tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9674277895746946552024-02-20T13:09:37.676-08:00Certified Banger InterviewsThe number one blogspot for UK Hip Hop Artist InterviewsADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-77633424798483392422010-10-13T10:57:00.000-07:002010-10-13T10:58:58.751-07:00Instance Interview #2<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Certified Banger: Yo Instance. What’s going on? What’s been happening since the last time we interviewed you?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instance: Hello sirrrrr, good to be back, it’s been a while (early 2008 I think). Things have been sweet man. Since we last spoke I dropped my last LP ‘Demographic’, and got on the grind promoting that out of Leeds. We had the usual problem of getting a decent distribution deal for the physical product. We thought f**k it so and me and Mike D from Subterrania rinsed the North with street promotion, think we sold/blagged/traded to the tune of 2000 copies. Since then there’s been another 2 free mixtapes; ‘Collision Course’ and ‘Heavy Rotation’ which were pretty unconstrained and lots of fun. Apart from the studio stuff, I put on a few hip hop nights in Leeds. Despite having a few run-ins with the council and environmental health our nights were always packed and live-o! Big up to everyone who came, even if you did graff up the toilets! NOTHING compares to the nerves you feel before you hold an event that you’ve put £1000 of your own money into - your balls are on the chopping block as a promoter! It’s a different sort of rush though! Erm, what else? I’ve been expanding my design portfolio, including a handful of album art work covers namely for Defenders of Style and Northern Hostility. I’ve made some more links, burnt a few bridges, but that’s life. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><b><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b>CB: So, what’ve you got coming to us?</b></span></div></b><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instance: I got two musical projects dropping, a free EP called ‘Fly EP’ which is a slick little 5 track ish to remind everyone I’m alive and kicking! It’s basically 5 tracks which I’ve had hanging around for a while, they didn’t quite fit into my album but they are still seriously dope and need to be on your ipod! Once that’s hit your ears, I reckon the heads will be primed and ready for my second album, ‘The Superegular ‘.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><b><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b>CB: Do you think your style has changed over the last couple of years? Will the new release have a different vibe?</b></span></div></b><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instance: I think I had to evolve. Demographic was heavily influenced by my time hosting DnB raves. Back in 2007 Dubstep had only just blown and grime dominated the UK, that first record reflected what was going on at the time, things are different now. Like ‘Demographic’ ‘The Superegular’ is also eclectic, but it doesn’t have those electronic or dub elements that I put on the last LP. I’ve also designed this record for ipod and portable players, so I guess we’re more aware of how music is listened to as well. Style wise it’s more of a celebration ofHhip Hop and sticks more within the genre. I’ve spent a lot of time choosing the right beats that work, there’s boom bap, Triphop, RnB, 3/4 and glitchy Flying Lotus type steez. Despite the variety I made sure it all fits. Lyrically its content-rich and not too self indulgent. At times it’s spooky, at times it’s smooth but I guarantee its nothing less than my best bars. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><b><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b>CB: If someone only had time to listen to one track from it, which one should it be?</b></span></div></b><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instance: Errrrm that’s like choosing a favourite child man, I’ll randomly say ‘Lucid Dreams’ as it’s a track you won’t get to hear unless you buy the album; a deep New Yorkshire Hip Hop joint with Mike D on the beat! It’s about how negative aspects of my life used to come out at night in the form of dark dreams… lyrically dope! If you don’t fork out for the album you’re likely to hear ‘Keys Open Doors’ with Jack Flash, again, sick! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><b><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b>CB: There’s a couple of cool hook ups on the album – tell us about them and how they all came about?</b></span></div></b><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instance: Ok, I have three well known heavyweight UK producers Wizard, Mike D and Kelakovski who have contributed to ‘The Superegular’ as well as Organised Mess who you should also check out. These boys more or less have it all covered. I go way back with Mike D and record at Subterrania so he has the most slots! The Defenders of Style introduced me to the production of Wizard from Hastings and Kela from Brum, we used to cipher over their beats anyway. In terms of MC features I got Jack Flash who is one of the best MCs and my friends the Defenders of Style who standardly hold Leeds down as well as SonnyJim who I first met along with Kelakovski after I booked them to play my night in Leeds (big up Sonny that afterparty was jokes). </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><b><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b>CB: Last time we talked a lot, it seems, about Lil Wayne! Who’s on your rap radar right now? Who’re you listening to?</b></span></div></b><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instance: Ha! free Weezy! I was on that before everyone jumped on it! I wanna give the biggest props to the UK underground and people who keep it true! UK wise I’m definitely feeling Trellion, check out the ‘Judas Clock’ and ‘Dive By Night’ EPs and Bradford artist Lunar C who I think is one to watch up in Yorkshire! Others who I rate are Jack Danz, Chief Wigz, No-Change, Lowkey, Stylah and Devlin to pick a few.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><b><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b>CB: Which chart MC (ie Tinie Tempah, Devlin, Dizzee etc) do you rate the most and why? If you could do what they’re doing would you?</b></span></div></b><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instance: I call it ‘swagger pop’! Would I make it? I don’t think so, but who knows? It’s hard to say until you get an opportunity. I dislike the UK scene for constantly saying artists are selling out. I think properly blowing in the UK would present any underground artist with a dilemma. Do you want to make serious money out of music or not? Do you wanna keep a certain sound or do you wanna play the big festivals? I think some swagger pop artists have earned their stripes and probably deserve to blow. You could diss Tinie all day, but this guy was dropping tunes like ‘Wifey’ which were getting rinsed out in every rave without ANY help from the majors. I guess you could hate but I wouldn’t simply write off these guys as puppets of manufactured music. They hustled the music game 100% harder than most to get on the radio and I have to rate that. Plus Devlin is gonna be ill even if he’s commercial, you’ll see! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><b><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b>CB: How does the music around you, not just Hip Hop, inspire you? How easy do you think you’d find it to make music if you never listened to other music?</b></span></div></b><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instance: I don’t watch much TV or even films, its literally all just listening to music and making music for me. I’m a music fan firstly, but a fan who makes Hip Hop. Everything inspires me even the wackness inspires me to keep the style ill. You could listen to solely mid-nineties east coast all day and yeah probably perfect a certain style related to that. Personally I think you’ll become a better artist by listening to as much as possible. It’s the best way to innovate. I’m into boom bap, but how are you gonna take these classic formulas and add to it, bring a fresh twist to it, and set your music apart from everything before. For me keeping people guessing about the next steez and being multi-dimensional is key to staying relevant, my new record will prove that. Be brave, explore and do your thing. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><b><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b>CB: Is it true you’ve moved to London? What’s all that about then?</b></span></div></b><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instance: Yep its true! I felt like I needed a change and a fresh perspective on things. On the surface things looked OK but it was time to apply the brakes and remove myself from a negative situation. Leeds will always be home and I’m there a lot, but I reached a stage in my life where I had to make certain changes to get to where I wanna be. Apart from some amazing friends and strong links with the Leeds scene, I felt like I wasn’t investing time effectively enough in myself. Right now I’m keeping out of mischief, meeting new heads and doing random stuff like learning Spanish and going to museums, which is cool! My dad once said I should live in a place where I’m constantly learning things. I was providing too many answers and not asking enough questions. London gets a bad rep but it’s an inspiring city and things are going well. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><b><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b>CB: The end – anything else to add?</b></span></div></b><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instance: Big up yourself cos this site remains tough! Click the Fly EP download link – IT’S FREE: <a href="http://instancevx.bandcamp.com/">http://instancevx.bandcamp.com/</a> My second LP ‘The Superegular’ will be out soon - buy it and help support all the underground artists who keep the scene dope. Shouts to Mike D, DS, Crackhouse, Speak to the Streets, Fresh Jive and the Leeds Fam! Visit <a href="www.myspace.com/instancevx">www.myspace.com/instancevx</a> and subscribe to my youtube channel ‘instancevx’ for exclusives. Peace!</div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-7742135329326818492010-05-05T09:09:00.000-07:002010-05-05T09:11:05.707-07:00emceeKilla Interview<b>Certified Banger: For those who haven’t heard your music; introduce yourself and describe your music:</b><br /><br />emceeKilla: I’m emceeKilla; a rapper originally from North London but have lived in the sticks and Nottingham too over the years. My music is conscious, deep and heartfelt and focuses on the reality of social pressures and political issues and many other types of high rank buggery. I am versatile though and do like to move away from that when I can and want to.<br /><br /><b>CB: What inspires you to write and record?</b><br /><br />eK: Everyday situations are the main thing that inspire me; anything that I feel is interesting to rap about I tend to rap about. I’m not really a materialistic person so fashion and jewellery aren’t things that inspire me to write - I write a lot more about the ups and downs of the life we lead whether it be through my eyes or another person’s. My surroundings also play a big part, I live in the city and gain a lot of inspiration from just witnessing things walking down the road but also have people in the countryside I see which again inspires me to write as things are seen from a totally different perspective there. Beats are also a great inspiration. <br /><br /><b>CB: Why do you think many people are not interested in politics and the events going on around the world?</b><br /><br />eK: People have enough on their own plates to sort out so the last thing you want to try and concentrate on is another person’s struggle across the world, we like to spare that sympathetic thought but will then subconsciously drift back into the world of you and what you are going to do to eat and live. Sometimes I feel fear also plays a big part, people see it as daunting, maybe because they don’t fully understand it or aren’t able to look at the bigger picture to see what the effects are when certain events happen or decisions are made. I don’t want to be patronising to anyone because you are your own person but maybe when things are presented to you it could be blocked out because it’s seen as preaching.<br /><br />If this is my opportunity to silence that thought then here goes: I never want to preach that what I think is best - my main purpose is to at least bring something to your table which may not have been there before and allow you to make your own decision on it. These are only things I have concluded myself or through my own research, that’s not to say its gospel, it’s just an idea. You may then take my idea and turn it into something else, if that’s the case then my job is done.<br /><br />I didn’t start rapping about political issues to fill a gap in the market or try and revive a market that may have been dormant since Public Enemy. I’m solely writing about what I want to write about which is what Hip Hop has always been about. Not G-Rap, Political rap, Ganster rap, G-Funk…just Hip Hop as a whole; that’s where I am.<br /><br /><b>CB: Your dad must be an influence? Tell us about him:</b><br /><br />eK: He’s an influence on so many levels. He’s lived a mad life. He left home when he was 17 to get an education. My Grandad thought learning was for pussy’s so told him to either join the armed forces or leave so he left with no support from his family and managed to get a uni degree in London. He was also part of the communist party in the UK and fought with them in the Brixton riots against the fascists, he lived on Electric Avenue. He then began a career as an investigative journalist which led him to uncover huge scandals within Mi5 amongst other things. That’s just a very brief description of the things he’s done.<br /><br />The effect this has on me is that I’m able to look up to someone who has constantly fought for rights of people in this country and for himself. He’s also taught me a lot of things in life and supported me in whatever I chose to do. I was never a school person, my grades showed as someone who wasn’t intelligent, who was a failure I suppose I constantly battled to get into colleges and uni was just a waste of time so I dropped out. I still didn’t lose support from my old man because he just wanted to see me be happy and if that meant following my own dreams then he was there to help me with that by showing support, this also goes for my mum too. Intelligence isn’t about remembering facts to write in an exam its about grasping things and understanding them and using them to aid you in being successful in life, schools aren’t the be all and end all of that, so due to my parents I’ve seen that you can be clever in other ways apart from an academic way.<br /><br /><b>CB: What are your ‘top 5’ occurrences (for want of a better phrase) that have shocked you and provoked you to write?</b><br /><br />eK:<br /><br />1. White phosphorous being dropped in Faluja and other places in Iraq by American soldiers, leaving scores of women and children dead and blackened by the chemicals. White phosphorous is a chemical which burns your skin and pretty much melts your entire body whilst leaving clothes in tact, a substance banned at the Geneva Convention.<br />2. British colonialism – the most recent of empires with a dirty hidden agenda. What is taught in schools about this is far from the truth so please read into exactly what happened in Ireland, The Americas and Africa to name a few.<br />3. Britain and America’s Middle Eastern adventures – We are using the most amount of oil that can be consumed by all humans at one time (peak oil) meaning the only way to go is down, unless the west secures new sources of oil for a cheap price. You do the maths.<br />4. 9/11 & 7/7 – Isn’t great having abbreviated terms for such atrocities? We can now pass these events off as a bunch of numbers. As much as its been spoken about and is still being spoken about, anyone of my generation will always remember those days and so will your ancestors so to say they didn’t shock me would be a complete lie.<br />5. Israel and Palestine – The trouble that’s persistently happened over there has shocked me and provoked me to write a lot of time. Again this all started from western military tactics of divide and rule. Give a nation a reason to fight each other which will then allow you rule that land unprovoked. It happens everywhere even in Britain. Politics was only ever meant to divide us.<br /><br /><b>CB: Do you think we will ever know exactly what goes on behind the government’s closed doors? There’s a fine line between truth and conspiracy theories…</b><br /><br />eK: The only possible way we would know what exactly happens is if we were to break into Downing street ourselves, or root through the years of cover ups in the Vatican vaults. Things are protected for a reason, the Catholic Church has hidden a lot of things to protect its identity and I’m sure other religions have too. I don’t think we’d ever get to the bottom of what really has happened over the years and even if we started to we’d open up so many cans of worms.<br /><br />I’d love to see people using the words conspiracy and theory in a more positive light, we all conspire on a daily basis. If your girlfriends acting strangely, you’ll start to conspire she’s cheating on you, even though she may not be. If you’re not getting served at a bar you start to conspire that the barman/lady doesn’t like you, we all do it, in a way its called using your brain and thinking a bit deeper into something, whether you’re right or not is besides the point, the fact is you’re exploring options which aren’t laid out in front of you but are behind closed doors. Conspiring doesn’t have to be a bad thing, we should all embrace it more than anything and appreciate someone going down that route. Shall we all just blame life or co-incidence every time these people fuck something up? Do you not think we should credit ourselves as human beings a little and think the unthinkable…? Many people do but then they’ll find themselves falling back into their daily routine. Strength is found when you explore the un-explorable.<br /><br />I’ve got people who strongly believe that the Haiti earthquake was a government thing, I won’t go into detail or say if I agree or not but I’m not going to tell them to grow up or be real because if they have reason to believe that or have figured it out in their heads then I want them to enlighten me and I’ll listen to them. Things like that interest me.<br /><br /><b>CB: What needs to happen in your opinion on May 6th?</b><br /><br />eK: Nowadays things are all too much the same when it comes to our own politics, you’re pretty much voting for minor differences in referendums/manifesto’s but the main aim of each party is all in a very similar stance. 30 years ago, Labour was a party for the socially aware, the people who wanted an equal society and believed that the rich should be taxed more than the poor, they stood up for so many people with a similar view but ever since New Labour formed those ideologies have gone, I was brought up a Labour supporter so I don’t ever really see things another way. I think with whoever gets in power, we will still be in a war, the economy will still be down and slowly picking up, our taxes will be raised and the poor will still be hit the hardest. All views aside I would like to see Liberal Democrats get the vote just to give them a chance, what have we got to lose?<br /><br /><b>CB: Who have been musical influences to you? Which Hip Hop artists are you currently listening to?</b><br /><br />eK: My main influences have been The Clash, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, The Pogues, Public enemy, Wu Tang Clan, 2 Pac and Biggie, Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, Eminem, Nas, Task Force, Jehst, Karizma, Scorzayzee, Roots Manuva, Blak Twang…these are all those I can think of straight away but there is more….I just feel I heard these artists at certain times in my life when they did inspire me, a lot of UK rappers don’t want to bow down and accept inspiration came from people in their own country but I’ll hold my hands up and say thanks to all those named for making music and influencing me in one way or another.<br /><br />People I’m listening to at the moment is Cee Banger – ‘On the Radar’, Krate Krusaders (‘Psience’ is an amazing track), Cappo, Foreign Beggars, YT, Mad Skillz, Large Professor, the Inkrument, The Elementz….I’m a bit behind with new stuff mainly because nothing is really grabbing me at the moment but I’m always open to hear new music.