Get to know WIZE
The phrase “multi-hyphenate” gets thrown around a lot these days, but there’s truly no better way to describe WIZE.
WIZE is a producer-remixer-rapper-writer-engineer and his music is hip hop-grime-drill and even electro-funk (if a recent Instagram video is anything to go by). While he’s been an integral part of the UK’s thriving music scene for well over a decade now, he’s built a serious buzz over the last few years for his inventive production style, bolstered by the viral success of his “WIZE edits,” which offer his own signature production spin to famous grime freestyles.
WIZE grew up in North London and was exposed to music from a young age—his mother was a session singer who would bring her young son to the recording studio with her. Although he loved hearing his mom sing, he didn’t have much interest in creating music then, and was much more into drawing, graphic design and video games (especially Super Mario).
“I find that most of the music I make provokes my body to actually physically move whether that’s dancing around or jumping up and down in absolute excitement.”
Eventually he caught the music bug at around 12 years old after watching a friend create a beat on a crude music production app built into a Sony Ericsson phone. He got his hands on a copy of a DAW named Kristal and started playing around. It was also around the time he got access to the internet at home, and he started uploading his beats online. He had his first taste of viral fame when a beat he made called ‘“Ah Yeah” made the rounds amongst emcees in London, and WIZE’s production career was officially on.
Since then WIZE has racked up many accomplishments including production credits for Wiley, D Block Europe, Lotto Boyzz, and Yxng Bane; official remixes for Flowdan and Novelist; and even secured a placement for one of his tracks in an Apple commercial. He also hosted the hugely popular Crowdsourced, a beat-making challenge web series that featured a roster of incredible producers such as Jimmy Edgar & Machinedrum (J-E-T-S) and Flava D.
As his profile has grown he still retains some of the childlike wonder that came with creating beats on a primitive DAW:
“There is a certain purity that I feel comes with relinquishing yourself of the ‘cheat-codes’ that come with today’s production and taking it back to the raw mechanics which created such timeless music before the digital age took over.”
With Serato Studio he prefers a minimal outboard setup which allows him to dig into the nuts and bolts of the software.
“Serato Sample is one of my favorite tools to use when it comes to quickly finding chops to play around with.”
Music production is all about learning, regardless of whether you are a beginner or a seasoned vet like WIZE. Throughout his Serato’s Kitchen residency he’ll be sharing his trials, errors and creations, and audiences can expect both boundary-pushing experimental beats alongside good times and banter that WIZE is also known for.
WIZE’s Serato’s Kitchen dates
Episode one: April 6th 2pm ET / 11am PT / 7pm UK
Episode two: April 13th 2pm ET / 11am PT / 7pm UK
Episode three: April 20th 2pm ET / 11am PT / 7pm UK
Episode four: April 27th 2pm ET / 11am PT / 7pm UK
Watch WIZE’s Serato’s Kitchen episodes live on the Serato Twitch channel and download the samples from the Serato Discord before each episode.