S-Endz

S-Endz, also known as Turi and Casey Rain is a British Asian vocalist, music producer, songwriter, YouTuber and radio presenter. He is best known as a member of the critically acclaimed UK rap/alternative/bhangra band Swami and co-founder of the media collective The Violet Reality.

S-Endz
Background information
OriginBirmingham, England
GenresHip hop, rock, funk
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, record producer, presenter, writer
InstrumentsVocals, keyboard
Years active2004–present
Associated actsSwami, DJ Swami, Apache Indian
Websitehttp://www.s-endz.com

He was a vegetarian for several years and now adheres to a vegan diet.[1][2][3]

History

S-Endz grew up in the culturally diverse area of Handsworth, Birmingham. He is mixed-race. S-Endz' first cousin Apache Indian broke the UK mainstream pop audience with a blend of bhangra and reggae produced by his cousins Simon "Subs" Duggal and Diamond "DJ Swami" Duggal. Subs & DJ Swami would later form the band Swami, which S-Endz would join as a vocalist in 2004.

Career

with Swami

S-Endz contributed rap vocals to many of the tracks on the 2004 Swami release DesiRock and all of the tracks on the 2005 remixed rap-rock version of the album, entitled So Who Am I released on Sony BMG. This album became a significant milestone for British Asian music, winning many awards. S-Endz himself was awarded with a "Rowdiest MC" award by BBC Radio 1 DJ's Bobby Friction & DJ Nihal in 2005.[4]

When asked to describe his musical style in a 2005 interview with UKBhangra.com, S-Endz replied:

"My musical style as a vocalist and performer is like the bastard child of DMX and Courtney Love that was babysat by Slipknot and taught to create music by Prince, Kurt Cobain and Tupac Shakur and then genetically modified with the soul of Jason Voorhees while he's wielding a chainsaw."[5]

In 2007, Swami released the album "Equalize" internationally through EMI/Virgin Records to great acclaim. The '4 Faces' album cover, featuring the outlines of Diamond, S-Endz, Sups and Bobby became the new Swami logo, appearing on flyers and merchandise. S-Endz appeared on the songs "Electro Jugni" and "Intoxicated" from this album. The album featured many international talents including Pras from The Fugees and award-winning South African R&B star Ishmael.

The album was followed by the EP of "Electro Jugni/She's Mine", on which S-Endz appeared and co-wrote the tracks featured on it, including "She's Mine", Swami's first song to be sung fully in English. S-Endz wrote the male R&B verses that Sups sang on this song, as well as his own rap and adlibs.

In Summer 2009, Swami began to promote an upcoming Greatest Hits compilation entitled "53431". The compilation includes two new songs, "Sugarless" and "Tonight" – both of which were co-written by and feature S-Endz. "Sugarless" was released as a free download in June 2009 to massive critical acclaim from fans and media alike. Indian music blog Bhangraw reported that this would be the last material from Swami that would include Punjabi vocals and that their next album would be entirely in English.[6]

In March 2013, Swami released "Back It Up," the first single from their upcoming release UPGRADE. The song was written by S-Endz, DJ Swami and Liana McCarthy, features co-lead, chorus and rap vocals by S-Endz on the English Mix, and chorus/rap vocals on the Desi Mix. This was followed in 2014 by another single, Do It Again which was released with a music video shot in India. Both of these songs appeared in a remix form on two further Swami albums released in 2017, "Upgrade" and "Sidetrkd" on which S-Endz co-wrote and features on all songs.[7][8]

Solo career

The early roots of S-Endz' solo career began to take shape in September 2006, when two tracks written, produced and performed by S-Endz under the name Turi were premiered on the BBC Asian Network in an exclusive live performance for Bobby Friction's show. According to S-Endz' official website at the time, the two tracks are called "Welcome 2 the New Wave", and "In the Haze". No release information has been given for either two songs.

In early 2007 the track "Giveit2me", produced by Simon "Subs" Duggal, was premiered via S-Endz's MySpace page. It is a reggae-fuelled commercial hip-hop track. On 12 March, it was playlisted on the BBC Asian Network and remained in their "A" playlist for 2 months.

S-Endz' official website was updated in October 2007, revealing that his upcoming release is to be titled Emanate. It also mentioned the names of two new songs, "Electric Man" and "She's Like My Shadow", both of which later premiered on S-Endz' MySpace page. In 2007 S-Endz also co-wrote and featured on the song "Wise in the Mind" by Fusing Naked Beats. This song also featured London rappers Swami Baracus and Mic Assassin.

