Meet Hagan a British born Ghanaian producer and DJ known for his rampant drum beats and bass. With the release of his debut album ‘Textures’ Hagan is making his mark in music and recently has been nominated by DJ Mag for best album 2022.

Congratulations on the nomination! How are you feeling about that?

Wow erm, thank you so much! It was actually quite a surprise to me, I got the email into my inbox and I was like… what?! Nominated for best album 2022, where did this all come from?

As soon as I saw it I just had a big smile on my face. It took me back to recording, I’ve been recording this album for three years! As soon as I got the notification I just started having flashbacks of the last three years, going back and forth to Ghana. The pre planning the whole ideation, putting it all together, the musicians. It felt good, I’m not gonna lie the work was getting appreciated, it felt good. 

Before Textures

It’s really important to reflect on the past, you being a DJ, producer, artiste…

Why did you get into music and how?

Through church, there was always a segment – praise and worship. For me praise and worship was vibes, I didn’t even see it as praise and worship. I just saw it as vibes for me to just dance. They would sing in twi and with that you know there’s naturally rhythm there, there’s movement for you to dance to. So for me I was always intrigued by why is there so much rhythm in this music? I fell in love with drums, percussion from a very young age. 

Would you say drums are your favourite instrument?

Yeah! Rhythm, the rhythm section of music is what I love dissecting a lot. I had to start utilising stuff in the house and started using pots and pans just to understand about groove and different tones. From sixteen to eighteen I started playing drums in church, started playing jembe and percussion too. When I went to uni, one of my friends who was DJing at the time, he went uni in midlands and that was the period where funky house was popping. He reached out and was like “Hagan I need you to make music that I can play that’s exclusive” and prior to that I was making music but very basic, I never thought I’d be making music like this. So I started making some basic UK funky tunes and it started popping off in Leicester. He used to send me videos of people vibing to my music and so naturally that gave me the motivation to continue. I kept sending over music and then one day a DJ from Rinse FM messaged me to say he’d heard my tracks and he wants to play them on Rinse. I remember I even missed my lecture just so I could hear it on the radio.

How would you describe the music that you typically create? 

I find that so hard to answer

*laughs* It’s such a vague question 

It’s not even that it’s vague it’s just…I have no answer because my music is very unique to me. It’s a Hagan sound, it’s very much influenced by stuff that I’ve listened to whilst growing up. So that includes Afrobeat, Afrobeats, Afro House, African influenced dance music. There was a time where I was listening to a lot of Black Coffee, Black Motion and Kwaito house. Those grooves were very similar to the grooves and rhythms you hear in praise and worship. So naturally I was drawn to this, you know that tribal sound. My sound is very tribal but I love music from the UK club scene where it’s bass heavy and you hear that in my music. I also love sounds from the diaspora especially music from South America, Afro Brazilians, Afro Colombians and some of the percussion they use. I have a lot of influences or I try to listen to a lot of their music so I can bring it into my sound. It’s basically a melting point of all of those sounds. 

Oh! I forgot to mention Highlife and Hiplife. How can I forget those two?!

Who is your favourite Afrohouse artist/DJ?

My favourite…I know I’m probably not going to answer this correctly because I know I’m going to forget names but it might have to be Da Capo. Probably because of how broad his music is and I definitely can’t forget Black Coffee because when it comes to DJing his technique, the way he plays with the FX is how I learned. But with Da Capo I just like the music he plays, his style, he’s just so versatile. Also, Culoe De Song his music it’s just, he’s just got range. There are songs from where you’d get that dark Culoe De Song sound and then he mixes it up and you get that where his songs are a little bit more vibes, little bit more happier. Jackson Brainwave too, he’s another guy from South Africa, he’s got the tribal sound and it’s almost unforgiving. The way he plays and the way he makes music, he doesn’t care about the rules of low end. The low end is so heavy and basy with the mix and the sound, the quality of his mixes you can hear all elements and I love it. 

Who would you most like to collaborate with? 

This is crazy, so the person I really wanted to collaborate with was Sango and that’s happened quite a few times and still till this day I shake my head at the fact I’ve collaborated with him. When I speak to him on whatsapp I’m like how am I speaking to this guy on whatsapp? He’s so cool and he was one of my dream collaborations for time. Who would I like to collaborate with now? Hmm, probably Mansur Brown the way he plays guitar…spiritual man. Its like the guitar is speaking to you and I just really respect him as a musician, his talent and where he’s taken the sound of UK Jazz music. It’s very unique to himself. It’s very black. The way he plays guitar, he’s a pioneer for his generation. I definitely have more people I just can’t think of them right now but yeah I just went to a Mansur Brown concert about three days ago and yeah he’s just given me some massive inspiration so it would be dope to work with him. 

If you could open a show for any artist, who would it be? 

