Premiere: Prima – ‘Wine Pon Me’

Manchester-based RnB artist Prima headlines the third instalment of Inner City Waves next week, alongside young movers from the Manchester rap scene such as Don Zulu, Katbrownsugar and KSR. With a new album in the works and a number of exciting forthcoming projects, we’re thrilled to premiere a cut that didn’t quite make the new record, entitled Wine Pon Me. Check out the track below alongside our conversation with Prima about its recording and creative development.

Wine Pon Me is a real earworm! Did you know you’d struck gold when you came up with the hook and how soon into the creative process did it take for it to present itself?

Wine Pon Me was created by my producer JSD from Virus Syndicate. It was a real turning point in our journey as producer and artist to create a feel good track with a hook that would stick in peoples heads. The beat and hook was made in one session, Jay is an absolute hook machine and with us both crafting the song and me getting in the booth it was done in a few hours!

The beat, with its dancehall and afropop flavours, is a winner – who produced the rhythm and was its style something you held sway over, or adapted to?

Jay produced the rhythm, it was a style that was new to me but I loved the flavour! It brought out a character in my voice and allowed me to play around with the beat and just feel free to have fun, be playful and enjoy the track.

Plenty of artists and producers have a tendency to over-egg the pudding, but the tune is understated, nothing is too dominant! What are your thoughts on ‘when to say when’ during the creative sense, do you ever struggle stepping back and saying ‘this is done’ or readying something to share with the fans?

Me and Jay are good at saying “right, this is done, boom move on!”. I think we both have so much music to write in us that there’s no time to wait for the next thing. The creativity flow is STRONG! I think understated is the key right now, if you got a great hook you can’t go wrong!

Dyno features on the track; another artist who, like yourself, has worked with J Chambers and was involved in his latest project, which launched at Band on the Wall earlier in the year. What are your thoughts on their respective work and the cross-collaboration going on between yourself and your contemporaries in Manchester’s hip-hop and RnB scene at present?

I love collaboration, it’s where that magic can happen and allowing yourself to hear other peoples tastes and not be constricted creatively as an artist is really important to me. I love J Chambers style it’s really honest and was a pleasure to be a part of his project. I love working with Dyno, he’s an incredible producer and rapper. Big things to come! He produced 4 of the tracks off my latest EP and 2 have been played on BBC introducing which I feel such a massive support from. Working with Jay I’ve collaborated with Virus Syndicate and it’s amazing to be around Manchester’s own with their support.

You’ve a new album forthcoming, what can you tell us about it and can we expect to hear any cuts from it at the show?

The new album has got me so excited and fired up! Really shows the body of work me and my producer Jay have been putting together. It’s an 11-track project and your gonna hear a LOT of the songs at the show. Can’t wait to see the crowd feel the vibe of my music 100%.

What kept Wine Pon Me from making the album, was it outside of a narrative arc you’d formed or was it more of a style/flow choice?

Keeping Wine Pon Me off the album was more of a stylistic choice. I’ve got a couple of tracks that had a similar feel and although I love this one, it didn’t quite fit the overall vibe of the project. 

What are the rest of your plans for 2017 and what’s getting you excited in music at the moment?

Big plans for 2017/18 with the release of my album and few singles as a feature artist. I’m featuring on a track with Shapes who are killing it at the moment on BBC Radio 1Xtra. Can’t wait for the release of our track! I’m working on an album with UKG legend Zed Bias which is an absolute honour so you’re gonna be hearing some incredible music coming very soon!

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