Gaika (musician)

Last updated

Gaika
GAIKA performing at Somerset House August 2018 04.jpg
Gaika at Somerset House, August 2018
Background information
Birth nameGaika Tavares
Born Brixton, London, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • rapper
Labels
Website gaika.co

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]

Contents

Early life

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]

Music career

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]

In 2020 he collaborates with Liberato and 3D on the song We Come from Napoli, soundtrack of the movie Ultras by Francesco Lettieri. [20]

Personal life

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." [21] Gaika has also discussed the ways in which the Notting Hill Carnival is presented by the press, while its cultural significance is overlooked. [22]

Gaika has also written fiction for Dazed. [23]

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Mixtapes

Singles

References

  1. ↑ "Gaika: Basic Volume review – downbeat articulacy". The Guardian. 29 July 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  2. ↑ Vinti, Mike (29 January 2016). "Beyond Grime: Why You Need to be Paying Attention to Britain's Other Rap Scenes". Vice . Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  3. ↑ "Gaika announces debut album, Basic Volume, for Warp". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  4. ↑ Moore, Hannah (22 June 2019). "Gaika: What Windrush means to me". BBC News.
  5. 1 2 Considine, Clare (11 March 2016). "Gaika: 'If you're a black guy you're supposed to make grime, reggae or coffee-table music'". the Guardian. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  6. ↑ "Gaika surprise-releases Spaghetto EP on Warp". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  7. ↑ "Warp turns the gothic dancehall knob to 11, announces debut album by Gaika, Basic Volume". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  8. ↑ Dazed (16 November 2015). "Meet Gaika, electronic music's answer to Basquiat". Dazed. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  9. ↑ "Gaika's U.S. Debut - Interview Magazine". Interview Magazine. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  10. ↑ "Gaika announces debut album, shares "Crown & Key" video". The FADER. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  11. ↑ Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (27 July 2018). "Gaika: Basic Volume review – gripping new voice of British rap". the Guardian. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  12. ↑ Hunter-Tinley, Ludovic (27 July 2018). "GAIKA: Basic Volume — an apocalyptic strain of imagination" . Financial Times . Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  13. ↑ "Album reviews this week: Gaika, Daughtry, Israel Nash and more". The Independent. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  14. ↑ "Gaola's Revolutionary Music Could Change Everything". Noisey. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  15. ↑ "Gaika - Basic Volume | Albums | musicOMH". musicOMH. 25 July 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  16. 1 2 "Gaika says Met Commissioner Cressida Dick 'can do one'". Evening Standard. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  17. ↑ "These Artists Are Battling the Dilution of Caribbean Sound System Culture". Noisey. 21 August 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  18. ↑ Dummy. "Gaika drops surprise 'Heaters 4 the 2 Seaters' mixtape with Dean Blunt and Rome Fortune". DummyMag. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  19. ↑ "Gaika - 'Seguridad' EP review: Brixton star creates a sultry soundtrack to Black British life". NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  20. ↑ "Ultras Soundtrack". Tunefind . Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  21. ↑ Dazed (18 June 2018). "It's no surprise that drill reflects young black men's reality". Dazed. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  22. ↑ "The political significance of Carnival, according to GAIKA". The FADER. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  23. ↑ Dazed (28 September 2017). "The Spectacular Empire – a future imagined by Gaika". Dazed. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  24. ↑ Pritchard, Will (14 September 2023). "Gaika: Drift Album Review". Albums. Pitchfork . Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  25. ↑ "Gaika - Seven Churches for St. Jude". PopMatters . 26 February 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
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