<br /><br /><b>CB: Give us a top 5 of socio-political tracks from any genre to get us thinking:</b><br /><br />eK:<br /><br />YT – ‘Wicked Act’<br />Damien Dempsey – ‘Colony’<br />Peter Tosh – ‘Here Comes the Judge’<br />The Clash – ‘London’s Burning’<br />Pink Floyd – ‘Another Brick in the Wall’<br /><br /><b>CB: Finally what will the future hold for you as an artist?</b><br /><br />eK: For me, I’m currently working on an EP to be released through the same label hopefully. At the same time have started recorded some mix tape type tracks with well known beats to try and add some variation. My next project is set to be completely away from the world politics of my last album and I’m aiming to bring it back a little and keep it raw, maybe get some features on there as well.<br /><br />I’m also working with Damien Dempsey (mentioned earlier) who is an Irish Folk singer from North Dublin. Have started on a remix of one his tracks called Patience which should hopefully pave the way for some new tracks as well. I’m also looking to work with as many people as I can so get in touch if you think things can work.<br /><br />I’ve got a blog site which I try and update as much as possible so please check there for new projects etc. <a href="http://www.emceekilla.blogspot.com">www.emceekilla.blogspot.com</a>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-71574660151640150222010-03-17T11:13:00.000-07:002010-03-17T11:20:08.813-07:00Mystro Interview<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Certified Banger: Ok, we don’t need the basics; everyone on the site should know who you are already.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mystro: Hopefully!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>CB: You’ve just come back from Australia and New Zealand. What’ve you been doing there?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mystro: Just causing more trouble really man. I had to do a festival called Splore in NZ and around that we managed to hook up a few more gigs in Auckland, Wellington. We flew to Australia to do Sydney, Brisbourne and Melbourne just to make it more of a trip. You go all that way, man, it’s gotta be done. I did a bit of writing too but I was just thinking of you lot in the snow really! I went there and did a tour, promoted the ‘F.D.T.’ EP and it went well man. I got some interest for future releases later on in the year to get out in NZ and Oz in terms of distribution and licensing so I’m definitely happy about that.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>CB: So you said you did a bit of writing out there. Does it inspire you in differently when you’re out there?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mystro: Yeah, I got some features, some paid work to do so obviously the inspiration for that was there. But it’s a good time to get away form the hustle and bustle and sometimes you need that – to not do any writing, maybe to do a bit of reading but to be away from the constant phone calls – do this, do that, blah blah – the sort of London life. I always end up writing on the way back; the journey back is when I do a lot of writing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>CB: It’s a long journey…</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mystro: Yeah it’s a long journey man. A lot of sleeping, a lot of eating, a lot of writing, a lot of movies on the plane. Yeah, it’s a mixture man but I do get inspired to write. There might be a month of not really writing and the next two months I’ll be writing pretty hard so…it’s just time to breath in and out. If you do constantly write you end up saying the same thing and that’s what you hear from people who claim they write all the time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>CB: So what’s the scene like over there? To someone who doesn’t know it seems like they look up to our scene?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mystro: Yeah. When we had our golden age, 99-04/05, that was definitely a period when we were getting out there quite a lot in terms of releases. Obviously, we had the Lowlife thing going on, Skitz and Rodney P going on, Roots Manuva… Ty. A lot of artists have been over there, touring and whatnot. I was lucky enough that I got out there before our scene got a little flaky. When I first got out there I felt like how we were in ‘98 or something where the homegrown stuff started to slowly outsell the imported stuff. Whilst I was there UK stuff was doing real well, underground US stuff was doing really well, and then now it’s like the Aussie stuff has taken over. The scene in healthy but the difference is they have a festival circuit as well. In the summer a lot of the artists get big on the festival front and get that crowd. There is a little different but it’s pretty similar – the integrity’s there too.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>CB: Do they get all the crap as well?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mystro: Yeah, they get all the overground stuff but they don’t get our crap because they don’t really get it, they don’t understand it. I don’t need even need to go into names but certain people have been over there and flopped. That’s because its not really their lifestyle. Their lifestyle is a lot calmer. The hip hop they’re into in Australia which we’re not that into is like the west coast underground stuff. Jurassic 5 are bigger than The Roots out there and that’s because of the laid back, sunny, good time kinda thing although the East Coast thing does come out over there too. We’re into the faster stuff because we’re in the cold. They’re into stuff that’s a bit slower because it’s like “Bro, it’s hot man, we just go for a beer bro” [insert Mystro’s wack Australian accent there].</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>CB: Moving onto forthcoming releases…</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mystro: Yeah, OK, I got the ‘Digmund Freud’ EP coming soon with production from DJ Flip, DJ Swerve and Jehst. That’s the mellow side of what I do. I wrote it as a self help thing. I came back once, I’d been a way for three months, I was like raa, the scene has changed – a lot of people giving up, lot of people in a depressed state – people didn’t seem that happy. The idea came up, my friend DJ Debris was calling my Digmund – the idea came up to do a self help book. I already had the track ‘Round My Way’ – you know how everyone’s like “yeah, yeah, raa, raa round my way this and that happens” – I was saying like that but in a less offensive way so that even though people are crooked or whatever you still might wanna come round and see me. ‘The Blue Planet’ thing is about how we’re living, how the scene was in a way whilst mixing it up with talking about fish. I’ve got a track with Maverick Sabre called ‘Don’t Worry’ – that’s probably the track that got it going with the style of what I wanted to do. The chorus is like “If it ain’t life or death, don’t worry about it”. – that;s the message of the whole ‘Digmund Freud’ thing. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then, I think I’ve got enough tracks to a ‘Tip of the Mysberg 3’ and then drop ‘Mystrogen’ the album. There’s material on there that’s pretty accessible, not like me watering what I do down but I think I’ve kinda got that formula on lock where I can still be proud of what I’m doing but people in the club can take it, people on the radio can take it – it’s easy to listen to and not too hardcore. There’s a mixture of everything, you’ve got the ‘Music Mystro’ EP which is more the party kinda stuff, you’ve got ‘F.D.T.’ which is more hardcore, underground and this ‘Digmund Freud’ EP is the thoughtful, mellow side and ‘Mystrogen’ will embody all of that.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>CB: The TV thing, ‘Mystro Investigates’, how did that come about?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mystro: A couple of the Spine TV crew are ex-King Fu management and it came about where this guy said “I want you to do a show called ‘Mystro Investigates” and I was like “How d’ya mean?” and he was like “Y’know, where you just investigate stuff!”. So yeah, we’ve just been coming up with mad ideas, different concepts – it’s a thing where you get an idea of what you can do around the UK. There’s a bunch you can do. I get to do a bunch of stuff that I might not never have known nothing about and people get to see it and maybe they wanna do it, maybe not. It’s a bit of fun ‘cause I like doing comedy too. We get to bring out the comedy side of things but we’ve gotta be careful – we’ve gotta be respectful – we can’t disrespect their establishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>CB: I think you got a good balance. Which was your favourite one?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mystro: So far? Still the horse riding man. That was a bit surreal. I’ve ridden a horse before but it was bareback. I wasn’t bareback, the horse was bareback! I watch it now and again and I’m like “Raa, that was surreal” – riding around London on a horse! There are many more to come man – we’ve been shooting ahead of ourselves.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>CB: Are you allowed to say what?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mystro: That’s classified information, if I tell you I’d have to tie you to the back of my horse and…</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>CB: OK, I’ll do one more: what’s an average day in your life?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mystro: Wake and bake, breakfast, brush my teeth, jot down a few rhymes. I sleep and think of a lot of stuff so I wake up and write down some rhymes that I might of thought of…<i>(A guy rides past on a neon blue BMX, playing some 50 Cent or something through a tinny phone speaker and making siren noises.)</i> F**kin’ hell, what was that? I want one of them bruv! Police ain’t got nothing on that! Er…then I get on email and twitter, you know me I’m a natural born twitter. But most of the day if I’m not writing a whole song I’m jotting bits of ideas. Maybe some recording but I like to record a lot of stuff all at once. Unless it’s demoing, I do a lot of demoing so I can learn it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>CB: Yeah, I don’t know how you remember it.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mystro: It’s practice; you have to practice it. Some people have photographic memories. How did you learn songs you know the words to? You just keep listening to them and keep rapping them. Yeah the average day is creating man – I’m addicted to it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>CB: So…any last shouts?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mystro: Shout out to Jargon, the Natural Born Spitters’ stuff is coming soon. We got an EP and a mixtape in the pipeline. You know where to follow me on Twitter! Spread the word man - there are a lot of people showing support which I really love but I prefer you tell other people how good I am than me. I don’t wanna be getting a big head about it – I’d rather you tell a bunch of other people who might not never know nothing about it. Peace man - thanks to everyone for supporting.</div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-41525884191102616762010-02-18T06:19:00.000-08:002010-02-18T06:21:40.929-08:00Gen Interview<b>Certified Banger: Whatup Gen – this has been a long time coming – apologies for that!</b><br /><br />GEN: I know man everyone’s making moves though, ennit?!<br /><br /><b>CB: You’re as yet, relatively unknown on the scene – introduce us to yourself and give us all that us Hip Hop heads need to know</b>:<br /><br />GEN: My names Gen, or Gen Uchiha. Born in Huddersfield, Raised in Wolverhampton, I’m a Hip Hop Poet, and Artist/Animator. I’m into anything everyone isn’t.<br /><br /><b>CB: Why the name Gen?</b><br /><br />GEN: Got the name when I’d taken a break from recording music and thought it was time to reconstruct myself. As I was doing it I was reading about meanings for Japanese different words and different symbols and came across “Gen” which is “Foundation” like a beginning for many different words and meanings.<br /><br /><b>CB: You’re rolling with Asaviour, a well respected artist in the UK, how did that come about?</b><br /><br />GEN: He stumbled across a track I made for my friend who died 2 years ago, he really liked it then we linked up at Apa-Tight’s and then got working together.<br /><br /><b>CB: How would you describe your music? What is your lyrical style? What kind of beats do you prefer to spit on?</b><br /><br />GEN: I really like Pete Rock, 9th Wonder, Tribe Called Quest style beats, Dilla, Doom, anything with soul I can get with it.<br /><br /><b>CB: Have you had any releases yet? Are there any in the pipeline and when can we expect them?</b><br /><br />GEN: I have a mixtape ‘Forbidden Jutsu’ - Vol.1 is VERY late, so I’m releasing Vol.1 and 2 within a month of each other sometime soon, they will be free internet releases. Also I’m working on some projects with Apatight, Soul Unique and Savvy.<br /><br /><b>CB: Have you done any collaboration recently? I heard a rumour that you’ve recorded a bit of a West Yorks posse cut over a famous beat.</b><br /><br />GEN: Yeah for ‘Forbidden Jutsu’ Vol.1 I have Joker Starr, Jack Flash, J Simple, Spider Lee, Lunar C and me dropping bars on ‘Criminology’; it’s pretty dope.<br /><br /><b>CB: You obviously rate those artists – which other rappers or producers are you really feeling right now?</b><br /><br />GEN: UK wise I like Hey!Zeus, big fan of Joker Starr, Pride. Producers - there are tons, obviously Apatight, DJ IQ, Soul Unique. Mike Forte I’m hoping to do some work with soon. I could go on but I just want to get something out people can listen to.<br /><br /><b>CB: Would you ever consider spitting a verse on a track by an X Factor winner? Or any other pop star – who would it be? Which pop star would you most like to have feature on a track of yours?</b><br /><br />GEN: I’d do a track with Alexandra Burke, she’s soulful enough to get a good track out of me. Oddly enough Rhianna is starting to grow on me, her style’s becoming more and more unique every album she does. I’m interested to see what kind of artist she’s going to be in 3-4 years.<br /><br /><b>CB: If the pop star feature doesn’t come through what’s your game plan for getting your voice heard?</b><br /><br />GEN: Well I’m planning for just mixtapes and underground stuff for the next 2 years maybe a few EPs and street albums along the way. I’ve got loads of projects lined up so I’m just dropping whatever I feel like and if people feel it they feel it.<br /><br /><b>CB: How important is local/national/international exposure to you? Do you want to be widely heard? Do you think your output is relevant to the masses – would they get it?</b><br /><br />GEN: Purely because music isn’t my main hustle, and I don’t have anyone who depends on me, I have the luxury to make music however I want, and cater it to whomever I see fit. Plus now I’ve grown up and witnessed what the pressures of being in that kind of spotlight does to the most honest of people, can’t say I want to be on a mega star level. I’d like for UK Hip Hop to get the exposure as a whole not just me as an individual.<br /><br /><b>CB: Thanks for dealing with the grilling – anything you want to say finish off? Anything you want to ask?!</b><br /><br />GEN: I only became aware a few weeks ago there are actually a few people waiting to hear my music, so sorry for keeping you waiting. If you haven’t heard anything check Myspace or download the sampler from the Saving Grace Website. Peace.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.myspace.com/ukgen">www.myspace.com/ukgen</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.saving-grace.co.uk">www.saving-grace.co.uk</a>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-92107405249048361842010-02-01T08:26:00.000-08:002010-02-01T08:35:17.368-08:00Diversion Tactics Interview<strong>Certified Banger: Whasup? Let’s begin with introductions: Who are you all and what part do you play in the Diversion Tactics machine?</strong><br /><br />Chubby: Frontman. Emcee. Recovering alcoholic.<br /><br />Jazz T: Deejay. Producer. Promoter<br /><br />Zygote: Producer, Engineer, Deejay<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What are your personal favourite tracks of yours and why?</strong><br /><br />Jazz T: ‘Can't Swim’ and ‘Three Card Brag’ are my joints they're just bangers to me. Blade and Gritty smash it too.<br /><br />Chubby: Yeah. ‘Can't Swim’. Felt lyrically up a level and better each listen.<br /><br />Zygote: ‘Can’t Swim’, ‘12 Steps’, ‘Three Card Brag’. Our production style on those beats has matured, and so have Chubby’s lyrics.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br />Chubby: It stands up as original and raw. Honest and authentic. In the Top 50 but how many more than that are there?<br /><br />Zygote: Well yes there aren’t that many UK hip hop albums for starters. But it was nice to get that recognition.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How did the hook up (on both albums) with J-Zone come about?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />Chubby: Blade is straight up family. The most honest bruvver from day one we met. He is the game.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />Jazz T: Boot is our label - started by Zy. Me and Chubby help run it.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How would you define Hip Hop?</strong><br /><br />Jazz T: People creating something out of nothing and settling differences through the artforms resulting from that.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Sticking with definitions: What are the defining Hip Hop moments of your lives?</strong><br /><br />Jazz T: Hearing the cuts on Herbie Hancock’s ‘Rockit’ in '81 and Hearing BDP’s ‘South Bronx’.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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!<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How, if at all, do you balance your Hip Hop lives with all the real life stuff?</strong><br /><br />Jazz T: There is no separation its all one life.<br /><br />Chubby: This is real life.<br /><br />Zygote: I try to stay focussed on being creative.<br /><br /><strong>CB: OK, different kinda question here: What is your favourite conspiracy theory and how much do you believe in it?</strong><br /><br />Jazz T: That Bob Lazar saw UFOs in Area 51. I don’t believe anything unless I see evidence.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Zygote: The ‘London 2010 logo is a Zionist Conspiracy’ conspiracy.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Finally, what would you say to people who haven’t heard your music? What should they know about it?</strong><br /><br />Jazz T: We make hip hop ,it’s not local and the drums smack.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Zygote: Well put, Jazz: the drums…..smack.ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-90638292867687797112010-01-11T13:32:00.000-08:002010-01-11T13:33:23.012-08:00Chief Wigz Interview<div align="justify"><strong>Certified Banger: Alright? How’s it going?</strong><br /><br />CW: I’m good; the glass is always half full! I got the 12” out, album on the way, all produced by ‘Brutal Artistry’ may I add, and I’m rolling with an ill label, ‘Don’t Talk To Strangers’ - things have never been better.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Let’s talk about your 12” then. What’s it called? What’s the thinking behind the orange vinyl – why is it orange and why is it vinyl and not just download or CD?</strong><br /><br />CW: ‘Sunday Service’ is the name of the first release. The thinking behind the vinyl (let alone the vinyl being limited edition orange vinyl) was that a classic product. Since I was a teenager my dream was to have my own vinyl, I want more already, it’s like having you’re own comic book printed and the story board is about you. It’s just a classic, traditional method of releasing material. Me and Brutal Artistry and DTTS as a label all want to practise the art form traditionally; anyone can release a download, some people put one out each week and that’s fine but we want our product to be permanent, we want you to be able to pick it up and be fascinated with it, not just put it on your ipod and it fall into years of endless un-listened music. We want you to use it as it was designed to be used classically! Anyways, vinyl’s still the new cool - all the kids are getting back into it. Trust.