“The Past Six Months I’ve Learned More Than I’ve Ever Learned In Music” – An MM Exclusive With Eight8

In a music landscape that’s constantly evolving, few producers have made their presence felt as quickly and decisively as Eight8. If you have been tuned into the UK rap scene for the last 2-3 years the likelihood is that you’ve heard a lot his work.

He’s come a long way from the hills of Dartmoor, having a had a hand in crafting some of the biggest hits in UK Rap and securing multiple placements on chart-topping projects like Central Cee’s number one album “Can’t Rush Greatness”. Eight8 has built a reputation as an indispensable music producer and engineer for some of the scenes biggest acts including the likes of Chip, Headie One and D Block Europe.

In an industry where names can often be here today and gone tomorrow Eight8 is proof that authenticity, vision, and adaptability can open doors in even the most competitive corners.

We sat down at his studio in North London and spoke about his origins, his career so far and his ambitions for the future.

Do you mind giving a little background about yourself, about who you are and what you do?

So my name is a Eight8. I’m a music producer, vocal engineer, also recording engineer at times. My journey kind of started, maybe like eight years ago, when I started learning production in college, when I was like 16. I guess now I’ve been working in the industry of music, especially in the rap side of it, for maybe like two and a half years now.

What’s a typical day in your life like?

It varies, but like, mostly my work days would be, I’d wake up, I’ll go straight to the gym, I’ll come I’ll sit with my team and we just do a run through of everything, catch up on everything we’re doing, business emails, what we’re gonna do this week, and then I’ll kind of go off to my sessions. So yeah, and it varies between artist sessions, producer sessions, you know, just cooking up, sending stuff out to my guys.

In terms of your influences, and where you started, your musical foundation. Who are some of those artists, producers for you?

I think my biggest inspirations growing up was Metro Boomin and Dre but that’s because obviously, like, being from the countryside, I wasn’t too tapped into the London music scene. So them two guys were obviously all over social media as a kid.

Where exactly do you mean when you say countryside?

Oh, in Devon, in Exeter. So it’s called Dartmoor. There’s two Moor lands in the UK. You have the Yorkshire Moors and you have Dartmoor. So I’m from one of these, like, pure countryside. It’s mental down there.

Was it a thing where you felt I need to get out of here?

Yeah. I love it and when I go back now, I think it’s like the craziest, most inspiring place to be. But growing up like there is nothing there, like, nothing at all.

Where does the name eight come from?

So the name eight came from. I’m not ready to tell people why it’s eight, but eight eight, angel number 88, the angel number represents prosperity and just like big achievements in life. So that’s kind of what I’m staying with it right now.

In terms of your sound, is it a thing where you’ve got a very specific sound or are you somebody who you pride yourself in your versatility in what you’re able to produce?

Yeah, yeah. So I’d say, like, my sound is super versatile. I’d say I definitely have a more musical approach to music in the sense of like real instruments and more melodic stuff. If you look at UK rap, there’s times where UK rap is very dark and simple and, like, aggressive. Well, I feel like I come in on the other side where I like to use soul samples.

Did you study music theory?

No, well. I studied it, but I’m not good at it. I work closely with Harry Beech, and he is very musically talented.

With your experience now do you think it’s a necessary thing for producers to know music theory? Or as long as you have a vision, you can somehow find a way to execute it?

I think the last thing you said. I definitely want to learn music theory eventually. But I feel like. The current state like of music right now, I don’t think you need to know music theory to make hit songs, in my opinion. I can’t play the piano, so that’s something that I know in my career, I’m definitely gonna make myself learn to play the piano.

As a producer if somebody is doing something new and innovative. Do you sit and think I need to learn how to produce like that. Or do you see it as a that guy’s established their sound, leave it to them?

For me in my own production, I definitely incorporate certain things. I will never really use the the sexy drill base that Cash (Cobain) created, but I would use the stomps. I think it’s important to stay relevant to the current sounds. Like if you’re gonna make dark drill beats now, I couldn’t tell you who’s taking them.

Do you remember the moment that you were able to do music full time?

I met my manager, Sean, and after meeting him, he offered me work in his studio to engineer, and I used to be at uni at the time just to get funding to live in London away from my family home and I went full time quickly through engineering at the studio.

Is that a common route?

When I was growing up, my dad would say to me, you know a way for you to get in would be like making coffees at like Sony, the label. Just do the absolute bottom of the barrel work and build your way up to the better jobs. I try and tell all the up and coming producers that I meet, if you can’t get your beats to people learn to record artists, because that can get you in the rooms and then you can get your beats forward that way. That’s how I started working with D Block. I met up with Adz to record him while their engineer was away, and then we ended up making “Man in the mirror” and that was my first ever major release that came out a month later.

If you weren’t doing music, what job would you be doing right now?

