Name: Roderick
Service to the State: Singer, songwriter, founder
Manor: Leicester
Born: Accra, Ghana
Classics: Amerie – 1 Thing, Basement Jaxx – Jump and Shout (Stanton Warriors remix), Kylie – Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (OH yeah)
Right now: Beyonce – End of Time, Drake – Crew Love, Ms Dynamite – Neva Soft
At my funeral: Dusty Springfield – Son of a Preacher Man
Bio: A sucker for a great tune since he could tie his own shoes, Roderick started writing melodies at school. He kind of figured he’d grow out of it, so when after ten years in a ‘real’ job he found himself still addicted to creating sounds he set himself up a home studio and got serious.
His first proper heartbreak soon after turned out to be just more fuel for the fire. Running away to Chicago on holiday, he had a moment of enlightenment while endlessly riding the city’s ‘Loop’ metro system.
His escape, he saw, was to be bringing the music into his head into the world, and heading home he wrote song after song that proved to him he’d opened up unimagined new musical horizons. Love On Loop is the break-up song which freed him from that batch of demons, and the Chicago Loop provided the inspiration for The Urban State’s first album cover.
Blessed with wildly eclectic taste that he’s enriched with culture-hungry travels in Europe, Asia and the US, R.Jay’s weakness is still for killer melodies, and mixing euphoria with darkness, edge with joy. Mixing these with the potential combinations of amazing voices, sounds and ideas today’s London offers, the possibilities are infinite.