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Are you cooking up any other ways to bring more desirable and exclusive ways of releasing music to this digitally obsessed age?</strong><br /><br />CW: Yes, But I’m not permitted to say at this point. That’s confidential, too many biters about. I’ve learnt to keep things locked ‘til it’s time for them to take cause. You’ll be the first to know though when ‘the desirables’ are ready.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Tell us about the tracks on there. Why is the title track called ‘Sunday Service’?</strong><br /><br />CW: Ahh, the ‘Sunday Service’ thing is, me and Brutal Artistry used to link at Def Row studios on a Sunday morning cause I work long ass hours and it was the only time we could both link - once a week guarantied. I’d write all week and BA would be making beats then we would meet at the end of the week and record some vocals or just have a jam. After a year or so of this we started to merge with DTTS as a label and all the artists on the label started coming through on a Sunday morning. It then became known as Sunday Service; just as a joke at first, but then it became relevant and we embraced it. ‘Sunday Service’ is important to me, because nearly every track on my album was recorded at Sunday Service - all three tracks on the single were recorded or mixed at Sunday Service. All business, all the social networking I do is built up of Sunday Service once a week. It’s what I look forward to every other day of the week, it embodies the ideology of living a life of hip hop, for me, once a week coming together with your crew or clique to either chill, make music, kick a cipher, chat some business, or just catch up on what’s going on - treating it like a religion.<br /><br />As for the track itself, ‘Sunday Service’ is a summarisation of all that, “timing is of every importance”, the time’s gotta be right for everything, recording, writing, practising, ciphering, timing of life, it ain’t luck, just good timing, believe, the track is a chilled out and has a old school vibe, slower lyrics to what I’m known for, yet still complex in the patterns of flow. BA’s beat reminds me of a relaxed Sunday morning.<br />The rest of the tracks on the single are taken from my self titled album, coming at the beginning of 2010. ‘Don Style’ and ‘DSB’ - both of them are working titles. ‘Don Style’ speaks for itself; a double-time tempo, again an old school vibe, featuring Shamain Pierre, an ill vocalist outta Bradford. Her style works well with my sound. It’s a message track, the lyrics are deep. ‘DSB’ stands for ‘Dirty Stinkin’ Beat’, this is a dark track with a question/answer style flow, complex lyrics with a twist of fantasy, and frustration – it’s very, very bassy. Personally, I think BA has killed it, the production on all three tracks is amazing, but ‘D.S.B’ is ill.<br /><br /><strong>CB: The tracks on this 12” have a heavy but laid back old school feel to them – are we to expect more music like that or do you have more styles up your sleeve?</strong><br /><br />CW: Definitely more styles, I think the laid back old school feel is my influence and maybe even just the way I am. Don’t forget, all the production’s by BA. His style is always heavy. I like the sound of the music me and BA are making at the moment - standard! But we are always trying new ideas, different genres of music and Hip Hop; wait till you hear the album - a track named ‘Many Man’ featuring Bane of ‘No Pretense’. It’s not what you’d expect from me, Bane maybe? But not me.<br /><br />I feel at home on most BA productions; he understands the style and sound I embody, so I think my music will always have a distinct sound to it even if we do step out of the comfort zone. You’ll always know if it’s a Chief Wigz track. We try and capture a classic sound.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Yeah it’s true, you do have a distinctive sound. So that’s what you’re up to now. How did you get to this point now as an artist? Give us a bit of history.</strong><br /><br />CW: There’s too much so I’ll start mid-point with 9-Lives Clik, which like a phoenix, was born out of the ashes of Dr Wu’s. 9-Lives was my first crew that I used to roll with and still do but it’s taken a back seat for a minute while other members concentrate on other ventures. I had to focus, and other people were on some next tings so I got on with my own music. It doesn’t stop just because you’re not making music with the same people you always have done - gotta accept change an embrace it, not run in fear. I looked for other outlets; nothing was about, ‘til one night I met BA in Dewsbury, when 9-lives was playing ‘Break North’. We exchanged numbers andhe later brought me some beats up to a fish and chip shop I was working at. Next thing we recorded and began thinking bout putting an album together. I was tired of gigging in the same venues, lost enthusiasm for performing an just wanted to record music, that’s still where my passion lies. Back then I had just put out ‘Never Speak Ill of The Dead Vol 1’ and I wasn’t feeling it. I didn’t feel I had a solid backlog of music - just a few half arsed tracks. Even though I’d worked hard to get them few half arsed tracks they weren’t what I expected they would be, not for the amount of work I put in so I just wanted to stay in the studio and record when ever I could, perfect my style and enjoy what I was doing instead of stressing about it. I’m still in that mind frame now but that’s why I’ve got backlogs of material ready to release. I feel happier knowing that I’ve put the work in and earned what I’ve created instead of just settling for second best. Iain’tgot time to waste anymore, I’m getting on.<br /><br />Anyways, Me and BA used the same studio as No Pretense and they started using BA productions too so they were hearing my material and let the label listen, we all got on well an through mutual love and appreciation we decided it would be good to put my music out through DTTS which brings us to the present day with my first single release ‘Sunday Service’ which I believe is the most solid work I’ve done to date. I’ve put the work in to get to where I feel proud of it; it took time and it couldn’t have been achieved with out a strong team around me… props to BA.<br /><br /><strong>CB: I remember that the first time I saw you was at Dr. Wu’s in Leeds – that was years ago and that little place has shut down now. What’s good on the Leeds scene now?</strong><br /><br />CW: You’re asking the wrong guy really. I don’t keep up with what’s going on, I don’t really go out in Leeds, or consider my self part of the scene. I think if you asked the crews on the Leeds scene now they would say the same: I ain’t been about much for the past year or two. I do know what the old Leeds scene was like and the present Leeds scene seems far more productive than its predecessors. I seems that Leeds, in its present state is the catalyst for some of the freshest Hip Hop coming out of the UK at the moment (though I don’t like labelling it as UK Hip Hop, it’s Hip Hop whatever genre of Hip Hop). I look online at Certified Banger, Suspect Packages, etc and I see Leeds artists; Leeds crews making solid products for Hip Hop heads to go get. It’s not just in Leeds - it’s Bradford, Huddersfield - Yorkshire as a whole. We are all getting our acts together and doing it properly. The old Leeds scene never accomplished this and if it ever did, it was only a few who took it to that platform, and even if they did, they didn’t bring the scene with them. It’s clear to me whenever I am in Leeds that the scene is unified, that there are some cliques that are holding it down consistently. Although I ain’t in Leeds much, I’m proud to say I’m from Leeds. I’m glad to say my passion for music and Hip Hop started there and it continues to do that for the many man that come before and after me - Leeds Hip Hop scene is ill!<br /><br /><strong>CB: You mentioned 9Lives and that it’s still going on in the background. What’s happening with your partners in rhyme right now?</strong><br /><br />CW: 9-Lives is still very much alive and kicking it. Proptic’s ‘Dark Cloud Project’ is coming soon via DTTS and 9-Lives is working, as we speak, on a 4 track EP again released by Don’t Talk To Strangers - there maybe a guest appearance of the strayed Eliphino (producer) on there but you’ll just have to wait and see - no promises. Optic runs Leeds mate! He knows everything going on, and knows everyone, never sleeps that guy, always up to something. 9-Lives never dies.<br /><br /><strong>CB: We’ve talked present and past – what does the future hold for Chief Wigz?</strong><br /><br />CW: Hopefully more releases through DTTS. I’ve got ‘Never Speak Ill Vol 2’ done, so after the album release, we should be able to drop that too but DTTS have so many releases dropping this year or next it might be a while for that - 2010 definitely though. Expect the self titled album ‘Chief Wigz’ early 2010. Also I’m featured on numerous albums and projects - we have been working hard the last two years. The future is Don’t Talk to Strangers.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Wrap it up with anything you feel like:</strong><br /><br />CW: Please support all the DTTS artists. We’ve all got releases dropping at the beginning of 2010 - classic Hip Hop on a global scale from the Yorkshire district and beyond. Don’t Talk To Strangers, Chief Wigz ‘Sunday Service’ 12” vinyl available at dtts.bigcartel.com, self titled album coming soon 2010 produced entirely by Brutal Artistry. For all other DTTS past and future releases visit Myspace/dtts or check out all good hip hop sites i.e. Certified Banger! Props CB, thanks for the time.</div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-80961987436800202422009-12-04T02:54:00.000-08:002009-12-04T06:24:04.851-08:00Skandal InterviewCertified Banger: What’s up Skandal? How are things with you?<br /><br />Skandal: Things are s**t bruv - my macbook just died on me! Imma jump off a building in a minute, I may have lost near 3 years of work and rough songs.<br /><br />CB: Man that's bad - hope you revive it, then you can get a PC and transfer all the files! You’ve just dropped your mixtape ‘Hunger Pains’ with the mighty DJ MK. How well is that being received?<br /><br />S: It's doing really well, to be honest. I knew it was a solid release due to the work we put in but it's done well; it got album of the week in The Independent newspaper!<br /><br />CB: High praise indeed! Tell us a bit about it – is it a collection of stuff you’ve been working on over a short or long period of time? Are there original beats or dubs? How would you describe its overall sound?<br /><br />S: I'd say I had my mind set on doing a mix CD with an idea of spitting that UK way over some of them down south beats (which I really happen to like). We threw some good old hardcore Dilla/Black Milk-esqe boom bap ish in to mix it up a lil. Overall the release has a very electronic sound to it with the exception of a couple soul samples on the down south beats.<br /><br />Most of the tracks are dubs, not that many people will know the ones I've used and two joints are produced by Beat Butcha ('Bold As F**k' and 'Home Ec').<br /><br />CB: Do you consider ‘Hunger Pains’ as your platform to higher things? What will you be doing next? <br /><br />S: Yeh of course, I mean all this graft is gearing up to an album. I'mma put out a few good more mixtapes before I drop that as I'm still relatively unknown. But yeh onwards and upwards!<br /><br />CB: What is your focus as a rapper – do you prefer story telling, lyricism, rhyme for rhymes sake – how would you describe your style as an MC?<br /><br />S: A jack of all trades and a master of none! To be honest I'll try and do it all, story telling, straight bars, emotionally charged s**t, songs, hook based s**t, commercial ish. What ever I feel at the time. I mean I love Hip Hop so you know it's in me to "keep it real" no matter what I do.<br /><br />CB: Your first official release (was it ‘Project A’?) was pretty different to the mixtape – the beats were more grimy. Where do you think you sit when it comes to genre? Are you embraced by both the Hip Hop and the Grime scene?<br /><br />S: Mmmmm by the artists yeh. Like I've said before no one can say I'm wack, so I get love from both sides of that coin. I mean it's obvious I'm influenced by both genres. But I'd still say it's Hip Hop. Grime has a lot of elements of Hip Hop too so even if I work with a grime artist or do a Grime or Dubstep track I'mma still bring that essence we all know and love to the table.<br /><br />CB: You featured on the first volume of my ‘On The Radar’ series and it’s good to see how you’ve grown and progressed in the year since that dropped – what advice would you give to an underground artist about surviving in this game? Is there a particular formula?<br /><br />S: Yeh safe for putting me on there bro, it gave me a leg up at the time. Umm as for advice, all I can say is if you like my progression and you wanna follow that formula all I'd say is curb your ego, listen to criticism and take it on board, especially if its one of your peers or someone you rate. Pay attention to producers and listen to any direction they or your engineer maybe give you. Oh and dedication. Work hard and be dedicated.<br /><br />CB: I’m always on the look out for new artists to support – who is worth my support in 2010?<br /><br />S: Me!<br /><br />CB: What would you rather have – 50 Cent’s money, Jay-Z’s rhymes or Eminem’s pop star status?<br /><br />S: Ooo you making me think here, mmm if I had 50 Cent's money that would mean I'd have his business acumen right? That's a string I've yet to add to my bow and that money would help push my music to another level commercially and internationally so I'll go wit Fiddy!<br /><br />CB: OK, so if you could choose one thing (skill, style, image etc) from one rapper to have as your own what would you choose? If someone had to pick one of your attributes to be theirs, which do you think they’d take?!<br /><br />S: You know what, I haven't got an image, it's not something I set out to have or I'd have one right? But I've noticed you need one to stand out from the crowd. Everyone has an image from Immortal Technique to Lil' Wayne and that's one thing I'm lacking. I'd have to take, Bubba Sparks! Naaa I'm playing... I'd try and create my own image dawg, I can't be on that plagiarism shiiiiiiet!<br /><br />As for mine I know it wouldn't be the nose picking, I'd have to say it would be my work ethic, not many are matching mine these days. We could all do with some hunger pains!<br /><br />CB: Thanks for answering my (sometimes strange) questions. Anything you’d like to add before we finish?<br /><br />S: Naa fam I'm good. Bless it up yeh. Shout out to all my real heads! Oh yeh check djgone.tv<br /><br />PeaceADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-86701229532592752582009-11-17T06:16:00.001-08:002009-11-17T06:17:09.924-08:00Vee Kay Interview Number 2!<a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2571/4112390084_3835ef72fb.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 500px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 375px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2571/4112390084_3835ef72fb.jpg" /></a><br /><div>Certified Banger: Can you tell us your necessary background details so we can build on basics for the rest of the interview? For example: who you are, where you are from, projects you have worked on, people you have worked with.<br /><br />Vee Kay: I'm Vee Kay, I make Hip Hop and trans-atlantic-speed-bhangra. It's a fairly new genre, but it's coming on with quite a following - so far there's about 14 people into it!<br /><br />CB: How would you describe your sound? Is there any one track that would best define your style?<br /><br />VK: My sound is a mixture of Rice Krispies and chocolate. Oh, sorry, that’s Krispy Cakes. Well then my style is just whatever it comes out like at the time of creation - sometimes I'll make a beat with an artist in mind and we'll go from there, otherwise it's whatever sound I find that inspires me first.<br /><br />CB: Who have been your biggest musical influences and which Hip Hop producers have inspired you?<br /><br />VK: Biggest musical influences are people that I grew up listening to like The Big Bopper or Frankie Goes To Hollywood....also Annie Lennox.....later on, when it came to Hip Hop I always wanted to make beats like Wyclef and A+.<br /><br />CB: Do you have a musical background? Do you play any instruments?<br /><br />VK: I got a Kazoo and a Penny Whistle. The Kazoo got some pimped up diamantes on it, so you know that s**t bangs.<br /><br />CB: How did you find out that you were handy when it came to crafting beats?<br /><br />VK: My old producer went off and started making music for Pete Waterman, so I decided that after they didn't want my dulcet tones on their tunes that I'd go back to underground hip hop and pretend that I never sold out....the rest is history...<br /><br />CB: Do you feel like many producers are overlooked or overshadowed by the MC's that rap on their beats?<br /><br />VK: Yeah, some producers are really unlucky and get overlooked.....Andy from Wham was a brilliant songwriter, but George Michael f**ked him off and went solo. Same with Kanye - Jay Z overshadowed Kanye on their tunes, but that’s cos Kanye sucks.<br /><br />CB: What are your three pieces of equipment do you value most when it comes to production?<br /><br />VK: I got a AMD Athalon PC that I got from my mate Dave, it's got a 10GB hard drive and 32KBS of RAM, so its fast as hell, I also got Cubase 5 which is what I use to sequence my Akai s20 with 16 seconds of sample time.....I also got a broom to keep my s**t tidy!<br /><br />CB: What other programs/equipment do you use?<br /><br />VK: Sometimes I use a mic to record vocals, but most of the time I rock some headphones through the input so I can keep it grimey. Programmes wise I download all my samples from Limewire.<br /><br /><br />CB: What process do you go through when writing a track? Do you start with a tune, a sample, a drum beat or a concept? What happens next?<br /><br />VK: Most of the time I'll get a track that I really like, like Black Eyed Peas, put that into the sequencer, then I'll layer my sounds and drums EXACTLY the same as they are on the B.E.P tune, then once I've finished, I mute the B.E.P tune and voila! I got myself a banger straight up.<br /><br /><br />CB: How do you prefer to work when collaborating with rappers? Do you both get in the studio and write together or is there a separate process?<br /><br />VK: I got a slight case of Agraphobia, not massive, but sometimes I get nervous around rappers, mainly because I hear them sounding really aggressive on the tracks. If I want some vocals then I'll usually myspace them and see if they can record at theirs and then send me the stems. Black Eye Peas don't come across aggressive so I'd be happy getting in the studio with them, but that’s about it.<br /><br />CB: Have you ever been given some invaluable advice when it comes to producing? What tips would you give to an aspiring Hip Hop producer?<br /><br />VK: Someone once told me that you should never, and I mean NEVER, start the bar with the snare at the beginning, basically switching the pattern of the drums. Snare, Kick, Snare, Kick. It's true too, it sounds awful. If you want to make Hip Hop, the best advice I can give you is to get on myspace, get limewire, a copy of a sequencer and then just loop everything up. No one cares about finding vinyl anymore, so get in while it's easy!<br /><br />CB: What can we expect from you in the future? Are you currently working on any exciting projects?<br /><br />VK: I'm working on a 16 track concept album that’s like a Jazz odyssey, but completely inspired by Buddy Holly. He was massive into his Jazz, and if he hadn't have died, he'd have been a pioneer of Hip Hop. There's no proof of that, but it is fact. Before he died he was tentatively in talks with Herbie Hancock to work together. I'm currently looking for labels for it at the moment.<br /><br />CB: Any last words or plugs?<br /><br />VK: Enjoy life and live each moment like it's your last. Do one thing a day that scares you and never throw a 15 year old to the floor - there's a good chance they'll punch you in the ear!</div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-18373074231395459692009-11-17T05:34:00.001-08:002009-11-17T05:38:40.229-08:00Phoenix Da Icefire Interview<div align="justify"><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2697/4111557607_27488c6e18_m.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 159px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2697/4111557607_27488c6e18_m.jpg" /></a><strong>Certified Banger: Tell us about Phoenix Da Icefire - who is he?