Music
Having shrugged off an endorsement from Drake, the rising artist is creating an emotional sound on his own terms.
In 2018, the UK rap scene is thriving. Still, few new artists are attracting as much intrigue as Octavian. The 22-year-old artist is winning the loyalty of new fans with the raw emotion of his music. Flipping between spitting bars and tenderly crooning with his husky tone, Octavian’s tracks feel right for celebratory bottle-popping as well as moments of deeper reflection, with poignant production that's ready for the club soundsystem.
Born in Lille, France, at the age of three Octavian – birthname Oliver Godji – moved to England with his mother to settle in Camberwell after his father had passed away. Although he returned to France for a two year period to live an uncle with following his expulsion from secondary school, London was the city that shaped Octavian as the artist he is today.
Octavian's first music release, the 22 mixtape, landed in 2016 and it was followed in March 2017 with the Essie World EP – named in reference to Octavian’s team of audio and visual collaborators, the Essie Gang. Various music websites took notice, but fatefully it was the late summer single Party Here – a bittersweet anthem about struggling and dreaming of success – and its £50 video that made Octavian blow up.
The 22-year-old’s profile was boosted in January this year when Instagram revealed that a suited Drake had been singing along to Party Here at a Golden Globes after-party and captioning his own pictures with Octavian’s lyrics. A few weeks later, Virgil Abloh – who was soon to be announced as the creative director of Louis Vuitton's menswear line – brought Octavian out to party with him in Paris. Although Octavian was grateful for Drake's cosign, he’s previously confirmed that he won’t be asking for any favours from Drake, and he’s been careful to not make too much of a big deal about it.
This year’s singles have included 100 Degrees, a low-slung, prowling rap track featuring House Of Pharaohs member Sam Wise and Hands, a curveball tune characterised by thick layers of AutoTuned vocals, the bassy rumblings of a club beat and the kind of warm melodies you’d find in gospel music.
In anticipation of his highly-anticipated mixtape Spaceman, Octavian released new track Little, which sees him further develop his unique vocal style and well as Revenge – the name of which was the original mixtape title. While mixing Spaceman in Red Bull Studios London, Octavian took a break to sit down with me and share his story.
I left my mum’s house when I was like 14 and I was just out on the roads. When the music popped off with Party Here, I went from being poor to having Ps, from being homeless to having a house. It was mad.
Your sound is very distinctive. Which artists have influenced you?
My main influences are people like Bon Iver and James Blake. They don’t listen to any rules, they just make music with no category.
Some of your tracks sound like they could work well in the club. Are you influenced by any genres of dance music?
Yeah I’m into all types of music innit, I’m into house, drum ’n’ bass. I used to be a raver. I used to love the idea of dancing and partying to music, it’s like a release. I wanted to fuse all of that into the basic rap influence.
Are there any raving experiences that stand out?
I started when I was like 16 at BPM – Bass Per Minute. It was a 16-18 year old’s legal rave in Victoria. It was in big church. That’s when I started to like the scene. Yeah man, it all just started from there.
What kind of emotions and experiences are inspiring your songs?
With art, sometimes you can’t really explain that feeling you have, and it probably relates to someone differently. For me Hands is was that feeling of moving away from someone. Party Here was a feeling that I needed to blow, I needed to do something, like I’m in a really peak position right now and I need to get to the next stage.
Since Party Here and the Drake cosign things have been going well for you, and you’ve signed with Black Butter. Has your perspective or lifestyle changed?
It’s flipped everything around, I was homeless before, sleeping on sofas, in the tube. When I made Party Here I was poor. Like really poor, zero money, no accounts – not even the council could take me in because I’m not from here, I’m from France innit. I didn’t talk to my mum and my mum needed to sign documents, it was long. I left my mum’s house when I was like 14 and I was just out on the roads. When the music popped off with Party Here, I went from being poor to having Ps, from being homeless to having a house. It was mad.
Do you feel much of a connection to France?
It’s not like it’s close to my heart, I’m a Londoner, innit. I’m from France and a lot of my family are in France, but I feel the connection to London.
How did you develop your vocal style?
Because I have a raspy voice, that just came naturally. But I’ve heard people [compare me to] Dappy. I did listen to Dappy, and I thought it was hard. And people think he’s washed out now or whatever, but he was definitely was one of the mad pioneers of the game, 100 percent. He introduced the sing-rap to grime. He’s underrated.
Which UK artists do you think are really killing it right now?
It’s like a hipster scene. People who are really involved into a culture. It’s a lifestyle to live, to dress well, to look different, to be comfortable at all times and to listen to alternative music. People like Sam Wise, Slowthai and IAMDDB. It’s very good music, but it’s deeper than music, there’s a whole culture around it.
Are you passionate about fashion?
I like the surface of fashion – going and getting the clothes and wearing what you want. But the deeper side of everyone trying to be someone, I don’t like it. Fashion is a mad game. It’s a real shark’s game.
Why did you decide to call your forthcoming project Revenge?
It’s revenge on everyone who’s told you that you can fail. Everything I do now is for revenge, it’s for the people who said I couldn’t do it.
Musically, what’s the vibe of the project?
It’s about all different types of music, I wan’t to relate to as many people as possible and to adapt to as many people as possible.
And in terms of collaborators, have you kept it in your circle, or have you felt pressured to get big names on the project?
The reason I got kicked out when I was younger, the reason why I was failing at school and the reason I couldn’t get a job – it’s because I can’t be told what to do. With my small team, we do everything, [so] we don’t actually need the label. They helped me and it changed my life, but at the same time no one can tell me ‘You have to do this feature’. So all the features are hand-picked, they’re the features that I think will benefit the track – that’s not always the case. But life’s got to be yours, it’s not somebody else’s.
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