On 5 September 2008, a remix of "She's Like My Shadow" featuring Detroit rapper Kidd Skilly was announced via S-Endz' MySpace blog. It later premiered on S-Endz' official website as well as appearing on Kidd Skilly's mixtape 'Undercover Superstar Vol. 1'.

On 15 April 2009, a new song entitled "Dark Days" appeared on S-Endz' official website. However, he states the track will not be appearing on his upcoming album.

The USA/Canadian magazine ANOKHI featured an exclusive article about S-Endz in their Summer 2009 issue. The article states that Emanate will be released in the fall of 2009, and the first single "Do U Wanna Come"? will be released in the summer to coincide with a number of live shows.[9]

In mid July 2009, a clip of "Do U Wanna Come?" was uploaded to S-Endz' MySpace page, and a few days later, a brand new track "We Got Some Breaking Up To Do" was premiered on entertainment site DesiHits.com. This track showcases S-Endz' trademark flows on top of the pop song of the same name by the Danish group Private.

In August 2009, S-Endz announced the release of a digital EP featuring his new single "Outer Space" which also features vocalists Kazz Kumar and Rukas. The EP was released on 21 October 2009.

In April 2010, Radio New Zealand aired 'Urban Disturbance in Broadcasting House' – a documentary exploring the life and career of BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe. This documentary contained 3 original pieces of music by S-Endz.[10]

It was announced, via YouTube clip in February 2011 that S-Endz has again collaborated with Kazz Kumar, creating a follow-up to her 2010 single 'Fashion'. The new version, entitled 'Fashion Part II (Neofunk Style)' was then released in the spring.[11]

On 25 January 2012 S-Endz announced a new EP entitled 'Chapter 0 : REINKARNAL' and uploaded the cover artwork to his Tumblr page. The first song from the EP, 'Alone' was released on 11 February with subsequent songs being released every 2 weeks.[12] The Birmingham Music Archive described the song "Do U Wanna Come" as "Deep South Bounce from Birmingham's very own Prince/Outkast."[13]

As a presenter

In 2006, S-Endz was given the opportunity to create a documentary about Tupac Shakur for radio station BBC 1xtra alongside the stations DJ Semtex. The two of them spent a week in Los Angeles interviewing Tupac's friends, family and associates to create the documentary, which aired on the tenth anniversary of Tupac's death to critical acclaim from the media. Leading UK entertainment journalist Miranda Sawyer remarked in her review that S-Endz "clearly has a future in broadcasting".

In 2008, S-Endz, alongside Swami bandmates DJ Swami and Sups, guest-hosted the Sony award-winning FRICTION radio show for two days on the BBC Asian Network whilst presenter Bobby Friction was away. The shows were well received by fans.

Early 2009 saw S-Endz step back into a presenter role with the audio slideshow "Johnny J Remembered". This piece, uploaded to YouTube, was a tribute to the late hip-hop producer who S-Endz had interviewed for the Tupac documentary 3 years prior. The 20-minute piece looked back on Johnny's life and career with previously unseen pictures from S-Endz' trip to Johnny's studio.

In 2011, S-Endz contributed to many documentaries in XFM's primetime "25" classic albums series – including co-producing and co-presenting an acclaimed episode about Prince & The Revolution's Parade.[14]

In 2015, S-Endz co-founded The Violet Reality. Their YouTube channel[15] has become the internet's primary source for updates and information on the career of Prince. In 2019, S-Endz under his alias Casey Rain launched a radio show entitled "The Phaseshift" with his cousin and former bandmate DJ Swami for LA-based station Dash Radio.[16]

As a writer

In August 2011, S-Endz, under his alias Casey Rain created the blog "Birmingham Riots 2011",[17] to document the violent riots that occurred in the aftermath of the Death of Mark Duggan. The blog went viral, with 3 million hits in 3 days, and led to Casey being interviewed on the BBC,[18] in The Economist magazine (who stated that police found themselves trailing Casey Rain in intelligence-gathering),[19] and numerous international newspapers. This led to Casey becoming an official contributor to The Guardian newspaper.[20] and his writing on the roots of violence was quoted on the popular Racialicious blog.[21] In late 2011, Casey was given an award by the West Midlands Police in recognition of the blog's popularity.[17]

In 2014, Casey wrote a review of a performance by pop artist Prince for the music blog Nada Brahma.[22] This review was later quoted in official Prince live video from that night.[23]

In 2016, Casey contributed to the book Band:Smart, written by Pigface leader and music industry teacher Martin Atkins.

