Get your tickets to Black Radio on Saturday 10th October via the link below.

Tickets

Collaboration

I remember the first I’m Soul Into Party I went to was when I first met Kwame and saw Esthahh, Rosie From the Block and Nav playing down at the BBE store. It was also my first time at the BBE store and my first time seeing all three of these fine selectors doing their thing behind the decks. They tore it up!

Fast forward a year or so, Esthahh and I founded Soul Therapy together, hosting 4 incredible nights down at the BBE. I have also had the opportunity to DJ on G-Shock Radio, made possible by Nav who I’ve got to know a lot more recently. Furthermore, I have hosted a night at The Hootananny in Brixton, alongside Rosie From The Block.

Its safe to say, this party unlocked a lot of doors for me and enabled me to connect with several like-minded individuals who I consider to be close friends now.

So when the founders of this party, Chris and Kwame both approached me about collaborating on an event together earlier this year, I was more than interested to find out more about what they had in mind.

The Orange Room

Once we took the time to establish the theme and sound direction of the event, we needed to find a suitable venue that matched our ethos and intention of the night. While several different names were in the mix, we all ended up taking a trip to Stratford on a midweek afternoon earlier in the year.

We visited a venue called The Orange Room which I had seen before on socials but never been to. A really interesting and flexible space with two main focal points to choose from, depending on the nature of the event.

The front bar area is reminiscent of a house party vibe, comfortable furniture, chairs, arcade games and the main bar area, which makes the space feel a lot more like someone’s home.

You walk through this space into the back room of the venue which was where all three of us lit up. A dancefloor, speakers and a neon light kept things adequately simple with full focus on the music. As we walked around the room, we were informed the sound system was undergoing a complete overhaul, with a Funktion One sound system, primed for installation in the near future.

While the front room is a lovely space, the back room peaked all of our interests and I think matched the ethos of the night more closely. I could envisage heavy bass, a packed floor and the kind of atmosphere you remember long into the future.

Chris and I recently returned to see how the venue would look on a Saturday night. We stepped through to the back room, dark and minimally light, with the neon Orange Room logo above the dj booth. It was at this point, it all became clear and the excitement for the 10th took off.

Take a look at the walkthrough below to give you a flavour.

Selectors

Sometimes looking at the flyer, I can’t believe I’m sharing a line up with such talented DJs – it feels almost surreal.

Beginning with Omotosho (aka Chris, co-founder of I’m Soul Into You), who I was lucky enough to meet through Kwame. We’ve spent time connecting on music, discussing Janet Jackson on their ‘Break It Down’ podcast and scoping out venues together which I’ve enjoyed.

I’ll also be joining Omotosho as a guest on his House FM show, which is another surreal moment, having grown up listening to House FM on the radio with my Dad throughout my teenage years. I admire his knowledge, his selections and I can’t wait to see where he takes us.

Avs is someone I’ve had the pleasure of meeting through different circles, namely through the legend Mr Reuben Green and Joel (aka Bussa). Avs I feel can go most places musically and from speaking to her and listening to her shows, I feel its the perfect match for the sound direction of Black Radio.

What more needs to be said about Pete BBE, co-founder of BBE records and longtime respected tastemaker and selector in the global scene. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Pete and enjoy some food together with the guys in his home where whole rooms are dedicated to his collection of records.

Feels incredible to be sharing a line up with Pete, Chris Omotosho and Avs.

Saturday 10th October

With all that said, we’d love to invite you down to come see all of this in action on Saturday 10th October down at The Orange Room, kicking off from 9pm. In some respects, I think we’ll all be pleasantly surprised with the selections and where the energies take us.

There’s an exciting element of unpredictability to this night which makes things interesting. I’m still not entirely certain what I’m gonna play.

Join us on the night and find out!

Get your tickets to Black Radio on Saturday 10th October via the link below.

Tickets

🚨 SOUL THERAPY 🚨

// DATE: Saturday 25th April
// TIME: 5pm–11pm
// LOCATION: The BBE Store, Arch 376, 10 Helmsley Pl, London E8 3SB
// TICKETS: Free Entry

Get your FREE ticket

After a incredible year of parties and community in 2025, Soul Therapy is happier than ever to be returning to the dancefloor on Saturday 25th April 2026 with a lineup of familiar and new faces.

As always we’ll be going through the gears, exploring the roots of underground and Black dance music curated by four extremely talented selectors, Raphael, Esthahh, Bussa and Eshe. We’re gassed to welcome Eshe to the line up whose style on the decks we really admire, as well as her insights on the world of underground dance music.

Check the vibes below:

Tickets are free and you can RSVP via the link above and on the socials.

As always, it takes a team to bring these dances together so we express our thanks to @mrasabere @johnnyreckless24 @the_music_suite and @the_bbe_store for helping us facilitate.

Can’t wait to see you deya!

Love 💜

Flyer Design: @raphaelsworld_
Music: @zulumafia_sa

The Making of

Firstly, I gotta say a huge thank you for all the love on my last soulful house mix. That one has taken on a life of its own and for that I’m truly thankful. It was one of my favourite recorded sets in recent times and I think that energy comes across in the video.

So for much of last year, I was fortunate enough to have been booked to play at a handful of different events around London, spinning predominantly soulful house. With each set, I typically like to spend a good amount of time researching and preparing what I’m going to play on the night.

I also like to do the same for my recorded sets online so it was a challenge to do both at the same time. For this reason, I didn’t release any of my own soulful house mixes all year in 2025, however I played several house mixes throughout the year that were not recorded.

I was actively trying to build connections offline last year and I’ve seen some great results form doing so. I was also juggling a monthly radio show on Voices which included a lot of preparation too. In summary, I had to take time to make sure I wasn’t spreading myself too thin, so the online mixes temporarily took a back seat.

Bookings & Partnerships →

Last year was incredibly inspiring in so many ways. connecting with a lot of new people and different circles exposed a lot of new mixes and music to me which is a blessing. This I think has enriched my selections and helped expand what I’m listening to massively.

I’ve discovered new listening groups and group chats sharing beautiful music to listen to which has helped put me onto new stuff. Shout out to everyone out there sharing and linking new sounds. You are important.

With each new set I had accumulated several new tracks and wanted to test them in a public setting to see what the response would be live. I knew that ultimately I’d want to include some of my favourite and most reacted to tracks in a future soulful house mix. So I cued up everything I had collected over 2025 to put together mix #26.

Piecing It Together

Each set I’ve ever made has always come together organically, I don’t really have much of a sound direction when starting the mix. I just put things together and see how they sound.

This mix had quite a percussive and beat heavy vibe, which was completely unintentional. A lot of bumpy and dance floor focused tracks, perhaps inspired by seeing peoples reactions to certain types of tracks live and in person.

Longtime listeners will know how much of a fan I am of all the incredible music coming out of South Africa. There are so many incredible producers, singers and beautiful sounds coming out of SA and I always like shinning a spotlight on them, whichever genre it might be.

The ‘1000 Memories’ (Atjazz Galaxy Aart Remix) I first heard roughly a year or two ago at an event and I’ll never forget how it made me feel in that moment. It was also sadly the last track of the event and security had to lock it off before the track could even finish. It came to an abrupt ending but that track stayed in my soul ever since.

In fact, just scrolling sown the tracklist, each and every track in this mix has its own personal story to tell and reason why its in here. They each have a sense of place, memory and time linked to them.

Isn’t it amazing how music has the power to do that?

*Pick of the Mix: SPREADLUVCELEBRATELIFE - GEOTHEORY*
Its really difficult to pick a favourite from this mix if I’m being honest, too many heaters to choose from. I’m a slight bit obsessed with this track above though, the background monologue that emanates through the whole track, talking about the club experience, love for the music and what it means to get lost in it. Paired with that heavy baseline tone and percussive drums. Such a euphoric track.

A special mention also goes out to ‘Only God’ by Soulfreakah and Dav Risen. An absolutely monumental track too in its own right.

Shout out to GEOTHEORY. I’ve been a fan of this guy’s music for quite some time now. Seems to never miss and has the most incredible consistency with his productions. He often re-releases different remixes of the same track, completely changing the mood and emotion with each one.

