By Ajay Rose
Ambush is carving out his own lane in the UK rap scene
UK rap and it’s numerous sub-genres have birthed new artists aplenty in the past few years. Many of those sounds have labels and names which make them easy to identify, but then there are some that are difficult to box off.
When it comes to Ambush, a prolific creator of what some describe as ‘road rap’, it’s hard to box his sound off into an easily defined label. His music contains a potent blend of punchlines and eccentric delivery. At its core, it’s UK rap, but the finesse and flamboyance on display throughout helps to separate his sound from the crowd.
Ambush grew up around his older brother, was part of a grime collective, and the repetitive spirit that categorises certain grime sets is present in Ambush’s music. Most notably, in his choruses, which quite literally hook listeners in thanks to a blend of hype and wordplay that is present throughout his music.
He built a big buzz for himself on the streets with his energetic sound and even held a headline show back in January 2018, a few months before his breakthrough single, ‘Jumpy’, dropped. Since that huge hit, Ambush has racked up millions of views across a range of releases and has been honing his craft and learning from veterans, joining Dappy on a tour of the UK and Giggs on a tour of Europe.
The time has come for Ambush to build off the buzz he’s built on the streets and across the industry and deliver a project. ‘Ask My Brother’ is his debut mixtape, which he describes as the UK’s version of ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’. The tape is 15 tracks deep and features the likes of Giggs, D Double E and C Biz.
Culture Mag caught up with Ambush to discuss how he built up a buzz on the streets, dealing with setbacks and his new mixtape ‘Ask My Brother’.
When did you first take music seriously?
I would say 2017, so when I come out of jail in 2017, I made a conscious decision to take music seriously. But prior to that, it was hood videos, but that was just for the love of the music and my friends and anyone else who wanted to listen. I was in jail from 2015-17, and in that time, I saw the UK music scene proper blow up. My cell-mate in jail was a Section Boy. When we was banged up together, his bredrins won a MOBO. Section Boyz won a MOBO and we was watching it live from the cell. Who else? Fredo, he was there for a couple of weeks when I was there. When he came in, ‘They Aint 100’ had just come out. Then by the time he come out, he already had a million views two weeks later and he was performing at Wireless with WSTRN. But two weeks before he was in jail. I’m seeing Stormzy on BBC News talking about ‘Shut Up’. To see him being the biggest thing in the UK, it was so inspiring and I just thought ‘I have to make this happen’.
You had a headline show in Jan 2018, five months before you even dropped ‘Jumpy’. Talk about how that show came about..
Back then, I didn’t have ‘Jumpy’ out. I didn’t even have a million views, but I was just building such a buzz on the streets and I had support from the ends and my people and man sold it out. 500 capacity, we sold that out, £20 a ticket. That opened my eyes to the power of my music. It was a good turnout.
Let’s talk a bit about what life was like before things got popping. What did you have to do to first build up your buzz?
The way I saw it when I come out of jail, I had a small following. My ends, Camden, they know me, init. So when I come out, all I have to do is be consistent. Because I know that I’m the hardest, in my heart, so I said to myself ‘it doesn’t matter if it’s going to take five years or ten years, I’m just going to consistently give my best and give them bangers. So when I left jail, I gave them the first one ‘Sauce’, and that went off, people were loving that, bare people sharing that. Then a couple of months later, I dropped ‘Already’, and people started to know me more. I was doing little shows, getting booked for shows to do two tunes. The way I saw it as well, when I analysed the game, no one sounds like me. At the time, the drill thing was popping but nobody is really giving it the sauce! So after that I gave them ‘Extra’, and that was with SP, an artist from Buzzworl, he’s the coldest. Every tune I was giving them got bigger, then I dropped ‘Blood’, and that was probably the track that made people pay attention. I dropped ‘Sauce’, ‘Already’, ‘Extra’, ‘Blood’, then I done my ‘Behind Barz’. But when I made ‘Blood’, I made ‘Man Can’t’ and ‘Jumpy’ at the same time, but I didn’t release them. By that time, I was doing shows and hearing the feedback from the crowd, so I put together ‘Jumpy’ to give them a tune that was easier to digest. So I thought ‘when I put this out, this is going to go off’. But at that time, I was in a mad place, I had a case, then my cousin died, a couple of my other n****s died, so I was just in a mad place, I wasn’t feeling ‘Jumpy’ at all. So I made a song called ‘Drama’, then after that, I did a tour with Dappy and shot some of the scenes for the ‘Jumpy’ video during the tour with Dappy, then released ‘Jumpy’ in May and it went crazy!
