Double Page Spread Interview

The Asmal’s have taken the UK music game by storm! The cousins, who reside in Ilford, London, have come out of nowhere and grown the support of a huge number of people all over the UK.

We know that you three are cousins but what’s your past, what made you decide to enter the music industry?

We haven’t always lived in Ilford, at the age of 18 our families moved down from Leicester to escape various forms of corruption, we won’t go into too much detail. Since moving from Leicester we have come across stabbings and burglaries within our neighbourhood, these events have resulted in our families and close circle of friends to become much closer and do whatever it takes to protect one another. We moved down from Leicester to escape our past lives, surrounded by drugs and money … A lot of it! We began making little verses when we were younger, over the years we have become more and more passionate about making music, we effectively use music as an escape from all the bad things which often tempt us.

Who influences you to make the decisions you make?

Like most people the three of us look up to our parents as they have provided with us with everything we could ever want, we grew up in a wealthy environment as both parents had well paid jobs, we do whatever we can to please our parents, to give back what they have given us throughout our lifetime. Also, our small circle of friends play a huge part in our decisions, each and every one of us in the small group would die for each other. We have been friends for years and if one person eats, everyone eats, that’s why you will see my whole clique in the best designer clothes, from Louis Vuitton to Giuseppe Zanotti. To us, money is the motive, make as much as we can for as long as we can, which is why we have tried our hardest to make it in the music scene because we know, if you make it, you’re looking at a lot of money. A famous artist who has made it big which we see as a role model is Meek Mill of MMG (Maybach Music Group), only because he has worked his arse off to get where he is today. He never had it easy, moving coke to make a living and provide for his family. I’m not saying that we are in a similar situation in any circumstance but we have grew up in a rough area of Leicester and Ilford despite being gifted by our parents.

Would you ever sell out, as in leave your group of friends to become surrounded by more successful individuals?

Is that even a smart question to ask? Answer is no, we would never sell out for fame, we all grew up together, like a family, if we want to succeed, we will do it together, no selling out, and no back-stabbing. We are happy being surrounded by each other, in my opinion, we make enough money as it is, and it is enough to feed our families and then some. We have enough to spend thousands and thousands on clothing just because we can. If one of us was approached by a record label, we would say, if you want to sign one of us, you have to sign the other two, it’s always been a team effort and it will stay that way.

Who would you consider as ‘competition’ or a threat?

Competition? Who can we class as competition? We have no specific artists but every rising UK artist will come under the category of our competition, around Ilford we have several individuals who are like us, motivated by money and success, but what makes every person different is the way we do things, some will work hard and try to improve themselves others are naturally good, it just the case of finding which you are.

I see that you are wearing a lot of designer clothing. What role does fashion play in your lives?

Fashion to us, it means a lot, from day one we have been covered in  designer clothing, Gucci, Versace you name it, we had it, given to us when we were young by our parents, we want to keep that same lifestyle, which is why we work so hard in order to make money to pay for those things. Not only clothing, we also work hard to buy the finer things in life, we each have brand new cars, the three of us recently bought a house in Chigwell, we paid equal amounts and hope to move in, in the near future, when our income is stable we will move in, then slowly work towards moving our family out into homes of their choice.