I think I’d be a businessman. I’ve owned a couple businesses. I had a business when I was 18,19,20 reselling electronic headphones and that proper went off. When I moved to London, it got shut down because I was ripping some copyright from another company. I don’t see myself producing music for the rest of my life. I see myself having a label and becoming more corporate in music. I want to start owning and signing stuff. Me and Sean collectively manage three producers now. So I’m already starting more of the management side of stuff.

You talked about doing 10 beats a day in a previous interview. The idea of locking in and really putting in that effort for an extended period of time, is that something you resonate with?

Coming off the back of this Cench album, at the start of last year, I went to LA, and when we were in LA, everyone was saying to us why aren’t you working with Central Cee? No one we met knew the guys I’m working with. And everyone, everyone would say yeah but just work with Central Cee, surely. When I came back from LA, I sat with my team and I just said to my team I’m just gonna cut all this other stuff I’m doing out, and I’m just gonna sit and make beats for Cench every day.

I set myself a goal of five beats a day and I did it for three months. And randomly, the first pack of beats I sent to Cench. He made “Moi” the song with Raye that he dropped. At the end of the three months he ended up calling me. I was saying to my friends I don’t feel like in this creative world, it’s that hard to do what you want to do and achieve what you want to achieve with hard work. I don’t think anyone sat down every day for three months and made five beats for Cench but that’s why at the end of the three months Cench called me and said come and work on the album. Do you know what I mean?

On the Cench album, congrats, obviously, number one album, and managing to get as many placements as you did on that is how did that relationship come about between you two, specifically?

So I basically made the song with Raye and I don’t think Cench knew that it was me exactly doing that, because obviously he’s got the beat through not me directly and he’s made the song. Chip is a good friend of mine, he’s done loads for me in my career. He’s the reason I started working with D Block. He’s introduced me to a ton of people. I told chip about the song and Chip was aware that Cench didn’t know about me directly. So Chip was just like, “why didn’t you ask me to introduce you?” I was like I wouldn’t ask you to just introduce me to Cench. Randomly a week or two later, Chip had then done that grime remix off the back of the Cench freestyle he did and they met up, then chip had basically just passed my number to Cench. I spoke with Chip he said, “You know, I passed your number over. So expect a call”, I was like, yeah cool.

Then a couple weeks pass I thought maybe nothing’s gonna happen and then Cench, just called, and basically just said, you know, like, “I’m working on this album it would be cool for you just to come and just have a listen”. And then we met up and then we ended up doing like three weeks just chopping up the album. That was probably six months before the album dropped. Obviously from that point they worked on it further.

Is that your preference, to work with somebody in a studio?

We’re so cool with working with people. However’s best to work. We’re just, we’re cool with it. For example, working with D Block. Adz lives in Paris, and you have LB’s floating around LA and all these other places. For them guys, I know that sending beats is the best way for them. I will link up with them when we’re in the same place and the times right. But 90% of the time it is sending, me sending beats just on text, and then with Cench same thing. So I’m just whatever, but I am definitely a session person like that is my preference to be in the room and we make a song together.

I know for producers, there’s a lot of pressure to get placements, to fight for spots on projects and albums, etc. What was that feeling like when you knew finally, I’ve got multiple songs on this project?

To be honest, I never feel like I’m trying to fight for a placement on an album. Because everything I’ve done, I’ve kind of done myself in the sense, like all my relationships, I hold myself, I don’t go through many people to chat to the artists I work with, and that is very direct. I have a lot of friends that be like, I’m working on this album right now and I’m not the kind of person that will say to the guy cool, like, I’m trying to work with you every day because I want to get on that album. If it’s right, it’s right. I never have the feeling of wanting to fight to be on something. I will just come to the studio, I’ll make the beats I want to make, I’ll send them to who I want to send them to, and then just obviously hope for the best kind of thing.

You got your second number one with ‘Can’t Rush Greatness’. But I’m interested in your goals going.What’s the next thing you’re eyeing up? Do you want to win a Grammy, or something like a number one that spends 20 weeks on the charts?

This is the biggest goal that will be the hardest to get. But I want a number one single. I want a song to go number one or at least top five.

What’s the closest you’ve been?

I went number six, is my highest with “GBP” with the 21 savage Cench song, yeah I know. And to be honest, you know what? I’m coming into this year, and I’m just saying I have no expectations. I just want to make bigger and better music. I want to work with more people. I want to work with some American artists, get a song out with a big American on one of their projects. So yeah bro, I just think bigger and better really.

We’ve seen a lot of the big producers (Metro Boomin, Khaled, DJ Mustard) doing collab tapes, but the collab tapes are no longer a thing where the artists are the main attraction over the producer. Is that something that you can see yourself potentially doing in the future, releasing an Eight8 presents style project?

