Hello everyone…welcome to Xustralia! Today I had the privilege of conducting my second interview via twitter DM. My first twitter interview was with L.A. based artist ‘Party Nails’ and can be found here, todays interview was with Yorkshire based rapper Robert Winterburn who goes by the stage name ‘Twintwo’
This isn’t the first post I’ve wrote about ‘Twintwo’ as he was the first subject of my “Artist Spotlight” series, the post for that can be found here.
So without further ado here is the interview:
KEY: X = Xustralia (me) and TT = Twintwo
X: Thanks for agreeing to do this, how are you today?
TT: I’m good thank you, what about you?
X: Glad to hear! Yeah I’m great thanks. Now for those who don’t know, who is ‘Twintwo’?
TT: I’m a rapper from Yorkshire in the UK from a farming background.
X: You come from a farming background? Has that influenced your music in any way?
TT: I do I do, no it hasn’t really to be honest. I remember my mother told me I should rap about farming but I just don’t think it’s really my style.
X: Ah right okay, understandable. So, farming aside is there any one who you take influence from? Because, and correct me if I’m wrong, when I hear your music I hear a real distinct Eminem vibe.
TT: Yeah Eminem was one of the first rappers I listened to, I didn’t really know much about different musicians and stuff like that (un)till I was about 12/13 I think. Since then I’ve been influenced by Hopsin, Logic, Slaughterhouse, MGK (Machine Gun Kelly) and a bit of Calvin Harris.
X: As I’m not the biggest rap fan I was pleasantly surprised when I found your music and quickly became a fan. I did notice a clear shift in style from your “All Day Everyday” mixtape days to now. Was this intentional?
TT: Thank you, when I was recording “All Day Everyday” I was kind of dipping my feet into the water to see if i could actually rap this time because the first time I started I got laughed at when I brought my first song out so I kind of went underground for a bit to sort out my music.
TT(CONT): When I came out with “All Day Everyday” it was kind of a big middle finger to everyone saying: “look I know I was bad but listen to this”, so I was just focusing on rapping well. It wasn’t intentional to change my sound for the EP I’m working on now, but I think the thought of people knowing I can rap now has kind of freed the weight off my shoulders. Now I don’t have to sound like your typical all day everyday, pun intended, rapper. I can be more free with what I do!
X: You mentioned that you were laughed at when you released your first rap track, luckily for us you gave it another go. What would you say to people who want to put something out there but are worried at the initial response from peers?
TT: I’d say just do what makes you happy if you enjoy what you’re doing but someone else doesn’t who cares? Someone else in the world will like what you’re doing and if even you think you’re bad but you still want to do it just keep practicing and put the hours in.
TT(CONT): When I released my first track and was laughed at I was probably down for about a week and then I got back into writing and then for Christmas I got a microphone and just stayed in my room for nights on end trying to figure out what I did wrong and when I did figure out what was up with my rapping I started writing/recording “All Day Everyday” released “Beggin” and then everyone had basically forgotten about the first track. It was a really good feeling, then I had to go back and figure out how to out do “Beggin”.
X: Since I first found your music one question has been on my mind: whats the meaning of your stage name?
TT: It was kind of odd when I came across my stage name haha! Well I’m a twin but it’s not the reason why its my name. I was going to the hospital to have a check up on my shoulder and I had a rap name before “Twintwo” which was “Winterburn” that was before “All Day Everyday” I was recording that at the time when I went to get my shoulder checked out. So I went to the desk for the check up and the clerk said “oh yes are you Robert….. Twin2 Winterburn” and my mum said “no it’s ‘Robert Pearson Winterburn'”. On the hospital records when I was born I guess they never got my middle name so they just called me “Twin2” so I thought it was pretty cool how I was named that for 20 years so I thought i’d stick with it and rename my rap name to “Twintwo”.
X: Could say it was almost like destiny!
TT: Aye!
X: I believe you’ve got your first live gig planned soon, congratulations on that by the way! How’re you feeling about it?
TT: I do, thank you! I’m very nervous but excited. I made a to do list at the start of this year and the live show stuff was written down to be planned at the end of the year, so I’ve jumped in head first but it’s all good! I’m glad i’m about to pass that goal!
X: I have no doubt you’ll kill it, best of luck!
TT: Thank you!
X: Your new EP “Mr Winterburn” comes out April 26th, what can we expect?
TT: You can basically expect a view of my own life how it has been for the past 6 to 9 months. Theres even a track on it taking the mick about where I hang about most of the time!
X: I look forward to it! So as that was my final question, is there anything you want to say to the readers?
TT: The only thing I have to say is get my EP when it comes out and keep a look out for me in the future, hopefully I’ll be sticking around for a while!
X: Thank you once again for your time today!
TT: Thank you Mike for the support, I appreciate it so much!
So that concludes my interview with ‘Twintwo’ it was such a good interview and he is such a nice guy!
Don’t forget to get his EP “Mr Winterburn” on April 26th as I’m certain it’ll be top notch! As usual I’ll leave links to all of his social media pages down below.
Until next time…thank you for visiting Xustralia!
Artists Links:
Facebook – Officialtwin2
Twitter – @Twintwo95
Soundcloud – Officialtwintwo
Links to my social media:
Twitter – @MONeill1996
Instagram – Xustralia
DISCLAIMER: I HAVE RECIEVED PERMISSION FROM THE ARTIST TO USE THE PICTURES INCLUDED IN THIS ARTICLE.
welcome to xustralia! 