Other

In 2010, S-Endz appeared in the music documentary Made in Birmingham : Reggae Punk Bhangra – an independent documentary covering Birmingham's role in popular music. The documentary has been shown across the UK and is being submitted for international film festivals in 2011.[24]

Discography

With Swami:

  • DesiRock (Roma II, 2004)
  • So Who Am I (Sony BMG, 2005)
  • Equalize (Virgin/EMI, 2007)
  • Electro Jugni/She's Mine (InGrooves, 2009)
  • 53431 (Virgin/EMI, 2009)
  • Upgrade in Progress (DesiRock Ent, 2015)
  • Upgrade (DesiRock Ent, 2017)
  • Sidetrkd (DesiRock Ent, 2017)

Solo tracks released:

  • Giveit2me (released on MySpace)
  • Electric Man (originally released on MySpace and later on the Outer Space EP)
  • She's Like My Shadow (released on MySpace)
  • She's Like My Shadow (remix featuring Kidd Skilly) (released on S-Endz.com)
  • Dark Days (released on S-Endz.com)
  • S-Endz VS Private – We Got Some Breaking Up To Do (released on DesiHits.com)

Solo albums and EP's

Guest appearances:

  • featured on the remix to Swedish R'n'B artist Gigi's track "Masquerade" (2004)
  • backing vocals on 'Get Loose!' by Apache Indian & Pras (2005)
  • featured on 'O Sikander (International Dance Mix)' produced by DJ Swami from the smash-hit Bollywood movie 'Corporate' (2006)
  • featured on DJ Camille Starr's remix of Amerie's Take Control (2007)
  • featured on 'Wise in the Mind' by Fusing Naked Beats (2007)
  • produced and featured on 'Fashion Part II (Neofunk Style)' by Kazz Kumar (2011)

Filmography
Year Film Role Type Miscellaneous
2010 Made in Birmingham : Reggae Punk Bhangra[24] Himself Music Documentary
gollark: Your brain will LITERALLY beeoids.
gollark: Not sure, look it up.
gollark: IIRC most miners are organized into mining pools, so I think you'd just need buy-in from those people.
gollark: Every miner, not every client.
gollark: Smart contracts are in "Solidity", which is apparently an accursed JS-type language.

References
  1. Thinking about becoming vegan? Tips from S-Endz, Urban Desi Radio, 2012-03-14, archived from the original on 2 May 2012
  2. About Me, Vegan Rockstar, archived from the original on 2 May 2012
  3. Confirmed Twitter account information, archived from the original on 2 May 2012
  4. "BBC – Radio 1 – Bobby And Nihal – Tracklisting". BBC.
  5. Interview With...S-Endz, UKBhangra.com, 30 October 2005.
  6. "Bhangraw.com". Bhangraw.com.
  7. ""SIDETRKD" : Brand new Swami album, OUT NOW!". Swamimusic.com.
  8. ""UPGRADE" : Brand new Swami album, OUT NOW!". Swamimusic.com.
  9. "ANOKHI Magazine Summer 2009". Turimusic.com.
  10. "Urban Disturbance in Broadcasting House". Radionz.co.nz.
  11. "Happy Valentines Day (Sneak Peak of "Fashion Part 2") !". YouTube.
  12. "Index of /". chapter0.s-endz.com.
  13. "s-endz.com > dirty fresh". S-endz.com.
  14. "XFM's "25" series". Turimusic.com.
  15. "the violet reality". YouTube. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  16. "DJ Swami & Casey Rain to debut new show, “The Phaseshift� on DASH Radio". Thevioletreality.com. 26 March 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  17. "Birmingham Riots 2011". birminghamriots2011.tumblr.com.
  18. "Bobby Friction interviews S-Endz about Birmingham Riots on BBC Asian Network – 10/08/11". Soundcloud.com.
  19. "Like a bad dream". Economist.com. 4 August 2012.
  20. "Live webchat: social media and the riots". The Guardian. 8 December 2011.
  21. "Casey Rain on Understanding the roots of Violence". Racialicious.com.
  22. "Nad Abrahma -". Nadabrahma.co.uk.
  24. "Latest Birmingham and West Midlands news on Food & Drink, Nostalgia, Fashion,". Business-live.co.uk.
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