As ever, there seems to be so much good music coming out if you look in the right places. I’m making a bit more of a conscious effort to dig deeper and also explore my own sounds not only as a DJ but as a producer too.

A goal of mine, this year or the next, is to release some kind of four track EP of my own original productions. I feel its time and the music is already made, I just need to get over myself and release it into the world.

Until then though, a huge thanks for all the love and comments on this mix. Always means the world. See you in the next one.

Much love,
Raph

*DISCLAIMER
While I’m writing about a few of my struggles and successes of the past year, there are significantly greater disfunctionalities in the world and inherently more profound issues with our society we must do better to try to address. I just aim to bring you up to speed and shed some more light on how things have been from my musical and creative point of view this year. Love

A Promise

I had an internal conversation with myself towards the back end of 2024.

I had just parted ways with perhaps one of the most toxic and soul destroying jobs I’ve ever had, witnessed the passing away of two people within my circle and confronted the potential future of being self-employed with no safety net. I was in a bit of a hole at the time.

I’m entirely certain I had no idea what was to come when I had this conversation with myself around this time last year, but I knew something had to change from within to see the results I’ve been wanting to see all my life.

Without getting too too deep, my conversation revolved around mortality and the idea that life can quickly change in an instant, as I had seen at the end of 2024 last year. I had thought about (time and time again) the idea that tomorrow is not promised and that there is no no right or perfect time to start.

Looking from the outside in, I realised I had been making myself small, fitting in and dumbing myself down for most of my life. Why this has been the case is still a mystery to me and still something I’m working at finding the root cause of.

With the current socio-economic status of the world, global conflict, living in a divided country and with fear and hatred on the rise, I decided this had to change. In essence, I wanted to be the change I wanted to see in the world.

So I made a promise to myself that in 2025, I would put my foot on the proverbial neck of the forthcoming year and go all out to shine as brightly as possible because what did I have to loose? The world felt a bit broken at the time, I had been to too many funerals, witnessed communities grieve and suffered too much to keep stalling on sharing things with the world.

I’d like to believe I’ve kept that promise as the end of 2025 draws closer.

New Connections

Before 2025 had even begun, I finished 2024 how I meant to go on in 2025.

I began putting myself in spaces, circles, rooms and networks that I previously would never have done before, all with very mixed results. I signed up for creative networking events, went to back to back gigs, live music events, exhibitions and galleries. I figured if I had some free time I would fill it with something worthwhile.

As my fellow introverts out there will know, this is a sticky one and a big challenge which might seem like the right thing to do on the surface but it sometimes comes at a cost of your own energy and social battery. I’ve talked about this before in previous posts and still hits hard to this day.

However, with the added flexibility of freelance work, I was able to make time and save my energy for these more extroverted social events which was key. It basically meant I could fully capitalise on connecting with people and show up as my true self, not a masked and fatigued version trying to hold it all together, as it had been for much of last year.

One of the main blessings I’ve had this year was connecting with Kwame and furthering my musical connection with Esther. The avenues that have unlocked by just going to parties and connecting with people, who would have thought (!). I can’t even really put into words but working with these two has been a beautiful thing this year.

From The Music Suite events, to I’m Soul Into You, to Unitas Sonas and G-Shock Radio. I have connected with my now brothers DJ Vy and Brother James which has further extended my connected musical family, plus allowed me to meet so many others as a result.

There really seems to be a beautiful soulful scene forming, where selectors, DJs, producers and ravers connect over a shared love of the same type of music. And even if the genres pitch, sway and change, the trust is there because it comes from a familiar place anyway.

It’s really these new connections that have unlocked something inside me. I have known those mentioned above for around a year (some much less) but feel like I’ve known them for several years.

I then wonder if its all just a case of putting yourself out there, showing up as your true self in order to meet your tribe. Is it that easy? It seemed like it was!

Soul Therapy

How can I speak about 2025 without mentioning the launch of a project which I feel has been years in the making. With Esther this year, we have put on two events at The BBE Store completely from scratch following our own intuition and vision.

I have said it before but its worth reiterating: Putting on and promoting events is not for the weak!

In a seemingly dwindling night life scene in London, plagued by inflating rent costs, money hungry developers, below par night life experiences and broken ticketing we took on a big task but believed that what we had to offer with Soul Therapy, would help remedy this.

Our first event on a Thursday night in June was nothing short of spiritual, exceeding expectation and the follow up in November further exceeded our expectation with the room full to burst by the end of the night. I have to say a huge huge thank you to my now brothers Bussa, Lwanga and Cheza for holding it down over the course of the past year.

I can’t even describe how excited I am for the future of Soul Therapy and the prospect of future events at bigger venues, with bigger crowds and bigger line ups.

Of course, it’s not all about things being bigger though, we want to maintain the feeling and the vibe we began with without sacrificing our identity.

Some personal highlights of the year in no particular order include:

• DJing in New York City and meeting fans from across the US

• Getting a monthly show on Voices Radio

• Seeing some of my design work at an international convention with Smartspaces

• A Cafe 1001 set

• Launching Soul Therapy w/ Esther

• Making it to a year fully freelancing

• Meeting and speaking with Atjazz, Omar and Sean McCabe

• DJing for the first time on Brixton Radio and G-Shock Radio

• Running a PB In the London 10K

• Time away in Lisbon

• Securing representation by The Music Suite

• Making new music

• DJing for Blank Street, Victoria Arduino and R.A.D. Global

• Substack reaching 450+ subscribers

• DJing at Brixton Hootenanny for the first time
  

Looking back at the list, and there’s a lot that hasn’t even made it on there and that’s fine because not everything needs to be covered or talked about.

Some of my biggest wins this year have no tangible outcome or reward. Instead, they come in the quiet and solace of my own mindset and how I go into each day. The small habits and patterns of behaviour that improve your life.

What many might term simple things like speaking into a microphone during a radio show was completely alien to me. I still struggle to hear myself speak but its getting better. Other things like being prepared musically, having an organised library, equipment, backups etc have all become routine.

There's still a lot more I want to achieve and as cliche as it might sound, I feel like I’m only just getting properly started. There’s still a lot of things I’m uncomfortable with, avoid doing and need to learn about. It’s these aspects of life I’m interested in developing in 2026.

Bookings & Partnerships

Gratitude

Thank you to everyone that has held space this year. To those that have believed in my work whether its in a creative or musical sense. To those that have booked me and trusted me to curate sounds and tell stories through music, I’m properly grateful. To those that trust in the vision and support me even when I struggle to face the world, I appreciate you!

I feel I’ve accomplished a lot this year, taking some great strides but it has not for one second been possible without the help of some very key people who know who they are. It takes a team always.

So in the end, I go back to the promise I made at the very start of the year.

Did I know what was going to unfold in 2025? No
Did I question everything and look for answers I couldn’t yet see? Yes
Did I feel like I wasn’t ready for what was ahead? Yes
Did I doubt myself? Yes

I think the real challenge and indeed victory in all of this lies in proceeding to do all of the above despite what your logic is telling you. Kind of like charging through the fire and flames, leaning into some fear, accepting and acknowledging that their might be some discomfort.

Then, when you look back, your achievements and challenges overcome are all the more sweeter. It comes with great difficulty but its in this space where I feel like the real progression is made.

In a completely non-toxic, hustle bro way, I do feel like a very different person than I was this time last year and that for me, is a sweet triumph.

See you in 2026
Love

Firstly, I have to say a huge thank you to The BBE Store for providing the space for us to do what we do. Also, big love to our DJs on the night, Esthahh, Bussa and Lwanga. Lastly, to the community for bringing the love and sensational energy.

Soul Therapy #2

My phone had been pinging off all day on Friday 7th November with email notifications coming through from the ticket platform Eventbrite. Last minute sign ups for Soul Therapy were rolling in, so much so, we ended up raising the ticket allocation a lil bit to cope with the demand.

We had to begin a bit later than planned due to some unforeseen circumstances, so we started at the revised time of 6:30 instead of 6 which meant that we needed to adjust set times ever so slightly.

Event promotion and curation is not for the weak!

The build up for this event I think was the best we’ve ever done in all honesty, everyone involved was on radio (Brixton, G-Shock and Voices Radio) in the lead up to the event. We had so much content to push and promote so everyone was very ready.

