Bemz on launching M4 Festival - Glasgow’s first rap and DJ all dayer - video Dailymotion

National World - LocalTV

Renowned rapper Bemz is branching his M4 idea and creating a festival.

Transcript

00:00Um, I hate this part.

00:01Hey, I'm Benz and I'm a rapper based in Glasgow.

00:05And yeah, as an artist, I thought it was very important

00:11to have a platform that showcased local talent, you know,

00:18especially the ones who, for whatever reason,

00:21have the talent but aren't getting the recognition

00:24they maybe deserved, you know.

00:26And that was really the rebirth of M4 as a brand, you know.

00:33And we built on that and it's led to us creating the M4 Festival.

00:38And basically what it is, like I said,

00:40is giving the youngsters and up-and-coming musicians

00:43a chance to play something that is bigger than ourselves,

00:49you know, something that is like our own type festival.

00:53Because when you look at a lot of the festival lineups

00:55that goes on these days, it's very, very rare that you see

01:00local acts from, like, maybe the rap scene

01:03or maybe the R&B scene or jazz scene and here and there, you know.

01:08So we were able to...

01:09We thought it was right to just, you know,

01:12create something that showcased that.

01:14And that's how we managed to, you know,

01:16pull in acts like Becky Sikasa, Joel,

01:21Sean Focus, Pence, Gael, you know.

01:24And then we thought, why not have an outside DJ stage as well,

01:28do you know what I mean, and just showcase

01:30what is coming out of Scotland in the sense of, like,

01:33young up-and-coming DJs who probably play

01:38different sounds to your norm that is, like,

01:42techno and house and stuff, you know.

01:44And with that, we were able to pull in the likes of

01:49Deeja, Iso Iso, Joshua Doobie, not today, Karen,

01:54Leo GTE, Texio, and then obviously we created a competition

01:59for another young up-and-coming DJ to get a slot to play it, you know.

02:04So that will be announced shortly.

02:07But yeah, it should be a very straightforward setup with,

02:11you know, BAD being such a beautiful space

02:14and also a big space, you know.

02:16So what we decided to do is have the live music predominantly indoors

02:22and the DJs in the outside area, you know.

02:25So we're going to have, like, a kind of crossover

02:28what's going to be between when an actor's on

02:29and when a DJ's playing, you know, so people don't feel like

02:32they have to choose between one or the other

02:34and everybody can experience good music, you know.

02:38M4 was, like, you know, the rebirth of an idea

02:42that I was doing back when I was on air, which was RTW.

02:46And the whole thing of it is literally being able to provide

02:51things that I never got as a up-and-coming musician, you know.

02:56Like, when I wasn't getting booked for shows,

02:59I just promoted my own shows, you know.

03:01When I wasn't being managed by anybody,

03:04me and my friends just came together and just managed ourselves, you know.

03:08And when nobody wanted to, like, put in merch,

03:10we just created our own merch, you know.

03:12So it was just kind of like doing all of that from a young age

03:17because I just felt like, well, nobody really cared about me.

03:21And it wasn't really because I wasn't talented enough.

03:24It was like people just didn't see me, you know.

03:27So it was really kind of a tough pill to swallow

03:31because it was just kind of then, like, right, okay,

03:32I need to work harder and harder and harder and harder.

03:35And the more people seen me,

03:37the more people appreciated what it is that I'd done.

03:39But I was always doing it.

03:40Do you know what I mean?

03:41It wasn't as if it was, like, brand new.

03:43It was, no, like, the work had always been getting done from a young age,

03:47but you guys just see it now.

03:49So I was like, well, it would be cool to create something

03:52where we can be the voice of the voiceless, essentially.

03:57Do you know what I mean?

03:57If we can find young, up-and-coming musicians

04:01who have got crazy talent, but people aren't noticing them,

04:06if I can use whatever platform that I have as an artist

04:09and whatever platform that I have created as BEMS,

04:12if I can use that to be able to, like,

04:15push these people into the forefront, then why not, you know?

04:18So that was how, well, the initial idea of RTW started.

04:22And then over the years, it grew to being what it is now,

04:24which is M4.

04:25And that stands for made for,

04:27because it's literally made for everybody.

04:28Do you know what I mean?

04:29So, yeah.

Bemz on launching M4 Festival - Glasgow’s first rap and DJ all dayer

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