Get to know James Massiah, the DJ, poet, rapper and producer who's mastering the art of self-expression

South London-born artist James Massiah doesn’t play by the rules. The poet, producer, rapper, DJ and radio host has made a name for himself through exploring music in its many forms, from deep soulful journeys through the sounds of R&B, soul and dub on his NTS shows, to spoken word performances at cultural institutions like The Houses of Parliament and the Tate Modern.

He tells me his first love was always poetry. “Poetry is what I've always been known for, even as a kid I was always writing and telling these like silly, joke rhymes. The music came once I gained confidence, working with other musicians who told me ‘you are a musician, you are an artist’,”. However his years at NTS have seen him develop a keen ear for all sorts of music and a love for partying in London’s underground scene. “I'll rave to anything, if it's in a good venue, with decent sound. I love acid house, Chicago house, I love those sounds - I end up in parties where it's amapiano, techno, jungle, drill, trap - really I'll party to anything - even on my playlist there is probably one song from every genre.”

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His musical collaborations reflect this, having worked with artists from across the underground spectrum including dance music stalwarts Joy Orbison, Daniel Avery and the late Phil Asher, as well as trip hop legends Massive Attack and the idiosyncratic Dean Blunt, who he hosted for on the heralded 2016 Babyfather album ‘BBF Hosted by DJ Escrow’, a partnership that Massiah describes as particularly influential on his own career. “A lot of the confidence I have as an artist and musician comes from our relationship and having worked together. I think just seeing his creative process - he doesn’t give a fuck - he doesn't care, he knows who he is and what he has to say and what he has to do, he knows his mission.”

Indeed this attitude is reflected in Massiah’s almost flippant approach to the industry, where you might catch him MCing for Joy O one week, performing a reading at The Southbank Centre the next, then DJing at a basement rave spinning everything from disco to grime. Often such versatility can constitute a weakness in the industry, particularly in an overly-competitive musical landscape, where a clearly defined brand sometimes (unfortunately) takes precedence over musical experimentation and innovation. However with James that’s not the case, and his success is testament to the power of music when it truly fulfils the role of self-expression above all else, where those that get it, get him, and those that don’t aren’t his concern.

As a multi-hyphenate, his scope of musical influences reflects his background, which began in a church setting, where gospel and R&B sounds provided the accompaniment for his childhood. In truly London fashion (although whether his CR4 postcode actually counted as London was a point of playground contention), he was exposed to a plethora of new genres during his time at secondary school, including, “'80s funk, soca, ragga, garage and grime” as well as being introduced to dancehall by a kid they called “Yardie” … “Aaron [Yardie] had come from Jamaica to live in Brixton, and he would just play all this bashment music on his Nokia N-Gage, so I picked up a lot of that from him.”

His newest EP ‘True Romance’ which dropped on Jon Rust’s Levels imprint, is an amalgamation of James’ various influences, channelling UK rap sensibilities alongside less obvious dancehall and funk grooves, with a subject matter that describes a phoenix-esque, rising-from-the-ashes tale of vulnerability and growth. He says the project has given him the chance to “explore the power of expression and opening up - it's almost like being proud again of who you are and your experiences.” With slick vocals that ooze personality and character, the project beckons you into his life, telling a story of hedonism, heartbreak, and addiction.

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On first listen, you could be forgiven for mistaking the project as road rap, heavily inspired by the UK’s underground 2000s scene which prefaced grime and drill, an era which saw UK rappers begin to move away from American sounds, with a number of underground hits such as ‘Messiah’, ‘Matic’ and ‘Gunspot’ soundtracking Massiah’s youth. He name-drops cult heroes such as Ratlin, P.D.C, Sneakbo and Giggs as models for the album’s sound, calling the “mid-noughties road rap” part of his “musical DNA”. Talking on the sound, he says, “I guess they were kind of riffing off New York rap, like Swizz Beatz for example - there's so much bashment, dancehall in those productions. [The inspiration for the project] really is that amalgamation of mid 2000s road rap when they started rapping on dancehall beats as well, plus any other sprinkles of electronic music that I've picked up in my time as well.”

Listen closer to the lyrics, and it emerges that this isn’t quite the same as the 2000s sound, with introspection and nostalgia landing on the beat where one might expect to hear street braggadocio. Telling his story through this medium is part of who James is. “My story isn't so much about being on the roads. My story is like, yeah, I went to church. I grew up in South London, I partied with these people - that's my story, and I'm telling it in the way that those rappers, or poets would,” he says. This ‘story’ is the driving force of the EP, which recounts the five years which followed Massiah’s release of ‘Natural Born Killers’, a time in which numerous phases and changes were at play in his life, with the lyrics of the project painting a picture of drugs, partying, sex, opulence, darkness, emotional ups-and-downs, and a break-up.

