Certified Banger: What’s up Portable Payback?! Thanks for reaching out to me! I’m pretty excited about the project you two have got going on. Let’s talk about it: For those who don’t know; who are you and who were you?!
M: I’m Marc 7 formerly of Jurassic 5
S: I’m Zaakir aka Soup
CB:And what’s in the name Portable Payback? Where did that come from? Is it anything to do with James Brown?
S: Sev came up with the name and I like the fact that it has no hold to it… meaning we can go wherever… It's portable. And I think ALL hip hop has something to do with James Brown.
M: The name came to me one day when I was in the kitchen talking to my wife, I was watching a commercial that mentioned the word “PAYBACK” and I said to myself, “Portable Payback, that’s the name of the group”.
CB: So you literally just dropped ‘Relax’. What’s that all about?
M: We felt like if we’re gonna reintroduce ourselves we’ve gotta put out the hottest single first and let everyone know we’re back, we’re super talented and we’re ready. Soup and I are about to pull a Ghostface and Raekwon on everybody that’s sleeping on us.
S: It just came about for me, the first way we did it was totally different from what you hear now. And it wasn’t like we were trying to make a statement, that’s just where the music lead us.
CB: Did you know Young Einstein had used that same Simon Haseley sample? Is it a bad thing that you both came out with it together?!
S: I found out through a review that we got and my first thought was DAMN (until I
heard it) after that I was like we good. Cause theirs is waaay different!
M: I heard the song and it sounds nothing like ours, in fact it’s a lot faster. Ugly Duckling are all good dudes and I wish them success with their new album.
CB: The single is taken from an EP. What’s it going to be called? What can we expect from that?
M: There’s no name for the EP as of yet but you can expect it to drop this summer followed by heavy touring in the U.S. and Overseas.
CB: Will you be going off in a different direction to your work with Jurassic 5? Will there be things that are kept the same?
M: The sound were coming with in my opinion is nothing like J5 and I think the only thing that will be the same is the work ethic and the showmanship.
S: MOST DEFINITELY ! Only thing that'll look and sound familiar will be me and Sev and that’s where it STOPS!
CB: Soup, I know you sing, will there be more melody with Portable Payback?
S: All day long and I don't care what Seven say. He jus mad cause they don't consider him the “lil Luther” of love!
CB: Your voices are both quite recognisable, a must have in this over-MC-saturated world. Would you agree with that?
S: That and having your own bag!
M: I would have to agree with you 100 percent. Thank god we put in work early and built a fan base.
CB: What are your feelings post J5 as a result of everything – from the group‘s conception to the split, the good and the bad?
M: The good thing is that I enjoyed my time in J5 and was ready to ride with the fellas to the end. The sad part is that the fans were robbed of a proper farewell tour because Chali 2na quit out of the blue in the middle of our 1st euro tour in 3 years to pursue his still yet to be released album.
S: I'll never front on the experience cause that was more than I could have ever dreamt, but the people, certain ones - total frauds!
CB: What were your personal feelings about ‘Feedback’?
M: I thought Feedback had some really great records on it, but there was no push. Also it was a mistake to release the Dave Matthews song right out the gate.
S: I dug it! I felt we were turning away from that "halo rap" meaning "eat your vegetables, look both ways before crossing the street, lets all share in the goodness".
CB: Has your experience with record labels influenced how you intend to progress with Portable Payback?
S: Look, the days of bashing labels are over, its to many ways to do without them. Everything we've done will influence our progress with this movement.
M: Soup and I are in a ownership position now. Our current deal allows us to retain ownership of our masters as well as split profits 50/50.
CB: Have you got any more plans for the near future?
M: I’m still writing films and Soup and I have projects that we’re about to unleash. We’re just excited to get the album out and tour again.
S: We better, but right now this is the spring board. And thank you for being our FIRST and ONLY interview so far. For real, thank you so much.
CB: Well be sure to keep me in the loop! Thanks for taking the time to do this. Are there any things you want to add before we wind up?
M: I just want all the J5 fans to know that Soup and I have love for all you guys and pray that you’ll support us in our new endeavour.
S: Don't expect and look out for what we do next.
Friday, 27 February 2009
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
B'Tol
Certified Banger: Yo B’Tol! We’ve finally got this thing happening! Start us off with telling us who you are and what you do:
B'Tol: Well – the name is B’Tol, I’m a 25 year old emcee and some time producer hailing from the fair metropolis people like to call Bristol! I started writing and experimenting with verse about ’93/’94 – I was at a real mixed secondary school at the time, and it was a real blessing. I was surrounded by and involved in so many different cultures and sounds and somehow Hip Hop found its way to me. I’d kind of heard the standard chart stuff, but my Jamaican mates were giving me Gangstarr tapes, Redman, Hijack, London Posse and early 3PM and Smith and Mighty TDK’s with the almighty Kellogz on and I just kind of fell in love with it. I started off by simply breaking, as my mates would tell me that white boys couldn’t rap! But I started to write on the sly and practice my little 16 bar verses as much as I could, then one day I was invited to my friends in St Pauls to eat in ‘96. To this day I can remember exactly what went on. The 90’s in Bristol were strange times, there was still some racial tension from the St Pauls riots 16 years prior. Paul’s had this air of danger amongst the white outsiders and it was very much a case of there being racial segregation in accordance to regions in Bristol. Also, there were huge tensions between the Bristol born Jamaicans and those who had found their way to Bristol at a later date. I won’t lie, due to the history and what the white lower and middle class folk would talk about, I wasn’t sure… but the moment I walked into my friends house I was made completely welcome. He had three generations of his family under one roof, and there were about 15 of us crowded around the dinner table and the most incredible spread of food I’ve ever seen. His older brothers were friends of Kelz, Chrissy Chris and Lynx, and so after dinner, the whole family crowded round and we chucked on some James Brown breaks and starting breaking in the front room in front of his grandparents! When my mate and his brothers started to rap, I had this little 16 that I’d been practicing for donkeys, so I swallowed my pride and kicked it… and the family went nuts! From there I started to write more, but I’d say it wasn’t until about 2002/2003 I really thought I could start making proper songs and the like. I joined British Intelligence and the rest is set in CD and MP3 with me working with Jagos and the biggest friend and influence I’ve found in hip hop, DJ Rogue.
CB: So what’s in the name B’Tol?
B'Tol: Having been around hip hop culture and becoming a part of it at an early age, it was always the mantra that you should represent were you’re from… So I toyed with different ideas for a long time but never found something that fit. I was given a b-boy name (Freakee Freeze, because strange freezes were always the strongest part of my repertoire!) but it never really stuck. I went under the moniker of Friggy Ballss for a while, but one day I was heading out of Bristol, and noticed on the roads it would say B’TOL M32 or whatever… I thought B’Tol sounded good, it represented my heritage and such, sounded a little like “Be Told” (at the time I was listening to a LOT of old KRS and the whole edutainment thing stuck with me!) and so I took it on. Later, I also found out B’Tol is also a scientific term (for what I don’t know!) and during the 90’s loads of emcee’s were talking about “dropping science”, so it seemed to also represent the era I grew into hip hop, so I stuck with it.
CB: Bristol has quite a rich Hip Hop heritage. How does that affect you now? I know you’ve already dropped a few names but do you have heroes from the early days of the Bristol music scene?
B'Tol: The aforementioned 3PM were the guys who really inspired me at first, especially ‘Better Late than Never’, I had got into Smith and Mighty at a later date – I won’t begin to pretend I was listening to them in the late 80’s, but that was more dub than hip hop per se. Later it was the likes of Aspects, Vertabrae, Fat Club, Souljah Clique, Numskullz, Hairy Parents, Sir Beans OBE, Massive Attack and Portishead to name a few.
Having that kind of calibre of people involved in the scene meant I had no choice but to come completely correct. It’s affected me in the sense that back during the late 90’s you didn’t really have the internet and all that bollocks – the only way you would get noticed was by being fucking good! So I had to make sure I honed my craft and had my own way of doing things – something which I believe is missing from a lot of recent hip hop. That pressure also became a bit of a burden though, and is the reason why I really didn’t do anything properly until after 2000. I kind of put this pressure on myself to try and fit in to the echelons of Bristol music, that bloody cliché that people throw around about the “Bristol sound”, and it was to my detriment. Once I found my feet, and also found that I always got the best reaction when I stopped worrying about the “Bristol sound”, the rest followed.
As a result of that now, I’m working with the likes of Beans and Rola from Numskullz, I can kick it with Kelz and chat to Turroe, people I had real admiration for back in my youth! Maybe there’s a lesson there.
CB: Who else is doing their thing right now in Bristol? Who do you rate for the future?
B'Tol: At this moment in time I honestly think that we have an embarrassment of riches in Bristol. For quite a small sleepy city, there is so much talent and so many unique voices, and the scene is really starting to bubble again. Plus, with the Fat Club ‘Proper Bristol Hip Hop’ DVD getting press in the likes of HHC, I think people are really respecting the heritage this city has and looking to it for inspiration and more progressive forward thinking hip hop, as well as that straight up boom bap or whatever.
A lot of the guys above are still doing their thing, but I’ve gushed enough on them! Right now, I think the best emcee in Bristol, and possibly in the UK is Sir Plus, the guy is a monster! His old spar Terminal as well is ridiculous. Then we’ve got some absurdly good groups/crews coming through – Da Label have got a roster of artists that’s simply ridiculous, with R.E and Ceaze really sticking out for me. Se Fire have taken that quintessential Bristol sound and made it their own, mixing dub elements with drum and bass, Dub step and straight forward Hip Hop. Central Spillz are kind of merging Grime, Dub Step and Hip Hop and making some really fresh sounding tracks. The Swamps are absolutely smashing up anywhere they play. Then you’ve got crews like Mad Method and Project 13 who are about as west country as you can get and have been gigging for donkeys and doing things the right way. With people like Sober and Dribbla, K*Ners, Awkward, Middleman, Jimi Presha, Blacksmith, Ben One, Jagos, Split Pupil, First Degree Burns… I could go on for hours! But each of the folks mentioned are doing things on their own terms and doing it brilliantly, whilst all still coming from the roots of hip hop. I’m also part of a monthly night known as The Hip Hop Lounge where myself and several other guys from the scene are trying to put together a night where every aspect of the cities scene is represented and also have an avenue to network and such, and it’s completely not for profit. The next one is actually Friday 27th Feb and we’ve got Mystro down for it. The future’s bright in this here city.
CB: Tell us about your own work: What have you released that you want people to listen to?