Feeling at Home

I think one of the best things we’ve come to appreciate about Soul Therapy is the kind of crowd the event attracts (even after only two events). It’s amazing how the energy you put out into the world and into the way you present yourself comes back to you.

Each time we’re amazed by the people that come to Soul Therapy. The feedback is important to us too to help us know how we can potentially improve things and grow. People often say how they came and met new people, talked openly without fear and made connections with people at our events.

People from across the UK and internationally find themselves in that room at the BBE and it’s a wonderful thing, united in sound and vibration. It’s honestly one of my most favourite things finding out where people have travelled from, their stories and what brings them to our event.

This message below sums it up:

Enabling people to come to an event on their own and feel comfortable is a powerful thing. We want to hold onto this for every event.

Bookings & Partnerships →

It’s one of them ones where you feel like all of the hard work you’ve put in has well and truly paid off. You look around the room and see everyone having a great time, enjoying the music and connecting with people they’ve never met before. I can easily get very sentimental about these things.

In a world where the feeling of loneliness is on the rise, isolation and lack of community (especially in urban environments), this kind of setting is really necessary. I feel like that’s just as big a part of what we do as is it DJing. Bringing people together.

2026 Considerations

I think there’s a lot of learnings we can take from our latest event and definitely some things to consider for future events.

Venue size:

As it stands, the next Soul Therapy is set to take place in April next year (keep and eye out for the promo) but we have considered potentially relocating to a slightly bigger venue in future, in order to cope with the increased demands.

We had roughly 300 sign ups this time round plus guests that attended who didn’t sign up. This created an amazing atmosphere but also meant that it became a bit cramped on the dance floor.

We always want people to be able to move around the venue and express themselves freely, in the last hour or two it was maybe a bit too packed in there.

Ticketing:

While we want Soul Therapy events to be as accessible as possible for everyone, the time, effort, energy and skill on display is all for free. At the beginning we wanted to keep it free to attract as many as possible but we feel it’s now probably time to monetise and help pay our DJs for their time, skill and effort.

There’s a few ways this can be done.

We could potentially introduce £5 tickets which isn’t much by any means, or we could negotiate with venues to take a percentage of the bar spend. As we brought around 300+ guests to the venue, it would be good to know what can be done with the BBE Store to pay back DJs from the bar spend.

I’m not really sure how you go about this but its definitely something we want to and have been advised to look into for future events. While its nice in the beginning to do things for free, we feel that the quality of the event needs to be reflected in the ticket. We’re still navigating this world and learning everyday so bear with us.

Reflections

Overall, this was an event full of some great learning and takeaways. It gave us a lot to think about for future events but it was also probably our biggest event to date. The growth is amazing to see and the feedback from the crowd is always a beautiful thing.

I’m starting to see a whole other side to the art of promoting and putting on events which is giving me more experience but also quite draining to be honest. I don’t really plan on doing any promo for a while haha! I’d personally like to enjoy what we’ve achieved for a bit and then start thinking about the next project.

This life moves so fast and I know its not always possible to sit, reflect and be present but I’ve realised its an essential part of my practice. A key part of the lifecycle of a project and one I don’t like to skip.

We are always searching for the next milestone, the next goal and the next big achievement we end up missing the joy of what' we’ve even accomplished already. Stuff we’ve been plotting and scheming about for years. I’ve really been making a conscious effort to acknowledge this recently.

For now, I’m quite content focusing on putting out one more mix before the year ends, plus hopefully releasing some of the content from our trip and collaboration with Virgin Hotels NYC earlier in the year.

I also have every intention to finally release some of my own music next year in the form of a 4 track EP! I’m not certain of the details just yet but I know in my soul that I need to release my own productions out in the world and get them off my hardrive.

I’ll likely do some kind of recap of the year in December (there’s a lot to recap on) but for now I have a desire to retreat into work mode, lock in and focus on some personal musical goals.

A huge huge thank you again to everyone that came through to Soul Therapy #2 and to everyone that made the journey. I hope we can do it all over again next year in April, bigger and better.

Big big love,
Raph

Yes world! How is everyone feeling?

Before we begin, RIP to D’Angelo.

As I’m sure most of you will have already seen, we lost a divine soul recently and I’d like to take a moment to pay tribute to all of D’Angelo’s contributions to music. Someone who had a very heavy influence on my journey in music from mixing to production.

I will likely elaborate on this on here in due course, but for now we mourn and also commemorate the wondeful life of this soulful genius. One time for D’Angelo (11/02/74–14/10/25)

Rest in eternal peace and fly high.

The Making of

Man where do I even start!

2025 has been a transformative year for me in many ways, I can’t even really put it into one caption (check my Substack posts for the details). I’ve had my foot on the gas since the back end of 2024 and haven’t really looked back since.

It’s been busy but full of some incredible moments including: DJing in New York, launching a new event series called Soul Therapy, securing a new monthly residency on Voices Radio, summertime festivals, several live shows in London, a career pivot plus a whole lot more.

As a result of all these life moments, plus the world seemingly becoming more and more hostile, I had a to take a slight pause on uploading on YouTube but rest assured, there are some incredible things set to drop on the channel very soon. The pipeline is looking healthy as we have content on New York and more mixes to drop in the next few months.

Bookings & Partnerships →

As the seasons change here in London, I have been listening to and collecting a lot of soulful music. I put this mix together over the past few weeks and I’m super happy to now release it into the world. Some of these finds are new, old, obscure and also well known - a varied mix of top shelf music.

A lot of these tracks I have carried over from previous mixes that didn’t make the cut. I often end up playing the tracks that I couldn’t fit in, in the following mix and this was definitely the case here.

I’ve also noticed that these mixes are progressively getting longer and longer because of this. I typically only ever did around 60 mins, but I’m finding that naturally I want to extend the mix abit more to a round the 90 mins mark.

The feedback has been positive with the mix duration so I aim to try continue this length, plus it also means I don’t have to rush in and out of tracks so much which is personally always wlecome.

Piecing It Together

As always, I really enjoy spotlighting music from around the world and this mix was no different.

My mixes have been dominated by US and UK sounds for much of time I’ve been releasing, but recently I’ve found music from the R&B and neo soul universe from countries like South Africa, France, Gemrnay, Japan and South Korea which I love.

I love throwing in some curve ball tracks that have a similar vibe but maybe are in a different language. I feel like this keeps things intresting and shines a light on music we may not neccessarily be getting exposed to because it’s not in English.

*Pick of the Mix: Worth It – Nyota Parker & Jay Jody*
This track has been speaking to me for a while now. I can’t remember where I first heard it but the production feels so alive and fresh on this one. Combined with Nyota Parker’s smooth vocal and Jay Jody’s bars, this track goes to another level. I think the lyrics speak to me in some ways too, touching on topics like imposter syndrome, self-worth and purpose.

A special mention goes out to ‘Mirage’ by SUMIN & SLOM. A korean track oozing with a classic, R&B / neo soul feel.

As always, I’m blown away by the repsonse on everything I put out into the world. I don’t ever take it for granted. In particular, there’s a few comments on this mix that made me think of the longeivty of it all and how long I actually been doing this for. I’ve highlighted the below comment:

This comment is a mirror of my own journey, as I started releasing mixes online when I was 17 or 18 and I turned 30 this year. Where in the hell has that time gone? If anything though, it makes me feel grateful and proud that through it all, through everything life has thrown my way, I’ve always shown up. Tired, sad, exhausted, happy energised, the show must go on!

I think that’s probably the most important part, continual movement, even if it is small.

Overall, a super enjoyable mix to put together and I think one of the longest I’ve done on the hip hop and neo soul front.

As mentioned, I think I’m slowly winding down for the year, I have a few more live shows coming up in November, plus I’d love to get a soulful house mix out before the end of the year.

Otherwise, I’m gonna be spending some time on the production side of things, trying to get better and perfect my craft a bit more. I have intentions of releasing some kind of project in the near future, maybe a small EP or something, but let’s see…

Much love,
Raph

We’re running it back…

🚨 SOUL THERAPY 🚨

// DATE: Friday 7th November
// TIME: 6pm–11pm
// LOCATION: The BBE Store, Arch 376, 10 Helmsley Pl, London E8 3SB
// TICKETS: Free Entry

Get your FREE Ticket

Soul Therapy is back and @esthahh and I are happier than ever to be returning to our spiritual home at The BBE Store on Friday 7th November from 6-11pm.