Talking on that period, James says, “I was stuck in life, and definitely musically … I've got great friends, great family, a great agent, but as far as me having the impetus to bring things forward myself it was a clear struggle. I remember I was at my parents’ in the living room and I was at, not quite my lowest point but I was trying to really reflect on how did I end up here, so stuck, so lost.” He describes the first track of the project, ‘Heartbreak Freestyle’, and the process of its creation. “It was those synth notes,” he says, humming them out, “where I was trying to play myself out of this funk and those notes just came to me.” Following that first breakthrough he says, “I was able to voice my feelings on that song - it kind of woke me up again.” The rest of the EP duly followed, channelling the therapeutic effect of letting go. “Music is a very special thing, it's healing, it's transformative. That [‘Heartbreak Freestyle’] was almost what broke open the rest of the EP.”

That phrase “broke open” reflects how ’True Romance’ is a story of personal struggle in its rawest form: uncut, unadulterated and at times painful. As with all journeys through struggle, the triumph of having come through the storm is tinged by the scars of the journey, and the music reflects that, both aggressive yet immersive, and underneath it all overwhelmingly real. As a poet, he is no stranger to sharing his deepest and darkest thoughts, yet he talks of the trepidation of those closest to him hearing the EP, and particularly the song ‘Charlie’, which humanises his relationship with the substance.

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“I sent the whole EP to my parents, my Christian parents who I live with, who don't fully know everything about me or my life - it was a chance again to explore the power of expression and opening up - it's almost like being proud of who you are and your experiences. I think I had some doubts about putting the music out and it being heard by them,” he says, continuing that eventually, “I think the pride I had in the music enabled me to have less shame in the things I was sharing and the lyrics.”

He also speaks about getting the “green light" for the project, after plucking up the courage to meet-up with his ex and play her ‘Heartbreak Freestyle’. He says her positive reaction allowed him to “forgive himself”. He adds, “You know what, you have to move forwards, you have to tell your story, you can't bottle things up - and it was like where else can I go with this newfound power of expression, and creativity and sharing. ‘Heartbreak Freestyle’, I wrote that basically in one go.” Looking back now, with a slight smile on his face, he says, “Really the EP has been a real success, professionally, outside of my life and within my life as well, a great opportunity to share more of who I am with the people that matter to me.”

James attributes a large part of the project’s success and his own creative recovery to a number of positive influences on his life, name-checking friends and creatives that helped him realise the project: Lord Tusk, his friend Kemar, Louis and Theo Gibson, Ragz [Originale] , Jay Caesar, Joy Orbison, Dean Blunt, Otis, Jon Rust and a host of other names. On the journey into production and finishing the project, he describes how sometimes it was the lack of response from others, the harsh rejections, people being busy rather than helping with his demos, that made him realise it had to come from himself, there were no shortcuts.

“It was almost like the universe was telling me ‘put the drugs down, stop partying’, to sit down and go to my studio and do the hard graft.” He describes the above influences as “help, in the same way that a coach might tell Bellingham, Saka, Grealish what to do, bring the best out of them - ultimately it's for them to go to the laptop and make the music. No-one sat with me, no-one made the music - I did it all.”

Underpinning it all for James is the concept of amoral egoism, a niche philosophical tenet that describes humanity as being driven first and foremost by emotionality before anything else. Discussing the concept and how he utilises it in his everyday understanding of life, he says it is, "the idea that ultimately everything exists for its own pleasure, and that notion of someone's own pleasure is up to them to define for themselves. That gave me a lot of power, coming from the church where the notion of seeking your own pleasure goes against everything that you're taught, in a way that was inhibiting for me. There's no way I'd be able to be the person I am today if I wasn't able to break through those shackles, which told me that it was wrong to be this person or that person - things that are seen as wholly acceptable broadly speaking in society, were seen as abhorrent within the world that I grew up in, so I had to find a philosophy that would allow me to be, allow me to exist, and amoral egoism was that philosophy.”

“I have amoral egoism in my heart and in my mind, and it will never leave,” he concludes. “I'm now focused on the next debate.” The next debate, whatever that may entail, could possibly be revealed in the forthcoming book James is currently writing, on which he says, “hopefully that'll be out next year, worst case scenario the year after.” As well as that, we can expect more from his poetry night and event Adult Entertainment which he describes as his “baby” and “philosophical playpen”. Signing off, he says we can also expect more music. “I can't wait to flood the streets with more beats and more sounds - I want people to dance, to feel good, to come together, to party and to enjoy life.”

'True Romance' is out now, get it here

Jamaal Johnson is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow him on Instagram