B'Tol: I had some earlier stuff that is now cringeworthy! But the first project I was a part of that I was really proud of was the British Intelligence CD “NOTANMCEP”, a 5 track which we distributed through a massive guerrilla campaign I think in 2003, which ended up in us distributing about 50,000 CDs by leaving them on trains, coaches, buses, in shops and the like with a little comic strip saying to people to simply copy the music, and then leave the CD somewhere else for another person to pick up. It really helped us generate a buzz nationally and we gigged for quite a while on the back of that, but I don’t have a copy anymore! So if any Certified Banger readers have a copy, hit me up! The next project was the British Intelligence album ‘Hole in my Old School’. Sadly, we split up before we could get it out properly, but early tracks were played on Radio 1 and the song ‘Gravity’ won a 1xtra Homegrown vote, and we were getting recognition state side too, with a track getting on a Def Jux mixtape and US DJ Noah Zark playing the tracks quite a bit! That album is now available for free on the old Myspizzle and is a good introduction to me and the way I do what I do.
The project right now, which we released last year is ‘Something’s What We’ve Done’ with the young lad Jagos. It’s a mini-album we put together at the beginning/middle of 2008 and it’s been snowballing slowly since then. To date, we’ve got rid of about 3,500 copies. The track ‘Finish This’ with Da Herbalis’ was included in the first ‘On the Radar’ Compilation, ‘People’ with Koast of Central Spillz has been used by Project 360, has had mainstream radio play in New York, and has also been used in a Bristol Graffiti video promoting the ‘Children of The Can’ publication, and due to the press and such we’ve been getting recently, we’ve whacked it up on Itunes so people can get it a lot easier!
Currently me and Jagos are putting together ‘Something’s What They’ve Done’, the remix album, and we’re almost done - it’s sounding really good – it’s really interesting to give your tracks to other people and see what they take from them and the new direction a song can take simply by changing the beat. Also myself and Koast are rejigging ‘People’ with an assist from Project 13’s incredible songstress Eva Lazarus to make it not just a new beat, but a bit of a neo-soul re-imagining of it, taking it from classic soul to something a bit different and more progressive.
I’m also on Mr Loop’s ‘Bury All’ album, which HHC just acclaimed their homegrown album of the month – specifically the tracks ‘Satisfaction pt.1’ with Yosh, Mudmowth, Vee Kay, Wordsmith, Slippa and Zoo Mark, and ‘Try Again’ with Eva Lazarus. So go check them s**ts out!
CB: Which of your own tracks are your personal favourites? Do any of them have interesting stories behind them?
B'Tol: My personal favourites change! I think ‘Strike’ from the British Intelligence was the first track where I really put an image of myself out there, and it’s definitely one of my favourite verses. “Monolith of the south with a spliff and a stout, politicking in the kitchen while we listen to Strauss, gals I kiss on the couch, til I’m whipping it out, with a smile quick stick this in your clout!” WOOOOOW …” pretty much sums me up! (Although I’m happily wifed up these days).
The track ‘Saturday Night Live’ is a direct result of a gig I had where I was bombarded by an influx of kids who all sounded exactly the same and they all just spat really bad self centred verses at me when I was just trying to simmer down after the show! But it served as an interesting state of play record, and I really believe a lot of folk need to fix up and stop making such insular music that has obvious constraints and discursive issues and embrace different ideas, and different accents! It does seem like there’s a UK Hip Hop voice that a lot of kids have, all using exactly the same slang and perpetuating this kind of pseudo-patois vocabulary… which me and Da Herbalis’ then addressed in ‘Finish This aka Rassclart Rappers’. ‘People’ is just my love song for expression, be it through Hip Hop or whatever, and having that form of release. I honestly believe that if it wasn’t for Hip Hop my life would be altogether different now, having suffered from depression in the past, having issues with substance misuse and tempestuous teenage years, it could’ve been very different, and I’m blessed. So maybe that’s my favourite!
CB: What inspires you to write songs? What is your biggest influence? Do you ever struggle to come up with subject matter?
B'Tol: The thing with me is that I cannot just sit down any old time and write – I need to be captured by something, be it a moment, life, a beat, a word, a book or a news report and some people become I frustrated by that. Of course I COULD just force something out, but I think that’s just a waste. Part of me thinks that maybe my creativity is some finite source that will one day just run out, so I try to be careful, but also I’m quite esoteric, so I believe in creative energies and such. It’s about moments, it being personal, but also relating that to grander themes so it’s not just a song or verse about me, but relating it to human issues and making sure that anyone who hears a song that I make can take something from it. Even if it’s just one line or whatever, then I’m more than happy.
And I also just try to be honest. I think its human nature to open up to something if you can feel its honesty. We’re all humans, and we’ve ALL had relative suffering, and we’ve all had happy moments. That is what makes life so interesting.
CB: What’s your mantra? What do you aim for when making a song? Is it all fun? Can it be dark? What do you think the people want to hear?
B'Tol: I think that due to the way I came up in Hip Hop, and the folks who have influenced me, and the people I’m surrounded by on a daily basis, I have quite a quote unquote “Old School” mentality. I believe in community, I do charitable work with various folks – people like the National Association for Children of Alcoholics and I’ve done youth work in the past. I really believe in Hip Hop as being a positive force. That’s not to say I won’t make dark songs, but it’s really easy to piss and moan about something and point toward things being f**ked up and crazy, but it takes real balls to actually say “well, maybe if we did THIS, we could change that”, and I always try to put that across in my music.
The current project I’m working on is my solo album proper entitled ‘Seeing Self’. It’s based on the theories of Carl Jeung and his work on the conscious and subconscious mind. It also serves as a really interesting way to frame a body of work – in that I can deal with personal issues, and relate them to a much grander narrative. But it is also about knowing yourself and saying that unless you really know what you’re made of, what it took to become the person you are and what social, political or personal issues took place to form the “self”, how can you honestly tell others how to live their lives? We’re surrounded by people who tell us how to live, who use masks and cater to our egos in order to hide what is being unsaid, so I think it’s about time we all took a long look at ourselves, dealt with the things we ALL suppress and maybe, just maybe, something good could come from it.
CB: Is there anything you would avoid writing about? Do you get into politics? Do you like to rap about social issues?
B'Tol: Politics are a really contentious issue – everyone has their own opinions and everyone can point at what’s wrong and get all shaky fisted about it, but as I’ve said, I think it’s about prescribing ideas and saying that maybe things are a bit messed up, but there is always a way out of it, and maybe we could try this. I think it’s also a little sad that we just generally don’t talk about politics that much anymore, it’s become marginalized, and folks would rather just sit playing their PS3’s, moan about the state of the nation or whatever, yet not actually engage in any political debate, or any kind of activism or political forum. Maybe if we all got more involved, actually used our votes and our voices, then we wouldn’t have so much to bloody moan about!
The only thing I try to stay clear of is straight up braggadocio rap – I like my music to have a point. I know I’m far from the greatest person on Earth, and I’m not the best rapper, so I won’t write songs about being the best rapper on Earth or battle bars. I like to hear that kind of thing, but I had my spate of battling and what not. I’m done with that now! Though saying that – doing ‘Satisfaction pt.1’ for Loop was enjoyable as it had been a long time since I’d written that kind of thing… so who knows!
CB: What social or economic issues bother you at the moment? Obviously there are a lot to talk about – there’s the credit crunch, knife crime, kids having kids…
B'Tol: The credit crunch is an obvious one, but I think people need to take a little responsibility for what’s happening. Obviously, the banks hold some of the blame, we’re shown that if we don’t consume on a huge basis, have the latest HD TV or whatever we’re inadequate. But we need to take some of that on our shoulders, because we seemed to believe we could borrow money exponentially and there would be no repercussions, or that the value of property would just constantly increase and there would be no crash!
Then this links back to the whole crime issue and kids having kids… It’s like we’re taught from a very young age that capitalism is the way; that we should consume on a massive scale, and if you don’t, then you’re inadequate. It breeds this whole mentality of one-upmanship, that kind of corporate cut throat stereotype is now beginning to permeate not just the business world, but culture and society in general. Now I’m not saying any of this is justified, but if you’re told that you’re inadequate because you haven’t got the latest Nike SB’s, let alone the fact that you can’t put food on the table, and there’s this whole dog eat dog mentality, then crime becomes a realistic outlet. Further, you’re being told that you need a home, yet you got out of school with few qualifications to your name, and the only realistic avenue you have to earn money is to work some minimum wage job which you’ll never be able to get a mortgage with, you’ll be taxed out the arse and you’ll be broke. But, if you have a child, don’t get a job and such, then you can actually get more money through benefits than if you were slogging it out at some fast food restaurant, AND you get a roof over your head. If you try to look beyond the whole issues of class, whether or not such behaviour is right or wrong or whatever, it’s basic human survival, and as much as we want to judge, as much as the tabloids want to reprimand benefit cheats, crime and whatever, you have to kinda say, “If I was in that situation, what would I do?” It’s easy to judge, but once you’re in that position, we as humans have a strange way of justifying things.
CB: What’s the solution to such problems? Does the responsibility lie with the government and schools? Parents? People in prominent positions such as rappers, sports stars? Who can actually make a difference in your opinion?
B'Tol: I wish it was as simple as saying that there is some hard and fast way to solve things, but there really isn’t. We’ve lost all sense of community in this country – the old folks are scared of the young hoodies, apparently violent crime is on the increase, though there are just as many reports to contest that, we’re bombarded by war and suffering from the media, all our hospitals are dirty s**t holes and apparently a zillion Polish guys are coming over every second to take your women and our jobs. This means we’re being distracted from the things that truly matter in life, the little interpersonal relationships and nuances that make life special. People don’t smile at each other in the street anymore! What’s that about?!?!
But the fact is, we can all blame the Murdoch’s of this world for perpetuating these messages, but we f**king buy into them! We need to start taking responsibility for what is happening. It isn’t the duty of one individual to change the world and right all the wrongs for us, we ALL need to stand up and be counted, be accountable not for our individual actions, but of the culmination of everyone’s actions! Essentially it’s about empowerment – we all can do something do change the world, but it’s easier to sit back, distract ourselves and forget it.
CB: What's coming next from you musically? Will it reflect any of these current issues?
B'Tol: My solo album is in the works at the moment, and I’m getting really excited by it! I’m working with a few artists, some regional, and one or two international, but you’ll have to wait and see on that one!
I’ve just finished a track with Ben One that will be on his release and hopefully my album called ‘4:12’ which I think is my strongest song to date. I’m also putting together a little project called ‘The Cover Charge EP’, which is essentially a covers project – either re-imaginings or rejigs of some of my favourite tracks, and I shall also be singing on it! I just want to have a bit of fun, and I’ll be distributing that for free once it is finished. I shall also be popping up on some stuff with Sir Beans, Central Spillz, Rola, Ben One, DJ Rogue, Mr Loop and Project 13 amongst others, so it is all systems go at the minute.
