The eight members of Urban Fu$e hail from all over the world and are truly a reflection of diverse cultures and different approaches to music fused into one single sound. A strong dance beat is the hallmark of UF no matter the genre: Hip Hop / Rap, Dance Hall, V-Pop, Afro, Latin, UF does it all!

Why do they call themselves Urban Fu$e? They chose the name because of the multicultural fusion of their music, but also because they consider themselves to be fuses: they will spark the musical revolution that is to come. The members of Urban Fu$e come from Yaounde, Cameroon, Lagos, Nigeria; Freeport, Bahamas; Nashville, Tennessee; San Francisco Bay Area, California; London, England and Vietnam.

The album is a follow up of their singles ‘Runaway’ and ‘Freedom’

You can listen to the album here:
https://open.spotify.com/album/4lMqhZGyyWfeBTlu6efnt8?si=iVXBfv-ZSVyepiziFdmFxA

We had an interview with them!

Thanks for your time today! How has 2019 been treating you? Musically, did you approach this year any differently than you guys did last year?

Suzanna Lam: 2019 has been going so well for us. Urban Fu$e is going to continue to create more songs with a sole purpose in mind which is to inspire everyone to be the best they can be and learn some good practical knowledge helping them live a fulfilled life in the following areas of health: SPEMF or Spiritual, Physical, Emotional, Mental and Financial as we travel on our musical journey.

Nyu Kyung: Well personally this is the first year I started promoting music and taking things seriously. In the last 5 months I have won multiple big contests such as the one hosted annually by Anno Domini which had over 2000 entries. I’ve also started working with a label based out of Houston, Texas called UrbaNomyx which has helped me tremendously. In addition to my solo career going well, I was able to get connected with Urban Fu$e which has been a blessing for my career as well. I now have a worldwide platform to showcase my talents and help impact individuals by educating them through music.

Micheal-P: 2019 has been a wonderful year, full of surprises. For me it was the year of my Spiritual, physical ,emotional, mental and financial independence. Musically, 2019 has been a year of total change in my way of writing songs. I remember previous year before I was doing music only for myself but now I’ve found my way and now I’m doing music so my music reaches everyone and help them go to a better place. That change in my mindset happened because of Suzanna and the team. I’m just grateful for an opportunity to be better as an artist and that Suzanna didn’t judge me and my prior writing prior to asking me to collaborate with Urban Fu$e.

Where does this interview find you today? Is there music playing in the background? If so, what is it? What kind of music do you listen to when you are working? What music gets you instantly out of a bad mood?

Micheal-P: Sitting at home and listening to Micheal Jackson’s songs. They always get me out of a bad mood and also make me feel better before doing a project.

Suzanna Lam: I’m sitting in a car in between appointments. And no there is no music in the background. To get myself out of a bad mood, which I don’t have often because I don’t have enough time to do that LOL, is to listen to Urban Fu$e’s songs and remind myself, wow Suzanna, you’re very lucky to be able to hear and make music like this when there are people in the world who are blind, deaf, are not given the opportunity to hear and see the beauty of music like you are.

Nyu Kyung: I am currently sitting in my bed listening to Tech N9ne trying to come up with different ideas for new songs. I am constantly trying to improve my craft by listening to artists I look up to. I really enjoy music where the artist is open about their feelings as it reminds me that the struggles I go through as an artist are shared universally.

Growing up, have you always wanted to be a musician? Can you recall your earliest musical memory?

Micheal-P: I wanted to be a musician since I was 7 years old. I grew up in a Christian family where I used to sing live choir at our church. I knew I would end up pursuing singing as a career but just didn’t know when exactly. So I just kept on doing what I loved to do then when Suzanna and Urban Fu$e came along I just grab the opportunity.

Suzanna Lam: My earliest musical memory was when I was very young maybe 5-6 years old, I told my mom I wanted to be on National TV to sing because I thought that was very cool. I was more curious about ways to get myself inside that TV physically so my image can appear on the TV screen than to do the actual act of singing. I was not encouraged to pursue singing as a career. Life’s busy so I forgot about that dream until it came back again last year. One day late May last year I decided I could learn how to write music professionally and be involved in music in some kind of capacity. And so here I am today, a year later.

