7. GZALiquid Swords
In 1999, I moved to Paris, which was a really crucial move in my life. I started to soak in so many types of music from the Paris music libraries. I think I’d been frustrated all my life by not having access to music before – this was before the internet was very accessible, of course, and the city of Paris has this incredible network of libraries, and most of them have incredible music selections. At the time, I had this day job two days a week, and it was close to a specific Paris music library, so I’d go there both days, and borrow as many records as possible. Maybe I borrowed ten CDs every week, and I would burn them onto my computer and I would listen to them, lying down on my bed in my tiny studio, listening to music both for my own pleasure and my own culture, but also in a more analytical way, to try and see if I could sample some stuff.
Around the same time, a friend of mine gave me some sampling software, ACID, which is the same software I still use to this day, and that was how I came across a lot of hip hop. Liquid Swords blew my mind! I started to listen to the Wu-Tang Clan too, and I’m also going to mention another song that I thought was really mind-blowing, by Roots Manuva, ‘Movements’, which is also from 1999, I think. That song is just really amazing in terms of production and atmosphere, and it was a big influence on my first album – I loved that the emphasis was on atmosphere, without it necessarily sounding very electronic. The idea of the hip hop producer was also influential to me because at that point it was clear that I wanted to work on my own. I could do it myself.
