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What the hell are you doing in my studio?
While your here, have yourself a seat.
My name's Labrinth
[music]
I'm signed to erm, Simon Cowell.
I produced Tinnie Tempah's Pass Out and Frisky.
And I've worked with various UK celebrities like
Pixie Lott, Tinchy Stryder and loads more.
My Granddad was a singer, Mum and Dad were singers, we used to sing in the church
choir,
so I think I kind of had it naturally from what I
experienced when I was younger.
My family and my mum were always honest with me.
I was constantly bringing music home and I started to see the response change.
When someone tells you something's not amazing, it's very easy to just go, I'm gonna
give up, I'm not good at this.
So I think that definitely put a little spark of, keep doing it, keep doing it, it's
gonna be that day when someone's goes this is great,
this is great!
There's gonna be things I'm not so good at now that
I know, like five years on, I'll be amazing at.
When you love something, you kind of just fall into it.
I loved art when I was younger, it wasn't really
about being technically amazing at it, it was just
it made me feel good.
And it was the same with music.
I think I got to a certain age where I was like, I want
to start putting this stuff out!
So I started recording when I was thirteen and I
was recording people from twenty-five up
recording people who were basically my elders was
a bit weird because they looked at me like, who's this
little kid telling me what to sing and does he know what
he's doing?
You know a couple minutes into the session they
would see that I knew what knobs to push and whatever.
It was a little bit nerve-racking because you're
just a little scared kid trying to do what you love.
There have been so many situations, so many sessions,
so many performances where I've been terribly scared
and I didn't know what was going to happen, what was
going to come of it, but once I get to a certain point where
I'm very confident with it,
it's all going to click, and I call that the Rubik's Cube moment.
You know, you keep turning this little box until one
minute you're like "this is amazing, I love it, I love it."
Weirdly, even though there's like millions of us in this world, we all think differently
and we all have something unique in us.
I'm going to do something that no one else is going to do.
I kind of noticed that being myself is the only thing that's
going to get me to where I wanted to be.
Meeting Tinie Tempah, he came in to the studio, we weren't sure it was going to work.
Turns out it was the best selling single of 2010 and
I was like 'this is amazing!'
As soon as Pass Out went to number one I was like,
okay, there's more work to do, let's stay out there
let me make Frisky and then straight after that I was like
Professor Green, let me produce Oh My God!
and I was just, like, let's go, let's keep pushing this as much
as we can.
Of course, I'm still young and I'm still a kid.
When you're young your attention span is not as
amazing as when you mature.
I had to learn how to focus on what | was doing,
and especially finishing stuff.
I've had really bad studio sessions where these
people have come in with high expectations
"Labrynth's amazing, we want to work with him."
And then we've just spent a whole day in the studio
just like, we don't know what to make.
And it's very scary, because you don't want anyone
to think that you're not great at what you do but,
you know you have good days and bad days and I've
worked with like some of the biggest writers in the world an they've had bad days
where it's just like "I don't know what to do."
I think it will never stop happening.
You're always have low moments.
But it's almost learning to deal with them like you can't let them crack you, you can't
just lay down when you get knocked down.
I flop all the time. Sometimes I'm late, sometimes I'm not serious or not focused but,
I think I learn how to pull myself back together.
It's just almost having the tools to get yourself balanced again.
Sometimes we make things bigger then they are.
And we turns things in to mountains so you've got
to almost learn how to make them a bit smaller and just
push through it.
Different points in your life, you're always going to be in your first year.
You're always going to be the new kid in school.
When I was in Primary school, I was crying and I was
like Mum don't put me in this place.
And then there was bigger kids then me, then I go in to Secondary school and then I'm a
Year 7, with my little back pack,
and all the big guys are looking at me like I'm going to bully this dude.
And then you go into business, or you go into the
music and there's bigger stars then you.
So, it's almost learning that you're going through
the same thing.
Soon as you put that kind of puzzle together, life will be very easy, you'll just roll through
it
and you'll be like, I'm a year 7, but, I'm amazing.
[laughs]
One more thing I've got to ask you, if you see that
guy Ledge, could you tell him to return my calls?
He's supposed to be doing a track on my album.
Come on, you got to get out now,
I've got an album to finish, and you've got school to fix!
Peace out.