401 1.1 - I, Infecta – THE REPORT
Infecta – meaning lyrically sick, influencing others to spit – was born in Africa specifically Lagos, Nigeria to an army Lieutenant Father and entrepreneurial mother. Growing up there till the age of 10 years young - in year 2000, February a young, naive and still innocent (mostly) boy boarded a plane with his mum to England to visit his sister then travel back home to finish boarding school but the latter never happened and an unexpected turn of events led to him turning into Southwark; South London’s poster boy who’s now working on a debut Album + Fashion Line.
Making strides to go further in music and wasting little time, Infecta made his bedroom studio at the age of 12 and started recording and mixing down tracks himself. The resulting mixtapes; Never Say Never Vol. I-III, garnered support and allowed Infecta to start hitting the live London circuit. Able to share a stage with the likes of Bashy, Chipmunk, Devlin, Labrinth, Scorcher, Tinie Tempah and more, in 2010 Infecta played at summer festivals where he gained over 500,000 plays on MySpace with his single ‘Do What You Like’. Keen to spread his wings further, Infecta also does youth-work with charities he respects, including The Prince's Trust, Catch 22 & BPA (Black Police Association).
In his early years he worked with London Sinfonietta, John Cage & Micheal Groce. Through MySpace and from the confines of his bedroom he even collaborated on a Latin American producer's album called Color TV, that was released via Sinewave in Brazil and Diablero in Mexico.
A former student of Geoffrey Chaucer Technology College, it was during 2011, undergoing life’s lows and highs he became spotted by Ellis Rich whist performing at VINTAGE Festival via Busking Underground Competition Rhythm of London. Ellis being a young Simon Cowell’s former boss (at Sony) gave Inf the coveted stamp of approval when he signed him to his publishing company as a songwriter, further investing his guidance in the building of his musical talent.
Continuing to climb up the ranks, by 2012 we had already seen young Infecta on our TV screens making small appearances on the likes of Channel 4, BBC, SKY1, ITV & MTV. His talents also took him into modelling for Burberry and JD Sports winning a campaign as Face of JD. Exploring his creative potential a step towards fashion was made and I&I, his fully functioning clothing line, was born.
Ahead of the release of his debut album, which sees producer (and childhood friend) The Bridge (Wiley, Roll Deep, Little Mix) at the helm, Infecta’s been putting in further work on his clothing line after he was awarded a grant in 2014.
Inf’s latest release, ‘Yellow’, has proven to be a wide reaching, age and genre-defying record. The song, switching seamlessly through tempos - takes the listener on a journey that is atmospheric yet almost alternative-rap. Think Tinie Tempah or Skepta for inspiration. Though unlike them he is yet to win awards, yet to tour overseas, yet to be on the charts … For Infecta the operative word is “yet.”
Keep your eyes – and your ears – open.
Hailing from the slums of South East London, is a MC known as INFECTA, he has now been tearing the Mic since 2002. Known mainly for his versatile Lyrics and intense yet real life content he has been getting some good feedback from other MC's out there. He is now taking the game extremely seriously and is wasting no time in moving One Step Ahead from the lesser experienced Mc's who just talk about lesser important aspects of life. This Lyricist is a hard grinder. Infecta: "Hang tight all the people that stuck by me through thick & thin, keep doing what you're doing, including HATERS and all my sides of the 4 corners; Keep moving forward not back. Dats Who It Is!!" Author: Klumzee, Myspace
AJ / Infecta who MC'd in the BFI performance, is an exceptionally talented entrepreneur of a young person and has since come to work with us here at the BBC. I think AJ illustrates the level of talent that we are lucky enough to work with and nurture as creative organizations and help up the quality of their content so it has more means of standing out against the vast amount of creative competition out there. Infecta: "This project has inspired me to continue with my music because it came into my life during a time when I had doubts about my career at 17, but working alongside the BBC and London Sinfonietta has given me that vital boost…” Author: Kirsteen McNish, BBC
Artist Infecta, 20, got a successful year in 2010 after a total of Three Magazine Front Covers, Headlining a couple Summer Music Festivals and even opening for International Acts Plus hitting half a million and over on myspace song plays for single 'Do What You Like'. Not bad for an underground unsigned teen. This year he's already at it again, being dubbed One of The BBC's Sound of 2011, he's First Album 'The Bridge' with all Features/Productions By. The Bridge is what he's working on. Author: METRO, 60 Second interview: Infecta
"A young, talented, up n coming individual, an Artist who goes by the name Infecta." Author: Logan Sama, KISS 100
“The hardest working grafter in the scene…” Nii Sackey, Bigga Fisha founder.
Infecta originally /literally meant lyrically sick (good) and influence others to spit (perform lyrics). Then around 2014/15 it evolved into an acronym meaning INFECTA I.nitiate N.ew F.ound E.nergy C.onsistently T.o A.chieve when I had to dig deep to keep going for my own self. This is due to the birth genre for me being Grime, my style being very streetwise and London savy, my influences being Kano, Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, So Solid Crew, my comparisons being mostly 50 Cent & Pharrell on the US hemisphere ( proof here - http://datswhoitis.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/i-look-likes.html) and then Skepta or Tinie Tempah on the UK side, my image being very stereotypical but with a tiny bit of quirky, to my identity being formed as the friendly, happy go lucky, bubbly character, it all started to make sense to me. I am the only one who is able to be me. I’m the only one able to give the scene what it needs which is positive energy but still be a rap artist (predominantly) that can show love to other peers and still get respect and love back.
My input was positive music eg. Do What You Like - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q0OpHVPtPE and my activity was sharing this but also sharing what I like from other artist and most importantly performing the song around town and the output was I would get good comments and the communication will go full circle because I’ll have feedback from peers I like letting me know they like what I have made also and then the overall outcome was a buzz slowly building in a specific community of creatives. This is when everything works in my artist career. Performance + Positive Energy/Sharing/Promoting = Buzz (which equals SUCCESS)
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