CB: Is getting radio play, for example on Radio 1, something you want to achieve? Do you think that is necessary for UK Hip Hop? Or should it stay out of the pop world?
B'Tol: I’m lucky in that I’ve already had the privilege of Radio 1 airplay, and I won’t for a minute lie and say it wasn’t a blessing or an exciting time, but I don’t think it is essential. I think people just need to concentrate on the artistry, make songs, beats and albums they believe in, then give themselves the best opportunities they can to make it successful… and success is such a relative thing these days anyway!
I think if you’re making great, soulful music, then it will get heard regardless. Also, if you’re doing it for the right reasons, it becomes less about being a success and more about the message – I’d be just as happy playing to crowds of thirty as to thirty thousand!
Where do you want to take your music? Obviously you want it heard by as many folk as possible. How are you gonna achieve that? What do you think of the current methods people use? Does the internet change that?
Man, I could rant about current methods all day! I think Myspace is a gift and a curse to be honest. When I was a young ‘un the only way to get any recognition was firstly by honing your craft, being involved and making sure you stood out from others, and secondly, being dope! Now someone can make four songs, chuck em on Myspace, get a friend blaster and add 30,000 people and think they’re the shit… where’s the craft? Where’s the open mics, the love, actually getting involved in a community and giving something back?
Then you get the people who do the little bulletins, the popular thing at the moment is Rhianna and Chris Brown. The Bulletin will say something like “Picture of Rhianna’s injuries revealed”… you’ll click on the bulletin, and there’ll be a picture, then that person will imbed their player in the bulletin and the autoplayer will kick in – PING, it adds to the play count! It’s bad enough you need to ride some other c**ts coat tails, but you’ve got 30,000 plays or whatever, yet how many people actually LISTENED? It’s like the only people they’re fooling is themselves.
But, at the same time I’ve heard some of the best music I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing through Myspace, and met and linked up with some great musicians through it, so I’ve had benefits. For some people also it is the ONLY avenue they might have, so it can become a very powerful thing.
My personal bug bear is when folks use the internet to bemoan things, to cast down something they don’t like. If you don’t like something, move on! Just accept that you may not like it, but to others it could be the s**t. It’s about maturity. I’ve had people talk all kinds of shit to me over the internet, and when I catch up with them face to face, they change their tune pretty quickly! If you held those opinions in the past, then you would say it to someone’s face, it would be dealt with, and it would be done. I’ve had things said, or seen things said about other people that are really unjustified, and if they’d been said to someone’s face, then that person would’ve taken a beat down. People hide behind the anonymity, use aliases and such to cast people down. I’d have much more respect for them if they had the minerals to say it person to person, and they accepted what ever repercussions might come with it.
CB: Have you got any plugs, shouts or thank yous you wanna say before we finish?
B'Tol: Yes! ‘Something’s What We’ve Done’ is now available through itunes, so go have a listen and if you like it then please support! And look out for ‘Something’s What They’ve Done’ coming very soon. A gert big thank you to all of those who’ve supported the project up until now, it means a lot.
Shouts to DJ Rogue – I don’t say it enough, but if it weren’t for that grumpy c**t, I would’ve given up a long time ago. The guy keeps me grounded and is my most honest critic, and is one of the countries best DJs, so fark off!
And to Jo, the Mrs, for always supporting and pushing me forward.
And big ups to Bristol – the city and the artists who are keeping it fresh and interesting and making folks take notice again!
And cheers to Certified Banger for the support and positive words!
Plup plup!
B'Tol: Well – the name is B’Tol, I’m a 25 year old emcee and some time producer hailing from the fair metropolis people like to call Bristol! I started writing and experimenting with verse about ’93/’94 – I was at a real mixed secondary school at the time, and it was a real blessing. I was surrounded by and involved in so many different cultures and sounds and somehow Hip Hop found its way to me. I’d kind of heard the standard chart stuff, but my Jamaican mates were giving me Gangstarr tapes, Redman, Hijack, London Posse and early 3PM and Smith and Mighty TDK’s with the almighty Kellogz on and I just kind of fell in love with it. I started off by simply breaking, as my mates would tell me that white boys couldn’t rap! But I started to write on the sly and practice my little 16 bar verses as much as I could, then one day I was invited to my friends in St Pauls to eat in ‘96. To this day I can remember exactly what went on. The 90’s in Bristol were strange times, there was still some racial tension from the St Pauls riots 16 years prior. Paul’s had this air of danger amongst the white outsiders and it was very much a case of there being racial segregation in accordance to regions in Bristol. Also, there were huge tensions between the Bristol born Jamaicans and those who had found their way to Bristol at a later date. I won’t lie, due to the history and what the white lower and middle class folk would talk about, I wasn’t sure… but the moment I walked into my friends house I was made completely welcome. He had three generations of his family under one roof, and there were about 15 of us crowded around the dinner table and the most incredible spread of food I’ve ever seen. His older brothers were friends of Kelz, Chrissy Chris and Lynx, and so after dinner, the whole family crowded round and we chucked on some James Brown breaks and starting breaking in the front room in front of his grandparents! When my mate and his brothers started to rap, I had this little 16 that I’d been practicing for donkeys, so I swallowed my pride and kicked it… and the family went nuts! From there I started to write more, but I’d say it wasn’t until about 2002/2003 I really thought I could start making proper songs and the like. I joined British Intelligence and the rest is set in CD and MP3 with me working with Jagos and the biggest friend and influence I’ve found in hip hop, DJ Rogue.
CB: So what’s in the name B’Tol?
B'Tol: Having been around hip hop culture and becoming a part of it at an early age, it was always the mantra that you should represent were you’re from… So I toyed with different ideas for a long time but never found something that fit. I was given a b-boy name (Freakee Freeze, because strange freezes were always the strongest part of my repertoire!) but it never really stuck. I went under the moniker of Friggy Ballss for a while, but one day I was heading out of Bristol, and noticed on the roads it would say B’TOL M32 or whatever… I thought B’Tol sounded good, it represented my heritage and such, sounded a little like “Be Told” (at the time I was listening to a LOT of old KRS and the whole edutainment thing stuck with me!) and so I took it on. Later, I also found out B’Tol is also a scientific term (for what I don’t know!) and during the 90’s loads of emcee’s were talking about “dropping science”, so it seemed to also represent the era I grew into hip hop, so I stuck with it.
CB: Bristol has quite a rich Hip Hop heritage. How does that affect you now? I know you’ve already dropped a few names but do you have heroes from the early days of the Bristol music scene?
B'Tol: The aforementioned 3PM were the guys who really inspired me at first, especially ‘Better Late than Never’, I had got into Smith and Mighty at a later date – I won’t begin to pretend I was listening to them in the late 80’s, but that was more dub than hip hop per se. Later it was the likes of Aspects, Vertabrae, Fat Club, Souljah Clique, Numskullz, Hairy Parents, Sir Beans OBE, Massive Attack and Portishead to name a few.
Having that kind of calibre of people involved in the scene meant I had no choice but to come completely correct. It’s affected me in the sense that back during the late 90’s you didn’t really have the internet and all that bollocks – the only way you would get noticed was by being fucking good! So I had to make sure I honed my craft and had my own way of doing things – something which I believe is missing from a lot of recent hip hop. That pressure also became a bit of a burden though, and is the reason why I really didn’t do anything properly until after 2000. I kind of put this pressure on myself to try and fit in to the echelons of Bristol music, that bloody cliché that people throw around about the “Bristol sound”, and it was to my detriment. Once I found my feet, and also found that I always got the best reaction when I stopped worrying about the “Bristol sound”, the rest followed.
As a result of that now, I’m working with the likes of Beans and Rola from Numskullz, I can kick it with Kelz and chat to Turroe, people I had real admiration for back in my youth! Maybe there’s a lesson there.
CB: Who else is doing their thing right now in Bristol? Who do you rate for the future?
B'Tol: At this moment in time I honestly think that we have an embarrassment of riches in Bristol. For quite a small sleepy city, there is so much talent and so many unique voices, and the scene is really starting to bubble again. Plus, with the Fat Club ‘Proper Bristol Hip Hop’ DVD getting press in the likes of HHC, I think people are really respecting the heritage this city has and looking to it for inspiration and more progressive forward thinking hip hop, as well as that straight up boom bap or whatever.
A lot of the guys above are still doing their thing, but I’ve gushed enough on them! Right now, I think the best emcee in Bristol, and possibly in the UK is Sir Plus, the guy is a monster! His old spar Terminal as well is ridiculous. Then we’ve got some absurdly good groups/crews coming through – Da Label have got a roster of artists that’s simply ridiculous, with R.E and Ceaze really sticking out for me. Se Fire have taken that quintessential Bristol sound and made it their own, mixing dub elements with drum and bass, Dub step and straight forward Hip Hop. Central Spillz are kind of merging Grime, Dub Step and Hip Hop and making some really fresh sounding tracks. The Swamps are absolutely smashing up anywhere they play. Then you’ve got crews like Mad Method and Project 13 who are about as west country as you can get and have been gigging for donkeys and doing things the right way. With people like Sober and Dribbla, K*Ners, Awkward, Middleman, Jimi Presha, Blacksmith, Ben One, Jagos, Split Pupil, First Degree Burns… I could go on for hours! But each of the folks mentioned are doing things on their own terms and doing it brilliantly, whilst all still coming from the roots of hip hop. I’m also part of a monthly night known as The Hip Hop Lounge where myself and several other guys from the scene are trying to put together a night where every aspect of the cities scene is represented and also have an avenue to network and such, and it’s completely not for profit. The next one is actually Friday 27th Feb and we’ve got Mystro down for it. The future’s bright in this here city.
CB: Tell us about your own work: What have you released that you want people to listen to?
B'Tol: I had some earlier stuff that is now cringeworthy! But the first project I was a part of that I was really proud of was the British Intelligence CD “NOTANMCEP”, a 5 track which we distributed through a massive guerrilla campaign I think in 2003, which ended up in us distributing about 50,000 CDs by leaving them on trains, coaches, buses, in shops and the like with a little comic strip saying to people to simply copy the music, and then leave the CD somewhere else for another person to pick up. It really helped us generate a buzz nationally and we gigged for quite a while on the back of that, but I don’t have a copy anymore! So if any Certified Banger readers have a copy, hit me up! The next project was the British Intelligence album ‘Hole in my Old School’. Sadly, we split up before we could get it out properly, but early tracks were played on Radio 1 and the song ‘Gravity’ won a 1xtra Homegrown vote, and we were getting recognition state side too, with a track getting on a Def Jux mixtape and US DJ Noah Zark playing the tracks quite a bit! That album is now available for free on the old Myspizzle and is a good introduction to me and the way I do what I do.
