We caught up with Luke RV in October last year, here’s how the conversation went….
Growing up in the valleys of Neath, Wales, Luke RV has quite literally “done things that were dreams”. “I remember being 21 and never having released a tune at all”, he recalls, “all I wanted to do was start”.
Four years later, Luke has just packed out a venue in Cardiff (“we were trying to make the doorman lose count a little bit”) and, alongside producer Minas, is slowly carving a name for himself that stretches far beyond Neath’s humble reaches.
Still, on the cover to his latest EP ‘Travel Pack’, a sign clearly points in the direction of ‘nowhere’. “When you reach your dreams, you have more dreams- it never stops”, he explains, “at the end of the day you still wake up in the same bed, really you’re going nowhere”. In a lot of ways this feels like a practical mindset for an artist in 2021, not least of all one quite literally from the ‘middle of nowhere’. More than anything, however, it comes across as worryingly reserved: for all his achievements, Luke RV seems hesitant to give himself credit.
“I’m not a home town hero, that title goes to Mace and Local”, he says with what is rapidly becoming characteristic humility. I stop myself from reminding him that he has collaborated with both on multiple occasions now. These OGs of the region are far flung from the Goldie Lookin’ Chain parodies that most outsiders would be familiar with, but Wales is by no means a hip hop hotspot. Luke recalls desperately Googling recording studios in Wales- that’s right, the whole country- and finding few, if any, that were catering to rap vocals. In fact, it took the benevolence of a local legend by the name of ‘Uncle’ Jamie Winchester for Luke RV (not to mention countless others) to get his first stab at studio recording.
Now, despite these hindrances, Luke views his Welsh identity as one of his greatest assets. “R u real or wa?” (citydwellers read: ‘swear down?’) is a common phrase around his neck of the woods and Luke wears it like a badge of honour- symbolising both his Welsh heritage as well as the hip hop ‘keeping it real’ aesthetic. This conscious effort to incorporate his Welsh identity into his music will by no means come as a surprise to listeners given that Luke’s vocal style is practically defined by his innovative use of the naturally undulating Welsh cadence, resulting in an inexplicably captivating blend of valley boy and new wave hip hop.
There is a pressure to move to London, now more than ever he admits, but some part of me is relieved to hear that he reckons he’ll stay put in the valleys for at least a little while longer. After all, he’s quick to remind me that he can drive up for shows if need be, proudly showing off his own ‘travel pack’ of long rizla, a Nintendo Switch and a Welsh-themed face towel. He’s not quite rolling in an RV yet, but he’s working on it.
Unsurprisingly, Luke is the first to admit his own failures. He cringes hard when I bring up his early single ‘Panorama’, and even harder when I bring up the ‘Breathe Deep’ remix. Around 3 years ago he was approached by grime legend Grim Sickers looking to hop on a remix of one of Luke’s tunes. The aspiring artist immediately began putting together a list of features but was left in an awkward position when Grim Sickers refused to participate if Leeds rapper P Solja was on the track. “I didn’t know what I was doing” Luke stutters, visibly torn up over having to take P Solja off the remix. As unfortunate as that situation was, however, I get the impression Luke has lost sight of the achievement of being approached by Grim Sickers in the first place.
At some point the conversation turns to the videogame Super Smash Bros. and Luke’s character-of-choice King K. Rule. “It’s the gun he’s got”, he explains, “you can shoot the bullet and if it fucks up you can suck it back in again, and if not you can suck them in, you know?”. In a weird way this notion of ‘suck it up and keep shooting your shot’ perfectly captures Luke’s outlook. He seems constantly in a state of disaster control and worst-case scenarios. In a last-ditch attempt to get him to open up, I begin pitching what-if’s. “What if your music takes you to, say, LA?”, I ask, “would you feel like you’ve made it then?”. His reply did little to instil confidence: “Phew, yeah, that would be sick init? You know what, if music takes me LA- even for one day- I’d be like, OK, now we can maybe say no more dreams”. “Maybe”. Hey, it was worth a shot at least.
No sooner has our interview finished than Luke is already on his way to Minas’ studio to begin working on his next project (not even a full week since the launch party to his last project, I might add). I’m left feeling strangely positive about Luke’s future prospects, even if he won’t allow himself to. Whatever happens, I have no doubt that he’ll continue shooting his shot, at least. I only hope at some point he’ll be able to look back and feel proud of his accomplishments.
“R u real or wa?” I can already hear him asking. Yes, Luke, this is definitely real.
