Belgium based hip-hop duo blackwave. have shared new single “a-okay”, featuring Austin rapper and singer Abhi The Nomad.

Having recently announced their next album “no sleep in LA” will be released this September, blackwave. (comprised of rapper Jay Atohoun and singer-producer Willem Ardui) have set themselves apart by merging soul, jazz, funk, and hip-hop elements with a nostalgic, open-minded approach. Crafting a sound that reflects their innate differences and musical backgrounds, blackwave. have continued to gain momentum over the last five years, achieving breakout success with their debut album “ARE WE STILL DREAMING?” in 2019 and performing at festivals such as Montreux Jazz, Sziget, North Sea Jazz and Pukkelpop.

As they prepare to take their sound to new heights, new track “a-okay” is a cool, multi-layered cut about not being able to find the words, or the right time, to express a feeling to someone. Created during a productive writing session in LA whereby the track was written, produced, and recorded in just a couple of hours, it features innovative rap artist Abhi The Nomad who smoothly intertwines his verses with blackwave.’s Jay. It’s a catchy offering that’s perfect for those late summer nights spent thinking about the things you wished you’d said.

Speaking of the song, Willem explains "the song reflects that feeling of having unfinished business with someone, or that a story isn’t finished. It’s the unsettling feeling of an open ending. The feeling I get from it is like when you’re riding your bike through the park really early, when the sun is just rising, and everything is covered in mist. There’s some sort of veil covering everything, and slowly yet surely the sun comes beaming through.”

Jay adds his inspiration for the track: "I went off something I felt for my girl at the time, being that I needed to tell her so many things but got caught up in so many other things whilst grinding life and a career that I just didn’t get to it and even lowkey forgot about it…"

Blackwave sat down with Wordplay Magazine to answer our infamous 10 Questions:

1. So tell me, how did it all begin? What sparked your love for music?

Jay: My feeling for embracing music actually started by me just loving to goof around and dance crazy as a kid to any sort of music. I’ve never really had a specific genre I stuck to, I’ve always loved to find my way and all sorts of different genres and express myself within them.

At the age of 7 I went to music school for a bit and after a couple years dropped it when I got into high school but that definitely gave me the stepping stones towards using my voice and knowing how to control it at a fairly young age. And it’s actually during high school I got in touch with rap, I was always some goof ball around the school usually hanging out with the bigger guys playing football or whatsoever and some of them were listening to NWA, Ice Cube, Game, 50 Cent; sort of the stuff that used to be popular from the 90s up until then. Some of them gave it a shot themselves and once was asked if I wanted to join, so I did.It wasn’t that good (haha) but I kept pushing it for many years, which honestly I needed, I feel like I didn’t have it naturally to actually rap properly, it’s more something I had to teach myself and hone along the way. Which just made it a beautiful journey to date.

Will: My parents tell the story that when I was 5 years old, I was always pretending to play violin, along with the classical radio that was constantly playing throughout the house. I started lessons that same year and since then, have never thought of doing anything else with my life than making music. Being surrounded by a lot of instruments in the house, it was inevitable that with time I’d pick up other instruments like guitar, bass and drums. Not long after, around the age of 14, I started writing my own songs. Quietly, in the attic, hoping no one would hear me sing.

2. Who are some artists that influence you and that you want to work with in the future?

Jay: Tyler the Creator, Childish Gambino, Isaiah Rashad, Frank Ocean, SZA, J. Cole, Ye, Daniel Ceasar, Vicktor Taiwo, 070 Shake, Anderson .Paak and more. Some inspire me by the way they approach their music, the flow and cadence or intricacies and beauty of their writing. Some also inspire me by how they have become bigger than life by expanding beyond their musicianship, and excel as a person thriving to take part in everything that lies within the possibilities.

Will: Donald Glover and Tyler The Creator are two names that come to mind instantly.

I love how un-compromised their work is. I love their world-building and storytelling. I’m inspired by how they bridge gaps between different artistic disciplines.

I’d love to work with artists pushing music and art forward, while also thinking outside the box about how they can go from idea to concept to creating something tangible.

Frank Ocean, D’Angelo, Björk, Kendrick Lamar…

3.  What projects do you have coming up and can you give us any info on them?

Will: Our next single featuring Abhi, The Nomad is coming out June 9th. We made this track in LA back in 2020, right before the pandemic hit. Being so inspired by the city and all the people we met there, we were riding such a high that we were able to write and record the whole thing in one session. The synergy between everyone in the room was off the charts. The track is taken off our album ‘no sleep in LA’ that’s coming out in September. It’s our sophomore album, which should be a hard one to live up to the expectations. But honestly, we feel like this is the best work we’ve made up until this point. We really went the extra mile on it, going deep into detail on every aspect of the album, whether it be the lyrics, the production (recording string ensembles, brass and gospel singers…), the mixing, or the visuals.

