Blue Lab Beats

NK-OK and Mr DM

Kwaten and Mrakpor first met at WAC Arts when Namali was thirteen and David eighteen where they developed their eclectic range and understanding of jazz arrangement. What began as a sharing of ideas and jamming in NK-OK’s blue bedroom became a ritualistic musical journey, beginning with their production for The The Age of L.U.N.A and has now seen them since work with the likes of Dua Lipa and Rag'n'Bone Man. The duo’s first project Blue Skies EP helped increase their reach and introduced them to platforms all over. Their second offering was the Freedom EP, the five-track project that sums up the tone set by the duo. Their early successes lead to notable plays on BBC Radio 1, BBC 1Xtra, BBC 6 Music, Boiler Room and more. Amassing over 500K+ views online of their live session for Jazz FM, the band have graced the stages of Afropunk, Glastonbury 2017, WOMAD and the infamous jazz bar Ronnie Scott’s. Representing London’s reinvigorated contemporary jazz scene, Blue Lab Beats find inspiration in a new wave of soul-inspired jazz coming from all over the world through Hiatus Kaiyote,Moonchild and even Kendrick Lamar. Blue Lab Beats’ album Xover (recorded at Peter Gabriel’s own residential Real World Studios) sees them take their instrumental hip-hop in a different direction, with George Clinton-inspired vocals and the dynamic guitar riffs laden across but still inspired by the fusion of jazz, Afrobeat, hip-hop and neo-soul that informs the duo’s sound.