PREMIERE: Zissou taps E The Artist for smooth cut 'Akira'

Dublin beat producer Zissou has been busy working away on a collaborative mixtape, collaborating with some of Ireland's most compelling underground names.

Tapping BBC Introducing supported MC EMBY, E The Artist, Julia Louise Knifefist, Sara, Julio Rubio and Josh & Zak Oke for his upcoming January tape, due to be released in mid June, Zissou unites the best of hip-hop and neo-soul genre's underbelly.

The glimmering six-track tape is brimming with explorations of each artist's distinctive individuality, flicking between silky smooth vocals to hypnotic rap flows.

'Akira' sees Nigerian-Irish talent E The Artist shine above a hazy, retro-feeling beat that uses audio voice recordings, woozy synths and Tyler, the Creator levels of creativity.

 

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“There was a period within Irish hip-hop where there weren't really any vocalists that I wanted to work with,” Zissou says. “Lately there has been a new wave of artists in the last three years or so whose tastes seem to be more current and aligned with my own. Now, with the likes of E The Artist and Zack… Those guys are as good as anyone out there.”

“I was just listening to 70s stuff," he recalls. "A lot of hip hop beats can get tired after two or three minutes, I got a little tired of it. What makes hip-hop so good is the source material. The genre is built on amazing technically gifted musicians. I got really into that, diving into YouTube rabbit holes and all the usual places for finding stuff.

"I’m hoping the project will be a place where a lot of the great contemporary artists in Ireland can exist in one place," he says.

Lending influence from the irreverent style of hip-hop championed by contemporary artists such as MIKE, Navy Blue, Wiki and Mavi fusing with Dublin's own unique soundscapes crafted over the last few years, Zissou's DIY ethic and sense of local community spirit is emphasised.

E The Artist, real name Daranijoh Sanni, is a Dublin-based experimental act who has worked with Rory Sweeney, Ahmed with Love and more in the past. His contribution to 'Akira' bleeds epic results.

"I became aware of E through Julia Louise Knifefist, seeing him perform at some shows and really fucked with his energy and bars," says Zissou of E The Artist. "Then on New Years I met him at a rave and in typical producer fashion told him I’d send him a pack. I sent him like 10 beats and he got back to me with a finished track after like a week or so. So we never actually linked in the studio but he took the track in the exact direction I was hoping for so it was really easy. I just produced it a bit more working with the flows he put down to make the beat more connected with his punctuations and stuff. But it was probably the quickest and easiest collaboration I’ve ever done."

Pre-save January here.

Listen to 'Akira' below.