Wordplay magazine

Wordplay

Photo and Cover: Ed Aves

UK HIP HOP & GRAFFITI CULTURE

Editor

Welcome to Issue #9 of Wordplay Magazine. This is our

Matt Neville nev@wordplaymagazine.com

biggest edition to date, the most extensive Wordplay yet!

Within these pages you can expect to find the most comprehensive Graffiti, UK hip hop and B-boying edition that team Wordplay has ever put together.

Art Director Stephen Mellor steve@wordplaymagazine.com

Words/Reviews

We catch up with the legendary Goldie, delving into the past, present and future of the man who started with the paint before turning to the turntables. We have some classic flicks from UK train writer Ster WSR, fresh stuff from Nychos, ILW (Infamous Last Words) and Rum Committie’s Wizard Bukioe. We have also been inundated with some of the freshest hip hop from the UK's heaviest hitters, which has been crafted into what promises to be one of 2012's hottest mixtapes by Sammy B-Side. We have an absolute sackful of exclusives ranging from an in-depth feature on High Focus's The 4 Owls, a journey into the mind of the maestro we know as Telemachus, as well as a number of other exclusive interviews with the likes of Cappo, Skuff, Dubbledge, Kid Koala and Dr Syntax.

Rikki James rikki@wordplaymagazine.com

Words Thomas Hawkins tom@wordplaymagazine.com

Breakin Joe Downs joe@wordplaymagazine.com

Photography / Illustration Ed Aves - Goldie Chris Lucas - Dr Syntax Anis Ali - Bristol Cypher Emily Waller - Skuff

General support & Big ups Disorda, Jehst, Cappo, Dilk, The Bench, Dudley, Rum Com, Dike, Leaf Dog, Goldie, Ben 81, Neil Cage, I.M.S, Asylum Seekas, Ice-Watches, Dephect, Telemachus, Kingpin, Skuff, Inja, Prose, Decon, JellyBelly, Sika, Sammy B, Benny Normal, Kak, Rocket, Jam Baxter, LDZ, Deeflux, Nychos, Joey Menza, Caxton Press, Dubbledge, Skillit, Charlee, NAC, Supremebeing, Anis Ali, Associated Minds, Graff-City, Hurtyoubad, Running Punch, Ilovebeer&Graff, UncouthYouth, Mad Simple, Skriblah, High Focus, Fliptrix, Seud, Montana colors, Chrissy, Ewan @ Rarekind, Mystro, UrbanArtYard, Vandal, Chrome&Black.

Wordplay PO BOX 1032 Cambridge CB24 5WA

Issue #9 has been one of the most exciting issues we have been lucky enough to put together. Team Wordplay would like to extend its utmost gratitude to everyone who has liked, shared and supported the work we have put in. We hope that you enjoy reading Issue #9 as much as we enjoyed making it happen.

BIG UP YOUR STATUS. Team Wordplay Free Orgie

www.wordplaymagazine.com facebook.com/wordplaymag

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Infamous Wordplay

Wordplay

Kak Infamous Last Words

The views expressed and images displayed in this publication are those of individuals and are not necessarily shared by Wordplay magazine. We do not encourage any act of vandalism and all images in this magazine are to show a fast moving culture not to support it. All photographs are sent in anonymously and we have no way of tracing the photographer. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, copied or saved electronically without permission in writing from the publisher. Wordplay is a sole trader company registered in England. All rights reserved. c 2009 Wordplay magazine.

DUBBLE 6

Dubbledge

Interview by Thomas Hawkins

Dubbledge has been fully representing since 2005. He first introduced his rhymescheming talents to the UK (and beyond) with his debut mixtape 'The Fist Of Jah'. It was a tidy introduction, however, it wasn't until 2007 when 'The Richest Man In Babylon' hit record stores that people stood up and paid him the attention he deserved. Many heads hailed the album as the finest of the year and the release cemented his place among the most talented emcees the UK has spawned. Fast forward a few years and Dubbledge is back with his most ambitious project yet. 'Dubbledge Vs The Boondocks' sees Edge draw direct influence from The Boondocks, an American cartoon which satires African American culture and race relations head on.

On listening to the album, it is fair to say that The Boondocks and Dubbledge make a great team.

For all of the foolish people who have not yet heard of Dubbledge, can you explain who you are & what you do?

Right for the fools that don't know but should know better, I'm that guy that turned the radio on one day and thought 'what the fuck are these fools playing?' Ever since then I have tried to un-fuck the ears of the people.”

What is your take on the UKHH scene at the minute? Who is particularly inspiring you and where do you feel you fit into proceedings?

The UK hip hop scene is healthy right now and even the grime artists are actually rapping now, a lot of them are decent too.

Obviously there's always some whack exceptions, but there are plenty of good spitters out there. It’s just a shame most of them are one dimensional. I've always rated people that can spit a message without sounding preachy and limp, so right now I am mostly rating Lowkey & Black the Ripper.

I have tried to un-fuck the ears of the people!

EDGE Let’s talk live shows. How important do you feel it is to showcase your music live and how do you go about approaching a live show?

The live show is the fun bit. I have to admit my approach to live shows is a bit random because I usually don't know what I'm gonna perform till I'm burning the CDs on the way to the venue. I change my mind a lot on stage too, so a lot of my performance can be based on how I'm reading the crowd or if I feel like spicing things up a bit. The more fun I'm having on stage, the more the crowd seem to vibe and feed off that energy. I see the live show as an opportunity to sell to the people who are supporting you directly.

‘The Richest man In Babylon’ was hailed as one of the finest hip hop albums of 2007. How did the success of your first full-length album influence your career and the way you approached new material?

To be honest, after that record I sat back.

It was like I’d proven to myself that I could actually finish something I had started. To me, it felt like something I could add to my list of memories, so when I'm 88, sitting in my Nike Air rocking chair ordering Viagra I know I'll be happy. I lost my love for music for a while after that, just because I'd ticked it off of my list of things to do. It's like if you’ve ever slept with someone then lost interest as soon as you nut, you will properly understand how I felt about the music after that album had dropped.

What is your take on the current musical climate? For example, the impending death of physical musical releases and the importance of maintaining a digital presence?

Most music is throwaway now - it's nothing - just one track within the 1000's you got on your hard drive. I still think my music is way too good to throw away, but

then again I got a big head. Anyway, the truth is I’ve been overly lazy as far as the internet goes. I only just decided to hit Twitter up (@Dubbledge) and I’m cutting my own videos together since I got fed up of waiting on people. You can see my sexy little creations on my YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/user/armleggavision) I’m loving the videos at the moment; I’m slicing up anything and everything.

Boondocks episodes, Bruce Lee, Phil Mitchell crack head moments, you name it. I’m using it all in my videos and it’s working a treat.

Let’s talk about ‘Dubbledge Vs The Boondocks’. Can you explain your thinking behind your latest conceptual offering?

I love that series. It makes me laugh just thinking about some of the madness they put in that programme. It's like a black version of Family Guy; guaranteed to offend everyone on the planet.

It would have been rude not to do it as the snippets from the show tied into the music perfectly and just helped paint the picture I was going for, plus they're funny as hell. The Boondocks can make you giggle at slavery and that's some serious shit.

What about ‘Making of a Slave’? Can you explain your thinking behind the track and how you went about approaching such testing subject matter?

'Associated minds' member Ralph Rip Shit had the idea for that one. We were gonna do a reversed track where I was white and he was black, so I gave the slave masters version, did my research, read the Willie Lynch theory and decided to write my song from a master planners position, detailing the method used to enslave generation after generation without lifting a finger. You know, just manipulate the slaves into enslaving

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themselves until genocide is a part of their DNA. I mean it's still working, black on black violence is still as hectic as ever.

The hard part was making it entertaining enough to listen to without wanting to slit your wrists and educational enough, but not so deep that you wanted to burn shit down. I'm real happy with the way it turned out, I even made a vid slicing the cartoon together to paint the picture visually. It works a treat, I like to call it edutainment. It might not get me in a G6 but it will help free some mental slaves.

I have seen a bunch of outlandish cartoons in my time, mostly thanks to Adult Swim, but Boondocks is just about as outlandish as it gets. What were your first thoughts when you saw it?

I just got hooked straight away. From the very first episode with the garden party.

I was hooked from the moment Huey took the mic and said "Jesus was black, Ronald Reagan was the Devil, and the government where lying about 9/11!", then you just hear this 'SLAP' and Granddad back hands him and cusses him for having that dream again where he makes the white people riot. I can't do it justice, you have to see it or just listen to my album.

What do you think the creators of the cartoon would think of your interpretation?

They would bloody love it! I'd be on the sound track for season four if they heard what I've done. Someone out there should tell them!!!

Dubbledge Vs The Boondocks is out now for digital download: http://dubbledge.com For more Dubbledge visit: www.ynr-productions.co.uk

8

Kid Koala

KID KOALA Kid Koala is the kind of guy you wish you had in your life, like a brother or a best mate, or at the very least a dude you know from down the street. He is the kind of person that would benefit your existence, improve your wellbeing and make everything better (even if everything was swell in the first place). For better or for worse, Kid Koala would do all that he could to make you happy, make you laugh and make sure that you missed him when he was not around. FACT.

The first time I met Kid Koala was at Borders bookshop in the centre of Cambridge. Humble and welcoming, he went on to wow the tiny crowd with his skills as both a turntablist and, more significantly, a musician. Fast forward ten years and I am lying in East London's

Village Underground in my very own 'space pod' waiting for Canada's most diminutive wizard to take to the stage.

Having eaten the free cookies, played the fairground games, witnessed the artwork and messed with the free analog synth set-up in the foyer, I find myself jamming with DJ Madnice waiting on Kid Koala's new project 'Space Cadet' to unfold on stage. Low and behold, from the doldrums of the venue, Kid Koala strolls out in his blue hoodie, denim jeans and (get this) Sketchers Shape-Ups and takes to the stage.

Ninjatune's most eclectic artist is exactly the same as when I first met him all those years ago. I am talking exactly the same.

It's like he has been cryogenically frozen or something. He signs my programme

and introduces himself as Eric. I am blown away by how safe he is. I ask him how he is doing and he tells me of his jet lag and tiredness. I say amen and leave him to do his thing.

What unfolds in front of my eyeballs is one of the most entertaining stage shows I have ever witnessed. We are talking a medley of entertainment. Live animation is followed by flawless turntablism.

Experimental, avant-garde musical arrangements are backed up by thumb wrestling tournaments and interactive arcade games.

I witness his two year old daughter's favourite song, his mother's favourite movie score, and even jump up to swirl a

Wordplay plastic tube to compliment one of the tracks from his Space Cadet soundtrack.

As someone who rates himself a hardcore rap fan; someone who loves the straight up thugged out thuggery above anything else, it is not troubling for me to hail Kid Koala as the past, present and future of all that is interesting about the scene we all love and adore. He takes everything that is spectacular and interesting about the art of turntablism and makes it unique and credible again. With just one flick of a crossfader and one juggle of a set of 'Moon River' vinyl the rulebook is gripped, torn into pieces and rewritten all over again.

touring record bag. Amon Tobin and I have been planning on doing a record together for a while. Stay tuned for that.

I decided to do a show where everyone's lying on the ground.

Wordplay caught up with Ninjatune's most enterprising sorcerer to talk hip hop, comic books, graphic novels and jazz-playing mosquitos...

Sum up your most recent graphic novel / musical release ’Space Cadet in one sentence.

Space Cadet is a 132 page book with a soundtrack about a robot and his daughter.

Your recent Space Cadet Show at Village Underground was a feast of entertainment. What inspired the format of the show and where did your ideas come from?

The Space Cadet soundtrack is a collection of piano/turntable lullabies.

It's not dance music at all. I asked myself "What's the furthest thing from a club or dancefloor gig I could possibly do?"

I decided to do a show where everyone's lying on the ground. Aren't people tired of going to gigs where they have to stand for three hours?'

Tell us about your time on Ninjatune.

What is it like to be a part of such a spectacular roster and of all the artists on the label who would you like to collaborate with most?

Coldcut were one of the main reasons I started deejaying in the first place. Their album 'What's That Noise' pretty much cracked my head open as to what was possible in turntable music. I bought that album when I was in high school.

To this day, it's a record that is always in my

Tell us more about your relationship with DJ Food?

DJ Food is my turntable mentor. He taught me a lot on those early Ninja Tune Stealth tours about digging and how to craft sets.

I've seen him lead a hardcore hip hop crowd into dancing to dirty techno or latin grooves and psych rock and all the way back again. He does it really fluidly too.

It's amazing to witness. He's like an audio architect!

Which technical innovation has had the most influence on your music making in the last ten years?

I now have my own record cutter in the studio so I can make my own custom records to use in the studio.

You recently worked with Terence Bernardo on ‘12 of the most depressing songs ever’. What makes them so depressing?

Terence has this uncanny ability to channel the pain of the entire world into his songs.

How many vinyl do you have in your home/studio?

In a recent interview you described your ‘Space cadet tour’ as “A completely different trip”. At times it was pure turntablism, at times it was a soundtrack recital, at times it was stand up comedy. When did you realise you had the skills to pull off such an eclectic stageshow?

To me it's just good old fashioned entertainment. I try to balance all the things I like about the live experience and use them to tell a story somehow.

If you were taken hostage by a gang of Russian mobsters who offered you freedom on the one condition that you chose either turntablism or drawing.

Which would you pick and why?

I'd pick drawing, because I could always draw a turntable and scratch it.

Similarly, if you were home and then a freak explosion set your home on fire, which two things would you run to save before jumping out of the window?

