Hailing from Peckham, South London, ALQAE are the gully, fun-loving trio scheming for global domination. The triple threat of Jiggy Jim, Jonno AQ and Floss AQ are the best of friends—having gone to school and doing some serious growing up together—and each give their own spin to the ALQAE formula.
Their music speaks to some real experiences—of life on the roads, the grittiness of South, and their self-christened milieu of 'The Surface'—that immediately paints a Picasso of their lives. The grind has brought them to their debut mixtape, also called The Surface, as the trio present themselves and their world view to the masses. The tape brings variety to the table; for every amazing banger, like the menacing "Double Vision", there is a conscious ode to self-advancement and riches on cuts ike "Forbes List", diverging from places of pain and conflict, and happiness and leisure.
It is a diversity that can elude many similarly skilled artists, but Jonno's razor-sharp lyricism, Jim's cool-boy confidence and Floss' dexterity all combine like a jigsaw to offer up freshness in abundance. Along with the release of the mixtape, ALQAE also drop the colourful visual for wavey joint "IDC". These are three young men with an appreciation for the finer things in life, and the video is full of fur coats, Hawaiian shirts and designer shades. This double threat just goes to show that ALQAE have arrived in fine fashion.
Exclusively, watch "IDC" above and stream The Surface down below.