The project right now, which we released last year is ‘Something’s What We’ve Done’ with the young lad Jagos. It’s a mini-album we put together at the beginning/middle of 2008 and it’s been snowballing slowly since then. To date, we’ve got rid of about 3,500 copies. The track ‘Finish This’ with Da Herbalis’ was included in the first ‘On the Radar’ Compilation, ‘People’ with Koast of Central Spillz has been used by Project 360, has had mainstream radio play in New York, and has also been used in a Bristol Graffiti video promoting the ‘Children of The Can’ publication, and due to the press and such we’ve been getting recently, we’ve whacked it up on Itunes so people can get it a lot easier!
Currently me and Jagos are putting together ‘Something’s What They’ve Done’, the remix album, and we’re almost done - it’s sounding really good – it’s really interesting to give your tracks to other people and see what they take from them and the new direction a song can take simply by changing the beat. Also myself and Koast are rejigging ‘People’ with an assist from Project 13’s incredible songstress Eva Lazarus to make it not just a new beat, but a bit of a neo-soul re-imagining of it, taking it from classic soul to something a bit different and more progressive.
I’m also on Mr Loop’s ‘Bury All’ album, which HHC just acclaimed their homegrown album of the month – specifically the tracks ‘Satisfaction pt.1’ with Yosh, Mudmowth, Vee Kay, Wordsmith, Slippa and Zoo Mark, and ‘Try Again’ with Eva Lazarus. So go check them s**ts out!
CB: Which of your own tracks are your personal favourites? Do any of them have interesting stories behind them?
B'Tol: My personal favourites change! I think ‘Strike’ from the British Intelligence was the first track where I really put an image of myself out there, and it’s definitely one of my favourite verses. “Monolith of the south with a spliff and a stout, politicking in the kitchen while we listen to Strauss, gals I kiss on the couch, til I’m whipping it out, with a smile quick stick this in your clout!” WOOOOOW …” pretty much sums me up! (Although I’m happily wifed up these days).
The track ‘Saturday Night Live’ is a direct result of a gig I had where I was bombarded by an influx of kids who all sounded exactly the same and they all just spat really bad self centred verses at me when I was just trying to simmer down after the show! But it served as an interesting state of play record, and I really believe a lot of folk need to fix up and stop making such insular music that has obvious constraints and discursive issues and embrace different ideas, and different accents! It does seem like there’s a UK Hip Hop voice that a lot of kids have, all using exactly the same slang and perpetuating this kind of pseudo-patois vocabulary… which me and Da Herbalis’ then addressed in ‘Finish This aka Rassclart Rappers’. ‘People’ is just my love song for expression, be it through Hip Hop or whatever, and having that form of release. I honestly believe that if it wasn’t for Hip Hop my life would be altogether different now, having suffered from depression in the past, having issues with substance misuse and tempestuous teenage years, it could’ve been very different, and I’m blessed. So maybe that’s my favourite!
CB: What inspires you to write songs? What is your biggest influence? Do you ever struggle to come up with subject matter?
B'Tol: The thing with me is that I cannot just sit down any old time and write – I need to be captured by something, be it a moment, life, a beat, a word, a book or a news report and some people become I frustrated by that. Of course I COULD just force something out, but I think that’s just a waste. Part of me thinks that maybe my creativity is some finite source that will one day just run out, so I try to be careful, but also I’m quite esoteric, so I believe in creative energies and such. It’s about moments, it being personal, but also relating that to grander themes so it’s not just a song or verse about me, but relating it to human issues and making sure that anyone who hears a song that I make can take something from it. Even if it’s just one line or whatever, then I’m more than happy.
And I also just try to be honest. I think its human nature to open up to something if you can feel its honesty. We’re all humans, and we’ve ALL had relative suffering, and we’ve all had happy moments. That is what makes life so interesting.
CB: What’s your mantra? What do you aim for when making a song? Is it all fun? Can it be dark? What do you think the people want to hear?
B'Tol: I think that due to the way I came up in Hip Hop, and the folks who have influenced me, and the people I’m surrounded by on a daily basis, I have quite a quote unquote “Old School” mentality. I believe in community, I do charitable work with various folks – people like the National Association for Children of Alcoholics and I’ve done youth work in the past. I really believe in Hip Hop as being a positive force. That’s not to say I won’t make dark songs, but it’s really easy to piss and moan about something and point toward things being f**ked up and crazy, but it takes real balls to actually say “well, maybe if we did THIS, we could change that”, and I always try to put that across in my music.
The current project I’m working on is my solo album proper entitled ‘Seeing Self’. It’s based on the theories of Carl Jeung and his work on the conscious and subconscious mind. It also serves as a really interesting way to frame a body of work – in that I can deal with personal issues, and relate them to a much grander narrative. But it is also about knowing yourself and saying that unless you really know what you’re made of, what it took to become the person you are and what social, political or personal issues took place to form the “self”, how can you honestly tell others how to live their lives? We’re surrounded by people who tell us how to live, who use masks and cater to our egos in order to hide what is being unsaid, so I think it’s about time we all took a long look at ourselves, dealt with the things we ALL suppress and maybe, just maybe, something good could come from it.
CB: Is there anything you would avoid writing about? Do you get into politics? Do you like to rap about social issues?
B'Tol: Politics are a really contentious issue – everyone has their own opinions and everyone can point at what’s wrong and get all shaky fisted about it, but as I’ve said, I think it’s about prescribing ideas and saying that maybe things are a bit messed up, but there is always a way out of it, and maybe we could try this. I think it’s also a little sad that we just generally don’t talk about politics that much anymore, it’s become marginalized, and folks would rather just sit playing their PS3’s, moan about the state of the nation or whatever, yet not actually engage in any political debate, or any kind of activism or political forum. Maybe if we all got more involved, actually used our votes and our voices, then we wouldn’t have so much to bloody moan about!
The only thing I try to stay clear of is straight up braggadocio rap – I like my music to have a point. I know I’m far from the greatest person on Earth, and I’m not the best rapper, so I won’t write songs about being the best rapper on Earth or battle bars. I like to hear that kind of thing, but I had my spate of battling and what not. I’m done with that now! Though saying that – doing ‘Satisfaction pt.1’ for Loop was enjoyable as it had been a long time since I’d written that kind of thing… so who knows!
CB: What social or economic issues bother you at the moment? Obviously there are a lot to talk about – there’s the credit crunch, knife crime, kids having kids…
B'Tol: The credit crunch is an obvious one, but I think people need to take a little responsibility for what’s happening. Obviously, the banks hold some of the blame, we’re shown that if we don’t consume on a huge basis, have the latest HD TV or whatever we’re inadequate. But we need to take some of that on our shoulders, because we seemed to believe we could borrow money exponentially and there would be no repercussions, or that the value of property would just constantly increase and there would be no crash!
Then this links back to the whole crime issue and kids having kids… It’s like we’re taught from a very young age that capitalism is the way; that we should consume on a massive scale, and if you don’t, then you’re inadequate. It breeds this whole mentality of one-upmanship, that kind of corporate cut throat stereotype is now beginning to permeate not just the business world, but culture and society in general. Now I’m not saying any of this is justified, but if you’re told that you’re inadequate because you haven’t got the latest Nike SB’s, let alone the fact that you can’t put food on the table, and there’s this whole dog eat dog mentality, then crime becomes a realistic outlet. Further, you’re being told that you need a home, yet you got out of school with few qualifications to your name, and the only realistic avenue you have to earn money is to work some minimum wage job which you’ll never be able to get a mortgage with, you’ll be taxed out the arse and you’ll be broke. But, if you have a child, don’t get a job and such, then you can actually get more money through benefits than if you were slogging it out at some fast food restaurant, AND you get a roof over your head. If you try to look beyond the whole issues of class, whether or not such behaviour is right or wrong or whatever, it’s basic human survival, and as much as we want to judge, as much as the tabloids want to reprimand benefit cheats, crime and whatever, you have to kinda say, “If I was in that situation, what would I do?” It’s easy to judge, but once you’re in that position, we as humans have a strange way of justifying things.
CB: What’s the solution to such problems? Does the responsibility lie with the government and schools? Parents? People in prominent positions such as rappers, sports stars? Who can actually make a difference in your opinion?
B'Tol: I wish it was as simple as saying that there is some hard and fast way to solve things, but there really isn’t. We’ve lost all sense of community in this country – the old folks are scared of the young hoodies, apparently violent crime is on the increase, though there are just as many reports to contest that, we’re bombarded by war and suffering from the media, all our hospitals are dirty s**t holes and apparently a zillion Polish guys are coming over every second to take your women and our jobs. This means we’re being distracted from the things that truly matter in life, the little interpersonal relationships and nuances that make life special. People don’t smile at each other in the street anymore! What’s that about?!?!
But the fact is, we can all blame the Murdoch’s of this world for perpetuating these messages, but we f**king buy into them! We need to start taking responsibility for what is happening. It isn’t the duty of one individual to change the world and right all the wrongs for us, we ALL need to stand up and be counted, be accountable not for our individual actions, but of the culmination of everyone’s actions! Essentially it’s about empowerment – we all can do something do change the world, but it’s easier to sit back, distract ourselves and forget it.
CB: What's coming next from you musically? Will it reflect any of these current issues?
B'Tol: My solo album is in the works at the moment, and I’m getting really excited by it! I’m working with a few artists, some regional, and one or two international, but you’ll have to wait and see on that one!
I’ve just finished a track with Ben One that will be on his release and hopefully my album called ‘4:12’ which I think is my strongest song to date. I’m also putting together a little project called ‘The Cover Charge EP’, which is essentially a covers project – either re-imaginings or rejigs of some of my favourite tracks, and I shall also be singing on it! I just want to have a bit of fun, and I’ll be distributing that for free once it is finished. I shall also be popping up on some stuff with Sir Beans, Central Spillz, Rola, Ben One, DJ Rogue, Mr Loop and Project 13 amongst others, so it is all systems go at the minute.
CB: Is getting radio play, for example on Radio 1, something you want to achieve? Do you think that is necessary for UK Hip Hop? Or should it stay out of the pop world?
B'Tol: I’m lucky in that I’ve already had the privilege of Radio 1 airplay, and I won’t for a minute lie and say it wasn’t a blessing or an exciting time, but I don’t think it is essential. I think people just need to concentrate on the artistry, make songs, beats and albums they believe in, then give themselves the best opportunities they can to make it successful… and success is such a relative thing these days anyway!
I think if you’re making great, soulful music, then it will get heard regardless. Also, if you’re doing it for the right reasons, it becomes less about being a success and more about the message – I’d be just as happy playing to crowds of thirty as to thirty thousand!
Where do you want to take your music? Obviously you want it heard by as many folk as possible. How are you gonna achieve that? What do you think of the current methods people use? Does the internet change that?