</strong><br /><br />Phoenix Da Icefire: The character I have created goes by the name of Phoenix Da Icefire, he is my alter ego, much more fierce and stronger than I show in my day to day life, I feel like I can do almost anything when I slip into the character of Phoenix.<br /><br />I am also the other half of Higher Heights and was responsible for bringing out the ‘Anathema’ LP by Triple Darkness, I first featured on ‘High Fidelity’ (by M9) on a track called ‘Holy Water’ and a track that I have got for my album called ‘Mental Prisoners’. I put it on there so I could test the waters with the UK scene.<br /><br /><strong>CB: You’ve just released your mixtape ‘Baptism Under Fire’. What else is on the way?</strong><br /><br />PDI: I’ve got an album coming called ‘Right Timing the Quantum Leap’, it features Kyza Smirnoff, Triple Darkness, 9 Planets, Jah Miracle, Midas Touch, Yasine and El Crisis.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Which words best describe your style?</strong><br /><br />PDI: The best way to describe my style is “free style”. I don’t believe in being caged behind my own bars like prison, my music is supposed to set me free, that’s why every track sounds different, I can do almost anything but my usual sound would be a cross between Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Wu-Tang all in one.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />PDI: I was brought up on The Fugees, Nas’s ‘It Was Written’ for me was one of my favourites, Killah Priest, Canibus for his battle style rap, Talib Kweli, Common and Mos Def to name a few.<br /><br /><strong>CB: When was the first time you rapped?</strong><br /><br />PDI: There was a sound track to Space Jam, which had Busta Rhymes, Method Man and LL Cool J on it (‘Hit ‘Em High’) and me and my younger brother practised it and learnt all the verses to that song.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Haha, me and my brother did the same thing with the same song! So, who else have you grown with musically?</strong><br /><br />PDI: There are a lot of talented people round my way - P-Money, Firmer Dee AKA Funky De, Little D, Blacks and AKS - we used to all be in a crew together and now I see everyone branching off and taking it to the limit. It was a garage crew back then and now I’m in a group with AKS as well as J Da Exodus called Midas Touch so it’s funny how it works out.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What are your thoughts on the current state of Hip Hop?</strong><br /><br />PDI: I think hip hop has now become the voice of the corporate rather than the people now, but these days people are waking up and getting wise to the lies that are being fed to them everyday and they want to hear conscious music because they can relate to the real issues they face everyday as opposed to hearing about the girl they might meet at a club!<br /><br /><strong>CB: What process do you go through when writing a track? Do you start with a beat, a concept, a lyric that you thought of in the shower? What happens next?</strong><br /><br />PDI: Have you ever used the term vibe? Well that in itself is a subconscious grasp on the fact that everything is made of vibrations - what I do is listen to the vibe or vibration of the track and try to align myself with what I hear. In other words I tune myself into the instrumental, once I’ve done that I get a title and a melody for the chorus if there is any. I believe the instrumental itself and the rapper or singer are two separate halves like man and woman and it’s up to the artist to know whether he/she is the right fit.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Interesting and very different answer! Where do you hope to see yourself in 5 years, 10 years time? Is it an achievable goal?</strong><br /><br />PDI: I plan on being the UK’s landmark for Hip Hop.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Highly aspirational! Any last words?</strong><br /><br />PDI: To all the artists out there have a clear goal in what you are trying to achieve, make sure its realistic and you are true to yourself and you will succeed in anything and everything.</div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-6563623217537697182009-09-16T04:17:00.000-07:002009-09-16T04:36:04.670-07:00Delusionists Interview<div align="justify"><strong>Certified Banger: Can you tell us your necessary background details so we can build on basics for the rest of the interview? For example: who you are, projects you have worked on, people you have worked with.</strong><br /><br />Ben Black: Ben Black aka Beanz aka that rapper/producer out of Delusionists. We dropped our debut EP <a href="http://delusionists.bandcamp.com/">'The Prolusion'</a> earlier this year, which was a strictly in-house production. Off the strength of that we're starting to link with some other heads so we've got a few remixes and collabos bubbling beneath the surface... Some of it has come off the back of being on OTR4 so big up to Certified Banger for that!<br /><br /><strong>CB: What are your current or upcoming projects? ie albums, singles, tours, guest spots…<br /></strong><br />BB: At the moment we're still pushing <a href="http://delusionists.bandcamp.com/">'The Prolusion'</a>. We're pressing hard copies of it and trying to get 'em in people's hands at shows and when we're out and about. There'll be a few bonus cuts on there too - remixes and a couple of other things we've been working on lately, like <a href="http://www.beatslayingabout.com/2009/08/new-delusionists-track-promo-vid.html">'The Movement'</a> which we dropped a couple of weeks back. Oh, and a remix of 'Parallel Worldz'.<br /><br />The album is also well and truly in the works and I'm enjoying writing it and piecing it all together. I've produced all of our stuff myself so far but I'm taking a bit of a backseat this time and my boy Slim Pickens (<a href="http://ukallday.blogspot.com/">UK All Day</a>) has stepped up to handle a lot of the beats. He did The Movement and it instantly just seemed to fit, so we're using that as the blueprint for the way forward. We're also trying to hook up a few suprise collabos for the project, which should get people excited if it comes to fruition...<br /><br /><strong>CB: How would you describe your sound? Is there any one track that would best define your style?</strong><br /><br />BB: Difficult to say, man! <a href="http://delusionists.bandcamp.com/">'The Prolusion'</a> was all about finding our sound really so you'll find a mix of styles on there. Fast, slow, happy, sad, clever, ignorant... It kind of shows the full repetoire of what we could do at the time.<br /><br />I suppose 'The Evil' sums us up best though, because it deals with two sides of a coin. It's like a message to females saying "Look, I am a twat, I will do twattish things. But I KNOW I'm a twat and I intend to change'. A lot of hip hop deals with the first part, in that it puts a spotlight on the negative behaviour but doesn't always acheive a balance by showing the other side. I suppose we're coming from a similar angle to someone like Common - he's said some pretty ignorant s**t in his time, particularly in his early career, but it's always tempered with the conscious, insightful stuff. Some people would say that's contradictory but humans aren't one dimensional, so music should reflect that.<br /><br />But yeah, you'll hear a lot of cocky, bragging stuff from us because that's what we enjoy, but you might just hear some deeper stuff if you listen close enough. I like the type of Hip Hop where you won't necessarily pick up on things until you've had a few listens, so we try to make stuff that has a little something beneath the surface.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />BB: I was chatting about this to DBF (fellow Delusionists MC) the other day and we agreed that pound-for-pound Jay-Z has probably been our biggest influence over the years. Can't say I'm too impressed with BP3 though...<br /><br />Other than him, I'd say De La, Tribe, DOOM and Jehst have all been massive influences at various points in my development as an emcee. De La and Tribe because they showed that you don't have to be "hard" to make proper Hip Hop. DOOM because I love the way he just seems to be having a laugh without being a corny punchline rapper. And Billy Brimstone because he's consistently proved that a Brit can be up there with the best in the world, and that gives you belief!<br /><br />I could write a huge list of my favourite albums but the ones that spring to mind? 'The Score', 'ATLiens', 'The Chronic', 'Midnight Marauders' and more recently Q-tips' 'The Renaissance'. And now I feel bad because I've left out loads of classic albums... '36 Chambers'! Oh, and just to avoid being a complete cliche, 'Illmatic' probably isn't in my top ten.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What is your earliest memory of anything Hip Hop related? First rap track heard? First time you rapped?<br /></strong><br />BB: My earliest Hip Hop memory was my brother playing 'The Show' in the mid-80s. Inspector Gadget was my s**t at the time and when I heard that theme music mixed with that beat I was hooked from then on. I've got to thank my big bro really, for letting me watch them breakdancing movies with him and letting me 'borrow' his Eric B and Rakim records. Yep, I've still got 'em and no, you ain't gettin' 'em back!<br /><br />I did fanny about with poetry for a bit but I wrote my 1st rap when I was about 10. It was for a school project about tbe Tudors. Henry VIII was the original gangsta! "F**k a pimp slap, cut that bitch's head off!" Me and a few others performed it to the class and when i realised that I could get away with doing that instead of proper work there was no stopping me. Our next one was about Ancient Egypt and I've been writing gradually less educational rhymes ever since.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Where are you from? Can you tell us a bit more about the Hip Hop scene there?<br /></strong><br />BB: Well, I've lived in West London for the last few years but I was brought up in Lowestoft (Google it). There wasn't any sort of Hip Hop scene, other than a few of us who used to play basketball and listen to whatever The Source told us to. It was good though because it made me go out and seek Hip Hop culture and allowed me to have a fairly unique take on it without being influenced by friends or whoever saying this or that is what i should be into. I didn't really feel that peer pressure to be into any acts in particular, because nobody else really had a f**king clue about Hip Hop. I think you also value stuff more if it's hard to come by, y'know? Which is probably what's up with things at the moment - you don't even have to walk to the shop to get an album now, let alone pay for it! I can remember saving up for weeks just so I could go and get the Dogg Pound album when it eventually came out in the local record shop (about a year after it was released).<br /><br /><strong>CB: What about the Hip Hop scene in general, UK or worldwide – where do you think it’s headed? Are things good/bad? What are your current philosophical thoughts on the current trends in rap music?<br /></strong><br />BB: Arrrgghhh! The current trends... Well, there is a lot of shit out there. That's my philosophical insight! But nah, there's always been rubbish out there, it's just that now the rubbish is getting some exposure. I'm a bit suspicious of big name DJs getting behind acts that have their ads all over telly and the internet, like "You really like that? Really!?!". Maybe I'm just being cynical but it's a bit strange that you want to co-sign something with a big marketing budget but you don't say f**k all about something of real quality like 'The A-loop Theory'. That's not supporting the scene, it's damaging it by making the general public think "oh, so this is what British Hip Hop sounds like...".<br /><br />But I've gotta say, although it hurts to see hip hop bastardised and repackaged to suit the teeny boppers you can't be that mad. I can't lie, I liked Kriss Kross and MC Hammer as a kid - who didn't? As long as there's some balance I think Hip Hop will be okay, but if Gang Starr came back sampling 2 Unlimited I'd be worried. What's reassuring is that hip hop will always rebel against itself. For example, there's a lot of people trying to 'Push the boundaries' production wise and neglecting the lyrics a bit. But I think there's a lot of fans who just want to hear some no-nonsense music and entertaining lyrics, which hopefully is where we come in.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What process do you go through when writing a track? Do you start with a beat, a concept, a lyric that you thought of in the shower? What happens next?<br /></strong><br />BB: It's any and all of those things! Quite often i'll just hear a word or phrase and think "I've never heard that on a record" and I'll think of something that rhymes with it and take it from there. That's one way to stay original I suppose. More concept-heavy songs can take ages to write though. Sometimes a beat conjures a certain emotion and you want to do it justice so you have to choose your words carefully. I've just started writing to other people's beats and that's much easier coz you're not thinking 'That bassline's a bit muffled" or whatever. You can just concentrate on the lyrics and let the producer take the blame if people don't like the beat!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Where do you hope to see yourself in 5 years, 10 years time? Is it an achievable goal?</strong><br /><br />BB: I want to be in a position where we can put out music from ourselves and others and have a fanbase that trust us to consistently put out strong product. If I can sort out the business side of things so i can do my bit for the artform and support my family, i'll be happy. I know it's gonna be a long, hard road but If I didn't think it was achievable I wouldn't bother.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Any last words?</strong><br /><br />BB: Yeah, I haven't had a chance to do the whole cliched shout out thing yet so... Big up all the people that have got behind Delusionists so far; Certified Banger (obviously), Disorda, HHC, HipHopHypeDog and all the bloggers, DJs and heads who have let us know we're doing something right.<br /><br />Also, shout out to the crew - DBF, Chantelle, Zombie Killer, PITMO, Mr Baker, Slim Pickens and King Hektah. Oh, and go cop <a href="http://delusionists.bandcamp.com/">'The Prolusion'</a> and keep in touch on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Delusionists/10915645221">Facebook</a> or <a href="http://twitter.com/MrBenjaminBlack">Twitter</a> and check out the blog, <a href="http://www.beatslayingabout.com/">Beats Laying About</a> - it's not exactly Certified Banger but we do our thing!</div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-64213582930719751822009-09-02T11:39:00.000-07:002009-09-02T11:40:03.202-07:00Lunar C Interview<div align="justify"><strong>Certified Banger: Can you tell us your necessary background details so we can build on basics for the rest of the interview?<br /></strong><br />Lunar C: Yoyoyo, I’m Lunar C - an MC from Missing People and Sinoptic Crew.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What are your current or upcoming projects? ie albums, singles, tours, guest spots…</strong><br /><br />LC: I’ve been working on quite a lot of projects this year. A few months ago me and Missing People released our debut EP ‘Glossop View’. I’m just about to release my debut solo project ‘The Lunar CD’ which should be out in the next two months and will only cost £1; so get your squid out! It’s gonna have roughly 20 of my best tracks on there and some sick features from West Yorkshire’s finest MCs and producers. Also the whole Sinoptic crew (Lunar C, EXP, JND, Angry Nik, WYdeboi, Neverlearn and Angela Bellis) have got ‘The Badger Sex mixtape‘ coming in the next few months too which is just gonna be all of us killing it. This year I’ve featured on JND’s ‘Working Classics’ ,Mastermind’s ‘Cut n Paste mixtape’ and I’ve just laid a verse down on a remix of Wu-Tang’s ‘Criminology’ track which is gonna be 6 MC’s: Me, Jack Flash, J Simple, Joker Starr, Spida Lee and Gen for Gen’s ‘Forbidden Jutsu mixtape’. Me and WYdeboi have been collaborating with a sick beatmaker from Leeds called Bridgens ,I’ve collabed with No Pretense, Adverse and Immranimal from Shedmen, Leady and maybe more which I might have forgotten. I’ve also got a crew of about 6 14 and 15 year old MCs that I’m kinda mentoring and they know all about Hip Hop which is rare for young UK MCs these days. I truly believe they are gonna shock alot of people with the skill they already have - they freestyle and write everyday and are about to do their first track soon so look out for Kontraband, Kid Nem and Sinister!<br /><br /><strong>CB: You’ve been busy. How would you describe your sound? Is there any one track that would best define your style?<br /></strong><br />LC: If I had to describe my style I would just say my name is quite self explanatory. I’m a bit of a lunatic and I just write whatever comes to mind and it’s usually either a bit perverted and a bit crazy but I can switch it up and be versatile when I want to.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />LC: I’m only 19 so I think in the beginning it was Wu-Tang clan that got me hooked on Hip Hop but I’ve always been into music; all different types. My dad brought me up on everything from Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Faith No More to Mos Def and Cypress Hill so I’ve acquired quite a varied taste. I go through phases of listening to different rappers though at the mo I’ve been listening to a lot of Rakim ,Sage Francis and MF Doom .<br /><br /><strong>CB: What is your earliest memory of anything Hip Hop related? First rap track heard? First time you rapped?</strong><br /><br />LC: I must have been a sprog but I can remember the first time I tried to rap. All I used to do when I was like 13 was sit in my room and listen to Wu-Tang (I know I keep mentioning them but, f**k you; they’re dope) tracks over and over and memorize the lyrics so the first time I tried to write my own they just sounded like a weak version of them so I only ended up writing a couple of bars and didn’t try again till I was 16. Since then I haven’t gone a day without rhyming .<br /><br /><strong>CB: Where are you from? Can you tell us a bit more about the Hip Hop scene there?</strong><br /><br />LC: I’m from Bradford, West Yorkshire. I personally think that WY has most of the best artists in the UK and I rep it to the fullest. Bradford is also making a name for its self too which is exciting ‘cause it’s been a long time coming. We used to have Breadbins and Stack Chedda which Dr Crobe and Miki B (Brutal Artistry) used to put on but they came to an end a while back and I only managed to make it to one of those nights ‘cause of my age. But now Bane and Miki B are putting on a new night in Bradford called ‘DISGRACELANDS’ which is fire and is really helping the Bradford and WY scene to grow!<br /><br /><br /><strong>CB: What about the Hip Hop scene in general, UK or worldwide – where do you think it’s headed? Are things good/bad? What are your current philosophical thoughts on the current trends in rap music.</strong><br /><br />LC: Obviously I don’t think the Hip Hop scene is in the best shape its been in but I think there’s hope for determined talented artists if we just push our product in the right way and maybe stop moaning and being depressed and bitching. I was talking to an MC called JSN who does Hip Hop and Grime and we was having a little debate. I said to him “You need to listen to more UK Hip Hop. Why don’t you?” and he said “because most of it is just people moaning and it’s not positive” and to be fair to a degree I agree with the dude. Qe need to stop bitching as much about what we’re not doing and actually give it a go, but also I see it from the point of view of a struggling artist where you can only rap about what you know and if you’re poor then most of your s**t is gonna be about that. I don’t know if real Hip Hop will ever be a lucrative business again, the media only ever dare steal watered down parts of our culture and capitalize on it; they aren’t interested in the raw form – it’s too risky.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What process do you go through when writing a track? </strong><br /><br />LC: I’ve always got bars going through my head which I usually write down and make a verse out of but these days I’ve been trying to write to beats and make some proper tracks because there is a difference between good bars on a good beat and a good track, with a good track everything has to blend and be perfect and capture a vibe.