We caught up with UEC, spoke to him about why he’s doing what he’s doing and got an insight for his plans for the New Year! Check out the full interview below:
What inspired you to be the man you are today?
‘I think most of my inspiration comes from not wanting to be stuck forever doing something I'm not meant to do. My drive as far as making music goes is certainly based almost completely on the fact that I've already wasted way too much time doing shit that I feel has no place in my life. I come from a pretty traditional Asian upbringing; my parents were the type who wanted me to speak four languages and play four instruments before I turned four. Obviously now I thank them to hell and back for it; my day job requires my use of French almost exclusively (and pays me accordingly) and, well, the music part should really speak for itself. I'm in a privileged position right now where I can produce and make instrumentals for myself thanks to the extensive music (theory) training my parents put me through, which means every song that I release will be completely original. Its a great feeling having the know-how to be able to create a whole song from start to finish.
That being said, though, with all these great things they gave me came great expectations. I finished high school at a very academically rigorous institution (complete with a bilingual Ontario diploma as well as a certificate for the International Baccalaureate program), then went on to get an Honours degree from the University of Toronto in French and Political Science - areas of study that had nothing to do with my interest in music (some of it was not wanting to put all my eggs into one basket, but it was due mostly to parental pressure). Now I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go - I work 9 to 5 as a bilingual correspondence agent at a life insurance company and spend the other 16 hours of the day on the studio. The job itself isn't bad, per se; I know a lot of people who graduated much earlier than I did and are having trouble finding work, so I don't mean to sound ungrateful or spoiled. They pay me well - I'm using every penny of my salary to invest in my music career at the moment. But no matter the pay (hell, they could offer to make me CEO of the company tomorrow and I'd turn it down), this just isn't my calling. I know it, you know it. And when everyone else knows it, they just might start relating to the shit I'm saying (and living), and maybe I'll one day actually be able to answer what I feel is my calling as a musicians and make a career out of using my music to inspire people to get up off their asses and turn their dreams into a reality.
You only live once, and I know I can't be the only one wasting time doing something I'm not meant to do. Life is hard enough as it is - might as well try your hand at something you actually like doing to make it worthwhile, right? I'm not saying it'll be easy to accomplish (nothing worthwhile comes easy), but the point of my music is to encourage those going through the same thing to just go get it at all costs, and I like to think I'm leading by example. It's not that far-fetched if you plan it out properly’.
Who do you admire/ Look up to in the music industry right now?
That being said, though, with all these great things they gave me came great expectations. I finished high school at a very academically rigorous institution (complete with a bilingual Ontario diploma as well as a certificate for the International Baccalaureate program), then went on to get an Honours degree from the University of Toronto in French and Political Science - areas of study that had nothing to do with my interest in music (some of it was not wanting to put all my eggs into one basket, but it was due mostly to parental pressure). Now I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go - I work 9 to 5 as a bilingual correspondence agent at a life insurance company and spend the other 16 hours of the day on the studio. The job itself isn't bad, per se; I know a lot of people who graduated much earlier than I did and are having trouble finding work, so I don't mean to sound ungrateful or spoiled. They pay me well - I'm using every penny of my salary to invest in my music career at the moment. But no matter the pay (hell, they could offer to make me CEO of the company tomorrow and I'd turn it down), this just isn't my calling. I know it, you know it. And when everyone else knows it, they just might start relating to the shit I'm saying (and living), and maybe I'll one day actually be able to answer what I feel is my calling as a musicians and make a career out of using my music to inspire people to get up off their asses and turn their dreams into a reality.
You only live once, and I know I can't be the only one wasting time doing something I'm not meant to do. Life is hard enough as it is - might as well try your hand at something you actually like doing to make it worthwhile, right? I'm not saying it'll be easy to accomplish (nothing worthwhile comes easy), but the point of my music is to encourage those going through the same thing to just go get it at all costs, and I like to think I'm leading by example. It's not that far-fetched if you plan it out properly’.
Who do you admire/ Look up to in the music industry right now?
‘As a rapper/emcee, I would say the two most influential artists in the game to me are Jay-Z and Eminem. I really shouldn't have to explain why, but in case everyone at the London Beast lives under a rock, I'm a break it down: Eminem is the world's best lyricist, hands down. Every song you hear him on, you don't even care about the chorus like you would for most pop songs. Eminem's rapping IS the hook - that's just how good he is. Jay's flow is incredible, and he says some real creative shit. He's got this undeniable charisma when he raps, and you always wonder how he's gonna flip the concept for every song, every verse. The other thing is his timeless consistency and delivery - I hope I can be half as relevant to my listeners when I'm pushing 40. Plus he's not only banging Beyonce, he just got her to cop him a $2-million Bugatti for his birthday. That's a winner right there.
As a producer, I'd have to say Kanye West is the number one dude in my book. That man stays one step ahead and keeps it fresher than Ziploc bags - he's such a trend-setter both with his music and his sense of fashion. He has no problem adapting to the changes and constantly-renewing nuances of the music game. His production and style are so different from one album to the next, yet he not only manages to stay on top, but he keeps getting better, most notably as a rapper. The versatility in his production continues to scare me... The man is truly a genius and his skill sets him apart from every other producer in the game right now. I've had his newest album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" on repeat since it dropped’.
Finally what are your plans for next year?
As a producer, I'd have to say Kanye West is the number one dude in my book. That man stays one step ahead and keeps it fresher than Ziploc bags - he's such a trend-setter both with his music and his sense of fashion. He has no problem adapting to the changes and constantly-renewing nuances of the music game. His production and style are so different from one album to the next, yet he not only manages to stay on top, but he keeps getting better, most notably as a rapper. The versatility in his production continues to scare me... The man is truly a genius and his skill sets him apart from every other producer in the game right now. I've had his newest album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" on repeat since it dropped’.
Finally what are your plans for next year?
All I know about 2011 is that the new year's going to see a motherlode of UEC songs released, and hopefully a lot of song listens, downloads, and purchases from what I think will be a growing fan base. I've dropped a couple albums way back in the day that went nowhere, made a couple of mixtapes no one's heard, even got together and broke up with a band that had some minor successes (Soul Plane - first band to ever get a nod of approval on MuchMusic's Disband) and somehow used the band to make a pretty decent name for myself in Toronto's Chinese Community's entertainment scene. In fact, my debut single SLANTED features Karla Maxim, the lead singer from Soul Plane, on the vocals. But 2011 is really going to be the dawn of a new era for me. In the three months after Soul Plane fell apart, I got together with my good friend and former manager of the band Vlad Baranov and built my own full-fledged recording studio/media production facility in Scarborough called the Big Bang Booth so that we could work on my career with no interruptions or distractions. Aside from resuming his artist management duties for my solo venture, Vlad is also the sound engineer/producer for all my songs; we're like the new Neptunes with this shit. But this Vlad guy is absolutely relentless in his approach to making us successful in what's left of the music industry. He keeps telling me we'll get signed by May 2011, so maybe by June we'll be on World Tour. I dunno, I'm leaving the planning up to the boy - he's much better at it than I am.
Check out UEC's new single 'Get Slanted' now available for download. http://www.uecmusic.com/
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