PS Hitsquad: An MM Exclusive

PS Hitsquad is one of the brightest talents born from the UK drill boom. After a tumultuous few years, he seems to be finding his feet musically; expressing all sides of himself and experimenting with genres, all the while staying authentic and true. After hearing some truly leftfield tracks from his upcoming album Life on License, I sat down with him to talk American influences, his passion for wordsmithery, and his love of rock music. 

Has making Life on License felt different to making any of your other projects?

With this one it’s more that I want my music to reflect all of me, not just one side. I feel like I’m getting to that point. Building this project wasn’t too different, it’s just I’m more mature and it shows in the music.

What’s your favourite track at the moment?

It’s hard to pick. For example, ‘8AM’ is one of my favourites if I’m in a certain mood but then ‘Black & White’ is there as well, which is a crazy joint where I’m rapping about the system and socioeconomic issues. I like different ones for different reasons.

The first one I heard was ‘Chasing My Grave’. I was surprised to hear you rapping over a rock instrumental. Why are you trying these new sounds now?

It’s a combination of things. Shout out to man’s team. We’re putting some serious ideas together and they’re coming off in the right way. I’ve always loved rock music. It’s not like I’m trying it just because it’s cool – it doesn’t give a fuck and I don’t either. I love that rock star energy and if you really look at it, drill and rock are not that far apart. I used to do parkour and skate, so why not embrace rock and put my own flavour on it?

I know you’re a big Marilyn Manson fan. Were you channelling him on this track?

Not really but I take inspiration from everywhere. No one can say that they don’t take inspiration from things. Everyone gets stuff from other places. You wouldn’t know how to talk or walk without inspiration from somewhere. I just always want whatever I’m doing to be in my style. It’s never a thing where I put on a beat and think “how would these lot hit it?”. 

So how did it come about?

At first ‘Chasing My Grave’ was a whole different genre. It was on a soulful and dreamy M1 beat – it didn’t sound like drill at all. Ian (McQuaid) put my vocals over a post-punk instrumental and it did well online. So, we tried a few combinations of vocal and beat, and ‘Chasing my Grave’ was the only one that felt right. Sometimes I’m just like “Ian you genius”. I call Ian ‘Frankenstein’ and myself the monster. My team, right now, is on the same page as me, and everyone’s knowledge, plus whatever I bring to the table, is a recipe for success. ‘Chasing My Grave’ is being released next and I’m excited to see what comes from it.

I know you rate Biggie Smalls. What is it about his music that is timeless?

With Biggie, he had an unorthodox flow, but it worked. If you listen to Tupac, his thing was a bit more structured, more thought out, more clean – it was a bit more commercially appealing. Whereas Biggie was just raw. That’s my whole thing. I love when people are organic and just themselves. That’s why he resonated with me so much. He’s got some crazy lyrics that have a way of shocking you and the way he spits is so blunt. He’s not going to use a ‘Brenda’s Got a Baby’ type-beat. That’s a classic, but for my example, Biggie isn’t going to make something like that. He’s going to make something that’s harsh. 

I know you said before that you don’t like how fake the music industry is. How do you try and stay authentic? 

I shouldn’t even say how fake the industry is because life is exactly the same. I don’t like playing that game, but I’m learning how to play it a bit better.

When you are choosing beats, what makes a good one stick out to you?

With beat selection, I’m not the best. That’s why I love playing my tunes to people. Say, for example, if I’m with my sister or one of my closest friends, I’ll play my stuff to them just to get everyone’s opinion and see what everyone’s feeling. So that’s one of my processes. Another one of my processes is having Ian.

Do you ever record your bars over a different beat to the one that they end up being released on?

Not really, but because I’m always in and out of legal issues, when I’m away that does happen, but not a lot. I might rap my bars on a few beats and see which one I like more, but it’s not like I just fling a beat behind my words. I don’t like doing things like that.

Do you always write to the beat?

Sometimes I write to no beat. Sometimes I don’t write, I’ll just go to the studio and punch in. It all depends.

One of my favourite releases of yours is the one you did with Fumez the Engineer. Can you remember writing or recording that?

I remember writing it in Brazil. I’ll never forget that. EMI shouted me to do it and I said: “for sure”. Obviously, big up Fumez as well. He’s done a lot for the scene. But when writing it I was charged off my head – supercharged, on top of the world. I was younger as well, so I just wanted to go stupid, but this was after ‘No Censor’ and I was feeling that mentioning names was a bit too much. I wasn’t even on license, so my lyrics weren’t even being looked at like that. Even though I didn’t want there to be any names in there, whoever knows knows. 

The flow on that one is one of my favourites of yours. How do flows come to you?

I rate Biggie’s flow and I respect Tupac’s. One’s raw, one’s a bit more polished. I kind of mix those two styles. As lyrics are a major part of my writing process, I always want to be saying something interesting or I’ve got to be playing with words in some way. Sometimes that affects it – I have to work out how to fit what I’m saying into the rhyming pattern of the flow, and sometimes that creates other little things as well. 

Who was the first artist who truly inspired you?

It’s hard to say because you grow up hearing things that your mum, dad, aunties, cousins, whoever you’re around, was playing. One of my earliest memories of somebody I looked at and I was like, “shit, that’s talent”, was Michael Jackson. I was in the mirror, doing all the moves and grabbing my crotch. I feel like all of us were trying to moonwalk and stuff. People fling MJ’s name around too many times now, but that’s the goat. Let’s be real.

What’s your favourite Michael Jackson tune?

What makes him the goat is that he had different careers in one lifetime. So, it’s like, which MJ are you referring to? I go through phases. Sometimes it’s an ‘Off the Wall’ type of thing. Whereas if I want to just listen to calm MJ, it’s ‘Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough’. Sometimes it’s a ‘Bad’ type thing or ‘They Don’t Really Care About Us’. There’s so many different Michaels that I can’t pick one.

How did you get into rapping?

Through school I learned that I love English and playing with words. That was my thing. I’ve always been gassed. I think I’m the shit, the best thing since sliced bread and that translated into what people like 50 Cent and Giggs do, but I didn’t start off wanting to be a rapper. One of my poems got published when I was young and that’s how it formulated first through me; just playing with words, putting them together. In school they teach you different poems and rhyme schemes and I still love all that crap. 

Where does your inspiration for lyrics come from?

It used to be that every second I was thinking of bars. I’m a Scorpio, so I read between the lines a lot in life and see all sorts of metaphors. I might be watching a movie or a documentary – it could come from anything. If I see a car rolling past, I might think of a rhyme scheme or something.

When you’re writing lyrics do you have a primary goal?

What I really like about me is I’ve always been true to myself, whether that’s good, bad, or ugly. So, I don’t have to try to be real or vulnerable. I don’t even think about it. But when I’m making tunes, it’s always different. It depends on the beat, how I’m doing in life, how my brain feels. It’s a combination of things. I wouldn’t say I have a goal when I’m making a tune, but with Life on License I’ve been thinking about the whole tape all together, making sure each track flows into the next one and painting a full picture. So, I’ve got an aim with this release, but with singles, not really■

Words by Charlie Edmondson