Chuki Beats: ‘My vision was always bigger than that of others’

The hoodies of Yuki Asemota aka Chuki Beats read “Reality Is a Mirror”. The Brussels-based hip-hop artist firmly believes that you can grow to the next level as long as you have an above-average work ethic and visualise exactly what you want. His own career may serve to substantiate that.

Early August 2021, the heart of Brussels. Yuki Asemota aka Chuki Beats is having an open house. The pop-up shop that the beatmaker is temporarily running on Vlaamsesteenweg/rue de Flandre is in full swing. On the shelves: his debut album INSIDE­OUT. Asemota, who is in his mid-twenties, first made a name for himself online with his YouTube channels, where he showed off his skills as a beatmaker, and now presents himself as an all-round artist. As beat supplier of Zwangere Guy and Frenetik he already enjoyed respect in the capital, this record broadens his view and wants to make a difference live as well.

While he explains his plans on the first floor in tightly timed interview blocks, fans downstairs are lined up for a hoodie, a CD, and perhaps a selfie. Some hand over a tape of their own music. “Just yesterday there was an Italian boy here,” Asemota tells us. “I used his tune that same night on a session with Yung Mavu and Geeeko.” In the wings of the shop, one lady stands out among the young people. She looks a little discomforted and briefly disappears too, but Asemota – designer glasses on his nose, snake tattoo on one arm, scorpion tattoo on the other – is there just in time to intercept her. “That was my mother,” says the man from Lokeren, who now lives in Brussels and whose father lives in Nigeria. “She came to say hello. During my break, I'll have a little more time for her.”

What is it with you hiphoppers? Zwangere Guy raps on “Family”, the last track on your album, that even in corona times, he barely had time for his partner. Two weeks ago, Dikke told us that he too constantly is at work. You're all workaholics and the family pays the price.
Yuki Asemota: (Laughs) I plead guilty. It was like Zwangere Guy was reading my mind. Although I think more people recognise themselves in the text. My work ethic is a result of how I grew up. My family was not poor, but certainly not rich either. With a single mom, it's not always easy. I've seen her struggle. If you then make enough money as a teenager to help out once in a while (every month a cheque arrived in his name from Google for the YouTube channels he runs, ed.), that's very rewarding. That meant that I could say: “Don't worry mama.”

Do they understand at home how you make a living?
Asemota: My mother does, though she keeps saying: “You're silly, you are.” (Laughs) My grandmother didn't quite understand. “I do the same thing as a band, but alone and digitally,” I usually tell her. She can see the speakers and she can hear the music, but she doesn't have a computer or smartphone, so the digital aspect remains difficult for her.

You started making YouTube videos on how to fabricate beats at a young age. You tagged your own beats so you could get paid for them. Entrepreneurial spirit was there early on.
Asemota: The money I could make with that was like an aside. At fourteen, I just thought it was cool that American producers had such a tag. I wanted that too, and so I said something, with my voice pitched down: “This is a Chuki Beats production.” After a while, followers recognised my producer tag and wanted to buy my beats. After that, uploading new beats every time was the best way to grow my YouTube channel. The power of the internet then caused my beats to pop up with other online creators, often in gaming videos. It became funny when I was recognised in Los Angeles. Although that wasn't surprising, because half my fans are from America.

How did the beatmaker become a full-fledged artist? When did you want to release an album under your own name and why did it have to be called INSIDEOUT?
Asemota: A year or two ago I started visualising everything. Even though nothing was concrete yet, I wrote down my tracklisting as if the album was already there. The first half is inwards travelling, ideal to listen to in the car or in bed. The second part pulls you back into the real world. My hoodies don't say “Reality Is A Mirror” for nothing. I believe very strongly that you can experience life from the inside out, that we can co-create reality through our thoughts and our imagination. To visualise something well you should never say: “I wanted this or I wanted that.” No, you have to feel like it's already there, write it down as if you're experiencing it now. Athletes visualise winning races all the time, which helps them realise that.

How did you come to those insights?
Asemota: Through life experiences, but especially through books like Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and Be Here Now by Ram Dass, which Steve Jobs also recommended to everyone. I wanted to know what steps others had to take to achieve what I wanted to achieve. I read one of these books on average every two months. It always helps me get back to the essence.

You once compared life to a game. The first level was being 23 and driving around in a BMW, the next at 25 having a Lamborghini, the ultimate at 27 a yacht.
Asemota: I said it mockingly, but at the same time I wanted to make a point. I really don't care about that hunt. My goals are on an artistic level. I'm not super materialistic and I don't necessarily need a Lamborghini, but on the other hand: if you can do it, why not?

You push your artistic boundaries on INSIDEOUT by for once doing the lyrics and the vocals yourself.
Asemota: At first I had doubts, but I just had to do it. Even though I'm in the studio with artists almost every day, I found it quite difficult to judge my own voice objectively, but the track fits the album perfectly. “Never Lost” is a playful song about life. Much more than picking a theme for a song, like Zwangere Guy would do, as a songwriter I express what I feel. I sing that I'm visualising with my girlfriend (laughs), and that I never used to believe in myself, and now I do.

“Revolution”, which you recorded with pop singer Charles and classical pianist Sofiane Pamart, reportedly caused instant goosebumps in the studio.
Asemota: Yes, everyone had that. When it was finished, we listened to it twenty times! It should really be in a movie. I've already visualised the credits. Wouldn't it be the ultimate Belgian collab if Adil and Bilall threw this on a soundtrack? Yeah, my vision was always bigger than that of others. That's why I want to do everything independently now, with my own team, build up leverage now and then start an international collaboration.

If the next level isn't a yacht, then what is?
Asemota: A new record with international collabs, one on which I combine guests from Brussels, like Hamza or Damso, with foreign ones. Roméo Elvis can come too. He started following me recently. Although I might prefer to make a hip-hop track with Angèle, along with an American rapper, like Russ. Would that not be awesome? Meanwhile, I focus on the live set. When I saw a stage as a little boy, I already knew: this is where I belong.

Finally, what does the snake on your arm stand for?
Asemota: Rebirth. I feel like I'm always becoming a new level of myself. The old skin keeps coming off to make room for a new one. At the same time I feel like a scorpion (shows his other arm), my star sign.

Dangerous creatures, scorpions.
Asemota: But I'm pretty chill, you know. They also say that scorpions are very aware, able to see through everything immediately.

CHUKI BEATS: INSIDEOUT
Released through 32Worldwide
Live: 4/9, Crammerock (Stekene), www.crammerock.be & 4/9, Fire Is Gold (Antwerp), www.fire-is-gold.com