Renelle 893 - Interview

Born and raised in South East London, Renelle 893 is an artist who glides over classic hip-hop feeling beats with a mastery of sound and structure and a nuance of language that sets his bars among the best.

Writer and rapper Zenrei sat down with him to discuss his journey and recent release of Art Thief with High Focus Records.

“I don’t know any other way of life, and I know there’s plenty of people who just hopped on the rapping ting within the last few years. But this is me, man. This is what I do. This is me from day.”

Cameron: How did you come up rapping?

I guess from a young age, I always was into art and stuff like that. I've always had a visual art thing. I did photography. And my dad’s an artist, he’s a sick painter. My dad’s got the maddest stuff, you feel me?

But no one had to push me towards doing music or nothing. I had to push myself towards being creative. It was just natural, you know?

I kinda came up with grime - I was always around people doing grime. I was the hip hop guy out of the grime and trap sounding guys, innit. So I always knew that I was more of a lyrical guy.

It's kind of funny when I started writing and that, because I couldn't flow for shit. I had a horrible flow.

But I remember it was actually Verbz at the youngest age - he was like yo, you got bars there. There's something there. He was the first person who I'd say I looked up to as a rapper. He was better than me.

And that definitely did influence me to actually keep going to a great extent. Because I was always very confident in how I could put together bars. But I did have to work on that flow, though!

There's bare other people I know there's a lot of people who've definitely been positively influenced by Verbz -  he's a good guy.

But I do think it's like a lot like other artists these days, when they’re just barring, I love barring, but if I can bring that into me presenting myself as a person showing people who I am, then it's the best of both worlds, really.

C: And when did you start releasing - where were you at in life and how did that inform it?

I guess it was 2016, but I think the first SoundCloud releases would have been before I was at uni - probably late sixth form times, that summer there. Yeah, man, me and my guy, Fred. Man had his gaff, so I used to go around there.

Then I went to uni. At uni in Brighton, I studied psychology - I like to read people and understand human behaviour. I think a lot of psychology inspires my writing, because certain things that I think about make me a bit more self aware. So as I'm more self aware, I can kind of like explain that through how I write.

Recently, I’ve started going Brighton again, and I quite like it again, I feel real nice down here. It's an interesting little space there. Anytime I walk through there, it's like I'm walking through old memories of mine. Shout out Brighton, man.

C: Apart from the grime settings and people barring around you, what did you grow up on musically?

I grew up on people like Biggie, Wu Tang...then you've got the more English side of things like Nines, Skrapz, Potter Payper and stuff like that. You got the MF Dooms, you got all these people and it's like if an artist comes along and you listen to them…

It’s by doing that kind of thing that you take like little bits of the artists that you are inspired by and you learn. It's not like you're learning how to copy them, but you're learning how they do what they do. You just understand it and then you're like, alright, how can I make it relate to my ting?

C: That’s how you learn, for sure. How do you feel like your writing style comes through on Art Thief?

I'll tell you what it is - I think a lot of what I write about is very old school rap, about a topic. And on a lot of songs, I'll stick to it. So say if I'm talking about my mental health, you're probably going to hear me talk about my mental health for the whole track.

Even when you see someone just being vulnerable, people will talk about real stuff that's happened, but they're still not even being vulnerable. Like there's a lot of people just doing too much facade.

But there's something innate that's quite natural and organic about the way a person raps or does their music. It’s very personal, and it can't be replicated.

And with this stuff, you have to prove yourself. People aren't going to believe you until you show them. And when you know yourself you can do something, it's easy to be a bit like “oh, why does no-one believe in me”.

But I've learned all that stuff, man. Prove it - because it's all good thinking that you're the guy. But if you can't show you're the guy, then what is it?

Either way, with music, it's imagination. Do you know what I mean? Alliteration, sibilance, metaphor - I got all that from studying Shakespeare in English Lit. That’s why I run it. But I could give you the most detailed breakdown of something that happened to me in bars, and it’s just a movie, bro. So it's like everyone's watching a version of the movie. Everyone gets their own version of the experience, you know?

