Underground Artist Spotlight: Shakka

"Ah, you found Shakka" - is the brief introduction this Notting Hill (London) native uses on his personal website. It is not a question but I will respond to it with an emphatic YES, I did in fact find Shakka. I love the prophetic nature of that comment. The impression that all your searching has inadvertently led you to this special musician regardless of whether you intended it or not. Listening to his music was meant to be, it was only a matter of time. Media mogul, P. Diddy - or whatever monicker he goes by these days - released the album, We Invented the Remix in 2002. The title of that album is obviously fallacious. That album as well as Jennifer Lopez's album, 'J to tha L-O! The Remixes', which was released in the same year both debuted Number 1 on the U.S Billboard 200. They did not create the remix by any definition of the word but they ensured the idea of a 'remix album' became mainstream. Ever since this discovery that the music community is actually willing to buy into remixes, almost every budding artist makes an attempt at remixing a popular song in view of promoting themselves and showcasing their talent. However, there is a deep chasm that separates an attempt from complete mastery of this music making process. In my eyes - and ears - Shakka attempted the leap over the chasm and landed with safe feet at the other side. It isn't very often that a relatively industry unknown remixes the work of established artists and forces you to re-think your stance on which version of that particular song is better. Listening to his 'concept mixtape', the Shakka Crown Affair is truly a cinematic experience. The title of the mixtape is influenced by the popular heist film, the Thomas Crown Affair. In the film, a wealthy financier in search of a challenge decides to steal a painting - San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk - by Monet. Shakka's affair was pointedly different. Firstly, according to the report played as an introduction to the mixtape, all the items stolen were musical artifacts by popular artists such as Jay-Z, Coldplay, Calvin Harris and J Dilla. Also, while Thomas Crown's challenge was rewarded by finding a worthy adversary and a lover, at the end of Shakka's experimentation with this musical artifacts, he reaches a conclusion that as a real artist he has to create original material. In between his theft and return of the music, he entertains us with simply extraordinary remixes to these songs. I'd like to blame it on his education at CYM (Centre for Young Musicians) where he meddled with Music Production and Theory, Classical Piano, Percussion and Vocals but that would be telling only half of the story. A bulk of the blame has to be attributed to his father, a musician and producer in the reggae band, "The Foreigners Crew" who was responsible for immersing him into music at a young age. He even allowed him play the piano and sing a few songs for the band. Imagine. His rendition of Coldplay's 'God put a smile upon your face' into an up tempo jam containing so many hints of separate musical styles is simply genius. Frankly, that song cannot described as belonging to any particular genre except we create one to accomodate it. Shakka describes himself as being marinated in Dub Reggae, Hip-Hop, Motown and Garage, which was the music he grew up around and he consistently proves with his remixes that he has mastered all those genres and styles. Even with such a solid background, he also finds a way to incorporate 80s funk, 80s ballad rock, Jazz, Dance, contemporary Detroit hip-hop, Latin, Calypso and many other styles into his sound. He takes on Calvin Harris's marvelous 8-bit sounding 'Neon Rocks' and turns the crack story in the original song into a story of infatuation where the girl is stuck in his spaceship - what I think is a metaphor for his mind. He also masterfully recreated the J-Dilla song 'So Far To Go', which featured Common and neo-soul crooner D'Angelo. The product of his re-imagination of the song was chosen as the focus of his first music video. On this remix title 'Take our time', he tells the story of his encounter with a female interest of his and their discussion about relationships. He tells her that if her past relationships still bother her then they shouldn't rush into anything because he's been there before and he has also been scared. It's truly touching stuff but for some reason the honestly puts a smile on your face. He tells a different type of romance story to what we usually hear. For the music video, he further impressed with the unique 'reverse video' visual style he chose to use. This concept was popularly used by Coldplay for their 'The Scientist' music video. Coldplay's video was shot in normal direction and then reversed to give the impression that Chris Martin was walking backwards in the video, however, Shakka's video involved him walking backwards and then reversed in the editing process to give the impression of him walking normally. However, both artists had to learn and perform the song backwards for the video shoot. It was tricky but it worked out perfectly. At the climax of the Shakka Crown Affair, he returns all the other musical artifacts to their rightful owners but not without leaving us with a composition of his own. This came in the form of a piano-driven balled named 'Drivin'. This is another story about taking risks with a stranger who surprises him by offering him a ride in her taxi without fear of who he might turn out to be. He equally surprises her by choosing to stay when she gives him the option of leaving and even after she puts his life at risk by driving dangerously. She's happy he stays because in her experience most people leave once trouble hits. I believe he's talking about something we all go through in relationships. This isn't his first original song, not at all actually. His first effort, the 6 song mixtape Foolishness Vol. 1 features his other original work and what he describes as, "The early babbling stages of a haphazard singer-songwriter". With his virtuoso vocals and quality production, this is a musician that definitely deserves more mainstream attention than he currently has. Listen. Tell me what you think. Only the brave leave comments. 17 Drivin' 1 by Shakka Soundcloud Page: http://soundcloud.com/iamshakka YouTube Page: http://www.youtube.com/user/ShaxMusic?feature=watch Personal website: http://iamshakka.com/