If you were at our first event, you’ll know how the night went 🔥 If you couldn’t make the first one, now is your chance as we’re doing it all over again with familar and new selectors alike.

After the shellings, community connection and high vibrations from our first dance, we knew we had to run it back!

As always, Soul Therapy is about connection and an experience dedicated to the uplifting and healing powers of deep, soulful, afro house music. Returning to the decks we have @esthahh , @bussssssssssa , myself and joining us we have longtime supporter, selector and master of NRGs @lwanga__ to provide the deep and soulful grooves.

Tickets are free and you can RSVP via the link in the bios.

As always, it takes a team to bring these dances together so we express our thanks to @mrasabere @johnnyreckless24 @the_music_suite and @the_bbe_store for helping us facilitate.

Can’t wait to see you deya!

Love 💜

Design: @raphaelsworld_
Music: @beat_soul88

We Back

Brand new mix dropping this Friday on my YT channel at 15:00 GMT.

If you would like to listen to it a few days before it drops. you can check the link below for early access.

To my paid subscribers, I want to thank you for helping support the craft and the movement. As mentioned previously, I still operate on my own, I don’t have a team, editors, photographers, designers, writers etc. Those roles are all held by me for the time being (plus maintaining a living elsewhere).

Click below for an exclusive link to get early access…

Read more

Getting At It

It feels as though I was only writing about the end of 2024 not long ago - the idea of 2025 felt miles away and yet here I write this with only a few months off 2025 left.

I made a promise to myself at the end of 2024 that I was going to channel something different this year, confront some personal fears and try to live each day like it was my last. It’s easy to say and think this but its one thing actually doing it. This mindset was inspired by a few life events that made me reconsider how I was showing up for myself.

^^^ Check my interview with BaseGap HERE

It’s been my intention for a while but I have put it off for years waiting for the ‘right time’ and for the ‘perfect scenario’. Yes, I know as well as you how this all sounds. I’ve seen it before myself as I’m a chronic perfectionist and sometimes get crippled by my own creative outlook. So when someones says ‘there’s no right time’, sometimes I react negatively, however I’m starting to see the truth in that.

Showing Up

I’m fully aware that the output on my channel has been reduced this year and I have every intention of crafting some new mixes to share with you all before the year is done. In fact, as I write this I’m editing a new video.

Away from the online world, I noticed as I started to put myself out there in my local scene a bit more, there was a gradual snowball effect of people taking interest. I noticed mutual friends connecting the dots between who I am and where they may have seen me before. It turns out, a lot more people than I thought are familiar with my work!

As a result I’ve probably had the most bookings I’ve ever had in my career so far. The kind of bookings that I only really dreamed about years ago. Plus the range and the variety of bookings is also incredible. With that though, live shows take a different kind of preparation than recorded mixes online do. I’ve learnt the need to be organised and staying on top of your library, having your tracks in order before playing a party etc. It’s forced me to get a bit more organised.

Through showing up to friends and fellow DJs parties, I have connected with some like minded people I would have never met otherwise, but now consider close friends. There’s nothing better than seeing a familiar group of faces in crowd when you’re up on stage or performing, so I try to give back than feeling whenever I see one of the crew playing.

I have been showing up in online spaces like YouTube and Mixcloud for about 10 years now, which I’m unbelievably chuffed with. However, I’m still relatively unknown when it comes to my own local and live scene. This is partly because I haven’t really made a conscious effort to be social and connect with people in that way.

I wanted to try to explore this side and dive into it, hence my efforts to connect with people, network and put myself out there IRL (all things I struggle with in all honesty). I’ve always found it exhausting. This was one of the barriers I mentioned trying to overcome and I feel I’ve made significant progress on that front which I’m super happy with. This has however come at the expense of time taken to prepare mixes to release online.

At the end of the day though, it’s really all about self improvement, becoming a better version of your previous self and trying to stay the course. We are flooded with an abundance of distractions on a daily basis which makes the journey tough but it’s important to make the effort to cut through the noise to get the results we deserve. Its been said countless times before but I say it for myself too that comparison is really the killer of self development.

^^^ Spinning at The Caffe Italiano pop up in Shoreditch, London for Coffee Week in May 2025.

Radio

I spent the back end of 2024 and early 2025 doing ad hoc shows on various radio stations in London such Voices, G-Shock and Brixton Radio. After appearing as a guest on a few different shows, my appetite for radio ignited.

As with a lot of stations around London, they’re heavily over subscribed and have long waiting lists of DJs and presenters wanting a regular slot. I was of course after the same thing but I new I had to be patient and just keep showing up. I started doing ad hoc shows when and where I could get them on Voices Radio. 3 or 4 shows later, I was offered a monthly slot.

For those of you wanting to tune in live, my show is every 4th Friday of the month from 11am-midday GMT. You can listen back to all of my shows HERE. What I really love about this format is how freeing it is. Its only an hour long so it goes quick but it gives me the opportunity to play things I wouldn’t normally perhaps play on my channel or at events.

I’m able to dip into specific genre pockets, play music that’s always inspired me and go a bit deeper with the selections. In time, I’d like to go for a 2 hour slot as this gives a bit more freedom with selections and mixing, taking the pressure off fitting as many tracks as possible into the hour.

Next Events

See below for a rundown of where I’ll be in the coming months. (All times are in GMT):

* Friday 24th October: Live on Voices Radio, 11am-12noon
* Friday 7th November: Soul Therapy at The BBE Store, 6pm-11pm
* Saturday 22nd November: House Sensation at The Castle, 9pm-3am
* Friday 28th November: Live on Voices Radio, 11am-12noon

FREE RSVP HERE

FREE RSVP HERE

Hope to see some of you along the way whether you’re on the dance floor or tuning in!

Coming up…

I have a mix cued up and ready to drop next week on my channel. I plan to release another one maybe back end of November or maybe December before the year is out. Then my plans have already started to turn to making things happen next year!

I’ll probably do more of a recap post on here towards the end of the year but I just wanted to update on where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing this year over the spring / summer period.

I have some great people in my corner and I’ve made some incredible connections and friends this year, of which I’m incredible grateful for. I still operate on my own though, I don’t have a team, editors, photographers, designers etc. Those roles are all held by me for the time being (plus maintaining a living elsewhere) so if it takes a bit longer, you know why!

Big love and hope to see some of you soon.

Peace, Raph

Friday 7th November

Soul Therapy is back and @esthahh and I are happier than ever to be returning to our spiritual home at The BBE Store on Friday 7th November from 6-11pm.

If you were at our first event, you’ll know how the night went 🔥 If you couldn’t make the first one, now is your chance as we’re doing it all over again with familiar and new selectors alike.

After the shellings, community connection and high vibrations from our first dance, we knew we had to run it back!

As always, Soul Therapy is about connection and an experience dedicated to the uplifting and healing powers of deep, soulful, afro house music. Returning to the decks we have @esthahh , @bussssssssssa , myself and joining us we have longtime supporter, selector and master of NRGs @lwanga__ to provide the deep and soulful grooves.

Tickets are free and you can RSVP via the link HERE.

As always, it takes a team to bring these dances together so we express our thanks to @mrasabere @johnnyreckless24 @the_music_suite and @the_bbe_store for helping us facilitate.

Can’t wait to see you deya!

Much love,
Raph & Esther 💜

Design: @raphaelsworld_
Music: @beat_soul88

NEXT DANCE!

WHEN // Friday 25th July, 6pm–11pm
WHERE // The BBE Store – Arch 376, 10 Helmsley Pl, London E8 3SB
TICKETS // Free Entry – https://shorturl.at/qIYTU

Extremely happy to be making a return to a very special venue. This Friday 25th July, I’ll be back at the world famous BBE Store for an event I’m very gassed about.

Last time out I was with the Soul Therapy family. For those that were there, you’ll know how that one went!

This time I'll be with Unitas Sonas (presented by The Music Suite), spinning alongside the very talented Brother James and DJ Vy from 6-11pm. Its gonna be soulful one not be missed! Cannot wait to touch these decks again, would love to see some of you there. If you’re in town, pull up for the top shelf deep and soulful house selections!

