Bonafide issue 01 by Bonafide Magazine

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Ladies and gentlemen welcome to Bonafide issue 01, a magazine devoted to individuals who have not compromised their ideas and values in pursuit of success. Heads who have changed the rules of the game. Without trying to frantically put a thumb on the zeitgeist, Bonafide is a celebration of dope old school, mid school and new school creativity. Issue 01 lays down the blueprint. Bringing you features on those who have influenced, or are currently influencing hip-hop and modern culture. The issue 01 roll call includes Cold Chillin’ photographer extraordinaire George Dubose, design dream team Ehquestionmark?, Mo’ Wax and Bape affiliate clothing label Answer, World Champion turntablist DJ Woody, the legend that is Kool Keith, graphics by street artist Eelus and turns by Mystro, One Self and many more.

BONAFIDE 01 ROLL CLL OF EXCLUSIVES

ALL OPINIONS IN TIS MAGZINE ARE OUR OWN AND POSSIBLY INCORRECT. EVERYTING YOU SEE AND RED IS COPYRIGH TO US OR TE ARTISS RESPONSIBLE

TAT’S ©. SO NO RINSING YOU HER

EHQUESIONMARK?// The Uber design collective discuss their work for LEX records

ANSWER// Emmet Keane discusses the drive behind his clothing line

DJ WOODY// 2 Times world champion DJ Woody chats about the DMCs and life in Burnley

ONE SELF// DJ Vadim staying ahead of the game

KOOL KEIT// An example of how not to conduct an interview

MYSRO// The UK vet gives us the lowdown on his time in hip-hop

DRESS LIKE 50 CEN FOR 50 PENCE// Fashion advice for 50p

GEORGE DUBOSE// The man who ﬁrst shot Kane and the Biz provides an insight into his design philosophy

TE CLSSICS// Co. Flow, Cold Chillin’, Express Rising, Cappo

EELUS// The Star Wars remixer provides artwork from the street

ETC.

ART

Artwork: www.eelus.com

WE GO FOR WALKIES WIT TE BIG GUNS RESPONSIBLE FOR TE BES RECORD SLEEVE DESIGN EVER SEEN, TEN EXPERIENCE TE VISCERL TRILL OF RECLIMING TE SREETS

EHQUESIONMARK? LOCK & LOAD AND BREK COVER

“WE’RE OFTEN REFERRED TO AS GRAPHIC DESIGNERS OR GRAFFITI ARTISTS,TITLES WITH STEREOTYPES THAT DON’T REALLY APPEAL TO US.WE ARE ARTISTS PLAIN AND SIMPLE, WE AIM FOR CHANGE AND STRIVE FOR COMPLETE UNRESTRAINED CREATIVE INDIVIDUALISM…AND FOOD ON THE TABLE.”

By James Griffin..... >> Bonafide aims to be a creative resource; to make it as informative as possible, we worked with people characterised by a drive to achieve and who eschewed conservative, safety first PR attitudes. A strong example of this is the interview with design collective Ehquestionmark. Ehquestionmark openly discussed work for Lex, an affiliate of Warp. The Lex imprint has an agenda to release experimental hip-hop and the Lex x Ehquestionmark relationship has blossomed to deliver some of the best music packaging ever seen. To back this claim, Bonafide presents a synopsis of music artwork identifying four epochs of design. We then move to the main event where we break Ehquestionmark’s cover and get stark answers on their motivation, the design scene and their work for former Organized Konfusion head Prince Po on ‘The Slickness’ LP............... >>

EPOCH 1: The 1960s and early ‘70s. Against the backdrop of free love, revolution, Nam, the explosion of mass-produced recordings and the proliferation of home music systems saw a number of delicious record covers created. The Rolling Stones ‘Sticky Fingers’ zipper cover, conceived by Warhol, and several of the Beatles sleeves spring to mind. As usual, the latter broke ground, this time with their blank, base modernist cover for the ‘White Album’ and with the ‘Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club’ LP artwork. ‘Sgt Pepper,’ created by Sir Peter Blake, is an iconic piece of pop art, although claims that it has become the “Mona Lisa of rock’n’roll” are hyperbole. ‘Sgt Pepper’ represents a watershed in the music x art crossover whereby the distinction between art and design blurs. This holds true when considering how inﬂuential the style became with students and creative professionals. The blurring became more pronounced with the work of Peter Saville for Factory Records in the late 1970s and the 1980s.

