BLK SCL!

The Punk Panther release by local artist KOJ is almost upon us. It is a staggering record – one of the most exciting records to come out of Liverpool in recent years.

It’s the sound of an artist whose time has come and is just waiting for the world to become aware that this is their moment. (Just watch the video that accompanies this incredibly powerful record when it’s released and you will know what I mean).

What adds to the intrigue around the record is that it is the first release on the new label BLK SCL! Sound (pronounced Black Scale) founded and headed up by our own Yaw Owusu. The single is a major statement from KOJ, from the new label… and for Liverpool itself.

For BLK SCL! Sound Yaw has partnered with EMI North (Universal Music Group) which means that Yaw’s independent curator-led vision is backed by major label insight, infrastructure and reach which is a big win for any artists signed to the label.

The label is just one element of a much bigger BLK SCL! initiative which has been created and led by Yaw. It is a new multi-strand intervention designed to scale up Black music talent, infrastructure and ownership across the North of England and the UK’s devolved nations – with ambition and reach built for the national and international stage.

Alongside the label there are two other key elements to BLK: SCL! – BLK SCL! Connex: a pan-regional community of Black music professionals committed to collective working and long-term systemic change; and BLK SCL! Atelier which is a career pathways and development engine, providing targeted learning and development opportunities for Black music creators and industry professionals and Black led music businesses.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with Yaw for almost 20 years now and the fact that he has developed such a joined up, potentially game changing initiative comes as no surprise. In fact it seems a natural culmination of the work he has done locally and nationally over the years.

I’ve worked with Yaw on many programmes and projects including the Liverpool International Music Festival, On Record (a celebration of Liverpool’s Black music heritage), the Eurovision Modern Music City conference and the Liverpool Against Racism festival to name just a few. The longest running piece of work though all this period has been that of the LIMF Academy. The Academy was Yaw’s idea after he was brought in to curate the Liverpool International Music Festival, on behalf of the City Council. Yaw quickly realised that more needed to be done to support emerging talent from the city so that they could be in a position to play at the festival and go further afield. He devised what I still think is the best talent development programme in the UK in the shape of LIMF Academy. Alumni of this brilliant programme include Jalen Ngonda, Michael Aldag, KOJ, Ni Maxine, Tonia, the Kowloons, Astles and many more. Yaw was always passionate about working with these emerging artists, supporting their growth in an open and safe environment which encouraged collaboration and mutual support between all the artists.

In talking about BLK: SCL! Yaw himself says: “I’ve spent years building and directing national and international talent development programmes, and I’ve seen the same pattern repeat: extraordinary talent outside London, but not enough long-term infrastructure around it. This imbalance compounds when the talent is Black. BLK SCL! is a strategic intervention – a closed-loop system which develops talent, then connects them to the right people and systems at the right time, so they can build and scale with cultural integrity”.

Yaw’s work outside of Liverpool has increased in recent years and he is increasingly and rightfully seen as a key player nationally and internationally. Despite this high profile we know his heart and his passion still belongs here in Liverpool and we should be grateful for that. My prediction is that the KOJ single will take the world by storm and that Yaw will go on to make a massive success of his latest brilliant initiative.

For more on BLK: SCL! – www.weblackscaling.com