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Where do you hope to see yourself in 5 years, 10 years time?</strong><br /><br />LC: I’ve got a lot of things cooking up for the future. In 5 years I hope I’m alive and living off music and have enough money to eat and smoke weed!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Any last words?<br /></strong><br />LC: GET YOUR SQUID OUT! Lunar C</div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-31943609731583414102009-09-01T08:19:00.000-07:002009-09-01T08:21:27.790-07:00The Riddlah Interview<div align="justify"><strong>Certified Banger: Can you tell us your necessary background details so we can build on basics for the rest of the interview? For example: who you are, where you are from, projects you have worked on, people you have worked with.<br /></strong><br />The Riddlah: Cool, yeah, I grew up listening to many different types of music. From as early as I can remember I have been surrounded by music around the house, back when I lived at my mum’s, with my older brother heavily involved in the underground metal scene in Scotland and my older sisters’ love for musicals and plays. I’ve always had a passion for music and kinda wanted to do something. Once I got to the age of choosing a genre so to speak, Hip Hop was what I had grown to like the most. I grew up in Leith, Edinburgh, and went to a prominent Leith school, made lots of friends due to my outgoing side, and Leith became my ‘hood’. Once leaving school time came, when I was 16 (in ‘98) I started to show more interest in writing rhymes and I wondered if it was possible for Scottish people to rap. Things have moved on in massively over time, and I’ve now worked with a lot of the biggest names in the Scottish Hip Hop scene, and I continue to try and push our Scottish sound further south for listeners. I’m always contributing beats and rhymes to projects artists are working on, and you can find quite a lot of my work on local releases, but I also release my own UVBeatz Volumes, on free downloads and printed CDs with covers, these releases are proving to be quite popular with them getting downloads from other countries too, not just in the local scene, im currently putting most of my energy into the LP I’m working on. It’s gonna feature artists from all round the globe but still dominantly Scottish. Release details will follow in the near future with it being a more proper/professional release.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How would you describe your sound? Is there any one track that would best define your style?</strong><br /><br />TR: Well I can cater for many different sounds and styles but lots of people have told me you can tell it’s one of my beats. I personally can pin point my sound, I like to make all different feelings through music, so I could come out with a soft almost R’n’B beat one minute, then the next day feel in the mood and end up making something banging or dark. Then these beats are normally chosen by an artist When I personally want to make a track, with me spitting on it (which I don’t do so much these days) I normally choose the hard beats.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Who have been your biggest musical influences and which Hip Hop producers have inspired you?</strong><br /><br />TR: Wow, there are tons, dunno where to start so I’m just gonna shout a couple names that are big inspirations to me: Film maker - I like to listen to the emotion put into the scene of a film and make that work with music. John Carpenter was a massive influence to me; I just love his simple synths and melodies. RZA has a massive influence too; he lives the producer’s dream! The work he has done on film is amazing! Always gotta show respect to Dr. Dre too.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Do you have a musical background? Do you play any instruments?</strong><br /><br />TR:Funny, ‘cause no I don’t really have any experience of playing any instruments, again lots of people have told me I should have done music at school or even college. I can play a keyboard for recording to make beats, but I believe if you claim to play an instrument, you should be able to just play it.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How did you find out that you were handy when it came to crafting beats?<br /></strong><br />TR: When I started making music with Madhat in a group called Dark Rumours I began to make beats and I found it fascinating how many different things you can do and over time have learnt more and more techniques and nice touches that make a beat. Man, it ended up taking over from wanting to spit; I just wanted to make beats.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Do you feel like many producers are overlooked or overshadowed by the MC's that rap on their beats?<br /></strong><br />TR: Well, I think it comes down to how into the music you really are as a fan, and how the individual single or album is marketed. If you really are a true fan of something, you end up checking the CD to see who produced what track but a lot of people just like the music and label it by the MC on it. On the marketing topic, some Albums have the MC and the producer as the main concept of the album - I like this and think it makes people more aware of the talents of individual beatmakers. I mean, check out the marketing put into Timbaland, Kanye West, DJ Muggs, Dr. Dre - they all try to put the message over to bring recognition to the producer. I don’t think its really a topic to worry about, in fact I think the beatmaker/producer profile is going upwards.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What are your three pieces of equipment do you value most when it comes to production?<br /></strong><br />TR: Im a big believer in having the right speakers (or monitors), you gotta hear exactly what your end result is; no good using poor speakers. I got EDIROL MA-15D, my keyboard is a main player in my production, coming up with a melody naturally; an old Panasonic connected through midi, touch sensitive, running and connected through FL Studio 8 Producer Edition, on PC - very under rated programme, you gotta know what your doing.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What other programs/equipment do you use?</strong><br /><br />TR: I got a copy of Sonar for recording and Sound Forge, an Allen & Heath ZED 14 mixing desk/console, a Behringer mic, Eltax Sub Woofer, deck and crossfader, and my ever amazing brother on Guitar - he loves his Les Paul.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What process do you go through when writing a track?</strong><br /><br />TR: Well, I don’t really have a set course, more like a few different ways to go about it. So to get different sounding beats, if you start of with percussion or drums you will most likely end up with a drum orientated beat. Start with the music and it goes the other way around – I keep changing and switching.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How do you prefer to work when collaborating with rappers?</strong><br /><br />TR: Again, it all depends on circumstances, some people record elsewhere and send me lyrics, some come to my lab, some ready written, and some chill and write at in the studio with me, that’s when I end up writing too, and dada! you got Riddlah on a track. It’s not often that I plan to be on a track or do a solo one, normally just an off the cuff thing.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What tips would you give to an aspiring Hip Hop producer?</strong><br /><br />TR: You end up learning as you go yourself, with the technical stuff, like connections and quality setting on things, I like to chill and watch other beat makers doing there thing, I love chilling with Nasty P and learning more things he does that I don’t, but also things I do he doesn’t - so beatmakers out there, I’m watching!<br /><br /><strong>CB: What can we expect from you in the future? Are you currently working on any exciting projects?</strong><br /><br />TR: Well yeah, I’m working on my LP as I said; really looking forward to getting it completed, dunno what’s planned for me production wise other than that, but I’ve always got other things I’m involved in with other artists on their projects, as long as Scottish Hip Hop is still pushing and making moves I'll be there doing my thing!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Any last words or plugs?<br /></strong><br />TR: Show support to Scottish Hip Hop, a growing scene full of talented artists, make sure and get your self a copy of my recent ‘UVBeatz Recordings Vol.2’ FREE DOWNLOAD LINK: <a href="http://rapidshare.com/files/236858968/UVBeatz_Recordings_Vol.2.rar">http://rapidshare.com/files/236858968/UVBeatz_Recordings_Vol.2.rar</a> , and keep up to date with: <a href="http://www.myspace.com/uvbeatz">www.myspace.com/uvbeatz</a> , lastly shout out to, Madhat at MCF Records, Blasfimasinna also on MCF, Wardie Burns one of the Twisted Methods and WERD at SOS for all his help! Alexis at Savage Sound System, Nasty P KFM Records, Jonny on the Guitar, Steg G at Powercut Productions and Jay at MCF Records also - all these people keep me busy and keep me involved, Thanks! Sorry if I missed you out, you know what these things are like, you always forget someone. UVBEATZ!</div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-7231843899865055242009-08-27T01:58:00.000-07:002009-08-27T01:59:16.036-07:00Leady Interview<div align="justify"><strong>Certified Banger: Can you tell us your necessary background details so we can build on basics for the rest of the interview?<br /></strong><br />Leady: My name is Leady and I have featured on Mixtapes such as UK Runnings, HHB Radio Mixtapes, Certified Banger "On The Radar", I have worked with the likes of Filthy Rich, JabbaThaKut, Beit Nun, Baron Samedi, Joe Gutta, Lunar C, WydeBoi, EXP, and plenty more.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What are your current or upcoming projects?<br /></strong><br />L: Currently I'm working on my Solo Project 'Toxic Nonsense' as well starting possible joint projects with the likes of Manchester based Producer X-FIRE or Huddersfield producer Kegzi. Obviously I have a track featuring on the current Certified Banger 'On The Radar Vol.4'. Also I will be featuring on a project that will be released by E.L.D.E.R.S, a coalition of MCs from the states, Canada and the UK put together for working together, and promoting each other as well, so with that said, keep eyes open for the debut from E.L.D.E.R.S - 'The Black List'.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How would you describe your sound? Is there any one track that would best define your style?</strong><br /><br />L: I'd describe my sound as very British. I think the track so far which best defines my style will be 'Remote Control' with Lunar C and Wydeboi taken from Lunar C's forthcoming solo project.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />L: My biggest Hip Hop influence would be KRS ONE, just for how much he has done for what we love doing today. Musical Influences would be Miles Davis(expect a few tracks using samples), Nina Simone, Guns and Roses, Van Halen and Meat Loaf. Hip Hop wise, my influences are as mentioned KRS ONE, Dilated Peoples, Roots, Method Man, RedMan.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What is your earliest memory of anything Hip Hop related? First rap track heard? First time you rapped?<br /></strong><br />L: First album I listened to would have been an Ice T CD, can't remember the actual title though that would also contain the first real rap track I heard. First time I rapped I was terrible,but it's what got me started and to where I am now.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Where are you from? Can you tell us a bit more about the Hip Hop scene there?<br /></strong><br />L: I'm from Leeds, West Yorkshire, the scene here is full of talented MCs, DJs and producers, just not enough people really working hard and pushing themselves properly. Obviously West Yorkshire is home to the massive Don't Talk To Strangers -<br />Leeds being home to a lot of the members.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What about the Hip Hop scene in general, UK or worldwide – where do you think it’s headed? Are things good/bad? What are your current philosophical thoughts on the current trends in rap music?<br /></strong><br />L: Hip Hop at the moment in my opinion is being hurt with all this terrible autotune stuff out there now. However I don't think this is bad because we still have and always will have in existence a strong underground scene.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What process do you go through when writing a track? Do you start with a beat, a concept, a lyric that you thought of in the shower? What happens next?</strong><br /><br />L: It depends on the mood really, sometimes I might have a topic or something I want to say in which case I get a beat to fit the tone, or for the most part I'll listen to the beat and let that guide me through everything from topic to how I want to approach the track and say things.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Where do you hope to see yourself in 5 years, 10 years time? Is it an achievable goal? </strong><br /><br />L: Still doing what I love doing, hopefully will be able to say I've been around Europe and so on to perform my music etc.<br /><br /><strong>CB:Any last words?</strong><br /><br />L: Shout outs to Missing People, Freyed Knot, Chief Wiggum, 9 Lives, all DTTS, DS Fam, Alphabetix, Jack Dans, Crack House, Organised Mess, E.L.D.E.R.S, Blessed House, Snafu, DBO, wiz, IrnMnky, ESSDEE, everybody repping for Leeds and West Yorkshire haha, Big up JabbaThaKut, Megamouth, Jack Flash and the rest of Groundwurq, and obviously Certified Banger - the greatest blogspot going, anybody else, if I forgot you, then sorry.<br /><br />Also check out:<br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/mrleady">www.myspace.com/mrleady</a><br /><a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/leady">www.reverbnation.com/leady</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/leady">www.youtube.com/leady</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/Illuminatielders">www.youtube.com/Illuminatielders</a><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/illuminatielders">www.myspace.com/illuminatielders</a></div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-89939300573133666552009-07-15T10:56:00.000-07:002009-07-15T11:05:10.897-07:00SubSpecies Interview<strong>Certified Banger: Yo! This is a first for me… tell the people why:</strong><br /><br />Chris Hughes: We are Subspecies, an urban/streetwear label that was formed by a troop of talented designers who were tired of the poor quality that mainstream brands were banging out and selling out to the sheep of society.<br /><br /><strong>CB: So tell us about your product a bit more. What did you set out to achieve with it?</strong><br /><br />CH: We want to create something that is a little different from the rest of the brands that are out there, using good graphics on quality fabrics. All our tees are limited edition and there are only 450 of them per style/colour worldwide, so if you’re in a club with someone wearing a Sub tee the same as you... that's just fate!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Who does the designs and what is the inspiration for them?<br /></strong><br />CH: The design team consists of General Thade, Ceasar & Nim; Three wise monkeys who all come from varied backgrounds who can influence each other in their areas. We get our ideas from the depths of our minds and try to stay away from trend direction too, that stuff’s for the catwalk cats and the la-di-das of this world. I mean who makes these trends up? Someone trying to sell you a book for £600 per season, thats who. That’s why we made ours limited edition, there are no boundaries, you’re guaranteed to be different - a Subspecies. There are No Gods, No Masters!<br /><br /><strong>CB: How are you different to the average garm pedallers?</strong><br /><br />CH: Did I mention quality?! We get lots of mail from our customers telling us "they get the graphic now!" People buy things ‘cause they look good, but at Subspecies there's usually a hidden meaning or message in the graphic - you know, propaganda.<br /><br /><strong>CB: You support the local music scene here. Who did you hook up with from the Hip Hop crowd?</strong><br /><br />CH: We hooked up with Bane from No Pretense who is a local Hip Hop artist up in West Yorkshire and we just respected each other’s talents. We are all about supporting local talent!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Are you a Hip Hop fan? Who do you rate musically at the moment?<br /></strong><br />CH: Yes. Obviously we like the music our sponsors produce, but on the treehouse studio turntables this week are Cypress hill, New Kingdom, The Goats, Talib and a bit of Fushniks. We're a bit old skool!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Who else do you sponsor?</strong><br /><br />CH: We sponsor Monsieur Phil Kyle, a s**t hot tattooist from a programme called London Ink, UK Hip Hop artists Jack Flash, Chief Wigz, 9livez, Spida Lee, No Pretense, Brutal Artistry, Knew Jeru’slum, Dr Syntax, we have a BMX team and we collab with Plug and his team - one of the UK’s top graffiti artists.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Would you be open to expanding your sponsorship of artists outside of the local Hip Hop scene? Who would you like to see modelling your threads?</strong><br /><br />CH: Of course, we want the cream of the crop reppin’ our garms, be it a hip hopper or a body popper, if you got skillz to pay tha billz we got the garms to slide on your arms!<br /><br /><strong>CB: How do you hope to grow as a business? Will there be a bigger range? Different items of clothing?</strong><br /><br />CH: We got a whole range of things to be released; the next drop consists of more limited edition tees, some hoodies and a polo shirt. We have belts, underwear, bags and we're getting a lot of girls asking when we're bringing their range out, so that's what’s happening at the mo.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Is there anything you’d like to say before we finish? Any plugs etc?</strong><br /><br />CH: Yeah, get on our website www.subspecies.co.uk and www.subspecies.bigcartel.com and buy some garms off us!ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-44306716795182227942009-07-06T05:16:00.000-07:002009-07-06T05:31:08.390-07:00Truth Interview<div align="justify"><strong>Certified Banger: Yo Truth! For the peeps who don’t know, who are you and what do you do with your time?<br /></strong><br />Truth: I refresh a lot of internet pages whilst looking for a job. Ain’t NOBODY hiring right now. I’m also an MC, an inactive beat maker since my MPC broke and I promote the Rapsploitation Sessions nights in Ipswich (www.rapsploitation.co.uk)<br /><br /><strong>CB: You just released your EP ‘Prorastinat(K)ing’. I think I know the answer but how did the name come about?</strong><br /><br />T: Yeah, no clues in the title homeskillet! I’ve just been meaning to release something for time, and last three years being at uni I’ve been hella lazy so when people asked what I was doing online I’d just type procrastinat(k)ing to style s**t out. Cus I’m a fly mothershutyomouth. Badaboom. It was originally meant to be called ‘61 Grace’. But I wanted to use that for my first proper album. Hence why on your download half the tracks are apparently named that so I probably won’t use that now. It also says there’s a track 8 missing, that was supposed to be a cut with Ezra and Respek BA but we couldn’t get it all recorded in time. Professionalism is the objective sir. Professionalism.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Have you had a good response to it so far? Will that give you more ‘get up and go’ for an album maybe?</strong><br /><br />T: Yeaaaaah. People have been real generous with their feedback, maybe it’s my overpowering muscular physique that makes ‘em say that, but it’s still nice to hear. Truth be told I haven’t really been writing or making music for a couple years now so to just drop some naughtys on some nuggets and them be feeling it is inspiring. I’m very grateful for the kind words, or even if you just took the time to check it at all, I know there’s a lot of s**t being thrown at you online.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How difficult is it to be as independent as you are as an artist? Would you like to be signed to a label?</strong><br /><br />T: I don’t know man. I don’t really think about it strategically when it comes to making music. It’s never been a career objective to be a professional musician, it’d be nice, but I have no intention of selling music. The traditional sense of selling records is dying quickly which to me is cool. There’s a whole lot of new means and medias to get your music to people and I’m excited to see business become creative now too. Actually, that’s probably the thing that would want me make to wanna try and make something from this s**t as it’s a challenge and would be fun to try and release it uniquely. But it’s more a hobby for me. From a promoters perspective as well as an artist - I think a lot of artists in England are too desperate to make it a career instead of taking time out to build a fan base and often try to overcharge and expect a lot more than the scene makes viable. Big rock bands charge less than independent Hip Hop artists and who’s got the bigger fan base? But at the same time, there’s not really that next level to aspire to without switching up your style in England so I guess trying to get the duckets now can be excused… I dunno.<br /><br /><br /><strong>CB: Which is your favourite track on the EP?</strong><br /><br />T: I like ‘Sideview’, as a listener I actually enjoy that. That was written a few years ago and it’s the first track I did with my good friend Jimmy Green that I really felt, from a lyrics / vocal side of things. And ‘Take Time’ as well; Sivey made that beat for me a while back and I was two ways about recording on it as I didn’t know if I wanted to play on the ‘Truth’ thing much as I don’t even like it as a name. But that s**t’s got the Sivey midas touch.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Are there any tracks on there that you feel need explaining in anyway?</strong><br /><br />T: ‘Pass That’ is about not smoking weed. Thank You. Also, my friend Fatty owes me a steak for name dropping him in a song.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What’s the best lyric you’ve ever written?<br /></strong><br />T: I don’t know, I’m pretty underwhelmed by my stuff in comparison to a lot of people. Ask me what my favourite lyric I’ve heard is and I could reel a few verses off. I’m just a fan, man. I’m just doing this for s**ts ‘n’ giggles man.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How did the hook-up with the other MCs on the EP come about?<br /></strong><br />T: Well Grimlok I’ve known for a while now. I met him through the other Colony members when I hosted a show we booked them for. Them guys have all been real good and supportive of my s**t for a while now, me and Grimlok have a similar appreciation for the observation of the art of MCing and had been meaning to do a cut for a while.<br /><br />SonnyJim and Kosyne are real good people too. They’ve showed me a lot of love. I think I first had contact with them because of the battles we all did for Jump Off back in ‘05. I brought them over for a show in Ipswich a couple times too. But once again, they been real supportive of my stuff too and I’m fans of them as well so getting them on was an honour. SonnyJim was the first MC out my circle to compliment me on my beats, and I was pretty f**king geek about that. Make sure you check out Eatgoodrecords.com and Louisden.com and buy the Eat Good Records compilation - it’s ridiculous and I’m on it.<br /><br />I’ve known Conflix for a few years also. We always spoke about doing something together and he started going on about how he was gonna stop rhyming and all that horrible stuff, so I said not before I got a verse from you. I put the track with him n sonny together originally for Archimedes (who produced it) mixtape or something, but I stole it for my s**t!<br /><br />I mean, I’m flattered to have all the artists and producers on it; I was fans of them ALL before I got to work with them so it’s real humbling to have them on.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Does it help to be in other areas of the UK scene (ie promoting shows) when it comes to putting together your own music?<br /></strong><br />Yes and no. I’ve been living in Manchester and London over the last 3 years when I started Rapsploitation Sessions so I wasn’t really living here in Ipswich. But it’s hard to promote the shows in Ipswich, we’re basically re-building a scene. It’s good for meeting other artists though and feels good when the city turns out for a show – like we’re doing something for the spot I was born in. Artistically, I love being from outside of the main “Hip Hop cities” in the country. Gives more space to develop ideas etc, on the flip there’s less people to bounce off but you know - ups and downs to everything I guess. Complaining about it ain’t gonna make it any better.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Ipswich eh? In two sentences sell your town to a Hip Hop head!<br /></strong><br />T: Come on dude, make it difficult for me! I’ll give you a few combos for your money:<br />Rapsploitation Sessions<br />Reggie Rhythm<br />Arnie Sarnies<br />Roy Keane<br />Muddle’s Teas<br />Cathedral Cheese - you can get that anywhere, but that deserves a shout out. I’ve been into that a lot recently.<br />Oh my bad, I just realised you said two sentences and not two words – I must have roped you in anyway right?<br /><br /><strong>CB: What’s next for you then? What are you working on?<br /></strong><br />T: I’m working on getting a job and a flal - real life s**t s**t sheun. Maybe an old school retro arcade machine and some gold fronts. I got a doctors appointment at 3:30 to get my ears syringed - imma have super hero hearing after that though – will be able to hear your thoughts.<br />Gonna just try make some good music and throw it out there. Try up my skills.<br />I don’t ever wanna say I got this n that project coming out, cus if I do, it’ll never happen. Just wanna make some good music and try and get out and do some shows etc. I feature on the Eat Good Records compilation, that’s definitely coming out as I’ve got my copy so GRAB THAT.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Any last words to wrap this up?</strong><br /><br />T: Much love to Certified Banger for supporting - the illest Hip Hop blog in the country. Umm, just keep bugging me for a real life exclusive Cee Banger big dawg freestyle when my studio’s set up. You’ve read enough for today children – go play in the sun, but use suncream, or wear an astronaut suit if you’re truthey-albino.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rapsploitation.co.uk/">http://www.rapsploitation.co.uk/</a> </div><div align="justify"><a href="http://www.myspace.com/reggierhythm">www.myspace.com/reggierhythm</a> </div><div align="justify"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/reggierhythm">www.twitter.com/reggierhythm</a> </div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-30709474840243389752009-07-03T06:43:00.000-07:002009-07-03T06:45:49.674-07:00ABD Interview<div align="justify"><strong>Certified Banger: Yo ABD, congratulations on the Golden Mic Challenge win! Before we get into this, let us know about yourself, give us all the info we need:</strong><br /><br />ABD: Ok I’m 23 and been rhyming since I was 14, so 9 years at some point this year. My main crew is Alphabetix, I’m also in Northern Hostility, and I usually have the odd live band side project here and there (not at the mo!) I come from York but I've been living in Leeds about 4 years. Alphabetix have our own label – 30Tonne Slug on which we plan to release our own stuff. We put out a 12” of my old crew 118SoundSystem in 2006.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What were your prizes for winning the GMC?</strong><br /><br />ABD: I got the mic (a gold Shure SM58), £150, some LRG tees, Jumbo Records tees, and supposedly a Mr Thing beat and a support gig (watch this space!)<br /><br /><strong>CB: How important to you was it that you won? Did you feel like it was deserved recognition for your time on the Leeds scene?<br /></strong><br />ABD: I didn't actually feel I deserved it! Not cos of time on the scene – that's irrelevant compared to skill – but just cos I choked in some of the battles, which no one else did.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What did you think of your adversaries? Were you confident?</strong><br /><br />ABD: All sick. If I had judged it I reckon Jack Dans would have won and Fourney P would have been runner up. I had a feeling Fourney had pre-written a lot of his battle rhymes, and I'd like to hear Jester Jacobs in more of his own style than Orifice Vulgatron's, but they were all heavy. I was pretty confident though.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Which line against you in the battles did you like best?</strong><br /><br />ABD: I thought it was well spotted when Fourney P likened me to Jurassic Five – a lot of my own mates haven't clocked that similarity, and it makes a nice change from Bob Marley jokes and ripping my dreads out or strangling me with them (yawn!)<br /><br /><strong>CB: Tell us about your pre-written track, that went down really well. What’s it all about? Will it be recorded and released?</strong><br /><br />ABD: I'm not a Bible basher or nothin’! Haha! It’s about how all the different religions are saying the same thing and praising the same God. Separation is an illusion. Everything is everything; God is part of everything and everything is part of God. God isn't the owner of the planet who tells us what to do and punishes us for disobedience. It's the creative force that keeps life going. Doesn't matter if you're a Christian, Muslim, Rasta or Jedi, you naturally have an awareness of ultimate truth whatever your culture. We have to start believing in ourselves! Yeah I'm planning to put it out there.<br /><br /><strong>CB: You really pulled the crowd into your performance and they reacted with a great show of support. How do you make sure you get that?</strong></div><div align="justify"><br />ABD: Eye contact, getting down with the people, trying to maintain a good vibe, believing in myself (how can you expect others to if you don't?). I visualize light too and imagine everyone getting hyped and having a mint time.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Are you working on any recorded material at the moment? Will we see an ABD or Alphabetix LP anytime soon? What’s next for you?</strong><br /><br />ABD: The Alphabetix EP ‘Alphabetix Anonymous’ is pretty much finished and coming this summer. Me and Jack Dans are collaborating on a little EP, plus I've started planning out my first solo EP. That's gonna be strictly conscious tracks – I'm sick to death of rappers who only rap about rapping!<br /><br /><strong>CB: How does performing live differ to recording music for you? Which do you prefer?</strong><br /><br />ABD: Well you don't get two bites of the cherry on stage! It's all about the live thing. I take ages to record cos a take's never quite perfect, but in front of a crowd you have to just rock it! And once it's gone it's gone – it doesn’t matter how well a performance went cos it served a purpose at the time and hopefully at least someone had a good time! I like how no one owns live music – the last note sounds and it vanishes leaving just the vibe.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Who are your influences musically and who would you recommend to people? Who on the Leeds/UK Hip Hop scene do you rate?</strong><br /><br />ABD: My influences include Phi Life Cypher, Mos Def, Talib Kwali, Canibus, Jurassic Five, Blak Twang, Sage Francis. I would recommend Pep Love from Hieroglyphics and Pumpkinhead. Matter's the one to watch in Leeds. I actually believe he's gonna revolutionize the whole scene one day! Also D.S. Fam rep hard and deserve all the success they get. And obviously Mr Ris and Angelesk from Alphabetix – both massively inspiring MCs.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Thanks for taking the time to do this, any closing/self-promotional/wise words?</strong><br /><br />ABD: Yeah everyone should read these three books: Conversations with God by Neal Donald Walsh, The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield, The Holographic Universe by Michael Tablot. You can get them all for pennies from the 2nd hand section on Amazon, and I reckon if everyone reads them it'll improve the state of affairs on the planet.<br /></div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-89613819966683941502009-04-14T01:43:00.000-07:002009-04-14T01:54:13.820-07:00Haka Interview<div align="justify"><strong>Certified Banger: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Haka</span>, could you introduce yourselves to us a bit? Who are you? Where you’re from? What do you do?</strong><br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Haka</span>: I’m a producer, originally from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Ladbroke</span> Grove, West London. But I moved to South London when I was 17 and been in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Battersea</span> since.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How long have you been producing for? How did you start out and what inspired you?<br /></strong><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Haka</span>: Only been producing tracks for about 6 months/a year, but been making beats for about 4 years. I started out just playing guitar in to Acid Pro and sequencing some simple beats.<br /><br />There <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">wasn</span>’t one thing that inspired me, it was everything - my surrounding, my boys, my older brothers playing Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Eric B & <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Rakim</span> etc when growing up, I just grew a passion for the culture and music.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How did you first go about getting your beats heard? How did you get them to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">MCs</span>? Did you have any knock backs or did you wait until your beats were top quality before getting them heard?<br /></strong><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Haka</span>: I been making tracks with my boys since I was 15, even though my beats were bate, its all experience, you can’t really wait until your beats are on point ‘til you start recording, ‘cause there’s so much you need to learn and experience with recording techniques etc. But I remember <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">showin</span>’ love to mans like <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Lowkey</span>, Doc Brown, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Klash</span>, Mic Assassin etc at Deal Real when I just got in to the music, me and my boys were the youngest there, but I just soaked it all up, I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">weren</span>’t <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">askin</span>’ <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">dem</span> guys to do tunes, I knew <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">weren</span>’t ready and had a lot to learn. But now I’m <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">workin</span>’ on tracks with some of them guys so it gets to a point where you don’t need anyone to tell you you’re good enough, you know when you’re on point.<br /><br /><strong>CB: When you give an MC a beat, what do you expect them to do with it? Do they have creative control?</strong><br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Haka</span>: Man, before I give any rapper a beat, I have a chat with him about his ideas for the beat, and unless we both agree on the idea, its getting scrapped or we'll both have input on the tune. A lot of rappers ask for a beat when we're <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">chillin</span>’ and I'll be honest with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">dem</span> if I don’t think they'd come hardest to the beat, but at the same time, if you work enough with a rapper, you have a mutual respect, and I just leave them to zone out and do what they do best.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What’s on your mind when you’re making a beat? Do you always go for a similar sound?</strong><br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Haka</span>: I zone out when I’m <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">makin</span>’ a beat, I could be in my own world for hours. Whatever mood <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Im</span> in at the time, will show in my beat. And ‘cause I’m new to the scene I’m always trying different techniques, programmes, effects etc when making a beat so I never make a beat the same as the last.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How do you manage to get the more melodic R’n’B-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">ish</span> side of Hip Hop mixed with the gritty, stripped back side of Hip Hop?</strong><br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Haka</span>: It's mainly about how you work your samples, you have to piece together the beat like a puzzle, trying out different drums, samples etc. But the way you <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">EQ</span> your beat makes all the difference. I grew up listening to a contrast of hip hop, from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">hearin</span>’ the gritty sounds of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Mobb</span> Deep and Wu, to Little Brother, A Tribe Called Quest, Devin the Dude etc. I think to incorporate both the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">RnB'ish</span> side and the gritty side, you gotta know some music theory, and a knowledge of the instruments you’re using helps a lot, knowing the chords, key etc.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What’s more important to you: making a track for the club, the car, the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">ipod</span> or the home stereo? How and where do you listen to music?</strong><br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Haka</span>: Making a track for a club has never been important to me, when I make music, the main thing is that I like it, but I mainly play my stuff in the car or on my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">ipod</span>, I don’t play my own stuff at home too much unless I’m boasting to someone or with my boys <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">playin</span>’ new stuff.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Are you a perfectionist?</strong><br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">Haka</span>: Definitely, I’m never %100 happy with my stuff, I always aim for perfection though.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Your album ‘Underground Journeys’ is more a collection of tracks you’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">ve</span> done, would you agree on that?</strong><br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">Haka</span>: Yeah definitely, it's a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">mixtape</span> first and foremost, some tracks on there are album tracks, but by releasing this CD I wanted to show the versatility of my production and that I don’t stick to one style.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Which are your favourite songs on there?<br /></strong><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">Haka</span>: 'Makes Me Say' is definitely a banger, some of you may have heard it on a few radio stations. 'We Got <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">Dat</span>' and '<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">Dats</span> My S**t' are my favourite harder/grittier kinda tracks. And 'N.A.M.E' is another smooth track.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Can you tell us a little more about N/A who features on your album?<br /></strong><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">Haka</span>: He's my brother man, and the best artist in the UK, hands down in my opinion. Me and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">Jetsun</span> Beats are joint producing N/A's debut album this summer, it's pretty much done, we're just tightening it up and adding the finishing touches right about now. N/A and my other big bro <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">OC</span> Jigs definitely came the hardest on my CD, much love to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">dem</span> man <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44">der</span>.