RAY MATIX
North London artist Ray Matix describes his music as “Galaxy Trap" as it consists of new futuristic sonics and synths in the production which makes you feel like the music came straight from out of this world. As a current member of the hip-hop collective 'ELEVEN 38', from which he honed his musical flare. Ray's independent career started In August 2019, as he dropped his debut EP "Everybody Loves Ray" before dropping his is first solo album "Slime Walker" in 2020, a 12 track project with collaborations from the likes of Young Jordan, Posadic, Kali Activi$t, Flossyape, Mega2x and Jahin Novicious.
Projext Liquid caught up with Ray Matix to talk about his Collective, ‘eleven 38’, his consistency in music and hear about his top 5 listened to artists.
Listen to 'Super Yucky:Vol 1' below
Where are you from?
I’m Jamaican and Ghanaian, raised in Enfield but currently living in North London, Ernest grove.
How long have you been doing music for?
I would say the first song I recorded was in college around 4 years ago. A friend of mine was always making and recording beats and said I had the look for it. So it started from there, I didn’t take it too seriously at the time, It was only in the last two years that I’ve been more serious.
How would you like to be seen as an artist?
I would like to be seen as out of this world. A lot of people are not true to themselves.
When people see me as an artist, I want them to see that I’m being myself and that its ok to do want you want and experiment with whatever sound you want to experiment with.
Where do you get you inspiration from?
There’re so many people I look up to. From listen to Limp Bizkit to Reggae, my mums Jamaican so I grew up listening Buju Banton, Bob Marley and Chronixx. Defiantly Young Thug and Speaker Knockers. Speaker Knockers was actually the first artist I researched and downloaded back in the day.
When did you know you wanted to peruse music?
I remember it was my first performance and I felt really good on stage thinking this is for me. I’m in a collective, that’s how I started. When we would perform, you could see the nerves on some people, but I loved it.
What is your collective about?
It’s called ‘Eleven 38’ and the other main members are Flossyape, Kilo Visuals and Kali Activi$t, they’re really doing their thing right now. It’s a creative collective of photographers, videographers, engineers, dancers, graphic designs just the whole lot.
As an artist do you sometimes take a step back or are you constantly in full mode?
I would say I’m consistent just because it’s like therapy for me. When I’m stressed, I make music and freestyle because I just need to get it out. So, I’m always in the booth just letting it all out with the different emotions, different vibes I feel from day to day.
If you had to do a collaboration with someone who would that be.
It’s got to be Young Thug because I just appreciate how he uses his voice as an instrument. Not a lot of people understand him but when I’m hearing him make his music it’s like he puts all his emotion in it even though people say he’s not saying much. It’s the motion, the attack and delivery on each beat, I can appreciate the art.
How was the experience in making your EP? What was the atmosphere like?
Making the tape was like a rollercoaster of emotion, we’ve been through a lot throughout the year. The first track featured is called ‘Mick Jagger’ which is really heavy, then Love Overdoes’ which is a love vibe and another song called ‘Flannels’ where I’m talking about working a 9-5. The whole project took about 5 months to make. What I love the most is the name of the EP is ‘Super Yukky’, it was unexpected because I’m always making words and making my own style.
What was the first song on the EP?
The first song I dropped off the Ep was ‘Ohh Well’ and it’s track 6. I dropped it as a single first but I knew I was going to include it because of the reception it got. People liked it so I knew straight away it had to be on the tape.
What footprint would you like to leave in this world?
Character, because I feel like in London there isn’t much character around. There’s a lot of artists that are the same and I know so many people that are doing music but moving funny in the videos. I think people need to stop being so hard, drop your guard down and just enjoy the music you’re making.
Listen to Ray Matix'sTop 5 songs below