Across The Pond: Octavian

by Paul Varndell November 24, 2019

If you haven’t heard the name, you may have seen him in the LA Louis Vuitton store as a statue, or in photos with Travis Scott…Octavian is doing the rounds. Born in Lille, France, he moved to the U.K. at a young age with his Mother and settled in South London. Growing up he had the opportunity to go to Brit School (A highly respected Performing Arts School) but dropped out after just over a year. The first mixtape we received from Octavian was in 2016 titled 22, but it wasn’t until 2017 when he dropped his track ‘Party Here’ that things really took off. Drake was videoed on Instagram singing along to the track at a Golden Globes After Party and that was enough to send the rising star to new heights. Collaborations with Mura Masa and Skepta don’t come easy but hanging with the stars is normal for Octavian. One week he’s pictured with Bella Hadid and the next with quite literally anyone. High Snobiety labelled his music “Too British to be labelled Trap, but too American to be classed as Grime,” which turns out to be a fantastic combination. His raw, energetic style with no regards for the norm is what makes Octavian stand out from the crowd. Here’s just three tracks you have to hear.

Bet

You might be wondering who Michael Phantom is on the line up. Well, he’s part of the ‘ESSIE Gang’ that Octavian is a founding member of and his verse on this is pure gold. This song is fun, catchy and features a Skepta verse that you just have to pull back to the start.

Take It Easy

When you first see the line up, it’s easy to wonder how a collaboration with these two would work, but when you hear it – it all makes sense. The Raspy nature of Octavian’s voice mixed with the bouncy, fast flow creates a rhythm you can’t avoid nodding along to. An interesting collaboration choice but when you seem to know everyone in the industry, why not?

Pattern Chanel

Dropped this week, this track comes from the ‘ESSIE Gang’ that you’re going to be hearing a lot of in years to come. A classic beat style for Octavian to choose with a huge chorus. His verse will catch you off guard for sure so be ready, it’s not the most formulaic but it absolutely makes the song.

So when you’ve achieved all this within 3 years of your first mixtape, where do you go next? The answer is your squad brings out another mixtape. Octavian was teasing a whole range of songs that featured the ‘ESSIE Gang’ on his Instagram story a little while back and now we have the first glimpse of it. Surely it won’t be long before it’s all out? The feature list could be anyone in the industry so this is definitely one to look out for.

Octavian