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Are you working on another producer album? What formula will you follow for the next one, did you learn any important lessons during the making of ‘Underground Journeys’?<br /></strong><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_45">Haka</span>: I’m doing a few <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_46">downloadable</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_47">EPs</span> this year, so keep your eyes peeled, gonna send them around for free on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_48">datpiff</span>.com just to give the people some real shit for free. I learnt a lot of lessons from the last couple years of putting ‘Underground Journeys’ together, it's turned me from a beat maker in to a producer.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Who would you like to work alongside? Any particular <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_49">MCs</span> – US or UK?</strong><br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_50">Haka</span>: I’m <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_51">workin</span>’ alongside my favourite rappers right now - Jigs and N/A, so boy, I mean obviously I'd love to work with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_52">Cormega</span>, Tragedy, Jay-Z n all the greats but I’m happy with my team right now.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Finally, What are your goals for your music? Where do you want to take it? Are you happy where it is? What drives you?</strong><br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_53">Haka</span>: I just love making music, I wanna be able to hear my own tracks and be inspired. I want to take it back, back to when Hip Hop was at its realest, I want to see Hip Hop back the way its supposed to be, I’m not happy where it is right now, we got the most talented artists in the UK - producers like Harry Love, Lewis Parker, rappers like <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_54">Yungun</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_55">Klashnekoff</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_56">Skinnyman</span>, but instead all <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_57">dese</span> s**t grime <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_58">youts</span> are <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_59">blowin</span>’ and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_60">takin</span>’ the throne in the UK, that Hip Hop should have.</div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-15436603776273236632009-03-31T04:44:00.000-07:002009-03-31T04:46:07.708-07:00Knew Jeru'slum interview<div align="justify"><strong>Certified Banger: Introduce yourself please (who are you, where are you from, what do you do?):</strong><br /><br />Jonny Alpha: We are Knew Jeru’slum: Myself and Watson G on the spits, my beautiful missus Belinda Hards on the vocals, and on the most part, production from Yorkshires illest - Brutal Artistry. We’re from various ends of West Yorks - Hudds, Falihax and Bradford. Knew Jeru’slum is a project we started a couple of years ago really, me and Watson were getting some ideas together, then he and his lass introduced me to Belinda – her sister, and when I was chatting her up I found out Belinda’s an amazing singer too, it all linked there, then we met Miki B and loved what he does plus we all got a love for the gospel, so that’s us.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Whats in the name?</strong><br /><br />JA: Knew Jeru’slum comes from the new earth, the resurrected earth in the bible after the second coming; we are associating ourselves (and everything we know) with our stakes in heaven. The ‘knew’ part is our knowledge of this and the ‘slum’ part is our recognition that we have some way to go before we get there. We also thought it just sounded dope too!<br /><br />We’ve had quite a few Jews adding us on Myspace recently. We’re not Jewish, just want to make that clear.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Let’s talk about your new single ‘Non-Apologetix’. What’s the idea behind it? Is it a statement of intent for the rest of your music?</strong><br /><br />JA: ‘Non-Apologetix’ is kind of an intent for the album. When it comes, peeps who listen in detail will hear stuff they may not agree with - yes, we are Christians, yes, we write about that, but yes, we do write about the same stuff everyone else does –that is – personal experiences, life choices, loves and hates etc -things we spend time pondering about.<br /><br />Watson G: The name came from the books (Apologetics) peeps write to explain their beliefs, so we went with the double meaning of it, to say look we’re explaining our beliefs but we aint sorry about them, cause we aint got nothing to be sorry for, its just other people come with their preconceived ideas of what a Christian is and straight away think negative things, we’re all about good vibes, we aint hating anyone. Word!<br /><br /><strong>CB: The single features Manchild from Mars ILL. How did that come about? Is Mars ILL a group you listen to a lot?<br /></strong><br />JA: Mars ILL are dope, Manchild is one of my favourite artists and has been for years now, and Dust is seriously underrated. I emailed Manchild and told him such things followed by the following question: ‘will you drop a verse on this track please?’.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Mars ILL are known for an underground, credible approach to Hip Hop that often has a Christian message. How similar to them are you as a group?<br /></strong><br />JA: When I started looking through artists with a Christian message, I found few I could actually feel... a lot of its cheesy, preachy, commercial... lightweight to be honest, Mars ILL on the other hand got dirty beats, basslines, and Manchild just keeps dropping magic verses. No one can pigeonhole mars ILL, they make very good hip hop that anyone can listen to and if you listen well, you’ll get educated. Its very important to us to be ourselves in this, to speak about what’s important to us and let people get an insight to our lives, none of that’s any good if its confined to the bottom shelf in a Christian bookshop – who’s gonna hear it then? We make hip hop for all heads, where ever you come from. This single and album contain Christian content, but I don’t class it as ‘Christian hip hop’ at all.<br /><br />WG: I second that actually, I aint a Christian rapper, I’m a rapper who’s a Christian, so our music just reflects our life like any others, we try stay away from the cheesy and just be honest and real.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Do you listen to a lot of Gospel Hip Hop? Does that influence you at all? Could you recommend any artists?</strong><br /><br />JA: Not really, I do like some of Pigeon John’s stuff, Corey Red’s tight, Peace 586, Greenjade and Zionnoiz; we ciphered a bit with some of them guys in Birmingham which was fun, all dope, all safe. I listen to more gospel reggae and soul, Adelaide Mckenzie, Ife, Sherwin Gardner, Beres Hammond…<br /><br />WG; also check out KMA Reveal he’s a top artist.<br /><br />JA: Yeah top guy, he’s working on an album too, you can check him on Myspace. Props to Homecut too, looking forward to his album.<br /><br /><strong>CB: The production on the single reminds me of Public Enemy. Who did the beat and is that a sound we can expect from the rest of your material?<br /></strong><br />JA: A few people have said that. Brutal Artistry Productions, he’s producing most of the album, but being the eclectic guy he is and [the eclectic guys] we are, you can expect a lot of variety on there.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Can we talk about the album? How’s that coming along, when can we expect to hear it? What themes do you rap about on there? </strong><br /><br />JA: Well, the ‘Jerus and Gentiles’ LP is well on the way, we are hoping for a late summer release God willing, but it is going well.Some of the themes include spiritual dryness, Belinda got a solo on there which will turn heads, we got a dark one letting rip on some fourth dimensional tip. It’s a journey, an insight, its personal experience - a diary so to speak.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Who features? Who does production? Any good tales about collaborations, recording experiences etc?<br /></strong><br />JA: As I said, Brutal artistry on the Productions and collaborations wise we have some guests on there, all who share the faith: Andy H (First Word) I’ve known him a few years now, and he’s an amazing Turntablist! He was happy to jump on there - sound guy! Pigeon John features on the next single ‘Hibernation’, which is a double A side with ‘Elevation’ by No Pretense ft. Prince Po on the flip. If we had a couple of Gs to fly there, Pigeon was inviting us to go record at his yard and vibe with him...until I pointed out the ‘UK’ part of our email address, he never noticed that but we’ll possibly be linking whenever we get to the US. We got Naryckin – check him on Myspace, he’s a soul singer and gospel choir director from Pennsylvania, a good friend of ours, we’ll be doing some new stuff next year with him and a couple of other guys, recording it over there too, but more later about that.<br /><br /><strong>CB: So you’re collaborating with American artists. Are you hoping to push it out there and to the fans of those artists?<br /></strong><br />JA: Yes. The UK is a small place really, we get more positive feed back from across the seas - it’s strange! Got some other links happening on our next EP ‘Plastecine’, which is completely different. Got some whole other level going on there and the peeps over there who have heard the first tune for it are going bananas. Looking forward to going over there, got invites to eat Chinese in Philly so you know I’m down!<br /><br /><strong>CB: It’s coming out on the newly formed Don’t Talk To Strangers label. How involved are you with that? What are your thoughts on going so indy?</strong><br /><br />JA: I’ve been involved in DTTS from the start, one of the original members (and co-owners) working hard to become independent and to progress the music for ourselves and for others. Me, Bane, Muz and Dead have been at it for years trying to get to the stage we’re at. Watson joined later and has been chipping away with us since. Brutal Artistry, Wigz, Spida Lee are all now pursuing progression under the DTTS umbrella. I love being indy, it’s important to us all not to be in charge of anything but our music and to encourage others to up their game to be challenged ourselves, and to see the fruits of our labour being bought and then being recognized and appreciated. DTTS has grown and developed just as we have as artists, and now it’s time to flood the market.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What’s it like for you coming straight outta Yorkshire, a place most famous for its ripper, puddings and dales? </strong><br /><br />JA: It’s ace. I like it a lot, you can take it for granted quite easily, but I don’t, I hate big cities and 52 lane roads. I had a bad experience in Stratford after Fresh 98 - I crossed a road and bent down to tie my laces then 3 cars emergency stopped. I was in middle of the road! Then me and Bane chilling after that outside the Victoria station and this crazy women tipped a crusty old man out of a wheelchair on us! Give me Batley or Dewsbury any day! No one ever asked me "where you attt???!!" up here either which is a good thing. Not gonna write an album on the topic though.<br /><br />WG: I don’t tend to talk about geography and where we’re from either that much because I aint that bothered really, I’ve moved all over anyhow, so I try not to let it affect my lyrical content to much, because I want people to connect with it everywhere not just West Yorkshire, Halifax where live.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Cool, well it’s good that you’re repping us in the wider world, we appreciate that! Thanks for the interview, hope the single and album go down well! Round up in a way of your choosing:</strong><br /><br />WG & JA : Thanks so much for the encouragement, cop ‘Non-Apologetix’ on itunes, Play.com, Amazon etc. Etc. From TUES 31/03/09! Peace to all! Certified Banger for a Bafta! 1<br /><br />Check out:<br />Myspace.com/jonnyalpha1<br />Myspace.com/knewjeruslum<br />Myspace.com/watsong1<br />Myspace.com/brutalartistry </div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-56381451634371681232009-03-30T04:51:00.000-07:002009-03-30T04:57:35.836-07:00Ghost Interview<strong>Certified Banger: How would you describe your instrumental output? Is it Hip Hop?</strong><br /><br />Ghost: I think so. I grew up on Hip Hop so I consider anything I make an extension of Hip Hop. I grew up listening to classic Hip Hop from the early 90s so even if my music isn't a classic Hip Hop sound the ethos behind the music is taken from that time, a time when the music was more than just a ringtone, a fad - it was music with passion and soul.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Which do you prefer: creating instrumentals tracks or beats for MCs? How does your mindset differ when you’re doing either?</strong><br /><br />Ghost: I like to do both, I think over time I've learnt about making music which is probably why more of the recent stuff is instrumental. It's a challenge to make the music interesting without a vocal when you have no formal musical training whatsoever. The important thing is to keep the listener entertained enough without a vocal ‘cause all the attention shifts to the music, you have to add more depth to an instrumental.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What sounds are you currently into using? What records do you look for to find samples – or is that a secret?!</strong><br /><br />Ghost: No secrets! I look for all sorts, from jazz to rock. When the soul sampling sped up vocal samples boom took off I went the other way.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How do you feel about being compared or likened to artists like DJ Shadow, Bonobo and Quantic?</strong><br /><br />Ghost: I'm not complaining about that. These guys have made themselves careers out of music so if I can be compared to any of them I'm happy. It was certainly never my intention to sound like anyone other than myself.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Do you listen to music by those guys? Do you think you create music in a similar way? Have any of them ever had an influence on you? </strong><br /><br />Ghost: I do listen to all of their music and it’s inevitable that some of what other artists do will have an influence on the music you make. I know that the last few years I've not followed anyone else's path and looked to myself for inspiration. I can say honestly I never listened to any of their music whilst making this album.<br /><br /><strong>CB: So what’s with the move to New Zealand? Is that to improve the creative process?</strong><br /><br />Ghost: A number of reasons, after a very long stint in London I was exhausted! I was living on the breadline all day every day, and life had just become the same old routine. I had an opportunity to do something different and I thought f**k it. I'd actually been offered a place at Uni studying Sound on one of the top courses in the capital but decided that a move away would be better for me mentally. Since I've been here I've felt rejuvenated towards music, people's attitudes are great, very helpful and very very supportive of my music.<br /><br /><strong>CB: So you’re in NZ, from the UK but your album came out first in Japan! Why is that? Do you have a big following over there? Why do you think that is?</strong><br /><br />Ghost: Haha, yeah I know it's all over the shop. The Japan thing came about cause Breakin Bread licensed my first album over in Japan, I saw an opportunity to license 'Freedom of Thought' and I didn't think twice about it. All of my releases have sold well out there - I couldn't say why I just don't know! obviously I'm very grateful to the labels and fans supporting out there.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Do you think people in non-English speaking countries have more of a grip of what music is actually hot? Do you think they succumb to fads as much as the US and the UK do?</strong><br /><br />Ghost: That’s a good question, I think that money, power and marketing can do anything anywhere. I've seen first hand that some countries are quite a bit behind on what's 'hot' in the UK and the US, and frankly they have a much better taste in music and how they respect the music and the artists, I hope it stays that way, I don't think it will. But then again you never know, I have my hopes.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What’s the Hip Hop like over in NZ?</strong><br /><br />Ghost: From what I've seen NZ Hip Hop seems in the same vein as the US market musically. I've been very busy and haven't traveled all over yet so ask me in another 6 months and I’ll have a better angle to answer that from. There are some dope artists though, and some shite, just like you get everywhere. One thing I’ve noticed is that they support there talent here in a big way. Since I started the radio show a month back I’ve got an appreciation for the support artists get out here, it's shocking to think the UK doesn’t support its musical talent like NZ.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Are there any good records stores for digging in?</strong><br /><br />Ghost: Yeah I got some digging spots, a couple of good ones!<br /><br /><strong>CB: How do you feel about your music being bootlegged?</strong><br /><br />Ghost: I accept that downloading happens and people get music for free, I’ve given quite a few tunes away free for people to download over the years ‘cause I want to say thanks to the people that support and buy my music. But like I said in my blog the annoying thing for me is the recent music of mine I saw available for download free must have been uploaded from the promos sent out, the promos that are supposed to help you as an artist. It's basically an inside job and that just isn’t good enough, these people should know better.<br /><br /><strong>CB: I agree. What can you tell us about the new album then? Who’s on it? What’s changed?</strong><br /><br />Ghost: What did you want to achieve by making it? The new album is called 'Freedom of Thought’; it's more instrumental than my first album. It's probably the last album in this style I’ll do for a while. It's a better body of work than my first album in that it's more together, it's a more complete package. The tunes were put together over a couple of years and what was going on for me over that time, a lot of changes in my life. Features on there include two Verb T collaborations, Finale, Jehst and Dubbledge. The sense of achievement I got from making this album was knowing I’d put together a collection of music that complemented each other, that’s just through learning about what an album should be in my eyes. I'm not sure what's changed, I’ll leave that for everyone else to decide. I just hope people see that I put my heart and soul into making this album just like I do with every piece of music I make.<br /><br /><strong>CB: When do we get to hear it then? Will you be doing shows in the UK off the back of it?</strong><br /><br />Ghost: The album will be out late May early June, I will be doing some shows hopefully in the autumn. As you mentioned I’m away in New Zealand right now, I’m putting together a live show which features me on 2 decks, my laptop and MPC, re-creating tracks from the album. I want to do some show's so hopefully that can happen; sadly it's hard getting good management to organize show's. I've organized a lot of shows for myself, Kashmere and Verb T over the years but it's harder to continue doing all the organizing yourself when you have to juggle music, radio, life etc.<br /><br />So anyone reading this wanting a show please send me a message!<br /><br /><strong>CB: What other work are you doing at the moment? Have you done any production work on any other albums recently?</strong><br /><br />Ghost: I haven't done a lot other than my own stuff really. Saying that I’ve already got the album with Kashmere and Verb T, our collaboration project called Invisible Inc, virtually finished and we're just trying to organize someone to put that out, we might end up doing that ourselves it just needs a label to commit to what we're trying to achieve. That album sounds amazing and is a real departure musically from what people know us for doing. It's a shame we have to wait so long for the release ‘cause it doesn’t sound like anything else around at the moment. I've got half an album with Verbs recorded, we'll keep plugging away with that.