Ghetto Music by Patris Gordon

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Patris Gordon hip-hop / grime

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Classic interviews with top UK & US artists

Patris Gordon

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The interviews and introduction that appear in this book were previously published in Echoes magazine, Touch magazine, The Voice newspaper and Pulse magazine; as well as for Deloitte Research.

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ÂŠ Copyright 2009 Patris Gordon The rights of the contributors of this book are to be identiďŹ ed as the authors of this work as asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted without written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage. Printed in the United Kingdom Published by Blank Screen Publishing Tel: 07958 392014 E-mail: blankscreenpublishing@live.com

ALSO BY PATRIS GORDON Pimp Theory The murder of Patris Gordon Life without Mirrors - The edited biography of Madyson Peck Crazy, Sexy and Cool-er?

Contents Introduction / essay

Asher D

Lethal Bizzle

Raw-T

Roots Manuva

Tinchy Stryder

Chester P (Task Force)

Jehst

Fallacy

Unklejam

Nas

Talib Kweli

Ludacris

GZA / Genius

Fabolous

Ice-T

Obie Trice

Biz Markie

Twista

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Interview with Asher D (Ashley Walters) in 2004

It’s been two years since Asher D, the fiery lyricist from the So Solid Crew, had plans on releasing his debut album, hoping his solo output would subsequently follow the success of the group’s platinum and genre-defining first release, They Don’t Know. And it’s also been two years since he began serving time in a penitentiary centre for illegally possessing a firearm.

As the story’s supposed to go, Asher’s stint at the big-time should have flopped ungracefully because of this missed opportunity. A runin with a traffic warden, who was victim to a pistol whipping [no shots were fired], landed Asher with an 18-month sentence, and this act was assumed to be his last chance at fame and glory. But clearly, the talented 21-year-old and father-of-three has written a different life story. Although, So Solid Crew have received a media backlash 17

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from the effects of their rampant success, thus resulting in a less-thanacclaimed follow-up album, Second Verse, it appears that Asher is well aware of the reasons that caused a recoil from their initial fans. “I don’t know how it is the States but a lot of people out here are followers,” says Asher, remembering what the pressure was like to carry a gun in the first place. “They (certain music peers) wanna be like a Suge Knight or somebody, but they don’t realise that people will be scared and they are not going to want to work with you. We (before) had the attitude, ‘We gonna do it our way, and nobody’s not gonna tell us anything’. We were fresh from street... “You know, bad things have happened since we’ve first come out. G-Man getting in trouble, I’ve been in jail, and we’ve been snubbed for a lot of things because of our name and the way we were. Our supporters back then are no longer backing us, and I think that we were part of the wheel… but we’re not bad guys (and) we got caught up in the pressure around us.” So with his debut album, Street Sibling, his autobiography Asher D: Dangerous Life - So Solid (tentative title) and starring in a national theatre production, Sing Yer Heart out for the Lads, as well as a few film appearances, it seems that a little prison time hasn’t stifled Asher’s progress at all. If anything, it has made him more focused, in attempts to rekindle the inner passion that make him such a varied performer, and a successful one at that. The inner drive is obvious on his debut release, as he’s chosen to move away from the dominant garage sound of Why Me?/ Back In The Day, the songs he put out in 2002, and is now aiming at making a hip-hop classic. “Things weren’t mad like they were back then,” he says. “Jail has settled me down. The mood of music has changed so I went back and changed many of the tracks. Songs like Why Me? and Back in the Day 18

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weren’t relevant anymore. I wasn’t feeling the garage as much so I just got deeper into the rap thing. I mean, it was still a struggle, with the label thing and trying to get it out there. I’m not even sure if it’s going to come out in May, but I want this debut to be done right. I want it to be in the same light as when Jay-Z and Nas did their debut albums, and people still regard those albums as their best ones. I want to be remembered in the same vein. But it’s also about getting the marketing right for the album as well.” And speaking of Jay-Z, on the album, Street Sibling, Asher has the song, Solid Roc, which features the teaming up with Roc-A-Fella members, Beanie Sigel and Memphis Bleek. Asher reveals that he tried to get the Roc CEO on the track but then admits securing Jay on the song would have cost a big penny, something that his label’s (Independiente) budget couldn’t accommodate. However, Beans and Bleek weren’t so financially demanding, or so it would seem. “It was no big thing,” Asher scoffs. “It was easy, bruv. We’ve got a contact in the States and when we (So Solid) would go to New York, our contact knows Dame and those guys at Roc-A-Fella, so we would meet up. Then when they did a performance in Brixton Academy, we linked up with them and asked them if they wanted to do it. We were trying to get Jay-Z on it, but it would have cost a bit much, but Beanie and Bleek said that they would come by the studio for £14,000. I gave them the concept and we did it.” The song, Solid Roc, also revives the infamous battle with Dizzee Rascal that first surfaced on Choice FM, but Asher is quick to insert that he wants to make his war of words, primarily calling out the feud between east and south London, into an “industry thing like Jay-Z and Nas”, rather than a fist-to-fist scuffle. Asher has even gone as far as to say that he has, “spoken to him (Rascal) about it and made various 19

