Makaveli is the artist name of the producer and DJ Oscar Aplicano. The name comes from the rapper Tupac Shakur, who used it as an alter ego. He grew up listening to soul and hiphop, before starting DJing himself, for his own pleasure. He then moved into production after a friend of his made it big and they built a studio together. He has always used Logic to produce music, but he doesn’t miss the days of his old G4 crashing, saying “I lost so many tunes!”. His influences include some of the biggest hiphop and rap artists of all time, including LL Cool J, Run DMC, Erik B & Rakim, Public Enemy, Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Jah Rule and Nelly. Recently, he has been enjoying British rappers including Aitch from Manchester. Makaveli does not draw influence from anything outside music, as it is “All about the beats for me”. He describes his music as “Downtempo hiphop instrumentals, or drive time music”. He writes through a process of trial and error, saying “It just gets better each time. I have learnt a lot and just need to put it to use”. He is also considering having other artists rhyming over his beats, to further develop his music. Makaveli’s debut EP on Key Changes is called Leopards.