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How did your work on both albums with Finale come about?</strong><br /><br />Ghost: Finale is a top geezer, he's been around for a while. I think I met him through an old forum a few of us used to chat on, he was working with Beat Butcha and I just reached out to him and said did he wanna do some vocals for me. He's always been on the ball and dealt with things, I really hope his album puts him on the map, I think it will.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Who are you feeling in the UK Hip Hop scene right now?</strong><br /><br />My crew Invisible Inc! Anyone who is out there working hard and not being a d**khead I’m feeling<br /><br /><strong>CB: Can you finish off with some life improving hints and tips for all the wannabes out there?!</strong><br /><br />Ghost: Don't do this thinking you'll make money, work hard, grow a thick skin quickly and make sure you're doing this for the right reasons, enjoy yourself!ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-78793234891974779532009-02-27T02:51:00.000-08:002009-02-27T04:43:15.973-08:00Marc7 & Soup (ex-Jurassic 5) of Portable Payback<strong>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?!</strong><br /><br />M: I’m Marc 7 formerly of Jurassic 5<br />S: I’m Zaakir aka Soup<br /><br /><strong>CB:And what’s in the name Portable Payback? Where did that come from? Is it anything to do with James Brown?<br /></strong><br />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.<br />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”.<br /><br /><strong>CB: So you literally just dropped ‘Relax’. What’s that all about?</strong><br /><br />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.<br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?!</strong><br /><br />S: I found out through a review that we got and my first thought was DAMN (until I<br />heard it) after that I was like we good. Cause theirs is waaay different!<br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: The single is taken from an EP. What’s it going to be called? What can we expect from that?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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.<br />S: MOST DEFINITELY ! Only thing that'll look and sound familiar will be me and Sev and that’s where it STOPS!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Soup, I know you sing, will there be more melody with Portable Payback?</strong><br /><br />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!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Your voices are both quite recognisable, a must have in this over-MC-saturated world. Would you agree with that?<br /></strong><br />S: That and having your own bag!<br />M: I would have to agree with you 100 percent. Thank god we put in work early and built a fan base.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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.<br />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!<br /><br /><strong>CB: What were your personal feelings about ‘Feedback’?</strong><br /><br />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.<br />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".<br /><br /><strong>CB: Has your experience with record labels influenced how you intend to progress with Portable Payback? </strong><br /><br />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.<br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Have you got any more plans for the near future?</strong><br /><br />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.<br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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.<br />S: Don't expect and look out for what we do next.ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-81233082291056249662009-02-24T06:37:00.000-08:002009-02-24T06:45:28.575-08:00B'Tol<div align="justify"><strong>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:</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: So what’s in the name B’Tol?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Who else is doing their thing right now in Bristol? Who do you rate for the future?<br /></strong><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Tell us about your own work: What have you released that you want people to listen to?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Which of your own tracks are your personal favourites? Do any of them have interesting stories behind them?</strong><br /><br />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).<br /><br />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!<br /><br /><strong>CB: What inspires you to write songs? What is your biggest influence? Do you ever struggle to come up with subject matter?<br /></strong><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?<br /></strong><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Is there anything you would avoid writing about? Do you get into politics? Do you like to rap about social issues?</strong><br /><br />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!<br /><br />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!<br /><br /><strong>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…</strong><br /><br />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!<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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?!?!<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What's coming next from you musically? Will it reflect any of these current issues?</strong><br /><br />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!<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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!<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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?<br /><br />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?<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Have you got any plugs, shouts or thank yous you wanna say before we finish?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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!<br /><br />And to Jo, the Mrs, for always supporting and pushing me forward.<br /><br />And big ups to Bristol – the city and the artists who are keeping it fresh and interesting and making folks take notice again!<br /><br />And cheers to Certified Banger for the support and positive words!<br /><br />Plup plup! </div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-51336327184763484262009-02-23T07:47:00.000-08:002009-02-23T08:16:44.258-08:00Wordsmith<div align="justify"><strong>Certified Banger: Yo Wordsmith! What’ve you been up to for the last couple of years?</strong><br /><br />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!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Do you have any guests on there? Who has done the production?</strong><br /><br />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!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Which tracks should we look out for particularly? Which are your favourite?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Is it coming out on Son or have you moved label? Can you discuss that? </strong><br /><br />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!<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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? </strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What are you going to be up to once the album is released? A tour? Singles? Featuring on other tracks?</strong><br /><br />W: All of the above in abundance. Keep your eyes on my blogspot for more tour dates and releases.<br /><br /><strong>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!</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br />‘IN PURSUIT OF HARMONY’ - GO BUY DAT!</div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-40040308458382085562009-02-02T03:39:00.000-08:002009-02-02T03:44:09.403-08:00Asaviour<div align="justify"><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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!<br /><br /><strong>CB: So, what is it that you’ve got coming soon? Tell us a bit about that:</strong><br /><br />Asaviour: Right now it’s all about ‘The A loop Theory’.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />I’ve got a few other big collabs but you know, can’t let too much out of the bag!<br /><br /><strong>CB: What, at the moment, are you favourite album tracks from 'The A Loop Theory'? Which ones are gonna knock our socks off?</strong><br /><br />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!<br /><br /><strong>CB: What’s the partnership between you and IQ like? How does that pan out when working?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />From there I moved to Manchester to study Music Technology and just kept on developing and building my skills.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Obviously you’re based in Huddersfield and IQ’s in London. How important is London to you?</strong><br /><br />Asaviour: “It aint where you’re from, it’s where you’re at”: I think Rakim said that!<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />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?<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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?</strong><br /><br />Asaviour: I’ve always been told if you don’t have anything good to say then don’t say anything.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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?<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Who do you look up to?</strong><br /><br />Asaviour: Easy: my mother.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Where does UK Hip Hop stand, in your mind, in the current financial climate? Will it cope with the recession?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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!</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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:<br /><br />http://www.saving-grace.co.uk<br />http://www.myspace.com/thealooptheory</div>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-40563339575045101052009-02-02T02:45:00.000-08:002009-02-02T02:47:06.094-08:00Grit Grammar<strong>Certified Banger: Grit Grammar, tell us 5 important facts about yourself:</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: ‘Reflections in the Dark’ is a free album. Give us some more info on that:</strong><br />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.<br /><br />You can download it now for free @ www.sendspace.com/file/rxhsrx<br /><br />DO IT NOW!<br /><br /><strong>CB: What made you give all your hard work away for free? How will you benefit from that?<br /></strong><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Where will you go next musically? Will your album be a physical release?<br /></strong><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What has been the reaction to your music?<br /></strong><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What is your approach to making rap music?<br /></strong><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: How would you describe your sound? Is there any one track that would best define your style?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>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</strong>?<br /><br />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!<br /><br />My favourite albums are hard to nail down, but a few off the top of my head are:<br /><br />Big L – ‘Lifestyles of the Poor and Dangerous’<br />Jedi Mind Tricks – ‘Violent by Design’<br />Kashmere – ‘In the Hour of Chaos’<br />UGK – ‘Super Tight’<br />Scarface – ‘The Diary’<br /><br /><strong>CB: What else inspires you to write?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What's the harsh reality of being an MC in the UK? What's your experience of real life and Hip Hop?</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Rant over!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Whoa! Thanks for taking the time to do this, have you got anything to add?</strong><br /><br />GG: Firstly big up yourself for the interview and the blog cause you doing something real positive for the scene. So, props.<br /><br />Download 'Reflections In the Dark' with full artwork for free @ <a href="http://www.sendspace.com/file/rxhsrx">www.sendspace.com/file/rxhsrx</a><br /><br />Look out for my official solo dropping later this year, and check <a href="http://www.myspace.com/grituk">www.myspace.com/grituk</a> for info and updates.ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-967427789574694655.post-12654022629071997722009-01-29T07:07:00.000-08:002009-01-29T07:10:34.097-08:00Mr Loop Interview<div align="justify"><strong>Certified Banger: Mr. Loop! How goes it?</strong><br /><br />Mr. Loop: I’m good, nothing to complain about!<br /><br /><strong>CB: First of all tell us, if it’s not obvious, how did you get your name?<br /></strong><br />Mr. Loop: Well, two reason really – my surname is Lupin, and I’ve always been called Loop as a nickname my whole life, and I make crusty Hip Hop using sample loops…<br /><br /><strong>CB: And now please tell us how you named your album ‘The Bury All’:<br /></strong><br />Mr. Loop: That’s just another play on words – I’m originally from Canterbury and featured a lot of east Kent artists on the album, and also its kind of ironically arrogant cos I’m kind of a humble dude, haha!<br /><br /><strong>CB: It’s your first album isn’t it, debut as they say. Might we have heard you on anything else previous to this?</strong><br /><br />Mr. Loop: There are a couple of mixtapes knocking around that I’ve done beats for, there’s a Kojack Brothers mixtape called ‘A Fork & Other Cutlery’. Quite a few people have my beats, but I’m not sure what they’ve done with them to be honest! I did some other stuff before my album that hasn’t actually come out yet, for example I have a beat on the Rapskallions album ‘Slicker Than a Bucket of Snot’, which should be out shortly on the Sweatbox Sounds imprint.<br /><br /><strong>CB: You make the beats on which many MCs spit. Let’s break that down a bit: Why do you make Hip Hop?</strong><br /><br />Mr. Loop: I’ve always loved Hip Hop since I was a kid, that and funk and soul, and I cant really play any instruments, haha! On the real though I grew up listening to The Pharcyde, Tribe, Gangstarr – all that good American s**t, then got into my uk stuff like Blade, and the UK scene seemed to go from strength to strength with the likes of Low Life Records etc starting up… I just always wanted to either rap or make beats. I tried emceeing – even did it live once, but I don’t really have the right skill set for that… I’d also like to graff, but my painting skills really are s**t!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Are your productions sample based? What do you go for when digging? How often do you find a useable break or loop?</strong><br /><br />Mr. Loop: I always sample s**t. I love taking something from a different era and flipping it into something completely different that a completely different type of person will feel.<br /><br />When I’m digging I go for anything that looks interesting. I mean, you got all your classic breaks and stuff, but I like weird s**t as well, like Yodelling records and all that kind of stuff – I’ve got a pretty ‘sample anything’ mentality. I’m of the Lewis Parker school of thought – there’s at least one thing on any record, be it a kick drum, a horn stab, anything that you can sample.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Do you just loop stuff or do you chop it up and switch stuff round? Explain how you dos it:</strong><br /><br />Mr. Loop: A bit of everything. Sometimes you find something that sounds dope just as a loop and all it needs is a sprinkling of some other melody, a big fat drum pattern and a bass line, but sometimes you need more than that – I loop, I chop, I EQ the s**t out of stuff, whatever sounds good to my ears.<br /><br /><strong>CB: What do you aim for, aside from perfection, when creating the perfect beat?</strong><br /><br />Mr. Loop: Something that sounds good! Depends really – if it’s a mellow introspective number I want something mellow and introspective to complement the emcee, and if it’s a rowdy jump up joint I want the beat to reflect that and kick you in the balls! I wouldn’t know about creating the perfect beat, don’t think I’ve ever done that, but you just kind of aim for something that sits well sonically. Having said that, Yosh was talking to me the other day about doing a really happy fun beat and getting him to get all Necro on it and chat bout shanking and murking, would be truly jokes!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Which, if there is one, is your favourite track off the album? Which one would you put in a time capsule if there was only digital space for one song?</strong><br /><br />Mr. Loop: From an emceeing point of view I’d probably say ‘The Middle Path’, I think it’s seriously dope, but from an overall song point of view it would have to be ‘Out on the Razz’ – Lyrics are funny, tune gets people head nodding, it goes down well at live shows, and we had a right laugh recording it in the studio.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Fun is important I think! Which other tune would you put with it? It can be any song in the world ever. </strong><br /><br />Mr. Loop: That’s a hard question! It would probably have to be ‘If you want me to stay’ by Sly and the Family Stone. Love that tune too much!<br /><br /><strong>CB: MCs: you got loads on your album. How does one go about orchestrating these large manoeuvres?</strong><br /><br />Mr. Loop: The first emcees I hooked up with were the Rapskallions (Slippa & Zoo Mark). I linked them through Vee-Kay whose studio I was using at the time for a project I was doing. Through them I linked loads more people down in East Kent – Yosh, Humble Pious, J-Soles, Doc Cerberus, Remi etcetra. Also going out and about at shows down there helped me link with people. I managed to get Wordsmith on there ‘cause Vee was mixing the ‘Pursuit of Harmony’ LP at the Sweatbox, and he has Words down there all the time, dude is absolutely sick – that album is gonna be absolute fire when it drops.As for the others – Mudmowth, 777, Beit Nun, Super Dertie, B’tol & Eva – I liked what they did so I did some cyber stalking and asked if they wanted to get involved, and they liked my beats so they said yes.<br /><br /><strong>CB: So the internet’s a useful tool for you. But do you like people stealing your music on the day it’s released? Can you summarise your much debated thoughts on that right here and now?</strong><br /><br />Mr. Loop: Haha, you’ve obviously seen my rant elsewhere! My thoughts were just that if you like something you should support it. If you want my full thoughts you can find it easy enough by googling!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Yeah I saw all of it! So, what’s the future of music and the internet? I Hope at least CDs never go obsolete, what’s the outlook on physical product in your view?</strong><br /><br />Mr. Loop: I think they’ll always be a place for CDs (or some similar physical media). Some people like the aesthetics of a physical product, and they make a great promo tool as well. I think having a proper physical product may also increase the amount of value someone puts on something as well. Maybe not, I could be wrong, but I attach more value to something I can actually hold than a stream of data. Maybe I’m just a caveman and need to be dragged into the 21st century!<br /><br /><strong>CB: Nah, I’m totally with you on that one! What shall we all do now that we’ve read this interview with your Hip Hop producin’ self?</strong><br /><br />Mr. Loop: Er, go buy my album from www.suspect-packages.com – it’s only £6 for the CD… also check out the other artists on Sweatbox Sounds and their projects: Vee-Kay – ‘The Audio Workout’, The Rapskallions – ‘Slicker Than a Bucket of Snot’ (coming soon) and the Yosh EP and Album (also coming soon). Plenty more stuff from myself in the pipeline including a new album which is a kind of collaboration. I’ll let you know more when we’ve finished recording. Apart from that, go out, have fun, enjoy life, and play nice!<br /><br />Peace<br /><br />Oh, can I give a shout to big Vee-Kay, The Rapskallions, Yosh, and everyone else I work with.<br /><br /><strong>CB: Yes. Peace.<br /></div></strong>ADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09550461898766741830noreply@blogger.com0