Quarantime: The Lost Files

Editors' Notes “I don't ever leave the studio,” Yxng Bane tells Apple Music. “I don't stop. I hate any studio where you tell me to smoke outside. I hate it. I don't want to leave. If I'm thirsty I want to drink in there. If I'm hungry I want to eat in there. If I want to smoke I want to smoke in there. I don't want to leave that room.” This bloody-minded drive revealed its worth to the East London rapper when faced with coronavirus lockdown measures in April 2020. Still able to move with flexibility, Bane reached into his vault for Quarantime: The Lost Files—a mixtape “hosted” by Beats 1 DJ Charlie Sloth. Like his 2018 tape HBK, Bane offers another extended dose of unfastened melody-driven rap backed by an all-star list of collaborators including DBE, Headie One, Kojo Funds and M Huncho. “The guys I've always worked with,“ Bane confesses. “These are songs recorded with me saying: ‘Let's go to the studio, bro.' Every day. If I didn't have this passion, this tape wouldn't be here. If I didn't love the game, if I didn't love music, if I didn't live for music, this tape wouldn't be here.” Here, Yxng Bane takes us through the project, track by track.

Charlie Sloth Intro
“Sloth is gang, bro. No cap, I can't even cap. We've done several shows together. We've been abroad together. We were in Dubai together not too long ago. Charlie's ganged off and obviously, he's got a relationship with G Frsh as well.

Drip From Me
“This one's produced by Team Salut, who also did [2018 single] ‘Vroom’ and [HBK track] ‘Needed Time’. I've got a very good relationship with them and I think we understand each other, sonically. It's just me talking smoke! So I'm just talking to a lady and saying what she told me. N****s getting their drip from Baney!”

Section
“I feel like obviously being away for a while, this was me gearing up a taster of the tape. Once you listen to the tape, you’ll know ‘Section’ is like a generalisation of all the tunes put together. I touch on where I came from and traveling, and the emotions that we all feel coming from places that I come from.”

Table For Two
“This is produced by [London producer] Big Zeeko. The inspiration for this, well, I wanted a table for two that night, for me and a little shawty. But where was I? I was in the studio! Unfortunately, I had to sing about it rather than do it. Or, fortunately, shall I say?”

Are You Mad (feat. K-Trap)
“With K-Trap, it’s that understanding each other sonically, and understanding each other away from music. Having that relationship just makes everything. It's just organic and it flows.”

Father
“The [London production duo] Splurgeboys are geniuses. I’m not even going to cap, they’re geniuses with these beats. They produced [2017 single] ‘Froze’ as well. I got to the studio and just vibed with the mandem. Chilled, smoked a couple and then, just got in my feelings, literally. I'm touching on some sensitive subjects. I’m not even going to lie to you. There's a lot of things that I said on that song that I hadn't dealt with, as a person. I didn't have the time, or the luxury to deal with certain things. I had to carrying on doing shows, I had to carry on performing. I've got responsibilities. I had to carry on being an artist. I didn't have the time to mourn or to just chill, whatever. And then it took its toll on me. We're talking about a kid who's come from Canning Town. It's happening so fast, he's traveling the world. I'm charting, but think of where I've just come from. I lost two pals in one summer. But I've got to carry on being an artist."

Charlie Sloth Interlude 1
“I asked G [FrSH] to ask Charlie as soon as I decided I was going to make a mixtape. As soon as I decided on it G was like: ‘Do you know what would be sick? If it's like the old school mixtapes.' I was like, 'Yeah, wavey. Getting Charlie to do it would be sick as well.' Like how you'd have DJ Whoo Kid host on old school mixtapes.”

Rockstar (feat. DBE)
“If you look at old school DBE [D-Block Europe] videos, you'll see me in the videos. So, even with those guys, it's before music and outside of music. I feel the like we're the new rock stars. We're the only rock stars. A part two of [2018 mixtape] Any Minute Now might be on the way, too. I won't say much but it's called that for a reason."
MCM
“I don't consider myself Luther Vandross when it comes to singing, but I've never even gone to any singing lessons. With me, I've always just believed practice makes perfect. So if I'm in car with the R&B songs that I like, I will just sing along to it. And I would consider that training. My best vocal performance isn't out yet.”
Porsche (feat. Headie One)
“Headie, that’s gang. We had the same engineer, Sean D, at this time when we met up a couple years ago. We dropped [2018 single] ‘This Week’ and I think we recorded this one around that time, too. Right now, I'm talking about what's going on right now in my life, what I'm going through right now. When it's album time, I'm going to give you the whole story. I'm going to tell you everything.”

Change Your Life (feat. Kojo Funds)
“I grew up with Kojo Funds. It ain’t no secret. I’ve known him for maybe 10 years plus now. I think he started with music first. We’re all from the same area but he’s a bit older so he had his age group and I had mine but we all used to play football. I can't even lie to you with Kojo: where we get in the studio, you have to be there. We'll do things like go in and out, line for line—instead of a verse—each. For me to explain, it's not the same.”

Rubbish (feat. G Frsh)
“G Frsh hit me up for this one! He said ‘Yeah, I want to cut a verse on this one.’ I'm going to be real, I didn't like the tune at first. G was like: 'This tune is hard! I've got some things to say.' When I say “I din't always wanna rap/ This shit was Plan B,’ I'm not even sure what Plan A was. It wanted to just be rich, to be honest with you. I was academically intelligent, so I think I would have tried to go into banking, but the plan was always just to come out of where I was from.”

Charlie Sloth Interlude 2
“I haven’t done my Fire in the Booth [freestyle] yet but they’ll need a fire extinguisher on that day. It's a big thing for me. It's like an album. You don't go Fire in the Booth and talk rubbish.”

Thriller (feat. M Huncho)
“I wrote this when I was in Casa Mira, Portugal, we called it ‘Cash-Mira’ when we were there—it’s like their favelas. My best mate from school, who’s my road manager now, he’s Portuguese and from Casa Mira. So we just went back there and just said hey to everyone, just chilling there for like two weeks, bro. I linked up with Huncho for this when we got back. This was the second time I had done something with Hunch, so he just pulled up and then we just got cracking."