From faith to fashion and diversity to vulnerability, the East Midlands MC spoke to us about his prayers for himself and the world around him.
Photography by Aaron Paul-Walker
Styling by Trez Hillman
Words by Nicolas-Tyrell Scott
Taken from Issue 04 of The Basement. Get your copy here.
Across a myriad of Christian texts, angels are depicted as deities. Biblical text Matthew 13:49 outlines an angel’s duty of shielding, or steering righteous humans away from harm while Hebrew and Semitic languages and literature depict angels as messengers from God.
This is why, before deciding on the rap moniker Sainté, the Midlands MC flirted with using the moniker Angel instead. “I was always called a ‘good luck charm’,” he laughs. Raised in the Leicestershire suburb of Beaumont Leys, Sainté and his friends would get up to “young boy type of stuff”. Noticeably coy as his mind sifts through childhood memories, he continues, “they would say ‘you’re our guardian angel’ as nothing bad used to happen when I was around.”
Angel, however, was short-lived. “There was already someone out there who had set pace,” he explains, addressing the West-London-based R&B crooner whose track ‘Go In, Go Hard’ with Wretch 32 made waves back in 2012. He soon landed on Sainté (the variation in letter and inclusion of the accent are an intentional distinction) referencing the authentic archetype that transcends music and applies to his daily life and practice.
It’s taken some back and forth for Sainté and I to finally align on a time and place for our conversation, our calendars at odds due to his hectic Parisian schedule. He’s back in the UK now, and unfortunately, a bout of potential food poisoning is on the horizon. Still, the gratitude and enthusiasm is palpable in his tone as we speak. “It’s crazy, I’ve been to Paris six times in the space of a few months,” he shares. His trips have consisted of work first and foremost, with a spattering of fun snuck-in around these studio sessions and live performances. On this occasion, he was out there with New Balance celebrating the 1906 silhouette.
Sainté’s foray into fashion has been fruitful, to say the least. Naturally, he doesn’t force anything; instead weird, wonderful, and otherworldly opportunities come to him. For instance, whilst working in Nandos in 2021, he discovered that his song ‘Hunnids’ would be used for the upcoming Louis Vuitton’s Fall/Winter collection. The song served as part of his inaugural EP Local MVP which released that same year, with ‘Hunnids’ still sitting pretty as one of his most popular songs to date. “Much love to @virgilabloh + @louisvuitton & everyone involved on set for making this a happen,” he wrote on Instagram, acknowledging the milestone in real-time.
This decision to let fate roll the dice is at the core of Sainté’s character, which emits a constant zen-like aura around him. It’s something that seemingly draws people in. In fact, this almost gravitational pull, capturing the attention of global tastemakers like the aforementioned late Virgil Abloh and die-hard music fans alike, has underscored his career so far. Tales of contemporary artists committing 10,000 hours from an early age in service of their respective “North Star” are a dime a dozen in the fame game, but Sainté never dreamed of rapping as a child. Instead, he was urged to do so by his teammates and friends once they caught wind of his freestyles during adolescent basketball classes, playing for the Leicester Dynamites. That said, it was in his English classes that the seeds for his latent hobby-turned-vocation were unknowingly rooted.
“My fascination with words must’ve definitely been [from] English [classes],” he says, still organising his thoughts. “No, it was defo English. The creative writing,” he quickly clarifies, adding that it was the freedom to craft stories freely that made him fall in love with the subject. “I feel like I was able to strive, I never gave my teacher my sauce or secrets.” Acknowledging his English teacher, Ms. Simpson, in an early release, ‘You Never’, he notes that she must be happy that he’s getting the “letters in” across every verse he pens.
Ms. Simpson is still supportive of Sainté, creating a full-circle moment for the MC. “It’s actually really cool, they listen to my music now. I would’ve never thought this would happen.” The pair are still in regular contact, where they mutually laugh at the fact that she’d put him on behavioural reports – despite his “glowing” grades.
These early characters and his hometown Leicester remain a major influence for Sainté. Notably, the Simon Wheatley-shot artwork for his 2023 single ‘They’ll See’ from the follow-up EP Still Local was taken on Halifax Estate. “It’s crazy because we all used to chill there,” he says excitedly, referencing the cover featuring his friends sitting inside a vintage Mercedes W124, while dozens more peers fill the backdrop. “Every single person in that photo either went to school with me, grew up with me, I know from the neighbourhood, or we went to college together. That’s what Still Local is all about.” Indeed, even Leicester’s most prominent food and clothing market, Market Place, is present in the music video for the track. “It’s kind of a diary entry for me,” he explains.
His perspective is in line with rap’s current migration. The prominence of regionalism is a common theme for many of the genre’s breakout stars. GloRilla and her unapologetic endorsement of Memphis is helping to resurge interest in the region in the States. The same is true of Megan Thee Stallion and Latto consistently endorsing their home cities Houston and Atlanta. Closer to home there are heated debates regarding the areas birthing London’s best MCs, all of which colour our evolution of grime, UK-drill, UK-rap, and wider variants of rap. It’s no shock that Sainté’s “global, but local” mantra works. Not only does it align with the history of rap, but with today’s return to this mindset.
