ARMY of One is a group composed of rappers DUBG and Phelony and vocalists Face, QB, and Daffy. When it comes to production, the band gets together or works with versatile producers. However, they have always been exclusive and remain anonymous by using only their stage names. Bound to be controversial, the young men set out on a journey into the music world with brave experiences, and dream to pursue music for as long as they live. The Kuwaiti music group spoke to Saudi Gazette in an exclusive interview, saying it all started when they were kids. “All of us had music as a hobby,” DUBG said. He added that some of them used to be in a school band while others would just produce music at home. “We were all friends before the band started but never really got into music together until Army of One began in 2002.” DUBG had been recording at a studio called Alien Records owned by NG who was a producer. “Then he wanted to feature artists on his album so got some of the guys. We started kicking it and jamming in the studio and laid out a few tracks.” Each one was working on a solo album until Megastar in Dubai heard a couple of their songs and decided to bring the singles together in one album and present the five artists as a group. Talking about Army of One's greatest challenges and achievements, they said the traveling, concerts, shows, photo shoots, video shoots, commercials, TV appearances and meetings with the fans were an experience they never had before. “It was amazing. Our biggest challenge was probably being hyped up about our album releases and then having them banned in certain countries such as Kuwait, which is where we're from and what we're representing. But nevertheless we managed to have it released under the table as they say and it sold really well.” Army of One is currently working on a new album with a mixture of different genres. “When representing Kuwait it is great because we were the first to actually get signed to a major record label in the Gulf — Megastar. So basically we were representing the whole region while making history, which was an Arabic hip-hop group dropping an official album that was in English and was released worldwide except for the USA,” DUBG added. Their first official release was the album “Reprezenting” in 2004 ahead of the many underground songs released by the band in the past. Comparing their early music to the present, they say that it has matured greatly just as they all have. Army of One plans to make a comeback with a fresh new sound but will adopt a larger variety of sounds and samples. The idea of forming a group that sings and composes music in a foreign language is now a popular phenomenon worldwide. When asked if Army of One saw English as an obstacle to attaining fame in the Arab world, they said music is a universal language. “Music is music. It's a feeling before anything else. And feelings don't have a language. “So maybe when we first started we thought it would be an obstacle as we didn't know if the people in the region would accept our music, but when our first album was sold out and that too three times, we knew that language was not an obstacle.” When asked how music affects the consciousness of today, they said they believe that it either makes one a leader or a follower. They say it is harder for Arabs to get their music and message out there than it is for artists in the West. “But that does not mean you stop or give up, because if there's a will then there's always a way.” Army of One seeks inspiration from the likes of 2pac, Bob Marley, Immortal Teknique, Sade, Michael Jackson, Boyz 2 Men, Fairouz, Alanis Morisette, among many others. “Our dream was to have our voice spread all over the world which happened back in 2004 till 2007. We were all over the TV and radio stations and are done with all that. (We) guess next up is to work with big names from both the West and the Middle East.”