My wife and child.

Finally, what does the future hold for Ninja Tune’s most eclectic artist?

A new album called the '12 bit blues', a new Deltron 3030 record, a new book about a mosquito who plays jazz, and a live touring puppet musical with turntable orchestra pit about zombies and ramen.

To keep up to date with Kid Koala’s tours and release check out kidkoala.com

Too many!

If you were invited to play at the first interplanetary music festival on Mars, which two records would you be sure to pack in yor record bag?

Definitely the 'Chicken Dance' and some Thelonious Monk.

Interview by Thomas Hawkins

BUKIOE 10

Bukioe

Meet Bukioe - 1/10th of Brighton supercrew Rum Committee, but also an artist with mad skills! Bukioe creates really gritty style characters - if Hippos were British they’d definitely look like this.

What inspired you to start rapping?

We caught up with Bukioe to chat about his music, his art and his influences for both.

Do you know what? I don’t really know. I don’t think there was any point where I was Like “yeah... I’m going to be a rapper..”, I just always enjoyed writing, and writing and drinking go hand in hand. I used to be into breaking and graffiti so I guess it followed on from that.

When did you start drawing, and what/who influenced you to start?

If you had to put the pen or the mic down which would you choose?

I’d have to give that one to my old man, he used to be pretty handy with a biro.

I think it was probably seeing his doodles lying around the house on envelopes and scrap bits of paper when I was younger that did it.

Jesus. I’d have to say the mic eventually, no one wants to hear an old man rap.

What materials do you use?

Anything I can get my hands on really.

Mostly pencil, pen, ink and Photoshop.

How and when did you meet up with Rum committee?

I moved down to Brighton about three years ago. I live with Sherlock bones and he knew Giz and a few others from back in school. We started drinking and jamming together and it all spiraled out of control from there.

What does Bukioe mean, and why Captain?

Who do you rate in the UK at the moment?

Onoe Caponoe’s pretty heavy, I really like the whole twisted psychedelic look and the High Focus lot seem pretty on point.

There’s a few Don’t Flop heads who go in pretty hard, but there’s so many emerging rappers at the moment it’s hard to keep up. One of my favourite rappers of all time though is Supa T, his style is untouchable!

As far as artists go, my boy Gustav Balderdash is annoyingly productive, Roid HA is on some next level shit, Will Barras is sick and I’m a big fan of Gerald scarf and Ronald Searle.

Running Punch and Rum Com have to be the dopest packets we've received.

Any plans for a new album?

It's inspired by the cartoon character Captain Bucky O’hare. He was this green space rabbit (hence the green rabbit...)

The cartoon was terrible but I thought the name ‘Bucky O’ sounded pretty heavy. The ‘Captain’ just makes it sound a bit more official, its got a nice rhythm to it.

We’ve got a couple of ideas in the pipeline.

We’re currently working on the next batch of Committee gulliness and I think Sherlock has plans for a bumper collab album. I'll be getting on the art side of things for those. If time permits we’ll get another installment from Running punch in there somewhere.

Have you ever experimented with spray cans on your illustrations?

Who can drink the most and who can't handle their drink in Rum Committee?

I used to be bang on the graff, (shouts to Fault AW) and really into bombing. Writers like Skuf, JA, O’clock and La mano were a big inspiration. I don’t really get the chance to paint now. Maybe a few drunken sneaky reaches here and there or a mellow piece if the weather's good. I’ll do the odd canvas with spray paint as well.

I'll have to answer this carefully or there’s a chance I’ll get my knees broke.

We ALL drink equally hard on an equally regular basis, but Kong's liver probably takes the biggest beating with Sherlock being the Committee lightweight. He gets a hangover from chocolate liqueurs...

Do you work freelance for clients? If so what have you done so far?

I’ve done all sorts. More recently T-shirts and promo art for various artists and nights, logos, label designs and live art at various venues. I’m currently working on a clothing label 'IMMUNE' with Gustav balderdash, it’s still in the early stages but we’ve got some really nice bits and pieces together so keep an eye out for that.

I think the most random thing I’ve worked on was providing a set of illustrations for Oxford hospital. They were for a guide book on how to measure a new born babies head.

And back to rap, what's the maddest show you've done? What happened?

I reckon the maddest show was probably the Boozetown album launch at the concorde 2, the place was absolutely rammed >

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Bukioe

the crowd was hype, and we had every member of the Committee on stage, all rowdy and all on drunken form. Definitely a messy night..

Whats the worst thing to happen to you on stage?

We did this one show where the sound system was awful. We would have been better off cupping our hands and shouting at the crowd.

Halfway through the muffled second track a fight broke out, and for some reason, the management and bouncers decided to throw us out and shut the show down.

Good times.

Where can we see you? Are you guys touring?

2011 was a pretty productive year for everyone really, we did a lot of nights up and down the south, with Giz, Kong and TC bullying rappers at the Don’t Flop battles as well. 2012 is looking like a busy year with plans already in place to get it in.

Any shouts?

Big ups to Rarekind Records, Suspect packages, RUM COMMITTEE, Barcode, all those who rep hard in Boozetown, my long suffering missus B, all the Reading lot, Fault, Pat one, AW, OMG, Gustav Balderdash, Claireplane, Seth and Hello Darlins. R.I.P Owen Winkworth and Christopher Hitchens but a Special shout out to my ex-bitch of a manager YOU'RE A SCUMBAG... Committee is Boss. Peace.

For more of Bukioe's work, check out: www.bukioe.com www.facebook.com/bukioe www.rumcommittee.com www.facebook.com/rumcom

Wordplay

TELEMACHUS INTERVIEW BY RIKKI JAMES

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Telemachus

Let me attempt to roughly explain the difference between Chemo and Telemachus.

We caught up with producer Telemachus ahead of his debut LP release 'In The Evening'. Telemachus has been producing for many a moon under his better known alias Chemo.

Founding father of Kilamanjaro Studios and the go-to guy in the UK scene, Chemo is one of the most respected producers in the game.

He allowed us a trip into the mind responsible for some of the most intellectually crafted hip hop music in the UK today. This is how it went down...

With a change from one alias to another, what can we expect from Telemachus that may be different from Chemo?

Let me attempt to roughly explain the difference between Chemo and Telemachus.

Chemo is a hip hop producer. Chemo works for other people, doing whatever he can to make ends meet… recording, mixing, mastering, making beats, album artwork, promotion, photography, catering, circus tricks, crying on demand for the enjoyment of onlookers… Hmmmm.

Chemo is undoubtedly talented, but I cannot personally guarantee that because Chemo is involved in something that it is of the highest quality.

Telemachus is an artist, and a truer depiction of what I am about as a person and musician. A Telemachus track, or a Telemachus album, is something that I have had full control over, and have poured my heart and soul into. Music bearing the name Telemachus may be a slight departure from the hardcore underground hip hop that Chemo is known for, however, it is inevitable that there will be some similarities in style and content.

Hopefully this is what is happening with this ‘resurgence’ you speak of, but please do let me know when it has arrived because I really have been waiting for quite a while now!

When sat in your studio, what are the requirements needed to conjure up your very-own brand of production wizardry?

A relatively clear to-do list.

UK hip hop has begun to stir again, what are your thoughts on the resurgence?

This is both welcome and surprising news to me. UK hip hop has always been a bit of a dumb joke in the mainstream media, and I think that to a certain extent, it's still not taken particularly seriously.

I remember a time when artists using the English accent to rap was laughable for most, many people regarding it as ‘not sounding right’ compared to the American imports. We have certainly come a long way since those days, and in this decade the British charts are often exclusively filled with UK dance-rap (for want of a better term). I have absolutely welcomed the proliferation of these novelty acts, in the hope that it will cause young potential fans to begin to look deeper into the genre and perhaps find a sub-genre or group of artists that really speaks to them.

Phone off.

A vague idea of a project that I am creating for.

A few good records (not necessarily to sample, but to listen to for inspiration as well).

Whisky.

There has been a noticeable progression in your sound, from early boom bap classics such as 'Sin City' to the more softer and refined sounds of your debut 'Scarecrows'...

I am less interested these days in covering up my lack of musical creativity with huge, deafening drums… Although I do still tend to favour using my drums and percussion as the main focal element of my tracks.

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Do you feel you have had to switch between styles to keep up with where you feel the scene is going? Or are you simply divulging your particular influences through your music?

I really do try very hard to put across my musical ethos in what I create, and I do have a passion for a number of different genres, as I have tried to show in my ‘The Adventures of Telemachus’ mixtape series. I would say that any perceived stylistic change is more a reflection of my influences rather than simply trying to stay ‘current’.

Was there a particular artist or album that opened your mind musically and pushed you to pursue a career in music?

I would say DJ Shadow. 'Endtroducing' was the album that opened my eyes to making music in a non-traditional sense.

These days, everyone knows what sampling is, but a while back there really was a true sense of mystique surrounding the chopping up of old records. This was almost certainly linked to how much more complex and esoteric (and not to mention expensive) the equipment was in those days. In 2012 the act of ‘sampling’ is often just a sixteen year old sampling a 90’s chart hit straight off youtube and subsequently making a hit record.

I'm not such a die-hard purist that I am proclaiming this is a bad thing (actually,

fuck it, that kind of shit DOES makes me bloody angry!!).

You recently released your second single “The Sheltering Sky” (Ft. Jehst) off your upcoming EP ‘In The evening’.

The production on this track has to be one of your finest joints thusfar, tell us about the track...

The track ‘The Sheltering Sky' is actually based on a book by the same name by the American author Paul Bowles. I came up with the concept for the track and gave Jehst a list of words to incorporate into his lyrics, and being the genius that he is, he came up with a vivid tale on the spot in our shared Camberwell dungeon. In reality I actually have quite a connection to North Africa and the Arab world. My partner Sara is from the Sudan and I also recently spent two months surfing in southern Morocco.

I took a small setup out there and recorded a few bits and pieces that I am currently polishing into a short EP called ‘Telemachus in North Africa’.

When working with emcees what comes first - the lyrics or the production?

90% of the time it’s the music. It's a lot easier for vocalists to write a lyric to something. On the occasions when the lyrics come first it's more often than not just a remix project. Quite a lot of people take the production on an album for

granted, choosing to focus on the emcees.

Do you ever feel the producers deserve more credit?

In my own biased experience, the producer usually puts in ten times more time and effort than the vocalist into any piece of work, but in truth, I am actually very content in being behind the scenes.

With my Telemachus project, however, I am putting myself, the producer, rightfully in the glowing spotlight as the artist.

Is there anyone you want to work with as Telemachus that you haven’t had the chance to work with as Chemo, or vice-versa?

There are endless rappers, singers and musicians that I would absolutely love to collaborate with. Slightly bizarrely though I would really love to do a project similar to the Gil Scott Heron and Jamie xx project on XL from last year. That was really interesting.

What can we look forward to from Telemachus?

I have lots of good ideas that I cannot reveal for a mortal fear of jinxing them, but the Telemachus album ‘In The Evening’ will land this year on YNR Productions.

The Chemo compilation album entitled ‘The Stomach of the Mountain’ came out very recently to my usual depressing >

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Telemachus

Wordplay

Big up to my pheasant Peter combination of warm acclaim and limpid sales. The next release on my own label ‘Kilamanjaro Music’ may well be a project series called ‘My Mate Does Beats’, which is a compilation of the work of some of my favourite producers.

Also, I am continuing work with my Afro-Space-Folk band called El Crisis & Thunder.

Kilimanjaro studios is a pillar within the UK scene for established and up-andcoming artists alike. It must be a heart warming feeling to know that you have helped provide a 'foot in the door' for a lot of acts?

Im not sure I agree that I have given many people ‘a foot in the door’ as such.

I would say that I have provided a lot of artists with a high standard of recording and production for their projects which may have opened some doors for them due to the professionalism of their recordings.

I always try and provide the best service and advice to people and never try and give erroneous advice even though it would make me more money.

And that fact does indeed warm my heart.

With your many years of knowledge what advice would you give to all the aspiring beatmakers out there?

Do it for fun. Hone your craft as a hobby. If you’re good enough, shit will happen for you. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

The cover for your upcoming EP 'In The Evening' depicts an image similar to the Aztec sun god Kinich Ahau. Are you a follower of the Mayan calendar predictions?

The Telemachus logo is actually based on a Greek war shield. Telemachus means ‘far from battle’, which is a reference to my peaceful character and policy of conflict avoidance at all times.

Last of all any big ups or shout downs?

Big up to my pheasant Peter.

Keep an eye on Telemachus at any of the following. Buy his records, you will not be disappointed...

Chemoproductions.com Kilamanjaro.co.uk Facebook.com/LoveChemo Facebook.com/LoveTelemachus

18

Grant Kirkhope

Where’s the body armour?!?

WORDPLAY CATCHES UP WITH THE MAN WHO DEFINED A GENERATION WITH HIS VIDEO GAME SCORES. I used to work in computer games - it was dope. There was something fairly special about working a job where pretty much everything I did contributed to something that was not actually real. Sitting in meetings discussing weapons, power-ups and ruthless Chinese crime syndicates who steal credit-card-details-in-order-toset-up-automated-accounts-that-illegallymacro-in-game-gold-pieces-that-are-thensold-for-real-money-on-the-black-market were jokes meetings to be involved in.

Everyone has played video games at some point in their lives; whether it's Pro Evolution Soccer, Tekken or Resident Evil; video games certainly played a significant part in my teenage years. From NES to SNES, from Game Gear to Game Boy, I indulged for hours in pixelated universes.

