In the first edition of our //SNCSOUNDS series, we see BenjiiiTG bring his underground sound to our dark stage. Settled somewhere in the intersection between dark trap, rage, hyperpop, and RnB, BenjiiiTG’s tracks float between the different layers of his multifaceted personality.
Sometimes cocky and overconfident, sometimes fragile and introspective, his ability to express himself through his love of music and fashion is what makes this young artist stand out.
We interviewed the rising star at the end of 2022 ahead of his //SNCSOUNDS performance to get some insight on his background and what he has planned for the future.
How did you get into music initially? Who were some of your biggest inspirations?
So, I started music around 16. We first started with my brother. We started having artists coming to use our basement. There was this one artist at the time, I think his name was Kyami, I’m not sure if he does music still, but he is one of my biggest influences. Just seeing him do his thing was cool. That’s the first time I’d seen someone record. My brother was mixing and mastering it too, so for influences that were close to me I’d say them.
Since I was young, I always loved Travis Scott, he was my idol until like 19. Now it mostly stems off those kinds of dark elements but I’ve kind of took it in my own way. Aside from those, I kind of get my inspiration from life, you know. Whatever I’m going through or what I’m listening to at the time might influence my sound to change because I like my sound to be like water, it tastes one way in it, but it can change.
You collaborate with your go to producer HRTBRK and are good friends with another Manchester based artist Renz Niro. Do you think it’s beneficial to have a tight knit group to collaborate with and how do you think that has helped you grow as an artist?
So much man. Renz Niro is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met. The thing with music is that most of the time, whatever you’re doing it’s in your own head. When you make a song or a video or whatever, you see it through your lens, but often time it’s hard to see it through anyone else’s, so you need that second opinion otherwise you start to feel like you’re going crazy. Whenever I’ve needed it Renz Niro has given me that second opinion every time. Any time I’ve been feeling low about certain things, or I’ve felt like stuff wasn’t really hard enough, he’d give me straight advice and tell me what’s good about it and what’s not.
Playin for instance, I wasn’t even messing with that when I first made it. I was just like, oh this Is cool, I’m gonna drop it and let it go in it. I knew it jumped, but I never thought it was as hard as other stuff id done. It wasn’t until I showed it to Renz Niro and he was like, nah bro, this is crazy! After that I went back and re-listened to it with a fresh perspective. I was like, yo, this is actually fire. It’s the one of the reasons I decided to use the track in my performance.
In terms of clothes and images I would have to say Mulz, he’s the person behind Skitzo. When it come to garms or even ideas, it’s always easy to reach out to him and speak to him about certain things regarding fashion and music.
What makes you the artists that you are? What makes you special?
Id say as well as dropping music and being consistent, it would probably be the fashion element as much as anything because everyday I’ve always got something on. It’s kinda become my lifestyle at this point. It’s who I am. That fusion between fashion and music is everything to me. Everything I do pretty much revolves around the two. Even my music revolves around fashion. The stuff I’ve been talking about, the stuff I’m rocking.
If you could work with any artist, who would it be?
As of right now, I’d say Ken Carson. I think we’d go stupid on a track. If I was to say realistically, or at least more UK based, id say Len or OG Kemi. Them man are crazy but I think we would sync up well. I feel like that would really work.
What’s next for BenjiiiTG?
Right now, I’m gonna lay low because I’ve dropped a good amount of music, so I’m going to let them go up, because as far as streams, time tells. You can drop something one day and it gets 10 streams, and the next it could get a mil, so you never know.
Next year I’ll be dropping a video at the start of the year, and then halfway through the year ill be dropping a project. That’s kind of what I’m focusing on at the moment. The single I’m dropping the video is crazy too. It’s sort of what I’ve been doing so far, but more refined. Other than that, I just want to drop more videos. I think I need loads of that. People need to see the visual aspect of certain things.
You can check out more from BenjiiiTG here.
