PREMIERE: Enemies of Success - Opportunites Natural Assassins (Album) + 10 Questions

2024 sees the release of Enemies of Success debut album ‘Opportunites Natural Assassins’ The album drops today (03.05.24) and boasts a whole host of incredible features from the likes of Ill Sykes, Con-Vers, Resovwaar Dogs, Roisin Quinn, Lomax, Habitat 617 and Sleeps Cousin.

The duo which is made up of London based MC, RunDown and Derby based producer / beat maker, Pedantic aim to blend boom bap beats with more personal lyricism and tongue in cheek bars.

The album marks their first full body of work and sign of things to come in the future, with plans for the next project already in motion.

The album is available on Bandcamp and all major streaming platforms from today.

Enemies of Success 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?

RunDown: So for me it started at home when I was quite young, my parents always had music on - the radio, records, tapes in the car kind of thing, and my Dad is a guitar player so I was exposed to a lot of different music which I feel hugely lucky and appreciative for. I loved watching my dad play guitar then rock and metal was something I gravitated to fairly early on, which I know is similar for Pedantic. We’ve both played in heavier bands for a while both separately and together. We are still in metal band now.

Hip hop all started with Jurassic 5 for me, my brother in law was playing Quality Control I think when I was about 16 and I was transfixed by the beats and vocals, especially Chali 2na. From then on I’ve just loved delving into hip hop and was mind blown when I heard people from the UK rapping, I remember hearing High Plains Drifter for the first time and not being able to turn it off haha.

Pedantic: Similar to RunDown I had my earlier experiences with the old hip hop heads but drifted away to different genres for a while. RunDown then introduced me to Uk hip hop when we were at uni and I’ve not put it down since. There is so much amazing music and the work rate of people in the industry just fuelled our enthusiasm and being musicians already, it was only natural that we want to start joining the ranks of some of the artists we loved so much. We would spend time getting instrumentals off albums from people like BVA, Leafdog, Dirty Dike, the Last Skepta, illinformed and DJ Premier to name a few and set ourself 15 minute challenges to come up with some bars then preform them. After a while I took more of an affinity to beat making and RunDown to laying down bars. This led us to where we are now.

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

RunDown: I think it’s hard to pin down main influences as there’s just so much wicked music that’s quite inspiring for us, but for me BVA, Verb T, Jehst, Task Force, Smellington Piff are all huge influences. As for working with any of them, that’d be absolutely mind blowing for us haha. We’ve been fortunate enough to collaborate with some absolutely sick artists on our upcoming album, who are doing some real bits and they’re people we respect hugely, so it’s felt like a real honour.

Pedantic: It’s similar for me with regards to influences and who we would love to work with in the future. I could write a book on all of the albums we have taken influence from, or have gone some way to pushing us to want to make music, but as far as beats are concerned, it would be redundant to not name a couple; Leafdog, illinformed, Pitch 92, DJ Premier, Dirty Dike, Sumgii, ghostown and Naive.

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

On that note, our debut album Opportunities Natural Assassins is out on the 03.05.24, which is super exciting. This started as us wanting to release a few singles, then an EP and now a full blown album! As I mentioned before we’ve some incredible features from Con-Vers, Ill Sykes, Lomax, Resovwaar Dogs, Raisin Quinn, Habitat, Sleeps Cousins, Scrolls the Mystic and Mr B, so it feels like a real privilege for us to have so many talented artists from the UK Scene on there. We’re already getting some other tracks together, but for exactly what yet we’re not sure. RunDown is also working on a project with Gob Hoblin, a UK producer who is making some absolutely killer beats.

4. How would you describe your sound?

You know what, I’m not entirely sure how to describe our sound, but I think because of our influences and the stuff we listen to it’s a mix of boombap and occasionally some more lo-fi bits on the beat front. Lyrics wise, I really writing enjoy to beats, which has a fair bit of sway on what will come out. I quite often write about more personal experiences and how I deal or maybe don’t deal that with them haha. I think that’s something I’ve also always really liked about UK Hip Hop, especially guys like Verb T, Dr Syntax and Dirty Dike.

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

RunDown: For me, which I know is the same for Pedantic as well, it’s definitely been working with the other artists who are on the album. I think because we started doing this as fans of those artists and now to work with them that feels crazy to me! I’d also say getting some of our tracks played on Radio, because when we started doing this, we weren’t ever sure if it’d make it out of our bedrooms, so to get people enjoying enough to add their mixes, feels like a proud moment for me. Big shouts to Kelvin at Bill Shakes Guards My Tapes, Sammy Jay on the Xposure Show and DJ Jaffa with This That and The Third.

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

RunDown: At the risk of sounding like a real cliche, I honestly would say try to enjoy it. I was always quite nervous about showing anyone or posting anything I did with me MC’ing, but I think that’s started to fade a bit because I’ve just been enjoying it so much, and I think that passion has really made us want to push what we’re doing and keep working hard. Also, something Pedantic has really taught me is, don’t be afraid to talk to other artists and ask if people want to collaborate on stuff, as that’s truly such a sick part of the process for us so far.

Pedantic: I think I’d say it’s important to keep it interesting and view everything as an opportunity to learn, or grow. This album has been such an awesome experience. I’m used to being in a band where you have to balance the wants and needs, time and money of so many people whereas in this project we have had full creative licence and freedom to do it how we wanted. That comes with more work and responsibility, but every aspect from interacting with other artists, people on the media side, artists (artwork and videos) and even social media posts which is a lot, but everything is a skill and every day is a lesson. It keeps its interesting but should be looked at as a way to become a more all rounded artist.

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

Herbal T the God is someone I’m loving at the moment. The flow and the way the lyricism fits the beat for me is sick. Resovwaar Dogs have also released some real sick stuff recently and are one to watch. Gob Hoblin, who I mentioned earlier is also a producer to really keep an eye out for, him and Habitat617 released a track towards the end of last year which is absolutely wicked. I don’t think it needs to be said but C.O.N-Vers is definitely someone to get on your radar.

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

RunDown: have been loving Give Us Our Daily Bread by Jamil Honesty and Machacha, Hello World by Kakarot & Ghost, Road to Recovery by Citizen Nugget & Charmandem and I’ve been listening to a lot of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings recently, but there is so much good stuff out there at the moment.

Pedantic: mainly going through the tsunami of music Leafdog has been dropping this year.

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

RunDown: it’s spending time with my wife when I’m not at work, playing video games and I love listening to music, whether that’s old stuff or new stuff. I’ve been enjoying diving into older bands back catalogues recently.

Pedantic: similar to RunDown, I tend to spend my downtime with the wife and kid. My little girl is nearly 3 so just trying to enjoy being a father. Outside of that it’s NBA and Anime.

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

RunDown: This feels like a tough one haha, I would say tobacco unfortunately, coffee and a set of in ear headphones. I have a tendency to obsessively listen to bounces of mixes, which I’m not sure is a good thing or not!

Pedantic: it’s the laptop/MPC, coffee and more damn coffee. Id like to say cigarettes but not sure the wife would be happy.