What’s On spoke to the up-and-coming British rap duo about their gig tonight at Beats on the Beach. The concert is free to attend and will see the guys come on stage from 11.20pm onwards this Thursday, November 24.

What are you planning on doing at your performance?

Konan: Basically we are going to try to get the crowd as mad as possible. That’s the kind of thing we work off – energy. As much energy as we can get the crowd to give us, the more we have to work with.

Krept: We are going to perform a lot of stuff from our album, the big records like Freak of the Week and Don’t Waste my Time. Our new remixes that we won a few awards from in the UK, even our remixes with Jeremih. We’re going to have fun and do a lot of interactional performances to get the crowd going.

Both of you have worked with some big names already including Ed Sheeran, Emeli Sande and Rick Ross. Any favourite moments from your collaborations?

Krept: When we did Freak of the Week with Jeremih we were all dancing in the studio. So that was a good experience, a good vibe. We were like having a mini party.

Konan: When we were in the studio with Rick Ross and he was laying his verse, it was a bit surreal. We had sent him the beat the day before so we didn’t know if it was going to get done, because he had to go back to America. The next morning we came in the studio and we walked in and he was mid-verse. That was a moment for us.

Who do you want to collaborate with next?

Konan: Rihanna! That’d be a good collaboration.

Will you go see her perform on Sunday then?

Krept: No we are on tour. So literally as soon as we leave, we’re doing our European tour in Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt and Paris. We’re literally on the go, so unfortunately we’re not going to watch it.

What was it like to hear your stuff on the radio for the very first time?

Konan: It was very surreal to hear our song on the radio for the first time. It’s very exciting to know that people are listening – apart from your friends – to your music. Do you know what I mean? So it was very inspiring.

Krept: The first time I heard myself on radio, I was in my house. We had done something for BBC 1Xtra and that was the first time. That was a big moment for us.

How did you guys meet?

Konan: We met playing football. My school played his school. There was healthy competition on the pitch, we were mouthing off with each other – in a friendly way – and then we just became cool.

Krept: We also had mutual friends and we started doing music for our friends and it just became a thing.

What’s next for you guys?

Konan: We’ve got two projects at the same time, with different vibes. We wanted to give something for everybody. We kept the same sonic sound so one is more melodic while the other is more street and harder. Everybody should be excited about it.

For more details on Beats on the Beach and the full line-up visit: yasalam.ae