Whenever you hear the melodic calling card ‘Juls baby’ in the opening moments of a track, rest assured that what you are about to experience is nothing short of a seductive fiesta of sounds. Whether it's a series of sensuous horn licks over minimalist beats or harmonised marimba melodies and steady, hand-crafted percussions, Juls’ music has played an integral role in the rise of afropop.

The Ghanaian-British producer is unmatched for his hybrid blend of jazz, hip hop, reggae and baile funk which he lays over a solid foundation of highlife and afrobeats. He has previously called on artists such as Jaz Karis for an amapiano sweetener, as well as Miraa May, Tomi Agape, Tiggs Da Author, Not3s and Pa Salieu, not to mention afrobeats and alté musicians Cruel Santino, Wizkid, Mr Eazi, Nonso Amadi and Adekunle Gold to name a few.

This catalogue of genre-bending projects has primed listeners for the release of his debut album ‘Sounds Of My World’. The head-bopping track ‘Wicked’ featuring Knucks, Kadiata and Sam Wise was one of the first teasers alongside ‘Chance’ featuring Projexx and Tay Iwar and the Niniola-assisted ‘Love Me’. While we’ve experienced the magnetic vibes that erupt between frequent collaborators Kadiata and Knucks, this union was strategic for Juls. “In the studio session it has to be vibes, the energy has to be right,” he states. “It's always good to strike up a good conversation so once you’re creating, it’s just smooth, you just need to have an exciting environment for everybody to enjoy.”

When working with artists, Juls aims to consistently push new sonic styles for them to explore. For his collaboration with Niniola, he says, “I just don't want people to say it sounds the same. I like to join people’s worlds and I like to bring them into my world.” Loaded with dance-ready rhythms, ‘Love Me’ came as a surprise to Juls due to his thorough approach to the beat and production. “It wasn’t challenging, it was more exciting and then when it was done it was just like, ‘Oh shit you did that’.”

‘Sounds Of My World’ is an open invitation to explore the gamut of global influences that feed into his sound. For example, the musical culture of Afro-Brazilians has always influenced him and the album’s lean into baile funk - a style that originated in the favelas of Rio De Janeiro - saw him to delve deeply into its origins. “Brazilians and Ghanaians have a connection from the transatlantic slave trade. There’s a group of Brazilians who settled in Accra called them Tabom people,” he reveals.

At an early age, Juls ingested jazz via his father and the multi-layered styles of reggae and highlife through his mother, but admits it was a Spice Girls CD that he first bought and owned for himself. “Reggae, jazz and hip hop are the sounds forever in my mind so when I’m making music, I always refer to those worlds and try to make something happen.” By the time he reached secondary school he was beatboxing in the playground but it wasn’t until his final year in university in Ghana that he got his hands on the production software Fruity Loops. “What I used to do is try to copy beats by people like Kanye West and J Dilla, who are my major influences, but make it a little bit different. Then when I got the hang of the basics, I started doing my own thing.”

Since producing Mr Eazi’s deeply infectious ‘Skintight’, ‘Shitor’ and ‘Teef Teef’, Juls has become notorious for delivering chart toppers for other artists. Some include Burna Boy’s ‘Gwarn’, ‘So Mi So’ alongside Wande Coal and Wizkid’s ‘True love’ featuring Tay Iwar and Projexx. He now has Ghana Music Awards and AFRIMA gongs on his mantlepiece, has become a voting member for the Grammys and is lauded as a Kiss FM DJ. These accolades and his hit making abilities ultimately stem from a complete trust in his intuition. “I don’t really go into the studio being like, ‘This is what we’re doing’,” he muses. “I’ve only done that once for the album and it’s the song with Kojo Funds, ‘M.O.O.D’. I was like, ‘Alright this is the beat bro, this is what we need to talk about, this is what we need to do’ and that’s exactly what we did.”

Other features on the release come from King Promise, George the Poet, Prettyboy D-O, Oxlade and Sauti Sol, ensuring that despite the rapid consumption of music in today’s climate, ‘Sounds Of My World’ is more than just an album for Juls. It’s an expressive body of work that will surely resonate with people for years to come.

‘Sounds of My World’ by Juls is out now. Discover it here.

Words Blessing Borode

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