I’d love to open up for Kaytranda, people like Kaytranada, people like Juls, people like Sango. The reason why I respect them so much is because they’ve created their own sound, like they can have their own show and just play their own music and you’ll vibe to it. That’s what I’m trying to do with my music, that Hagan sound so just being on a lineup where everyone is contributing their own sound would be ideal for me. Makes me realise that I’m doing the same for my music. Also KG from the London, she’s doing her own thing too.

A bit of a silly question but do you sing in the shower and which songs? 

I sing everywhere. I’m joking, I can’t sing so what I do is beatbox or hum in the shower or on the way to work, on the way to the gym. It’s to the point where my mum thinks I’m crazy because I keep talking to myself, beatboxing to myself but it keeps the creative juices flowing. The other day I kept beatboxing to ‘Ku Lo Sa’ also Wizkid’s ‘Money & Love’ I was beatboxing that for days! I was singing the backing you know trying to hum to the backing, but my voice was too deep!

Do you have any upcoming shows? 

Next year I have a few things planned, it needs to be confirmed but hopefully it’ll be a Hagan creative lineup. So yeah just trying to confirm that at the moment. Got quite a few nice ones around the March period, one or two festival books. Looking forward to 2023.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given?

The best advice would be from a guy called Elijah, he does ‘Yellow Squares’. It’s not really advice but it’s what he’s told me and he said “when you get opportunities that are given to you, for example you’re given the opportunity to buy new equipment for whatever reason you’ve acquired the money to buy some new equipment. Always make sure that you’re trying to inspire those that are either younger than you or do not have access to the equipment and give your old equipment to them.” That’s always stuck with me that with whatever success comes out of this make sure that you’re passing it down to those who are maybe starting, maybe those who don’t have the opportunity. 

Textures

What I would personally like to know is where did you get the name from?

Textures…it just came from years of feedback given to me about my music. Everyone’s said to me that “Hagan, your music especially your drums it’s so layered and intricate so detailed” and that’s because I love making sure that there’s feeling within the groove. Even just capturing people speaking for example I would try and incorporate that into the groove and the drums, give it that human life feel to it. So if I’m making an album I need to extrapolate that whole mantra throughout the whole project. Not just through drums but through the melody, the visuals. Through the whole rollout and implementation of the project, I was looking through samples on youtube and compiled a playlist of sources of inspiration. Some of the things I was searching was African drummers, Ghanaian drummers in particular. The whole concept of Ghanaian Jama, the fishermen in Ghana, the very interesting thing about them is that when they go out into the sea to catch their produce they’re always chanting, like they always have a percussion that they’re chanting with and every time they start, things are very peaceful but as they go into the sea the sea conditions change and things become a bit rough and that depicts the sound of Hagan and who I am as a person as well. For years now I’ve tried to deny the calmness of my personality but everyone keeps on saying “you’re so calm”  and I keep on telling people you haven’t met me on a frustrating or angry day. There are two sides to me; the calmness that you see from the fishermen and then I guess in my music the very bassy side is my aggressive side and again that’s depicted by the fishermen with the changes of the sea condition. Compiling all of those things together there are so many layers it’s not just me making music, many textures so I thought why not just call it ‘Textures’ 

So when I first listened to Textures, I would say it’s very experimental and different from your older stuff. Like with your older stuff, it’s very focused on Afro House but with this album it’s much more smoother. I mean, there are certain elements of Afro House in there but it’s also got a different sound as well.

Yeah, the thing is when you’re making the album you have to shape it so that there’s a journey from the start to the finish. So if I was going to make an album to keep people locked in for about 46 minutes then there needs to be a range of feelings and emotions. So you’re right there are elements of Afro House but there’s even Afrobeats in there, the merging of traditional West African instruments with club sound as well. So in terms of inspiration the core foundation for inspiration is just me coming from Ghana. That’s throughout the whole album, if you’re Ghanaian there are certain parts of it that you would understand than someone who is not from Ghana. The whole concept of Afrobeat as well, that’s why you hear the horns in the album because with Afrobeat music you hear a lot of horns. As I’ve mentioned before, Brazilian music as well ‘baile funk’ and you hear that in the collaboration with Sango and Luedji Luna. I just love the sound of portugese and I love Brazilian music so when the opportunity arose to collaborate with them I had to figure out a way where I can keep my sound in there but also bring theirs into it and that’s the melting pot you hear on ‘Telha’

When I listen to ‘Textures’ the main genres that did come to mind was Afro House and Highlife. Literally a fusion of the two and I’ve been calling it ‘When Afro House meets Highlife’ how do you feel when people describe this new sound as that? 

Wow, I’ve never thought of it like that. I might have to continue doing that. It does make me smile because that was my aim. In this project I want listeners to hear where I’m from and hear what I love listening to which is Afro House. I just want this to be a project that when I listen back in 10 years I can say “I really like this” and I can show my children that yeah I’m trying to keep the concept of culture alive through music. I always say how am I going to retain my Ghanaian culture? Especially because I don’t live in Ghana. So for me this is personal, just to retain the culture through music so trying to make sure that I keep the Ghanaian forms of music alive but kinda merge it and twist it in a way that is contemporary and modern and unique to me. 