Man, I could rant about current methods all day! I think Myspace is a gift and a curse to be honest. When I was a young ‘un the only way to get any recognition was firstly by honing your craft, being involved and making sure you stood out from others, and secondly, being dope! Now someone can make four songs, chuck em on Myspace, get a friend blaster and add 30,000 people and think they’re the shit… where’s the craft? Where’s the open mics, the love, actually getting involved in a community and giving something back?
Then you get the people who do the little bulletins, the popular thing at the moment is Rhianna and Chris Brown. The Bulletin will say something like “Picture of Rhianna’s injuries revealed”… you’ll click on the bulletin, and there’ll be a picture, then that person will imbed their player in the bulletin and the autoplayer will kick in – PING, it adds to the play count! It’s bad enough you need to ride some other c**ts coat tails, but you’ve got 30,000 plays or whatever, yet how many people actually LISTENED? It’s like the only people they’re fooling is themselves.
But, at the same time I’ve heard some of the best music I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing through Myspace, and met and linked up with some great musicians through it, so I’ve had benefits. For some people also it is the ONLY avenue they might have, so it can become a very powerful thing.
My personal bug bear is when folks use the internet to bemoan things, to cast down something they don’t like. If you don’t like something, move on! Just accept that you may not like it, but to others it could be the s**t. It’s about maturity. I’ve had people talk all kinds of shit to me over the internet, and when I catch up with them face to face, they change their tune pretty quickly! If you held those opinions in the past, then you would say it to someone’s face, it would be dealt with, and it would be done. I’ve had things said, or seen things said about other people that are really unjustified, and if they’d been said to someone’s face, then that person would’ve taken a beat down. People hide behind the anonymity, use aliases and such to cast people down. I’d have much more respect for them if they had the minerals to say it person to person, and they accepted what ever repercussions might come with it.
CB: Have you got any plugs, shouts or thank yous you wanna say before we finish?
B'Tol: Yes! ‘Something’s What We’ve Done’ is now available through itunes, so go have a listen and if you like it then please support! And look out for ‘Something’s What They’ve Done’ coming very soon. A gert big thank you to all of those who’ve supported the project up until now, it means a lot.
Shouts to DJ Rogue – I don’t say it enough, but if it weren’t for that grumpy c**t, I would’ve given up a long time ago. The guy keeps me grounded and is my most honest critic, and is one of the countries best DJs, so fark off!
And to Jo, the Mrs, for always supporting and pushing me forward.
And big ups to Bristol – the city and the artists who are keeping it fresh and interesting and making folks take notice again!
And cheers to Certified Banger for the support and positive words!
Plup plup!
Monday, 23 February 2009
Wordsmith
Certified Banger: Yo Wordsmith! What’ve you been up to for the last couple of years?
Wordsmith: To be honest, just working hard on my grind, trying to make ends meet and get some music out there. CB: So your album is going to be out soon, tell us some more about that – a lot of people are anticipating it. What can we expect? W: The official release date is March 2nd. It's been a long time in the making but on the whole its 18 of my favorite tracks. All in all it’s a solid piece of work and big steps have been made since my earlier releases. S**t’s Banging. Buy It!
CB: Do you have any guests on there? Who has done the production?
W: Expect a few notable appearances from the likes of Genesis Elijah, Supar Novar, Dubbledge and Skribblah, plus a look at F.L.I.P family member Big Ben. Production is heavy from Show n Prove, Apa-Tight, Chemo and Caruana and my tour DJ Race provides all the cuts. Coalition Business indeed!
CB: Which tracks should we look out for particularly? Which are your favourite?
W: Apart from the party joint ‘Slip and Slide’ and the 12" track 'They Don't Seem To Care', my personal favorite is ‘The Bad Guy’, produced by Show n Prove. It addresses some of the issues I have had to deal with and the attitudes towards me. It's a no holds barred track, love me or hate me, I'm here to stay… so f***k you. Also take a look at ‘The Coalition’ just for sheer weight of numbers and talent.
CB: Is it coming out on Son or have you moved label? Can you discuss that?
W: Son records feels like a long time ago, are they even still releasing s**t? Apart from my past catalogue that is?! Nah for real... I severed ties with them and now I'm with up and coming label Def Ethics. They used run Hip Hop down in Brighton and featured some heavy US artists like Tim Dog and KRS. They took me and Genesis on tour and after that I signed a deal for this album. So there you have it, trust me they have big plans for the future!
CB: You’ve achieved something near to legendary status in the UK without having flooded the market with product. With fewer releases than a lot of artists, how do you think you have managed that?
W: You know what... I've had a few high profile collabs and affiliations that helped project me into the spotlight. My music was always aimed at the underground and apart from ‘The Roadman Showcase’ I featured on loadsa different mixtapes. It ain't an ego ting but I always felt I came with something different to all the other heads on the scene. I'm glad people appreciated that, I've always been my own man, I spit the shit I'd wanna listen to.
CB: Do you know about the Wordsmith from the US? He’s just signed a distribution deal with Dented to release material in the UK. Is the fact that you share a name going to be a problem? What’s going to happen there?
W: No comment. But A.P's name might crop up in a lyric or two. The irony is at one point Dented were gonna be handling my distribution - now that would've been confusing.
CB: On the lead track of your 12” EP ‘They Don’t Seem To Care’ you talk about certain social issues that really need tackling nationwide. How can we, as a country, continue to tackle the issue of lost childhood and all that goes with it?
W: More needs to be done for sure. I work with kids and see how detached and despondent they can get when there are troubles at home or in school. Music and sport are great tools to help motivate and focus young minds. I'm just trying to connect with the youth by sharing my own life experiences. I feel like I've been down a lot of the same roads and made it out the other side, while a lot of my friends haven't. I don't believe any child is inherently bad they just need pointing in the right direction. Violence and weapons are a whole separate story. The government needs to stand up and deal with it before it gets outta control. We as public entertainers have an opportunity and responsibility to discuss these problems! ‘Never Would've Thought’ off the first EP is F.L.I.P’s message about the negativity of violence and gun crime.
CB: You obviously aren’t afraid to tackle a range of issues. What should the balance be in Hip Hop – all party? All serious? How do you feel as an artist who does both side by side?
W: I like diversity, in my opinion you can like De La Soul and Necro. There's a time in life for fun and a time to take note. I wanna do songs that encompass both. Hip Hop gives me the chance to relay a whole lot of information in just one verse, so on an 18 track album this was my chance to cover all the angles. I'm never gonna be a one dimensional rapper.
CB: You never seem to resort to half-arsed rhymes. How long does it take you to write and perfect a track? Are you a perfectionist?
W: Definitely a perfectionist, some of the tunes were written on the spot in the studio whereas others can take time. I'm kinda erratic, but when I'm in a zone a sick 16 bars can take a few minutes. If it aint right then I'm the first to notice, I take it away and work at it until I'm happy.
CB: I’ve heard you’ve got another album’s worth of material ready to go. Can you give us any more details on that?
W: A collection of rare and unreleased tunes will be dropping shortly after the album called 'The Roadman Chronicles’. It's a bit more raw than the album. The bars are fire. Production from all the usual suspects with a couple a gems on there, trust me.
CB: What are you going to be up to once the album is released? A tour? Singles? Featuring on other tracks?
W: All of the above in abundance. Keep your eyes on my blogspot for more tour dates and releases.
CB: Finish us off with some wisdom you’d like to impart to a people group of your choice. Also add in any big ups and plugs!
W: I called the album ‘In Pursuit of Harmony’ because its all about balance. For any up and coming artists: work hard, don't take no for an answer, hone your skills as practice makes perfect. Be yourself and follow your own path. Focus on the originality you have within yourself... Big ups go to all the contributors to the album and Def Ethics for putting it all together. Also my little boy Kaylen for keeping me focused.
‘IN PURSUIT OF HARMONY’ - GO BUY DAT!
Wordsmith: To be honest, just working hard on my grind, trying to make ends meet and get some music out there. CB: So your album is going to be out soon, tell us some more about that – a lot of people are anticipating it. What can we expect? W: The official release date is March 2nd. It's been a long time in the making but on the whole its 18 of my favorite tracks. All in all it’s a solid piece of work and big steps have been made since my earlier releases. S**t’s Banging. Buy It!
CB: Do you have any guests on there? Who has done the production?
W: Expect a few notable appearances from the likes of Genesis Elijah, Supar Novar, Dubbledge and Skribblah, plus a look at F.L.I.P family member Big Ben. Production is heavy from Show n Prove, Apa-Tight, Chemo and Caruana and my tour DJ Race provides all the cuts. Coalition Business indeed!
CB: Which tracks should we look out for particularly? Which are your favourite?
W: Apart from the party joint ‘Slip and Slide’ and the 12" track 'They Don't Seem To Care', my personal favorite is ‘The Bad Guy’, produced by Show n Prove. It addresses some of the issues I have had to deal with and the attitudes towards me. It's a no holds barred track, love me or hate me, I'm here to stay… so f***k you. Also take a look at ‘The Coalition’ just for sheer weight of numbers and talent.
CB: Is it coming out on Son or have you moved label? Can you discuss that?
W: Son records feels like a long time ago, are they even still releasing s**t? Apart from my past catalogue that is?! Nah for real... I severed ties with them and now I'm with up and coming label Def Ethics. They used run Hip Hop down in Brighton and featured some heavy US artists like Tim Dog and KRS. They took me and Genesis on tour and after that I signed a deal for this album. So there you have it, trust me they have big plans for the future!
CB: You’ve achieved something near to legendary status in the UK without having flooded the market with product. With fewer releases than a lot of artists, how do you think you have managed that?
W: You know what... I've had a few high profile collabs and affiliations that helped project me into the spotlight. My music was always aimed at the underground and apart from ‘The Roadman Showcase’ I featured on loadsa different mixtapes. It ain't an ego ting but I always felt I came with something different to all the other heads on the scene. I'm glad people appreciated that, I've always been my own man, I spit the shit I'd wanna listen to.
CB: Do you know about the Wordsmith from the US? He’s just signed a distribution deal with Dented to release material in the UK. Is the fact that you share a name going to be a problem? What’s going to happen there?
W: No comment. But A.P's name might crop up in a lyric or two. The irony is at one point Dented were gonna be handling my distribution - now that would've been confusing.
CB: On the lead track of your 12” EP ‘They Don’t Seem To Care’ you talk about certain social issues that really need tackling nationwide. How can we, as a country, continue to tackle the issue of lost childhood and all that goes with it?
