Introducing: The Pioneer — Fyah Roiall
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Illustration by Tamara Ibrahim: @timmystired
Artists are the most critical of the work they share with the world and those who are looking to stay in the game for a long time are the ones challenging themselves to create music which best represents them, as opposed to chasing so-called ‘hits’. Fyah Roiall is an artist doing this by pioneering a new sound: Grimehall; a mixture of mainly Grime, Dancehall and Hip Hop.
His debut album “Underrated” carries the theme of his self-proclaimed Pioneer status. Credited as a (co-)producer on all the songs on his project, it’s clear that he’s a quiet and confident artist who knows that he’s talented but goes about it with an air of humility.
Speaking via Zoom, it was easy to feel the warmth of his gentle nature and great to learn about his goals to spread positivity when sharing moments with his listeners on social media. As with anyone, it’s also clear that he’s been through some moments in his life which have helped shape his worldview like his adoration and respect for women, having been solely raised by them.
In our conversation, we speak about separating the person from the artist, the difficulties of releasing music as a new artist during the pandemic, and how Fyah Roiall is living and creating by his own rules.
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Okay, first of all, 2020 has been a bit of a madness, so how are you?
I am…. [pauses]…wow. I’m on the border of fine and insane. I don’t really trust Doctors and stuff especially when it’s to do with Psychology, so I don’t really go to them but people that know me (and are close to me) and have gone to Doctors, say that I display signs of Bi-Polar/Depression. So, through hearing that for years from different people for different reasons, eventually I looked at myself and started to see the difference between Fyah Roiall (the artist) and Brandon (the person).
In a lot of ways, Fyah Roiall as an entity, as an entertainer, as an artist, is a lot different from the person: Brandon. Fyah Roiall feels sabotaged right now and held back and starved and at a roadblock [due to the effects of the Pandemic]. Whereas, Brandon the introvert, the thinker, the solitude guy is kinda enjoying [this time] because this is normal. But there’s no feeding Fyah Roiall so that’s been kinda hard.
It’s interesting that you touch on you the artist vs. you the person. How have you found sharing that on social media?
It doesn’t matter. What you see on my timeline, that’s all Fyah Roiall but in my stories it’s a mixture of both. So you’d see my thoughts where I’m writing stuff or opinions/statements/quotes that just cross my mind, and that would be Brandon. But anything having to do with bars and music is all entertainment.
That’s how I choose to connect with my listeners. I don’t think it’s right to dehumanise artists; we’re people as well. I feel like being able to find a balance between sharing the human and sharing the entertainer is the best way to connect with people so that’s what I’ve been on.
I agree. And I feel like that gap between someone you admire as an artist is shrinking because of social media. You can easily just hit up your favourite artist, DM them and they can reply to you so there’s not really that separation as much anymore. So it’s good to include your listeners in a community they can feel a part of.
Yeah definitely, I keep my DMs open and my story responses open. I don’t usually go to the DM requests because that’s where Instagram automatically puts the weirdos. But everyone else for the most part, I see all the messages and I take time out of my day to respond to as much as possible.
On the subject of socials and DMs, what’s the loveliest message you’ve received thus far from a listener?
I recently made a highlight on Instagram called “Motivation” where I want to start sharing my story and the journey from scratch to now and beyond. [In it, there’s a] video of me at 17 spitting some bars; I recorded it myself on something called Cubase and shot the video using a webcam.
The whole point of the post was like “accept no excuses, always know what you’re on, stay being you and no one else and just move forward, no excuses no roadblocks accepted” and someone responded like “Yo, I felt this, this is what I needed to hear and this is what I needed to see, because there are a lot of people telling me not to do this and not to do that; so seeing this alone is like all the motivation I needed for the whole year” and I was like wow.
That’s lovely. If you’re at a low moment you can just look back on that and know to keep going. In your answer you also said something interesting, talking about “No Excuses”. I wanted to know how you feel about “Hustle Culture” and people continuing to work themselves to a point of burn out.
How do you stop yourself from getting to a point of burn out even though you have these goals of where you want to go. Can you find a balance between The Hustle and Life?
I don’t think there is a balance. You’ve just got to make the hustle your life or make your life the hustle. I think that’s the only way to find solace otherwise, you’re gonna feel like a mess and all over the place all the time. Imagine being in the middle and both sides are playing tug of war with your arms, eventually being pulled to one side is gonna hurt. You [have to] find a way to get everything on the same side.
Fyah Roiall and Brandon are a huge influence on my younger siblings; my little brother especially who’s 11. He really looks up to me so in that being true and me being aware of that I don’t feel any pressure to be Brandon at a certain point or Fyah Roiall at another, because to him, they’re the same person.
Image Credit: Emerald of Melbourne Minute Media
That was quite a deep start to the interview but I wanted to move things back to your music and releasing your album “Underrated” earlier this year, what has it been like releasing music during this time of Corona?
It’s been mad! The biggest thing I’ve realised (which may or may not be an issue), is everyone’s been at home, everyone is doing everything at the same time. I mean, there are moments where I want to go on IG Live but then there are 20 other artists on live so who do people choose to watch? So then it’s like, I’m gonna put some new music out and that’s dope but everyone’s putting music out, so who’s listening to music? It’s a good and a bad thing and I’m kind of annoyed at it because I don’t like feeling conflicted.
I feel like it’s been a really hard time for artists because the Live element of promoting music has been taken away.