Nyu Kyung: I have been making music since I was 9 years old so I always knew that it would play some part in my life. However, I didn’t realize it would be my career choice as I originally wanted to play professional football.

If you weren’t a musician today, what else could you see yourself doing?

Micheal-P: Actually I’m a computer scientist and if I weren’t a musician today I could see myself being a famer because I’d love to bring more food and water to help communities around the world.

Suzanna Lam: I don’t see myself doing anything else that has no music as part of any deal now that I’ve gone through the tranformation process in the past 12 months . I’ve found a way to incorporate music in everything I do because I don’t believe separating the things I love to do in different baskets, you know, that just doesn’t make any sense because they all make me the person I am today. My interests lie in numbers as in tax and financial consulting and in being a life, career, John Maxwell leadership coach all of which are sitting nicely under this umbrella called music creation. I think I’m very blessed to be able to create a job for myself that doesn’t fit the norm. I don’t think anyone can give me this kind of job out there that can accommodate me like that LOL, I had to go and create it myself. LOL.

Nyu Kyung: If I wasn’t a musician today, I would probably still be pursuing a pro career in football.

I always like to ask artists about where they came from and how that city or town has influenced them as an artist now. So how do you think your home of Silicon Valley has affected who you are as a musician and the art that you create? Do you ever get to travel to Vietnam where you have family roots?

Suzanna Lam: absolutely. Silicon Valley is a very diversed place. Since I’ve had experienced first hand how diversity can actually help me become a better human being by opening my mind to different opinions and ideas it became very natural for me to found Urban Fu$e as an international music group. It wasn’t something I hesitated over a long period of time. I love the idea of different artists from different ethnic groups, social economic backgrounds come together and despite their differences can work through the challenges and find a middle ground to create something meaningful together for future generations. I really believe in my heart that Urban Fu$e will be the most diversed music group in the world to ever create a platform owned by the artists themselves to show case their undiscovered talents by collaborating with, working alongside, helping with, one another just like a sport team. I know the idea seems a bit weird. Yes, I’ve visited Vietnam twice for the past 12 months.

Let’s talk about your newest single called “Freedom”. Where did the inspiration for this track come from?

Micheal-P: The inspiration of Freedom comes from the great desire to help people, to inspire them to know who they are and as a result, people will enjoy the benefits of living a purposeful life.

Suzanna Lam: my role in this track is really being a music director and create a set up for the song such that our message to the world is very effective which is to focus on the positive instead of the negative in our lives. This was done through a creative approach to using the ordering of three different languages in the song, first being French, followed by Vietnamese an book ended by English. In other words, we want to tell a historical fact in which Vietnam was sandwiched between the French colonizer and American idealism in the Vietnam War where countless Vietnamese and Americans died. That structure in itself represents an oppression that the Vietnamese people tried many years to get rid of. But instead of writing and singing about an oppressed situation, we chose a more subtle way to show it and instead sing and rap about the positive of being free in the context of language diversity. The bottom line is this: in the face of adversity, if one focuses on the positives and ignore the negatives the positive will always prevail and it’s a conscious choice, takes a lot of effort and energy but everyone will get there.

Nyu Kyung: My verse was motivated by the everyday struggles of the people around me. I grew up in Tacoma, Washington which can be a dangerous place to live. As a result I witnessed a lot of different struggles from those around me and freedom is a culmination of everything I learned in the streets as well as school.

What was it like working with different talented people from around the world?

Micheal-P: Working with different talented and professional artists around the world has been very fantastic and very beneficial to me. It was a great challenge that I took in with my two hands. I was so happy to be collaborating with professional artists around the world writing and singing the same chorus of changing lives through our music.

Suzanna Lam: it’s a learning experience for me that’s for sure because not everyone thinks like Americans think. The way people from different parts of the world solve problems is also very different which is refreshing because they can point out my blind spots which I haven’t paid attention to before. I’m learning every single day from every single artist in the group.

Nyu Kyung: It has been a lot of fun and I can’t wait to continue and meet new people in this journey.

How do you think that being a musician has helped you live your best life? Can you talk about the joy that it brings you today?

Micheal-P: Yes I think that being a musician has helped me live my best life because I’m singing to inform, to educate, to sensibilise and to help people. So it gives me a lots of joy. It contributes to my goal of making everywhere a better place for everyone.