C: Yeah, the experience is totally different for everyone. On that point of uniqueness and vulnerability, for me, it’s The Stairs. I had to wheel it up four times on my first listen - I couldn’t even get through it. And I was just thinking - this right here is real hip-hop, this is the heart of it. The lyrics are incredible, never mind the beat.

I think that was the song that I used to go back to most. I I genuinely think I rinsed it too much, and before the album came out, when we thought “what singles are we doing?”...I was like, I never want to hear that tune no more. But yeah, it's banging. I think that got a very good response, to be honest.

Shout out to Bay 29 every time. I linked up with Bay through [UK beatmaker] Mr Slipz. I got too much love for Slipz, man. I was going down Rarekind [Records, in Brighton] the other day and saw him there.

But yeah, that's the one that people are shouting me like, yo, this song bro, this is the tune, innit. I think there's a lot of value in that. I rate that song highly for sure.

C: That’s something to be thieved.

Yeah, everyone steal up the ting! Like you know, I mean that's what that's what inspiration is anyway, man. Just like taking someone's idea, remixing it. But you get me. Everything's a sample in the work, man. 

C: For sure. And how was the album release party at Four Quarters for Art Thief?

That was unbelievably sick, bro. It sold out. 

When I was planning it, HF were thinking about a different venue. But I wanted to do [Peckham bar and venue] Four Quarters - I liked it, and I knew we could sell that out. I've got the belief in myself that I can do things, and I thought “I'm going to make this night special. We're going to make this night special and make it happen - that's 100% what I'm going to do”.

C: Just out to everyone who came, because you made sure my friends didn't get tickets. 

It was a very big eye opener. Like, there's bare people in here just actually trying to come and rate my ting. I'm just trying to just give love back to those people that are willing to take time out of their day for me.

I like to be cool with the fans. I rate them. You get me, like that's good people. I just like to bless the fans.

C: At the end of the day, them showing up and copping the bits is the biggest show of support, because it motivates you, and enables you to make more art.

It's not easy, but this is why it helps to support if you want to see your people grow. Now there's people I've seen that if you look from the outside, you're thinking:

“Well, these men are lit. These men are getting bare views. Surely, these man must be up and they do music so much that they just live off it. 

Nah, b. It's hard, cos everyone uses Spotify, and they get like .00003p per listen. 

C: You wanna see your favourite artist continue to make more music and keep going? Might have to go cop the physicals - cop the hoodies, cop the shit that’s gonna put suttin’ in their pocket. 

At the end of the day, you'll probably find it hard to find too many people who're just going to keep doing it for so many years.

And for the physicals, if it's a song on the playlist on Spotify, man might not even remember what it's called in a couple of years. But it's from people who collect, they're gonna look after that. Yeah, I don't know, man. Maybe in a few years someone will play it to their child, and their child will be like that guy was cold.

If I die, hold that vinyl, kiss it one time. You know what I'm saying? Just bless it one time, man. It's good luck.

C: I hear that. And that’s one thing High Focus are so good at - their merch is always on point. How did things come together with them in the first place?

So the first time I ever met [managing director of High Focus] Fliptrix and [High Focus rapper] Leaf Dog, yeah, I was just doing a one show at [Brighton venue] the Green Door Store. Fliptrix and Leaf Dog I've seen at the back while I was on the stage. I don’t pay too much attention - I’m running my bars. And then I've jumped off stage, and I'm just chatting to people after the show - I love just chatting to man after being on stage. They've come up to me and are like:

“Yo, we fuck with your shit. That was a sick performance.” And I don't know, like for me, I pride myself on performing more than anything - that's what I'm on.

So I went away and just decided to make some more music, and ended up making better music, and obviously Slipz puts us in touch with Bay 29.