Now while my glory years as the undisputed king of the virtual footie field rank up there with my fondest memories, there is no doubt in my mind that the highlight involved one console, one cartridge, four analog controllers, and a split-screen multiplayer war-fest involving proximity mines, body armour and golden guns. Goldeneye on the N64 was a revelation. Jamming with my mates took on a whole new meaning, smoking weed took on a whole new meaning. Wanting to shoot my mates directly in the face with any weapon I could get my hands on became a sincere desire of mine.

Just check this out for a game synopsis...

"The player assumes the role of James Bond as he fights to prevent a syndicate from using a satellite weapon against London to cause a global financial meltdown."

UMMMM SEE INTO THE FUTURE MUCH? Remember Donkey Kong Mode? Paintball Mode? Remember getting branded "Most cowardly" and "Where's the body armour?"

Remember how it was actually illegal to play as Oddjob?

All ^ of ^ these ^ things ^ were ^ dope, but the standout element of this juvenile

analog stick-swivelling activity was the musical score, a score crafted by the wizardry of one man; Grant Kirkhope. Grant Kirkhope is a video games composer responsible for a long list of outstanding scores over the years. He is a seminal figure in the adolescent years of almost every single person reading this magazine right now. If you ever felt the wrath of a golden gun to the head or the sweet satisfaction of receiving a 'Marksmanship Award', Kirkhope was the guy who made that universe such an incredibly intense place to be.

Wordplay caught up with Grant to discuss music, games and hardware.

Lets start at the beginining. How did you get into music? What did you grow up listening to?

I started playing recorder at junior school, I don’t know why. When they were asking who wanted to play one I just put up my hand! I progressed on to trumpet when I was six, I volunteered for that too.

Then I started teaching myself guitar at around eleven. I played in the usual school orchestras and ended up in the North Yorkshire Schools Symphony Orchestra which I absolutely loved. I grew up listening to the big bands of the 50’s and Frank Sinatra. My Dad was a huge Sinatra fan and I remember shunning pop music in favour of Frank.

How did composing music for video games come about?

I’d been playing in lots of bands after leaving the Royal Northern College of Music, some did okay, some not so okay.

I was on and off unemployment benefit for at least 10 years! Over the course of that period I knew a guy called Robin Beanland as we’d played in local bands together.

He was always writing computer based music and out of the blue announced that he had got a job at some company called Rare Ltd writing music and making sound effects for video games.

He’d been there for about a year and a half at the time, at the same time as my last band crumbled he suggested I had a

go at what he did. He recommended synth, keyboard, Cubase and an Atari ST so with my last bit of money I bought them and started. I sent five cassette tapes to Rare over the course of a year and never once got a reply, then out of the blue I got a letter asking me to come for an interview and to my surprise I got the job!

Most people will recognise you for your work on Goldeneye 64. What were your initial thoughts on the project?

I was so new to the whole writing music scenario that I really didn’t know what I was doing. Obviously I knew the Bond theme and I knew we were allowed to use it so that was what I did. I wrote as many pieces as I could and slotted that melody and chord sequence everywhere possible.

I really didn’t get to see that much of the game but I had the design documents to work with. The game really was pretty shabby right up until very close to the end, I’d moved on to another game that eventually became Banjo-Kazooie as GoldenEye was so far behind we all thought it would never come out.

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Wordplay

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Were you at all surprised by the success of the title?

Ha! I think you can safely say that! It was a real slow burner, and then 10 million sales later it almost seemed like it was a dream.

It was my first real project (apart from converting the music from Donkey Kong 2 on the SNES to the Gameboy) and I made so many mistakes, but you live and learn.

How do you go about sculpting a score for a video game? What are the first and final steps?

I talk to the designers and ask what the first region of the game is about and get a piece of music in there as early in the development process as I can, as it really helps everyone on the team get a feeling for the game. After that I concentrate on the sound design as I think it’s more important than music at the start of a game.

In the final steps I’m usually trying to do everything at once. There’s always extra music to write and the sound design keeps going until they lock us out of the game for final certification.

Does hip hop influence the music you make? What genres of music influence your work most today?

I have to say not much recently, but that’s because the project I’m currently on (Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning) is a huge RPG that requires a full orchestral score.

As a video games composer you really have to be able to write music in whatever style the games designers feel like, they can and will ask you for anything. When I was working on the Viva Piñata games

there was a part of the game that involved the animals doing a romance dance.

The designers thought it would be fun to have a different style of music for each of these (there were 90 animals!) and consequently I had to write pieces in every style imaginable from rock to reggae to ballroom dancing to metal and everything in between.

Personally, I’ve always been a metal fan, as well as liking orchestral stuff. Judas Priest, Queensrcyhe, John Williams, Van Halen, Elgar, Danny Elfman and Vaughan Williams to name but a few. As I’ve just finished Reckoning I’ve been listening to John Williams non-stop, in particular his Harry Potter scores, they are phenomenal.

Let’s talk equipment. What does your set up consist of and what is your most essential piece of kit?

I use Pro Tools 9 for composing and a Kontakt sampler to host all the instruments. For sound design I use Sound Forge to edit and use a sound effects search engine called 'Basehead' that’s written by a couple of friends of mine and we really couldn’t do without it.

However, Pro Tools is my most essential piece of kit.

Which game that you have worked on would you say deserves more credit and why?

That’s a really tough question. I don’t think any of them deserve more credit than any of the others. I’ve been very lucky to have worked on some very successful titles and you just never know what the gamers out

there are going to go mad for.

How has your music making improved / moved forwards?

I think the way we think about making audio for games hasn’t changed at all.

I still have to sit and think of a tune or how a huge magical spell might sound, but the quality and tools has changed a huge amount. After having to loop cymbals for GoldenEye because the decay was too long and took up too much memory, to ending up with the City of Prague Philharmonic recording a full orchestral movie-esque score is quite a big jump in 16 years.

Obviously the biggest thing for audio is the memory space that we have now makes the quality so much better than back then, but we still have programmers moaning about how much space we take up!

Finally what does the future hold for Grant Kirkhope?

More of the same hopefully. I’m still hugely passionate about making sound for games and I’ve been very lucky in my career so far. I would like to have a go at scoring a movie someday, who knows! Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is out on February 7th and I’m really proud of all the audio in this game. It’s been a huge undertaking but immensely rewarding, the soundtrack is out on the same day and I hope people will enjoy listening to it as much as I did making it.

20

Ster Wsr

Ster WSR

We step back a few years and dig in the shoe box for a collection of flicks from UK greats, Issue #9 welcomes Ster from WSR Crew.

Wordplay

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Ster Wsr

Wordplay

We Slam Railways

24

Goldie

Clifford Joseph Price, AKA Goldie, is an electronic music pioneer, disc jockey, visual artist and actor. Aside from being well known for his innovations in the drum and bass scene as founder of seminal label Metalheadz, Goldie's sphere of influence has

also extended to the art world and B-boy community over the years. We are talking legendary status. Trust us, Goldie's story is a fascinating one. Wordplay caught up with Goldie to find out why this 'jack of all trades' is busier than ever...

Photo and Cover shoot: Ed Aves

GO LD IE Wordplay

26

Goldie

I used to follow all the old Graphotisms and still have the issue that featured you on the front cover. Even though your career is so varied, it is the graffiti that we are most interested in, especially as you seem to be getting more and more involved in your artwork again...

Wow, can you forward us a copy? I would love to see this again!

Most writers we interview say they started graffiti because they were influenced by the 1984 book 'Subway art'. You were in this book, already painting and representing the UK movement of the culture. So who influenced you to start?

I love the work of Basquiat and obviously hung and painted with the Tats Cru. Mode2 I respect. Our crew influenced each other to start with. It was a communal thing and we had nothing much else to do.

Most of the materials and tools you used back then have either disappeared now or have been replaced by paint that was designed for artwork. What did you use in the 80's and what do you use now? Has it changed the way you work?

Back in them days we’d still use car spray paint of which is now really collectable.

Obviously we’d paint freehand and not use stencils. Hasn’t really changed. Stencils have been introduced but everyones still using spray cans.

You seem to be more and more involved in the artwork again, with exhibitions for the Olympics and various things with Adidas. Is there any reason or particular influence that has got you started again?

I was there at the beginning when it all started in America. I obviously got into music and became very successful which took my mind away from painting. About 6 years ago I nearly lost my leg in a water skiing accident and I was hospitalized for some time. I did a lot of thinking and was really down on my luck. When I was back on my feet again i attended an art exhibition in London at Sheridans, curated by Eddie Lock and it was then I decided to paint again. He believed in my work and we knew I could really excel again.

Have you got any unseen flicks of your graffiti for us?

I’ll forward a couple of works that I’ve done and sure not too many people have seen.

Do you still follow graffiti these days?

If so who do you rate?

Got to be the Tats Cru from New York.

They recently came over and we painted in London and Brighton.It was like the old times. I’m still keeping my finger on the pulse but with the writers who created the scene back in the day.

“I’m still keeping my finger on the pulse but with the writers who created the scene back in the day..”

Artwork courtesy of: www.eddielock.co.uk

Wordplay

Artwork courtesy of: www.eddielock.co.uk

28 Goldie

Wordplay

“Alchemy, I’m an alchemist! I love the art and djing, making music best.”

When creating music and acting took over your career did you still find time to produce artwork?

Yeah, I was doing commissions for Bjork, Noel Gallagher and a whole load of celebrities. Noel just gave me the piece back as it goes. I also did some great pieces for my personal use.

Any plans for more acting?

Finally any big up?

Yeah for sure, I'm just waiting for the right script to come along. I've got some great TV projects in the pipeline and a BBC Art series in the pipeline too.

Big up to all the readers!

Have you got any new music coming out? And who should we be looking out for?

Can you still breakdance?

Yeah I’ve still got the moves. I am doing Bikram yoga wherever I travel, so I'm feeling the best I've felt in a while.

Of all the things that you have achieved in your career, what would you say best describes Goldie?

Alchemy, I’m an alchemist! I love the art, djing and making music best. Red Bull have just made an amazing documentary on me as an artist and they called it “The Alchemist!”

I am currently recording a new album, which is going well. I think it's my best work since 'Timeless'. The new stuff includes live elements that I'm really proud of. As well as this I am revisiting the iconic 'Timeless' album, re-noting and scoring it for a full orchestra and choir with cutting edge ensemble. I’ve also just remixed The Joker and Ed Sheeran’s ‘Lego House’ that I’m mighty proud of. My new single “We are the Core” is currently out now.

30

Cappo

CAPPO Words:Ryan Newman

Nottingham stalwart Cappo is widely regarded as one of the finest emcees in the history of UK hip-hop.

Before you started rapping, you used to write graffiti, what brought about the change in vocation?

He has been knocking out bangers since you were just an occupant of your daddy's nutsack. From his critically acclaimed EP 'The Get Out' to his lyrical masterpiece 'Spaz the World', along with supporting and collaborating with some of the biggest names in the game, the man has done it all, and then some.

At the same time as I was drawing and writing graffiti I used to write verses and practice them in my garage over the break-beat records I owned. I showed my girlfriend a verse I had written and she was impressed. It gave me the confidence that I could spit, from there I started recording more often. Mates would say they didn’t believe it was me rapping when they heard the recordings. My neighbour heard one of my demos and took me to ‘ACNA Arts

We caught up with Cappo to pick his brain about his brilliant brain.

Wordplay

Centre’ where Trevor and Courtney Rose worked at the time. I was given some time in the studio to record a demo and basically it expanded from there. I still kept writing graffiti but eventually all my time started to get taken up with the music production and lyric writing.

What inspired you to start making music?

I would write graffiti and break in my garage. I had a Public Enemy tape and an NWA tape I would listen to. Through the breaking and graffiti I started hearing music and started collecting vinyl from Selecta-disc and Arcade records in Notts.

We would always freestyle into a dictaphone and listen back to what we recorded. I started to believe I had a flow and I definitely had a vision to release my music so I started to try and make beats, I saved up and bought my MPC and started building tracks. I think a lot of it was due to having a strong self-belief in what I could achieve. I remember hearing Mr 45 on the radio once and that definitely made me realise that it was possible I could do the same.

It’s been nearly 10 years since your debut LP ‘Spaz the World’ was released. How would you say your approach to music has changed?

I’ve written so many verses now that I have managed to put together a formula of how I write. I think that’s the main difference between then and now, I’m able to harness the formula as well as my viewpoint, the outlook I had back then has changed with age, I’m much more focused now and willing to learn, as well as willing to teach what I have learned to the new generation. I think back then I was viciously protective of my music and I didn’t deal with criticism easily. When I listen to Spaz the world I have the same attack style in my bars but not the same depth that I have now. Spaz the world was a crazy album that shocked a lot of people ‘coz it was as deep as it was hardcore.

Uncompromising music, I respect that and I’m proud of what we achieved with that LP. It definitely is still the main album that people talk about when they mention my work. I listened to 'Cirque des Clownes' a month back and it made me rethink what I am aiming for in the present, because it was so relentless it made me want to write some more tracks in that lane.

I’m definitely working towards getting back to that rhyme flow.

So tell us about your new releases, what projects you're currently involved with and what Cappo-related products should we should watch out for in the future.

