Marky Weapz would join us later.
[Me]: I remember you guys marketed one joint around the big topic on twitter last month, building a hype around it being a ‘Topboy’ spoof. You guys threw the fanbase off when you span around and whacked out something completely different, when I asked about this you told me “We don’t do spoofs, it’s not our thing”, what is your “thing”?
[YSK]: Simply musical comedy, a mix of music and comedy- and we actually call ourselves musicedians!
[Me]: You think this will flourish as a genre on its own?
[YSK]: That’s what we’re pushing hard to do, and by God’s grace we will. A couple other groups are doing it, Outkast (mildly), LMFAO and Lonely Island have been doing it for a while and are selling with it- we’re trying to put it in a box and label it. WHEN we blow it will become a genre associated to us because it’s our name.
[Me]: That’s big, you guys have your plans together and whatnot.
[YSK]: Thanks brother, a lot of people don’t realise that we do have vision, they reckon we just think of it and say “yeah, let’s film it”!
[Me]: You guys have been doing it all on your own?
[YSK]: Yeah, we have
[Me]: How much of a tool has the internet been? I’ve seen you all over twitter publicizing.
[YSK]: Very, Very useful. Being myself on twitter generated a few followers and the right video came at the right time for us because everyone that follows us generated a great hype about it which was an incredible factor in the success of ‘Ultimate Otis’
[Me]: Congratulations on that, by the way
[YSK]: Thank you, brother.
[Me]: So you’ve recognised how important the internet is in this day and age for young and unsigned acts, you’d push it on others trying to come up?
[YSK]: Yeah, I would, but more importantly I’d have them be themselves in what they are doing, there are masses of wannabes on the net that make it hard for anyone with actual talent to get noticed.
[Me]: Thats respectable. You’ve mentioned that being yourself has been a massive part of your success through twitter-hasn’t this been a problem? I know you’ve been quite open about your own personal life on the internet, didn’t the fans try to instigate at times?
[YSK]: Not really, as I said it generated a lot of followers before people started getting wised up to the videos. I had the following because I joined in on the topics being discussed, usually. I think people were expecting us to start behaving like celebrities on twitter after things started getting fast paced!
[Me]: That’s cool. You guys make a point of typing your groups name in a certain way, what’s that all about?
[YSK]: It’s cheesy! In ‘MOtiVe’ the first letters of our individual names are highlighted! M=Michael (Mikez), Marcus (Marky Weapz), O=Ola (YSK), V=Valence. Which is important for us as a collective, it merges the individual with the group making it one in the same.
[Me]: Thanks for your time, give my best to your MOtiVe brothers!
[YSK]: You’re welcome, safe brother- I will.
I’m sure the boys are going to do bigger things in the near future, it’s important that other acts learn from their success; If you have a resource at your disposal it would be stupid not to utilise it to its fullest extent as the MOtiVe boys did with the internet. Watch out for them!
MOtiVe 'Booties'
No comments:
Post a Comment