Tickets are free and the link to RSVP is below.

See you in the dance!
Raph

Ticket Link – https://shorturl.at/qIYTU

Heat

Before I set foot in the BBE Store, I was already sweating. A mixture of the usual pre gig nerves, the London sun and dense air were stifling as I made my way through London Fields. We had prayed for a hot summer evening and we were granted it in the form of 30 degree heat, which for the UK is HOT.

In my soul I felt a good energy, people were out, talking, cycling and there was a definitely a summer evening post work buzz in the air.

I arrived at the BBE Store to see Bussa sipping a Guinness outside. I was happy to be there after a delayed journey, getting cooked on the top deck of the 277 bus. We went inside and kicked off one of the greatest evenings in recent memory.

At this moment, ‘Soul Therapy’ was born.

‘It’s a Thursday!!!’

What followed was a night that we had all dreamed about and planned for for months in advance. You never really know what the vibe will be until it happens, you plan and arrange as much as possible but on the day, you’re never sure what will happen. My instinct felt good about this one beforehand and man did it deliver.

From the first track to the last, everyone and I mean EVERYONE understood the assignment. From the talented DJs we had bless the dance, to the care free audience and wider Raphael community. It still always amazes me to see and meet people who have made journeys from across the UK and even internationally to come see me play.

I say it every time but it needs to be reiterated. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Avengers Assemble

One of the things I was maybe a bit anxious about was how everyone would sound together and the mixing of each dj’s flavours. I’ve been to events before where the sound direction felt a bit disjointed, chaotic and like the DJs have just been thrown together with no thought of the story or narrative. This was something Esthahh and myself wanted to make sure we tried to address in terms of how we structure the night.

In doing so, we wanted to have djs that felt intentional and aligned with the movement. Immediately, I thought of a talented selector who I have come to know well called Bussa. Someone who has been championing the sounds of London’s diaspora for a while now, collaborating with some giants in the local scene like Jumbi and the Tate to name a few.

Esthahh suggested we bring in a 4th dj who she immediately identified. Completing the line up was DJ Cheza, a friend of Esthahh’s, talented dancer and absolute force of a DJ. Flying in from Sweden, Cheza came and added his signature touch, skill and flair on the decks. A serious talent.

All together, the combination of dj sets was phenomenal. We were all on the same page throughout but nothing sounded the same, each dj added their own vibe which kept everything superbly balanced. The night flowed like water and completely organically.

See below for a visual recap of the event. It’s hard to capture everything in a 2D visual but I hope this gives you more of an idea of the beautiful energies.

It Takes A Village

I think probably one of the things that we don’t see or notice when going to events is the preparation, planning and support that goes into everything. In order to fully honour our vision, we had a lot of support and guidance come from some hugely important people.

Several nights of editing, calls, meetings and Pirate Studio sessions went into this one and it was all worth it without a shadow of a doubt. The word that comes to mind is always ‘intentionality’, a shared way of promoting and putting on events, which in itself is an art form and contributes immeasurably to the day of the event.

I still by no means claim to be an expert at any of this, I don’t have the most experience, no formal teaching plus I’ve learn’t many harsh lessons and I’m still learning along the way. What’s great is taking the best aspects forward into future events, learning what works well and what doesn’t. This is a side of the industry, no one really tells you about, I often feel like you have to find out for yourself through trial and error.

In my eyes, the music has always come first and I stand by that, but what I have learnt is that it’s necessary to be flexible, learn from others and surround yourself with the right kind of people. I can’t really explain the importance of that operating in this space as not only a creative but a performer.

We’d like to thank Kwame, for his help connecting us with Johnny of the BBE Store and all his work supporting us via I’m Soul Into You and The Music Suite. Kwame has been our number one cheerleader and guide throughout this whole process and we’re so glad to have him in our corner.

To the BBE Store for hosting us and opening their doors to our community and for their incredible set up and killer soundsytem.

To Nav and G-Shock Radio for allowing us to showcase the sound, test drive tunes and speak to our community on the airwaves.

And to you, the community itself for providing the vibes. The energy exchange is a very real thing and makes all the difference. The love in the room was real.

Until The Next Time

In all honesty, I haven’t really come down yet from the high of our debut Soul Therapy. It’s all been said before but I just want to thank anyone that was involved in this process and everyone reading this post if you’ve made it this far.

I’d love to return to Soul Therapy later on in the year if the stars align again as I feel we set the bar for ourselves now. While it’s often impossible to recreate the experience exactly, I think we could run this back bigger and better, potentially even on a Friday or Saturday night which would would hopefully attract even more of the community.

Either way, my heart is full, I’m still gassed and can’t believe what we did! The photo below just about sums it up…

Until the next time.

Much Love!

Artwork Sounds

I got off the overground in Whitechapel (East London, UK), cold, kind of lost and needing an injection of energy. We were on route to a friends birthday party and, as an introvert, it was one of those occasions where I was forcefully trying to amp myself up. If you know you know.

After a short walk, we arrived at the venue, an old converted warehouse which was now apartment blocks. We buzzed up and my bro came down to let us in. As we were walking up the stairs and catching up, I could hear the muffled kick drum of a roughly 120 bpm track coming from a few floors above us. My ears perked.

As we got to the door of his apartment, I could clearly hear the track playing and instantly, my introverted fatigue disappeared. We walked in and I saw there was a dj playing in the dimly lit corner of Val’s flat. Illuminated by the candlelight, the sounds were warm, rich and soulful. I was thinking to myself, ‘who is this girl basically playing track after track from my own library?’ The taste and selections were nearly identical!

She closed her set and we got talking. I mentioned I was into music and was also a dj. To my surprise she asked me ‘have you heard of Artwork Sounds? The rest is serendipitous history.

Soul Therapy

The girl I met that night was Esther, a Sweden-born, London-based DJ known for her vibrant sets blending private school amapiano, broken beat, soulful and gospel house. After a few weeks, I saw that musically, we shared a similar vibration. After a session or two Pirate Studios, going to gigs across London and sharing music, I could see that we were aligned on a lot of things which is rare to find.

We spoke about the idea of throwing an event in 2025, specifically in the summer. We floated around several different venues and locations but one stood out to us both. I went to an event early 2025 where Esther was playing and it really changed the trajectory of my whole year. This venue was the BBE store. The crowds, energy, community vibe, sound system and general atmosphere was what I had been looking for for so long.

Fast forward nearly a year and we are hosting our own event at the world famous BBE Store in East London along with two other extremely talented selectors: DJ Cheza and Bussa.

The BBE record label is responsible for some of my favourite releases of all time spanning hip hop, jazz and house music. To me, this is the holy trinity, and the areas of music in which I like to operate. So to be launching an event at institution like BBE is still a trip to even think about.

RSVP >HERE< 🎟️ 🎟️ 🎟️

WHEN // Thursday 19th June, 6pm–11pm
WHERE // The BBE Store – Arch 376, 10 Helmsley Pl, London, E8 3SB
WHO // DJ Cheza, Bussa, Esthahh & Raphael

The Music Suite

One of the people I also had the pleasure of meeting at at the start of the year at The BBE Store was Kwame who was integral to helping us connect with others in the scene and ultimately arrange this forthcoming dance.

The man behind The Music Suite, I’m Soul Into You and Unitas Sonas, as well as a community connector and facilitator, Kwame has been instrumental in helping us put this event together and we’re super grateful that this can become a reality.

Esther, Kwame and myself have been to a few local events together and the shared passion and love for the scene runs through us all which is why we were so happy to collaborate together on this project. We put Soul Therapy together with love, integrity and purpose which we hope will transfer into the dance itself.

Here’s a quick fly through of the venue, where our flyer currently sits alongside some illustrious company:

What To Expect

Each DJ will be bringing something different to the table, but one thing is guaranteed is that the vibes are going to be soulful. We’ll be creating unforgettable journeys through deep, soulful, gospel house, Chicago house, and modern global sounds. The roots of black underground dance music.

Centred around the uplifting and emotive qualities of soulful house, we want the event to evoke a sense of unity, joy, and rhythm, taking attendees on a transcendent journey from the first beat to the last drop.

In a world where humanity has some serious questions to answer for, this kind of uplifting and joyful atmosphere feels entirely necessary.

