Rikesh Chauhan

Career

RKZ began his career in 2008 as a 17-year-old, after setting up indie label DAS Records and releasing his first project, 'Releas'd: Vol I'. In 2009, RKZ left DAS Records after releasing his first mixtape. In March 2010, he released 'Dark Night of the Soul', followed by third and fourth singles, 'Defeat Me' and 'How Are You'. On his 21st birthday, he released '21' which included a prelude of forthcoming single, Gonna Be That. Gonna Be That was featured as part of the soundtrack for Bashy's film, The Man Inside.

In 2012 he released Power Trippin' along with the music video for lead single, Are You Down. Produced by ADP, the EP was released independently after initially being scheduled to release under RGS Music Group. In November 2012, RKZ released Jhené's Song which was inspired by, and samples, Jhené Aiko's single, 3:16am. The Words of Adrenaline mixtape featuring Jhené's Song released in December 2012, via RKZ's website.

On 1 January 2013, he released 'Superstars' featuring Shawn Sanderson. The video incorporated the team members of UK charity, CALM (see Philanthropy) and promoted their 2013 Save The Male campaign. He performed Superstars on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends with Clive Anderson. In August of that year, he released his EP SOULar which peaked at #97 in the Top 100 R&B/Soul iTunes Chart. In August 2014 he released his fifth mixtape Science X Soul with Still Oceans, Favourite Song and Think Of Me as the main singles. On December 14 he released the single Visionaries via Roundhouse Radio show, The Soul Diaries who premiered the song live on the show. He notably performed at 2013's Leeds & Reading Festivals for BBC Introducing.

In November 2015, RKZ released the song They Don't Know Nothing featuring American rapper, Chino XL.

On March 3rd 2016, RKZ formed a group with producer Handbook and St. Louis rapper Supreme Sol called TRIAD and released the self-titled EP via Berlin-based music blog, Stereofox. Bad was the lead single, with the video (directed by RKZ) released in May 2016.

He is currently working on an album with Handbook, titled Somewhere In The Afterbeat, with the first single Notes slated to release in April 2017. The project was created with the intention of combining his work in music, photography and fashion.

Philanthropy and Additional Work

In February 2012, RKZ officially announced he was one of the new ambassadors for UK charity for mental health, CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably). The charity aims to tackle suicide rates in the UK, particularly within young men aged between 15–35 years. His first written article for CALMzine discussed the stigma of Depression within Brit-Asian communities. In 2013, CALMzine won Publication of the Year at the PSCA Awards. He has notably featured on BBC Radio discussing the importance of mental health awareness, most recently on BBC Asian Network on Mim Shaikh's Shaikh Debate. He is currently a mentor at the University of Westminster.

He contributed to music blog Sampleface as a writer, as well as a guest writer for CALM (both print and online). In addition to writing, he is a noted photographer and creative. Until 2015, RKZ worked as a music video director, having made videos with artists including Cashtastic, Roach Killa, Preeya Kalidas and more. His video for GIRLS by GV was nominated for Best Video at the 2014 UK Bhangra Awards.