Young Fathers
| Young Fathers | |
|---|---|
 Young Fathers live on April 27, 2014 |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Edinburgh , Scotland |
| Genre (s) | Hip-hop , pop |
| founding | 2008 |
| Website | www.young-fathers.com |
| Current occupation | |
Rap, singing |
Alloysious Massaquoi |
Rap, singing |
Kayus Bankole |
Rap, singing |
"G" Hastings |
Young Fathers are a hip hop and pop group from Edinburgh , Scotland . In 2014 they won the Mercury Music Prize for their debut album Dead .
history
The name Young Fathers was first used in 2008 and was chosen because all three members bear their father's name.
The members of the group are "G" Hastings from Edinburgh, Alloysious Massaquoi, originally from Liberia , and Kayus Bankole, who was born in Edinburgh and grew up in Maryland , USA. Steven Morrison (soonbe) on drums and the occasional guest singer Lauren Holt (LAWholt) also appear at live shows.
The group was formed under the name "Three-Style" after the members met at an under-16 hip-hop event at the Bongo Club in Edinburgh at the age of 14. They started writing lyrics and recording songs soon after, originally on an old karaoke machine connected to a tape recorder .
After several name changes over several years and after meeting a local production company, they agreed on the name Young Fathers and recorded their first album with producer Tim Brinkhurst (aka London). The recordings included their first single, Straight Back on It , which was released in 2009. The single earned them some TV and festival appearances. In addition, they have been featured on BBC Radio and have eventually toured the UK to support Simian Mobile Disco and Esser.
In 2011 they decided to make a radical change, parting with the local production company and taking their fate into their own hands. Within a week they recorded the mixtape TAPE ONE and recorded one song per day. It was already available for download after two weeks. Shortly thereafter, they recorded TAPE TWO in a similar fashion. The Los Angeles hip-hop label Anticon discovered them and offered them a deal. In 2013, the two recordings were officially released through Anticon with a record deal.
The group played on tour and slowly built a reputation as a strong live act. They played in various locations across Europe and made their US debut at SXSW in Austin, Texas in March 2013.
In 2014 TAPE TWO was named "Scottish Album of the Year" at the SAY Award. They then recorded their first full album, Dead , which was released at the time through Anticon in the US and through Big Dada in the UK and Europe. The album Dead received mostly good reviews and achieved a Metacritic Score of 83 out of 100. The mood of the music compared it to early works by Massive Attack , among other things . This album won the Mercury Music Prize for Best Album 2014. They won as underdogs and sparked a bit of controversy because they were not outwardly happy about the award and refused to continue speaking about the award with the press that reported on the evening. Dead reached number 35 on the UK charts and number 1 on the independent UK album charts.
Immediately after winning the Mercury Prize, they traveled to Berlin to record a new album in a basement in a building near a train station. A short time later they returned to Edinburgh in their well-known studio in the basement, where they recorded most of the songs. To complete the work on the new album, they played in their hometown at the "Edinburgh's Hogmanay New Year's Eve Festival" in front of several thousand people in late 2014. Young Fathers made over 140 appearances in 2014. They toured the UK and many locations in Europe and played in the US for six weeks.
In 2015 their second album was released, which they recorded in several different locations in 2014. The album cannot be classified into a specific musical genre, but currents in European music such as krautrock , electro pop or avant rock were more likely to be recognized as American hip hop . In 2016 they went on tour with Massive Attack .
In 2017 the band canceled their participation in the Pop-Kultur-Festival in Berlin because the event was allegedly co-financed by Israel . In fact, Israel had only granted Israeli artists a travel allowance of 500 euros. Because of their support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign , the band was initially unloaded from the Ruhrtriennale 2018. Director Stefanie Carp withdrew the invitation, however, because, in her opinion, the band had made credible in interviews that they reject anti-Semitism in any form. The band then canceled the concert that was agreed for August 18, 2018 in Bochum.
Members
- Alloysious Massaquoi was born in Liberia and moved to Edinburgh at the age of four, where he attended Boroughmuir High School.
- Kayus Bankole was born in Edinburgh to parents from Nigeria . He spent several years in Maryland and Nigeria before returning to Edinburgh, where he grew up. He also attended Boroughmuir High School, where he befriended Alloysious Massaquoi.
- "G" Hastings was born in Edinburgh and grew up in the north of Edinburgh in the Drylaw district.
Discography
Studio albums
| title | Remarks | Chart placements | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | CH | ||
| Dead | 35 | - | |
| White Men Are Black Men Too |
|
41 | - |
| Cocoa Sugar |
|
28 | 89 |
EPs
| title | Remarks |
|---|---|
| Tape One |
|
| Tape Two |
|
Singles
| title | year | album |
|---|---|---|
| Straight back on it | 2008 | Non-album single |
| Automatic / Dancing Mantaray | 2010 | |
| Fevers Worse | ||
| The Guide | 2013 | |
| Low | Dead | |
| Get up | 2014 | |
| Soon come soon | Non-album single | |
| Rain or Shine | 2015 | White Men Are Black Men Too |
| Shame |
Remixes
- Girlfriend (Young Fathers Remix) von Phoenix in Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Remix Collection) (2009)
- Nicotine Love (StraightFace Remix) by Tricky (2014)
Music videos
| title | year | album |
|---|---|---|
| Deadline | 2012 | Tape One |
| Rumbling | ||
| Sister | ||
| Romance | 2013 | |
| The Guide | - | |
| I Heard | Tape Two | |
| Queen is Dead | ||
| Low | Dead | |
| Get up | 2014 | |
| Shame | 2015 | White Men Are Black Men Too |
| Old rock n roll |
Web links
- Official website
- Young Fathers at laut.de
- Young Fathers at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tim Jonze: Glastonbury 2014: Young Fathers - 'There are no rules!' . In: The Guardian , June 26, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
- ↑ a b Didcock Barry: SAY Award winners Young Fathers talk friendship, hip hop and civil war . In: The Herald , June 20, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
- ^ Mike Diver: Young Fathers Tape One Review . In: BBC Music . 2013. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
- ↑ Young Fathers . In: Anticon . 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
- ^ Critic Reviews for Dead - Metacritic . In: Metacritic . Retrieved November 13, 2014.
- ^ Young Fathers: Dead Review . In: The Guardian , January 30, 2014. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
- ↑ Tim Jonze: Young Fathers: 'Winning the Mercury doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know' . In: The Guardian , October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
- ↑ Young Fathers . Retrieved May 30, 2016.
- ↑ Andy Gill: Young Fathers, White Men Are Black Men Too - album review: A joyous mash-up that crosses the cultural divide . In: The Independent . April 3, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
- ↑ Natalie Brunner: Young Fathers: "White Men Are Black Men Too" . April 13, 2015. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
- ↑ Anti-Israel campaign: Grütters criticizes boycott call against pop festival , Spiegel online from 23 August 2017
- ↑ Ruhrtriennale invites Young Fathers again despite accusations of anti-Semitism , Tagesspiegel from June 22, 2018
- ↑ Robert Tholl: Let art alone , in: Süddeutsche Zeitung , August 4, 2018, p. 15
- ^ Gina Davidson: Young Fathers take on the world after Mercury win . In: Edinburgh Evening News , October 31, 2014. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
- ↑ Amber Bravo: Young Fathers "Deadline" MP3 . In: The Fader . September 28, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
- ^ Young Fathers discography . In: hitparade.ch. Hung media . Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ↑ White Men Are Black Men Too . In: Official Charts Company . Retrieved June 28, 2015.