Multidisciplinary artist, poet and author Tice Cin is releasing a debut mixtape, ‘Keeping the House – The Mixtape’ on July 1.

The announcement has been accompanied by the release of Cin’s self-directed short film I’m About, set to the track of the same name by Tice Cin and North-West London poet and MC Kareem Parkins-Brown, which is produced by Rei Sky.

Described as “a portal fantasy through ends”, the director details of the visuals: “An all-seeing entity known as The Window watches over a girl being chased by two assailants, as her path crosses with a local dealer lost in his own quiet storm.

“Woven from key elements of my novel Keeping the House, exploring “What if?” scenarios for scenes that sit off-camera’ in the novel. Kareem Parkins-Brown interpreted one of the book’s characters to create Mide Ya, a hustler navigating ends. My character The Window bears witness to what characters like Filiz and Mide Ya might have experienced outside the novel’s original bounds.”

It stars Elikem Agbesi, who’s appeared in Top Boy, and Aziz Kemal, whose credits include Gangs Of London, and was shot by Will Hazell.

The track is fueled by an atmospheric beat with ominous bass and off-kilter outer textures, as Kareem Parkins-Brown narrates a more urgent flow to Tice Cin’s cool delivery.

Speaking about the track, Cin says: “I want it to be known that I’m doing something within poetry and rap, something in between – I’m barring with an out of time-ness, going between slow and fast. I’m heavily inspired by grime, and the poetry of grime, and also the rhythm of non-anglophone poetry, along with these Turkish epics that have these long monologic introductions before we get into the sweep of song – it’s become its own flow in my mouth.”

It features on ‘Keeping the House – The Mixtape’, which is being released via Cin’s Neoprene Genie label and platform, marking an audio adaptation of her debut novel. Keep The House was critically acclaimed, described as “a cult classic in the making” by The Guardian, alongside various awards nods such as shortlisting for the 2022 British Book Awards, Book of the Year – Discover Award and winning the Somerset Maugham Award that year.

The mixtape comprises eight tracks with three remixes, written by Cin alongside a team of local collaborators.