W: More needs to be done for sure. I work with kids and see how detached and despondent they can get when there are troubles at home or in school. Music and sport are great tools to help motivate and focus young minds. I'm just trying to connect with the youth by sharing my own life experiences. I feel like I've been down a lot of the same roads and made it out the other side, while a lot of my friends haven't. I don't believe any child is inherently bad they just need pointing in the right direction. Violence and weapons are a whole separate story. The government needs to stand up and deal with it before it gets outta control. We as public entertainers have an opportunity and responsibility to discuss these problems! ‘Never Would've Thought’ off the first EP is F.L.I.P’s message about the negativity of violence and gun crime.
CB: You obviously aren’t afraid to tackle a range of issues. What should the balance be in Hip Hop – all party? All serious? How do you feel as an artist who does both side by side?
W: I like diversity, in my opinion you can like De La Soul and Necro. There's a time in life for fun and a time to take note. I wanna do songs that encompass both. Hip Hop gives me the chance to relay a whole lot of information in just one verse, so on an 18 track album this was my chance to cover all the angles. I'm never gonna be a one dimensional rapper.
CB: You never seem to resort to half-arsed rhymes. How long does it take you to write and perfect a track? Are you a perfectionist?
W: Definitely a perfectionist, some of the tunes were written on the spot in the studio whereas others can take time. I'm kinda erratic, but when I'm in a zone a sick 16 bars can take a few minutes. If it aint right then I'm the first to notice, I take it away and work at it until I'm happy.
CB: I’ve heard you’ve got another album’s worth of material ready to go. Can you give us any more details on that?
W: A collection of rare and unreleased tunes will be dropping shortly after the album called 'The Roadman Chronicles’. It's a bit more raw than the album. The bars are fire. Production from all the usual suspects with a couple a gems on there, trust me.
CB: What are you going to be up to once the album is released? A tour? Singles? Featuring on other tracks?
W: All of the above in abundance. Keep your eyes on my blogspot for more tour dates and releases.
CB: Finish us off with some wisdom you’d like to impart to a people group of your choice. Also add in any big ups and plugs!
W: I called the album ‘In Pursuit of Harmony’ because its all about balance. For any up and coming artists: work hard, don't take no for an answer, hone your skills as practice makes perfect. Be yourself and follow your own path. Focus on the originality you have within yourself... Big ups go to all the contributors to the album and Def Ethics for putting it all together. Also my little boy Kaylen for keeping me focused.
‘IN PURSUIT OF HARMONY’ - GO BUY DAT!
Monday, 2 February 2009
Asaviour
Certified Banger: Yo Asaviour! You’re gearing up for a new release but before we get into that, for those who have kept their ears closed over the last 3 or 4 years, can you give us a quick history of Asaviour?
Asaviour: First appeared on Jehst’s ‘Premonitions’ EP, worked with artists like Konny Kon and Strategy, featured on a track by Jehst called ‘People Under the Weather’, worked with a number of artists like Yungun, Kyza, DJ IQ, Dubbledge, Micall Parkinsun, Verb T, Ghost etc. Dropped an EP called ‘Savoir Faire’ on Lowlife Records. Then released the single ‘Money in the Bank’ REMIX backed with ‘The Homecoming’ on YNR Productions, followed that up with a debut LP on Lowlife records called ‘The Borrowed Ladder’, released a series of mixtapes called ‘Play 2 Win’ and I’m about to drop a new album alongside DJ IQ called ‘The A Loop Theory’. There’s a few different records in between all that but… you get the idea!
CB: So, what is it that you’ve got coming soon? Tell us a bit about that:
Asaviour: Right now it’s all about ‘The A loop Theory’.
Er well I’ve been working with a group called Athlete on both production and rapping on their material for a new project they’re working on. I’ve been doing some remixing for Neon Hitch, The Happy Band and Claudia Georgette, I’m also working new material with her as well. I’ve got some things in the works with vocalists Bonnie Freechyld, Kevin Walls, Pat Fulgoni who are all extremely talented individuals that have something fresh to bring to the table.
I’ve got a few other big collabs but you know, can’t let too much out of the bag!
CB: What, at the moment, are you favourite album tracks from 'The A Loop Theory'? Which ones are gonna knock our socks off?
Asaviour: I dunno I like different tracks for different reasons; ‘Beefy’ is alright, I feel hard as nails when I’m rapping on it, you know that whole school bully vibe. We got a remix of ‘Cracked It’ featuring Verb T which is dope, it’s on some crazy bounce house s**t. I like ‘Sucker or Savvy’ just because how I was inspired to do it and the fact I didn’t put pen to paper for that track once. ‘De Ja Vu’ featuring Graziella is a little bit deep, ‘Gatheround’ featuring Jehst is just some big boys raps innit. Hopefully it will f**k the jams we play. I dunno, I really tried hard to make each tracks as strong a possible; all thrillers no fillers mate!
CB: What’s the partnership between you and IQ like? How does that pan out when working?
Asaviour: Well I reckon the basis of it is we get along, we look at music and life in quite a similar way but have our own views on s**t ,I’ve worked with plenty of people I get along with (even some I don’t) as you definitely have to separate the person from the music. Some artists are amazingly skilled but are arseholes and some are safe a f**k but not quite ready. The fact we respect each other personally and artistically helps us have quite a bit of perspective.
CB: You’ve been sharpening your production claws too since your first album. Is your production essential to you as an artist? How did you get into beat making? What do you aim for when making a beat?
Asaviour: Well I’ve actually been making beats almost as long as I have been rhyming. I’m very critical of my production and just like my rhyming I’ve always strived to have an original slant on my sound. I’ve worked for ages just trying to develop my own sound that can stand up to any producer not just within UK Hip Hop but in music generally and I finally think I’m there now.
Like I said before I was always intrigued about how the sound was made, I never got money from my folks for music or anything like that, so I hustled for my first sampler which I think was an AKAI SO1, it stored 8 samples which I triggered with a second hand Atari ST. I used that to learn how to make beats and do a few demos, then I started going to college and they had a music room. I kinda hijacked the place even though most of the teachers hated me in there, though there was one teacher who helped me and let me in there at lunch time and after college showed me how to record with the 16 track and in turn I taught him how to use the sampler.
From there I moved to Manchester to study Music Technology and just kept on developing and building my skills.
I’ve done production for Sir Smurf Lil, TB, Verb T, Jehst, Ricochet aka Ric Branson, Yungun Kyza, Braintax, stuff on the DJ IQ’s album ‘Live From The Sofa’ as well as working alongside DJ IQ on our new collaboration album ‘The A Loop Theory’ and a little bit of work on a track with his new group Mama Said.
CB: Obviously you’re based in Huddersfield and IQ’s in London. How important is London to you?
Asaviour: “It aint where you’re from, it’s where you’re at”: I think Rakim said that!
CB: Jack Flash told me that the Huddersfield scene is ‘non-existent’ and ‘lacks unity’. What’s your take on Hip Hop in Yorkshire in general?
Asaviour: Not sure if it’s a case of unity or more a case of pro-activeness, to be honest I don’t just work with artist because they’re from up north I work with them if they’re good. There’s a lot of talent up here but if you don’t have the drive to do something or collaborate nothing really gonna happen is it?
In terms of a Hip Hop scene, there’s a lot of talent doing different stuff. If you’re talking straight up boom bap Hip Hop then he’s right, it’s non-existent but if you mean different styles of Hip Hop, there’s quite a few different talented rappers, singers, poets, producers doing their thing.
CB: Can we talk about Low Life? What was your deal there? What are your post Low Life feelings? Can you speak out on the discontent of some of the ex-Low Life artists?
Asaviour: I’ve always been told if you don’t have anything good to say then don’t say anything.
I couldn’t really comment on other artists feelings, but for me he’s just a businessman, first time I had a meeting to discuss putting an album out, pretty much the first thing he said was “there are no friends in business”. I kinda respect that not bulls**t, there’s plenty of dudes that aren’t that straight up and will pretend to be your friend and switch up on you in the end. For me he just never put the effort in that he would for his own release.
CB: ‘The Borrowed Ladder’ project got you working with a who’s who of the most talented people in our industry: Kyza, Tommy Evans, Yungun, Jehst, Micall Parknsun, Braintax… the list goes on and on. How influential were they all and how much would you accredit your success to their support?
Asaviour: Every person however talented they may be I have ever worked it I accredit my success to, I’ve learnt a s**t load from artists on not what to do artistically as well as in business.
CB: Who do you look up to?
Asaviour: Easy: my mother.
CB: Where does UK Hip Hop stand, in your mind, in the current financial climate? Will it cope with the recession?
Asaviour: I mean nobody every really sold masses of UK Hip Hop when Hip Hop has sold from this country it’s transcended the ‘UK Hip Hop’ tag. When I hear the words UK Hip Hop I can’t lie; the thought of unfinished beats, raps about rapping come to mind… I’m not too sure. The music will always be there but in terms of and industry I dunno, it’s gonna be artists who are innovating, pushing boundaries and who also have their business tight.
CB: In your opinion, what do UKHH artists need to be doing to survive, to get heard, to be successful? Finish this thing off with a little advice – aim it at whoever you like!
Asaviour: Work Hard, Hip Hop don’t owe you a living. Stay focussed, believe in yourself but the cold hard truth is: adapt or die.
Oh yeah, if you wanna design ‘The A loop Theory’ t-shirt make sure you come to one of our launch parties and check out:
http://www.saving-grace.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/thealooptheory
Asaviour: First appeared on Jehst’s ‘Premonitions’ EP, worked with artists like Konny Kon and Strategy, featured on a track by Jehst called ‘People Under the Weather’, worked with a number of artists like Yungun, Kyza, DJ IQ, Dubbledge, Micall Parkinsun, Verb T, Ghost etc. Dropped an EP called ‘Savoir Faire’ on Lowlife Records. Then released the single ‘Money in the Bank’ REMIX backed with ‘The Homecoming’ on YNR Productions, followed that up with a debut LP on Lowlife records called ‘The Borrowed Ladder’, released a series of mixtapes called ‘Play 2 Win’ and I’m about to drop a new album alongside DJ IQ called ‘The A Loop Theory’. There’s a few different records in between all that but… you get the idea!
CB: So, what is it that you’ve got coming soon? Tell us a bit about that:
Asaviour: Right now it’s all about ‘The A loop Theory’.
Er well I’ve been working with a group called Athlete on both production and rapping on their material for a new project they’re working on. I’ve been doing some remixing for Neon Hitch, The Happy Band and Claudia Georgette, I’m also working new material with her as well. I’ve got some things in the works with vocalists Bonnie Freechyld, Kevin Walls, Pat Fulgoni who are all extremely talented individuals that have something fresh to bring to the table.
I’ve got a few other big collabs but you know, can’t let too much out of the bag!
CB: What, at the moment, are you favourite album tracks from 'The A Loop Theory'? Which ones are gonna knock our socks off?