Nyu Kyung: I have always struggled trying to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life and music brings me peace and security. I am able to use my art as a tool to help impact people’s lives positively.

Suzanna Lam: I believe that humans have a universal language that we haven’t really tapped into to make this world a better place, that’s music. We have had advancements, in technologies, to make things more convenient for us, in sciences, to cure all kind of diseases, go off into outer space, but the one thing we haven’t attempted to cure is the doubts, the greed, and the hatred etc…inside of us. I think we’ve focused so much on the outside that we have forgetton the inside. There are many things that move us, some of which are music and real life inspirational stories. I feel contemporary music is extremely being overlooked as a mean to communicate and educate around the world. Right now, it’s being used solely for the purpose of entertainment only, for you to have a good time at that moment. When it’s over, it’s over. It doesn’t reverberate beyond that time interval for many people. So every time I think about how the work of all the artists inside Urban Fu$e will spark the musical revolution in a way that’s never been done or attempted to be done before to solve the biggest humanity’s problem I really am in total joy. We at least attempt to do music with a purpose in mind beyond just entertainment. We really believe Urban Fu$e can be the next generation of Iphone back in the days when everyone else was using music like a Blackberry.

What are your plans for the rest of the summer?

Micheal-P: Many more international collaboration, writing and singing about SPEMF spiritual, physical, emotion, mental and financial health. Part of what we make as a profit is being used to finance some agricultural projects AKA UFAP (Urban Fu$e Agricultural Project) that will follow my goal of making everywhere a better place for everyone.

Nyu Kyung: I plan to continue making music for both my solo career and Urban Fu$e. I am planning for a Texas tour with UrbaNomyx and a potential world tour right after with Urban Fu$e.

Suzanna Lam: to continue to support the artists here inside Urban Fu$e, whether it’s a world tour, community outreach effort such as volunteering in local communities to teach etc.., and write and produce more songs, get new talents into the group etc..

Who are some of your very favorite artists or rather, what musicians have continued to inspire you and your music?

Nyu Kyung: My favorite artists are Logic, NF, Lil Zay Osama, Eminem, Joyner Lucas, Tory Lanez, Kid Milli, Dok2, Jin, Derek Minor and Dumfoundead. All of these artists have played a role in my sound and they all inspire me to continue working every day.

Micheal-P: Michael Jackson, 2Pac have continued to inspire me and I know their music will last forever because they do good music as I’m doing too.
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What musicians would you absolutely love to work with in the future?

Micheal-P: I will be so happy to collaborate with all professional artists who have the same goal as me which is to positively change lives of people through our music but if I could turn the back time I will be very happy to collaborate with Michael Jackson because his sounds give me inspiration and hope.

Nyu Kyung: Anybody on the list I mentioned above would be amazing!

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs?

Micheal-P: My hope is to help people stop focusing on the destructive history of the world and the undesirable elements that still remain. My hope is to help people focus on the aspects that will make everywhere a great and a better place for everyone. I believe my songs will help to move the world forward.

Nyu Kyung: Growing up without a father I had to outsource for my fatherly role models. I looked up to rappers, and professional athletes and the way they lived their life is how I wanted to live mine. I want to be a positive influence for people and show that anything is possible as long as you stay dedicated even when the vision becomes blurred. I want people to know that my music comes from a real and vulnerable place and that I am human just like they are. No amount of fame or money will ever change that.

Suzanna Lam: You know there’s more than one way to skin the cat so by looking at music as an outsider (after all I never worked in the industry before, rarely listen to contemporary music) we truly believe we’re able to contribute ideas that could help humanity move beyond our blind spots and just strive to better as an individual. In every song that we write, that’s always our intention, kinda like dance music with a pinch of education weaved into it. Last but not least, we’re looking forward to collaborating with all artists who believes music can actually solve our problems in the areas of SPEMF health so together we can add more value to the world than just creating music for entertainment only. After all, we’re looking forward to a day when all students instead of sitting down in a chair listening to a boring lecture will dance and happily sing along a song as though they’re in a club having a great time with their friends minus the alcohol of course LOL .

YOU CAN CONNECT WITH THEM ON SOCIAL MEDIA

https://www.facebook.com/urbanfusemusic/

https://www.instagram.com/urbanfusemusic/

https://twitter.com/urbanfusemusic