Xadi

Xadi is a West London musician, rapper, and producer, who has begun to garner a reputation for his unique songwriting ability and honest, soulful lyrical expression. His music is versatile and not easily categorised, deftly blending elements of hip-hop, R&B, jazz, grime and many other genres. Since then Xadi has continually developed his sound, releasing a number of diverse singles as well as a follow-up EP 'Day Ends' in February this year receiving a lot of airplay and support on some of the UK’s biggest and best reputed platforms such as BBC Radio 1xtra, Reprezent, NTS, Rinse, No Signal and Foundation FM, and from tastemakers such as Twin B, Lily Mercer, Jyoty and Jamz Supernova. We had a chat with Xadi to find out what his favourite album is of all time, no skips. What we should have asked him is how he pronounced his name as we are all curious!

NEO: How long have you been making music?

XADI: I have been making and releasing for just under 2 years but I first started messing around with a guitar when I was about 13

NEO: What’s life like for you outside of music?

XADI: I can’t lie, there is not a lot of time I spend not doing something music related but when I’m not, I’m doing pretty average stuff, I spend a lot of time with my friends so that’s a big part of my life, play a bit of football.

NEO: Should we be expecting new music anytime soon?

XADI: Yes, mañana is out now!! I’ve been sitting on this one for a good while and am so excited to have it out in the world. Working with someone you’ve never worked with before and it going so smoothly and harmoniously is quite rare and I really found that with Nina so am very excited to see how everyone receives it!

NEO: What is your biggest motivation?

XADI: When I’m not working on music I want to be, I don’t know why but it just is what brings me peace in life so I always feel like there’s something I could be working on that might blow me away. I also always kind of have a point to prove, I feel like I’ve been doubted to some extent in the past and I just get a buzz off of proving those thoughts wrong.

NEO: What is your creative process like?

XADI: Depends on the song, if it’s just me on the track, the process starts with me and a guitar or a piano, and I just mess around until I come across a chord sequence I’m really feeling, I often end up writing a melody in this stage before recording anything into the software. But if it’s a gassy track, with someone else (Dan haha) we’re having a couple of drinks in the studio, the guys are pulling up and it’s like a little party.

NEO: Out of all the songs you have released which is your favourite? And why?

XADI: It changes all the time, right now it’s mañana just because I’m so excited about it coming out and I feel the way Nina and I complemented each other on the track was something totally new to me.

NEO: What is your favorite album of all time, no skips?

XADI: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

NEO: If you could be any animal in the animal kingdom, what would you be and why?

XADI: Cheetah, so basic but they look so wavy and they can run so fast hahaha

NEO: If a millionaire decides to fund all your expenses on a one week trip to anywhere, where would you go and what would you do?

XADI: I would be very suspicious about why they were doing this hahaha but if it was all bless i would actually really like to go to Iceland, it looks beautiful and it’s so expensive that I can’t imagine myself going there without that type of funding anytime soon

NEO: What would you like to achieve before your next birthday?

XADI: Everything, I can’t even say a single thing because so much can happen in a year that I couldn’t even imagine, so yeah every step forward that could happen, I want to happen.

NEO: Let us know where to find you, on your social media.

XADI: @xadiboi on Instagram