Asaviour: I dunno I like different tracks for different reasons; ‘Beefy’ is alright, I feel hard as nails when I’m rapping on it, you know that whole school bully vibe. We got a remix of ‘Cracked It’ featuring Verb T which is dope, it’s on some crazy bounce house s**t. I like ‘Sucker or Savvy’ just because how I was inspired to do it and the fact I didn’t put pen to paper for that track once. ‘De Ja Vu’ featuring Graziella is a little bit deep, ‘Gatheround’ featuring Jehst is just some big boys raps innit. Hopefully it will f**k the jams we play. I dunno, I really tried hard to make each tracks as strong a possible; all thrillers no fillers mate!
CB: What’s the partnership between you and IQ like? How does that pan out when working?
Asaviour: Well I reckon the basis of it is we get along, we look at music and life in quite a similar way but have our own views on s**t ,I’ve worked with plenty of people I get along with (even some I don’t) as you definitely have to separate the person from the music. Some artists are amazingly skilled but are arseholes and some are safe a f**k but not quite ready. The fact we respect each other personally and artistically helps us have quite a bit of perspective.
CB: You’ve been sharpening your production claws too since your first album. Is your production essential to you as an artist? How did you get into beat making? What do you aim for when making a beat?
Asaviour: Well I’ve actually been making beats almost as long as I have been rhyming. I’m very critical of my production and just like my rhyming I’ve always strived to have an original slant on my sound. I’ve worked for ages just trying to develop my own sound that can stand up to any producer not just within UK Hip Hop but in music generally and I finally think I’m there now.
Like I said before I was always intrigued about how the sound was made, I never got money from my folks for music or anything like that, so I hustled for my first sampler which I think was an AKAI SO1, it stored 8 samples which I triggered with a second hand Atari ST. I used that to learn how to make beats and do a few demos, then I started going to college and they had a music room. I kinda hijacked the place even though most of the teachers hated me in there, though there was one teacher who helped me and let me in there at lunch time and after college showed me how to record with the 16 track and in turn I taught him how to use the sampler.
From there I moved to Manchester to study Music Technology and just kept on developing and building my skills.
I’ve done production for Sir Smurf Lil, TB, Verb T, Jehst, Ricochet aka Ric Branson, Yungun Kyza, Braintax, stuff on the DJ IQ’s album ‘Live From The Sofa’ as well as working alongside DJ IQ on our new collaboration album ‘The A Loop Theory’ and a little bit of work on a track with his new group Mama Said.
CB: Obviously you’re based in Huddersfield and IQ’s in London. How important is London to you?
Asaviour: “It aint where you’re from, it’s where you’re at”: I think Rakim said that!
CB: Jack Flash told me that the Huddersfield scene is ‘non-existent’ and ‘lacks unity’. What’s your take on Hip Hop in Yorkshire in general?
Asaviour: Not sure if it’s a case of unity or more a case of pro-activeness, to be honest I don’t just work with artist because they’re from up north I work with them if they’re good. There’s a lot of talent up here but if you don’t have the drive to do something or collaborate nothing really gonna happen is it?
In terms of a Hip Hop scene, there’s a lot of talent doing different stuff. If you’re talking straight up boom bap Hip Hop then he’s right, it’s non-existent but if you mean different styles of Hip Hop, there’s quite a few different talented rappers, singers, poets, producers doing their thing.
CB: Can we talk about Low Life? What was your deal there? What are your post Low Life feelings? Can you speak out on the discontent of some of the ex-Low Life artists?
Asaviour: I’ve always been told if you don’t have anything good to say then don’t say anything.
I couldn’t really comment on other artists feelings, but for me he’s just a businessman, first time I had a meeting to discuss putting an album out, pretty much the first thing he said was “there are no friends in business”. I kinda respect that not bulls**t, there’s plenty of dudes that aren’t that straight up and will pretend to be your friend and switch up on you in the end. For me he just never put the effort in that he would for his own release.
CB: ‘The Borrowed Ladder’ project got you working with a who’s who of the most talented people in our industry: Kyza, Tommy Evans, Yungun, Jehst, Micall Parknsun, Braintax… the list goes on and on. How influential were they all and how much would you accredit your success to their support?
Asaviour: Every person however talented they may be I have ever worked it I accredit my success to, I’ve learnt a s**t load from artists on not what to do artistically as well as in business.
CB: Who do you look up to?
Asaviour: Easy: my mother.
CB: Where does UK Hip Hop stand, in your mind, in the current financial climate? Will it cope with the recession?
Asaviour: I mean nobody every really sold masses of UK Hip Hop when Hip Hop has sold from this country it’s transcended the ‘UK Hip Hop’ tag. When I hear the words UK Hip Hop I can’t lie; the thought of unfinished beats, raps about rapping come to mind… I’m not too sure. The music will always be there but in terms of and industry I dunno, it’s gonna be artists who are innovating, pushing boundaries and who also have their business tight.
CB: In your opinion, what do UKHH artists need to be doing to survive, to get heard, to be successful? Finish this thing off with a little advice – aim it at whoever you like!
Asaviour: Work Hard, Hip Hop don’t owe you a living. Stay focussed, believe in yourself but the cold hard truth is: adapt or die.
Oh yeah, if you wanna design ‘The A loop Theory’ t-shirt make sure you come to one of our launch parties and check out:
http://www.saving-grace.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/thealooptheory
Grit Grammar
Certified Banger: Grit Grammar, tell us 5 important facts about yourself:
Grit Grammar: Well I'm from London, I've been rapping for years, but only just released my first project called 'Reflections in The Dark'. I promote a successful Hip Hop night in London, and I've got my official debut album dropping this year, fully produced by Baron Samedi.
CB: ‘Reflections in the Dark’ is a free album. Give us some more info on that:
GG: It's a collection of 13 original tracks written and recorded between 2004 –2008. In reality most of the tracks are from 2004-2006 but I got a couple of newer joints in there as well. I got production from some dope producers such as Baron Samedi, Complex, Creep, I.C, Soul Coke, Shrunken Bones and Guice. Baron Samedi is the only feature on the album. It’s basically a select choice of cuts from my earlier days of recording, that I put out as a free promo project to start getting my name out there before my official solo drops.
You can download it now for free @ www.sendspace.com/file/rxhsrx
DO IT NOW!
CB: What made you give all your hard work away for free? How will you benefit from that?
GG: The main reason I gave it away for free is that as a relatively unknown artist in today's climate, it’s difficult to get people to actually buy your product. I put the project together for promotional purposes, so giving it away for free was obviously the best option for maximum exposure, and it’s worked so far. I'm proud of all the tracks on there, but they are still pretty old and weren't going to go on my official solo, so I was happy to get them out there for public consumption.
I mean giving your music away for free doesn't mean people are gonna even listen to it, but if you make sure the rest of your promotion game is on point, then a free album is an excellent way for a new artist to get recognized, and get your music heard. I also think it's a better promotional tool and reflection of my music, than if I just put out a mixtape. I mean obviously I would like to make money from rap, but essentially I make music because I love doing it, and the financial rewards are pretty low on my list of what I want to achieve from rap anyway.
CB: Where will you go next musically? Will your album be a physical release?
GG: My main focus is completing my official debut album, set for release this year. It will definitely be pressed up as a physical product, and I got some nice features lined up for it. It’s gonna have a different feel from 'Reflections…', and will be more accessible in terms of the overall sound, but I'm still keeping things lyrical, and Baron has provided me with some sick beats to work with.
Nowadays I'm just trying to expand and develop my sound, and avoid limiting myself in terms of production style and content. I think we have carved out a dope and unique sound so far, and in comparison to 'Reflections…', it is a huge leap forward in terms of overall quality, and I'm really happy with what we have achieved. I've also had the opportunity to work with some international artists recently, which has pushed me to experiment more lyrically and stylistically, and I'm also gonna start releasing some of these collabs later in the year as well. I'm just tryna think big, think outside the box and take any opportunities I can musically.
CB: What has been the reaction to your music?
GG: So far I've had a really good response from 'Reflections…'. Since I have released it, the interest in my music has increased a lot and considering that most of the tracks are old, I'm happy about how well its been received. Considering I wasn’t well known before I dropped 'Reflections…', since its release I've had a quite a lot of press, done shit loads of interviews, had a track featured in Hip Hop Connection (editors note: under the name ‘Grit’ if you can’t find it), featured on various mixtapes, and got my first bits of radio play. These things aren't major but they have definitely helped me build my name up a bit, which is what I wanted.
CB: What is your approach to making rap music?
GG: The beat is the foundation of everything I do. I'm quite fussy about the beats I choose and I don't waste my time writing to a beat I don't really like, and I count myself lucky that I've had the opportunity to work with some dope producers. I have never written a single bar without having a beat first. Initially I had a very specific sound I wanted to achieve, but now days I'm really trying to mix things up in terms of my overall sound, and as soon as I stopped limiting myself in terms of style and content, I started improving a lot and taking my music to the next level.
CB: How would you describe your sound? Is there any one track that would best define your style?
GG: I think my sound is constantly evolving, but I would consider myself a lyricist and take the art of rapping seriously so no matter what style or subject I approach, that will always be something constant in my music. On 'Reflections in the Dark', I think my style and sound is gully, dark and abstract for the most part with a lot of battle style raps. Nowadays I'm just trying to be more accessible, content with the listener more, and avoid being pigeonholed as only a dark, abstract MC. I think a track like 'Poison Pen' is a good reflection of my sound during the time of 'Reflections in The Dark'. But I got a track for my new album called 'Musical Life' which really defines the music I'm trying to make at the moment.
CB: Who have been your biggest musical influences and which Hip Hop artists have inspired you? Which are your favourite albums? What music were you brought up on?
GG: Without a doubt my parents were my first major musical influences in my life. My dad used to own an independent record store so I was surrounded and encouraged to pursue music from an early age. My Dad listened to a lot of styles from Funk, Soul to Rock so I grew up appreciating many genres, which I still do now. However I have always been a major Hip Hop junkie and listened to all types of Hip Hop, from underground East coast and Southern Rap, to UK Rap. I mean your just as likely to catch me listening to Jedi Mind Tricks, Ill Bill or Big L as much as UGK, Devin the Dude or Scarface and I think they all have had influence on the music I make. UK Hip Hop has always inspired me, but more so than ever in the last couple of years. I think the quality of music from the big UK artists has reached a very high level, and artists like Kashmere, Wordsmith, Sir Smurf Lil, Jack Flash and Baron Samedi (to name a few) continually inspire me, and more importantly make me step my game up!
My favourite albums are hard to nail down, but a few off the top of my head are:
Big L – ‘Lifestyles of the Poor and Dangerous’
Jedi Mind Tricks – ‘Violent by Design’
Kashmere – ‘In the Hour of Chaos’
UGK – ‘Super Tight’
Scarface – ‘The Diary’
CB: What else inspires you to write?
