“Don’t forget my collaboration with Fredo,” smiled 20-year-old Not3s, who will not disclose his real name. “Our track, Haters, is in the lower part of the top 100.”
Not3s also had a minor hit late last year on 99 + 1, his collaboration with MoStack. In fact, he currently has three collaboration and three solo hits to his name.
The first of the latter was Addison Lee. The track was self-released online where it gradually became a viral hit. It eventually entered the official UK chart last June. Fans who enjoyed the song also had the opportunity to secure a cut-price taxi ride.
“Addison Lee is the name of a taxi company. The song is about a fictional girl called Madison. I order an Addison to pick her up and bring her to me.
“I was travelling to the recording studio every day and my transport was always an Addison Lee taxi. When I heard the instrumental in the studio, I just started freestyling lyrics about getting an Addison for Madison.
“My friends reckoned it was pretty funny and thought I’d change the lyrics. It was obviously not the strongest or most meaningful song I’ve ever written but I liked the idea and stayed with it.
“I put the track on my SoundCloud page and things started happening. The GRM Daily website got in touch with an offer to make a video for me. The Addison Lee people also made contact. They gave me a discount code which I could pass on to fans who liked the song and I was invited to perform Addison Lee at the company’s Christmas party.
“That was held at Koko in Camden. I was actually shocked by how great a party it was. I was the only person who performed live but the DJ was terrific and there were two female dancers performing on hoops suspended from the ceiling. I wish I had a video of it.”
His mother says Not3s had the ability to rap almost as soon as he could talk. His first song was written at the age of eight but things didn’t get serious until he was 14.
“That’s when I took my stage name. I’d recorded a couple of songs but hadn’t done anything with them. I was with my friend, Young Stacks, and we were trying to come up with a name for me. He suggested Young Notes. It caught my ear but just didn’t seem right. A few days later, I thought I’d use the basic idea but drop the Young and replace the e in Notes with a 3.”
The 3 is particularly significant to him. “Notes means three things to me, notes of money, music notes and take note of me. I actually try to do things in threes whenever possible. For example, my EP, Take Not3s, has nine tracks and there are three guest artists.”
Not3s followed Addison Lee with another hit single, Aladdin. But the quality promotion gained from his signing to the Relentless Records label helped to propel My Lover into the upper reaches of the UK chart.
“Having this level of success has motivated me even more. I’m from Nigerian parentage but the Hackney area of London is my home. I looked up to other London artists like Krept and Konan, Stormzy and Wretch 32. I want younger people to look up to me in the sense of using me as an inspiration for them to find their own success.
“I don’t necessarily mean in music. It could be any kind of positive activity from sports to academic achievements. But if kids are going to be inspired by me, it means I need to have a continuing run of successful tracks. I can’t be someone who has a few hits and then disappears. That’s my motivation to become as big an artiste as possible.”
In brief
The Script
Random Acts of Kindness Day saw Irish trio The Script give the experience of a lifetime to a pair of teenage buskers they saw playing on the streets of Aberdeen.
The band were in Scotland’s ‘Granite City’ to play an evening concert. But singer Danny O’Donoghue, guitarist Mark Sheehan and drummer Glen Power decided their random act of kindness would be to invite the best busker they could find to perform a song with them during the show.
They spent the day walking around Aberdeen checking out the street musicians and chose music college pals Shay Currie and Chris van der Wal. The duo were playing guitar and percussion in their usual spot outside the Bon Accord Centre.
“They just appeared and stood and listened to us,” Chris explained. “We didn’t think it was real. We love The Script and even play one of their songs, Rain, when we’re busking.”
The boys were initially invited to the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre to experience the big stage and jam with The Script during their soundcheck. But then came the invitation to join the trio in performing their smash hit, The Man Who Can’t Be Moved, during the concert.
“It’s such a wonderful song,” Chris stated. “We’d only ever played it all the way through once before. To perform it with the band in front of all those people was amazing. We had so much adrenaline afterwards.”
Chris performs solo and in bands but is studying to be a music teacher. Shay actually fronts a band called Meraki and hopes to make his career in music.
“It was a life-changing experience,” Shay remarked. “I can be a much better frontman for my own band now. Danny is exactly the kind of musician I want to be. It was an amazing gesture and such a great thing for a massive band like The Script to go out of their way to help people like Chris and I to get on.”
The Script know a thing or two about busking. They performed for passers-by on the streets of Dublin before finding fame. They are also more than familiar with the hoped for coins in the bucket. A collection was made for the buskers during the concert which the trio then matched sending Shay and Chris home with 2,000 GBP in their pockets and an experience which will live with them forever.
Ella Eyre
If performing with The Script is a tale Shay and Chris will tell for the rest of their lives, her experience of touring as the band’s support act will not be a time which is fondly remembered by singer Ella Eyre.
Not that she has anything but good things to say about The Script. After a year which saw the death of her father and a split from her long-time boyfriend, it is news from her record company which has brought renewed sadness into 23-year-old Ella’s life.
Sales of her last single, Ego, were very disappointing. Virgin Records bosses were unimpressed with this or any of Ella’s new material.
In fact, Ego was only released after the addition of a verse from singer / rapper Ty Dolla Sign which it was thought might widen the potential market. As it was, the song stalled at number 67 on the UK chart and prompted Virgin’s decision to drop Ella from the label.
She is said to be devastated. But Ella apparently still has faith in her new songs and is planning to release them during the coming months. She obviously hopes to find another record deal but there is always the option of online self-releasing.
The video for Ego can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3jFys0FTzE.
Fergie
It has recently been announced that Fergie is no longer a member of Black Eyed Peas.
The news comes as no surprise. She was conspicuously absent from the group’s comeback single, Street Livin’. No explanation for her non-involvement was given at the time but Will.i.am has now confirmed her departure. He also explained that it was Fergie’s decision to leave.
“We are now a trio,” he said. “I don’t know why Fergie isn’t on the project. You will have to ask Fergie that.”
She has also been in the news for an embarrassing reason. Fergie was castigated for her unique interpretation of the US national anthem at the NBA All-Star Game.
The Star Spangled Banner has been subjected to a host of different arrangements by a wide variety of artists over the years. But no-one had previously rendered it as a sultry, jazz-influenced torch song.
Such was the critical backlash that Fergie felt the need to issue an apology for her performance.
“I’ve always been honoured and proud to perform the national anthem. I wanted to try something special for the NBA. I’m a risk taker artistically, but clearly my rendition didn’t strike the intended tone. I do love my country and honestly tried my best.”
Was Fergie’s performance really so bad? Some people would beg to differ from the critics. See what you think by checking it out at www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5cOvyDpWfM.
