On record, Blue Daisy is oppressive, tyrannical… dark. Chatting on the phone, however, London-based Kwes Darko is lightness, buoyancy and laughter. So what gives?
“I’m probably one of the nicest guys you’ll meet, but with me, growing up I went through a lot,” he explains. “Once upon a time my emotions would come out, but I would get into trouble if I simply let it out. Now, I let a lot of my emotions out through my music. The dark side is there, in a dark room. Blacked out. The music comes from there.”
Taking his time, Blue Daisy’s reputation rests on a slim pile of vinyl. Emphasising quality over quantity, the intensity of his music is reinforced by the sparse nature of his catalogue to date. Working on a solo album and a joint mixtape with Dahlia Black, the producer is adamant that he wants to throw off any label which comes his way.
“I don’t know how to describe my music,” he says. “I leave it to everyone else to describe it, because I can’t place it, I can’t put it into one box. I’m just an artist, I’m making art – however you want to label it, you go ahead and label it. But I’m not down with labelling what I do.”
Shot through with a blacker-than-black atmosphere, everything Blue Daisy puts his name to has that sense of being broken, corrupted… knackered. Born out of specific circumstances, a specific location, the producer’s music has a deep connection to his surroundings.
“Life is not all rosy. It’s not all glamour. We want to bring back that other side, the side we related to – people who were not living that life. Not everyone can afford to live the life that Rick Ross lives. We’re living in London, it’s an expensive place and most of the people are broke here.
“We see it more as a movement – it’s not just the music, it’s a whole movement for us.”
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Where: London
What: Hip-hop noir understood through a grime lens
Get 3 songs: ‘Fuck A Rap Song’, ‘Last Song’, ‘Sleeping Willow’
Unique Fact: Blue Daisy is a big Pink Floyd fan.
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Words: Robin Murray
Photo: Neil Bedford
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