[High Focus rapper and producer] King Kashmere shouts me as well. Then I speak into Slipz and tell him my plan of how to release what I’ve made, and he’s like nah, I can chat to [High] Focus for you. He tells me he really rates what I’ve made. So once again the guy Slipz blesses man. You know what I mean? He just put the free ball through and yeah, big up Slipz.

It's one of them ones. I could have, like, approached them earlier with some other stuff, but I just think that was the right time. You know, that was definitely the right time.

C: What about the link up with Bay29 and your work together on Art Thief?

When we linked, the first beat he played, and if not the first couple, I knew we needed to do a project, do you know what I mean? I knew exactly what it was, because I was aware that he used to be a drum and bass DJ and producer. But he's now just like translating it to a different genre. 

So I knew he knew what he was doing, and it's not like I was thinking, oh, he's some any producer. It was pretty easily done. It was simple. And yeah. Also, one thing with me is that I can't really make music long term with people that I don't have a good energy with.

He was a blessed guy. He's a proper good hearted guy.

It was just so seamless. It was so easily done and we ended up making too many tunes. 

We made, like, way too many. There was bare tunes that never got released. 

You see Off the Grid - that EP and Art Thief was basically one big project, and we knew we couldn't have that many songs. We can't have that many songs on, especially like this day and age.. like having an album like that in 2024 is too long for a lot of people's attention spans.

And also, what you got to understand is that all of the projects I've done have only ever been with one producer. I think that's also because in order to create I have to feel comfortable.

C: After such a class project and a good reception for it, what’s next for you?

Well, at the [Four Quarters] gig obviously everyone copped physicals and that, you got the hoodies and you got the gloves, you got the stuff. But like, I'm not trying to necessarily wait overly long to drop again. Man, I don't think it's going to be like another full full length album for now. 

I've got a few more experimental things on the way. A few more. Like for example at some point, pretty soon I'm gonna start dropping some stuff on my beats. No matter what it is, you can never say that it wasn't my style. You know what I mean? 

C: I was gonna say - with the Soundcloud works and old IG posts, I saw you been producing for time. Made me wonder when that’s coming.

Yeah, but it’s different if I've made the beat. I know how it's come together. What I'm thinking when I hear these beats is very much the Logic file, just thinking of the individual parts of the beat. But one thing I've had recently is I reached the level where I was proud of the beats I'm making. And I just kind of just put them beats to the side. 

I just tried to just forget about them so that I can then come back and just see it as a fresh beat. That's been working for me a lot lately.

On the collaborative stuff, I like doing collaborative stuff innit. The thing is with music, it's such a social thing but, I always write on my own generally. But the idea of me and another producer in the studio for time just putting our brains together and just like creating something together - that's a crazy experience.

C: Yeah, and the reach of it is crazy. It’s a wider hip-hop culture thing - I seen people from bare countries commenting on your thing, bigging it up - it’s a universal language, especially when you’ve mastered the use of language.

Yeah, man. I'm seeing a couple of my bredrins are in Colombia now, and they're sending me videos of like these random dons that start rapping on the street - like they're just coming up to people and start freestyling.

Maybe if you put him in certain parts of London, in the ends, he would just look like a normal London guy. And you'd think that he just speaks English. It’s the culture, the fashion, literally the way people walk.

And then on the music side of hip-hop…man that are really digging in the crates, they're not digging in too many English crates. They're not digging in too many American crates. They're digging in countries you never heard of.

And even J Dilla - he was sampling techno. Everyone just thinks it's just like all the nice, chill stuff. He’s got some weird beats out there, but I rate it because it's like it's that whole experimental stuff, man. You really got to take inspiration from everywhere.

But this is just so powerful - so powerful man. The art of rap. The art of whatever we're doing. And you know, I find it quite funny that everyone hates on each other. Trap, drill, hip-hop, all of that. It’s just different ways to express yourself. And it's also just taste. People will bring us different flavours.

Check out Renelle’s music and cop something from the High Focus shop to support the culture.