I have launched my new label ‘Under the Cap Records’ which has released Gusto Grizwold: International Vacation. Its a mixtape / album featuring me rhyming over instrumentals from famous artists and groups I respect from a wide range of music, I wanted to show that my music is progressing and I figured the best way to do that would be to spit over a wide range of different soundscapes that you might not expect to hear me rhyme on. It's still real hip hop music but it has different time signatures and different sounding instrumentals and it has definitely got a sick response from the heads that support my music. Gusto Grizwold was something I wanted to put together fast without the vast amount of production work that I put into Genghis. I wanted it to sound like that 'because sometimes your music can sound sluggish and overworked if you keep chopping shit up into a thousand million mega pixels on the MPC. I wanted to do something for my own interest and I think it turned out ill. I have had a few people tell me it’s my best work to date. Apart from the Gusto tape I have been working with DJ Nappa from Phi Life Cypher and we have collaborated on a full length LP that will be released this year.

I have been working on many features and collabo's in the last 6 months so I’m looking forward to them getting released as well as working hard on my new album.

This album will be something completely original. I’m trying not to force the music so it will sound honest and raw.

What is your opinion of the UK hip-hop scene at the moment, what new artists coming up do you rate?

I definitely think the UK hip-hop scene is sick right now, there are a lot of artists coming up through the ranks who are dope MC's. Definitely Juganaut is going hard for Notts right now, and Jah Digga. The new MCs are sick because they have grown up listening to all sorts of Hip Hop and so they can apply there skills in many different ways over music that has no boundaries, I respect that and I think its important to be able to learn from all generations and that means letting the youth do what they feel is right with their music.

What is it like to get called out by Chuck D to jump on stage and spit some bars with Public Enemy?'

The P Brothers and myself were supporting Public Enemy at a show in Cambridge and we made sure we gave them some CDs of our music. At the time our live show was real tight. Ivory and Paul S had blessed me with the black leather goose jacket and the Luis Vuitton snapback plus we were rocking gold rope chains and reppin' the Bronx in full. I think Chuck and Flava must have heard the show and called me up from backstage to spit a freestyle with them. It’s one of my illest moments in hip hop.

Salute Public Enemy!

Who are your hip hop heroes?

J Dilla, Big Pun, Styly Cee, Paul C, B.I.G, Run DMC, Eazy E, Mode 2, Dre, Nas, Hov, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane the list goes on and on and on…

Who would you most like to collaborate with in the music world?

It's got to be Kendrick Lamar right now. He was responsible for making me realise that hip hop is still moving forward. I would definitely want to work on material like the 'Reagan Era' track with him.

32

Cappo

What was the best live show you've ever played?

You are Nottingham born and bred, any plans to run for Mayor in the future?

What’s the best album you've heard in the last year?

There was a few Herbaliser shows I enjoyed, there was one in France when I looked up and saw a giant crane with a camera attached to it swooping towards me, that made it official so that was dope. I remember a show in Bradford I did with Main rock records, the show was ill because everyone in there were true heads and it was packed out. My best shows are the ones where I walk from the stage knowing that I spoke my verses right and people could hear that my vocals were on point.

No plans for mayor! But speaking of the future in that term I was recommended to watch 'Decline of the western civilisation: the Metal Years' by Juganaut recently. Its a documentary about Heavy metal in ‘87 and one of the questions was "What will you do if you don’t become rich off the music?"

None of them had a contingency plan, that made me work harder on scheming my way to building a way through the music that will enable me to live my life after I have decided to put the mic down, maybe I never will put down the mic but I definitely will have several different avenues to expand into if I decide to move on from creating my own music. One avenue is to produce and write for others, using my skill towards a bigger picture….

Kendrick Lamar 'Section 80'

And tell us about your worst one...

There is no worst show but there are moments at different shows when I can tell that the whole night is going against us, its happened a few times in Notts my home town. Sometimes it just seems as if the promoter who has booked you has got it twisted and then disappears. That’s what makes a show the worst, when the promoters are off key from the start of the night 'coz you know that you have to keep your eye on them until you get the payment you have agreed.

Ok, now for a few quick-fire questions…

What is your all time favourite lyric/ bar?

"I came in the door, I said it before..."

Your favourite chocolate bar?

Photo: Mick Elson

Snickers

If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?

I would have dinner with my mum and my son.

If a film were going to be made about your life, which actor would you want to play you?

Marlon Brando in the 'Heart of Darkness / Apocalypse Now' era.

Anything else you'd like to say?

Major shouts to Wordplay for supporting me and my new material. Look out for the new products coming soon on UTC records 2012. PEACE. Find all things Cappo at www.suspect-packages.com

Photo: Gary Salter

34 Bboy Mouse

Wordplay

Following the recent launch of his bboying event Floor Rippers, we caught up with former uk bboy champ Ereson Catipon aka B-boy mouse.

basically just developing the Indian hiphop scene, right now it's getting popular. Hip hop is getting accepted there now you know. I'm going to Lithuania to judge an event and then I'm going to Cambridge to teach a workshop, and after that I can't remember right now man, it's all in my diary but I have a couple of things lined up, places to go this year. I've got Sweden and then King of the Bboys in Birmingham, then I'm going to the Philippines in March for two and a half months, but before I go to the Philippines I'm stopping over in Singapore for a jam celebrating the anniversary of Radikal Force. It's an amazing jam, that's my favourite jam in the world.

How long have you been dancing for?

I started bboying in '96, but I’ve been dancing hiphop dance like new-jack swing since I was nine.

You've been in and been associated with a few different crews over the years, can you please give us a history of this and tell us which crews you're repping at the moment?

What first got you into bboying?

I saw it on television, this rap group called The Master Plan, there was a bboy there called Jay Master. I saw that first but because of new-jack swing I hardly practiced the moves I saw, I was really amazed by it. A week later I saw a group called Legit Misfitz, they were doing a lot more impressive moves like powermoves and stuff, I practiced that afterwards. When I came to England I could already do some moves but I wasn't really bboy minded, I was a skater and I just danced the way I wanted. Then I went to go and see Lil Tim and Coza at a club in Birmingham called the Sanctuary, I asked them if I can join and they said ‘no’, so basically I got into bboying just to prove that I could smoke anybody that stepped in my path.

What are your views on the UK bboying scene in its current state?

Right now it's very good because there's a lot of jams, when I started there were hardly any, probably one every six months.

Right now there's a lot of dancers out there you know, but it's a young scene, everytime there are new kids, the movements evolve but the mind of the dancer stays young. I can see the UK scene right now is turning good but it could be better with a little bit more guidance.

But the UK has a lot of pride, for me I feel like some people here got this thing easy, so they don't really take it as hard a culture as the people that started it.

You compete at and get invited to a lot of different jams around the globe, what jams, countries and shows have you got coming up? 'm just waiting on confirmation to go to Hip Opsession in India, because we just won the qualifier in Leeds. The one in India is

My first crew in the UK was a crew called Tron2, I started it with bboy Seek from Burnley, we started it becausethere was only me and him bboying in Manchester.

We saw each other in a club and battled for a couple of hours before deciding to practice together and form Tron2. Then from Tron2 we recruited people, a gymnast and a Northern Soul Dancer that were both bboys as well. From there we accidentally met the guys from Chunks of Fun(k) all from Reading and then we all went to the West to Visit bboy P from Bad Taste Crew, from there we all just jammed everywhere all day everyday. We just got together like crazy because we all stayed in the same apartment and from there we built a crew called COTMB, Children of the Monkey Basket, that contained like three crews, Bad Taste Crew, Tron2 and Chunks of Fun(k). From there a lot of people tried to associate me with their group because I was getting better, I was associated one time with Sinstars.

Most of the crews I've been in have been made up of really good friends you know?

Right now I'm in a crew that was started in Korea called Floor Gangz and I've never felt so at home so I rep this crew like they are my real family. Floor Gangz started in 2004 but I got down in Floor Gangz in 2007 when I went over to Korea for the first time to compete. People just started battling me, like everybody there, the founders of Floor Gangz are Tinoroc and Born, they put Floor Gangz together to prove a point to everyone around the world that Korea had style, from day one they just exploited all the powermoves and all the tricks that everybody knows about Koreans. In Korea there are about 28 members in Floor Gangz so I had to battle most of them in a cypher out there. After that we just chilled, went drinking and before I left they put me down as an official

member, from there I came back to the UK and started recruiting people.

I'm really picky with the people I recruit, so I recruit young kids that I think have a lot of potential but it's hard to maintain young people to be in a crew, most of them have their own agenda in life but I'm loving my crew right now, everybody in the crew's getting hype, at the recent iLL Sessions Jam in Cambridge my boy Jack, bboy Nasty Heron was the funkiest one there so I have heard from other people. It makes me proud to hear that kind of thing.

After that, Mighty Zulu Kings put me down as well at IBE in 2008, me and Fuego had to battle 30 fucking Zulu Kings and everybody there was a heavy hitter, so me and Fuego had to do 30 rounds each. So now I'm repping Floor Gangz, Mighty Zulu Kingz and Break Life from Ken Swift.

In 2006 Kenny watched my show 'Life Of a Bboy'. in Manchester and after the show he just came up to me, took me to the corner and asked me 'Yo man I want you to be in Breaklife' I was like 'Yo it would be an honour to be Breaklife'. But the only way you become an official member is you gotta have a Breaklife tattoo and when I'm ready to put that Breaklife tattoo on my body I will, but I still associate with them.

I'm also associated with Radikal Force Crew from Singapore but I only rep Floor Gangz in my heart now.

Lastly, any shout outs?

I wanna give a big shout out to my crew Floor Gangz, big shout out to Blanka for always representing and basically giving back to the culture, Alien Ness for being raw as fuck. Big shout out to every fucking body in the world. PEACE. Interview by Joe Downes For more information on the UK b-boy scene keep an eye on: www.ukbboy.info www.illsessions.co.uk

38

The Four Owls

The 4 Owls are the latest incarnation from High Focus Records. Made up of emcees Fliptrix (Big Owl), Verb T (Bird T), Leaf dog (Deformed Wing) and BVA MC (Rusty Takeoff), the supergroup have taken 2012 by storm with their debut album 'Nature's Greatest Mystery'.

Rather than put out a mediocre release and hide behind their masks, The 4 Owls are responsible for one of the records of the year. I have heard people label the album a classic and they are not wrong. Listeners are greeted by fourteen undiluted hip hop bangers that prove beyond any doubt that the project is far, far more than just a clever idea.

Concepts are one thing, but concepts often get in the way of music. Much like MF Doom, but unlike the Insane Clown Posse, The 4 Owls experiment has worked. Masked at all times when performing, they even met us and interviewed in their masks. We suspect they record in their masks too. Masks aside, even the most cynical heads must agree that the music is just about as good as it gets.

UK hip hop was never dead. It never flatlined and never stopped breathing.

How can we put this best? UK hip hop just hibernated for a while. What it needed was a healthy dose of reinvention; a defibrillator pulse, a nice injection of imagination to kick it back into life. The 4 Owls can hold their heads (and beaks) high for playing a significant part in the renaissance.

Wordplay caught up with Big Owl, Bird T, Rusty Takeoff and Deformed Wing to get to the bones of the project...

Wordplay: For the benefit of people who haven’t heard about you guys before, can you explain who you are, where you’re from and why you do what you do?

BIG OWL: I’m Big Owl, and I’m from the forest innit (laughs) and I do what I do because it feels natural, pretty much.

DEFORMED WING: We’re from the fucking woods man.

RUSTY TAKE-OFF: I’m Rusty Take-off aka BVA MC. I do what I do because it feels good and it’s better than wanking off every night.

BIRD T: Yeah, I’m Bird T - from where I’m from, at where I’m at. We’re just here, because the owls have just formed, I don’t know exactly how we formed, it just happened because it was meant to.

Nature’s Greatest Mystery, that’s what it is.

DEFORMED WING: And I’m the deformed wing.

BIRD T: All that needs to be said…

WORDPLAY: Where do The Four Owls come from?

RUSTY TAKE-OFF: Basically me and Leaf came up to London to shoot the video for the track ‘Some People Say’ from Leaf's solo album ‘From A Scarecrow’s Perspective’.

We stayed up here for a few days doing it, and just started making tunes with Fliptrix.

We made one tune, one tune turned into two and then we decided to make an EP. We came up with the name because we’d been listening to Cypress Hill hard before we came up. That ‘Spark Another Owl’ song. So we were calling our spliffs owls at the time. Obviously after a couple of days that got fully incorporated and we grew wings and took flight. We recruited Verbs and decided to make it an album, and that was that. That was February last year and it’s all coming good now.

WORDPLAY: So Leaf Dog, you produced all the beats right? Would you like to talk about the creative process of selecting the beats for the album?

DEFORMED WING: Yeah that was interesting. I just picked out my favorite beats that I'd made that never got sent to no-one. Half of them are my favourite beats that I have ever made. It was just like 'we have to rap on these'. Like ‘Not Like Before’ and ‘Original' and 'Champion’...

RUSTY TAKEOFF: 'Not like before' was actually mine from my solo album. I’d already recorded my bars but I gave it up for the project.

Wordplay

WORDPLAY: So you whittled four hundred beats down to fourteen?

BIG OWL: I swear it was like six hundred.

There were literally about six hundred and we spent a good few hours listening to them all. And that got a little bit long, but I remember we got to about the four hundred mark and Leaf was like keep going! There’s more heat rocks innit. So we kept on digging and got about forty five heat rocks in the folder and eventually selected a final fourteen. I booked ten hours studio time with Shitty Claw at Kilimanjaro Studios, we laid the album down and then Shitty Claw came through, mixed and mastered the whole project and made it sound nice and fresh. Big up Shitty Claw.

RUSTY TAKEOFF: None of us were man enough to take the name Shitty Claw. It was always on the table but none of us wanted to take it. Chemo was like ‘which owl am I?’ And we were like ‘well there’s shitty claw?’ And he loved it.

Wordplay: You have dropped a few influences already like Cypress Hill and smoking weed. What other influences have you drawn from to make this project what it is?

