Words and Pictures by Amal AlTauqi
North London MC Capo Lee gathered some of the biggest names in the UK music industry in an attempt to create a collaborative mixtape in 10 hours.
Hailing some of the most known producers and emcees the scene has to offer, all rooms situated at Pirate Studios were filled frantically with eager creatives under pressure to create greatness. Online publications such as TrenchMag and GRM Daily were present in order to gather content and film a short documentary of the process.
Capo Lee isn’t a stranger when it comes to creating the most energetic sounds to come out of Grime, regularly paying homage to Tottenham throughout his music along the likes of music pioneer JME and Mercury Award winner Skepta.
Collectively hitting up the studio, both male and female artists went back to back, room to room, mixing and mastering tracks produced by different producers.
Speaking about the concept behind his project, Capo said: “This is the third one I have created. I wanted to bring a range of Artists and producers, it’s a bit of a task but I didn’t want it to be segregated. I wanted both new and old generation of artists so that it was balanced and new talent can be exposed.”
‘Why Not 3’ is the rapper’s third combined project, with the last two bringing success and unity to local artists. Not only featuring the best of what London has to offer, midland emcees from Sheffield and Leicester also made an appearance on the mixtape. Explaining that the first concept was a trial, Capo said he was further inspired to create more after knowing it was possible to do so in such a short space of time.
Speaking to producer and BBC Radio 1XTRA DJ Sir Spyro, when questioned about how he feels on the concept and how it differentiates from his usual projects he added: “It’s such a good concept. From it being an idea to reality, it great that we can all work in the studio together. The people that are on the tracks are those that I’d never necessarily work with and it allows me to meet new people.”
Rising female rapper Bekz was attending her first ever studio session at Pirate. “I’ve only just started, I feel like I will succeed. In general, I really look up to Ms Banks and Miss Dynamite. Skepta is one of the biggest inspirations to me. I’ve been on two songs already.”
A short documentary will be published following the release of the all-star mixtape, available on all streaming platforms in the next few weeks.
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