This Saturday, it goes down. Westside Gunn — the visionary, the curator, the voice behind Griselda — lands in Amsterdam for his first-ever show in the Netherlands. Powered by Mad City and Patta Soundsystem, we’re bringing bars, bass, and pure energy under one roof. Summer’s almost done, but we’re closing it properly. Don’t sleep — this one’s for the heads. One night. One stage. One for the books. Tickets are moving so we fixed some for our community — grab yours now!

Artwork by Ral Duke | Interview by Passion Dzenga From the graffiti-splashed streets of Barry Town to the vinyl shelves of hip-hop collectors worldwide, Ral Duke—born Sam Jones—has built a career out of merging worlds that shouldn’t fit but somehow do. Once an MC in a gritty South Wales crew, he swapped bars for blades, cutting together surreal collages that feel as cinematic as a 1970s Scorsese frame. His work has graced the covers of Westside Gunn, Ghostface Killah, The Alchemist, and countless underground heavyweights, cementing him as a quiet architect of the modern independent hip-hop aesthetic.Rooted in a DIY ethic learned in the Squid Ninjas days, Duke approaches each piece like a beatmaker—layering textures, flipping images, and knowing exactly when to stop before the magic is lost. Influenced as much by Wu-Tang and drum & bass as by Kubrick and boutique film restorations, he thrives in contrast: soulful samples over street grit, dream logic over hard reality.In this conversation, we talk about his Cardiff come-up, the social media leap that connected him to Griselda, the challenge of designing for both streaming thumbnails and 12-inch vinyl, and why surrealism is more than just an aesthetic choice—it’s a way of warping reality without losing the truth.  You’re known creatively as Ral Duke, but also as Sam Jones. How did that alias come about, and how does it connect to your artistic identity?It started when I was an MC with my friends under the collective moniker Squid Ninjaz. The name came from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas—Hunter S. Thompson’s alter ego was Raoul Duke. I liked the idea of warping reality with words, so it fit. With my Cardiff accent, “Raoul Duke” became “Ral Duke” for a sharper punch. It stuck ever since. You grew up in Barry Town, near Cardiff. What was the scene like when you started, and how did it shape your vision? Barry had its own gritty, raw style—very Wu-Tang inspired. The local music was dark and atmospheric, graffiti was everywhere, and all four pillars of hip-hop—MCing, DJing, breakdancing, graffiti—were alive. Drum and bass was also big in the area too. That environment influenced my taste, visuals, and even how I produce—keeping things true to the textures around me. Before designing album covers, what did your early art look like? Was collage always your thing?My art came out of necessity. In my crew Squid Ninjaz, we were very DIY with all aspects of our craft—we made the beats, the raps, and the artwork ourselves. Collage came naturally, and I see it a lot like making beats—layering pieces to create something new. I started with physical collage from old magazines, but shifted to digital as tech got better. I still collect magazines for texture and want to return to more hands-on work. How is making a collage similar to making music, and how do you know when it’s finished? Both are about taking separate parts and combining them to tell a new story. I love contrast—like soulful samples with heavy street lyrics, or luxury images with real-life grit. As for knowing when it’s done, it’s instinct, like cooking. You stop before you overdo it. Sometimes the simplest ideas hit hardest. How did you branch out from the Cardiff scene into working with US artists like Westside Gunn and Ghostface Killah?Social media. I was a fan of Westside Gunn early on and responded to his open call for an album cover. He didn’t use my first submissions, but a few days later, he DM’d me for a specific track cover. That led to work with Conway, Benny the Butcher, Alchemist, and Ghostface. Do you approach each project the same way, and how is it different working locally with friends like Earl Jeffers versus US artists? I go off the vibe of the project—sometimes highly detailed and layered, other times stripped down. With Earl, we work in person, bouncing ideas in real time. With US artists, it’s all remote, so the brief is usually clearer from the start. Your work blends music culture, photography, and surrealism. Why is surrealism important to you, and what inspires your visuals outside of music? Surrealism lets me show alternate versions of reality, making unlikely elements work together to tell a story. Outside of music, I’m heavily inspired by 70s cinema—directors like Scorsese and Kubrick. I collect boutique 4K restorations of cult films from labels like Arrow Video and Second Sight.  