Album: Avelino – GOD SAVE THE STREETS
When Avelino’s father passed away, the Tottenham rapper was only a young boy. He elected to rap under his father’s last name, the tragedy aligning his focus to make a mark for himself, and his family. “Out of the worst thing that ever happened to me at the time arrived the best thing,” he tells Apple Music. “I’ve now got this unlimited source of motivation and fuel to continuously push, embrace challenges and make a career.” A razor-sharp student of UK rap, Avelino found a creative mentor in Wretch 32, who laid out the red carpet on 2015’s joint mixtape Young Fire, Old Flame, accepting his fellow N17 MC with open arms. With nimble flows and conscious-leaning lyrics at the focal point of his arsenal, following projects F.Y.O, NO B******T and EGO KILLS were sincere odes to self-exploration. From the passions of this journey comes debut album GOD SAVE THE STREETS. Executive-produced by Wretch 32, it finds Ave’ serving the breakdown of a mindset that clouded his past. “I want to help,” Avelino says. “Through my music, and my art, using my personal growth and change of mentality to spark others to do the same. It sounds cliché, but if you change your mind, you can change your life.” Binding drill, grime, drum ’n’ bass and hints of techno, the album is a showcase of hip-hop finesse, from the rhapsodic refrain of “1 OF 1” to the bouncy synths of “VEX”. “This album is almost as simple as making my bed,” Avelino says. “This is me as an artist. And this is all that I bring to the table.” Read on as he dissects GOD SAVE THE STREETS and opens up on the experience of recording his album sober. “GOD SAVE THE STREETS, PT. 1” “This song sets the scene. You’re not really speaking to the streets if you’re just telling them, ‘You’re wrong for this.’ They don’t want to hear that. You have to want to understand people. I had [British former gangster] Marvin Herbert speak at the start. I think it’s powerful to have him give an early perspective.” “GOD SAVE THE STREETS, PT. 2” (feat. RA) “It took a couple of weeks to finish this because me and [UK producer] Raf Riley were working the beat a lot. We recorded about 12 or 13 different versions, with different beats—but it still felt incomplete, until Raf suggested we put two together and see what happens. He’s a mad scientist the way his brain works; he’s made it sound like the music fell apart, and somehow fixed itself.”