Reggae recording artist Dre Island and Tom Prior have lend their voices to “Rotten Apple Tree“, a heartfelt single featured on The Brixton Soup Kitchen EP, the first official musical arrangement from the homeless service and charity.
Speaking on how the single came to musical fruition, Dre Island explained “Apple Tree came about when Mini from E5 records linked up with Riki in England who is Tom Prior’s manager and the 2 of them together thought it would be music magic if I and Tom do the song together. Being that I’m from Jamaica from a background that’s un-explainable and i an i play the piano you know, and Tom coming from a different side of the world you know, England, UK and he actually had similar experiences of life growth, also plays the piano, they both thought it would be great combination and compliment each other. When Tom and i first met we vibe right away and the song was created. We shot the video in East London“
Directed by acclaimed French director JoJo of “All Eyes On Me”, the video was shot on location in London. After premiering over the weekend on the UK’s SBTV, LargeUp.com has debuted the the official North American.
The Brixton Soup Kitchen EP
Official Release: December 2015
Label: E5 Records & Island Records
The Brixton Soup Kitchen was formed in 2013, by Solomon Smith a local Brixtonian who saw the devastating effects that homelessness was having within his local community. Determined to make a difference, Solomon created a service for homeless people, providing them with hot meals, drinks and most importantly, people to speak to who cared about their well-being. The Brixton Soup Kitchen has now become an integral base where both homeless and vulnerable people can frequent and use the services and resources that are available.
In February 2015, Mini of the London based record label E5 Records, saw the request that Solomon had made to raise much needed funds for a fully equipped van to provide outreach services for homeless and vulnerable people across the country. The outreach van would be used to benefit the service users of The Brixton Soup Kitchen, vulnerable people within the surrounding communities and families that have suffered financial hardship across the UK, providing food and living resources, as well as being better equipped to collect food donations from their sponsors.
Mini met up with Solomon and the EP project soon began to take shape. Pooling together his vast contact base within the music industry, Mini came up with the idea to create an EP that could spread awareness of the charity and their fund drive and in turn provide them with a tangible asset to sell to the public.
The completed EP sees a wealth of talented international artists and producers coming together to record and provide music over a 6 month period. Artists on the EP are from both the UK and Jamaica and all who have donated their time and talent to the cause.
Featuring tracks from Chronixx, Popcaan, Lucas Dipasquale and with emotionally fueled songs such as ‘Pictures of You’ featuring UK Hip hop artist Cashtastic and Reggae singer Dre Island, The video for the debut single, ‘Rotten Apple Tree’, featuring Island Records recording artist Tom Prior and also featuring Dre Island has recently been shot in line with the official release schedule for the EP. An emotionally fuelled track the video depicts the grittier streets of East London as the backdrop and with a special cameo from The Brixton Soup Kitchen team, sets the pace for the EP.
The Brixton Soup Kitchen EP will not only musically capture the realities and harshness of homelessness but through visual analogue and behind the scenes footage it will also document the lives of those its main objective is to assist.
Special thank you’s to all who took part and devoted their time in making this possible: Unrivalled Media, Island Records Staff, Darcus, Jamie Roberts, Baby G, Cobe, Riki, Tobi, Ria, Tom Prior, Dre Island, Cashtastic, Assassin, Popcaan, Chronixx, Pressure & Lucas Dipasquale.
Track-Listing
Rotten Apple Tree – Tom Prior & Dre Island (E5 Records)
Mama Pray For me – Popcaan (Young Vibez Productions)
Same Ting Again – Assassin (COBE KNK)
Africa Redemption – Chronixx & Pressure (Yard Vybz)
Pictures Of You – Cashtastic & Dre Island (E5 Records)
Make My Rounds – Lucas Dipasquale (E5 Records)