How has the shift from physical album covers to small digital thumbnails changed your work, especially in the independent hip-hop scene? On streaming, simplified images read better at small sizes, but I still design with vinyl in mind. Hip-hop vinyl collecting is huge again, and with independent artists, covers are now treated as art rather than just marketing. Working directly with artists—no middleman—means the visuals stay true to the music. Would you like to take your art beyond album covers?Definitely. I’d love to do a concept gallery show in my hometown, like a conceptual exhibition with a unified story. Are there concepts you’ve wanted to make but couldn’t, and do you ever revisit old pieces? Some client ideas are too ambitious for collage and need illustration. For my own work, I push until I’m happy—if not, I start over. I don’t revisit old pieces; they’re time capsules of who I was then.Have you included unexpected elements in your work, and how does meme culture play into it? Once I put a dog with three eyes in an Alchemist cover. My search history is full of weird finds. People have turned my covers into memes—like edits of Benny the Butcher covers—but while memes are quick hits, I aim for lasting aesthetic impact.  How does it feel to be seen as part of Griselda’s aesthetic?Proud and humbled—especially when Alchemist asked me to do the Hall & Nash 2 cover because he saw me as part of that era.Should people experience your work with the music or separately? Both together is ideal—like when you buy a record because the cover grabs you.What’s next for you? I want to keep cooking in the street wear world working with brands that fit that hip hop aesthetic. I feel like I am bringing a unique take in that area. I’m working with my brother and local actor Lloyd Everitt (as seen in Alien Earth!) on poster design for his directorial debut. Keep cooking these album covers up! And me and my brother Mickey Diamond been cooking some new music together.  Finally, what advice would you give younger artists blending music and visuals?Keep going. Do it because you love it. Consistency is everything—most people drop off, but if you stick with it, opportunities come. 

Words by Nicolas-Tyrell Scott | Photo curation by Angela Phillips The beam of a late summer's sunshine on the body as soca rouses the spirit, the jubilance of West Indians chanting, whistling, wining and in laughter across the carnival route, the unexpected and familiar embraces with any and everyone across the day — the British summer’s finale, and yearly celebration of Caribbean culture is Notting Hill Carnival. Photo by Giles MoberlyCelebrated yearly — for the most part — since its 1966 inception, Notting Hill Carnival lays its roots in West Indian solidarity, lineage, resistance, and celebration. Manifested in the wake of Kelso Cochrane’s death, the Windrush generation were promised ease, work, and refuge in a post-war United Kingdom; instead, racial tensions fuelled the Antiguan’s tragic murder in Notting Hill. Resistance in its thousands erupted not just at his funeral but in post-intra and intercommunal relations between Notting Hill’s West Indian, African, Irish, and English demographics, leading to the activist feminist and journalist Claudia Jones’ idea of erecting an indoor Caribbean Carnival in Notting Hill. Conceived as a concept taken from the Caribbean, and carnival’s origins in the 17th and 18th century eastern and southern Caribbean islands, carnival unites West Indian, African and Creole practice, in its most traditional form, platforming soca and calypso. Francophone islands, including Guadeloupe, Dominica, St Lucia, Martinique, and Grenada, as well as Spanish-owned Trinidad and Tobago at the time, would come to influence the first iterations of carnival.In 1966, following multiple Jones-led carnivals indoors, the country gained its first outdoor festival, infusing Notting Hill with not just music, but coteries yearning for a taste of home. Pan-Caribbean in its evolution, carnival expanded in meaning, infusion and context across the 1970s, when soundsystems would usher themselves into the festivities. Referencing the impact that reggae had had on the country and Jamaican culture at large, soundsystems were debuted through Carnival organiser Leslie Palmer. Cultural expansion at the time was necessary to re-centre West Indians who had become curious and immersed in sound system culture. Palmer recalled “Carnival couldn’t be one band’. There were no stalls, no costumes. I thought, ‘this cyah work’”. Simply put, the variety of music genres and quality of sound system production would distinguish Notting Hill Carnival from West Indian carnivals worldwide.  