Who is the lady speaking Twi at the end of ‘Pray for Me’?

So that’s my grandma, every week I speak to my grandma and she always prays over my life and one time there was this prayer she said that was very powerful and so I thought let me keep this because one day I’ll use this. So the whole idea for ‘Pray for Me’ came when I was with Ayeisha Raquel and I was like, I have a tune that I want to dedicate to the concept of prayer. So she started writing on the whole idea of prayer for someone who doesn’t really know about prayer.

Who are your musical inspirations, past, present and someone who you’re excited for in the future?

Past

I used to listen to Appietus, the Ghanaian producer and I just loved how dominated a lot of the Hiplife, Highlife music scene back in the day. For me, he was one of the top Ghanaian producers and he inspired me with how he was able to change the sound. Like, how he would go back and forth from the two genres and you could still see that he was bridging the gap between the two. I just liked the whole concept and his mindset. Of course, Timbaland! What I enjoy about Timbo’s music is the way he processed his drums. It’s very punchy, the kick drums always knocked, the snares were tight and he also found weird and wonderful sounds to sample. Also Ambolley, another musician from Ghana an Afro Jazz musician known for the ‘Simi rap’ and the reason that I like him he’s just so wavy the way he would rap on the rhythms and he’s very gifted, like he plays the saxophone, I’m sure he can play the keys too. I listened to a lot of UK Funky as a teenager because I found similarities with that sound and West African drumming. So early producers like Crazy Cousinz, Hard House Banton, Greyman, Scratcha DVA, Apple, Invasion Crew, Donaeo, Fuzzy Logik and more.

Present

I’ve already mentioned Juls and Sango because of how they’ve made their own sound.

Benjiflow – he’s very much a fusionist with a deep love for percussion and Brazilian music. He can effortlessly blend that with UK music styles to create a unique sound.

Nana Rogues – you can hear in his productions how he was inspired by The Neptunes. I respect how he’s utilised that sound to create rich melodic compositions. “To The Max” is a very soulful riddem!

Yussef Dayes – such an incredibly talented drummer in the UK Jazz scene and beyond. I’m really drawn to his style of playing and his high ability level. From a musicians standpoint, i just respect his craftsmanship. 

Future

I’m very excited for Charisse C she plays Amapiano and Gqom and her energy and aura when she’s playing is sick. She’s got a great ear and knows how to keep the crowd going.

Musicians I’m excited for Mansur Brown, for my boy Alex Cosmo Blake who plays guitar he’s so talented! He’s played for Jaz Karis, he’s played for Wizkid’s album as well. 

A lot of the Amapiano producers, that aren’t necessarily upcoming, inspire me. There’s a particular level of energy South African producers inject onto the dance floor. Producers such as Felo Tee, MFR Souls, Mellow and Sleezy, Kabza De Small, Vigro Deep, Thabza Tee and the list goes on

So as a listener of Afro House, I feel like with Amapiano is probably the only genre within Afro House that has been received quite well in the UK and I’m always trying to understand why is that because with Gqom I felt that it didn’t really hit the scene in the UK. I mean it was there but it wasn’t as rampant as Amapiano.

Yeah I think with Amapiano it’s a lot more slower so there’s time to really enjoy the music. There were also I guess world events that occurred that allowed people to take in the sound. So like during Covid, everyones inside and that was the time Amapiano started growing and people were taking to it. Also, I think with Amapiano there are a lot more songs compared to Gqom. I also think people enjoy listening to lyrics and singing along so if you have groove that’s infectious and tribal, that there are lyrics people remember and can vibe to and slow enough that people can dance to then it’s a winning formula. Also the groove you hear in Amapiano you do hear it in a lot of African music but the way the South Africans have been able to innovate with electronic music and have a nice balance with low end because the log drum is low end and very heavy and balance that with the chord progressions it’s a winning formula. Whereas with Gqom, it’s very much underground like when it first started and began to bubble within the scene it was very much within the underground scene. It didn’t really make its way to the commercial sound and wasn’t played at day parties as opposed to Amapiano. It’s a dark, night time sound so it depends where you can play the music. That’s one thing I had in my mind when I was making the album because I come from that underground sound scene, and I needed to make an album that has replay value. How am I going to do that? By slowing down the tempo and explore genres outside of what I usually do and make it more melodic. 

So, the next question is a little striking, you may not want to answer but what is your least favourite and favourite song from the album?

Okay I’ll say the tracks I had the most fun making; ‘Pray for Me’, ‘My Love’ and ‘Welcome to Ghana’ because they were face to face. Many of the features on this album are based all around the world but the three tracks I mentioned, they are based here so it gave me a chance to work in the studio with the artists. We were exchanging life stories we weren’t just talking about music you know I got to know them on a personal level and those are some of the memories I’ll remember forever. I got to understand who they were as people before musicians, it was fun. 

Catch more of Hagan on:

Instagram @Hagan_uk

Twitter @HaganUK