KEYS THE PRINCE INTERVIEW: British-Nigerian rapper/producer/pianist Keys The Prince is an exciting upcoming artist who is defining the next wave of Afro-fusion with a refined touch and feel-good vibes. Get familiar…
What five words define your sound?
Diaspora, Culture, London, Lagos, Reminiscent.
Tell me something unique about your creative process
I guess it’s because I play Keys (hence my name). A lot of the process starts with me just jumping on different piano sounds and just starting to test out different things with that. Piano sounds may not even end up being on the song, but I feel like because that’s a foundation for me in music sometimes it starts with that but gives birth to a completely different idea. It might be me rapping along while I’m playing and eventually all the other pieces get involved, even with ‘Left Right’ with the Yinka Ayefele sample, that was the last thing that was added to the track. So like everything was built and I needed that interpretation in the song to solidify it. My process doesn’t start with the obvious drums, the full beat, it’s mostly the keys and me rapping until I can piece together the rest of it.
Which song of yours would you like people to hear first?
Eeeesh I gotta pick one? It’s between ‘Oya Now’ and ‘Left Right’. I’d say ‘Oya Now’ is my biggest song but ‘Left Right’ is the most viral. But I’m gonna go with ‘Left Right’. The horns are captivating, the sample as well, the hook’s very catchy, everyone can sing it. There’s a lot of culture in the song, I feel it captures the diaspora experience really well, a nod to the forefathers.
What inspired you to make that song?
I was in the car with 8SYN (FKA One Acen) listening to music and he was like “Yo man, you need a faster song.” I was like cool, so I went home, I remember him talking about YouTube beats, so I found one and I made a really bad song, but within the song on one of the verses I said “Oya, take time on the left right, I wanna live my best life” and then I played that song to Paddy, who’s part of my team, he was like “Ehh this ain’t really good, but you should make this verse the chorus, that’s the hook.” So he did a little A&R’ing there. So I went home and did that and made a brand new beat, as I already had the vocals and then I just built the song around that. It’s funny because I didn’t even re-record the chorus, it’s taken from the verse. I’ve always wanted to say those lines on a song, but I didn’t think it could ever be a hook. Thank God for honest friends and not having yes men around you!
What’s the most vulnerable you’ve allowed yourself to be when writing/making music?
It’s a song that’s not released but ,for a song that is, it’ll have to be ‘E, Se Pt. 2’. That’s the most vulnerable I’ve got with writing that I’ve presented to the world so far. There are some more unreleased songs that I’d say are a lot more vulnerable, but the world just hasn’t heard them yet. That process was nice because I wasn’t trying to make something that was going to work on TikTok or make a ‘Hit’ – I was trying to make something that was real to me and my experiences.
What’s the best/worst experience you’ve had on stage?
My best experience was my headline show last November. I was in cruise control! I just felt so comfortable, like it was I meant to be there in front of those people. Everything was working, I couldn’t miss a beat, my live band! I was feeling it man. My manager always says I come alive on stage and I feel like I got to show different sides to my personality, interact with the crowd, and play keys. I made a beat on stage with the band, that was cool, but the energy that day was serious. The worst experience was a booking abroad, it was for a festival that started from 7pm until 7am. So as you can imagine anyone who comes on close to 7pm when the festival’s just started, is going to have the worst slot ever. I remember being ready to go on at like 8pm, and they were rushing me to get on. There were like 15 people in the crowd, I’m like “Hey guys, everyone come closer!” I had to give it my all. But you know it was still a job done. Still bodied it! It’s conditioning man, I feel like I can do any stage now cause I’ve done so many different types of crowds. Crowds where they like you, crowds where they don’t wanna see you, crowds where there’s loads of people or no one. It’s funny J. Cole had a similar story after ‘Born Sinner’, with a full band, so I guess it comes with the game!
What is your favourite song to perform?
I keep saying ‘Left Right’, but it’s fun, it gets the crowd going, it’s interactive. You can’t go wrong with it, everyone knows how to say “Left Right” and “best life”. I also like performing ‘Oya Now’ as I can do the whole talk and drum thing. I love those two for sure!
Which artist/song/album made you want to make music?
I think it was probably a lot of J. Cole’s mixtapes that were a big one for me. I remember hearing that thinking rah, this is mad, like someone is really putting their heart on their sleeve. Also my older sister was a Kanye fan back then. ‘College Dropout’, ‘Late Registration’ and ‘Graduation’ – I played them a lot as my sis enjoyed that type of music, the projects had a lot of soul in them, so that was an early influence for me. If we’re talking UK, I’d say Chip as he was still in school shelling it, he was on top of the world! For Naij, it was a lot of my parents’ influence, so just being in the car hearing Yinka Ayefelle, King Sully Ade and people like that on constant repeat. As you get older you really start to appreciate it. It’s a mixture of US, UK and Nigeria that influence my sound a lot.
What’s the meaning behind your name?
So Keys is obviously from growing up playing the Keys, one guy just started calling me Keys, like “Yo Keys, Keys, Keys” I was like, that’s cool I like that! So I was originally called “Keys” then I realised there were too many people with that name. So then my family and especially my Grandma (RIP) used to call me ọmọ-ọba all the time, which means The Prince in Yoruba.
If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing instead?
If God made me 6’6”, I’d be in the NBA. I grew up playing basketball for my borough, in the London Youth Games; I’d love to be a shooting guard! Or I’d love to be a Creative Director, in and around marketing, because I feel like I do a lot of that already as an artist – you have to market yourself, number 1. I come up with a lot of my creative concepts for my videos and visualisers. So I’d love to do that for Nike, Jordan, even CORTEIZ. Just being creative outside of being the frontman would be kind of cool!
What’s success to you?
Success to me is stability and knowing that I’m cool. It’s also being recognised and championed for what you do. I’d also say success is having peace of mind. It’s something you can’t even purchase.
What moment in your life/career forced you to change direction?
I think it was TikTok A&R’s, the people in your comments section. They helped me formulate my sound. I’d say before I was like a conscious rapper, like Kanye, Kendrick or J. Cole type rapper. Then in 2023 I was tapping more into my culture and people gravitated to it a lot more than they had done previously. To me it felt like I was more at home, because I’m now actually expressing what I’ve lived. I feel like I’m at home, which is London, Nigeria, it’s everywhere, it’s everything, a global step! It’s shifted my sound a lot, it’s made it more Afro leaning. I wouldn’t say I make Afroswing, more so Afro-fusion. But definitely the TikTok A&R’s, they never lie!
Where can people keep in touch with you?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keys_theprince/?hl=en-gb
Twitter: https://x.com/KeysThePrince
