BIG NATE is back after a busy lockdown period with his most versatile tape yet titled 'EXPOSURE' with production from underground pioneers IVAN, Sustrapperazzi and GYPTXVN.
Exposure came as surprise announcement through Nate's social media accounts (check out his super active Twitter and Instagram) just over 3 weeks ago. After dropping the lead single 'Chaos' with its wavy visuals and aggressive delivery a month earlier, Nate teased us with a very contrary 'spoken word' type snippet to throw us off the scent of a new project. Following the announcement, we were blessed with 10 mostly high paced tracks bursting with incisive punchlines and solid production throughout.
A seasoned and integral member of the underground collective '237Mob' alongside his right-hand man Kish!, Nate stays uncompromising when it comes to finding the balance between his sonics and lyrics. Although the tape sticks true to Nate's typically belligerent sound and drill roots, we're offered something much more thoughtful here. That's what sets this particular tape apart from his previous bodies of work; you really feel as though you get to know Nate on a personal level throughout the project. He delves much deeper into his individual demons and the things he's striving to achieve in life.
The opening 3 tracks (Chaos, Woke feat. Wisdom and Patterned) that follow the spaced out 'Intro' are clearly drill inspired, with heavy-hitting bass and high hats coupled with Nate's harsh and demanding flows. It's an impactful way to open an album that has you on the edge of your seat waiting for more with your screwface fully intact. From here, the album feels as though it takes a more mellow turn, the remaining tracks have a very unique beat selection and wander into a more reflective realm as Nate's thoughts and lyrics dive more introspectively.
Subsequent to the album release, Big Nate dropped simple yet effective visuals (dir. by @ChendGolden, edited by @jamespolleyphotography_) laced with animation and video effects; all from the comfort of his own home. Nate also mentioned some video plans in the works for the track 'Wave' so fingers crossed that happens soon!
UK Underground Rap caught up with Nate to have him break down every song from 'Exposure' and provide you with an exclusive look at the thought processes that went into it. Hear Nate's take below...
Big Nate: Exposure:
I named the project Exposure because it’s a very honest project that exposes my vulnerabilities to the listener. It has a double meaning also as I am trying to gain more exposure within music and push my sound to a wider audience. I’m not one to care about numbers per se, but I do want to deliver a package that is digestible, stands out and does what it says on the tin.
Intro
I chose to make the intro to the tape spoken word because I think it’s more personal to the listener. It really makes it feel like an introduction where I explain the purpose of the tape, explain my thought process and it really does ease the listener in for the journey. 237 producer IVAN made this beat, we tend to work well on music that is heartfelt and we really understand each other when it comes to that.
Chaos
This was the first single I released off of my project. It is a GYPTXVN produced beat and is an unconventional drill type beat that has HEAVY bass. When writing this song I wanted to literally cause chaos within the scene. Everybody seems to be making drill but I’ve been doing this from as early as 2015/16 hence the line “and I’ve done been making drill way before them dance moves made it cool” referencing the spike in popularity especially in the US. I also dropped a music video which included smoke bombs and being carefree whilst causing the chaos I am rapping about.
“Let’s sword fight in this one” - Wisdom
Woke
When I first got the beat for this from YoungSnakeBeats I didn’t know what I was going to do on it. I listened to it on loop for ages and nothing came to me. One day fellow 237 member Wisdom came to my house and we wanted to write a song together and I showed him the beat. In his words “let’s sword fight in this one” as he referred to our ongoing competitive streak within music (LOL). We ended up making a banger and the biggest quotable is from the hook “they slept on gang so long but now wanna talk bout woke” meaning people will sleep on us only for so long before they want to start acting like they were the first to discover us.
Patterned
This is probably one of my favourite songs I’ve ever made. SusTrapperazzi is one of the best producers I’ve ever met and that’s no exaggeration. He produced the beat for Kish’s ‘Captain Nemo’ which is doing very well at the moment. We had been talking about working together for a while and he sent me this beat. I was mind blown by the drill beat he sent and the disgusting 808 slides that make it so lively! As soon as he sent me the beat I wrote to it in the next couple of days and recorded it at the same time. When I sent him a draft of it he was as gassed as I was because we knew a banger was made! Bars, flows and the beat all working hand in hand! Big up sus ten times! I also have a video for this out now which was shot by my partner at home during the lockdown and was edited by James Polley who shot and edited the video for chaos out now on my own channel.
