One doesn’t see too many R&B acts from Europe taking on a really rough edge these days. For someone like Shepherd’s Bush, London-native Angel, his background is rooted in street life. “Same ol’ shit trying to make ends meet,” he says in an exclusive interview with HipHopDX. “I was always into music, but I was growing up in an area where it is what it is. I had a little boy from when I was 17 so I was doing whatever I can to make it.”
Just so happens he had a taste for 90s R&B. During a showcase last month at the historic Capitol Records building, he held his own while performing “You’re Breaking My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes).”
“I feel like for me, I lived in the 90s, so I experienced the New Jack Swing sound, Mint Condition, Jodeci, H-Town and the whole feel,”Angel continues. Yesterday (May 16), he dropped the video for “Rude Boy” as a HipHopDX premiere. The video not only pays homage to that sound, but Caribbean roots as well. According to Angel, the monochrome visuals only heightens the aesthetic.
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This may be another bright moment for an artist attempting to gain a mainstream American following. “I feel like I’m building,” Angel says. “The response is growing slowly but surely. I feel like the most important thing is that they are engaging with it.” So far, he’s been getting shine from the likes of Complex and The Source when he’s not coasting closely to significant social media presence.
One person that’s been vocal about his interest in the singer is Swizz Beatz who has gone so far to call Angel “his artist” and go on a few press runs with him as well. And to think, that connection came from a plane ride to New York. “He[Swizz] tells me that I remind him of himself when he was coming up,” Angel describes of his relationship with the mega-producer. “He wants to push me so that I can have a fair trial in getting my music out and letting people hear it.”
Where does “Rude Boy” lead album-wise? Angel says he doesn’t feel any pressure to put a full body of work out just yet. “I’m just playing it out by ear,” he said. “Everyday I’m just working on music.”
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Watch Angel’s “Rude Boy” below:
