It’s a common occurrence in the world of music to see multiple authors listed under songs. Even the biggest stars in the world such as Beyoncé and Dua Lipa do it like that; they have teams of collaborators that come in and help them flesh out their ideas and bring them to life. Big songs and big albums aren’t just an artistic product anymore; they are projects, and someone is investing money to make those projects take off. Collaborations are a way of making sure there’s a return on that investment.
Turk N16, the London-based rapper, doesn’t shy away from collaborations. For him, however, they are an intimate decision more than a business one. Every collaboration brings some risks with it, as it means that a new person will have to find their place in the work process and offer up a contribution that doesn’t necessarily have to work well with the way Turk N16 usually does things. As someone who’s meticulously designed their work process for maximum output and the best possible efficiency, it’s reasonable that Turk N16 might be a bit wary of letting people in.
Still, collaborations also let Turk N16 approach things from other angles that he wouldn’t necessarily consider by default. Turk N16 has a specific way of seeing things and talking about them, and a new collaborator might bring a valuable new perspective that could elevate Turk N16’s initial idea. Collaborators might also come with a skill set complimentary to Turk N16’s and deliver tremendous value to the track they work on.
For all the listed reasons, Turk N16’s approach to songwriting collaborations is a mix of caution and enthusiasm. On the one hand, he’s always excited to see all the places where collaborators might take his art. On the other hand, he’s prepared for it to be a dead-end, and to enforce the boundaries he sets as the primary author of his songs. After all, Turk N16 is an artist who is concerned with his art but also with the people consuming it. It’s his job to make sure that they enjoy what he puts out, whether that means accepting songwriting collabs or declining them.
Follow Turk N16 on his Instagram profile.