Wave
This one is another GYPTXVN produced song. Myself and Gyptxvn have a very good working relationship and personal friendship. Our work ethics are very similar. This one is different from the type of songs I’ve jumped on before but nevertheless a banger was made. With the catchy hook of “we make the sh*t that they crave, now 237’s the craze” and the hard-hitting beat accompanied with my aggressive believable tones, it makes this one a real wave!
Let It Go
Manny Dubbs x GYPTXVN were the geniuses behind the beat for this song. This is very different from any kind of beat I have used, but I never shy away from a challenge as I feel I am a very versatile artist. This one is a very airy but feel-good song. With the hook having a catchy quotable again with “put that hate in Rizzla roll it up and let it go” I rap about people who focus on hating, not being happy for their peers and not supporting and elevating themselves.
Dear Diary
This song was produced by producer, engineer and artist Ramon who is the other half of “your loss” with artist ‘privacy died’. He sent me this beat during lockdown and life seemed very bleak for me at these times. I had just learnt my grandma had passed away from COVID19 after a long stint in intensive care on a ventilator. She lived with my aunt who also was in intensive care on a ventilator but she pulled through and made a good recovery all thanks to god. I then myself contracted the virus and life just felt like it wasn’t worth living, I was so low. One day I decided to put my pain into music and write about my quarantine experience in diary form, hence the title. This is a very honest and open song and I don’t hold back any thought or feeling I had. RIP my grandma I will love you forever and always.
Reflexions 2
This song was produced by truly bookey who is a producer/rapper who reached out to me during lockdown also and sent me the beat. I found the motivation to be very hard during lockdown but somehow came out the other end with a 10 track mixtape lol. I have a song called Reflexions already with kish and when hearing this beat I could only think of how I’m reflecting again hence the sequel. I drafted in heavy B to rap on this one as he has a very good way of expressing himself on a beat and I thought it would be perfect with the realness I was going to come with also.
Break me down
IVAN produced this one and as usual, it is another raw and honest song which myself and IVAN tend to make together. It starts off with lines such as “got my thoughts all over the place like I’ve just been burgled” and “like 800m my life’s been going in circles”. This is the mindset I’ve been in since a lot had been going wrong for me and I was suffering from continuous bouts of depression. I used this song to try and bring some motivation to myself and to tell myself that nothing can break me down. The beat is very emotional/thought-provoking and with the lyrics accompanied it makes it the perfect combination.
Vent freestyle
ANOTHER IVAN produced song lol! This one was supposed to be a spoken word outro and it was simply that as I first started writing it. I then ended up rapping on it as the boom-bap type element in this beat made me feel I needed to rap. It was like a summary of the project, what I was trying to do and again just showing that I’m versatile and can get my point across on all types of beats. As I said before, IVAN knows me very well musically and knows what will fit my thought processes.
I really hope this project does what I intended it to do. It is a raw but hard-hitting mixture of song types that ask the listener to walk into my world a bit more and get to know what’s going on in my head. The beat selection I tried to go for works really well in my opinion as it opens the project in a typical type of way with songs to bob your head to before getting into the more deeper emotive music. Thank you all for listening and streaming! Peace and love ❤️
Exposure is a hard-hitting project with huge replay value. It's evident the craftsmanship and thought that went into every track, Big Nate's strongest work yet without a doubt. Nate is like the big brother to the scene, sharing love wherever he can, no matter what so make sure you run the tape up and shout him on the socials too!
We can't wait to hear what's next from Big Nate and his budding music career here at UKUR but just know we'll be covering all those future drops. KEEP STREAMING EXPOSURE and check out the links to the mentioned music videos below!
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Be sure to follow Big Nate on Instagram!
CHAOS music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLo_HGMrbms
PATTERNED music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4i914t-YsM
Words by: Jack Slade @jsld_____ / @sladeisdead
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