Can’t wait to see you there! Entry is free, you can RSVP HERE, turn up as you are and bring the positive energy for an evening not to be missed.

Much love,
Raph & Esther

We Took Soulful Mixes Stateside

I still have to remind myself this actually happened. Like, ACTUALLY happened.

After watching nearly every programme, TV show, film and music video under the sun about New York, I actually set foot on the same ground. It might sound like I’m being over the top but this really was the trip of a lifetime for me and the homie Martin (pictured below). I’ve invested soo much time and energy into everything NYC, it felt like I already knew a lot about it before I even stepped on the ground at JFK.

“You Ever Been New York?”

A couple years ago, I linked up with a talented filmmaker Martin (@cassette_jr) at a Leon (a fast food joint for my US family) near Charing Cross in London…

We spoke about music, life and about how he had a vision of documenting my journey through music so far while showcasing his skill behind the lens. We mentioned how much influence the US has had on us both culturally and in particular the scene in New York.

Martin floated the idea of going over there one day performing a set, meeting up with fans and shooting for the documentary we’re working on. If I’m being real, I found it difficult to see how it could happen, I put up barriers and it felt far away. My instinct knew it was possible, but if I’m honest I just struggled to mentally allow the idea in.

I remember brainstorming on a piece of paper and making notes of places we wanted to go in the notes app on my phone. At the time (this was roughly two years ago) it just seemed like such a far away idea and I really had a hard time even accepting it could be possible. I wrote down the names of the places we wanted to hit up in NYC and it almost felt as if my brain was disconnected from my hand. My brain couldn’t register what my fingers were writing on my phone screen.

I looked at the list of names and places, including New York, and just struggled to take it seriously.

Fast forward a few years and we have made ALL of the above a reality, purely through sharing emotions through music. It hasn’t for one minute come easy, but through belief and an adjusting of my mindset, the idea became a reality beyond imagination. To do it all independently too was a huge challenge but further emphasised the strength of the vision.

A Different Kind Of Energy

Throughout our time in NYC, I noticed people moved a bit differently than what we were used to in London. I’m fully aware that the USA is a very big country so its hard to even grasp how different each city and state are from each other, but it truly opened my eyes. While my first experience was NYC, I realise there are a range of communities, states and cities to explore.

I just find it incredibly interesting observing the cultural differences and experiencing them in real time after only having experienced them through a screen. People in NYC are expressive, outgoing and open especially on the subway. I thought the Tube in London was a rogue place but the NYC subway puts it to shame! Everything in general is so much louder, faster and bigger which actually gets on top of you after a while.

Away from the noise and the chaos though, when you had the time to speak to people face to face, we found that New Yorkers in general were interested to hear your story, interested to see you win and encouraging of your achievements. Over the years, I’ve found this hasn’t always been the case in London, UK. This kind of cultural difference was very noticeable and also.

Bookings & Partnerships →

I love London with all my heart and have been born and raised here my whole life, but from a very early age, I have always had a strong affinity with New York. Now having visited, I’ve seen it from my own perspective.

It also made me realise that we have a cultural problem here in the UK where we typically are encouraged from a young age to fit into a system, get a job, play small and not shout about our achievements or what we’re passionate about. This comes from a place of being overly polite and courteous in every situation when sometimes we need to shout about our wins and show the world our greatness.

This is something that I’ve found is commonplace in schools and in the average workplace in the UK and especially in London. It’s a cultural observation I’ve noticed and itt’s definitely not everywhere, but I’ve seen too much of it over the years.

From a lot of people’s experience in the UK, singing about your wins isn’t encouraged - its more frowned upon as your seen as being a ‘show off’ or overly arrogant when in fact it’s just believing in yourself and showcasing your talents. The amount of folks we spoke to in the US who were amazed at our accomplishments was a surreal feeling. People came from Rhode Island, Philadelphia and even Atlanta to see us in action which was a huge trip.

It seems folks in the US will put their money where their mouth is and show out to support without a second thought, encouraging and building others up instead of observing from the shadows and sometimes even sabotaging. We couldn’t help but notice this and I suppose it comes down to a lot of socio-economic and cultural differences built over decades.

The hospitality we received was second to none and I’m really trying to think I’ve ever experienced something similar in the UK…

The Riff Raff Club

When we initially began outreach to different venues in New York, I sent cold emails to every club, bar, restaurant and radio station in Manhattan and Brooklyn. No one got back to me apart from Virgin Hotels. We jumped on a couple video calls to confirm the details and the plan began to come together…

Read more

The Making of

2025 has got off to an absolutely flying start…

Between now and January I’ve recorded a guest mix for Emotional Oranges (LA), a guest mix for Flawless Delivery (Germany), released a J Dilla tribute mix, done two radio shows on Voices Radio, one on Brixton Radio, performed with the Five Points Family, recorded a set at Cafe 1001 and then hopped over to the New York to perform a 5 hour set and record 2 additional sets over there!

We been active.

This one was a long time coming but as you can see above, I’ve been going hard! I must stress that this has all happened independently. I’m not signed, I don’t have an agent and I have rent and bills to pay. This all means that these mixes will sometimes take a bit longer to come out in order to preserve and keep the quality in tact.

Bookings & Partnerships →

Throughout all of this though, I was doing my usual stacking of tracks in preparation for this mix. I had initially planned for it to come out earlier in the year but the timing did not feel right and I knew it would be a rush to get done. My goal was to drop it before I went to New York, which felt like the right time to release it into the world.

I had so many tracks I wanted to play and was happy to see some of my favourite producers and musicians dropping a lot more music in the run up to this mix. Sometimes you catch your favourites on a hot streak and end up including several of one producer’s tracks, other times they have more of a barren spell. I like the eb and flow of this as it keeps each mix different.

On a side note, really appreciate the love on the latest Soulful House mix. We’re at nearly 250K views on that one in just a few months. Mad thankful to you all for tuning in, it’s really a blessing.

Piecing It Together

I really wanted to dip into the old school neo soul feel with this mix. I think part of that is because I’ve been recently inspired by threetwenty’s new stuff and sadly, I recorded this mix before I made the discovery. There’s no threetwenty in this mix but best believe there’ll be plenty of their stuff in future mixes I’m sure.

After hearing a bit of their music, I was doing some digging and came across the Don-E track ‘So Cold’ and knew I wanted to build around this track. So included a cut of D’Angelo and a new Akili Ni Mali track that’s been on repeat recently. This is probably my favourite pocket in this mix and you can probably see it in the video.

*Pick of the Mix - Thank God – KOS*
I’m not sure how many times I repeated this track before I even thought about putting in a mix… This one spoke to me in some higher ways. I listened to it day to day, on my runs and it even inspired me to produce a track. This is what its about though, those rare and underground finds! Close second was was ‘Blue Sheets’ by Tall Black Guy - A classic neck snapper! And also ‘LIGHTWORK’ by Hue Sound

Some very honourable mentions need to be made as well. In particular, the Common and Pete Rock link up on ‘Dreamin’, the old school flavour on Kofi Stone’s ‘AMAGOH', ‘Menace’ by Paul Grant & Parisalexa and also ‘Walk A Mile’ by ZVK. I wasn’t sure how I was going to end the mix, I knew I wanted to include the beautiful ‘FireFly’ track by Goya Gumbani and Fatima but I hadn’t yet played it. So in the end, I placed it at the end of the mix.

Overall really enjoyed this one and I’m always very thankful to see and hear all the amazing feedback on the mix. The feeling of discovery and of putting people on is still undefeated. I’ve just been feeling very inspired of late to try and create not for any gain but more just for my own sanity. I’ve read a lot recently that the ability to create for yourself without external validation is the true wealth. I’m trying to hold on to this with everything I do.

I find I usually enjoy listening to new mixes I’ve dropped after some time has passed – gives it some space to breathe. A few weeks down the line from its release and I must say, I’m enjoying listening to #41. I think its especially more poignant after the NYC trip (they’ll be a lengthy recap on that trip to follow…)

It was great to connect with fans and listeners and speak at length in person about this mix. I think going forward, I’ll keep this experience in mind when piecing together new mixes because it really helps remind me why I do this.