When you made ‘Jumpy’ in May 2018, did you know you made a song that could take off like it did?
I knew it was going to bang, but I didn’t know it was going to be an anthem, but I knew it was going to bang. Everything else I had put out before that was banging and the way I put ‘Jumpy’ together, I knew this would be the one where everyone fucks with it. This is going to be the one to get a million views, then it did after a few weeks.
Big remix with Chip and Skepta, two legendary artists, how did that collaboration come about?
When I put out ‘Jumpy’, Chip was one of the first artists to jump on it and openly support it. He was actually supporting man before that, he liked ‘Extra’ and things like that, but when ‘Jumpy’ came out, I could see on Snapchat most days saying this is was his shit. So I thought, ‘if we do a remix, do you reckon Chip will be on it?’ then I asked him and he slapped his verse straight away and sent it. Then after that, it was like ‘this is mad because we’ve got Chip on it so now we need someone else who levels with Chip to make sure this is a banger’. Then I remember, I had a show in Cambridge at one festival called ‘Strawberries and Creem’, and Skepta must’ve been there. I performed it in this tent and it went off. Then he was going crazy in the back. Then me and my boys looked at each other and we looked at him and we were like ‘remix?’. Then he was like ‘yeah why not, I’ll do it’. Then he sent his verse and went he sent his verse I was like ‘fucking hell!’. I was thinking ‘blood, man’s just got the Skepta verse!’. I remember I was getting advice from music guys like G FrSh and these types of people, and they were saying, when you do a remix, you’re supposed to put your original verse and then the people who are on the remix provide the new verses, so it builds the original song. But when I heard it I was like ‘ayt, shit, then’. I literally made that bar in my head five minutes after Skepta sent his verse. Mans got a tune with Skepta and Chip, it’s a banger! Couple of days later, Charlie booked us for Wireless then we went and shut down Wireless.
Followed up ‘Jumpy’ with ‘Man Can’t’ a few months after. Did you feel pressure with that track to meet the expectations you set with ‘Jumpy’?
I had both of them already. I think I made ‘Man Can’t’ before ‘Jumpy’. And the mandem, my guys, they thought ‘Man Can’t’ was the better tune, before anybody else had heard it. But I was like ‘na, they’re not ready for Man Can’t’. So I gave them ‘Jumpy’ first then gave them the ‘Man Can’t’ after that. ‘Jumpy’ weren’t even a hard tune for me to make, I just slowed it down for everybody. It was like ‘Blood’ and ‘Already’, just a bit more refined, with a bit of a party edge to it.
Dropped ‘Bring Em Out’. I feel like Suspect and your chemistry works well, how would you describe that style of rap you do?
I don’t know man, it’s just real n***a shit! Me and Sus, we’re just real n****s! I don’t know about everybody else, but me and Sus, we’re just ourselves through and through. In the music, in person, we’re the same. So our personalities just come out in our music, so that’s why a lot of people say me and Sus are in a similar space because we just give ourselves. There’s no façade with it. A lot of people sound like they’re trying to follow something, but we just do our own thing.
Started 2019 announced on BBC’s Hot For 2019 then went prison for six months when your music career was on the rise. How did that impact the momentum you were building?
It was mad for me because it was unexpected. I was heading into the best year of my life and I’m still on the case now. Even at the time, I didn’t tell anybody I went jail, I was trying to maintain my buzz, so I put out ‘Dem Man’ with a cartoon video, trying to keep up appearances because I was in jail. I didn’t know how long I was gonna be in jail, so it definitely wasn’t a good time.
What was the reception like when you dropped ‘Only Right’?
That was love, I was excited. Just before I went jail, we were shooting ‘Only Right’ in Dubai, so I already had that prepared, then when I came home, we shot a couple more shots, like man going to the jewellers to pick up my jewels and whatnot. Then gave ‘Only Right’, which was how I was feeling, it’s ‘Only Right’ that I’m back. And the love was reciprocated. But a couple of people did say at the time that my music sounds the same. That was like the first time I got that kind of feedback. But after that, man showed them some versatility…
Do you think artists are under pressure to constantly find new styles in 2020?
