URBAN VAULT UK
South East, UK based Hip Hop newcomer IZ recently released his debut ten-track mixtape A STEP UP
23-year-old UK rapper IZ is set to release his debut mixtape ‘A Step Up’ creating a fuse of today’s vibe mixed with a nostalgic Hip Hop 2000s sound, building a whole sound and project from it. With influence also taken from dance films such as ‘Honey’ and ‘Step Up’ where the title of the project comes from, the music is to make you feel good and dance whether in a club or by yourself.
10 tracks of pure feel-good vibes that will make you want to dance, IZ has created a mixtape based on music that is good for the soul and transports you back to the old school, 2000’s Hip Hop era where the sound became more experimental, upbeat and party influenced.
Track ‘Function’ is inspired by 50 Cent’s ‘In Da Club’ where IZ has put a spin on it and made it into a UK version with slang, beats, and the pattern. The lead single ‘Gets Like’ is a track for the Females and follows the theme of upbeat, party-style rap tracks. The rest of the mixtape replicates tracks from dance films and how the beat made him feel and is there to make the listeners get up and dance.
After hitting nearly 400k streams on Spotify alone for the track ‘Not A Datty’, a big accomplishment for a new rapper, he went on to release ‘Big Dreams’ which blew up with over 2.5 million streams on Spotify alone which caught music lovers and the music industries attention.
“’A Step Up’ Is the name of my debut tape. I’ve been doing music for around 8/9 years and started trying to pursue music in the year 2015/2016. Through these many years of music, I’ve tried many different sounds been through many different challenges, and interacted and learned a lot from many different people and scenarios, and through it all I have remained consistent. Consistent in trying to become better. Consistent in trying to learn new skills to better my career. Consistent in creating, releasing, and promoting my music. Year in and year out no matter what I faced the one thing that remained and stuck with me was my consistency, which allowed me to take that next step, a step up…. to meeting my goals and achieving all these big dreams I’ve had since a kid. This tape marks another step towards these goals, and I will continue to keep taking a step forward, a step up to achieve them all”. The goal for IZ is “To make myself a household name and I’d like to chart. For right now I’d be happy with a Top 40 but I’d love to secure a No.1 as well. I want to make music my livelihood. I want it to be my job, to pay for my lifestyle and to live off it”.