Much love,
Raph

If you didn’t know already…

🚨 SOUL THERAPY 🚨

// DATE: Thursday 19th June
// TIME: 6pm–11pm
// LOCATION: The BBE Store, Arch 376, 10 Helmsley Pl, London E8 3SB
// TICKETS: Free Entry

Get Your FREE tickets here

If you're a fan of my soulful afro house mixes, this one will most definitely be for you...

My friend Esther and I connected last year thanks to the homie Val over our shared love of SA producer Artwork Sounds and purpose behind the music we play. So we thought–why not join forces? We wanted to bring like minded people together through what we call ‘Soul Therapy’.

With this in mind, we are beyond excited to announce a brand new event called Soul Therapy taking place at the world famous BBE Store in London on Thursday 19th June at 6-11pm. Soul Therapy is an experience dedicated to the uplifting and healing powers of deep, soulful and afro house music. We’ve assembled a group of four exceptional selectors known for their deep passion for rhythm and melody: esthahh bussssssssssa deejaycheza and yours truly, to take you on a journey.

Rooted in the uplifting and emotive qualities of house music, the event will evoke a sense of unity, joy, and rhythm, taking attendees on a transcendent journey from the first beat to the last drop. We can’t wait to go deep with this one! Tickets are free and you can RSVP HERE

We express our thanks to Kwame, The Music Suite and The BBE Store for making this happen. Esther, Kwame and I have been working away at this one for a while now and we can’t wait to bring the vision to life!

Spread the word! ⚡

See you deya
LOVE

I’ve been fascinated with the USA for much of my life. Growing up in the UK, much of what we would consume in popular culture came from the US so naturally it had a big impact on our lives. Music, TV, film and art from the US all have their place in the UK history, subtly influencing countless generations.

While growing up I felt like the USA was a far away land, one that I would only see in popular culture and media. There wasn’t even many places I knew of in the US. When music found its way into my life, a large proportion of what I was listening to was UK rap and hip hop but significantly more of it was rap and hip hop from the US.

I discovered hip hop properly in my teens. Most of my favourites including Nas, Wu Tang Clan, Pete Rock, ATCQ, Jay-Z, Mobb Deep, all had one thing in common. A shared sound, art of storytelling, production style and flow that was birthed in one famous City: New York. From The Bronx to Brooklyn, Staten Island to Queens - the sound was unmistakable and captured my attention from the get go.

So as I write this, it gives me great pleasure to announce that I will be coming to New York City 1st-10th April.

I wanted to make sure I got the opportunity to spin somewhere during my stay, paying homage to the city that inspired me so much growing up in the UK. The good people over at Virgin Hotels have a dope spot called The Riff Raff Club on the 39th floor overlooking the Manhattan skyline.

WHEN // Friday 4th April, 9pm–2am
WHERE // Virgin Hotels NYC, The Riff Raff Club – 1227 Broadway, 39th Floor, New York, NY 10001
TICKETS // Free Entry

I'll be going through the gears from 9pm to 2am, taking you on a journey through soulful music of all forms to keep the vibes right and the night moving along smoothly. Expect a mix of tracks from my mixes over the years, hip hop, R&B edits, soulful house, breaks, funk and soul.

No need to RSVP and tickets are free so just pull up and come through. It of course would be amazing to see you there! I'll be around before and after the 4th so if you're in town give me a shout and let's hang.

Big bucket list moment this one and I'd love to share it with one of my biggest audiences in the world!

Love Raph

🚨 Very happy to announce the first dance of the year! 🚨

WHEN // Saturday 22nd March
WHERE // Khush - 39B Markfield Road, London, N15 QA
TICKETS // £5 - https://ra.co/events/2120711

”To celebrate the birth of one of London's newest and most exciting venues, Five Points is coming together in collaboration with Soulful Sounds creator, Raphael & worldwide electric-disco DJ, Sunni D.

Marking one of the first events in the 'Five Points Dance' series, these events are created with the intention to bond over one thing: movement.

Set some time aside for healing and come down on Sat 22nd March for some sonic catharsis and enter the world of dance. Tickets will move quick so get them while you can. Let's bring in Spring in the UK the right way.”

The last event at JUMBI down south was a movie, if you missed that one you know what to do. This time we’re bringing soulful sounds, positive vibrations and community to north London.

As usual, I'm gonna be spinning a bunch of soulful music, getting deep into my funky, disco, classic, soulful house bag. Upfull tunes to make you move. Very happy to be playing alongside some talented selectors from the Five Points crew and also Sunni D. I've been down to the venue myself and its a beautiful space with a killer soundsystem!

Would be amazing to see you down there, come say hi and shake a leg.

Peace - Raph

Poo Poo La La

It was one of those hot summers on route to France in the backseat of my parents car. I must have been about 4 or 5 years old. The motorway seemed to go on forever and ever, monotonous and never ending but I wasn’t bored. Sun coming through the glass, blue skies and a free mind.

One of the most interesting and exciting parts of any road trip for me is the listening material. AUX control if you like. This trip to see family in France is a car journey of about 6-7 hours, starting first thing in the morning on the outskirts of London and finishing mid afternoon, deep in the French countryside. This meant 6-7 hours of time to fill.

Cue my Dad’s tapes…

At this time, my memory is hazy, but I know for certain there was no Spotify, Bluetooth, AUX lead or anything like that. Instead, cassette tapes and CDs. There was always a selection of tapes and CDs in the glove compartment, hand labelled with tape on them to help identify the artist and album.

On these tapes would be music from the likes of Don Blackman, Sharon Redd, The B. B. & Q. Band, Walter Jackson, Kinky Foxx and many more. A groove so sweet came on (among many others) that for some reason, I still remember so vividly to this day and the sensation of how I felt when I first heard it.

’Poo Poo La La means I love you…’ These words still ring in my ears and trigger all kinds of incredible and joyous memories. One of Roy’s funkiest songs in his catalogue was ‘Poo Poo La La’ which was a grooove. As well as the vocal section, he tells a story throughout the song which adds another layer to the track. I can’t really remember the next time I heard this song, it was probably later in life, but it was one of many Roy Ayers tracks that changed the way I heard music.

I bought my first basic keyboard (Roland GO:KEYS) with my flatmate at the time when I was around 24. The very first chords I learnt to play on that keyboard (which I still have today) were from ‘Everybody Loves The Sunshine’. I watched a YouTube video on how to play it, stopping and pausing every few seconds to try and memorise the pattern. I had no idea what I was doing, no idea of any music theory but I just always knew that would be something I needed to learn off by heart. To this day I still play it.

Samples, RAMP and Ubiquity

I don’t have the figures or statistics but we probably all know that Roy Ayers is one of the most sampled artists in the history of music. His influence has touched all genres from hip hop and neo soul to house and jazz. Growing up, I’d come to find out the expansive reach of Ayers spanned so many scenes. Almost like a hidden ecosystem that underpinned and connected all the best music I was listening to.

I’ve spent countless hours discovering Roy’s signature touch in tracks by Mary J. Bilge, Common, Joey Bada$$, Larry June, OutKast, J. Cole, TLC and so many more. Not to mention collaborations with the likes of Erykah Badu, Tyler The Creator, Talib Kweli and Madlib. There’s probably a track in each one of my mixes that has either a Roy Ayers sample, collaboration or musical influence.

One of my favourite projects of Ayers was RAMP in particular the ‘Come Into Knowledge’ LP (a project which probably deserves its own write up). The track ‘Daylight’ off this album has been sampled under many different aliases and creators over the years but probably the most recognisable use is in ‘Bonita Applebum’ of course by A Tribe Called Quest.

The song "Daylight" by RAMP, which featured in Grand Theft Auto IV on the fictional radio station The Vibe 98.8.

I was luckily enough to catch Roy playing in London on a few different occasions. The first time was in 2016 at the world renowned Jazz Cafe where he went through all his classics with an incredible band driving the sound and rhythm throughout the Jazz Cafe. I remember it being such a wholesome crowd, with everyone belting out the lyrics to ‘Searching’ at the top of their lungs.

I was also lucky enough to catch him at the first Maiden Voyage festival in the hot summer of 2019 in Bow, East London. I’m not sure if its still running now but I just remember the vibes were immaculate. Madlib also performed a great set and Bradley Zero closed the festival.

