“It’s a lifestyle, we know what we are“
Meet two ‘Men Behaving Badly’ who are representing Hull in the music game. A scenery of pubs. Punch-up’s, bouncers and girls seem to be a normal night out for cheeky chaps Deezkid and Chiedu Oraka, who don’t mind sharing their life experiences within their music.
The Hull natives met at The Warren Youth Project when Deezekid agreed to volunteer in exchange for using their studio. He met Chiedu after rating a mixtape of his and telling him he could make beats.
Their latest release, ‘Men Behaving Badly’, is a commentary on the UK’s real nightlife. Fusing Grime, Funky, Afro-fusion, and Garage, there’s no hiding the fact that these boys are multi-talented.
“Men Behaving Badly isn’t defined by a genre, you can’t just put this into a box. It’s a lifestyle, we know what we are, Northern reprobates who don’t tend to do well with it comes to rules” explains Chiedu. “We’ve made a record that hasn’t made us conform to what’s out now. It’s a National Anthem that will make any stiff dancer feel like James Brown as soon the track comes on. So, grab a drink and shake a leg”
Deezkid and Chiedu Oraka sat down with Neon Music to talk all things ‘Men Behaving Badly.’
Tell me about your recent single Men Behaving Badly?
DEEZKID: In the single, we are basically talking about Northern Nightlife, what goes on around there. It’s just a drunk party anthem with a lot of Hull culture and Yorkshire swag.
CHIEDU: I think it was important for us to embed that in the song. I think it’s crazy that it is a funky house tempo, you are normally used to hearing a southern vocalist on that type of sound, not a Yorkshire style. We listen to all sorts of music but it was really important for us to embed that Northern culture in this ‘Southern Sound’ you could say.
DEEZKID: I like my Grime, my Hip-Hop, my Garage, Uk Funky House so why not smash them all together.
CHIEDU: We wanted to try to get to people. When the beat of the song starts you suddenly just hear our accents, it’s unexpected.
How did you come up with the title?
CHIEDU: When I was younger I used to watch Men Behaving Badly, I felt like it was on all the time. I found it funny, I had wanted to call our EP that and we wanted a song with that title. I feel like that’s our lifestyle, two kids who go down to our local pub and get into some mischief might have a house party, that’s literally what we do. We are quite naughty!
DEEZKID: Haha, I like that, we are quite naughty!
CHIEDU: Anything can happen on a night out, there is always a story at the end, we wanted to capture that in the song.
DEEZKID: There is a lot of music out there that talks about that lifestyle. I think there’s a lot of people who speak about going to the club, girls coming out with drinks and sparklers, we are not about that! I feel that sometimes with British Urban music it’s too stiff. We are both from council estates.
Walk me through your creative process?
CHIEDU: It can be different, sometimes a bar might come first, DEEZKID will make a beat and give me a rough version.
DEEZKID: As a producer, I will sometimes have an idea for a chorus and lyrics and I will try to make a beat around it. Sometimes I just start with making a good tune and get a bass going. It’s different every time, our next tune we wrote it on the spot.
What would people be surprised to learn about you?
CHIEDU: My favourite film is The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It reminds me of my childhood. Back in the cassette days, there were two versions of the film, the BBC version and the cartoon one. Me and my sister used to watch it all the time.
DEEZKID: I sit in the bath and listen to Frank Sinatra, that always sorts me out, anxiety from the hangover. I don’t mind people knowing that!
If you like Frank Sinatra, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and rap music (that’s a sentence I have never said before), then Chiedu Oraka and Deezkid’s new track ‘Men Behaving Badly’ is the perfect track for you.