Leady Interview

Certified Banger: Can you tell us your necessary background details so we can build on basics for the rest of the interview?

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.

CB: What are your current or upcoming projects?

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'.

CB: How would you describe your sound? Is there any one track that would best define your style?

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.

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?

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.

CB: What is your earliest memory of anything Hip Hop related? First rap track heard? First time you rapped?

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.

CB: Where are you from? Can you tell us a bit more about the Hip Hop scene there?

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 -
Leeds being home to a lot of the members.

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?

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.

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?

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.

CB: Where do you hope to see yourself in 5 years, 10 years time? Is it an achievable goal?

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.

CB:Any last words?

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.

Also check out:
www.myspace.com/mrleady
www.reverbnation.com/leady
www.youtube.com/leady
www.youtube.com/Illuminatielders
www.myspace.com/illuminatielders

SubSpecies Interview

Certified Banger: Yo! This is a first for me… tell the people why:

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.

CB: So tell us about your product a bit more. What did you set out to achieve with it?

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!

CB: Who does the designs and what is the inspiration for them?

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!

CB: How are you different to the average garm pedallers?

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.

CB: You support the local music scene here. Who did you hook up with from the Hip Hop crowd?

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!

CB: Are you a Hip Hop fan? Who do you rate musically at the moment?

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!

CB: Who else do you sponsor?

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.

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?

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!

CB: How do you hope to grow as a business? Will there be a bigger range? Different items of clothing?

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.

CB: Is there anything you’d like to say before we finish? Any plugs etc?

CH: Yeah, get on our website www.subspecies.co.uk and www.subspecies.bigcartel.com and buy some garms off us!

Truth Interview

Certified Banger: Yo Truth! For the peeps who don’t know, who are you and what do you do with your time?

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)

CB: You just released your EP ‘Prorastinat(K)ing’. I think I know the answer but how did the name come about?

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.

CB: Have you had a good response to it so far? Will that give you more ‘get up and go’ for an album maybe?

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.

CB: How difficult is it to be as independent as you are as an artist? Would you like to be signed to a label?

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.


CB: Which is your favourite track on the EP?

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.

CB: Are there any tracks on there that you feel need explaining in anyway?

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.

CB: What’s the best lyric you’ve ever written?

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.

CB: How did the hook-up with the other MCs on the EP come about?

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.

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.

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!

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.

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?

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.

CB: Ipswich eh? In two sentences sell your town to a Hip Hop head!

T: Come on dude, make it difficult for me! I’ll give you a few combos for your money:
Rapsploitation Sessions
Reggie Rhythm
Arnie Sarnies
Roy Keane
Muddle’s Teas
Cathedral Cheese - you can get that anywhere, but that deserves a shout out. I’ve been into that a lot recently.
Oh my bad, I just realised you said two sentences and not two words – I must have roped you in anyway right?

CB: What’s next for you then? What are you working on?

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.
Gonna just try make some good music and throw it out there. Try up my skills.
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.

CB: Any last words to wrap this up?

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.

http://www.rapsploitation.co.uk/

www.myspace.com/reggierhythm

www.twitter.com/reggierhythm

ABD Interview

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:

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.

CB: What were your prizes for winning the GMC?

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!)

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?

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.

CB: What did you think of your adversaries? Were you confident?

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.

CB: Which line against you in the battles did you like best?

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!)

CB: Tell us about your pre-written track, that went down really well. What’s it all about? Will it be recorded and released?

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.

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?

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.

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?

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!

CB: How does performing live differ to recording music for you? Which do you prefer?

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.

CB: Who are your influences musically and who would you recommend to people? Who on the Leeds/UK Hip Hop scene do you rate?

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.

CB: Thanks for taking the time to do this, any closing/self-promotional/wise words?

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.

Haka Interview

Certified Banger: Haka, could you introduce yourselves to us a bit? Who are you? Where you’re from? What do you do?

Haka: I’m a producer, originally from Ladbroke Grove, West London. But I moved to South London when I was 17 and been in Battersea since.

CB: How long have you been producing for? How did you start out and what inspired you?

Haka: 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.

There wasn’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 & Rakim etc when growing up, I just grew a passion for the culture and music.

CB: How did you first go about getting your beats heard? How did you get them to MCs? Did you have any knock backs or did you wait until your beats were top quality before getting them heard?

Haka: 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 showin’ love to mans like Lowkey, Doc Brown, Klash, 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 weren’t askin’ dem guys to do tunes, I knew weren’t ready and had a lot to learn. But now I’m workin’ 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.

CB: When you give an MC a beat, what do you expect them to do with it? Do they have creative control?

Haka: 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 chillin’ and I'll be honest with dem 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.

