Knightz – Q&A Interview
-Tell us a little about yourself. Where you are from? How long have you been making Hip Hop
Hello Ya’ll! Our names are Zachary Orleans-Aikins (AKA OZ SZ), and Courtney Orleans-Aikins (AKA Two Tone), together we are the KNIGHTZ. We are brothers who are lyricists, engineers, and producers born in Manchester, NH also known as the Queen City. We started creating Hip Hop music in a small seacoast town called Exeter in 2009. Prior to this, we’ve always been fans of the genre and grew up inspired to make music when our older brother bought his first Apple computer for college in 2005. In that moment, we discovered Garageband, a Digital Audio Workstation designed for beginner/intermediate musicians looking for a way to record, produce, and mix music. This was an eye opener for us that opened up a door we weren’t 100% convinced to pursue at the time. As years passed, we met a friend/rapper at Exeter High School named Justin Carmona (AKA Taz Millennium). He was part of a locally well known group called Half and Half that included himself and another student named Sean Meier. After listening and hearing the way he rapped, that motivated us to also pursue the dream of becoming recording artists.
-What influences you in making Hip Hop?
What influences us in making Hip Hop is the city we’re from, the past we’ve been through, and the vision we wish to create. Manchester, NH is the biggest metropolitan area above Boston. However it is overlooked for sports, art, etc… Not to mention a lot of negative push back towards people who are “go gettas,” in this case it’s the artists. By making Hip Hop Music, we saw an outlet we could take to make it out, as well as inspire our friends, family, and people of our hometown to do the same and find happiness in what they do. We remember being in grade school and looking up to people like Adam Sandler, and the McDonald brothers for creating such life changing cultures for everyone, not just locally, but globally! After growing up and seeing the trail they made for us — creating the worldwide known fast food restaurant “McDonalds” and Adam Sandler becoming one of the funniest comedians we watch til today — leaving Manchester to make their dream a reality was a big motivator for us to become another hero for our city. We hope to be leaders, and or, “Frontline For The Queen”.
3-Describe your music, and what separates you from other MC’s?
Our music is the right combination of Hip Hop sub genres, balancing 90’s hip hop with the new generation Trap. We’ve learned over the past years that people like the 90’s Hip Hop music due to the “lyrical content and classic sound” it brings to the table. With Trap, people enjoy the “production and excitement” you feel from it; though the lyrics are typically dumbed down. As the KNIGHTZ, we combine the two to cater to the needs for everyone. The advantage we have over other MC’s is we are brothers, Courtney age 18 and Zachary age 20. We have grown up together sharing the same room while building a connection that continuously grows stronger. We keep each other on a competitive edge to develop and strive to be in the best art form possible. When one of us sets the stage, the other works to exceed it. This is a good way for us to track our progress when listening to our music. This is rare because not many brothers share the same talent; we feed off each other’s energy. We both produce our own music, write our own music, and rap our own music.
-Who have you collaborated with? Who would you like to collab with in the near future?
We’ve collaborated with a variety of Artists, DJ’s, Producers, and Directors.
Calvin Deal is a videography director we met through our friend Justin, at a video shoot we had in Manchester in 2010. Since then, Cal has been there to support the KNIGHTZ through studio sessions, music videos and performances from day one. Our friendships have grown tighter, and as a result his videography spoke for itself. Cal has a different dimension to his work because he is a huge fan of our music, and big contributor to our vision. He knows what we are looking for, and how to portray not just an image, but more importantly, our style.
We have also collaborated with our older brother, Quinlan who is an R&B singer. He has also done many tracks with us on previous projects. We’ve collaborated with the Manchester dance group “Movement From Above” . We produced beats for the dancers such as Deo, Vinny, Destin, Gedeon Mwano and a very close childhood friend of ours named Shaquille Worsley.
Some more recent collaborations we’ve done was with DJ Shane T (a DJ/Bboy from Detroit, Michigan) when Zach was attending Full Sail University in Orlando, FL. We’ve also done features with the artist Modefi on a track called “Black Holes” on his album Mission:Orion; an artist Harvey Uncouth on a track called “She Bad Homie”, and a producer in the KNIGHTZ, Liam Conway that made our track “How High” off our upcoming album “Frontline For The Queen.”
In the near future we’d love to see some collaborations with Brian Soko, Mad Bwoy, Young Chop, D. Black, and other local and national artists.
-Your definition of “Underground Hip Hop”?
Our definition of “Underground Hip Hop” is music made by local/national artists and producers either not seeking mainstream recognition, and or artists and producers that work to maintain a smaller established loyal fan base.
-Production wise, who are your influences? Who does your production? And who would you like to work with?
Our influences for production are Timbaland, Young Chop, Mike Will Made It, Kanye West, Just Blaze, Dr. Dre, Brian Soko, 40, Swizz Beatz and much more! However for us, we both do our own production. We frequently collaborate with a friend Liam Conway who also makes music. But nonetheless, we would love to collaborate with all the producers listed above.
-Any current or future projects you are promoting?
Yes! This summer we are preparing to release our first studio album called “Frontline For The Queen.” We recently just dropped the first single and video for “Bad On My Own” off the album, and we plan on releasing the next within the next couple of weeks. Aside from that, Two Tone and I will be working on our individual mixtapes which will have a intertwined storyline.
-Can you give us a brief description of the creative process of Frontline For The Queen? Also/ what was the idea or concept description about your Album Art Cover.
This album will create the setting for the first part of our journey by foreshadowing. It goes over everything ranging from where we are now, to where we plan to be. This album will be the foundation for the KNIGHTZ as we grow. Meaning taking our listener’s through life conflicts, fighting our city’s negativity, building skill, and most importantly family matters. As far as Album Artwork, we’re undecided, but it is in development! The idea we have in mind is simple but meaningful. It needs to portray us coming together, working as one, fighting a battle to overcome our city’s negativity. It will show how the KNIGHTZ stand as the Queens Frontline men to journey out and stand up not only for our city, but to make a name for the North.
-Where can we find your music and info?
YOUTUBE: KNIGHTZx94
SOUNDCLOUD: soundcloud.com/knightzx94
TWITTER: @wmwallaround @twotoneknightz
INSTAGRAM: @ozszknightz94 @twotoneknightz94
VIDEO PORTFOLIO: calvindeal.portfoliobox.me
-Any shout outs?
We’d like to make a shout out to our Family for always being there to support us mentally, physically, and financially. Also these following people because they were able to provide feedback to our craft, as well as provide guidance to where we wish to be. Doug York, Dr. Moher, Sr. Fischer, Jessica & Chris Poole, Modefi, Harvey Uncouth, One Mike, Rahnald Smart, DJ Kojak, Manny Hernandez, Misdirected Media. And of course all of our friends and fans that have been with us since day one encouraging us to keep going after many trials and failures! Thank You.