BIRD T: The great outdoors; the owl thing in general. Personally getting involved in the project involved watching a load of owl shit on YouTube (laughs). Someone was telling us about some documentary where an owl can shoot laser beams from its eyes. I was like 'no fucking way'. And then you watch it and it’s a half truth. Be sure to look out for an owl shooting laser beams and paralysing its pray before it kills it.

That’s a good thing to watch. And then there’s loads of history about owls, like, in certain cultures they believe owls are evil and steal kids in the night and shit.

Whereas some cultures believe they’re heroic and protect the community.

There’s a whole load of interesting stuff surrounding owls; the good, the dark, the light, the evil and the heroic. I think we’ve captured all of that. On the album we get a bit evil, but we’re thoughtful, we’re good people overall, so it’s like the name fits, you know what I mean? It works for me.

DEFORMED WING: ‘Much Too Much’ Innit…

BIRD T: Yeah that’s the evil side.

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The Four Owls

“There’s a whole load of interesting stuff surrounding owls; the good, the dark, the light, the evil and the heroic.”

Wordplay WORDPLAY: Owls definitely have a whole holier than thou side, but they’re still pretty unseen and spooky…

WORDPLAY: How have the masks been received?

BIRD T: somebody said it was kinky...

BIG OWL: When it all began we were just ‘burning the owl’ but then we started to look at these documentaries on owls and began to realise just how sick these birds actually are.

DEFORMED WING: I couldn’t stop watching owl documentaries…

BIG OWL: Trust me, have a look on YouTube, watch some owl documentaries.

Even certain fighter planes have been designed around owls and shit.

DEFORMED WING: We got the name from an owl documentary anyway. The presenter said that owls are ‘Nature’s Greatest Mystery’.

BIG OWL: That’s how it was born.

Wordplay: We’ve heard a lot of people say that ‘Nature’s Greatest Mystery’ is a classic album. Do you think it lives up to the plaudits?

BIG OWL: I think it’s got a whole journey man. If you listen to the album from beginning to end, I really feel like it takes you on a journey. For me I find it hard to choose a favorite track, because each tune means a lot to me. ‘Not Like Before’ is the tune that I was most fond of at the beginning, I thought it was nice to give everyone an insight into how all of our shit began from the start because none of us have really gone into that much detail about it. Listening to Verbs talking about touring with Phi Life Cypher when he was 18 and shit for example. It’s good to hear everyone’s story.

BIG OWL: We did our debut show just last night, and we came out for the first time in our masks, and it was sick man. Literally, when I have the mask on I don’t even think I’m Fliptrix anymore; I’m Big Owl. WORDPLAY: That’s something that’s been missing from the scene, a bit of invention and innovation. It’s creative, but its kind of fun as well…

BIG OWL: Definitely man, not everything needs to be so serious. I mean I’ve done two solo albums, I’ve got a third one ready and I just wanted to do something different, something exciting.

RUSTY TAKE-OFF: Yeah I think it’s nice like that because the album is quite serious, but there's much more to it than just what you hear on the record.

WORDPLAY: So how far can you push this concept?

BIG OWL: I think we can push it far man.

I mean in years to come we could be suspended from the stage, coming down from the sky like ‘ARRRGGGGGH’ do you know what I mean? Full body suits, like jet packs, Just taking off man. Owls start taking flight just jet packing into the sky, with our wings flapping, burning the owl, whilst spitting a bar.

BIRD T: We’re pretty much going to have to do a movie I reckon.

BIG OWL: And comics…

RUSTY TAKE-OFF: And action figures...

WORDPLAY: Okay, let’s talk about the masks…

BIRD T: We wanted to become the Owls, not just another ‘supergroup'. I mean we are a supergroup, but I don’t look at it like we’re a supergroup, I look at it like we’re a new group. It was never a ‘oh let’s just do this in our spare time’ type of thing, this is a proper project that we all put our hearts into. The masks are a way of bringing us together as a collective and becoming the owls, like we’re not just solo artists, we are the owls; the masks unify us.

WORDPLAY: A lot of people link the resurrection of UK hip hop to High Focus. What does High Focus Record’s latest crew have to say about that?

DEFORMED WING: We’ll see man, we’ll see…

BIG OWL: That’s why I tried to put the whole High Focus thing together.

There’s a whole generation here, and with Lowlife that was a whole generation before us. Everyone on High Focus are my best mates basically. It’s a family affair this whole thing. There’s a lot of sick talent out there, and I just wanted to put shit out professionally. All this music is from the heart; none of it is diluted down. You’ll never hear any of us doing some waste autotune chorus or trying to appeal to what we think radio wants. We make music that we want to make for ourselves and for the people. I firmly believe that if you do something real then the whole world will catch on to it, and I think people are catching onto it.

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Jelly Belly

JELLY BEAN SPRAYS We gave a bunch of artists a number of cans to paint a Jelly Belly jelly bean in their style, choosing their favourite flavour and colour. All beans were painted in designated legal graffiti hotspots, and the results are amazing. We received beans from across the country and here are some of our favourites.

The artist’s favourite 7 of the 50 Jelly Belly jelly bean flavours from top left are Berry Blue, Caramel Apple, Island Punch, Green Apple, Blueberry, Tutti Fruiti and Very Cherry.

Wordplay

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Infamous Last Words

ILW

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Infamous Last Words

“ Infamous Last Words isn’t one persons crew, the crew is all of ours.”

Tell me about the crew, what does it stand for, how did you form?

How did you come up with the names Kak, Smug, Epok, Bonzai and Dead?

What is it that you love about graffiti and what do you hate?

Bonzai: Infamous Last Words crew is made up of five writers Kak, Epok, Dead, Smug and Bonzai. I had met and painted with each of the guys on different occasions, and painting with them really pushed me to produce the best I could as I know these guys are big and really good at what they do. The five of us had been up to Liverpool a couple of times and painted, hung out and got to know each other better. (Liverpool is the easiest place for us to meet as we live in different parts of the UK). We all got on really well on a personal level and even though we all paint differently, together it worked really well.

Kak: I think a name/tag is really important, I wanted one that was easy to remember and different to the usual names.

Dead: I’ve loved graffiti for over 25 years, I'll never get bored of it!!

Have you travelled much and painted?

If so where, and whats been your favorite place so far?

Kak: I've been really lucky and have had the chance to travel around quite a bit.

Ireland, Europe, Japan. My favourite jam was in Roskilde in Denmark, that was an amazing experience.

What’s the weirdest experience you've had with graffiti?

Graffiti changes rapidly with new paint products, Internet, styles and fashion influences, where do you see it in ten years?

Smug: Over the past few years graffiti has really gone crazy, loads of people really pushing it forward with some crazy stuff.

Hopefully it keeps going this way.

Anything you want to tell our readers?

Graffiti or non graffiti wise.

Smug: Wear a mask!

Shortly after all five of us had met up for the second time Smug was working in London and staying at mine for a few days, we got chatting one night, turns out we both had been thinking about getting something sorted with the same line up.

We arranged to meet up in Liverpool again soon after to see what the other guys thought...and that's pretty much it.

Infamous Last Words isn’t one persons crew, the crew is all of ours.

Who/what was your inspiration and when did you start?

Epok: I started in the 80’s and my inspiration was hip hop and older writers.

What is your favorite element of graffiti?

Dead: All of it!

Dead: Being threatened by an eleven year old with a broken bottle while painting was quite weird.

Who should we look out for in the UK, who should we be interviewing next?

And the funniest?

Bonzai: Lovepusher, Amuk, Solo One….

Smug: Seeing Kak’s passport photo.

Any shouts?

Recently there's been loads of new spray paint products, have you 'Stuck to what you know' or changed for something new?

To everyone out there pushing it.

Epok: There are so many good brands out there now. I think you need to try everything and find what works best for you.

Smug/Dead

Kak

Dead

Wordplay

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Kak

Infamous Last Words

Epok

Smug/Epok

Bonzai

Wordplay

Title and Artist Bonzai

Title and Artist Dead

Title and Artist Bonzai

50 Infamous Last Words

Kak

Kak

Smug

Wordplay

52

Skuff

SKUFF Dr Skuff needs no introduction. As one of the founding members of Cambridge's Delegates Of Culture, one half of The Skuff & Inja show and a respected solo artist in his own right, Skuff has no explaining to do to anyone. Let's not even get into his knee-deep involvement with Supremebeing. He has been one of the most inventive lyricists in the UK for years and continues to blaze trails with his production, wordplay and live endeavors.

tried to buy songs from us, like proper Radio one artists, but we’d say no, and then never release them ourselves. So we thought yeah, it’s all the stuff you couldn’t get before, so let’s call it ‘Inaccessible’, and the cover can just be barbed wire. Not sure how to show AIDS on the CD art though.

Wordplay caught up with Skuff to see what he had to say for himself...

Bee & S Class are doing Rhyme Pad (rhymepad-radio.co.uk), a proper hip-hop show that goes out live on Friday nights.

They just got sacked from Cambridge radio for inviting a horde of rappers in for the Christmas special, getting pissed and ‘someone’ spilling beer on equipment. So yeah, we’ve grown up a lot, really. Toe has been producing massive bass music under the name Bioviolence; he’s been a huge part of the live shows and the secret to making a field of ravers go mental. Inja is still hosting and MCing for everyone from DMCs & WARNING to Captain Krunch & DJ Die… and we all still get together to consume lots of food quite often. Oh yeah, parenting is pretty big on most of their schedules too.

You and Inja smashed the festivals last summer. We caught you at Secret Garden Party and several others. How is summer 2012 going to compare with summer 2011?

I’d like to do a festival every weekend, then watch telly for about a month at the end. At the moment we’re just trying to improve the show more and more… I’ve been to so many live shows that I get bored at, no matter how much I like the artist, and we wanted a live show that would keep people interested whether they had heard of us or not… Which is good, because we get put in front of a lot of big crowds that have no fucking clue who we are, and there’s about 5 minutes to convince them to stay for the whole show. Aside from that, Myself, Inja & Bioviolence all have solo releases this year, and we’re putting together a mix CD compilation thing for the live shows. You’ll have to be there to get them though. Apart from all that, Supremebeing clothing takes up more than most of my time, and it’s going pretty well, so I’m hoping this will be a big year for us.

What are other members up to these days?

We haven't seen a Delegates of Culture release since 'Bad Guys' three years ago. When can we expect to see you get back together again?

We have a new LP of unreleased stuff and b-sides this year, called 'Inaccessible’.

Basically, Toe made a good point: he said we couldn’t have made our music less accessible if we wrapped it in barbed wire and covered it in AIDS. We’d done two ‘Headcleaners’ CDs featuring most of the UK scene at the time, and didn’t credit ourselves… at all… apart from ‘produced

by Delegates’. I’ve met people who thought Delegates was some super group of all the acts on ‘Headcleaners’. People

Tell us about the new solo album?

When is it out, and what direction is your music moving in?

It’s called ‘Destroy Everything’ and it’s coming out March, after a free mixtape called ‘Smash Anything’, plus a couple of videos. It’s the follow up to ‘End of the World News’ really. ‘The Skuff & Inja Show’ was inspired by and made for live

shows; I think collaboration should really take you different places than you’d go alone, and it did… but ‘Destroy’ really feels different from that again, going back to a solo mentality. I’ve also tried to stop writing when I have nothing interesting to say, so most tracks are actually saying something or other… or that was the idea, anyway. I dunno, I really like it… There’s beats from Mr. Constant, Farma G, Bioviolence, Inja, Bee 109 and me… and features from the usual suspects. You’ll have to wait to see who makes the album in time, because I still am.

It's fair to say you've been involved in UK hip hop for a good few years now, how have things changed since you started and how do you see the future?

What I like most about music as a whole at the moment is that people are much less blinkered than they used to be.

People used to define themselves by the genre they were into, whereas now it’s okay to pick and choose from all the music out there. Plus people are less judgmental about doing something original with your music; it’s less defined by certain BPMs or drum patterns. Like MARKA for instance; people argue about if it’s D'n'B, drum step or whatever the fuck it is… Me personally?

I just turned on a video, I heard some heavy bass, and then I hear Strats go ‘Rah!’… then pow, he comes with some sick vocals… I don’t give a fuck what that is; that’s my shit! From that moment on, if that track is killing it, I like it… I don’t care what genre it’s supposed to be. You got Rodigan playing it, hip hop DJs playing it, D'n'B DJs playing it, everyone… that. Is. My. Shit. I get that music has different scenes, but I see the distinctions less and less as I get older. Even stuff like ‘Pass Out’ by Tinnie Tempah; I first heard it one morning when my alarm clock was going off set to Radio One. I just thought ‘nice one… that’s another one of us doing well.’

I’m probably being pretty naïve about the industry there, but I still hope it’s a meritocracy and anyone can make it with good music. Not that you have to do that to have a good career in music of course.

Anyway my point is this; check out a dancehall show from the 80’s. You’ve got a DJ spinning a load of different instrumentals, and a bunch of blokes handing around a mic doing their bars, one shouting ‘phenuminuminum waaaan’ every now and again. It’s basically the same thing all UK music with an MC has done since. It’s all good to me. >

Photo: Emily Waller

Wordplay

People tried to buy songs from us, like proper Radio 1 artists, but we’d say no

Skuff

What/who influenced you to start rapping in the first place?

