Gaika | |
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 Gaika at Somerset House, August 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Gaika Tavares |
| Born | Brixton, London, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Labels | |
| Website | gaika |
Gaika Tavares, better known simply as Gaika, is a British singer, songwriter and rapper from South London. His debut album, Basic Volume , was released in July 2018 by Warp Records, who describe the sound as "gothic dancehall and industrial electronics". [3]
Gaika's parents came from Grenada and Jamaica, moving to the UK in the 1960s. [4] He was previously a part of Manchester rap crew Murkage. [5]
Following the mixtapes Machine and Security, Gaika released the EP Spaghetto in 2016. [6] [7] The Guardian described his music as blending "Caribbean dancehall tradition and London grime but also nod to R&B, trip-hop, grunge and Prince." [5] Dazed have described him as "electronic music's answer to Basquiat", [8] while US magazine Interview described the sound as "experimental R&B". [9] Gaika has described his sound using the word "Ghettofuturism". [10]
Gaika's debut album Basic Volume was released in July 2018. The Guardian praised the album as "a terrifically impressive and populist debut". [11] The album also received positive reviews from the Financial Times , [12] The Independent , [13] Noisey [14] and Music OMH. [15]
In August 2018, Gaika exhibited System, a collaboration with Boiler Room and Somerset House Studios, "a sculpture which fills the middle portion of the Lancaster Room at Somerset House." [16] [17] He told the Evening Standard that "Carnival and sound system culture is about space, and holding space. It’s about literally drawing a line in the sand and saying: ‘This is who we are and we’re here to stay. You can’t turn us off’." [16]
In May 2019, Gaika released a mixtape named Heaters 4 the 2 Seaters [18] by Warp Records, and in July 2020 he released the Seguridad EP on Mexican record label N.A.A.F.I. [19]
Writing for Dazed magazine in June 2018, Gaika criticised the Metropolitan Police's decision to crack down on drill music, saying: "Drill is the product of a looted world that wasn’t designed with us in mind, the result of much more than just a few angry kids on estates, it’s the result of centuries of reality." [20] Gaika has also discussed the ways in which the Notting Hill Carnival is presented by the press, while its cultural significance is overlooked. [21]
Gaika has also written fiction for Dazed. [22]
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UK drill is a subgenre of drill music and road rap that originated in the South London district of Brixton from 2012 onwards. While being sonically distinct from Chicago drill music, it embraces its aesthetic and melds it with road rap, a British style of gangsta rap that became popular in the years prior to the existence of drill. UK drill lyrical content tends to be truculent, depicting the harsh realism of their lifestyles. The explicit lyricism has stimulated discussion about whether the subgenre is a factor in an increase in knife crime in London. Gang affiliation and socioeconomically-deprived backgrounds are common amongst UK drill artists. Artists such as 150, 67, Harlem Spartans, 1011, and 410 have been cited as innovators of UK drill.
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