But it just needed one hit single to kickstart the chart career for Montreal-based KNY Factory (Banx) and Soke (Ranx). This has now materialised in the form of their UK smash hit success with Answerphone.
The boys co-wrote Answerphone with featured vocalist Ella Eyre, producer/songwriter Jacob Manson and singer/songwriter/producer Shakka Philip. English singer/rapper Yxng Bane also contributed and performed a verse on the track.
“We tried to keep things pretty cool when we played the Answerphone demo to our management,” smiled KNY Factory, real name Yannick Rastorgi. “We tried to make out that it was just a cool tune but the truth is we were really excited about the song and we really couldn’t hide this from our people.”
“They felt exactly the same,” recalled Soke, real name Zacharie Raymond. “Everyone thought the song had massive potential. We just didn’t know if it was going to be a Banx & Ranx track or an Ella Eyre track.
“We all loved Answerphone so much that the only fair thing to do was release it as a joint track, Banx & Ranx and Ella Eyre, rather than Banx & Ranx featuring Ella Eyre. But then Bane came on board to add his extra touch of magic to the song so the final credits were Banx & Ranx and Ella Eyre featuring Yxng Bane.”
Although they only teamed up in 2014, KNY and Soke have been in the music business for around 15 years.
“I’ve been doing music since I was 12,” Soke stated. “It got me out of trouble a lot of the time. I grew up in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city. I started out as a DJ playing electronic, dance and rave music. I also rapped and had a deal with a local label.
“But I was mainly a producer. I produced dozens of hip hop albums after I moved to Montreal. By then, my music had changed to hip hop combined with the Caribbean styles of dancehall and reggae.”
KNY was the perfect partner. Although born in Paris, France, his family moved to the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe when he was two.
“Most of my youth was spent listening to Caribbean music,” KNY explained. “Although my musical taste widened after my family relocated to Montreal, the Caribbean rhythms were always my first love.”
The boys joined forces after Soke heard KNY’s remix of Eiffel 65’s Blue (Da Ba Dee).
“I didn’t realise anyone else in the city was making that kind of music,” Soke remarked. “I had to meet him. We got on great, decided to record together and we’ve never looked back.”
They initially made their name as remixers. Remixed songs by artists such as Bob Marley, Sean Paul, Diplo, Wayne Wonder and Capleton are among the tracks still offered for free download at (no www.) soundcloud.com/banxnranx.
The duo also created official remixes for two songs, Saturn Barz and Let Me Out, from the Gorillaz album, Humanz. They produced Fuse ODG’s song, Window Seat, co-wrote and produced Sean Paul’s Crick Neck and shared the nomination for Latin Grammy Awards Album of the Year for their co-writing and production work on Nicky Jam’s Fenix.
Answerphone emerged from one of numerous songwriting camps Banx & Ranx hold in London.
“We really enjoy working in these songwriting sessions,” KNY stated. “It’s a loose collection of writers, producers, musicians and singers which usually lasts for about a week. Everyone comes in, does their thing and we end up with a bunch of songs which are distributed among A&R people. Months, or even years, later, we either have hits or not.”
The fast tracking of Answerphone from writing to release was a sure indication that everyone involved believed they had a hit.
“You never really know,” Soke reflected. “We treat pretty much all our songs the same whatever our expectations might be. We make sure they are written and produced in the best way. After that, it’s out of our hands and the public decide if it’s going to be a hit.”
in brief
Kendrick Lamar
African Americans make frequent accusations about alleged acts of racism committed by white people. Many of these are fully justified. But is it actually African Americans who are possibly among the most racist people on Earth?
Let’s take the N-word as a prime example. The word is supposedly so heinously offensive to African Americans that it cannot be printed in full in this newspaper. Yet recent years have seen the N-word invade rap, hip hop, soul, and R&B music all performed by African American artists.
It peppers the everyday speech of so many African American people. They seem to have no problem about this incredibly offensive N-word being used to the nth degree by members of their own race. But woe betide those of any other race who use the N-word even when they do so in the act of performing a song.
Rapper Kendrick Lamar played a set at the Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama. During the show, Kendrick invited a white woman, whose name was Delaney, to join him on stage in singing M.A.A.D City. The N-word is used 15 times in the song lyrics. Delaney not only knew the lyrics but sung them as they are heard on Kendrick’s recording.
The angry reaction of booing and catcalling from the predominantly African American audience was so bad that Kendrick had to stop the performance and tell Delaney; “You gotta bleep one single word.”
Would the crowd have responded in a similar manner if Kendrick had chosen an African American woman to sing with him? The audience knew the N-word was used all too often in M.A.A.D City and in many of Kendrick’s other songs. They wouldn’t have gone to see his show if they were offended by this.
The problem was a white woman singing this heinously offensive word. Yet it would have been fine for an African American woman to do so. And there are still those who claim it is impossible for African American people to be racist.
Prose/Manchester Survivors Choir
Has any song title ever been more appropriate than A City United.
Written and performed by Manchester band Prose, they are joined on the recently released track by the Manchester Survivors Choir. This is a musical initiative set up as a kind of support network for those who were in attendance at the Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena on the night of last year’s terrorist attack.
Some 22 people were killed by the bomb blast. Many more received life-changing injuries. Prose were in their recording studio on the day after the attack.
“Like everyone else, we felt devastated by what happened,” said singer Mike Murray. “We were talking about how awful it must be for the families of the victims. At that time, there were still people searching for their loved ones desperately hoping to find them alive.
“The whole city was in shock that something like this could happen at a music concert with so many young, innocent people just trying to have a good time. We felt very emotional and the song just came from our feelings. Lee (Royle) started playing the piano, I started singing and we suddenly had the basis of the song.”
Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham became aware of the track and asked Prose if they might be interested in releasing it as a charity single. The Manchester Survivors Choir heard about this and contacted Prose to ask if they could become part of the song.
“They were very welcome,” Mike remarked. “We were basically singing about them so it was great to have the Choir on our recording.”
A City United not only says everything about how Mancunians came together in the aftermath of the Arena attack but also includes the names of Manchester’s famous football teams in the title. Every penny from the song proceeds will be donated to the Manchester Emergency Fund and Peace Foundation.
The accompanying video is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZgLoxDCs8Y. Links to videos for more Prose songs can also be found on this webpage.
Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys have registered their sixth consecutive number one on the UK Albums chart. But the Sheffield quartet have also set a new mark for first week vinyl sales.
In general, vinyl usually accounts for relatively few sales in this era of CD and digital purchases. But Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino shifted 24,500 vinyl units during its debut week. The album became by far the fastest-selling vinyl record over the last 25 years easily surpassing the 16,000 opening week sales of Liam Gallagher’s 2017 album, As You Were.