“I’m Roselien Tobbackx, also known as Rosie from the Block. I’m a music producer, songwriter and DJ and I also teach Dutch to a very diverse range of adults which is inspiring.”
Whilst her Roselien moniker has been rushing through the London jazz, soul and rnb scene by various live shows downtown and her monthly “La Vie En Rose” radio show on Totally Wired Radio in the east side of town, her newest project Rosie From The Block came out of the blue on Antwerp based imprint ‘Vice City’ with refreshing but sharp broken beats, soulful and gospel like vocals along with a strong message and a soft touch of herself.
Steadily catching attention and support from big names worldwide such as Reggie Watts, IG Culture and Lefto, a remix done by Broken Beat’s leading artist Kaidi Tatham and done support shows for Gregory Porter, Meshel Ndegeocello,
The Jones Girls, Bilal and Gabriel Garzon Montano, Roselien is at least Belgium’s hardest working girl within her niche.
As Roselien, her vocals were always the leading factor in her music, but Rosie From The Block shows her tougher side within by giving the full attention to her instrumentals and adding lyrics in function of her jams.
After the Vice City release she got approached by Bristol based forward thinking electronic imprint ‘Phuture Shock Musik’. Within a couple of months she released a new EP in August 2022 that received solid support in from Laani, Sean McCabe, Red Rack’em, Erica McKoy and Leopold to name a few. This led to a UK tour in September: Rosie shared her skills, vibes and energy on the decks and on the mic in London, Brighton and Bristol.
Show some love, follow 👉 @itsrosiefromtheblock
Each week we will be taking a dip into the crates and minds of some of the digging scenes most prolific collectors.
🤔 Who should be on the next RPM feature?
First record purchase and where you bought it?
I’m from 1992 so I grew up buying and collecting CDs. I would look for music on YouTube and one day I bumped into the track ‘Kathy’ by Moacir Santos which I thought was mind-blowingly beautiful. I looked for more tracks off the album called ‘Saudade’ on which ‘Kathy’ appeared but I couldn’t find any on the internet. I then went to my local record store hoping I could order a CD but it wasn’t available. I found a second hand vinyl online that came ‘all the way’ from the UK, which was really special to me then since I must’ve been 16 or so. We only had a record player downstairs in the living room and since I liked the music on the record so much I knew I’d have to do all sorts of crazy moves to the tracks so I’d have to plan when I would listen to it as in; when I was home alone and my parents and siblings wouldn’t think I’m crazy when they’d see me dancing to the tunes.
Strangest place you found a record?
I was in London during summer 7 years ago and me and a friend were walking in Shoreditch and suddenly a guy just dropped bags full of records on the pavement. (We actually saw Skepta walking by one minute earlier) It turned out someone moved out of his apartment and all his stuff was going to be thrown away so we just started picking records out of the bags! My favourite record I picked out of those bags is probably Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff’s ‘Homebase’.
Who are your biggest musical influences?
Erykah Badu, Moacir Santos, Meshell Ndegeocello, D’Angelo, Angela Winbush, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson.
Where is your crate digging Mecca, and why?
London for sure. I love the BBE Store, music selection is right up my alley plus I used to intern there for a while and could always take records home after my shift as compensation which made me discover so much great music.
Eldica Records is great too. Phonica Records has a wicked selection as well, more club music/electronic music oriented. I used to live in Lewisham and there’s a great record store there too which doesn’t actually have a name I think but this is the address Lee High Rd, London SE13 5PT.
Name a track to play on your birthday…
A Betty Wright track because she was born on the same day as me. (21st of December)
I would probably pick ‘It’s Been Real’ which is one of my favourite Betty tracks. It’s less known but it’s so powerful in many ways.