Image Credit: Emerald of Melbourne Minute Media
Yeah and streaming performances are never going to be the same as being in front of that crowd and feeling that energy. A lot of people don’t know what it’s like to be on that stage and hear everyone’s voice coming at you at the same time; all those screams and the singing along and all of that. It’s not just hype; frequency and energy are all so important. I was in Australia right before all of this, I did a tour and I did 5 countries and Australia last year. That whole energy is just mind blowing; there’s no way to paint the picture for you so you can know what I felt.
Speaking of music, I’ve been listening to your album over the last few weeks, I’ve not heard anything like this before. So I wanted to know in terms of the sounds we hear on it, did it turn out the way you wanted as compared to when you first had the idea for the project?
Yeah it did, I made sure of it. I’m not a perfectionist per se but I know what I want and I don’t settle. I was raised by a bunch of women so settling was not in my vocabulary. I had the idea when I met Cashh, in 2015 and we were just there talking at length about the tour scene, shows and the vibes of the crowd and what people respond to on the streets vs at shows. I started drawing comparisons between the two and realised that “okay, some people like this, while others like that” etc etc. I just figured, why not try to make the best out of both worlds, that way everyone’s happy. And that’s when it hit me like okay, there are a bunch of Jamaicans that are Dancehall Purists and there are a bunch of us that love Hip Hop and Alternative music and anything different because it’s new. Then I thought, why not pioneer something, why not be fresh? Because all of the artists I listen to and grew up listening to, they all began something. They weren’t famous or known for doing well in what was already there; they got where they are by making something [different].
For example, Eminem was the only one rapping about what he was rapping about and it was weird but from that I was like it’s okay to put my personality into music. I don’t have to be thinking “this is what’s hot, let me make a song like that.” And then Cashh also showed me Skepta’s music and at that time Acehood Flow was out and I thought it was mad. So I got two of my producers in the studio and I was like “yo, mandem, let’s take the drums from Hip Hop, the snares/synths from Grime and the Bass from Dancehall, put them on a song, add some stuff and see what it sounds like”; and that’s how we made Wolves.
Your song “Soda” recently hit 100,000 on Youtube. Where were you when you first saw that?
I was at home when it happened but before I get there… about 2 weeks prior, the rapper: Jakal said “Yo, I don’t look at my Youtube numbers, I don’t know the views.” And I was like yo that’s deep, how do you not care about your Youtube Views? I thought I’d try that and turned off the Youtube notifications on my phone and turned on Twitter so it would distract me. I wasn’t on Youtube for like 2 weeks, so I got home the night before and I checked it. And I was like this is crazy — I lost it. Someone sent me a screenshot of it at 90,000 views and I posted it maybe 2-3 days [prior].
How does it feel knowing that your music is resonating with people on that scale?
I don’t know how to explain it but for the most part, it feels like closure because Soda is the best example of what Grimehall is; the best example of what my sound is and what I’m trying to make. It feels good that it’s working because everyone was like, yo fam: do some melodies, do some dancehall-ish stuff and I was like meh, ya get me? I did try to entertain the thought by releasing Nobody as the first track from the album and it did some numbers so I was like okay cool. But then, I went with Soda and we’ve also seen what happens.
On a related note, how do you stop yourself getting caught up in the numbers game?
I mean, I don’t think I cared in the first place. But it’s always been nice to see it grow because you want to see your babies grow, right? But I’ve never prioritised it. And I’ve always known that comparison kills joy. I look at women and I love women so much; I was raised by four of them. In observing women, I realised that they could have the most beautiful eyes and be convinced that some other girl has better ones than them. And I’m standing here like: what are you seeing?? Do you not see what I see right now? [So bringing it back,] that mentality, I think it borders on modesty and humility and that’s what I take from that. I try to stay that way so these things don’t affect me the way they affect other people.
What’s your favourite part about making music?
Image Credit: Emerald of Melbourne Minute Media
I think watching it come alive is my favourite part. From having an idea to being able to hear it through speakers exactly the way it was in your head. That’s an unexplainable feeling.
In general, what is the dream for Fyah Roiall?
I just want to be able to be in my late 30s/40s and turn my tv on and see a category for my genre for awards and stuff like that. Like the way T.I. invented trap and that’s the thing now. Or how Grime was created. The dream is just to be an actual Pioneer like yo, I left my mark; so if I die tomorrow, I’m still here.
Are you an artist who can listen to your own music?
Yeah I can; I’m able to listen to myself from the standpoint of a listener. I can hear my own sound like it’s someone else’s sound and listen to it from that perspective. So when I listen to my songs, I’m more judging it as: “does this guy impress me?”.
I feel like you artists are quite critical of yourselves though.
Yo, the most critical! I’ll be in the studio and a song slips and someone will hear it like yo, play that again. And I’m like this is trash dawg. Also, I wasn’t going to put Wolves on the project.
No way. What pushed you to put it on in the end?
Just being able to step out of myself because I’m not putting music out for just me, I’m putting it out for other people [to enjoy]. And at the time I was outnumbered; I was looking at 20 people who wanted me to put it on the album and I was the only one saying no.
Who are you itching to collab with? (Both newcomers and established artists).
Yo, I definitely want another feature with Cashh. Definitely Skepta, JME would be a dream. Greentea Peng too. I’m on a lot of UK music right now. Like I’m listening to Scarlxrd. Aitch is pretty dope. I made a joke the other day saying “I’m going to be the guy that takes on Chip, and wins.”
If you were to do a COLORS performance, what song would you choose and what colour would you have?
I’d do One Day and I’d go all black, have silver jewellery and have silver linings on the walls in the background.
Now onto my favourite question. And I like to ask this just to see how different people think. For you, what does success mean?
For me, it means ability and closure: are you happy with where you are? And that’s it: you’re successful if you’re happy.
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