Massive Attack, Rage Against The Machine, De La Soul, Pharcyde. I’ve made music since I was around thirteen, when Mick Jordan (my friend Leo’s dad) taught me my first chords on a guitar. They had a piano too, so I learnt some of that, and Leo’s brother had turntables and a mic. All the kids would go there, smoke soap bar, and take turns DJ'ing. Not many MC'ed, but I had been rapping on the songs I was writing, so I just did that over the top, and when I got to DJ, I’d pull out my collection and start doing the scratches I had learned. I never looked back. I thought I was the only one MC'ing with a home-town UK accent, and thought I was the only white kid from Cambridge rapping… but then, when I heard suspect packages tapes for the first time, I realised there was a scene to be a part of. Inja introduced me to other rappers from Cambridge, and suddenly we had a thing. Like, something no-one else had. But my big influence for doing things well… or getting them right… was something my Dad used to say. He’s a builder, and he’d finish something and go: ‘well… that looks like it grew there.’ I try to do that with everything from my music, to illustration, shoe and garment design, directing & editing video, everything… it’s gotta be like it just fucking grew there!

School Bully Records is your label. Are you signing other artists?

I contribute design and stuff, but it’s Bee, S

& Toe’s thing really. Basically, it’s just a way for artists who otherwise couldn’t get stuff out to release their music. We don’t have a lot of time on our hands, but there was money there from our releases and stuff, and at the same time we were hearing people like Dike & Contact Play absolutely killing it, so why not lend them a hand getting their stuff out if we can? The way it works is School Bully puts the money up for the physical product, but the promotion, distribution, music videos, PR… all that stuff is up to the artist. All School Bully does is put the money up, and ask for that money back once you’ve made it. You’re still independent, but you’re getting your release funded, which otherwise couldn’t happen in a lot of cases. Most of these rap kids aren’t going to spend £500-£1000 on releasing their CD even if they got hold of the money, but if it’s lent to you for only that purpose, why not? You have the choice of no money, or money for your CD. Dike & the Contact Play lot pretty much all went direct to High Focus after their first CDs, and School Bully couldn’t be happier about it. They get a good label that will look after them, we get to see them flourish… smiles all round.

Now I just need someone to sign me because I suck at promotion.

Who's shining in the UK for you at the moment, who should we look out for?

There’s an EP coming from him on Audio Danger Records: watch for them too.

Rhyme-pad.co.uk of course. In late 2011 Manchester smashed it for me; Skittles, Broke ‘n’ English, Chimpo - all killing it.

Mystro’s 2011 Rap Up too, check for that.

Oh yeah, The Boxettes, but I don’t need to say that either, they’ll be huge this year…

Apparently there’s this new thing called dubstep that’s meant to take off at some point, but I can’t see it myself. And watch for Supremebeing clothes, we make some nice stuff.

You can see a strong graff influence in your designs, have you ever tried Graffiti?

Ha ha!... Errr… no. I have done some pieces in some legal-ish places, and I did try to impress a girl once when I was well young by painting a massive teddy bear, but no, I am in no way that hardcore. I kind of think Cambridge doesn’t need much prettying up though; the best writers from here have about one or two pieces in town and the rest in places that actually merit graff more. I always planned to get it going, and I really enjoy illustration and painting, but I have enough hobbies to keep me occupied and enough bad habits to pin down my lungs.

Dirty Dike. Jam Baxter. Ronnie Bosh. The 4 Owls. But you lot know all that already!

Slang Immaculate; watch for him, he’s lurking in Cambridge at the moment but I expect he’ll be down your way soon.

Photo: Emily Waller

54

Wordplay

I’d like to do a festival every weekend, then watch telly for about a month at the end.

What does the future hold for Skuff?

Well. Musically, the video for ‘Feeling Good’ (2nd from my LP) is out now, along with ‘Smash Anything’ which is the free prelude to the ‘Destroy Everything’ LP in March. Inja has his ‘Bass Music/Escapism’ LP coming March too, and we both have an exclusive release with Bioviolence available at the festivals this year.

I’ve moved into some shoe design now at Supremebeing as well, which is surreal but exciting, so this year is all about how that goes. I’ve also been directing and editing our videos this year, ‘Feeling Good’ was my third and I’m now on to my fifth, which is also new and mad as cheese. Apart from that, I have some secret writing projects happening too, hopefully some voice over stuff, and a big art jam in LA (check out the Supremebeing ‘White Canvas Project’ for details). Just as much weird, different, fucked up & interesting stuff as I can possibly fit into this small, limited life we get really!

Lastly any shouts?

www.skuff.bandcamp.com twitter: @TheRealSkuff www.facebook.com/therealskuff www.whitecanvasproject.com www.supremebeing.com

Photo: Emily Waller

BAAAAAANNZAAAAAIII!!!!!!!

56

Nychos

NYCHOS

Wordplay

“growing up in a Hunters family you see loads of fucked up things.”

Nychos doesn’t call himself a writer, he describes himself as an illustrator that has developed 70% of his style on walls. He’s Austrian, from Vienna and travels a lot, you may of seen some of his work on the streets of London or recently in the Pure Evil Gallery. We catch up with him to find out how you start developing a style like this...

What crews do you write with?

I started my first crew (BANDE) with a bunch of Austrian mates about nine years ago, but we all ended up moving in different directions, so the crew kinda died, but we are all still good friends. After my experience writing in a crew I didn't feel like putting up a crew name anymore, it just didn't make sense. Now I have united with some new guys that I have known for a long time and painted with a lot back in the day. 'THE WEIRD' includes FRAU ISA from Austria, CONE, ROOKIE, BIAS DXTR, THE LOW BROWS, LOOK, VIDAM and myself. All members are illustrators and specialists in their own style. It's the first time I really see a future in teaming up and representing one thing.

development as a human being. Back then I lived in the south of Austria and there wasn’t much going on; no young artistic movements, almost no contact to anything cool like comics or an illustration scene, almost no graffiti and especially no Internet. But I was always drawing and I sensed the direction I wanted to go in. Of course as a kid I was a big fan of Disney, but we didn't even have Cartoon Network back then, so watching TV in general was kind of important to get what you could in terms of inspiration. Very early on I learned that I liked looking at cruel and disturbing things. Dead or rotting bodies on the streets or somewhere in the forests held some kind of beauty to me. This doesn’t mean I’m totally into bloody death metal themes, it's just growing up in a family of hunters you see loads of fucked up things, it was normal to me then, but today I see things differently.

I got into Graffiti because I liked being out there painting. There was this one guy who inspired me, NEO, he showed me a lot back then and I got deeper into it. He now lives in Zürich and works as a tattoo Artist.

I still love his work and we are still close, close friends.

When did you start?

Pretty late I would say. I was seventeen when I got into it but then there were a few years that I painted non-stop. I always wanted to get better with my drawing first as I always saw having a plan for what I painted as really important. I think it was 2003 when I started going crazy. It was then that I realised that you learn most about graffiti by painting.

What inspired your moves as a graffiti artist?

I think especially when you are young everything you see influences your

What is your favorite element of graffiti writing?

Hmm... I guess everything, I love all kinds of graffiti. We're all different people with different motivations to do different stuff, but I think that's what is so interesting about it. In all the years I have painted I always come back to where I started at, namely painting in a style that I enjoy. It doesn't matter where I am on this planet.

I try to always remember that it's all about having fun.

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Nychos

Wordplay

60

Nychos

You've travelled a lot and left your mark on many cities, but which would you say is your favorite destination to paint?

I can't really say. All cities operate on different systems. You never know how the system will react to you, and that is always very interesting to see. Sometimes it's a pain in the ass but I guess that’s just part of the game. The best cities are the ones where people have bigger problems than pieces on walls, usually the poorer places, but I like the way more beaten up cities allow you more freedom to roam.

And the funniest?

Founding 'THE WEIRD!!'

Recently there's been loads of new spray paint products, have you stuck to what you know or changed for something new?

I think it has gotten way easier to handle the can. Sure I have my favourites but at the end of the day it’s all paint and I paint with anything I can get my hands on.

Where do you see the Graffiti scene in ten years time?

What brings you to the UK so much?

Everything but not dead, that's for sure.

I love the UK and have many friends over here. I feel like the response is bigger than home. More people are interested. If you do something over here ten or more blogs write it up and express their opinions about it. At home if someone notices a piece all they say is: "oh yeah, look that's colourful, check it out." They never go deeper than that. But I also realise that since I've been painting in the UK so many people back home have begun to open their eyes, which is weird but classic for Austrians. As an example, I will find one piece in Wordplay Magazine, one in a German magazine and one in a Taiwanese tattoo magazine. Back home in Vienna, I end up in court even if the property owner is cool with it. The state sues me for painting private property. Isn’t that crazy? The cops once stopped me finishing a piece after six hours full painting. No wonder people stick to bombing.

What’s the weirdest experience you've had with graffiti?

Founding 'THE WEIRD'.

Who should we look out for?

'THE WEIRD' What does the future hold for Nychos?

Big, big murals and a book.

Any shout outs?

A big "OI!!" to the guys from HA and RT especially my brother VIBES, PANIC, also to JAY, Jim and Mati, George and Greg, Taz and Richard. Shouts to Mr. Jago and Will Barras, Matt from Dephect and PURE EVIL of course.

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62

Reviews

Shame The Devil We have been waiting a long time for this record to drop. 'It was the release of Kingpin's 'The Initiative' that alerted us towards the Caxton Press collective only a short while ago.

This album is just about as flawless as they come. It is by no means a half-arsed mixtape or a shoddy EP, this right here is a fully realised and executed work of art.

From the first to the last track you can feel every ounce of what has been put in behind the scenes.

Amy True adds a level of class with her well-balanced powerful vocals, coupled with her ability to throw lyrical onslaughts that rival any other rapper in the game.

Check the track 'Runnin' to experience just what she can do.

Manage, Emcee Killa and Kingpin are all at extremely high levels of dope as well, pushing positive and progressive subject matter to new boundaries. Armed with intellectual similes and metaphors that pepper each and every track on the album, this is a release not to be slept upon.

As individual artists, each member of Caxton Press possesses a unique and polished style that sets them aside from everyone else in the industry.

Subsequently, Caxton Press are a collective of real merit. Heavy hitting production, considered vocals, dominating delivery and even the careful selection and use of skit samples, all these elements blend superbly together to form one of the best releases of 2012 so far. When this drops I urge every single one of you to buy two copies so when you overplay your first one you have yourselves a back up.

Seriously DOPE.

http://caxtonpresshiphop.com

Wordplay

LDZ

Cat-Food This is an album that you ALL need to have in your collection. The CATFOOD LP dropped on Christmas day people! These guys Rocketed onto our airwaves way back when ‘Lips 2 Da Floor ft Dubbledge” exploded on the scene and they have not stopped since.

The album itself delivers an eclectic collection of tracks; something that helps LDZ stand out from the crowd. Producers Sumgii & Pierre Green’s capability to take on pretty much any genre and manipulate it into an anthem while keeping within the parameters of classic hip hop is a joy to behold. This only helps pave the way for the three-strong emcee pack, consisting of Dabbla, Cobes & Rocko

ldzmusic.bandcamp.com

Haan & Sixth Sense

The Haanshake We had never heard of either of these cats before they flung us a CD, but man we're happy they did. Emcee Haan teams up with producer Sixth Sense to release this free debut. London based Haan has a hypnotic style of delivery. He comes with an in-depth understanding of various life subjects and interesting concepts, while steering well clear of the cliched whiney preacher flex. Sixth Sense on the production kills it throughout, working heavily with looping strings and tangy drum snaps that result in an all-round eerie vibe.

haansixthsense.bandcamp.com

The Book Thieves In Spite of everything

The Book Thieves dropped their debut album out of nowhere over the weekend. Conceived by Legoman and Ol-e Mac, this effort was one that we had been eager to cop after checking the single 'Please Don’t' only a few days prior. Production has been split over the six track EP between Prozak, Kaloo, Boyden and Fredo. I don’t know where these guys have been hiding but between them they have knocked out some of the smoothest and ear pleasing tracks our ears have been blessed by in a long, long time.

http://thebookthieves.bandcamp.com

Defenders of Style Dirty Sterling

The West Yorkshire hip-hop scene has always cut a shadowy figure compared to other UK spots, lurking in the darkness, but occasionally spewing a heavyweight release. If there is any collective set to shift the balance and affirmatively stomp West Yorkshire (specifically Leeds) onto our maps and stereos it has to be The Defenders of Style.

This album screams out to the die hard hip hop heads out there, demanding their attention. It's been a while since we’ve heard an album fully dedicated to the old school and its such a welcome slap in the face. With features from Jack Flash, Deeflux, Wisdom and Minus & Phoenix (Fly Tippers) to name just a few, this a Dope album which has definitely been cooked up and served with a large side of nangness.

defendersofstyle.bandcamp.com

The Quaranteam The Quaranteam EP

The Quaranteam EP marries the efforts of Loudmouth Melvin, K-Nite, Skillit, Mentalist and Pyro Barz as they unite under the team moniker The Quaranteam.

After a year of releasing solo projects, the five-strong London based crew reformed to release this no-holds-barred super smash of a record. K-Nite and Loudmouth take full control behind the boards, taking us down the ever-popular soulful-hip-hop route, cocktailing high claps and brass instrumentation with rich bass backdrops and sampled motown vocal snippets. I know it sounds dope just written (I just read it back), but trust us, it sounds even better.

thequaranteam.bandcamp.com

Natural Selection Rhythm By Numbers

Primarily consisting of producer Brother Beatbox and gifted emcee Deeflux, along with the help of DJ’s Juice and Fingerfood, Natural Selection are a collective that have produced a release riddled with serious levels of dedication, thoughtfulness and energy.

Production across the whole album is stupidly tight; the album is made up of sample based joints that these guys have accumulated from sessions with friends.

