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Interview with Rob Wilks / Tenant:

Belle: How do you make music as an independent artist?

Tenant: I’ve been making music since 2016 on audacity just recording my own vocals to YouTube beats so as an independent artist I always believe you should learn to produce or at least engineer music yourself then you don’t have to rely on many other people. I have lots of friends which make beats but I enjoy making my own beats. So, when it comes to beats, that’s how I would do it, when it comes to finishing the song, I’ve got a nice little set up in my room with a mic and I am just able to do it all myself and get a good sound out of it. However, this doesn’t mean it is easy, it took a lot of practice, like I said I have been doing this since 2016.

Belle: So if you learnt how to make music in 2016, what / who taught you?

Tenant: um, when I was about nine, I started rapping with my friend joe, that was the start of me trying to start raps. I also had a close family friend of mine who owned a studio, his name was Laurence, he owned SAFO music group. He used to take me down there when I was younger, we recorded some songs, I started recording some songs myself on audacity but years later I went to uni for it and um learnt more there and worked with loads of people and had loads of experiences and just loads of different things have inspired my music and lead to learning.

Belle: So what would your advice be to newcomers?

Tenant: um my advice to newcomers would be don’t give up! You won’t see a lot of progress but the people that don’t make it are the people who give up! Learn to engineer yourself and ideally produce yourself so that you don’t have to rely on others and I will stand by the idea that you don’t always need a big studio to make music sound good and make sure you’re doing what you enjoy and be yourself! People can always tell when you are being fraudulent and it doesn’t last, you can’t make a career out of being someone else. Most importantly just have fun!

Belle: Why did you choose to be independent?

Tenant: I chose to be independent because when I was younger, I liked music but I want overly into music the same way I am now. I never had Spotify or any of the other big streaming platforms. I always had to bootleg the music or use other things like SoundCloud and other apps. There was this one app called dat piff and on YouTube one day I got into chance the rapper, I started listening to all of his songs and I found out that all of his music was released for free on dat piff and then looking back on it I want everyone to have access to my music like that. I also want to have control of my music, that is the main reason I’m independent, I would always be open to taking deals but I think the main aspect of me is having control of my music.

Belle: Who are your biggest influences and why do they inspire you?

Tenant: My biggest influences are of course my mum. Of course, my dad who used to play all kinds of music when I was younger. Laurence the family friend who has the studio, he helped me get into music. All of the people I made music with growing up, um all the people along the way. When it comes to artists, Chance the rapper, because his music was out for free when I didn’t have Spotify or any money as a kid I could still listen to his music successfully, I always admired this about him. Kanye West just because he is my favourite artist of all time, his discography has always been incredible to me. Kendrick Lamar, lyrically, incredibly he is also one of my favourite artists.

Belle: Seeing the success of other artists, does this inspire you to go further?

Tenant: Of course! Yeah, I would love to go further, I am still doing it I would love to get there, seeing people like Chance the rapper and seeing how successful he is it really inspires people like me. I think on the lower levels a lot of UK rap artists are incredibly popular right now and they’re all independent so that inspires me massively too.

Belle: Finally, Tenant, do you see yourself still making music in the future for a career or just for fun?

Tenant: Um both! I make music for fun and that’s why I want to do it in the future, it’s not the only thing I want to do in the future but it is definitely a main focus. It has helped me through lots of tough times and I want not only to help people through tough times with my music I want to do something I love that’s my life. I don’t want to not be happy, I want to make sure what I am doing in my life and what I commit my life to makes me happy as well as other people.

Another interview with tenant - more specific questions related to our decisions 06/04/2022

Belle: Hi again, okay so I have a couple more questions if you are able to answer them, they're split into sections so feel free to respond per question or per section. It is to help us understand a bit more about the artist and their creative process.