Tottenham Rapper Zeggé has his sights set high when it comes to his music. Listing UK legends from his area such as Headie One and Skepta as major inspirations for his own rapping, Zeggé aims to reach major heights in his career. “Seeing them perform at shows, even without being there, I felt the energy behind the screen. I would love to be performing at crazy festivals like Reading, Leeds and Glastonbury. These are my goals in life, seeing people rap my lyrics back to me” he tells us.
As for his own music, Zeggé wants to elevate rap to unknown territories and experiment with his sound, saying that “I want to take music where it’s never been before. When I listen to songs, I listen to them differently to most people. I listen to each individual element of the song, each instrument, each vocal stab. Those little details add so much more to the songs”. Zeggé identifies Ghetts as a detail-oriented rapper to aspire to, explaining how “In Ghetto Gospel, his beats are like a journey. Different elements are added throughout, and it’s not just the same thing over and over again.”
He also notes Travis Scott’s psychedelic sound as an influence, telling us “The instruments he chooses are great. Travis Scott really experiments, and that’s what keeps him going, it’s paid out. He’s mastered his style to a point where he can come up with a song in five minutes and it will be good. That’s where I want to be. It takes years of practice but that’s what I’m willing to do”
Zeggé’s eye for pushing boundaries doesn’t end at a sonic level either; he also brings a vulnerability to his lyricism which allows him to connect to his listeners in an authentic way, “In ‘I Feel Like’, there’s one lyric: ‘I wanna move away from elevators that have piss on it’. That’s reality for me. I live on Broadwater Farm Estate in Tottenham. I see it, and it’s something I don’t want to be around. It’s that hood dream, I want to make it out of there. A lot of people can relate to what I’m talking about. The people who have seen what I’ve seen will hear it and say ‘Ok, I get what he’s talking about’. I want to talk about things on a track that no one else talks about, I want to be vulnerable.”
Zeggé’s passion to reach beyond the norm within rap is reflected through his eclectic musical influences. “I don’t just listen to rap and drill”, he says, “I also listen to orchestral music like Hanz Zimmer, as well as Lo-Fi, Jazz and Classical music. Whatever floats my boat. It allows me to be more open minded in the beats that I choose in my own songs”. Zeggé has also begun to try his hand at playing piano in his spare time, saying that “I want to learn to the point where I can just get on the piano and play, possibly on a track.”
Perhaps these influences have pushed Zeggé to think past trends and fads when making music and focus on the bigger picture. Speaking on the state of UK Rap in 2022, he says that “When it comes to rap, right now what’s popping is Drill, which is cool but everyone’s jumping on it. Personally, Drill is easy to jump on, everyone’s doing it. I want to take my sound somewhere totally different.”
Be sure to listen to Zeggé’s new single ‘I Feel Like’, which is available on streaming platforms today.
- Written By: Sam Murphy
- Email: stmurphywriter@gmail.com
- Instagram: @s.murfy
