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Christopher was Dave's older brother who was sentenced to life in prison at the age of 15 due to a murder case back in 2010 (“Brother of UK Rap Star Dave Has Murder Minimum Jail Term Cut,” 2022). With Most of Dave's family not being around like an absent father and another older brother already in prison, Dave had no one but Christopher to idolize and see as a father figure as he mentioned in his song "Drama" where a phone call with Christopher took place in the beginning and end. Dave was forced to be the man of the house at a very young age for his mother and the biggest influence caused by his brother was his debut album "Psychodrama". An article from Evening star stated that: "
One of the features of Omoregie’s time behind bars, was the therapy programme named Psychodrama which went on to inspire his brother’s album. Accepting the £25,000 Mercury Prize at a ceremony in 2019, Dave explained the album was inspired by his brother’s therapy and added: “I want to thank my brother Christopher."(Blake, 2022)

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A music composer. Composing music for over 150 films, two-time golden globe winner, winning 4 Grammy awards, and working on some of the biggest hits in all of the film industry like "Rain man", "Interstellar", "12 Years of Slavery" etc... (Marshall, n.d.). Zimmer has really done it all. Writing about this artist in this project is actually quite the unique case compared to the rest. As one source has managed to lead me to two different individuals th had an influence on Dave. To quote the previously cited article in which a dialogue was held between Zimmer and Dave, it was stated that: "...After seeing him play a lot of your pieces, I started to do more and more research and then, by playing those songs. It ended up being that I would use darker chords because at the time I just had darker content." (When Hans Zimmer Met Dave the Rapper, 2021). It's clear the butterfly effect has taken an impact on Dave's whole sound. It is also worth mentioning Zimmer had also Influenced Dave's latest album "We're all alone in this together" according to nme.com (Jones, 2021) stating: “The album title is ‘We’re All Alone In This Together’. Hans Zimmer said it to me on FaceTime,” Dave said.

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A musician and composer who's been in the industry for over 15 years specializing in pianos with a unique style of improvising in real time. Based on an article from kylelandry.com (Kyle Landry, n.d.) : "He is known for making full use of all 88 notes on the piano, with an emphasis on arpeggios." it was actually his arpeggios technique that not only had an influence on Dave's work but had fully shaped him his piano skills and themes from what I read on a dialogue between Dave and Hans Zimmer (composer) on I-D.vice.com stating: "I was looking at a pianist called Kyle Landry who would do covers in this weird way where his left hand would do all the work and he would incorporate a lot of arpeggios and improvisation. After seeing him play a lot of your pieces, I started to do more and more research and then, by playing those songs, I sort of built up a chord bank that I would go to."(When Hans Zimmer Met Dave the Rapper, 2021).

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Singer, song writer, and producer R.Kelly was a Grammy award winner who came up from the Southside of Chicago (R. Kelly, n.d.) I was surprised to see him as one of the artists who've had an influence on The Weeknd's music considering his background. However an article was found by genius.com stating the following about a well known song by The Weeknd (Die for you): "If the tune sounds a little familiar, it may be because Abel Tesfaye was influenced by one of the bluntest, least nuanced sex jams of all time, R. Kelly’s “Feelin’ on Yo Booty.”"(Was the Weeknd’s “Die for You” Inspired by This R. Kelly Classic?, n.d.) .Although there was never any direct confirmation of the fact, it was also stated in the same article that: "In a 2015 interview with Pitchfork, Tesfaye credits Kelly, Prince, and his idol Michael Jackson as the three cornerstones of the Weeknd sound. “R. Kelly is just a child of Michael and Prince,” he said. “I want to be that of my generation.”

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The late artists was a singer, writer, and producer. Extremely well known in the industry, he managed to be a "seven time grammy winner" and "had Top 10 hits like “Little Red Corvette,” “When Doves Cry,” “Let’s Go Crazy” according to The New York Times (“Prince, an Artist Who Defied Genre, Is Dead at 57,” 2016). Prince has had a massive influence on a lot of people, one of them was The Weeknd. I read an article on usatoday.com where it was stated that "The Can't Feel My Face singer has previously cited Prince as an influence in his music and mourned the singer's death by commemorating the moment when he met Prince at the American Music Awards"(The Weeknd Tearfully Dedicates Billboard Music Award Win to Prince, 2016). In making this project I listened to every artist I've written about and although there's nothing specific stating in detail the influence prince had on The Weeknd, I could definitely hear the similarities between them like, the explicit topics they discuss in their tracks, the versatility they bring when switching up between genres, the high frequencies and notes they hit in their songs...etc

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"The King of Pop" is what many refer to him as. I don't think I really need get into who he is but due to my obligation of completing this project successfully I will do so. Michael Jackson, a world wide sensation, nominated for 38 Grammy awards, and winning 13 of them and according to the official grammy awards website (grammy.com) "Jackson became the first artist to win eight GRAMMYs in one night."(Grammy, 2022). By one the most recognizable artists on the planet came to be one of The Weeknd's biggest inspirations and has had a massive influence on his music. The Weeknd has mentioned Michael in many interviews as his inspiration for instance an article I read on Complex.com of an interview he had with the Los Angeles Times; "As with any Weeknd interview, the topic of Michael Jackson, and specifically the King of Pop's influence on his career, came up. "Michael, man, that guy was the star. He invented the star. There will never be another Michael," he said. "I want to make it very clear that I’m not trying to be Michael. He’s everything to me, so you’re going to hear it in my music."(Frydenlund, 2016).