Even with my tape, I could’ve just delivered all types of different sounds that I know I’m capable of delivering, but I kept things so true to myself and how I’m feeling and how my life has actually been in the last few years. So my tape is sounding like a real street album, real rap fans will appreciate my tape.
What is the meaning behind the title ‘Ask My Brother’?
It’s a play on ‘AMB’, obviously, I’m AMB. My last tape, which I made in 2012 when I was like 18, was called ‘AMB’ as well, but that stood for ‘About My Business’. Where it was a bit mad for me when I dropped tracks like ‘Already’ and ‘Blood’, I would’ve dropped a tape around then and called it ‘AMB’ as well. But it’s been a couple of years since then, so it’s just the truth about my life and how I am feeling.
‘Eastenders’ video – a lot of different cameos in the video, what was the thinking behind that track?
I’ve got nothing but love from that, a lot of people appreciate how I told the story and how I didn’t glamorise anything and the message I was giving in the storyline. If you listen to all my bars, I literally just tell stories about my life from start to finish, but ‘Eastenders’ was more specific and conceptual. It was three different stories in one story about situations I know personally.
A lot of cameos in the video, had the ‘Man Can’t’ challenge as well with fans…
Yeah, I’m big on that. I like to show support back. I’m not really a guy that can respond to 1000 messages and things like that, but I still try to show that I’ve got love for everyone that supports man. I like to promote the culture, that’s my thing. Even with ‘Man Can’t’ challenge, I got thousands of entries, literally thousands and I could see myself inspiring their ting. Hopefully, all their careers blossom.
Got two Giggs features on ‘Ask My Brother’, he also brought you on tour last year. Talk about how working with Giggs has helped you as an artist…
It’s sick to work with Giggs. I used to be on the block or on the bus banging out Giggs, it’s like ‘fucking hell, he actually did it’. And the fact that he’s just a real n***a, he’s just a real person, a proper OG. He’s someone that I needed to have in my life. I didn’t know how our relationship would be, but he’s like mans older brother. He gives me advice, tells me right from wrong, so yeah I appreciate having Giggs around. Man took man around Europe. I didn’t even know I had fans in Europe! Mans performing in all these different countries, even derelict cities, places that people don’t even know but they know mans ting! I’ll forever be in debt to Giggs, that’s my guy, so I had to put him on there twice. Giggs, RA, D Double, C Biz, these are people that man grew up on and the way they spit. That’s man whole ting, so to have them all on mans tape is an achievement for me.
What can people expect from the tape when it drops?
I would call it a street album. It’s just raw rap, with the Ambush style. It’s unapologetically UK, unapologetically Ambush, unapologetically Buzzworl. It feels like ‘Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ to me, the UK version.
Am I right in thinking you’re still independent?
Yeah, completely independent. Mans been doing it from the ground up. I could’ve signed ‘Jumpy’, could’ve signed my ‘Ask My Brother’, I could’ve signed deals with major labels, but I’ve got a vision for the future. I’m trying to be like Roc-A-Fella, Bad Boy, I’m trying to be a mogul with it. Got my label, pushing my own artists and make it ours. I can’t put a price on it, giving somebody else my vision. What I’ve built so far, we built it ourselves. So we got the perseverance to push through and do it ourselves. The goal is a joint venture with one of these major labels and then we can become a major label ourselves.
I feel like you’re an artist who is business savvy. What advice would you give to new artists coming up in terms of being business savvy as a musician?
I would just say, as long as you believe in yourself, and you’ve got a team with you. It’s all about the team you have around you, the people you surround yourself with. You have to have people that believe in your dream as much as you do. The people I admire, 50 Cent, Jay Z, Master P, these type of people, they worked from the ground up and didn’t take no for an answer. Their team and the people around them helped to get them to where they are. Obviously you can go the other route, but I just feel like, if you put your dreams in someone else’s hands, in the end, you might end up regretting it.
Download or Stream ‘Ask My Brother’ here: https://Ambush.lnk.to/Ask-My-Brother OUT NOW
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