conceptually provocative, uniquely expressive album
“It has always been a dream of mine to create a piece of music that represents my life story, my trials, tribulations and triumphs – all laid bare in one album.” Raised on a diet of the trailblazing pirate radio stations Deja Vu and Delight FM which were the breeding ground of the UK’s tangle of underground genres from dubstep to garage and grime, CHOZE instinctively reflects the radicalism of the era with a future-thinking twist.
“I wanted to create a body of work that would help continue to break down barriers and to keep the legacy of the UK music scene and its history alive. It was one of the reasons why I called the album “D.I.Y”. It was more about the belief that you can do it yourself.” Built from the Clapham estate where he was raised on, where poverty and knife crime were a fact of life, CHOZE’s vision has travelled far, with The Line of Best Fit, Huffington Post, DORK, Thread Radio on board after he was shortlisted for the Record Store Day’s #RSDUnsigned competition.
But the most important collaboration of all on D.I.Y for CHOZE is his own mother. He says: “To close the album I knew my mother was going to record that blessing. She is the reason why I’m here today: she sacrificed so much to create better opportunities for me, my brother and my sister. She is my inspiration, so I felt it was only right to end the album with my hero.”
