Bard Picasso Records - 10 Questions
Bard Picasso is an ever growing record label and rag tag collective of Hip Hop artists based in Cardiff the capital of Wales.
Created in 2020 By Jay Rede, Formal Brown and Wolfgang Von Vanderghast as a platform for releases. It quickly became the home for a bunch of extremely talented wordsmiths, DJ's and producers across Wales and England.
With a huge wealth of knowledge and history within Hip Hop and a collaboration list most artists would give a left ear for, Bard Picasso have grown rapidly in 17 months, gaining attention from all corners of the UK and further afield, recently travelling to Blade's studio to showcase some verses.
Bard Picasso boast collaborations with the UK's finest, alongside established and up and coming worldwide artists, including Jurassic 5's Akil The MC, Awon, Copyright, Pitch 92, Genesis Elijah, Farma G, The Scribes and many more!
With over 80 projects released to date, Bard show zero signs of slowing down anytime soon!
Follow them on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter: @bardpicasso
Bard Picasso’s three head honchos sat down with Wordplay Magazine to answer our infamous 10 Questions:
1. So tell me, how did it all begin? What sparked your love for music?
Jay Rede: Music in general, my old man was a musician and front man for a band back in the 60's called "Bitter Sweet" his influence had me obsessed with music from an early age to the point I would replay Chuck Berry "Johnny B. Goode" over and over again, my music taste is ridiculously diverse thanks to my dad, I can be listening to Wu Tang one minute then ten minutes later be belting out some Sam Cooke or Buddy Holly. I got into hiphop from an early age also. My cousin Chris who is like a brother to me would play Reasonable Doubt to the point I could recite the album at 8 years old. I started buying my own albums out of my pocket money, and the first album I bought was The Score by Fugees.
Wolfgang Von Vanderghast: I grew up in a house that always had lots of music playing so had a love for it before I found hip hop. When I was like 8 or 9 my uncle DJ Stone used to take me to meet up with his friends Dreggz and Kaptin who would later go on to run higher learning. They introduced me to hip hop and that was it I was hooked and it’s been my life everyday since.
Formal Brown: Growing up I had a really wide range of genres playing in the house. My dad is a huge stylistics fan. My mother, classical and soul and then my sister was more of a heavy metal fan so generally there was all sorts plugging my ears. I started listening to some bits that my sister was into but it was a little heavy hitting for an 8 year old. I think the first ever album I owned was Linkin Park - hybrid theory, and I played it to death! It was only until I was on a school trip and I had picked up a cd at one of the service stations we stopped at. Maybe around 12 or 13 years old. The cover art just reached out to me and it turned out to be 2pac and Outlawz - Still I Rise. I'd heard bits of hiphop before this point but this was where I fell in love with hiphop for sure.
2. Who are some artists that influence you and that you want to work with in the future?
Jay Rede: I'm influenced by many UK hiphop artists and have built friendships up with the likes of Pitch 92, Billy Whizz, Joe Blow, Blade and many more. We've worked with Genesis Elijah, Akil The MC from Jurassic 5, Awon from No Sleep, and have many more collabs in the works, but I'd absolutely love to work with Res One, Verb T and Dirty Dike in future.
Wolfgang Von Vanderghast: That’s a huge list on both counts pretty much every bit of music I listen to I can find some inspiration in. I take influence from everywhere and we absolutely love collaborating with other artists. The Def Jux era were hugely inspiring especially Aesop Rock, Copywrite and Tame One as were task force and Jehst I’m a huge fan of technical lyricism. Currently I want to work with Jam Baxter in my opinion he’s one of the finest writers the uk has ever seen. And Aesop Rock would be the ultimate goal.
Formal Brown: My biggest influence sadly isn't with us anymore (Mac Miller) so working with him, if anyone could make that happen id be amazed for real! Maybe a posthumous verse! We have a few colab tracks coming up with people I'd never think were possible a year ago and some we have already worked with which still astonishes me even thinking of but I'd absolutely love to work with Joell Ortiz one day. He's my hero. Jehst, Verb T, Taskforce, Lunar C would be absolutely dope too!
3. What projects do you have coming up and can you give us any info on them?
Jay Rede: As a label, I feel our work rate is unmatched. Our artists are all hungry and ridiculously hard working, but don't sacrifice quantity for quality, the work put in is of incredibly high standard. We have a few albums in the work currently as a whole. We already have albums lined up! What I can say though is there is an EP coming this year that is produced fully by Pitch 92 of High Focus Records, and features on albums as a whole have people like Micall Parknsun, Copyright, Verbz (from HF) and many more!
