kwes e

Name, where are you from?

kwes e from Canterbury, Kent, England.

Describe your style in three words?

Colour-coordinated, street-influenced silhouettes.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?

The House of Pharaohs Boiler Room in 2019. The mood was on 100; I finished A-Levels like two days before, I pulled up waved with my bro Cam - everything about it was just hitting. But, if festivals count it has to be Kendrick Lamar @ Reading 2018 main stage. I had wanted to see him since 2012 and he went beyond every expectation.

If you could be on the line up with any two artists in history?

Lucki and Drake. These are two people who I take great inspiration from and I feel like it would be wrong to not say Drake - he's one of the greatest artists of our generation. Honourable mentions include Skepta, Kendrick Lamar and Big L. I would say MJ but his presence was too powerful, like, this guy stood still on stage for a whole 2 minutes without saying a thing and people were fainting all over the house, it’s crazy.

Which subcultures have influenced you?

Uh, too many. To keep it short though, it’s currently Atlanta, LA and New York’s underground scene and London’s creative scene. It has to be these because I found these through my own will years and years ago from just snooping around Tumblr and the internet in general and I still interact with something from each of these scenes every day. I really f*ck with the creative and independent youth subcultures, they're mad inspiring.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?

Pharaoh Khufu, he commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza. If you haven’t heard the details about the Pyramids, I beg you go watch a video or something because they are another level of mind-blowing, super crazy. I'd probably learn a lot.

Of all the venues you’ve been to or played, which is your favourite?

Off The Cuff Brixton on Feb 20th 2019. I’ll never forget this one because all of ‘escape plan’ (@esc.pln) put our heads together to make this one come to life. We brought out other talent like Ashbeck, El Londo and Namani. The stress in organising it was crazy, and as soon as we started performing I felt so relieved and the crowd was great.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?

Jesse James Solomon; His penmanship is damn near perfect, his cadence is mad nonchalant but it always hits and he’s quiet outside of the music so it seems like he really cares about the art which is kinda rare nowadays. I’m a fan (s/o Phil for putting me on in 2016).

kwes e recently released his new record 'director's cut'. Listen, purchase or stream it via https://album.link/i/1539281275.