Interviewed by Alexia Mihaila
Ray BLK is an RNB beam of unapologetic artistry, the self-proclaimed ‘prime-minister of enjoyment’ who had her start at BBC's Sound of 2017 and today has collaborated with artists like Gorillaz, will.i.am and Stormzy. She is known for advocating for women’s empowerment and the Black Lives Matter movement while building these values into her artistry: her name BLK stands for her core values Building, Living, Knowing.
I had a chat with Ray BLK prior to the release of her debut album Access Denied in September, discussing topics ranging from her songwriting and influences to her favourite literature and personal values.
How did you come up with your name? I heard it had the lights of approval from Janet Jackson!
Names are very important to my people, to Nigerian people and when I decided to be an artist, it was a big thing for me because me and my ambitious little self thought I don’t want my artist name to be my real name because I want to keep that separate.
I’m Rita, which is my real name, I am a sister, or a girlfriend or whatever, and then the artist. I wanted my name to mean something, my friends helped me brainstorm, and I took Ray from my last name cause my last name is Ekwere. Then the BLK: Building, Living, Knowing are things that are important to me and that I try to remind myself of. Especially in what I do, there is a lot of tendency for it to become work, work, work and you forget that your job is really cool and you have a lot of opportunities to do fun stuff.
What inspired you to use your voice for such important messages? Is this something that came naturally or did you do intentionally?
I think it’s something that came more naturally. I would say a lot of my personality comes from my mother. She is very outspoken and always stands up for what’s right, speaks her views, is fighting for and supports women and, so, I feel like I got this from her.
When I make my music, I just write about what I am experiencing, what is on my chest, so it’s something that happens naturally, I didn’t even realize I was doing it until people have started telling me that.
How exactly did your mum influence your life and music career?
I’m Nigerian and my culture is very serious about education. You have to go to school, to graduate and especially my tribe, which is the Igbo tribe, we really believe in going to university. Like you can be a millionaire but if you don’t have your education, it doesn’t mean anything. So, I didn’t think my mom would support me or my dreams of being a performing artist but she said to me: "If you’re going to finish university, I am going to support you fully". She taught me you can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it, if you work. When I look back at myself when I was younger, I feel like I was a really ambitious child where I genuinely believed "Why can’t I be Beyoncé? Of course, I can be Beyoncé!"
Ray BLK finished her degree in Literature and then started to focus on her musical career. She didn't think she would pursue a musical career until she won the BBC’s Sound of 2017.
Since education has been so important to you, what is one of your favorite books of all time and what are some other literary pieces you’d like to allude to in your future lyrics?
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, but I am an Igbo person so that speaks a lot to me and my culture. And, yes! So, my first ever mixtape was influenced by Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I called it Havisham because it was based on the character of Miss Havisham and I would like to include some more, whether that is literary characters or concept novels, in my music. I’ve thought about that since and it’s definitely something I would like to do, but I feel like after I graduated, because I studied English literature, I stopped reading because it wasn’t fun for me anymore. Reading used to be my pastime and it became work. So, I feel like if I start reading more again, I would probably start including it more.
If you could soundtrack any adaptation of a book, which would you choose?
When I was growing up, that’s when I really fell in love with reading, I started reading ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ by Daniel Handler and I used to love them so much, I used to picture their stories, and what was going on and where they were getting kidnaped. So just because that would be my childhood dream, I would love to make the music for that.
I know we are ahead of your soon to drop music album, Access Denied, and congratulations on putting out ‘Games’ the past month. Some of your lyrics from ‘Games’ shout female empowerment, so how did female empowerment fade into your music?
When I was writing that song, I wanted it to feel like when you’re arguing with a guy or you’ve had enough from a partner and you know that moment when you just start writing that essay where you are just going at them. That was the energy I came with when I was writing that song in: “You do things I don’t like, Let’s talk about you and I”. It’s just that verbal diarrhea where you just let everything out and I think that is really important sometimes. I don’t know about you guys but people made me feel crazy for doing stuff like that, “Oh it’s like a crazy girl thing to say”, but I wanna’ be heard and I wanna’ feel free enough to express myself: ‘I’m angry right now, you’re pissing me off, you’re not treating me right, I really think it’s funny how you don’t message me back while you’re posting on your story, are you dumb or are you dumb?’ So I just wanted to put that in a song.
