Interview: Aggro Santos

Abbas Ali chats to UK grime artist Aggro Santos about making pop music, working with Gary Barlow, and turning down a major label. 

Yuri ‘Aggro’ Santos is a rapper who burst onto the pop scene with his major label debut, ‘Candy’ - a collaboration with Pussycat Doll, Kimberley Wyatt, at the beginning of the year. A massive hit that stayed in the charts, he’s followed it up with current single ‘Saint Or Sinner’, which is also a smash hit.

The 22 year old south Londoner has joined artists such as Tiny Tempah, N-Dubz and Chipmunk as part of the exploding UK urban scene, and hopes to cement his palce with an album, AggroSantos.com to follow in January.

So how are you enjoying the interest around your single, ‘Saint or Sinner’?

It was my second song that’s got into the top 20, so I was really, really proud of that. It’s been a massive anthem in the clubs. It was the number one club record in the country, in Music Weekly. At the moment, I’ve just finished my new mixtape, and I got a single on there, called Stamina, which will be out on TV and radio next week. The single’s not set for release, it’s just a warm up for my next record, which is produced by Steve Mac, who does JLS and The Wanted and all of that. It’s a really massive pop record, but I gave an Aggro Santos twist to it.

The singles you’re doing at the moment are pop records, which is fun, but you came from a grime background.

Yeah, it is. And that’s the main reason I’ve done the mixtape. I think it’s very important to keep to your roots. If you’re into something a bit more real, a bit more what’s going on right now, the mixtape Stamina, that’s got more rapping, more storytelling. You’d get to know me more as an artist, than listening to one of my singles, through listening to that mixtape.

‘Free Yard’ was an underground single that started your career back in 2006. What was it like being an 18 year old, and having that early success?

At that stage I didn’t expect it. I was doing what everyone else was doing, MCing, recording stuff in my own bedroom. I was producing for other people releasing videos on Channel U (now satellite Channel AKA), and I thought, do you know what, let me try to release something. I was getting a bit sick of what I was doing, and not getting anywhere with it. So I saved up and done a video for 'Free Yard', and sent it into Channel U and it blew up. From there, it got me the statistics that I needed to take it to the next level. It got me my millions of views on YouTube, and all of that. And then I had something to go in and show labels. And say, “This is what I’vedone by myself, what can I do with your help?” fortunately, i got signed to Gary Barlow’s label, and managed to take it further.

more info

I believe you turned down a chance to sign a deal with major record label Warner Brothers?

That’s right, yes. It was literally before I was about to sign for Warners, I then switched to Gary Barlow’s. What it was, my manager was taking my demos and stuff round to record labels, and then Warner Brothers heard the song at the time, ‘Culo’, which was my first thing I ever put out there, on the internet, as a signed artist. And they didn’t even meet me, I just got a record deal and an email address. There was no face, no person attachment to it. And signing the rights to your music away is a very, very big thing. If you’re going to do that with someone, at least have the decency to meet them, talk about it, know who you are. They’ve got to believe in you, and I didn’t feel like that was real belief, just sending over an email saying “Yeah, do you want to do this deal?” It was just like, “nah, forget that, I’ll hold out”.

So how is the relationship with your current label different? Have you met Gary Barlow?

Yeah, I’ve met Gary Barlow. Our record label, Future, at the moment, it’s being licenced through Mercury Records, it’s a very tight unit. Every couple of months, when Gary’s not in LA finishing the Take That stuff, we all go out for dinner, catch up with each other. We have to play each other what we’ve been working on. It’s a very tight unit, it feels like a family, so I feel very at home there. His label partner is Celia McCamley, she’s very nice as well. She’s the first person I met from the label who took an interest in my stuff, and played it to everyone.

Gary’s Take That music is very different in style to your own. Does he appreciate what you do?

It’s different in style, but he can know a commercial chorus, and a good pop track. Grime is Grime, but what this urban scene of UK ex-grime artists are doing, is pop music, effectively. 'Candy' is a pop song. And 'Saint and Sinner' is a pop song. So, real musicians recognise other good pop songs. That’s like with me. His music isn’t my cup of tea, but I recognise a good pop song, and I know it’s good.

When you were a kid, you got a scholarship to the Brit School. What was that like, and were there any other famous pupils therewith you?

Yeah. Adele was in my class. The most recent person to come out was Katie B’s just had a top 10 record, she was in my class. Katie Melua... it’s good to finally be switching on the TV, and seeing kids you were at school with on there. It’s a really ambitious school. My time there, it was really short, I only went there for 2 years. I didn’t feel it was right for me to go on doing college there, but it’s very good. It’s very different to normal secondary schools. It starts in year 10 for one, and it just gives your more freedom. It lets you be the person you are, and express yourself artistically.

You were born in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and left at the age of five. How much of an impact does your latin heritage have on you music?

That’s probably one of the reasons I’ve had a passion for rhythms from a young age. I’ve started reflecting it into my music, and that’s one of the main reasons my record label thought “We could have an international artist here”, and it’s the reason why I got my record deal. I’m definitely using that as a unique selling point, and I’m using it to my advantage. Recently, I’ve been doing interviews with the major TV stations in Brazil. I’m about to feature on the single of a massive, massive rock band in Brazil, and it’s just opening a lot of doors for me, really. Doors that, perhaps if I wasn’t a South American artist, and I didn’t show that in my music, wouldn’t be there.

Catch Aggro Santos on the MOBO Tour next month.

Tickets are no longer available for this event