When I was, like 18 or 19 I used to release songs on Spotify. So I’ve got songs on Spotify that have a lot of streams. I’ve got a song that’s maybe on like 4 million (streams), got some other songs that have hundreds of thousands. I’d have over 100,000 monthlies on Spotify. My inspos were Metro and Dre growing up, so that’s what they’re doing. I’m at the stage now where I do want to just do my own tape, and I want to build my brand to be like a Metro, that’s my dream. It’s just finding the right people and foundations around me who can give me access to certain things because I don’t want to do it all myself. I want there to be like a team behind me that can help me and plan with me.

Would you prefer a tape where it’s one artist one producer or like a compilation of different artists?

I think I’d want a compilation of people. Off the top of my head, If I could just do it with the guys I got Chip, D block, Nafe Smallz you know. Cench would be a stretch, and it wouldn’t happen now, but obviously, eventually, that would be cool. You know. I’ve got a lot of friends that would I think be down for it.

If you go back to the start of you career what’s one thing you 100% would do and one thing you wouldn’t do again?

You know what I actually, I think I’m happy. I’m actually happy with what/who I’ve been in the past two and a half years being part of the scene that I’ve come into that I actually don’t think there’s anything that I would go back to my own self and say, don’t do that or do that, because I think I’m so grateful to be where I am now. I wouldn’t change anything for the world.

I’m kind of spiritual in a sense. I’m not spiritual but I feel like I believe in stuff like that. I believe everything happens for a reason. I’m a big person on karma and just being a good person kind, just helping people out and that, so yeah.

What are your personal top 3 beats that you’ve produced?

What that I’ve release? Because I could tell you beats that I know are so cold but they’ve never been used. I think my proudest production is “Moi” with Cench and Raye. I would say, “Kiki”, what I done for D block, that beat was super fire. And then actually out of all of these, my favourite is “Off License” with Chip and knife, because that beat, when I made it, I made that beat in like five minutes live, was the quickest beat I’ve made. But when I listen back to it, it sounds so fresh and styley. And I remember out of everything I’ve produced. That was the most feedback I ever got on a beat, people saying that beat is crazy.

Do you find it often that the songs that you are more instinctive and you just kind of do and you finish quickly are the ones that do better or sound better to you?

I think as a producer it just comes in waves. There’s beats you make very quickly that become hits, and there’s also beats you spend ages on that that become hits, and there’s also times where you spend two minutes on a beat and it’s not a hit and you spend all day on another beat and it’s still not a hit. But you know what it comes down to as well as a producer it’s 50/50 with you and the artist, you need to perform and the artist needs to perform.

Has there ever been a situation where you sent off a beat and what you got back wasn’t it?

Yeah of course. But I think one thing with me, it’s so important as a producer to remember music is so subjective that you might not like that song, but that song could be your biggest song. You speak to any producer that’s got a load of songs under their catalog, they will tell you that the ones they didn’t think were gonna be the ones are the ones. I’ve had people jump on my beats and thought that’s not what I wanted. That’s not what my vision was. But I would never be the kind of person to feel let down from an artist performance on a song, because in my head I’m like, it could still be the one.

Are there any beats that you’ve heard, in recent times or in the past that you feel like, damn, I wish I made that?

Ah, yeah. Obviously, these are so generic, but these were the ones that stuck with me since I was so young, because when I heard them when I was little all I wanted to do was to have made the beat. Bryson Tiller “Exchange”, and obviously “Pound Cake” by Drake. Just because of the vocals. I love vocal samples, that’s probably my favourite thing. And them two vocal samples, them beats, I remember hearing them thinking that these beats are the craziest beats I’ve ever heard.

You the kind of guy to go crate digging for samples?

I think in the current age, I feel like most stuff has been sampled from back in the day. I’m not the kind of guy to go and vocal then to go to record shops on that, just because I genuinely just don’t feel like I’ve got time to go and just hunt like that. But I think in the current day and age now, I have people that do vocal samples, like Lily Kaplan. She was on Cench’s album. She did the Lil Durk and Huncho song. She did the Ice Spice, Central Cee song. So she’s someone that I’m really working a lot with, and I think she’s the new girl on the block.

We had the drill era, and for a lot of people it’s come to an end. Where do you see the next shift and the next sound going for UK rap specifically?

Speaker 2 2:17 Let’s put Central Cee aside. I think you’ve got people like Nemzzz and Zel making a cool sound. You’ve got like, Kid wild, and I’m hearing GW making some sick stuff with Kid wild. These are all sub genres off of drill and drill inspired sounds. I don’t think Trap music’s dead. I think Trap music’s still there. I don’t think drills dead. I think drills going into a new genre where it’s becoming a new sound. Shout out Outlaw beats. He shares the same studio as me, and he is just the craziest producer