EPOCH 2: Peter Saville. Enigma? Postmodern designer with a deft touch in appropriation? Master of re-invention? Designer who’s art is self myth making? Bonaﬁde can’t decide if the man is a visionary, or, like Oscar Schindler, a creator of illusion. The Peter Saville show, Manchester Urbis 2004, with the lengthy list of credits further muddies judgment. Whatever side of the fence you lean on, though, Saville, as a barometer of aesthetic taste from the 1970s – 80s, is vitally important. As art director and a founder of Factory Records, Saville designed without budget and deadline constraints and used the artwork to articulate his obsessions. The work was an extension of his interests. His life effectively presented as visual narratives on 12 inch covers. Saville’s work up to the late 1980s is characterised by a referencing and visual sampling of work from the modernism and post-modernism art movements.

For his ﬁrst commercial project, Saville sampled Jan Tschichold and the ‘found’ motorway sign on the cover of Kraftwerk’s ‘Autobahn,’ itself based on Duchamp’s ‘ready made’ concept. For ‘The Factory’ club night launch poster, Saville, Duchamp-lite, based the design on a stolen industrial sign. For New Orders ‘Power Corruption And Lies’ he combined a 19th century Fantin-Latour ﬂower painting he saw on a postcard with a colour coded alphabet. By the mid-1980s Saville, witnessing style culture becoming commercialised by the high street, tired of post-modernist appropriations and looked for reference points in late modernism. Inspired by The Void, a 1958 exhibition by the artist Yves Klein, Saville and Trevor Key had their own take on Klein’s concept of ‘nothingness’ using advanced photographic

EPOCH 3: Saville and Factory announced the elaborate side of music packaging, with innovative thinking going into the design and the materials used to present the release. In the 1990s the dynamics Factory and Saville created were explored by Mo’Wax, who’s abstract, scientiﬁc beats and original ‘headz’ vibe was synthesized to create an identity that included fashion labels like Very Ape, Gimme 5 and Stussy, magazines like The Face and music such as acid jazz sold by shops like the famous Honest Johns records in London. Head of operations James Lavelle brought in designers Will Bankhead, Swifty and Ben Drury to create a unique brand. Incorporating the work of aerosal legend Futura 2000, Massive Attack frontman Robert Del Naja’s (3D) paintings (see the ‘Headz’ collection), photographer B+ and street

and printing techniques, creating beautiful silkscreenstyle images for New Order’s ‘89 lp ‘Technique’. The caveat to feting Saville is that his designs borrow closely from outside sources. It’s natural to wonder where the innovation and appropriation ends and the magpie, thief of all those previously owned shiny things, appears? Scepticism aside, credit Saville for his playful, celebral and intuitive use of his surroundings. And credit Factory for backing him too. His ﬂoppy disk replica sleeve of ‘Blue Monday’ cost Factory more to produce than they could charge for the single. A rarely indulgent business practice.

artist Phil Frost. The designers channeled the artistic talent to create visual dopeness and make Mo’Wax a ‘scene’. Mo’Wax, like Factory, developed to produce music that was avant-garde and challenging. The packaging in terms of innovation and quality speaks for itself. The plush Major Force retrospective 5 LP box set; the elaborate pop up piece for the limited edition run of the UNKLE ‘Psyence Fiction LP’; the abstract graff detail for the DJ Shadow and DJ Krush double A sided single ‘Lost and Found (SLF) / Kemuri,’ the etched UNKLE ‘Rock On’ single. All are testament to a label pushing music packaging to a new point.

THE DESIGNERS CHANNELED THE TALENT TO CREATE VISUAL DOPENESS AND MAKE MO’WAX A ‘SCENE.’

