Before June 2018 I was almost unaware of a rising underground scene in the UK, although I did know of some artists who made similar music as the collective I’d like to introduce you to named, LOVE SEPT. (short for LOVE SEPTEMBER). Groups such as House of Pharaohs and Blue Room Mafia, artists such as Lancey Foux and ALI3NHEAD were names I was familiar with within that scene until I was introduced to a plethora of artists after connecting with an artist named EB Wayside.
ALI3NHEAD approached me to organise a headline show for him at a venue in London last year after my birthday gig, he had a bunch of unknown support acts ready to open up for him too. At first I was sceptical about putting on a show for inexperienced artists, but I followed my heart and booked the Camden Assembly for Monday 3rd September 2018. This was a new chapter for DiscoverNü, as the acts we previously approved for blog posts, live shows and our old radio shows were all within the alternative R&B, Hip-Hop and Indie-pop genres.
When the show was announced I did lose some friends; one of them thought I was crazy booking “a bunch of goth wannabes” — but I didn’t care at all, I believe everyone deserves an opportunity to showcase their art, their talent and their music, and sadly many artists over here in the UK aren’t given this opportunity, well until they get some sort of co-sign from a celebrity, attention from North American fans or get signed. ALI3NHEAD did sign a record deal three weeks before the headline show, so the pressure was on him to deliver. Going back to the support acts, I was introduced to BVDLVD, HEN$HAW, RARE AKUMA, REZERXKT and other acts who couldn’t perform at the show for various reasons such as Badgirl$ and Bob Vylan.
Heading towards the show tickets weren’t selling well, I became frustrated and thought I had made a huge mistake doing everything I can to put this show on. However, on the night of the show the turn out surprised the hell out of me, especially for a music gig on a Monday. The show itself was electric, most of the acts who were performing for the first time ever impressed me so much and the staff at the venue gave me a positive feedback regarding the show and the music. ALI3NHEAD’s closing track “Fragrance” was the highlight of the night, a mosh pit erupted as the artist formerly known as Manny Fuego performed his signature song — an underground anthem. There was one artist who caught my attention on the night, the quiet but lyrically outstanding with a razor sharp flow, HEN$HAW — he had the least plays on SoundCloud and followers on social media but was arguably the most talented artist there.
After each show I tend to write down the names of acts that impressed me for future shows or to recommend to other promoters, but for these guys it felt like they became members of my family. During the preparation for the show, I could see how important music was for these artists and how it kept them going. The day after the show, all the acts had nothing but positive feedback, and many of them had nothing going on, they had to get back to their lives, for some it was back to school and college wondering how they’d breakthrough the music industry, others it was working through the doubts and building a fan base, luckily for RARE AKUMA and ALI3NHEAD, they were both established artists working on their music projects.
A few days later HEN$HAW sent a hopeful message in the group chat we had created prior to the show, he gave us an idea of starting a group or collective. Me being me, I was sceptical once again, I didn’t want no part of it as I had a lot of work going on. Everyone somehow convinced me to be a part of it, as they needed someone to oversee the group. We all agreed on the name LOVE SEPTEMBER for the collective, shortened to LOVE SEPT. — September being the month we all met each other and had a memorable night at the Camden Assembly. The collective consisted of artists ALI3NHEAD, RARE AKUMA, BVDLVD, HEN$HAW, REZERKXT, EB WAYSIDE, QUINO, producers goodbyechase and KRVCIFIX, DJ MELO, videographer Knuckleballpanda, part of management Alex Hearne and myself.
Due to creative differences and some artists’ label related work, the lineup has changed to artists HEN$HAW, BVDLVD, KXZARI, V.RI, EB WAYSIDE, producers goodbyechase, KRVCIFIX and T.Y., DJ MELO, videographer Knuckleballpanda and new addition to management and events Sara Irvine. With a rising fan base that also includes similar artists, LOVE SEPTEMBER are slowly becoming an influential collective within the underground scene. Infusing alternative rap, trap with a hint of punk and metal, their sound as a group is refreshing in a genre suffocated with identical sounds.
Analysing each artist within the collective
HEN$HAW — despite being relatively unknown, the 18 year-old rapper from Camden, London is lyrically way ahead of many other rappers within the scene. Comfortable on all types of hip-hop instrumentals, the charismatic rapper has the ability to do fast raps on energetic beats that’s capable of starting a mosh pit and tell introspective stories with precise lyricism.
Standout track: “IWILLNOTHESITATE”
BVDLVD — the multitalented 18 year-old rapper from Oxford has already built a global and loyal fan base all by himself with his music, a combination of trap and metal similar to that of Scarlxrd. He’s also known for directing and editing ALI3NHEAD’s recent music videos, especially the critically acclaimed visuals for “Crystal Lake”.
Standout track: “TOXIC”
KXZARI — the 15 year-old artist who joined the collective in mid October is known for his captivating catchy raps over mainstream-ready beats and his almost cult-like loyal fan base. The East London-based artist has the potential to be a household name.
Standout track: “Ugh”
V.RI — the 17 year-old artist from Milton Keynes is the newest member in the collective. A versatile artist capable of creating hard tracks that infuses trap, punk and metal, as well as more experimental music such as his underground hit “At 3am”.
Standout track: “At 3am”
EB Wayside — also known as LILSEAN JON, the rapper and all-around creative is currently and temporarily based in Kenya at the moment. Known for his spacey and out of this world music similar to Kid Cudi’s earlier material sprinkled with a sound we call “emo drill” (emo rap combined with UK drill).
Standout track: “MEXICO”
The collective have officially released their debut single titled “BURNER” — a posse track featuring KXZARI, HEN$HAW, V.RI and BVDLVD, produced, mixed and mastered by in-house producer goodbyechase. They’re also gearing up for another show at the Camden Assembly in April. With their aggressive music such as their exclusive riot song “HEARTS OF CROOKS”, controversial lyrics and dark aesthetics, could LOVE SEPT. be the UK version of the Los Angeles-based collective Odd Future?
We’ll just have to wait and see.
Listen to “BURNER”