“It’s like a new sound”: Brighter Days Family are bringing positive change to dance music

At that time, Nia wasn’t yet “too busy” for the BDF and she was there at their first dance, which took place at Night Tales Loft in October 2021. Group member S.I (real name Silla) remembers seeing the BDF for the first time that night. Having known Izzy and Dyl when he was younger (“Cuppa used to sell me hash,” he laughs), Silla hadn’t seen them in years. “I just pulled up,” he recalls. “I didn’t know what to expect. I heard Nia for the first time, and Reek0 and Dochi. I didn’t know who any of them were, but I loved it. It was very wholesome, it had a warm feeling and I was very comfortable there.”

“A week later, Sam invited me to come to the video shoot for ‘GUY’,” he continues. “That’s when I met everyone properly, and that same night, Sam played me one of his beats. I had been making music before that, but it wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. I just started freestyling and the ‘She’s so wavy, but I’m so wholesome’ bar came out.”

That track, ‘Wholesome’, was later released in April 2022. It has become a BDF classic, along with‘Shoot Day’, released that same month, and created on the day of the ‘Guy’ video shoot – a testament to the prolificacy of that period in time.

The first BDF dance would also introduce the world, or at least the scene, to the collective’s vibrant performance style, in particular the old skool-style of MCing over a DJ set that had become less prominent in the dance music scene – particularly among the younger generation.

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“The modern man don’t do that,” says Reek0, the group’s main MC. “Even when I was making them early tunes, I didn’t think I would ever be in the dance hosting.” Growing up, Reek0 had been introduced to the sounds of garage and UK funky by his uncle, a fellow music lover. “The first ever time I went to a club was for Supa D with my uncle. So that type of MCing was just what I thought clubbing was,” he says. “Me and my cousin used to have competitions of who knew the most UK funky songs.”

“And I was into the grime thing,” Izzy chimes in. “And then linking up with Reek0, he brought that whole scene with him.” That mix of grime and UK funky, gave Izzy an idea. “It was Iz that gave me the first opportunity,” says Reek0, recounting the first time he ever MC’d over one of Izzy’s sets for Korean radio station Seoul Community Radio. “I was shaking like a little chicken, I didn’t know what I was doing,” he laughs.

“I saw something in him,” says Izzy, characteristically self-assured, but never self-important. “You see, we grew up in a time where the rapper is the main character. Most of the time, when you go and see a rapper, you don’t even know who the DJ is on-stage. There’s a lot of ego with rappers these days. Whereas there’s been times when the DJ felt as much as, or more, of the main character. Reeks has always been into producing, he’s always been into dance music, and he’s not got that main character syndrome – he don’t need it to be about him. Reeks has the skill and presence of a rapper, but the humility of a producer. That’s what makes him perfect for this.”