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attempts to call his management to get on a track together”. And while it may appear that the So Solid Crew has turned soft, once the epitome of rowdy, unheard youths around the country, it would seem that many of the crew simply want to be involved in the entertainment, rather than the negative side that success can bring. If you look at Asher’s life, who at the age of 13 was kidnapped and held by a south London gang for a day, and a few years after that was stabbed in the neck outside an off-licence and only just survived, not to mention the other reported events, you can understand why the general perception of So Solid is something that their music seems to glorify. They may, however, want to keep it on wax or perform about it at a show. Or in Asher’s case, he wants to keep it lyrical, possibly for the sake of sanity. “It’s about my life,” Asher explains, about the title of album, Street Sibling. “(It’s) what I’ve had to deal with and people looking at me in a commercial light. People saying, ‘Asher sold out’ and what have you, but on this album, I’m showing that there is a line between the pop and street. This album isn’t a ghetto album, hardcore like They Don’t Know, but I’m still letting people know that the streets is my brother.” There aren’t many individuals in the music business who can say that they have an album coming out, have an autobiography released and are appearing in a stage production, or can even do interviews with journalists while awaiting for a bus to take them home. But Asher D can. Recently signed to renowned ICM agency, the once-Sylvia Young theatre school trainee is looking to take the game as far as he can go. With a ﬁlm project completed with Dennis Hopper (and a possible role in the NWA movie), a partner of a production and a clothing company, and guest appearances on other albums to boot, 20

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Asher is somebody who believes in staying busy and representing the country on all levels. But for us lowlifes not yet living the dream, how does Asher rationalise doing so many things at once? He says: “I ain’t made a million yet…there’s serious money out there to be made!”

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Interview with Lethal Bizzle in 2007 Patris Gordon: You’ve got the new album, Back To BizNizz – what can we expect? Lethal Bizzle: I like to try and separate myself from the rest and try to put myself out there. With this album I tried to be two steps ahead of everyone else. I’m combing different genres of music, and coming out with something crazy. I did a few collaborations with Babyshambles and Kate Nash. Mr Hudson is on there as well. My ﬁrst album was more of a street album, straight hip-hop/grime. This new album is like a mix: with club hype bangers as well as some songs that feature old soul and rock samples. For example, Babylon Burning the Ghetto – this song is about how the government’s been fucking up the place. I put David Cameron in there as well. But I used an old track from The Rutts – and I revamped it – and that’s a punk/hip-hop track.

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It sounds like people are going to be shocked by this. I’ve been working with a leftﬁeld group called The Rates, who are going to blow up, so I’ve been doing different things for the past year. People know me for jackin’ people’s beats and riding different rhythms. I rhymed on Kylie’s beat; I’ve taken that Mike Skinner’s beat. I dunno, it depends on who’s listening. I’m not scared to try different things. Can we expect any conscious lyrics? Deﬁntely. On this album, lyrical and concept wise, it’s on a whole different level. I’m a big boy now – I’m 24. When the POW thing was going on, three years ago, I was on my little excited ting, but I was 21 and still excited by it all. But I’m a big boy now, and I realise that I do have a voice and people are listening to what I’m saying, and with this album I’m taking advantage of that situation and addressing things that are really happening. This album is a little more personal as well, touching things about myself that people may not necessarily know about how I used to be, what I used to go through. On all levels, production wise, content wise, it’s up a level from the past. I like that track, MR That was produced by Dexter 6. I was making my album for eight – nine months and I was analysing what’s been going on, even though I’ve been in the studio. For the last few months, I started going out, I started going to the hood clubs, trying to get a feel for it. But there were still no bangers. Where’s the bangers? Mans are still playing POW and Fire Camp’s No and they’re still getting responses. I was thinking, ‘How comes nobody ain’t making no club tunes?’. So I decided when I come back, I come back with something street. I didn’t 23

