In Talks With East London’s Rising Duo Deniro5ive & Taifunds
6 Sep 2021
Hailing from Clapton, Hackney, are childhood friends Deniro5ive and Taifunds who’s latest single, “Cutie” recently blew up on TikTok. Having first connected in school over their love for music, the pair have since stepped onto the scene with their infectious and feel-good sound. Following up from their debut release entitled, “Kings” in October last year, both Deniro5ive and Taifunds were swiftly encouraged to start taking music seriously after accumulating a great reception from there peers. Now posing as artists to watch, the pair are gearing up to showcase there supporters what they’ve been working on!
Mixtape Madness got the chance to catch up with both Deniro5ive and Taifunds over Zoom for a quick chat about there journey thus far, how they linked up, there latest release “Cutie”, and more. Tap in below to see what they had to say!
I’m going to take it back to the beginning with you both. Could you each talk me through your introduction to music and what kind of artists you grew up listening to?
Taifunds: To be honest, music came kind of late for me it wasn’t until last year that I actually started taking music seriously. Deniro was doing music way before that, and he encouraged me to start making it. When I was growing up, I listened to a lot Afroswing artists like Kojo Funds and J Hus.
Deniro5ive: I started music when I was very young! I think I made my first song in a youth club in Year 7 and went on to release my first music video in Year 9, but I hadn’t released a song ever since. I used to do Afroswing but last quarantine Taifunds encouraged me to start rapping because before I was only singing. I made a Drill song with him, a lot of people liked it, so we continued from there.
At what point did you start singing then? لعبة بينغو
Deniro5ive: I was around 13 or 14! I wasn’t releasing any of the songs I was making for a while.
Talk me through how you both met! Have you known each other for a long time or?
Taifunds: We’ve known each other from a young age, maybe for 8 or 9 years but we didn’t speak. It wasn’t until around 6 years ago that we did –
Deniro5ive: Yeah, it’s because we didn’t go to the same Secondary school.
How did the decision come about to start making music together?
Taifunds: When we were 15, we used to make songs in Deniro’s bedroom, we used to engineer it. We made the Drill song as a joke but from that release we bounced off each other and the music we were making was good.
You guys first connected on “Kings” which you released last year. Tell me how this single came about and why you guys decided to release this as your first release?
Deniro5ive: Originally, I didn’t even want to make the song because I thought it was too much of a Drill song, but it was a joke. We used some old bars that we had from Year 10 and bought them to the studio for fun. We posted it on our snap, and everyone was asking us to release it, so we thought should we do a music video for banter! We released it on my birthday and after that we started going to the studio more.
You both recently followed through with “Cutie” which has a completely different feel to “Kings” and is a lot more upbeat! I read you teased this on TikTok for a while, what was the reception like?
Taifunds: Back in November I was trying to write lyrics and I went on YouTube and typed in “Funky drill beat” because I wanted to try something new, and I found that beat. اربح مال من الانترنت I sent it to Deniro and he came to my house, I was making bars but he wasn’t. We went to the studio, and I recorded a solo, I spat my chorus and verses and Deniro just wrote his verses, we were tired, and it came off the dome.
How did you find the reception from TikTok because that’s just a whole other world in itself…
Taifunds: It was overwhelming! When it started blowing up on TikTok, my sleeping pattern was ruined because I was trying to reply to all these people!
Deniro5ive: It was people we didn’t know supporting us and that was a new one. Before that, it was just people knew!
Do you think you guys have grown as artists since your first release?
Taifunds: Yeah!
Deniro5ive: Yeah, a lot!
Taifunds: We stay away from Drill, and we’ve created our own sound, which you’ll see in our future releases!
What’s your creative process like as a duo?
Deniro5ive: For me, I always feel tired in the studio until its my turn to record and suddenly I have all this energy. I don’t like writing at home because I won’t deliver it the same as I would in the booth, so I did it all there and then.
Taifunds: Yeah, it’s either we’re both in the studio and it kinda comes down to who creates the first 8 bars because that’s usually the chorus. From there, we just bounce off each other and see what we can make.
We have no collaborations out yet, as far as dream collaborations go. Who would you guys love to work with in the UK and overseas?
Taifunds: I’ve got a top 5! In no order, Central Cee, Pink Pantheress, Knucks, Jorja Smith, and Lil Durk!
Deniro5ive: I would say Central Cee as well and Pink Pantheress! I would love to work with Ariana Grande, Sheff G, and Deno.
I love how you both said Pink Pantheress, she’s really taking over at the minute!
Deniro5ive: Yeah, I feel like her sound is nostalgic.
Putting the music aside, what do you like to do for fun?
Taifunds: Before I was playing football but I kinda stopped that now! To be honest, it’s just football, eating – I like to eat out – and music. كيف تفوز في روليت
Deniro5ive: I can’t even lie it’s ball about the music, I’m hoping it makes my life more interesting cah’ yeah…!
What do you think of the UK scene at the moment?
Taifunds: I think it’s developing! There is a lot of new artists coming through, there’s a new wave.
Deniro5ive: Yeah, I think it’s going to continue to grow. The quality is way better than before, we have more access to stuff. More people in other countries and cultures are investing in our music.
What else can we expect to hear from you this year?
Taifunds: A lot of party bangers that will make people dance!