UXBAN
Rapper and producer from Hamilton, New Zealand.
Blake Taylor (born April 6, 2010), known as Uxban, is a rapper and producer from Hamilton, New Zealand. He picked up producing at 12 under an old alias, and for two years he was mostly behind the boards making beats. By 14 he'd moved in front of the mic, writing and recording his own vocals, and the Uxban project became the thing he was actually building toward.
When his friends first found his early recordings, he openly admits they were bad, and he got bullied for a whole year over them. He didn't quit. He locked in instead, kept refining the sound, and by 16 he had put out two albums, a debut tape, and a run of singles, all self produced and self mixed.
The name came from a friend in social studies who was brainstorming artist names. "It instantly clicked," Blake says. "It sounded different, matched my style, and connected to the urban environment I come from, which influences a lot of what I create."
His sound lives somewhere in melodic rage, where heavy atmospheric production and experimental structures sit underneath writing that moves between aggression and real vulnerability depending on the song. He describes his lane with the same directness he raps with: "You see no 16 year olds making music in New Zealand. Especially in my genre."
He's also not chasing a deal. "I don't want to sign to a label. I don't want to do anything like that. I just want to make music and pursue my career."
The output backs up the mindset. He records a week's worth of content in a single day, drops albums around moments that matter to him, like UXTRA landing on his birthday and UX arriving on New Year's, and he doesn't waste time second guessing a move once he's made it. As he puts it: "Life isn't infinite. Once something's over, it's over."