CB: What’s on your mind when you’re making a beat? Do you always go for a similar sound?

Haka: I zone out when I’m makin’ a beat, I could be in my own world for hours. Whatever mood Im 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.

CB: How do you manage to get the more melodic R’n’B-ish side of Hip Hop mixed with the gritty, stripped back side of Hip Hop?

Haka: 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 EQ your beat makes all the difference. I grew up listening to a contrast of hip hop, from hearin’ the gritty sounds of Mobb Deep and Wu, to Little Brother, A Tribe Called Quest, Devin the Dude etc. I think to incorporate both the RnB'ish 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.

CB: What’s more important to you: making a track for the club, the car, the ipod or the home stereo? How and where do you listen to music?

Haka: 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 ipod, I don’t play my own stuff at home too much unless I’m boasting to someone or with my boys playin’ new stuff.

CB: Are you a perfectionist?

Haka: Definitely, I’m never %100 happy with my stuff, I always aim for perfection though.

CB: Your album ‘Underground Journeys’ is more a collection of tracks you’ve done, would you agree on that?

Haka: Yeah definitely, it's a mixtape 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.

CB: Which are your favourite songs on there?

Haka: 'Makes Me Say' is definitely a banger, some of you may have heard it on a few radio stations. 'We Got Dat' and 'Dats My S**t' are my favourite harder/grittier kinda tracks. And 'N.A.M.E' is another smooth track.

CB: Can you tell us a little more about N/A who features on your album?

Haka: He's my brother man, and the best artist in the UK, hands down in my opinion. Me and Jetsun 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 OC Jigs definitely came the hardest on my CD, much love to dem man der.

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’?

Haka: I’m doing a few downloadable EPs this year, so keep your eyes peeled, gonna send them around for free on datpiff.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.

CB: Who would you like to work alongside? Any particular MCs – US or UK?

Haka: I’m workin’ alongside my favourite rappers right now - Jigs and N/A, so boy, I mean obviously I'd love to work with Cormega, Tragedy, Jay-Z n all the greats but I’m happy with my team right now.

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?

Haka: 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 Yungun, Klashnekoff, Skinnyman, but instead all dese s**t grime youts are blowin’ and takin’ the throne in the UK, that Hip Hop should have.

Knew Jeru'slum interview

Certified Banger: Introduce yourself please (who are you, where are you from, what do you do?):

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.

CB: Whats in the name?

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!

We’ve had quite a few Jews adding us on Myspace recently. We’re not Jewish, just want to make that clear.

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?

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.

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!

CB: The single features Manchild from Mars ILL. How did that come about? Is Mars ILL a group you listen to a lot?

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?’.

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?

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.

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.

CB: Do you listen to a lot of Gospel Hip Hop? Does that influence you at all? Could you recommend any artists?

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…

WG; also check out KMA Reveal he’s a top artist.

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.

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?

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.

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?

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.

CB: Who features? Who does production? Any good tales about collaborations, recording experiences etc?

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.

CB: So you’re collaborating with American artists. Are you hoping to push it out there and to the fans of those artists?

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!

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?

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.

CB: What’s it like for you coming straight outta Yorkshire, a place most famous for its ripper, puddings and dales?

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.

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.

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:

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

Check out:
Myspace.com/jonnyalpha1
Myspace.com/knewjeruslum
Myspace.com/watsong1
Myspace.com/brutalartistry

Ghost Interview

Certified Banger: How would you describe your instrumental output? Is it Hip Hop?

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.

CB: Which do you prefer: creating instrumentals tracks or beats for MCs? How does your mindset differ when you’re doing either?

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.

CB: What sounds are you currently into using? What records do you look for to find samples – or is that a secret?!

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.

CB: How do you feel about being compared or likened to artists like DJ Shadow, Bonobo and Quantic?

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.

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?

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.

CB: So what’s with the move to New Zealand? Is that to improve the creative process?

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.

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?

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.

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?

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.

CB: What’s the Hip Hop like over in NZ?

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.

CB: Are there any good records stores for digging in?

Ghost: Yeah I got some digging spots, a couple of good ones!

CB: How do you feel about your music being bootlegged?

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.

CB: I agree. What can you tell us about the new album then? Who’s on it? What’s changed?

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.

CB: When do we get to hear it then? Will you be doing shows in the UK off the back of it?

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.

So anyone reading this wanting a show please send me a message!

CB: What other work are you doing at the moment? Have you done any production work on any other albums recently?

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.

CB: How did your work on both albums with Finale come about?

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.

CB: Who are you feeling in the UK Hip Hop scene right now?

My crew Invisible Inc! Anyone who is out there working hard and not being a d**khead I’m feeling

CB: Can you finish off with some life improving hints and tips for all the wannabes out there?!

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!