GG: Finding fresh concepts can be difficult at times, but London, and my life in general always inspire me to write. Collaborating with other artists has also always been a major inspiration. The pressure of working with more established acts has usually been the one of the main catalyst for me improving my skills, changing the way I approach concepts, and developing how I put a track together.
CB: What's the harsh reality of being an MC in the UK? What's your experience of real life and Hip Hop?
GG: Damn, there are a lot of harsh realities of being an MC in the UK! I think the main reality to face is that at the moment it is very unlikely, if not impossible to make a good living just out of UK rap.
Even though the industry has started to embrace 'urban' music more than ever, they are just not signing traditional UK rap artists, and the lack of physical sales makes it hard to achieve much independently anymore.
It also feels sometimes that we have a lack of fans willing to financially support the scene. Even though the game is oversaturated, if the UK had a strong fan base willing to financially support (at least) the big artists, then the major labels and the press would have to take notice. I went to this show in London recently with a heavy line up of some of the top UK acts, and it was dead, like ¼ full max!! Where have the f**king fans gone?! Don't get me wrong, I know it’s not always like that, but I find it depressing that even when you have a sick line up of 4 or 5 of the top spitters in the UK at one event, your still not guaranteed to pull a crowd.
This is a personal issue for me at the moment because there are less showcases for UK rap than ever before, so for an up-and-coming artists like myself to get exposure on a live level it has become increasingly difficult.
The representation of UK rap in the general media is also appalling, and after all these years they still don't want to take it seriously, and treat it as if it’s some kind of parody of its US counterpart. F**K THAT!! The rap coming out of the UK at the moment stands up to anything on a worldwide level, and it needs to be supported properly. We also have a complete lack of an independent infrastructure, so whilst we have quality product, we generally do not have the means to distribute, market and support artists properly, so the ultimate level of achievement is limited. I mean last year some UK Hip Hop albums came out with real mainstream appeal, but no one is pushing these albums to the masses and it's fucked up. You also really have to be on your grind, pushing you product on the net, and in the real world all the time to get noticed, and often for little rewards, so it can be a struggle.
It's hard not to be negative about the scene at times, but as long as you're realistic and you're dedicated to really push your product, I still think there are opportunities for success. Just don't expect UK rap’s gonna buy you a mansion or a Bentley any time soon.
Rant over!
CB: Whoa! Thanks for taking the time to do this, have you got anything to add?
GG: Firstly big up yourself for the interview and the blog cause you doing something real positive for the scene. So, props.
Download 'Reflections In the Dark' with full artwork for free @ www.sendspace.com/file/rxhsrx
Look out for my official solo dropping later this year, and check www.myspace.com/grituk for info and updates.
Grit Grammar: Well I'm from London, I've been rapping for years, but only just released my first project called 'Reflections in The Dark'. I promote a successful Hip Hop night in London, and I've got my official debut album dropping this year, fully produced by Baron Samedi.
CB: ‘Reflections in the Dark’ is a free album. Give us some more info on that:
GG: It's a collection of 13 original tracks written and recorded between 2004 –2008. In reality most of the tracks are from 2004-2006 but I got a couple of newer joints in there as well. I got production from some dope producers such as Baron Samedi, Complex, Creep, I.C, Soul Coke, Shrunken Bones and Guice. Baron Samedi is the only feature on the album. It’s basically a select choice of cuts from my earlier days of recording, that I put out as a free promo project to start getting my name out there before my official solo drops.
You can download it now for free @ www.sendspace.com/file/rxhsrx
DO IT NOW!
CB: What made you give all your hard work away for free? How will you benefit from that?
GG: The main reason I gave it away for free is that as a relatively unknown artist in today's climate, it’s difficult to get people to actually buy your product. I put the project together for promotional purposes, so giving it away for free was obviously the best option for maximum exposure, and it’s worked so far. I'm proud of all the tracks on there, but they are still pretty old and weren't going to go on my official solo, so I was happy to get them out there for public consumption.
I mean giving your music away for free doesn't mean people are gonna even listen to it, but if you make sure the rest of your promotion game is on point, then a free album is an excellent way for a new artist to get recognized, and get your music heard. I also think it's a better promotional tool and reflection of my music, than if I just put out a mixtape. I mean obviously I would like to make money from rap, but essentially I make music because I love doing it, and the financial rewards are pretty low on my list of what I want to achieve from rap anyway.
CB: Where will you go next musically? Will your album be a physical release?
GG: My main focus is completing my official debut album, set for release this year. It will definitely be pressed up as a physical product, and I got some nice features lined up for it. It’s gonna have a different feel from 'Reflections…', and will be more accessible in terms of the overall sound, but I'm still keeping things lyrical, and Baron has provided me with some sick beats to work with.
Nowadays I'm just trying to expand and develop my sound, and avoid limiting myself in terms of production style and content. I think we have carved out a dope and unique sound so far, and in comparison to 'Reflections…', it is a huge leap forward in terms of overall quality, and I'm really happy with what we have achieved. I've also had the opportunity to work with some international artists recently, which has pushed me to experiment more lyrically and stylistically, and I'm also gonna start releasing some of these collabs later in the year as well. I'm just tryna think big, think outside the box and take any opportunities I can musically.
CB: What has been the reaction to your music?
GG: So far I've had a really good response from 'Reflections…'. Since I have released it, the interest in my music has increased a lot and considering that most of the tracks are old, I'm happy about how well its been received. Considering I wasn’t well known before I dropped 'Reflections…', since its release I've had a quite a lot of press, done shit loads of interviews, had a track featured in Hip Hop Connection (editors note: under the name ‘Grit’ if you can’t find it), featured on various mixtapes, and got my first bits of radio play. These things aren't major but they have definitely helped me build my name up a bit, which is what I wanted.
CB: What is your approach to making rap music?
GG: The beat is the foundation of everything I do. I'm quite fussy about the beats I choose and I don't waste my time writing to a beat I don't really like, and I count myself lucky that I've had the opportunity to work with some dope producers. I have never written a single bar without having a beat first. Initially I had a very specific sound I wanted to achieve, but now days I'm really trying to mix things up in terms of my overall sound, and as soon as I stopped limiting myself in terms of style and content, I started improving a lot and taking my music to the next level.
CB: How would you describe your sound? Is there any one track that would best define your style?
GG: I think my sound is constantly evolving, but I would consider myself a lyricist and take the art of rapping seriously so no matter what style or subject I approach, that will always be something constant in my music. On 'Reflections in the Dark', I think my style and sound is gully, dark and abstract for the most part with a lot of battle style raps. Nowadays I'm just trying to be more accessible, content with the listener more, and avoid being pigeonholed as only a dark, abstract MC. I think a track like 'Poison Pen' is a good reflection of my sound during the time of 'Reflections in The Dark'. But I got a track for my new album called 'Musical Life' which really defines the music I'm trying to make at the moment.
CB: Who have been your biggest musical influences and which Hip Hop artists have inspired you? Which are your favourite albums? What music were you brought up on?
GG: Without a doubt my parents were my first major musical influences in my life. My dad used to own an independent record store so I was surrounded and encouraged to pursue music from an early age. My Dad listened to a lot of styles from Funk, Soul to Rock so I grew up appreciating many genres, which I still do now. However I have always been a major Hip Hop junkie and listened to all types of Hip Hop, from underground East coast and Southern Rap, to UK Rap. I mean your just as likely to catch me listening to Jedi Mind Tricks, Ill Bill or Big L as much as UGK, Devin the Dude or Scarface and I think they all have had influence on the music I make. UK Hip Hop has always inspired me, but more so than ever in the last couple of years. I think the quality of music from the big UK artists has reached a very high level, and artists like Kashmere, Wordsmith, Sir Smurf Lil, Jack Flash and Baron Samedi (to name a few) continually inspire me, and more importantly make me step my game up!
My favourite albums are hard to nail down, but a few off the top of my head are:
Big L – ‘Lifestyles of the Poor and Dangerous’
Jedi Mind Tricks – ‘Violent by Design’
Kashmere – ‘In the Hour of Chaos’
UGK – ‘Super Tight’
Scarface – ‘The Diary’
CB: What else inspires you to write?
GG: Finding fresh concepts can be difficult at times, but London, and my life in general always inspire me to write. Collaborating with other artists has also always been a major inspiration. The pressure of working with more established acts has usually been the one of the main catalyst for me improving my skills, changing the way I approach concepts, and developing how I put a track together.
CB: What's the harsh reality of being an MC in the UK? What's your experience of real life and Hip Hop?
GG: Damn, there are a lot of harsh realities of being an MC in the UK! I think the main reality to face is that at the moment it is very unlikely, if not impossible to make a good living just out of UK rap.
Even though the industry has started to embrace 'urban' music more than ever, they are just not signing traditional UK rap artists, and the lack of physical sales makes it hard to achieve much independently anymore.
It also feels sometimes that we have a lack of fans willing to financially support the scene. Even though the game is oversaturated, if the UK had a strong fan base willing to financially support (at least) the big artists, then the major labels and the press would have to take notice. I went to this show in London recently with a heavy line up of some of the top UK acts, and it was dead, like ¼ full max!! Where have the f**king fans gone?! Don't get me wrong, I know it’s not always like that, but I find it depressing that even when you have a sick line up of 4 or 5 of the top spitters in the UK at one event, your still not guaranteed to pull a crowd.
This is a personal issue for me at the moment because there are less showcases for UK rap than ever before, so for an up-and-coming artists like myself to get exposure on a live level it has become increasingly difficult.
The representation of UK rap in the general media is also appalling, and after all these years they still don't want to take it seriously, and treat it as if it’s some kind of parody of its US counterpart. F**K THAT!! The rap coming out of the UK at the moment stands up to anything on a worldwide level, and it needs to be supported properly. We also have a complete lack of an independent infrastructure, so whilst we have quality product, we generally do not have the means to distribute, market and support artists properly, so the ultimate level of achievement is limited. I mean last year some UK Hip Hop albums came out with real mainstream appeal, but no one is pushing these albums to the masses and it's fucked up. You also really have to be on your grind, pushing you product on the net, and in the real world all the time to get noticed, and often for little rewards, so it can be a struggle.
It's hard not to be negative about the scene at times, but as long as you're realistic and you're dedicated to really push your product, I still think there are opportunities for success. Just don't expect UK rap’s gonna buy you a mansion or a Bentley any time soon.
Rant over!
CB: Whoa! Thanks for taking the time to do this, have you got anything to add?
GG: Firstly big up yourself for the interview and the blog cause you doing something real positive for the scene. So, props.
Download 'Reflections In the Dark' with full artwork for free @ www.sendspace.com/file/rxhsrx
Look out for my official solo dropping later this year, and check www.myspace.com/grituk for info and updates.
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