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want to neglect the street because that’s where I’m from. But as I’m getting older, my music will be more in-depth and varied. The link with Babyshambles. Where do they know you from? It’s so surprising but these guys have been fans from More Fire. Oi is still biggest tune to this day, and I have to perform this tune everywhere I play. And they all remember that song, and cos I’m from a different part of town and they dress differently from us – they may get a bit initmidated. And now I’m doing the collobations and performing in venues that are safer for them, they’re all coming and they know all the words. Like all the freestyles, the Kylie track, me and Wylie: the battle we had. They’ve been underground fans from way back since More Fire Crew. It’s so weird. And now when I’m doing my shows, it’s a predominately white crowd… And I kinda like that cos it’s not just a black thing and music is a way of unifying things and allowing people to come together and have a good time. It has opened my mind even more and there are people open-minded to listen to my music. I listen to everything. I’m a number one hip-hop follower – that’s wha I grew up on. But at the same time, I’ve always liked my little bit of Nirvana, pop or whatever. Now I’m incorporated more of these inﬂuences, instead of doing more POW tunes – people would get bored of me. It seemed that POW helped boost the visibility of Channel U, that’s for sure. Deﬁnitely. Put that in your magazine that POW helped boost viewers for Channel U. It’s disappointing now (to watch the channel). What I think has happened is that the last few years since me, Kano and Dizzee – we’re the main three guys from this grime/garage scene. 24

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We’ve been away from the scene making our albums and there wasn’t enough artists making videos. Lots of artists were just making white labels and they didn’t take it visual. Channel U was just left with a choice – they just put anything on there. If there’s no videos, there’s no channel. It’s a catch-22 for them. But there should be some standard, because there is a lot of stuff there that isn’t relevant and doesn’t make sense. But I can’t knock them because they helped get POW through to the whole nation, because it was just on the pirates, it was on there – then I got signed to V2, and I got an album deal off the back of that. How does it feel to be in The Big Grime Three – Kano, Lethal Bizzle and Dizzee Rascal? I think we’re really different even though we’re all from the same place. We’ve all got our signature. Me, you say Lethal Bizzle – the first thing people will say is the guy that makes the big club tunes. You mention Kano – he’s that lyrical guy, he’s got that flow. Rascal – he’s just Dizzee. He hasn’t even got a style, he’s just Dizzee. You don’t know what you’re going to expect from him – his beats are crazy, he’s got his own significant voice. We just bring different things to the table. There needs to be more original guys coming from the underground. There’s JME, but really since POW, there were like two million POWs. Eight bars from two million guys – and that just got boring. People need to come out with their own original style. What’s been your sexiest highlights in the music business? We were on tour, the More Fire ‘Oi’ tour. Girls starting throwing knickers onstage. I think they were aimed at Ozzie B, but one hit me though, still. When I saw that, I was like, ‘Wow, the TV does a lot. I’m just Maxwell from around the way. If they really knew who I was 25

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and they’re throwing knickers at me’. That was surprising but it was a good night, deﬁnitely. What’s your preference in ladies? Your perfect female? Well, Teri Marquez (looks at cover of Pulse issue one) is lookin’ bangin’ right now. I could jump in the magazine right now. I’m a big Beyonce fan, but I like my Jennifer Lopez as well. My top ﬁve would be Beyonce, Halle Berry, Teri Marquez can get in there, Kelly Brook and Christina Milian. Shakira’s hair – there’s too many to choose. Melyssa Ford’s thighs and Kelly Brook’s breasts. Do the video chicks expect more than just a thank you for turning up? There’s an x-rated (directed by Mo) video I done called The Best with nuff girls with their titties out. I always wanted to do an x-rated video to see what it would be like. I made a tune about breasts, cos I’m a fan of breasts and I invited 20 girls down and we had them on a bouncy castle, in the pool – a lot of the mans who came down got in trouble from their wifeys. So you can imagine, there was a lot going – stuff I can’t say, but we’re going to do another one soon. That video was a lot of joke.

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Interview with RAW-T in 2005

With little to no pirate radio stations, a handful of open mics and street festivals, how can anybody – talented or not – expect to get noticed outside of London without running down the street butt-naked or paying the promoter to let you perform when it should be the other way round? We’ve all heard the So Solid Crew stories about banned tours and shows due to a stereotypical perception of grime/hip-hop music promoting violence, but where does a young upstart go to get their music heard?

If you’re from Manchester, you decidedly bumrush the city’s annual music industry conference, In The City, with a respected but impromptu performance at the unsigned event; have the big labels’ A&Rs wagging their tongues around at you like dogs on heat, and then turn them down to settle for a deal with the conference organiser’s ﬂedging independent company. Sounds a little far-fetched, doesn’t it? 27