It is an approach that pays off. The lyrical talent cannot be flawed either - Deeflux himself demonstrates clever and complex lyricism. Features from Guilty Simpson, Sonny Jim, Dr syntax and Tenchoo round this album up nicely.

naturalselectionuk.bandcamp.com

Inja

Bass music/ Escapism If there is any man within the UK scene capable of turning anything he touches into an energetic fireball of chaotic madness then it's Inja.

'Bass Music/Escapism' is Inja’s latest musical adventure. Touching base with pretty much any genre he feels he can lay some lyrical onslaughts over – there is no stopping the guy. This album is a binge drinking, sun soaked, feet stomping, head banging, adrenaline fueled punch in the face, and that’s putting it lightly. The stand out track has to be 'Pepper Sauce'; a jumpy party banger with a damn catchy chorus.

suspect-packages.com

Jack Flash & Wizard Progression

Jack Flash has been the name on a lot of people's tongues in recent times, whether it's for previous album and mixtape releases or his debut Don’t flop battle triumph. His name keeps cropping up for all the right reasons. This album has evidently seen extended amounts of time, dedication and careful consideration by both parties. 'Progression' is an apt title, it shows clear signs to break out onto the mainstream road, which is definitely no mean feat...

www.suspect-packages.com

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Reviews MysDiggy

Krate Krusaders

When the needle drops (Vol 2) When you have produced tracks for such esteemed acts as Akil the Mc, Genesis Elijah, Farma G and Sonny Jim (to name but a few), you know you have something special to offer, and this is precisely what Krate Krusaders are bringing. The production Duo - Badhabitz & 1Step return with Volume 2 of 'The Krate Krusaders presents: When the Needle drops'.

What’s refreshing to hear is the eclectic variety layered in each separate track, catering for the styles of the roster of selected emcees gloriously. Each track offers a little something different to keep your brain entertained, while bringing alive the featured emcees vocals. It’s actually quite hard to pinpoint stand out tracks as a result, but we were instantly drawn to 'Brainstorm' featuring the non-stop skills of Baron Samedi, purely for the gradual incline of plucky string samples and chopped vocals, on which Baron comes through with a ruthlessly strong set of vocals over the top.

www.suspect-packages.com

Steady Rock & Oliver Sudden The Shutdown EP

Steady of Prose had a huge influence on one, if not two, of the standout albums of last year. '11th Hour Massacre' with Crusada and the sick album 'Boom Bap Professionals' on which he teamed up with Efeks. Steady has such a distinctive sound when pummeling the tables. We love his subtle approach to music making, rarely using intrusive measures to capture an audience. This album breathes sophistication from the first jazzy track 'The shutdown', until the last 'They never Know'.

boombap.bandcamp.com

Kingpin

The Initiative Kingpin Smashes onto our radar with his exceptional debut 'The Initiative'.

If you’ve been following our site you would have seen us raving about Kingpin's first single 'Out of the box' ft Deadly Hunter.

The shout outs were all wholeheartedly valid - this guy knows how to handle a

microphone! Switching styles between the more recognised flows which allow for good use of intellectual and at times heartfelt lyricism, to his unbelievable ability for a quick tongued barrage, this young individual has a great deal to say and is evidently determined to make a statement. Listening to this is a true reminder of what 'real' hip hop music should sound like. Check 'Mic In My Hand' for a taste of how much this guy wants it...

www.suspect-packages.com

Logic & Last Resort True Talk

For any of you who know People’s Army, you should also know Logic. As a Group they have been confronting serious subject matter since day dot. With a debut release from People’s Army, Logic has teamed up with producer Last Resort on 'True Talk'.

We never expected anything less than an unadulterated perspective into a powerful mind and this is exactly what we got.

Last Resort lays down a tally of modern hip hop wizardry that would keep not only the diehard fans of the genre entertained, but also catch the attention of others more inclined to other UK flavours. 'Animal' is a straight club banger. Logic as always is keen to express subjects that affect us all, both directly and indirectly, which he delivers flawlessly. This album is full of 'true story' moments, boasting features from Lowkey, Klashnekoff, Akala, Remus and Maverick Sabre to name but a few.

www.suspect-packages.com

Dubbledge Vs TheBoondocks Dubbledge explodes back onto our systems with this clever incarnation between rap album and TV series. Dubbledge vs The Boondocks sees clever skits taken from the TV series The Boondocks twinned with Dubbledges ability to take delicate subjects, inject intelligence and humour and still come out the other side laughing with a sick track. Prime example track titled “Making of a slave” deals with the issues of racial exploitation.

On production side, features from Chase and Status, Metabeats and DJ IQ help give the album added depth.

www.suspect-packages.com

The Four Owls Natures Greatest Mystery

Fliptrix, Verb T, BVA and Leafdog of High Focus Records have taken their already undeniable solo talents and joined forces to create The 4 Owls. Nature’s Greatest Mystery brings together all of the trademark skills of each individual into one finished product; from Leaf dog’s characteristic vocal style to Fliptrix’s diverse multi’s.

Each track showcases exactly why these guys are pivotal players in the UK scene and instrumental in its re-birth.

The album is a spectacle; each track is a head nodding classic boom bap masterpiece, and the lyrics are some of the most honest and captivating we have heard in a long, long time. Seriously we cannot urge you to buy this album enough, not only for your own musical enjoyment but also to support what these guys are doing for the scene.

www.high-focus.com

Skittles

Poor With £100 Trainers There is no doubt that London can no longer safely say we are the hub of the UK hip hop culture. With every month that ticks past another dope release emerges from distant borders. Our latest Invitation is that of Estate recordings Mancunian wordsmith Skittles.

“Poor With £100 Trainers” is Skittles 2nd LP, before the album release we had heard a couple of taster joints such as ‘Tip-i-cally’ and ‘Boys in Blue’ as well as the mesmerizingly dope ‘Dot2Dot’, which opened my ears and mind to the prospect of Skittles being one of the finer lyricists dominating the scene at the moment.

The 15 track album see’s Skittles himself take a large majority of production, exhibiting an eclectic musical influence, I think It would be unfair to try and categorize the backdrops of this album, the outcome cannot be flawed, Skittles alongside features from Chimpo, Dub Phizik and DRS have hit the nail on the head. SICK.

www.surus.co.uk/estate-recordings

Wordplay Wordplay

Assa

Everyday user Sheffield Born, Manchester repping, Tactical Thinking associated Assa drops his 'Everyday User' album upon the world. We first caught wind of the release when we heard 'Super Hero' - a quick witted and comical flip on the roles your typical hero encounters, laid over an extremely catchy beat.

Throughout this album Assa delivers at a slick-tongued pace, flirting between dark and almost satirical lyrical content, which contains a huge amount of cunning, and detail. 'Soap Opera' ft. Derogatory showcases this perfectly.

Vodka & Ayahuasca Gangrene

This is exactly that kind of album you would expect from this critically acclaimed duo.

It lives up to the album title; it is a broken, twisted and warped trip into fragmented rock riffs, weaved together to create a real sense of diversity on every track. Lyrically, the album offers us a direct insight into the classic (and much respected) 90's classic rhymeschemery, the wordplay is classy and grimy in equal measure. With guest features including Prodigy from Mobb Deep, Kool G Rap and Roc Marciano, this is an album well worth checking.

http://rarekindrecords.co.uk

www.suspect-packages.com

Asylum Seekas Recorded Delivery

we came across this cracking album from a collective based in Guernsey (off the shores of Normandy in the English Channel). These guys have already supported a heavy weight bunch of acts including Jehst, Lewis parker and Yungun on the scene. Upon listening to 'Recorded Delivery' it quickly becomes apparent as to why.

Consisting of a four-strong Emcee pack made up of Apex, Jimi Riddlz, Kp The Iceman and Big Ish and led by producers Iceman Beats and Dj Minirol, the emcee’s work together well as a group and even cohere with vocal pitchings and styles.

Throughout the album there is good evidence of lyrical intellect and savvy production. The Black Russian aka Klashnekoff even crops up for a feature.

Considering these had been off the radar to us until recently, Asylum Seekas are not to be slept upon.

http://asylumseekas.bandcamp.com

Naughty By Nature Anthem INC

Black Milk & Danny Brown Black & Brown

Let's get our only beef with this record out right away. This album is SHORT, way too short. It has that “I found a bunch of tracks on my computer that I never got round to using” vibe, but stone us dead, it's pure class A while it lasts and I am sure a lot of people would give away vital organs to be able to channel so much richness, attitude and natural ability on display here. Each track hits with a quick succession of jabbing samples, catchy hooks, erratic scratches and a knockout drum kick. Black Milk doesn’t delay in throwing the production straight into the deep end, which is fitting for the style both rappers showcase.

Danny Brown's delivery of choice is an onslaught of intrusive and aggressive lyricism spewed through a straining vocal box. This is as Detroit as it gets...

This album is a trip down memory lane with Kay Gee on production laying down a melee of pop hooks, catchy R’n’B choruses and traditional hip hop.

http://rarekindrecords.co.uk

Treach and Vic Roc Still deliver punchy lyricism and bring plenty amounts of attitude like it was still '96. Opening track 'Naughty Nation' starts the album off with a head-cranking bang and is definitely the stand out track. It’s a shame the album seems to swing towards a more R'n'B swag later on. We were kind of hoping these guys would bring back more of the straight up gangsta stylings they are so renowned for.

The former Interscope and Shady records signed Rapper has come back into the limelight releasing his album “Bottoms Up” under his own independent label Black Market Entertainment.

http://rarekindrecords.co.uk

Obie Trice Bottoms Up

Everyone remembers Obie trice right?

The release set for April 3rd see’s him step out of the shadow of Slim Shady to bring us a 16 track of straight up west coast Boom bap attitude. I think Obie is an underrated rapper, the guy possesses some pretty heavy hitting lyrics on this album.

Featuring large doses of production from Dr Dre, this is one not to miss.

suspect-packages.com

Wordplay

E H T

A J A M A D

We caught up with Jeru The Damaja a very long way from Brooklyn New York, we found him in a small local pub in Ipswich! A town where the local football team are known as The Tractor boys! An unlikely setting to say the least, but he was welcomed to a sell out gig of huge fans that had travelled from all over. Local intimate gigs are always the best anyway. The night was put on by Rapsploitation Sessions in The Swan pub in Ipswich.

How do you find the UK crowd compared to the States?

Well I mean, you know I never judge crowds on Geography, I judge crowds on how much they like Jeru The Damaja, and tonight they were Jeru The Damaja fans Ipswich was crazy!

Tell us about your UK tour.

Well next I'm off to Kingston, this tours pretty cool it's brought me to new places. I've never been to Kingston before, never been to Penzance and never been to Ipswich!

Do you like English Grub?

Do I like English grub? I like Beans? Beans on toast is okay, you know what I mean, beans on toast in the morning is good, get some eggs and tomatoes in there its all good.

How would you say the hip hop scene has changed since you started?

Hip hop has evolved! I mean it's like anything, you know, how has television evolved, it's a debate. For me it's cool because the global evolution of hip hop has gotten me to a place where I can travel all over the world.

check that out! It's got over 1 million hits already its only been out for some months!

Whats in your fridge right now?

Pancakes, definitely!

I'll tell you, it's funny cos my fridge is empty, I have five apples, a container of almond milk and some orange juice.

Whats your latest release and where can we get it?

Whats the worst thing to happen to you on stage?

Cornflakes or pancakes?

My latest release will be out sometime this year but I have no details on that yet haha! You’ll need to keep an eye on my facebook page.

I dropped my mic (Tonight daaamn). www.facebook.com/pages/Jeru-the- Damaja Can you link us to a Youtube video?

Interview by Joe Downes Yea I have a video with some Polish guys called Slums attack,

Photo: Benoit Florencon

U R JE

Dr Syntax Photo: Chris Lucas

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DR SYNTAX Since first making noise back in 2003 with standout appearances on the Foreign Beggars ‘Asylum Speakers’ and The Menagerie ‘Wild Kingdom’ albums, Dr Syntax has been consistently putting in work on the live circuit and releasing quality solo material. He’s back fresh for 2012 with a new project mixed by DJ Woody, we caught up with the good doctor for the full scoop…

Tell us a little bit about the new mixtape?

It’s called 'Still At Large', and it's mostly original beats from the likes of Pete Cannon, Mr Avocado, Leaf Dog and Manchester band The Mouse Outfit. I've also got a few dubs on there for good measure. I haven't approached it like I would an album so it's a very mixed bag – from quite throwback sounding hip hop beats to well known grime rhythms.

Guest wise I've got a killer verse from Kyza, Leafy and BVA from the Four Owls are on there, as well as Deeflux, Derogatory, Imagineers and a dope singer, Rebecca Stephens, from a band called Projectionists.

My aim was get together a bunch of collaborations and tracks that were gathering dust. It takes a lot of time, effort and money to release an album by

yourself, so I just wanted to have fun with it and not delay the process by being a perfectionist, as I might do with an album.

What makes it special though is Woody's involvement - it's a proper mixtape by one of my favourite DJs, rather than just a compilation.

at High Focus, they're killing it at the moment, because people are checking out every new release on the strength of what's come out on the label before. I think people generally like to follow a movement more than just an individual artist, particularly in hip hop.

You’ve previously worked with labels like Dented and Beer & Rap, is the new mixtape totally self released? Do you see any major benefits or differences in having a labels backing / support?

You moved to Manchester a while back, I'm guessing that’s how you hooked up with Woody? he is definitely one of the more unsung dons in terms of UK DJ's..

