Beats 1’s Julie Adenuga on Ragz Originale’s En Route
Ragz Originale is a producer/rapper/musician who produced Skepta’s mahoosive track Shutdown. I overheard my boyfriend watching the video one morning and I asked, What’s dat? and he said, It’s Ragz Originale’s new video.
I don’t think Ragz sounds like anyone, although this track reminds me of how I felt when I heard Kanye West’s Say You Will.
I love that every element of the song feels separate, but also fits really perfectly together at the same time.
Sometimes, I’m concentrating on Ragz’s lyrics, then listening to the vocal samples or nodding to the beat, but then I find myself just enjoying how everything sounds together.
I love that there’s a 30-second intro on a song that’s only two-and-a-half minutes long. The track feels really simple and stripped back. It makes me feel like I can slow down parts of my own life, not be so busy and still have tangible outcomes.
I’m not a producer, I’ve never made a beat in my life, but I can appreciate that Ragz could have rapped double time or added his own chorus, but instead you get straight to the point verses like, “I hope that heaven have another vacancy, let Michael know I’m en route deya.”
Then in the chorus you get these pitched up and pitched down ‘Hey Baby’ vocals and they feel perfect.
This year, I’d like to see Ragz really own the sound of En Route and continue to deliver tracks that feel refreshingly different to everything else that’s out there at the moment.
Julie Adenuga (@julieadenuga)
Beats 1
