A Night Out On The Town With Stööki Sound

Recently as part of their Osiris EP release tour, Stööki Sound made a stop in my current hometown of Washington DC. As part of this piece, I was originally meant to just quickly say hello to the boys, snap a picture, and then just cover the event. However, that did not happen. In what ended up being a day and a half with these two guys I managed to not only get to meet Stööki Sound but also met Jamal and Luke, the masterminds behind the project.

When I first got connected with Luke I was fairly nervous about meeting the guys. Stööki Sound have been around the DC area a few times and as someone who has religiously attended their shows, getting to meet them was a huge first and something I’ve always wanted to do. As evening approached I nervously shot out a text to Luke who graciously invited me to meet up with them before the show. The gig was at one of DC’s most famous music venues, U Street Music Hall. If you haven’t been there before, U Street Music Hall has one of the top rated sound systems in the country and is essentially set up like a basement party. The music can get so hype that your heart relies on the bass to keep it pumping instead of your body. After I got to the venue I headed on to the green room where I met up with Luke and Jamal, the two men who make up the Stööki Sound project. As soon as I met them my nervousness went away, and although Jamal was clearly in his preshow ritual, both him and Luke were more than happy to have a bit of chat with me. During this chat, I managed to get an inside look into the life of these two guys, such as life on the road for their Asia tour and their love for my favorite soccer team, Arsenal FC.

After hitting it off in the green room, it was finally showtime. Immediately from the get-go, the two boys started off with Luke on the ones and twos dropping heavy hitting grime beats and Jamal dropping some of his widely acclaimed beats as the MC Jelacee. Check out some of the footage below:

As the show proceeded to go on it was impossible to not feel the temperature go up in the room, with the crowd packed and in a frenzied dance. The nicest part was that the two guys were actually interacting with the audience such as when Jamal jumped off the stage and started dancing and moshing with the crowd. Their stage manner managed to hype people up so much that three different people had attempted to crowd surf. In some ways, it felt like a rock show, and it had truly shown how far Stööki Sound have come to creating a devoted fanbase here in Washington DC since their first time a couple years ago. Over the night we heard a combination of original grime to trap to old school hip hop and their set hit every musical itch you could possibly have. With such a diversity of sound present in their sets and productions, it’s no wonder they have built such a massive following. When sitting down later with Jamal, it became evident that this diversity and willingness to try new things was the guiding principle of what Stööki Sound was all about. To Jamal, Stööki Sound is not afraid to go in any direction so long as their artistic ambition drives them there. Needless to say the sky is the limit for these guys, and with the kind of focus they have right now only time knows what heights these guys will hit.

To hear more sounds from Stööki Sound, check out their Osiris EP below and check their social media profiles as well!