Yxng Bane – Triple Threat

Hailing from East London, Yxng Bane has been bringing to the table nothing short of an array of sounds on various tracks in the past year or two, particularly last year as it felt like 2017 was only a warm up of what he was about shower down in 2018. 2018 was not only a year of hit after hit for Yxng Bane, but also a year of showing that he’s more than just a musician.

Bane kickstarted the year with a collaboration with Maleek Berry, a producer and artist known for the production of many afrobeat artists’ singles including Wizkid’s ‘The Matter’. ‘Corner’,which was filmed in Nigeria shows Yxng Bane connecting with the people and the culture. Being of Congolese and Angolan heritage, he has also collaborated with French artist Franglish on a track called ‘Makasi’ meaning strong. Later,he came with ‘Vroom’, a spin on dancehall legend Beenie Man’s “Who am I”. This was successful and spent 14 weeks in the Official Charts peaking at no.27. Bane even got the call-up from the legend and made a remix of Bane’s ‘Vroom’. He released singles throughout the year including ‘Answerphone’ (with Ella Eyre and Bank&Ranx) ‘Both Sides’ and ‘More Muni’ (with 90Bagz, one of my favourite songs of the year). Bane came together with D-Block Europe’s Young Adz and Dirtbike LB and released a project entitled ‘AnyMinute Now’. ‘Gucci Mane’, ‘Cocktail’ and ‘Rap Saved Me’ were my personal favourites on the project, with ‘Gucci Mane’ charting to no.49 in the charts.

He didn’t stop there with the music – but came through with another talent which may have surprised his fans.Acting in a short film entitled “HBK: The Prequel” (in anticipation of his surprise mixtape), the film portrays life of young black males living in London: chilling with the mandem, moving to girls on road and the inconvenience of running into the police whilst not even causing trouble. As the main character, Yxng Bane portrays a jovial yet serious guy – jovial when bantering his friend about his mum’s cooking yet serious when he received the phone-call on the death of his girlfriend’s brother and realising the repercussions his friends could face. The mixtape is also not a disappointment.

A star already in the eyes ofmany, it’s no surprise that Bane took his image to London Fashion Week 2018. Already known for having good and expensive fashion sense, he was styling the creation of Tinie Tempah’s “What We Wear” label, which is described as “incorporating timeless, British-style with futurism”. He’s even collaborated with Dxpe Chef to bringout his own line “HBK x Dxpe Chef”, who base their clothes on tours around the world.

The future is looking bright for Yxng Bane provided he continues to keep up the hard-work. More shows, more albums and more muni!