Photo by Giles MoberlyCarnival is so much more than a frivolous excuse to get intoxicated and celebrate the Bank Holiday; the bacchanal is a form of cultural production, a spiritual embrace with ancestors and thanks to their courage, liberation and reclamation of our autonomy. J'Ouvert, a practice formally observed on the Sunday morning of day one of Notting Hill’s two-day celebration, inaugurates carnival, but also lays its roots in Trinidad, as part of a wider practice of Canboulay — mockery and reclamation from slave masters. J'Ouvert in a Notting Hill context has come to inaugurate the festival, but its true roots are never forgotten. In Spicemas, Grenadian culture, Jab Jab forms part of their J’Ouvert — which is orchestrated using horns, black paint across the body, chains, and other provocative elements. Participating in Jab Jab in Grenada two years ago, changed me forever and was a transcendent, deeply intricate experience that enlightened me. Grenadians in London routinely honour their tradition in Notting Hill year-on-year, highlighting diaspora practice weaved into contemporary culture. Photo by Ethan ParkerIn my years at Notting Hill Carnival, I’ve seen intergenerational exchanges build bridges between multiple generations of West Indians. Even in my own experience, it’s helped me to see the fun my great-grandmother must’ve had in her days. As a child, I remember a year she came, walking stick in tow, to catch a glimpse of ‘the road’ in action. A strong, stubborn, and determined lady in her time, she made it, getting her hour or two immersed in the action a stone's throw away from Westbourne Park station. Having lived in Shepherd's Bush most of her life with my late great-grandfather, West London was often my stomping ground a few weekends a month. From the long-gone Roti Hut on a Friday with my grandmother — I still can’t find a roti in the city as good — to walking past the plot of land that would eventually become Westfield, I remember an older era of West, and the community tied to it, both old and young. Like most things, time evolves areas, terrains, street corners, families, but Notting Hill Carnival to me is a reminder to keep fighting for the traditions and exchanges between old and young that matter.As we enter the second-half of the decade, it is imperative that Carnival is protected.In my years playing in bands like Island Mas, the stark difference between carnival with a band and carnival as a civilian is day and night. In 2024, four bands were removed for failing to adhere to the Notting Hill Carnival bands' music policy. “I see our role as preserving the culture – calypso and soca do not enjoy the same commercial impact as other forms,” Matthew Phillips, Notting Hill Carnival’s current chief executive explained to Soca News. Cultural preservation is what allows for meaning, identity and understanding in a world that exists in a diversely rich fashion — anchoring and continuing to protect the likes of soca and even more so calypso is paramount.In a country that’s benefited from West Indian communities in tailoring, music genres — including grime, jungle, drum and bass, afro-swing — sport and food, respect for the road is important too. Masqueraders often bear the brunt of entitled attendees who, at times, interfere with and directly enter the rope that partitions band members and patrons, and the general populace. It's instances like this that ruin the heritage and festivities for all. Like any form of cultural practice, remembering to respect an area, community, or space, as a guest is paramount, as the beauty in cultural exchange is found first, with respect.  Photo by Adrian BootCarnival has been, and will continue to be, exuberant in the best of ways. An experience one feels in the days, weeks, and months following — an experience we West Indians refer to as tanbanca. As it dawns on west London once more, we remember the sacrifice, meaning, and context forever more. From Trinidad and Tobago to Notting Hill, our ancestors paved the way for our expression; they are the reason behind our meaning, and we are the reason and heartbeat behind its evolution, fortified in West Indian tradition. See you on the road.