DOI: 17/01/2021
Jay R Dreamchaser linked up with HD on the line to speak upon numerous subjects articulating the Bradford native’s music.
HD provided us with a summarising background on how he operates as an artist in alignment with everyday life too. He loves to create deep music, real rap – relating to and speaking on issues that people do not really discuss, to spread information and knowledge, as well as portraying the ultimate truth within his content – all of which are significant factors to driving his passion.
As a youngster HD’s misbehaviour led to him being caught up in certain crimes and as a result of this he was assigned with a probation officer: “He introduced me to a studio and as soon as I walked in the building and got to grips with what they were doing, I thought ‘this is my forte’ and ‘this is me’.” HD now reciprocates the same help he received by supporting and guiding younger generations in his community on their road to improving themselves.
In addition to this, he continued to reinforce the importance of focus and determination to succeed, to be prepared and to keep chipping away at your craft.
“They say opportunity has a funny way of slipping through the back door when you least expect it.” – HD
Jay R: “What or who would you say is an influence in your musical journey?”
HD: “For me, first and foremost, it kinda saved me from going down a very dark path, that’s the foundation why.
“Influences such as, obviously, people might say it’s cliched, but my man, rest in peace, Tupac, has always been real, not only that, as an activist he stood up for people, he stood up for rights, good concepts and conduct for fuelling behaviour.
“So that’s my influence, but the most influence to me has got to be my mother. If my mum didn’t teach me to believe in myself, then, like I said before, I don’t know where I’d be right now. Mum and Dad always taught us man, love, discipline, respect, help others, be humble and be down to earth.”
Insights circulating HD’s appearance on the BBC documentary ‘Rap Trip: Underground Scenes Uncovered’ – ‘The Rise of Asian Rap’ and recent happenings:
HD: “You know what, how this came about, in my head I thought ‘right, I wanna goal, I wanna set a goal, I wanna be known in Bradford, I wanna be known as an artist’ – and funny enough I had an opportunity from King of Da Hillz, they holla me and say: ‘BBC are coming, they are doing a Rap Trip documentary about young Asians, why it’s hard for young rappers, Asians rappers especially, to break through…’ – so I thought ‘yes man!’ – I went down, I spoke on a couple of issues, I dropped some bars and before you know it, when it came out, I was at the forefront man! So it opened up with eight bars of fire, then I dropped three things of knowledge when they asked me questions and I feel like I touched on questions and concepts, you know, people don’t really wanna talk about and I feel like I touched on it, that was my mark man.
“After the Rap Trip, I went on the BBC Asian Network with DJ Kan D Man and I had an interview with them boys. That was a nice little limelight, I’m sorta promoting myself. It was sick man, like ‘yo, is this really happening?’ – but you know what, I’m working, he can tell I’m working, not only that, I’m reading a book called ‘Think Big Grow Rich’ – the amount of work I did in two months I didn’t do that in two years.
“I dropped King of Da Hillz ‘Street Flowz’ and then I started talking to this guy who we were doing a few projects with and then I secured my first customer, he paid me money to write tracks. Not only that, on the same day, BBC Look North came up and there was words on a board, it was raising awareness around drugs, knives and helping young people out cos there was quite a lot of young people there and I was the rapper, they put me on the spot, all the words on the board, they said ‘HD freestyle it’ – put a beat on and boom, it came sick. Hopefully, not saying too much, the woman approached me after and they may do, Inshallah, my own story on Look North man.”
“I’ve got a whole story, this is it, I haven’t just jumped on a bandwagon, there’s a whole reason why I do it, why I am still doing it and I’ve got an ultimate goal at the end of it.” – HD
Jay R: “What projects are you working on now? Obviously I’ve seen you’ve dropped a couple singles recently.”
HD: “Yeah man, so basically I just dropped a track ‘The Blue Room’, it’s on FirstMediaTV, it’s a fire track man. I’ve just dropped a track called ‘High Spirit’ which is a recollection of my thoughts over the past two months, it hasn’t really got a big reaction or whatever man but you know, keep grinding like we say. I signed up to The Rap Game UK, you know, it’s looking quite promising – yeah big up The Rap Game UK man, everyone working hard, if it’s your time, it’s your time, make the most of the opportunity. Coming on to the other high note, I’ve just bought my own studio, I’ve just set it up the other day. Manifesting is real man, it’s here, I’m sat here, I’ve got my monitors, my mic, my interface…”
Later on in the conversation, HD stated: “I’ve also got a brand-new music video and I haven’t even thought of a release date but it’s a beauty, it’s called ‘Thick and Thin’, I’m just thinking of a date to drop the promo video on. I’ve got a lot of things happening, people, if you’re grinding, if you’re working hard at your dreams just keep going yeah, keep persistent, be patient and have faith man yeah!”
When asked upon which artists he rates within the Bradford music scene, HD said: “Basically if I say certain names I don’t want other artists to feel certain ways but if someone’s feeling and thinking like that then that’s your own bad. I rate people who are working hard, you’ve got Preme Sound, C Y (Cameron Walker), Leejay, Northside, you’ve got the big BBCC crew – I actually went to school with a few of dem man, yeah this is it man if I don’t mention a few then you know, but it’s not about that. People if I haven’t mentioned your name, keep grinding, keep working!”
Conversing on collaborations, he explained that he would love to work with Birmingham’s Sparkaman and Muki. Also tying in nicely to the matter, HD told us about a new featured track called ‘Who’s Got This’ with Genesis which dropped on YouTube the day following the interview.
For extra detail to a few points and concluding quickfire questions which HD faced from Jay R, listen in to the interview below or playback through the distributing platforms. Make sure to support the work of HD via the links beneath too!
Watch: BBC iPlayer – Rap Trip: Underground Scenes Uncovered – Series 1: 3. The Rise of Asian Rap
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