- "Vocals go hand in hand with the grime I know." Ahead of his appearance at London's Waterworks Festival, the UK artist discusses the significance of MCs, working with Skrillex and more.
- Marc Veira otherwise known by his stage name, Flowdan sees MCs as the "hub of all the vibes." Having grown up in East London and its rich dancehall and reggae scenes, he developed a singular view of music that blossomed into his career as a well-known MC and the founder of the grime collective Roll Deep. And while he had a successful string of EPs and collaborations come out over the last few years on labels like Hyperdub and Tru Thoughts, he recently earned widespread plaudits for his collaboration with Skrillex and Fred Again... on their year-defining anthem, "Rumble," which came out last year.
In this RA Exchange with DJ and radio host Tash LC, Veira discusses how he got to this point, starting from his time at home and his mother's passion for sound system culture. "The MC being the hub of all the vibes I heard that in sound system culture," he says. He adds that there isn't enough credit that goes to vocalists in live performances more generally. "The grime I know, the garage I know, the drum n' bass I know vocals go hand-in-hand with all of that. And at festivals, massive artists headlining shows have no mention of their vocalists. That's not what the music is."
He also unpacks his love for working with other people, his mentorship of up-and-coming producers and using Flowdan as the character behind which he hides his natural shyness on stage. To hear more about his creative process and trajectory, listen to the episode in full, and see him play Waterworks Festival in London next weekend.