Mr Key

Mr Key's Biography

In May 2013, Mr Key and Greenwood Sharps met in a remote cottage in the North of Scotland to begin work on a collaborative project. The end result ‘Yesterday’s Futures’ maps a journey through a very human process; coming to terms with the past, and searching for meaning in the present.

Yesterday's Futures is deﬁnitely a rap record, and yet, somehow it resonates beyond the often narrow conﬁnes of that genre. In the place of the usual self aggrandising braggadocio is a personal exploration of universal themes; loss, addiction, depression, childhood, and eventually, love and hope.

The combination of Key’s honest and deeply personal lyrics with Greenwood’s thickly textured and continuously evolving organic instrumentals paints an evocative picture of a world saturated in feeling, positive and negative. Key & Greenwood invite their audience to join them on a journey through a landscape of visceral emotion and beautiful noise, coloured with the bittersweet nostalgic palate of futures lost.

“Always on point, Key is a natural teacher oﬀering up his insights for our beneﬁt. Yesterday's Futures is fresh learning.” Nick Mulvey

Mr Key is 1/5 of legendary hip hop crew Contact Play, alongside Jam Baxter, Dirty Dike, Ed Scissortongue and Ronnie Bosh. Elusive and enigmatic, rumours about his location and occupation abound. Libertarian mountain schools and oﬀ grid communes are often mentioned, but Key himself is unwilling to shed light on where he is or what he is doing.

Greenwood Sharps emerged as new and unique voice on the beat scene in 2011 with the release of his critically acclaimed debut ep 'Things Familiar'. After hearing the ep, Jamie XX contacted him personally, and name checked him as a producer he was loving in an interview with Clash. Since then however, Greenwood has been conspicuously absent. For the love of his beautiful music, we hope that we don't have to wait another 4 years for his next release.