Peter Saville’s ‘Factory’ opening night poster

The theme that emerges from tracing the Beatles through to Mo’Wax is that those who go against the grain and experiment with their sound are likely to have a holistic approach and consciously compliment the work by presenting it in a striking way. Furthermore, if we draw on other articles in this issue, such as the ANSWER piece, this approach appears to be a characteristic of those who, to quote Muro are, ‘Ahead of the Game’. This argument gains cogency when looking at the creative output of Ehquestionmark. EPOCH 4: In the 2000s, with the folding of Mo’Wax as a music label, the mantle is now taken by Lex and Ehquestionmark. We are now very excited to blow the

whistle on these people. Their work, like the music produced by Lex, is strong with emphasis on the tactile and the feeling of owning a one-off, home made piece. Lets run that shit................................................... >> Unkle - Psyence Fiction limited edition gatefold lp

“POST MODERNISM IS A ONE WAY TICKET TO DOOM AND WE’VE GOT NO ROOM TO SPEAK CAUSE WE’VE GOT A SINGLE TICKET.”

Bonafide: Career wise, what path have you taken to get to where you are at now? Ehquestionmark: Ehquestionmark is a UK based graphic artists crew comprising of many members, each having their own time-served disciplines, projects and fields of expertise. We’re from various trade backgrounds including a postman, refuse collector and a docker, with varying institutional qualifications, ranging from Grade A plus GCSE Art to a Distinction in MA Graphic Fine Art. Formal qualifications don’t mean shit to us though, it’s the people who have helped form us along the way - we owe a lot to ‘em. Our common binding field of study would be that of typography. Typography is our foundation and something we express a great deal

of passion for but a requisite we often don’t fulfil with commercial work - “the title has to be legible”. We’ve our own, selfgratifying, creatively free, non-commercial projects on the go which keeps us happy, working as our individual alter ego’s or within other crews. The work usually takes whatever form suits the conceptual flow, or whatever format the client or we can afford - exhibitions, installations, painting or print. We’ve worked with various bits of time/screen based mediums but print/ paint based mediums are our speciality - publications, promotions, wall art, merchandising, packaging and clothing. We’re often referred to as graphic designers or graffiti writers - titles with stereotypes that don’t really appeal to us. We are artists plain and simple - we aim for change and strive for complete unrestrained creative

individualism - and food on the table. Pete Fowler stated that the CD, in replacing vinyl, sounded the death knell for artwork (for music packaging). Although that statement depends on what perspective you take, the only consistent examples of strong relationships between music and artwork packaging we can come up with are; Peter Saville/ Factory Records, and MoWax. In this context, the approach you and Lex take in investing thought into the packaging is unique. Is the idea to push something that makes a strong statement about the label and visually differentiate Lex from the crowd? Yeah. Never judge a book by it’s cover though, but it is the ﬁrst point of call when

“THE PRINCE OF POETRY SAT ON A THRONE IN HIS LIBRARY, STUDIOUSLY WRITING WITH A LARGE QUILL FEATHER AND DRESSED TO MATCH…BUT IT AIN’T HIP-HOP APPARENTLY.”

Prince po - The Slickness

it sits on a shelf surrounded by other books…and can be downloaded or copied for a fraction of the cost. Put some of that proﬁt back into the packaging and you’ll beneﬁt. We’re constantly battling against

the accountants who put so many constraints on us, we haven’t achieved half the things we’ve wanted to do. We don’t really like our own work, to be honest. It’s all relative. Stick a Skoda with a full body-kit in a scrapyard and it’ll look ace. There is a tangible handcrafted element to each cover. The organic rubbery feel to the Boom Bip sleeve, the embossed Tes cover which looks like a math student has covered it in graph paper and scrawled/rubbed all over it, the cracks and cut out on the Lexoleum cover etc. There is a strong accent on the detail, innovation and quality. Is producing a holistic package and challenging expectations something you enjoy doing? Yeah. Stereotypes suck wind so we just aim

for a fresh path but there is only so far you can go at being avant-garde before it’s too damn extreme and ‘what the fuck?’..... so we do have to hold back with commercial work to make it palatable and tangible. We just love ploughing as much time into our work as possible, obsess over it and it’ll get somewhere eventually. There’s so many cowboys around banging out trash on an hourly rate, it’s hard to justify what we do on an ecological level, sodomising the mother earth and her children in the name of enterfuckingtainment - so we at least put some passion and soul into it. It’s also hard to keep our integrity and stay away from sucking the devils corporate cock. Creating record sleeves is commercial work, we are a part of the capitalist structure, it’s just a means to pay our way, our true goal lies in ..... >>