The other major part of Sainté’s lyrical schisms is the extraction of his raw emotions for the world to bear witness to. Raised on an early 2000s amalgamation of 50 Cent, Destiny’s Child, Jay-Z, Kenny G, Nas and Mos Def all helped in moulding his ear, even before his musical pursuits. “Subconsciously my brother and mum’s tastes have all had an influence. My thing is rap, R&B and jazz, and it had to start somewhere” he continues. Laughing over a meme hyperbolising R&B “dying” due to men not “hugging air” anymore — think Omarion’s ‘Let Me Hold You’ — he adds that R&B also tugs at his ability to yearn, which he demonstrates beautifully on his upcoming single ‘V’, featuring AntsLive. The pair met earlier this year after being online mutuals for some time. “Everyone knows that AntsLive is the king of the music visuals, he’s doing something different over here,” he says, referencing Ants’ viral ‘Number One Candidate’ music video.
“Why you tryna make me look all crazy, girl you’re my only wife / I don’t give baddies attention, I like affection it’s only right,” he half-sings on a teaser I’m shown for ‘V’ ahead of our interview, the urgency of his rap-cadence anchoring the croons. Puzzled by but conscious of the role hyper-masculinity plays in men – especially when it comes to their openness to display love – Sainté likes to push against some of rap’s older conventions. “Some of the most prominent players of them all will wait for a woman to sing the emotional part of the songs before singing that part to their lady. It’s like why are you waiting for that part to express how you feel?” he questions.
‘I’m not trying to provoke what people think, I’m just dropping music that touches on topics that I want the mandem to address’
Sainté is part of an emerging new class of rappers who are not afraid to interrogate their emotions. Able to translate the nuances of the human condition, from his deepest desires and most secretive insecurities, Sainté is helping to usher in a new age of masculinity. “I’m not trying to provoke what people think, I’m just dropping music that touches on topics that I want the mandem to address,” he explains. “I cut to the chase; if it catches on, it catches on.”
Lately, he’s also experimenting further with the fashion world, as teased in the music video for his latest single ‘Margiela’. Here, audiences got a glimpse of access-all-areas footage from his surprise debut catwalk: a spur-of-the-moment made during a styling appointment for Drôle de Monsieur. Initially meant to simply attend the rising French label’s SS25 show in June, the offer to walk was initially interpreted as a joke. “This is no word of a lie, walking the show was never part of the plan,” he laughs, indicating his continued shock at the latest addition to his achievements as a multi-hyphenate talent. “I was there at their first show and the founders [Dany Dos Santos and Maxime Schwab], hit me on my DMs to come to the next show.” While fitting him for a look to wear to the show, they requested Sainté shift from audience member to walk for them. “This is 24 hours before the show, by the way. I was thinking they were joking. People work on their shows for time — surely that wasn’t me they were asking.”
Soon designers, hair and makeup artists and stylists descended upon him to bring the vision to life. “I was trying not to smile too much, I was around serious models,” he laughs. Although eager to explore other artistic terrains, Sainté ratifies that he’s a rapper first and appreciates that the team encouraged him to be himself and not change his reality.
A year ago, Sainté decided that he’d love to travel more. Now, having just turned 25, he can safely say he’s turned that ambition into reality – even fitting in his first proper holiday, too. “Obviously I’ve travelled,” he explains. “But that’s all for work, this was my first time seeing a place. Beyond a Lime bike around the venue, I rarely really see the places I go to.” Travelling to Barcelona with a group of five friends, Sainté’s highlight was Beach House. “I appreciate water so much, even though I can’t swim. I literally love it, love it, love it.”
When asked if he’ll travel again, Sainté’s indecisiveness enters the fore once more. This time, it results in a stutter. “Maybe, I think there’ll defo be another holiday.” Eventually, he lands on the Lake District as his next destination, having already been there as a child with his family. “If I go on a holiday, I want to get inspiration. The mountains and hills would do that for me. New places.”
Sainté’s assertions continue to illustrate his motivation, and perhaps a slight tendency to default to workaholism. Sainté’s 10,000 hours aren’t something that happened as a youth, but he’s accumulating them, fast. Rap might’ve just fallen into his pocket, but how he navigates his career is through a pacified consistency. “There’s surprises on the way,” he teases. “We stay ready. This camp is not stressed, and we got it.” Unlike stated in his lyrics for ‘Hunnids’, when it comes to Sainté pressure doesn’t just make the diamonds – it forges tranquillity and calm serves as Sainté’s permanent état d’esprit. “Trust me the boy is relaxed.”
Grooming Karla
Lighting Tech Emmet Banahan
Set Design Leelah Mcevoy
Producer Jake Hartwell
Photographer Assistant Bradley Walsh
2nd Lighting Tech Oscar Spyrou
Production Assistant Maxine Williams