Of course, there was no better time to play this track we all know and love. I was with my friends, the sun was definitely shining and I was witnessing my early childhood materialise in front of my eyes and ears. I also remember feeling such a sense of joy at the community while in the crowd as so many others were enjoying the moment too.

Legacy

I know many of us have been influenced by Roy’s artistry in one way or another and I think it’s safe to say his legacy will live long on in the hearts and minds of many of us in future.

Tyler The Creator, for instance has been heavily influenced by Roy. This ‘Find Your Wings’ video is a perfect tribute to Mr. Ayers. The grainy Soul Train aesthetic, the way Tyler interacts with the host, low slung bass-line and neo soul chords are all references to Roy Ayers’ very own Soul Train performance. Kali Uchis and Syd take this one to another level and to this day, it remains one of my favourite videos on the internet.

The list goes on with Roy and I have by no means even scratched the surface with everything he has done over his illustrious lifetime. I just felt the need to write something and get my thoughts out onto this newsletter. I’ll be paying tribute to Roy in any upcoming sets.

It’s hard for me to accept this man has now transitioned. Many of my most formative and core memories of my life growing up and in my adult life have involved this mans music in some way or another. I, like probably many of you, am forever grateful for Roy’s contributions to the culture and will always cherish the memories I have surrounded by his music.
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RIP Mr. Roy Ayers 🕊️

I first set foot in the Voices Radio studio last summer, the sun was out and the weather was glorious. I remember getting lost trying to find the location of the studio, going up and down the stairs and walking down the different corridors of Coal Drops Yard.

I was invited on Sara El Harrak’s show as a guest back in, you can listen back to that show HERE if you haven’t seen it already. This was my first introduction to playing live on radio - the principle is the same as how I usually craft mixes but with the added addition of talking and the art of hosting, which was new to me.

Storytelling

I had such a good time on there that I sent off an application to have my own show on Voices immediately. During that period of time I was waiting to hear back, I found I became more and more interested in storytelling through music but also, playing music from my extended catalogue that I wouldn’t normally.

I enjoy listening to curated playlists and going to listening sessions where the consumption of the music is bit deeper and more intentional. The chance to explain the artistry, going through background and context adds another layer to mixes which I’m keen to explore.

I’m sitting on heaps of jazz, ambient, rare groove, soul, and reggae I’d really love to play one of these days. A lot of these tracks have great back stories to them, attached personal memories and great anecdotes which I’d love to share as they don’t have a home in my regular mixes yet! Radio seems like the perfect place to explore this side of curation and DJing.

Round Two

This time the weather was cold and it was deepest February. USB was loaded up with heat though and I made my way to the studio. I remembered my mistakes from before and was able to find Voices with no problems this time! I Bumped into Shadrack who was just wrapping up his show as I stepped in and what I heard was sounding lovely.

I only had an hour which felt like about 5 minutes by the end of the show. This meant we had to get in a photo, write a caption for the social media post, speak on air, cue up tracks, mix and tee up the next DJ after me - all in an hour. There’s a lot you have to think about and multi-task which again is something new for me and probably slightly out of my comfort zone.

That said though, I think all these things are integral in becoming a better DJ and curator. I really want to get to a point one day where I don’t cringe hearing the sound of my voice on a radio or a podcast, I’m still working on that as I’ve always thought listening back to your own voice sounds strange. Anyone else have this?

Listen back to the full show HERE

I started off the show teasing in some newer soulful hip hop and neo soul from the likes of ZVK, Tall Black Guy, KOS and even a remix I made of Amber Mark’s track ‘Softly’. I said a few words to loosely intro the show and then moved into some more upbeat tracks from MeloJaney, Fouk, Trev and El Payo.

What I took from this short session was that it’s something I definitely want to do more of in future if possible. I think there’s art to storytelling and the journey being slow and progressive. I need to work on a few things however - in particular how I set up tracks to speak over and what I say on radio but I know that will come with time.

As I mentioned earlier, I really want to play music that doesn’t normally see the light of day in parallel with taking listeners on a journey. Ideally I’d love a 2 hour slot to do this but I’ll take whatever is available. 1 hour just wasn’t enough time at all and the prospect of having a guest on for the second hour is something I’m interested in too.

At the moment, my next show is going to be 5-6pm on 22 April so keep an eye out for that one!

As you’ll see from the visual recording, I had a lot of fun. Subscribe to watch the full live stream below…

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Welcome back to ‘The Lost Art Of The Bridge’ series, where I delve deeper and share some of my favourite bridges and B sections of music past and present. If you’re new here welcome, in this series, I shed some light on soul stirring chords, drum breaks and uplifting vocals that have moved me over the years.

A quick disclaimer, there’s no correct or formal music terminology here as I’m not formally musically trained so I can’t tell you in detail what’s actually happening in these songs harmonically! My aim is more to share the feeling and the frequency.

I’ve compiled another list of 6 tracks that give me that indescribable feeling of ascension when I first heard them. As always, please let me know any others you feel are worth a mention as this list could probably go on forever.

So without further ado, let’s take it to the bridge…

1. Kite (We Like It Here) - Snarky Puppy

   Bridge starts at: 3:57

   I first discovered the work of Snarky Puppy roughly 8 years ago or so. I’m not sure where I heard this track first, it might have been on a mix or a playlist somewhere, but the whole track really hit deep for me. It’s clear something very special was created during this session and you can feel it in the clarity and precision of each musician in the room.
   
   The bridge section is kind of teased throughout the first few minutes but it fully takes off around the 3:57 minute mark after an incredible and rousing flugelhorn solo.
   

2. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) - Marvin Gaye

   Bridge starts at: 2:13

   A track that probably needs no introduction, off an album which will live long into the future. The thing with the change up in this track I think for me are the strings. The sax solo into a combination of the strings and the heavenly but mysterious vocals just create such a spiritual atmosphere I can’t describe. It leaves me cold everytime.

   
   

3. The Both Of Us - Sam Wills
   Bridge starts at: 2:33

   Following in the footsteps of timeless sounds, I first played this track in a mix of mine around 6 years ago, and I remember being floored by the production and how smooth the whole track is.
   
   The chord progressions in particular (you’ll probably get sick of me talking about chord progressions) but it’s at 2:33 where the track ascends to a new plane. Special mention to the guitar solo towards the end of the track too which adds the final flourish.

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Yes hope everyone is keeping well and you’ve had a good start to the new year. Before we get into this one I just want to say a massive thank you to all 300+ subscribers locked into Heart & Soul. It’s been amazing to see this community go from strength to strength and expand onto this amazing platform. Its given me another outlet to connect with you all so thank you for being here.

Collectors First

I’m not sure the total amount of time I’ve spent actually listening and looking for tracks over the years. It’s a pastime I’ve normally always enjoyed and its true that most musicians, curators, DJs etc are collectors first. This is definitely true in my case as it was years after I started collecting that I actually released what I would class as a ‘mix’.

The truth though, is that there is no correct time to start making mixes. If you have 100 tracks in your library or 10,000 I don’t think it really matters. I would say it’s more of a feeling.

Most of my childhood was spent listening to music and whatever was on the radio. I’ll always remember hearing certain tracks for the first time and that SPECIFIC feeling it gave me a kid. As if time had stopped and the only thing that mattered in that moment was what you were hearing and how it made you feel. The sights, emotions and your surroundings captured in time.

I’ve been chasing and also sharing this feeling with the world ever since.

Bookings & Partnerships

Getting Organised

I grew up in the digital age and during the explosion of social media, so the way we were consuming and collecting music seemed to be constantly evolving. One thing I always did, was just keep folders of music by genre or playlist (something I still do to this day) regardless of which music platforms were around. That way I could always move folders around if and when I needed to while keeping everything intact.

My parents never had a record player so I never played or learned much about vinyl yet I am curious (Hoping one day I’ll get a player and build up a solid collection of vinyl). So the majority of what I collected was digital.

I didn’t have much, if any, disposable income growing up so a lot of what I collected came from YouTube or Soundcloud rips (I will touch on the golden age of Soundcloud later on). But then as I started to listen to more DJs and other radio shows growing up I discovered that there were other platforms to find the gems.

Here are my absolute go to platforms to search for new music…

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