This young artist opens up about the importance of religion and community, what made him steer away from grime, and telling the truth in his tracks
Growing up, Nathan-Pierre Gyamfi (now known as GWAMZ) used to be woken up at 5am every Sunday by the sounds of Ghanaian gospel music filtering into his bedroom. His mum would kneel in front of the speakers and pray, so beginning their family’s weekend ritual.
“I can’t even remember the names of the songs,” he tells me laughing over Zoom on a classically gloomy afternoon in London. “They were just a constant at home.” Despite being a little vague on the particularities, what has really stayed with this 22-year-old Afro-swing artist is how the music made him feel. “I still go to church every Sunday and I pray whenever I can,” he tells me. “However, I see Christianity as more of an individualised relationship between yourself and God rather than a religion.”
What has also stayed with GWAMZ from his childhood in church is the importance of community. When we have our call he informs me he’ll be spending the rest of his day at the Spotlight Youth Centre, working in the music programme there helping get at-risk kids off the streets.
“We hold a summer programme called Grime Pays,” he explains. “We challenge the kids to create a whole EP, they then perform it to a crowd and it goes out on streaming platforms.” Since Nathan has started to blow up however, a large part of his mentorship has become the kids clamouring for him to add them on social media.
The extent to which he’s still involved in his local community is a testament to the role it played in his upbringing. “Growing up in Lambeth has made me who I am,” he tells me “My area (Clapham South), the school I went to, the people I was around, they all had a massive impact.” GWAMZ is not alone in this, last year Lambeth was named London’s top borough for burgeoning artists, after the success of the area’s natives including Mercury Prize winner Dave and Brit Rising Star Award recipient Joy Crookes.
“Lambeth is a character, there’s a lot happening”, he continues. “There’s a tight knit community, everyone knows everyone. Whether that’s through sports, music or education.” For GWAMZ his fondest memories of Lambeth revolve around Agnes Riley Gardens, where he grew up playing football and visiting with his mum. “I haven’t played properly there for a long time, but I did a photoshoot there for this magazine Penalty,” he says. “It’s nice that it still plays a role in my life.”
The area also played a massive role in the way GWAMZ’s awareness of music developed. “Lambeth is a multi-cultural place,” he tells me. “So it was a great introduction to other styles of music and even languages. I love incorporating non-English words into my songs now.” This diversity also encouraged GWAMZ to develop the versatility which he is now known for. “It helped me get a vibe of what lots of different people like,” he explains.
GWAMZ’s own brand of Afrobeat, dubbed Afro-swing, borrows a lot from other genres, including R&B and grime. In its layered sound you can hear the influences of his favourite artists including Knucks, H.E.R, Burna Boy, and Kojo Funds.
However, it all could have sounded so different, as GWAMZ actually started his music making trap beats and rapping over them. “I started rapping before I started singing,” he tells me. “But I quickly realised I wasn’t good enough. I was singing along to the beats anyway, and as soon as I honed in on that, my path became a lot clearer.”
However, it wasn’t just talent (or apparent lack of) which veered him away from the grime scene. While not completely subscribing to the old adage that “Grime is dead,” GWAMZ does admit to finding the genre restricting. “I was just chatting grease,” he says laughing. “I didn’t do any of the stuff I was rapping about in real life, so why was I talking about doing this thing or robbing this guy? Afrobeats allowed me to talk about what I wanted. Don’t get me wrong, Grime can do this too, but I didn’t have the vision back then to realise that.”
So what does GWAMZ want to talk about? Well if his most recent release ‘Last Night’ is anything to go by, it’s narrative driven tracks about relationships. “It’s a heartbreak story,” he answers when I ask what the song means to him. “It covers being able to trust people and the importance of basic communication skills.” The guitar-driven instrumental accompanies honest lyrics such as: “you said how you fell in love with me when I opened up.” With messages as sincere as this it’s no wonder the artist felt uncomfortable spitting bars which were unrepresentative.
The reception to the track has so far been positive, and has ushered GWAMZ into a new level of fame, with patrons at his studio singing his track back to him when he opens doors. “I just find it funny,” he says when recounting a particular interaction. “Like I’m not famous at all, so what do actual celebrities have to deal with?”
Well, it’s likely that this young artist will find out. With ‘Last Night’ poised as the perfect banger for summer these interactions are only going to increase, marking out GWAMZ as the latest artist to join Lambeth’s royal family.
