For our third and final instalment of the adidas NMD S1, we look towards someone who has been no stranger to the Footpatrol bubble. With adidas exploring the past, present and future of the NMD franchise, we decided to add our own spin to this by documenting ‘sound’. We kicked off this NMD S1 campaign by looking at the past, someone who has been cemented within music culture for generations, Dego before looking towards the future of sound with Ludo. Now, we turn our attention to the present with thanks to SelassieTBC!

Co-founder of London based label Pattern Sounds and part of Brownswood‘s Future Bubblers platform to which we’ve worked with before, we sat down with Selassie to learn more about him, his ventures and the music scene whilst of course, checking out once again, the adidas NMD S1 which we are excited to see where this exploration goes!

Footpatrol: Hey Selassie before we get into everything, how are you?

Selassie: I’m good thanks man. Very busy and kinda hot with this global warming ting happening but you know, keeping things moving. 

FP: For people who don’t know who you are and what you do, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?

Selassie: I’m a DJ, Project Manager, A&R, Label Manager, Event Producer and someone who probably does too much LOL. Day to day I run a talent discovery and mentor project called Future Bubblers, run out of Brownswood Music. I’m also an A&R Manager at Brownswood.

FP: How did everything begin for you?

Selassie: In terms of my love of music, there wasn’t a particular start date or milestone moment, its just always been part of my life. I guess Limewire helped haha. Since I can remember i’ve always collected music, kinda like when I used to collect Pokemon cards, I just never grew out of collecting music. I guess professionally, when I started at Brownswood 6ish years ago. But before then i’d been doing a bunch of music related stuff throughout my youth, events, making music, first try at a label, bunch of stuff. 

FP: From our perspective, you are a very influential person within the music scene being a co-founder of Record label and music platform Pattern Sounds, a DJ Nike, how did these opportunities come about?

Selassie: With Pattern Sounds, that came about pretty naturally. When I still lived at my mums, my yard was the spot everyone used to come to to chill. So all my guys would just pull up, we’d be chilling, making music, listening to music, DJing, doing what young bucks do. Was always quite music oriented. So we essentially tried to capture that essence of when the mandem were at my yard, cause we had so many musical friends and friends of friends. We tried a few different ventures before Pattern Sounds, we tried more of a music platform, then it naturally developed into a label.  

FP: You also host your own monthly DJ set Selassie TBC on NTS radio, what is it like when you found out your show was going to be locked in as a regular broadcast?  

Selassie: Yeahhhh, that was a good feeling I can’t lie, felt like i’d made a positive step in the right direction. It was a bit tekky though cause i’d just got an offer from another station too, so they thought i’d parred them off, but in reality NTS were interested before. But I was just happy to get back into regularly doing a show and having a musical outlet to showcase all the music I came across. 

FP: The Future Bubblers platform that you are involved in discovers the latest talent in music. Why is this so important to you?

Selassie: I’ve always been a music digger, so I’ve always found and uncovered artists who I’ve felt deserved to be heard by a larger audience. Even from playground times I used to come in with a piece of paper with tracks to share with my friends. Because of music politics combined with artists just not knowing how to navigate the music world or how to promote themselves, i’ve always been passionate about giving a platform to those who I feel are great or have great potential, because there are so many artists who deserve more. Which is the reason why we started Pattern Sounds and the reason why Future Bubblers as a project aligns so well with my values. 

FP: What is the best advice would you give to young people trying to make it in the music industry?

Selassie: Be honest and work on your craft. Be honest in the sense that you should create music which is honest to you – a true artistic reflection of yourself. Theres no easier way to get a one way ticket to mediocrity than just following trends. You can always hear authenticity in music. And just work on your craft. Good music travels – so get to the point where you’re at a sweet spot where you’re  making music of a certain quality, so you can push on from there. Get some stuff on the internet too – if its on the internet you never know whos listening. I’ve come across artist and played artists whos profiles sly look fake lol cause they’re so bare, but there was music there that I was into so I played it. 

Also, if you don’t ask you don’t get. Very rarely do things just magically happen. A lot of artists who are “breakthrough” artists have been putting in work for years without anyone seeing. 

FP: We would firstly like to thank you so much for spending some time with us! To finish things off, is there anything you would like to share with the Footpatrol friends and family? That could be anything from getting people excited about something, a message of positivity, whatever you like.

Selassie: Yeah man i’m just a big believer if you don’t know who you are then you don’t know where you’re going. Its very easy to say “work out who you are”, its a process and sometimes people don’t work that shit out till they’re old and grey. But get on the journey and find out what truly makes you tick, i think navigating the world with a solid foundation is far better then tryna bulldoze through on a madness. We’re always gonna be winging it don’t get it twisted, but at least have those wings attached to your back. Or your feet, on a Hermes ting.  

Also Future Bubblers 6.0 album out in November! Exclusive – you heard it here first.