Wolfgang Von Vanderghast: I’m personally just putting the finishing touches to my album “bangers for breakfast” it’s fully produced by Mr Substance from Bard and features Dr Syntax, Micall Parknsun, Greg Blackman, Emmy Willow, Blue City CDF and Risk1. As for releases on the label it’s hard to say we put out such an immense amount of music it’s hard to keep up best way is to follow us on socials. We generally put out a release a week and have put out somewhere in the region of 80 releases since we started the label.
Formal Brown: Honestly there is a lot coming! With 25+ artists on the roster it gets difficult fitting in releases to the release schedule to say the least. As individual artists we are working on our solo projects but we are planning a joint Bard Picasso link up album. As well as an EP recently formed by Bard which consists of 7 individual artists on the label, joined together under the name "Eventual Ghosts" and its brilliant! But everyone is putting that work in and doing great things so I urge you to check Everybody's music!
4. How would you describe your sound?
Jay Rede: Mainly Boombap.. Many artists are quintessentially British sounding, but we do have a couple of artists that air on the side of commercial sounding music. It’s what makes us diverse as a label, we have artists that can spit boombap on one track and drum and bass on the next. We have vocalists who can jump on anything from RnB to pop. Its a great bunch of artists here!
Wolfgang Von Vanderghast: Most of what we do is quintessential Boom Bap but there is the odd release more on the indie side. We have some interesting albums due to come out that are a bit more outside of the box.
Formal Brown: I'd say we are mainly boombap. We are so diverse as a collective though so there's a full range of soul, raw underground hiphop and mainstream too. We have recently signed a great Jungle and Drum and Bass MC, "Missy G" who is exploring different genres, so I'm really excited to see what sound she comes with next.
5. What's your proudest moment to date so far as an artist?
Jay Rede: Personally, creating a thriving label full of beasts has been a highlight of my music journey. I took a 5 year hiatus when I had kids, and had zero plans to do music again, but lockdown hit and we got creative again and now I have zero plans of quitting, im just enjoying ever second of this. As an artist and one half of Blue City CDF, we gained a management deal the tail end of 2021 with Aaron Casserly Steward, ex singer for triple grammy award winning group The Sounds of Blackness and owner of Paradise Hills Production. As Blue City CDF, we were nominated for Larynx Entertainment artists of the year in Wales for 2021 (shout out Larynx Entertainment!) Im proud of everything we do. These are just stand outs.
Wolfgang Von Vanderghast: There have been so many over the years it’s hard to say I’m super proud of all that we did as SFDB records back in the day. And personally as an artists I’ve had so many amazing moments so I guess I will just go with the latest. We supported Jam Baxter at his Cardiff gig recently with Sammy B Side. And I couldn’t have been more proud of our label being in that position and absolutely smashing it that night. I’m always immensely proud of what we are achieving together as a label and every single artist we represent.
Formal Brown: Honestly it's always a surprise for us and big moments are happening daily. From new signings to festival and performance slots, there is always something new happening. One stand out moment I will mention though is when UK legend DJ Jaffa called us the Def Jam of Cardiff! That was awesome to hear. Jaffa is also now a part of our ever growing Bard Picasso.
6. Do you have any advice for our readers who may be trying to play the mad game of music?
Jay Rede: Network.. Simple as that. If you want to hit up your favourite artist for a collab, just do it. The worst thing they can say is "no". Don't be afraid to speak to people.
Wolfgang Von Vanderghast: Just be authentic and don’t follow the crowd, remember everything takes time to master so keep at it and make sure to be honest with yourself. Learn how to take criticism and be objective with your own work.
Formal Brown: Yes, don't haha! Nah, just be yourself and make music you want to make, not what others are making because it's relevant. Get yourself a Wolfgang Von Vanderghast and you will be on your way.
7. Are there any artists on your radar right now that we should check out?
Jay Rede: Yeah, check out everyone on Bard! On a real though, I've been bumping the hell out of Deca lately, you can hear how much he is influenced by Aesop Rock and its super dope. His album "The Ocean" is up there for me and one that's in heavy rotation. Ive also been listening to a lot of Flame Griller lately, trio from Yorkshire, but recently found out they are pretty dormant which is shit, as they are ridiculously dope and should definitely get some more music out there! All Welsh artists. All the ladies of Hip Hop, we are fortunate in Wales to have a collective known as "Ladies of Rage" killing it down here. The crew in North West England, Northentic Records ran by Seek The Northener & Karlow, who are absolutely murderous on the mic! We see them as a kind of sister label to Bard! Also, check out Da Regiment, Bristol based trio signed to OR under Wishmaster & Billy Whizz, ridiculously sick rappers who are putting in work right now.
