Behind The Music: Atumonthebeat (Music Producer Interview)

Coventry-born, now North-West London-based producer Atumonthebeat is at the forefront of the mellow grime movement. Since starting his music journey in 2020 the 19-year-old has amassed an impressive following from his jazzy flips of classic grime freestyles from Skepta, Kano, JME and many more. Despite his refreshing take on the UK’s favourite underground sound, Atum is no stranger to the roots of grime, DJing at classic grime cyphers. Beyond music, his creativity extends into visual art, painting his own cover artwork.  

I had the chance to sit down with Atum to talk about his biggest inspirations in music, the rise of mellow grime on TikTok, dealing with getting his music taken down, and more.  

Tell me a bit about yourself, how would you describe yourself?  

I’m from Coventry and I have been making music since around 2020. I have always been into grime, that's how I started making the jazzy mellow grime. Even before I started posting on TikTok which is how I've gained my audience I was making this grimy stuff, grime has been my favourite genre for years, so it just feels right.  

What was your introduction to making music, how did it all start?  

Most people I work with all say they started in lockdown, the first one. I started in the second lockdown, I can't even remember the first time I made a beat, it just randomly happened. I’ve always been into making music, my dad used to make music back in the day so that influenced me.  

Were there any notable figures you looked to for inspiration when you first started making beats?  

Definitely KwolleM, he started the whole mellow grime wave, so I tried to follow in his footsteps, Knxwledge as well. I tried to merge both of them together at the start because KwolleM was just remixing already-made songs, whereas Knxwledge was remixing YouTube freestyles, so I wanted to try and do my own thing and mix them together. Madlib as well, he is my favourite producer, so using his jazzy samples just fits perfectly.  

You mentioned you were a big grime fan, what does grime mean to you, how did you get into it, and why is it your favourite genre?  

I’ve been on it since I was in year 7, that's when I started listening to it. I think it was AJ Tracey that got me hooked on some of his early stuff. Grime for me is more than just music, there's a whole culture behind it. The freestyles, the cyphers, even the fashion style.  

Why do you think there has been such an increase in these mellow grime flips on   

social media, and what do you think they do for the genre?  

The reason they are so popular is because they are refreshing but they are also nostalgic. Everyone knows Skepta and his freestyles on YouTube, but it gives a new take on them. It’s not that the original freestyles are bad if anything I prefer them but the whole jazzy vibe creates a whole new vibe to it.  

Your work is predominantly grime flips, however you have a lot of unreleased tracks on your website that cover a wide range of genres. Is there any other music you want to experiment with in the near future?  

I make a lot of different stuff, but in the near future, I don't see myself focusing on anything wildly different. Later down the line 100% I will but for now I do have some jazzy garage stuff that I am definitely going to release soon. I’ve also just got actual old-school grime to release.  

Who has been your favourite artist to work with so far?  

My favourite person to work with is Paul Stephan, we made some great songs, and we have some stuff coming out soon. ROMAINE too, me and him always work really well.  

What advice would you give to an aspiring producer that you wish you knew when you started?  

Just try and be authentic. In a genre full of backward culture, you have to be yourself and make what you think is right. Personally, I wouldn't just hop on a trend purely to profit from it, if you want to make music you have to be true to yourself. Music is such a raw thing, it's an art form, and you need to put your soul into it.  

Throughout your music journey have you experienced any challenges that others may be able to relate to and how did you overcome these?  

This time last year all of my music got taken down. I was honestly thinking about quitting music altogether and doing something else in life. I managed to get it back up with a different distributor, I think that really made me appreciate it more because I felt what it was like to have everything taken away from me. That is definitely the biggest challenge I have faced.  

Is there anything you are currently working on you are excited about that we can expect to see soon?  

I'm back on the jazzy stuff with ROMAINE, we are working on a few songs at the moment that I am excited about. As I mentioned I’ve got some songs with Paul Stephan coming out soon, I reckon one of them is going to be the biggest grime song this year, that's what we were saying in the studio. I have also got 2 tunes with AMVN.  I’ve produced a few songs for the crowdcntrl.tv tape that should be coming out March 14th. Few DJ sets as well, some cyphers, I have been getting into that a lot more recently.