South-East London, multi-faceted collective 10+13 is made up of rappers 23AZ, 23Nezz, and producer 23Sunz. Get familiar with this VIPER Presents interview…

What five words define your sound?

Unique, descriptive, refreshing unapologetic, fly.

Tell me something unique about your creative process

It’s always unplanned. The beat, the lyrics and concepts for any song we do is
always done once we get to the studio.

Which song of yours would you like people to hear first?

‘Not A Gimmik’ – although it wasn’t our first release, it was the beginning of a new
chapter for sure.

What inspired you to make that song?

We were charged up with all the music we were making at the time, and getting in the habit of regularly being in the studio and refining the sound.

What’s the most vulnerable you’ve allowed yourself to be when writing/making music?

To be fair, posting visuals and being in front of the camera was quite new and difficult. It took some time to adjust to.

What’s the best/worst experience you’ve had on stage?

The first performance we did collectively was at some little club in Athens called Paper Tiger. We were all together and super lit, was a memorable time. Performing at Oslo with power in numbers was also mad. Felt like we reached an established level because of the artists we were with and performing with.

What is your favourite song to perform?

Defo ‘Big Business’. Just feels like the anthem – raw energy and excitement every time.

Which artist/song/album made you want to make music?

Artists like Max B inspired the style for sure, also gotta give a nod to LUCKI, Bashfortheworld, Veeze, Babyface Ray etc. That whole wave.

What’s the meaning behind your name?

The collective name 23 just came from the part of south London where we all used to come together and kinda grew up. It felt like it made sense to name ourselves that since it’s the main thing that ties us together; where we’re from.

If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing instead?

I guess we’ll never know [laughs].

What’s success to you?

Having freedom in life, being able to go where you want and do what you want
whenever you want to, having everyone around us being comfortable and content.

What moment in your life/career forced you to change direction?

Individually, all of our answers are different because we’ve all had different experiences,
but things like going jail, having children, staying legit are some of the things that
changed some of our paths.

Where can people keep in touch with you?

Instagram and all streaming mainly, make sure to tap in. @23.az_, @23martinezz, @23sunz.