The new one is totally self released - it will be a free download from my Bandcamp page, and I'm planning to get a limited number of CDs done. When I did my first album, I had physical and digital distribution with Dented, which helped a lot because it meant I could get it into high street shops. Now most of those shops are closed, or distributors won't pick up anything as small as an underground UK rap album, so that advantage is gone.

Labels are less relevant now unless they're prepared to put up a serious amount of financial backing for advertising and plugging, because the artist can just upload their music and email it to their fans now.

He certainly is. Definitely one of the illest.

Not only is he technically up there, but he's a great party DJ, and his AV show is unlike anything I've seen anyone else do.

He reached out to me for a verse for a mixtape he was doing, a dub of MLK's 'Fabrication', so off the back of that I asked him if he fancied putting the mixtape together.

I think the biggest advantage of being on an independent is the brand identity. Look

How come you moved to Manchester?

I had a few personal reasons, but mainly I was living in a pretty isolated part of South London, not going out much, not having much disposable cash and not feeling very inspired. I visited Pete Cannon and Derogatory up in Manchester, did some recording and realised a move would bring

Wordplay the fun back into making music for me. It's very easy to meet like-minded people up here, there are good gigs on all the time, and, crucially, it's cheap! Also, you can get on a train for half an hour and you're in incredible rolling countryside.

Tom Caruana lives in North Yorkshire, so sometimes I escape the city and go and record rap songs with him in his loft in an idyllic village in the Dales. Ideal.

Good to hear you are still working with Caruana, there’s a new Menagerie album in the pipeline, are you involved with that at all?

Not really. I think I have one verse on it.

It bares very little resemblance to the old Menagerie, except of course Tom's production, which is as cracking as ever.

I'm really excited about our EP though. It's called 'A Slice Of Fried Gold', and all the songs are inspired by (and feature) samples from Edgar Wright films. It should be ready in late Spring at this rate.

There's always been talented hip hop types in Manchester, is that still the case? Is there much live stuff going on?

You know what? When I got here, everyone said there was nothing here, but in just under two years there's been a massive resurgence. Pretty much every major act that plays in London will play in Manchester, if nowhere else. There's a night called 'In The Loop', which is regularly full of 20-year-olds slam dancing to old Biggie songs.

Dubstep nights have dominated the underground music scene for a few years, and still do to an extent, but I think there's a new generation who want something else and are looking to more traditional hip hop. Artist-wise, there's not loads of people at it, which is refreshing, but there is talent here - Skittles, for example, is a dope rapper I recommend checking out.

It seems like UK stuff in general has had a bit of resurgence lately, you’ve been around for a while now, would you agree?

Things always move in cycles. Around 2003 when it was cool to like more traditional sounding hip hop, everyone had a demo. Then it fell out of favour and gigs got a lot quieter. People started liking indie bands, then dubstep, now there's a new generation who are discovering hip hop again, but don't relate to the hip hop on TV. I also think things just got a bit stale and everyone was on a similar tip, whereas now you've got pretty different sounding artists in the same scene. London Zoo don't really sound much like the Four Owls

or Buggsy, but they're all doing the same gigs to the same fans.

Are you happy to be labelled ‘UK hip hop’?

I never really liked the term, it makes it sound like a rubbish version of something done better in America. like UK baseball.

Actually, maybe it is quite accurate!

You recently started putting on a night, tell me a bit about that.

The night is called Go Dumb! Which I've started with a few like-minded people up here. The clue is in the name - we just want to put a good party on at low expense, and bring some people up who might not have a following up here who have been doing great gigs down south for years. For example, we had DJ As If from Brighton's RK Bass up for the first one, and she tore it down. For the next one we've got Rupert, one of my favourite rappers in the country.

The music policy is rooted in hip hop but anything goes, as long as it makes sense, we might start with funk breaks, have a live hip hop act on, then a jungle set, then someone playing old reggae 45's - as long as it's dope and gets people dancing, this is where you'll find it!

You were in London before, what’s different about the two cities, both from a hip hop point of view and the place in general?

It's hard to generalise about London because it's such a huge, diverse place with so many identities and experiences.

Manchester has a strong sense of pride in its identity, and is on the whole a far more welcoming place. Some people create their niche in London and have a great time, but I always felt a bit swamped by it.

It's a more simple existence up here.

Some people look at me bemused when I tell them I moved to Manchester from London, which sums up a negative attitude that some people in London have that it's obviously much better than anywhere else. Most of those people never leave London.

Hip hop wise, Manchester has a small, enthusiastic scene that it's fun to be a part of, whereas London has hundreds of different scenes. the Ukrainian hip hop scene in London is probably bigger than the Manchester scene!

You have a little recording set up in your house these days - how has that affected the way you make music?

It's great to have a set up at home, even if it's just to get demos down. Most of the new mixtape was recorded in my house, and was done relatively quickly. It's hard to construct songs if you're just doing it on paper, because you're just thinking about how things will sound theoretically. If you can't just record whenever, even if it's a demo, it slows the process down.

Do you have a particular formula?

Not really, but I would like to be a bit more experimental with the way I work.

I normally get a beat on loop and write bars to it, as opposed to, say, how a singer would write, composing a melody, then building lyrics to it and forming the structure at the same time. The beauty of hip hop is its simplicity, but it can also feel quite one-dimensional when you see how other musicians work. >

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Dr Syntax Photo: Chris Lucas

You mentioned working with Mouse Outfit earlier, how did the collaboration come about?

I met The Mouse Outfit at the night In The Loop, where they were playing breaks at the open mic.

How different is performing with a live band?

I love working with a band and can't believe it was frowned upon for so many years. Hip hop was traditionally a rebellion against live instruments, and I guess that stigma took a long time to shake. It draws a lot more people to it and it's great from my point of view, I'm not necessarily the focal point all the time, which makes it a far more interesting show. It's difficult to tour with a band on a small budget though.

Any plans for recorded tracks with them?

We're working on an album at the moment.

I think tracks will vary in terms of the process of making them. At the moment I've just been given beat tapes and written to them in the same way I would with any producer, but I want to do something a bit more involved with them, where we might jam a bit and record everything live together rather than doing separate takes for everything.

You have always covered a fair amount of ground with your music – straight up lyrics, serious stuff, some concept tracks, some feel good stuff - is that a conscious decision?

Definitely. The most important thing is to keep music consistently interesting, and you can't do that if you're just regurgitating the same track again and again. I'm not one of these rappers that makes a song every day and puts out five albums a year that all sound the same.

I grew up in the era of classic rap albums that covered loads of topics artists that I respect still do that nowadays, but if your whole album is just about how rich/crazy/stoned you are and how much sex you have with other rappers' girlfriends, you've lost me.

I'm also conscious about being honest in my music now, while sometimes I might be a caricature of myself, and exaggerate things, I'm responsible for what I say on record, so don't talk shit I wouldn't stand by, or at least references something that I've felt or experienced at some point. I might undermine all of that once in a while by just doing a stupid track for fun, but even then I don't want to be lazy with it, everything needs to have my personal slant on it.

You have a reputation as someone who's a strong freestyle rapper, is it still part of your live show?

I like freestyling and do it because it still entertains people at shows. Sometimes it's the key to making an indifferent crowd engage with you even if they are unresponsive at first. But I get a lot more satisfaction these days from finishing a song than I would rapping in a cypher.

Someone I met used the analogy, 'would you rather see a bit of improvised drama or a play?', with regards to written battles over freestyle battles, and that stuck with me with regards to rapping generally. It's a cool trick to bust a freestyle and show you can do it but I'm not obsessive about it.

Speaking of Battles, Manchester has held a lot of Don’t Flop events. I know you’ve judged at one of them, and that you used to be a pretty handy freestyle battler, what do you make of the battle thing? it tends to divide opinion.

I think it's cool, but not the be all and end all. Also, I don't know why people talk about it like it's a relatively new idea.

What were Percee P and Lord Finesse doing? If anything it's a throwback thing.

Any chance of seeing you battling?

I won't be getting involved. Not because I think I'm too good, or above it, there's some awesome rappers involved, but I just couldn't justify putting that amount of time and effort into a rap I only get to do once. I wouldn't get any music made.

X 72

Feature Fresh Produce

Ice-Watch

Snapback caps

The unisex classic solid Ice-Watch is the perfect watch for many given situations, with their solid polycarbonate matt finish in a variety of colors they fit many wardrobe possibilities. These watches are a versatile addition to any circumstance whether it be a swanky night out or a casual days movements, with easy to read dials, luminous hands and scratch proof crystal windows, set against a traditional bracelet style strap with comfortable sturdy clasp.

These watches are robust, attractive, and stylish. It doesn’t matter who you are, if you’re wearing one of these your going to look fresh and your going to catch eyes.

Coming in all the colors of the rainbow plus Pink, Silver, Black and White, go get yourself some swagga.

Here we have New Era adjustable snapbacks with stitched raised cheeky logo on front with brand bold type stitch on the rear of the hat and new era detail on the side.

This low fitted snapback comes in a two-tone scheme.

If you’re after a comfy and versatile snapback that’s not too excessive on design but still keeps you shoulders above cheap imitations and whack designs, I’d definitely recommend getting your hands on one of these.

Available from: ice-watch.com

Available now from: www.vintagestatemedia.co.uk

Wordplay

Wax and Tee’s

NBQ Pro Paint

Vandal, T-Shirts

Asylum Seekas and I.M.S have kindly donated signed vinyl and T’shirts for the competition below. T’shirts are printed front and back and come in a massive XXL down to size Small (for the missus).

There’s loads of new spray paint products out there these days but NBQ from Spain is a good find. Ticks all the boxes for detailed piece work, low pressure, matt paint, covers nicely and even comes with a skinny cap as standard. The ring round the top of the can is sprayed with the content colour so you have an exact colour match for reference.

It’s nice to find a T’shirt that is actually made by writers, instead of the regurgitated shite you see on the high street ‘FRESH’ ‘COOL’ ‘URBAN’.....No! TEACH KIDS GRAFFITI! That’s better.

There’s hard copies of ‘Ill Move Sporadic & Joey Menza’s Alpha Coda’ which is a dope album. If you like free stuff, and I’m guessing you do reading Wordplay, then enter the competiton because you stand a good chance of grabbing everything in the Fresh Produce section!

Vandal T’shirts have sick handstyles in all elements, tags, dubs, throwups or rollers.

Grab one here: www.thebench504.com

There’s 50 different colours in their range so far and available for £3.25 a can.

Available from: www.graff-city.com

WIN ALL OF THIS!!

ROLL UP ROLL UP!!!!

We have first, second and third prizes to give away! In order to be in with a chance of winning everything on these two pages, simply follow these instructions...

1 - Visit the Wordplay Magazine page. (facebook.com/wordplaymag).

2 - 'Like' the page. (if you haven't already).

3 - Track down the competition post on our wall and 'share' it with your friends.

SIMPLE The winners will be announced on our Facebook page before the end of April.

74

DJ Sammy B-Side

YOUR FREE CD

Wordplay Magazine is becoming known for its mix CDs and why would we want Issue #9 to be any exception? We had a long, hard think about which DJ to ask to bless our latest mix and in the end we went for our favourite: Sammy B-Side

Having graced the same stages as Public Enemy, DJ Q Bert and RA the Rugged Man over the years, and as the host of numerous respected radio shows from Rhyme Pad to Kids Love Rhymes, and not forgetting his status as full-time Contact Play and High Focus turntablist, the future is bright for this 1210 technician.

Did he do a good job on the CD? Of course he did.

ENJOY

001 DJ SAMMY B-SIDE: WORDPLAY INTRO/PROD.LEAFDOG 002 FLIPTRIX FT. LEAF DOG: UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE/PROD. JON PHONICS 003 SPLIT PROPHETS: GRAFF TIP/PROD. BADHABITZ 004 JAM BAXTER AND ED SCISSOR TONGUE: PIPE SMOKE/PROD.GHOSTTOWN 005 PROSE: STRESS/PROD.STEADY 006 DEEFLUX & DIRTY STANZ: TOASTY/PROD.DEEFLUX 007 THE FOUR OWLS: NOT LIKE BEFORE/PROD.LEAF DOG 008 RUNNING PUNCH: HAYMAKER 009 LDZ: SOME OF THEM/PROD.SUMGII/EXCLUSIVE 010 MAKZWELL SKOT & SLANG IMMACULATE: WHAT’S YOUR EXCUSE/PROD.P739 EXCL 011 CAPPO: CHAOS/PROD.NAPPA/EXCLUSIVE 012 DIRTY DIKE: MAYONNAISE/PROD.BEN 9MM/EXCLUSIVE 013 ILL MOVE SPORADIC & JOEY MENZA: ENDTOEND BURNER/PROD.NEIL CAGE&BEN81 014 TELEMACHUS FT. JEHST: THE SHELTERING SKY/PROD.TELEMACHUS 015 DUBBLEDGE: GET INVOLVED/EXCLUSIVE 016 SALVO MIFUNE FT. RAMSON BADBONEZ: NAGASAKI YOUTH CLUB 017 GRANVILLE SESSIONS: IF/PROD.LUCA BRAZI 018 RUM COMMITTEE: GRITTY COMMITTEE PART 2/EXCLUSIVE 019 NATURAL SELECTION FT. MIKEY T, TENCHOO, SONNYJIM, DJ JUICE: F.T.W. 020 LDZ FT. JAM BAXTER: BEAT DON’T BANG/PROD.SUMGII 021 M9: STRANGE FRUIT /CHEMO MIX 022 SKUFF: NYE/PROD.MR CONSTANT/EXCLUSIVE