Wolfgang Von Vanderghast: If you haven’t already then obviously check everyone on Bard Picasso. Also all the Ladies Of Rage Cardiff who we do a lot of stuff with. Also from the Welsh side check Applied Science, Zhubat, Spaced Apes, Dirty Alex, Ral Duke, Joe Blow and Mace The Great, Minas and Luke Rv who are doing loads at the moment. Special shout to Wishmaster, Billy Whizz and caravan collective from Bristol too.
Formal Brown: Absolutely dig into Welsh MC's. Such an interesting sound yet so over looked. Luckily for us most of them are signed to the label but the few that aren't - Pun Ra, Dj Alkemy, Junior Disprol and Fleapit, T-Rev, Brave Mugraw and Squid Ninjas, The Winger lads. There's loads more and I'm sorry if I've missed them out. Also go and check out the boys at Northentic Records, they are all dope as hell and real close to us down here.
8. What albums are on heavy rotation on your Spotify playlist currently?
Jay Rede: Res One: Drugs, Booze & Dental Issues.. Awon & Phoniks: Nothing Less.. Pitch 92: Intervals.. Deca: The Ocean.. Loads more.. Since the Kanye documentary on Netflix, I’ve revisited The College Dropout which gave me all kinds of vibes of nostalgia! Also, not an album, but The Fly Fidelity Podcast are doing incredible interviews as always! Big shout out to Luke Bailey and our Dale Lewis!
Wolfgang Von Vanderghast: Jam Baxter- Fetch The Poison, Little Simz - Sometimes I May Be Introvert, Man Like Vision - Boy From The South, Aesop Rock & Blockhead - Garbology, Strange U - #lp4080 Eyedea - The many faces of Oliver hart, Defenders of Style - Def Sentence, Lee Scott & Sly Moon - FDMB, that’s my current week.
Formal Brown: Right now I am listening to The Disconnect by Diabolic A LOT. Loads of Mac Miller albums as always. I've also been playing a lot of Children of Zeus lately too but these aren't recent albums. Book of Changes by Noveliss is a winner for me too. I think that came out around October/November.
9. What do you like to do when you're not making music?
Jay Rede: Spending time with my family and children! Also, I'm a massive Cardiff City FC fan, i had a season ticket since I was 15, but with music the way it is right now I haven’t been able to get to a game this season.
Wolfgang Von Vanderghast: As well as making music I am the executive producer of The Fly Fidelity Podcast that I make with my man Luke Bailey we have a great show and have had such guests as DJ Yella, Evidence, Bigg Jus, Lee Scott, Jam Baxter, Sa-Roc, Slug, Mickey Factz all within the last few weeks.
Other than that If I’m not making music I’m networking and sorting out opportunities for people on the label. I’m also a full time Dad so my time can be limited we just make the best of what we can do to help whoever we can. In my downtime after that maybe some anime or d&d as I’m a massive nerd!!
Formal Brown: When I'm not making music I like to think about when I can finish work to make music! Other than that I love spending time with my son and my other half. I'm quite partial to a round of golf too but I've been a little too busy for it this year.
10. Name Three things you can't live without when in the studio?
Jay Rede: Number 1. Jamie Winchester!! Our sound engineer who has become a great friend. He’s incredible, he's Lady Leshurr and Trumendous' manager also and the dude just breaths music. He's helped us to no end since we've been working with him. Number 2. Water.. Gotta keep them chords hydrated! Number 3. myself and Formal have this thing where we buy ready cut watermelon from the petrol station before our studio sessions, I go along with it because its banging, but Formal reckons it keeps his mouth from drying up.. Use water mate!
Wolfgang Von Vanderghast: My Theory Board I have been having loads of fun with that lately. My MPC and lot’s and lot’s and lots of Breaks.
Formal Brown: Watermelon, My phone and good company. But mostly the watermelon.
Bard Picasso Roster:
Blue City CDF
Wolfgang Von Vanderghast
K-Saulz
Mr. Substance
DW Smith
Mr Phormula
Rollo
Dick Dastardly
Brighty
Jake The Ripper
Cam Solo
Billy Phono
O Davies
Organised Chaos
Mike Allin
Sample Wilson
In10sive
Unity
Risk1
DJ Jaffa
DJ Nicky Blunt
Manlikevision
Charlie J
Anthom
CrazeTheJack
Raph Stormwalker
Oort Kuiper
Missy G
The Honest Poet
Joe Blow (Affiliate)