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Finally, the last artist Mike Dean mentioned in his interview with "Our Generation Music" Youtube channel was Bernie Worrell. Out of the three so far, the late Pianist was the one who impressed me the most. According to allmusic.com "Bernie Worrell was a classically trained pianist at three years old." Who "Throughout his childhood he played with symphonies and orchestras, and even wrote his own concerto at the age of eight."(Bernie Worrell Biography, Songs, & Albums, n.d.). I've talked already about how these Keyboard and Synthesizer players have influenced Mike Dean's work and have had a big impact on how he produces now but Dean wasn't the only one influenced by them. Reading about Bernie Worrell has really shown me that anything is possible and that I can do anything I put my mind to.

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Also mentioned by Mike Dean on the interview released by Youtube channel "Our Generation Music" as one of his inspirations and favorite keyboard players, Rick Wakeman born in 1949, was (according to all music.com) "One of the premier rock keyboardists of the progressive era"(Rick Wakeman Biography, Songs, & Albums, n.d.). I personally had dabbled in some of the late artist's work mainly for this project and could hear the similarities between his work and Dean's, specifically on Kanye West's album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" which contained a lot of electric guitar played melodies composed by Dean.

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Born on November 2nd, 1944. Keith Emerson was one of the most influential Keyboard players of his time. According to IMBD.com he was also "one of the most prominent leaders in the progressive rock movement." It was also mentioned on their website that he was "A modern wizard of electronic and acoustic keyboards, most notably the organ and synthesizer."(Keith Emerson, n.d). Which is particularly what Mike Dean was influenced by as a big synthesizer fan himself. When Dean was asked on an interview hosted by "Our Generation Music" YouTube channel who were three artists that inspire him, he responded with Keith as one of them as Dean has also mentioned his love for keyboard players and synthesizers.(Mike Dean on 4:22 Album, Kanye West, Travis Scott, MBDTF, & More!, 2021)

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Dave is a world wide known rapper, singer, actor, songwriter, producer, and musician. He truly can do it all. He is mostly known for his detailed story telling and his lyrical intelligence. He's released several stories into the form of songs like "Lesley" and "How I met my ex" that truly contain deep meanings and powerful lessons. Dave never writes a line that has no meaning and that's what has had the most influence on my projects. He makes me think a million times before I go ahead with a bar to ensure the lyrics in my song have meaning at least to me and that the songs bring some sort of value to the listener and the world. His music also usually contains a lot of instruments as opposed to my previous electronic sounds taste, which has shown me the true power of using real life instruments on my own tracks like pianos, guitars, and violins and how these instruments and sounds can affect a tracks.

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Multi Grammy Awards winner, massive Billboard success, attaining billion+ streams on numerous digital streaming platforms and breaking many records like "Most monthly listeners on Spotify" and "First artist to reach 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify" according to Guinnes World Records (The Weeknd Is Officially the World’s Most Popular Artist, 2023), Abel Tesfaye has managed to achieve one of the most recognizable and diverse personas to exist. To many people "The Weeknd" appears to be just another mainstream artist but to me that is not the case. The Weeknd has released 6 unique projects and if you were to pay attention to the details these projects entail you would get a large understanding of who "The Weeknd" really is and witness quite the character development this persona experiences throughout the albums. There's always more than what meets the eye when it comes to his music and it's this exact characteristic that has a major influence over the way I make music. For instance, I take into account the emotion my melodies and chords entail to match the theme of my lyrics and the image I'd like to draw. I also take into account the long term angle of my career and how I would like to present myself in my own projects.

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Known for his innovative and psychedelic production style, Mike Dean in my opinion is undoubtedly one of the best producers\instrumentalists to ever breathe. His signature sounds of Moog synths, ethereal pads and creatively expressed leads and basses have had a serious influence on my work. His longevity is what inspires me the most as he's been in the industry since the 80s and it’s thanks to his versatility that he still releases and is requested to work on multi-diamond albums like "Rodeo", "My dark twisted fantasy" "The Carter III" and many more. Mike Dean has also had a massive influence on the way I produce my outros as he consistently proceeds to impress with the way he manages to end tracks in such a beautiful dream-like way on tracks like "Highest in the room", "Hold that heat", "L$D", "Stargazing" and many more...

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Saif Elhariri