Introducing Common Roots [@cmnrts] – East London’s Eclectic Music Collective

Arts & Culture

BY Ilayda McIntosh

April 25, 2019

Introducing Common Roots [@cmnrts] – East London’s Eclectic Music Collective

How was Common Roots founded?

James Brunell: “Common Roots started back when Franc and I met in middle school and started recording our own music at the youth club, selling our mix tapes at school, and uploading freestyles/home made music videos on Facebook and YouTube. Tanaka also grew up in the same area. We then went our separate ways for uni – I went to Guildford and Francis went to Bristol where he met Jamie.B and Sean Cull as well as other musicians.”

Franc: “After a year in Bristol, I moved to London and met Baby Pink. Baby Pink knew West.ie and 97 from college, and we all started making music together. We then met Mezzy at a house party in Stratford and Iman at a uni talent show in Mile End. Eventually we all ended up all in London with the exception of Jamie.B still living in Bristol but regularly commuting back to his home town of London to join everyone else there for shows, meetings, and collaborative creative endeavours.

As independent artists, we ultimately aim to carry everything in house, from editing our videos, to the recording and engineering of the music. We’re basically trying to build a sustained network of creative individuals, all with the same vision and direction, more or less.”

How would you describe common roots?

Jamie.B: “I would say we’re a group of unique, yet like-minded individuals who have the same interests – this allows us come together and create collectively. When it comes to inspirations, we all have our personal idols, but we also have very similar tastes in artists – particularly within hip hop, soul and rnb – we’re all from different places but are on a similar wavelength – We’ve always had an unspoken connection when it came to working creatively.”

Sean Cull: “We collectively have a common aim, for expanding our artistry and the unique vibe that we all have through individual artistry ourselves; In an evolving age of record labels, were working to break the status quo.”

Do you any upcoming projects/shows?

Mezzy: “There’s quite a few projects in the works!”

Baby-Pink: “So we’re trying to consistently drop music at the moment. Out latest single ‘Buckshot’ is on streaming services alongside the video on YouTube. We also have a bunch of shows In London ending with a headline show.”

West.ie: “Also, everyone is dropping individual projects this year as well as a number of joint tapes from Common Roots. We’re working towards a collective project in the future. I won’t say much more about that, but it is on the way!”

We also have merch on the way!”

Jam.ie B – MC, Songwriter, Producer, Graphic Designer and Artistic Director