Diversion Tactics Interview

Certified Banger: Whasup? Let’s begin with introductions: Who are you all and what part do you play in the Diversion Tactics machine?

Chubby: Frontman. Emcee. Recovering alcoholic.

Jazz T: Deejay. Producer. Promoter

Zygote: Producer, Engineer, Deejay

CB: Tell us about your new album. How would you compare it to your first album? What did you want to achieve with this release?

Jazz T: We toured hard off the first album so it was time to drop the new ish. Some of the tracks were performed live over the years anyway. As me and Zy had done our solo projects we all wanted to create another D.T. classic.

Chubby: It's a testament to keep doing your thing, making music your way and staying true to the culture. A little nudge to those that were full of it and ahead of themselves when we came up and ain't about no more. We got to remind people we still here in spite of all the Boot releases from the last eight years. We grown up. The music grown up. And still we proceed.

Zygote: The first album was sort of 15 years in the making; it was a lot of stuff we had to get off our chests. The new album has hints of the style of the first but also hints of maybe where we are going as well as where we are from.

CB: What are your personal favourite tracks of yours and why?

Jazz T: ‘Can't Swim’ and ‘Three Card Brag’ are my joints they're just bangers to me. Blade and Gritty smash it too.

Chubby: Yeah. ‘Can't Swim’. Felt lyrically up a level and better each listen.

Zygote: ‘Can’t Swim’, ‘12 Steps’, ‘Three Card Brag’. Our production style on those beats has matured, and so have Chubby’s lyrics.

CB: Your debut album was in HHC’s Top 50 UK albums back in 2007 – was that a surprise for you? Do you think it was deserved?

Jazz T: I think it was deserved. Personally I’m doing this to get as far as we can in the game so I believe in everything we put out. It was an honour to be recognised by others.

Chubby: It stands up as original and raw. Honest and authentic. In the Top 50 but how many more than that are there?

Zygote: Well yes there aren’t that many UK hip hop albums for starters. But it was nice to get that recognition.

CB: How did the hook up (on both albums) with J-Zone come about?

Jazz T: My colleague Junkbwoy and I brought him over to tour the UK in 2000. I spun the shows for him and we became fam from then.

Chubby: J-Zone, Shid and Hug like lived in my front room for the tour and became crew. They on the firm. To be produced by Jay for the new abum on ‘Back To School’ was progression. Some say it sounds like Grange Hill but Jay don't know about that so it's pure coincidence but gave me no choice about subject matter.

CB: What about the other features on the new album, the ones with Tim Dog, Percee P, Blade, D.Gritty and the rest, how did they happen?

Chubby: Blade is straight up family. The most honest bruvver from day one we met. He is the game.

Zygote: Tim and Percee happened because Jazz was Deejaying for them on UK tours. We hit the others up and they kindly obliged. Blade and Gritty: true Gents. As are Tommy Koi and The Last Skeptik.

CB: Tell us about Boot – are you running that or is it someone else? What can we expect from the label in the near future? Who else will be putting out on it?

Jazz T: Boot is our label - started by Zy. Me and Chubby help run it.

Chubby: Well. I been more involved last year since becoming sober. You can expect Kashmere, Badbonez, Jehst, Parky and my new solo album 'Recovery' with only the best emcees guesting on it out this year including Dubbledge, Skandal, Manage and Stig of the Dump plus all those mentioned.

Zygote: We are running it, but ultimately we just want to make music so it can be a struggle taking care of that side of things sometimes. But were on it, and we’ve got some quality product to come.

CB: How would you define Hip Hop?

Jazz T: People creating something out of nothing and settling differences through the artforms resulting from that.

Chubby: A state of mind. A mindset. An attitude. It's how you view everything from a Hip Hop perspective. KRS 1 says it better but it's like whoever you meet you wanna know how to Hip Hop they relate. Do you emcee, deejay, b-boy? How good at that are you? Show me. It's competitive. Rebellious. Freedom.

Zygote: Skills, Styles. Taking an idea and seeing how you can flip it a certain way. Showing your own style, appreciating someone else’s style; how they flipped something their way.

CB: Sticking with definitions: What are the defining Hip Hop moments of your lives?

Jazz T: Hearing the cuts on Herbie Hancock’s ‘Rockit’ in '81 and Hearing BDP’s ‘South Bronx’.

Chubby: The Hip Hop room at Dance Wicked later Westwood Live to London. Pulling off my first windmills. Battling. Jeru at Notting Hill Carnival. London Posse at the Fridge. Kool G Rap & Polo at Hammersmith Palais. Our debut live show Scratch at Scala in front of 1500 people. Buying my first Starter jacket from Four Star General when it was on Carnaby Street. I'm not sure all those that hear our music are aware of our history and years in the game.

Zygote: My older brother playing me ‘Fear of a Black Planet', and video tapes of Yo! MTV Raps. Watching my brothers mate scratch (albeit over old Hardcore), and practising myself. Those experiences sowed the seeds for me.

CB: What makes you do what you do? What drives you to continue the creativity, the live shows, the recorded output? Does it ever feel like it’s all too much? How do you get back into a positive mindset?

Jazz T: After 25 years you become a part of hip hop and have no choice but to keep on. It’s a hard genre to make a living out of over here but if it was easy we'd be talking about money, jewellery and gay s**t like that on our tracks!

Chubby: Too much? It's never enough. How do we get that bigger show? Perform more. Drop that absolute killer anthem track. Flip that incredible verse. How can we sell more units? Travel more. Work with other heroes. Hip Hop is limitless opportunity to create music to be proud of and inspire others. If you gonna say what you can and can't write about don't say it to me. You absolutely know in your soul when you made a piece of music that bangs. In time more folk will too.

Zygote: A desire to express myself in some way. A desire to express our styles to as many people as possible. F**k it, a desire to one day have a record listed in the Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide! I need to be creative for my own personal wellbeing, whether anyone ever hears it or gives me props, or not.

CB: How, if at all, do you balance your Hip Hop lives with all the real life stuff?

Jazz T: There is no separation its all one life.

Chubby: This is real life.

Zygote: I try to stay focussed on being creative.

CB: OK, different kinda question here: What is your favourite conspiracy theory and how much do you believe in it?

Jazz T: That Bob Lazar saw UFOs in Area 51. I don’t believe anything unless I see evidence.

Chubby: Don't get me started. Climate change got nothing to do with the sun? Polar bears can't swim? Neither can penguins? Earth's been cooling for the last decade hence global warming branded as 'climate change'. There is no scientific historical basis for the alarmism. It's all based on projection. Al Gore the main protagonist sits on the board of his own carbon trading company making billions from the new cap and trade investment vehicles propagandised by government. The oil companies are all 'going green' and welcoming the carbon emission taxes because it dramatically effects fossil fuel companies helping oil monopoly. Where's the debate? Sceptisism is met with cries of heresy and 'denier' so the average man in the street makes links with those that deny the holocaust. It's a religion. Phrases like 'new world order' and 'global governance' are now mainstream. Of course we must care for Mother Earth but CO2 is poisonous? Gimme a break. It's air. Plants breathe CO2. Now there's too many humans? You want to reduce population then allow Africa to industrialise and lower birth rates are a given. F**k me. Leave me alone.

Zygote: The ‘London 2010 logo is a Zionist Conspiracy’ conspiracy.

CB: Finally, what would you say to people who haven’t heard your music? What should they know about it?

Jazz T: We make hip hop ,it’s not local and the drums smack.

Chubby: You got to get on the firm. All these dope artists ain't down for nothing. They into it. If you don't like it, get to like it.

Zygote: Well put, Jazz: the drums…..smack.