Words by Hannah Shaw
This week, we highlight the soul-infused sounds of Trinidad-born artist BERWYN.
If anyone deserves recognition for his soul-infused hip-hop and those downbeat R&B tones, it’s BERWYN. His music does more than create the perfect late-night driving playlist, it tells real stories about his struggles growing up in a society that wanted him to fail.
Trinidad-born and London-based, BERWYN’s childhood was rough. With his dad across the Atlantic and his mum in and out of prison, he turned to music as a form of therapy and escapism. It’s hard to believe that an artist with 2 million streams across 92 countries in 2020 was sleeping on a mattress just two years ago. It was at this point he realised he had to make a choice, and thank goodness he chose the path he did.
With guidance from his beloved music teacher, Di, BERWYN began his journey towards global success and a monthly following of almost 300,000 listeners on Spotify. His debut album, DEMOTAPE/VEGA, is an intimate response to a past of homelessness, rejection and anxiety which led to a well-deserved position in the spotlight – proving to himself, and the rest of the world, that ambition outweighs adversity.
His performance of “GLORY” on BBC’s Later with Jools Holland is as raw as it gets. Recorded in his kitchen with just himself and a piano, the rising rapper details his family struggles with the UK’s regressive immigration policies. Not only this, he chucked in an extra verse responding to the Black Lives Matter movement (which he wrote the night before).
Through his folk-inspired music, BERWYN considers himself a storyteller, expressing the racial and political discrimination he has been subjected to since living in the UK. Despite excelling in school, he was wrongly denied a place at university and he uses rap to give a voice to others suffering this adversity – “surely there are loads of kids out there right now with that problem and I think about them all the time”, he said. Although his career is still progressing, BERWYN is already using his position as an opportunity to address a lot of social and political concerns; something that other artists tend to step around.
After listening to the mellow beats of BERWYN’s heartfelt rap, there’s no denying that he deserves the fame. His album serves as a staple to any chill playlist, and if you don’t know, get to know. If all that’s not enough, one of his biggest dreams is to become the president of Trinidad – and by the looks of his growing success, the ball is definitely in his court.
Check out the other artists in our Discover Weekly series.