Ray BLK has worked with renowned artists and producers since the beginning of her career, while often being compared to some of her idols.
You have been compared to Lauryn Hill before! Do you think that such comparisons between you and other people in the industry drive you or hamper you in your creative process?
A bit of both. As a new artist, being compared to someone like Lauryn Hill, which kept on happening, you’re like ‘OMG, you guys really ate me’. That’s somebody you look up to, aspire to be like so it’s definitely flattering and can really boost your self-esteem and you feel like you’re doing something right. But I think it can also be really damaging. Not because of the pressure, really, but because I think sometimes it can make you start to emulate that artist.
When you realize “Oh, that’s who people think I’m like, that’s the pocket I should sit in then. I need to get on the acoustic guitar and get some dreads or whatever and start behaving like that artist”. It can box an artist and make them feel like you can only do one thing or you have to follow a certain artist’s trajectory or sound. I struggled with that a bit; although I am a huge fan of Lauryn Hill, that isn’t necessarily the person I was trying to use as my blueprint.
I know you have previously worked with Kelly Rowland so I was wondering if you were to form a Destiny’s Child-type, R&B girl band who would you recruit and what would you name it?
I would put Kehlani and Meghan Thee Stallion. Maybe call it Empress.
If you could have a dinner party with any three celebrities, dead or alive, who would you pick?
There’s this thing about dinner with Jay-Z; apparently you have dinner with Jay-Z you’re gonna’ become someone, so Jay-Z. Maybe Bob Marley and Elon Musk. “Elon Musk, we need to chat. I need to know what’s happening in the future!”
You talked about how you learned to produce during the pandemic and you have previously collaborated with so many cool artists like Stormzy. Who was the most fun to work with and who would you like to collaborate with in the future?
will.i.am was a really fun person to be in the studio with. I co-wrote a song on the last Black Eyed Peas album that they released and that was really fun because he is just so cool and so comfortable with himself and extremely talented.
He told me to come by the studio and I was like ‘Where has he even heard of me?” and he said that one of his contestants on the Voice desperately wanted to sing ‘My Hood’ and they wouldn’t let her because they had to pick a song and this is how he found me. When we got to the studio he just tapped on the keys and started freestyling, but his freestyle was like a full song and I’ve never seen anything like that before. In the future I’d absolutely love to collaborate with Nicki Minaj. I’m a Barb!
Ray also discussed her advice for young artists and fans.
Taking into account everything that’s happening in the world right now and your acronym Building, Living, Knowing, how do you think society can move on taking into consideration your three core values?
So, the pandemic is what’s stuck in my head right now, but it’s been such a hard time for people mentally to keep focused on what feels like another civil war. It’s important for people to just focus and work hard for whatever they want for their future. I would definitely motivate people to stay focused and keep working hard on your goals.
Do you have any advice for student artists, in particular female student artists, coming through onto the music scene right now?
Don't be afraid to work and collaborate with other women! Because, I don’t know what it is like as a student artist, but in the music industry there is a lot of comparison and competition between women. The competition is understandable because it's a competitive industry, but I feel like the men do not compete in the same way because they realize that there is power in two heads together.
If you have a big platform and I have a big platform, joined together we can make something even bigger and I think a lot of women shy away from that because they feel like the other person may outshine them or you know they’re scared to celebrate and collaborate with another woman because they think “oh she’s gonna’ steal my sound” or “oh, she might do better”.
I wanna’ see women collaborate more because I feel like when we do work together we make something amazing and we can not only learn from each other but support each other as we have a shared experience of being women in the music industry when there are so few of us.
In the future, are we going to see some Ray BLK businesses?
100%, yeah! Funny, I never thought I’d find business interesting when I was younger, but as I’ve grown, I wanted to have my project that isn’t so artistic, reactive, but not just focused on music. So, there’s definitely going to be some Ray BLK businesses!
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