4. How would you describe your sound?

Jay: It’s like my or perhaps your favourite smoothie in the morning. (lol) A mixture of genres, with hip-hop/rap at its base and there being no limitations for the extra ingredients added. We love to look back and take inspiration from things from the past but equally from the present and try to do our own thing with it. There’s often a beautiful contrast going on simply because of the differences between me and Willem, as people, as artists that always end up complementing each other and create an intriguing, cool dynamic. Which I think in itself, on top of the smoothie mixture, is one of the biggest factors that creates the blackwave. “Sound”.

Will: Melodic, multi-layered, soul-infused hip hop with thoughtful, introspective lyrics and an uplifting feel.

5. What's your proudest moment to date so far as an artist?

Jay: The proudest I’ve been as an artist is a multitude of moments where I felt like I was able to prove to my mother that it actually is possible to break free from the usual go to school, university, get a job type of mindset she had set for herself whenever she came and saw me perform together with blackwave., seeing me excel and shine in what I love to do the most.

Will: That’s a hard question, because being a creative and putting your art out in the open, it’s always a love-hate relationship with my work for me. It’s hard for me to be proud of achievements because I feel like I can always do better. What does give me a feeling of pride is when people share their personal connection they have with the music. That makes me think it’s all worth it. It doesn’t matter how many people we reach, even if it’s just one person having such a deep connection with it, and we were able to make their day a little better, that makes it worthwhile.

6. Do you have any advice for our readers who may be trying to play the mad game of music?

Jay: The biggest and fairly simple piece of advice I could give any person to date is to honestly just not listen to anyone and create to your heart’s content. Something you can easily lose track of as a creative with so much noise on the outside trying to infiltrate but in the end all of the best results are given when you do and create what feels right for your heart and gut. The rest will follow.

Will: Never make any compromises. Listen and take in what people around you say, be open to learn, but never water down your own vision and sound.

7. Are there any artists on your radar right now that we should check out?

Jay: One of my favourite artists that in my opinion still deserves more shine for his meticulous and such refined skill as a rapper/poet, is Caleborate. I’ve been inspired by so many pieces and parts of his art and conversations that we’ve held along the years that we’ve known each other now, it’s mad.

Will: I’ve been working with Memphis singer/rapper Jon Waltz for about two years now. He’s incredible. He deserves to get some more recognition for his work in my opinion. He has a super innovative style and vision, and could easily hold his own against some of the more well known artists in his genre like Kevin Abstract, Frank Ocean…

8. What albums are on heavy rotation on your Spotify playlist currently?

Jay: I haven’t really been listening to too many albums as of late but one that I’m in the middle of digging deeper into currently is Kendrick’s latest “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers”. That man is simply built different and never ceases to amaze me as he keeps on pushing new gems and reinventing himself every time he does. I feel like I’ve only scraped the surface so far and there’s a lot that this album can still teach me, as a person but concurrently also as an artist.

Will: Still trying to dissect and take in everything Kendrick had to say on his new project. That one’s gonna take a while to fully digest. I’m really mind blown by his ability to flesh out the themes he decides to take on.

Dijon’s latest album ‘Absolutely’ was an instant classic for me. Still on repeat.

I’ve been going through African singer Tabu Ley Rochereau’s discography as of late. Some of his compilation albums from the late 60’s/early 70s are amazing.

9. What do you like to do when you're not making music?

Jay: A lot of sports, video games and hanging out with my friends. Both video games and sports, especially working out and snowboarding allow me to re-centre myself when I need a break, and recharge my social batteries. When charged I love to be around my close circle where I can talk about anything or act as goofy as I want without judgement.

Will: In my spare time I go boxing and do some occasional jogging. I love how you can’t think of anything else while doing martial arts. You have to be in the moment, leave everything behind to focus on what you’re doing. It helps me relieve stress and I enjoy learning to get better at the actual techniques and tactics involved. It reminds me of dancing and music in a lot of ways, because of the rhythms and footwork involved.

Other than that my life pretty much solely revolves around music. In my head I’m always creating, planning, brainstorming…

10. Name Three things you can't live without when in the studio?

Will: Until some time ago I was always really nervous to go work in a studio that was not my own, because I thought I wouldn’t be able to ‘perform’ as well without my go to instruments. But the more sessions I did, the more I realised it’s not about the gear. You always carry the skills that make you a good writer/producer with you. That being said, I think the most essential setup for me would be: laptop, microphone and interface. I could write and produce a whole album with that setup if I needed to.