EHQUESTIONMARK PUT THEIR MIDAS TOUCH ON THE DANGERDOOM LONG PLAYER

“WE JUST LOVE PLOUGHING AS MUCH TIME INTO OUR WORK AS POSSIBLE, OBSESS OVER IT AND IT’LL GET SOMEWHERE EVENTUALLY.”

anti-commodity design, art for art’s sake. Prince Po’s The Slickness cover is mad playful. Where did the idea for the photo frame come from and what did Prince Po think of it? Don’t know what he thought of it, got no feedback, he was pretty hard to work with from the offset. The sleeve is meant to feel like a nouveau riche pseudo-heirloom, a mass produced mock antique piece of art for ‘the prince of poetry’. We prefer things a little less obvious, we don’t like using portraits in our work - especially when we can’t direct the photography, or the musician is preoccupied with indulging in the blatantly egotistical and narcissistic as opposed to creating something relatively new - he demanded a portrait so we originally

planned to photograph him in an installation, and then consequently turn it into an aerosol painting on canvas - (as much as we hate cover versions) a kind of pastiche of a 16th/17th century tableau painted in a Rembrandt chiaroscuro style - the prince of poetry sat on a throne in his library, studiously writing with a large quill feather and dressed to match - but it ain’t hip-hop apparently.

terials. There’s no formula or deﬁned style. That’s what makes this job so enjoyable when we’re let loose from the shackles of design conformity. Take inspiration from your environment/experience and not from someone else’s craft. Post-modernism is a one-way ticket to doom...... and we’ve got no room to speak cause we’ve got a single ticket.

Moving onto your art practice, what motivates you, repeated motifs and patterns occur throughout your work, would you deﬁne this as your style? Also what kind of materials do you use?

Wider context. Is there a record cover (or failing that a product) and its artwork (packaging) that you think is a perfect execution? And on a wider front who are the artists / designers you cite as inﬂuences?

We use whatever materials suit the concept. We’re open to experimentation with the appropriate (or inappropriate) ma-

Products - Nowt is perfect....... Inﬂuences - That’s like trying to remember your ﬁrst good defecation. Our memories are so

lame but here’s a few early blurry visions - Dave Carson / Herb Lubalin / Joseph Kosuth / Richard Long / Pinky / Equal / Josef Muller Brockman / Dada / Bauhaus / Leebo-dra / D-lyte.erf / Gas / Shade-bbs / Ramellzee / Vulcan / Monty Python /

Shine / T-kid / Haze / The Electro compilations***** / EdKienholz / Public Enemy / KRS-1 / MC Shan / Aphex Twin / Run DMC / Joseph Beuys / Happy Mondays / Marcel Duchamp / Pink Floyd / Eric B & Rakim / Newcleus / Juan Atkins / 808state /

Ok this is a hip-hop magazine so we have a few stock Desert Island Disc type questions to ask...

James Brown / De La Soul / Sly & the Family Stone / Mode2 / Manparrish / Autechre / Egyptianlover / Hendrix / Richard Wilson ..........there’s fuckloads. ............................................................................. >>

If you were stuck on a desert island, what record would you like to have to listen to and who would you want to be stuck with?

These are really awkward questions......no one piece of work epitomises true excellence and perfection. Favourite Lex record? LEX002 - Mummy Fortuna’s Theatre Company. Favourite hip-hop LP? Too many to choose from......dunno...... Ultramagnetic MC’s – N.Y. What Is Funky. Favourite hip-hop LP cover? Not enough to choose from..DJ Krush -Meiso or an early Tommy Boy sleeve.

It’s a hard decision to make, everything has a shelf-life and a saturation point - music and people. Probably a Streetsounds Electro compilation, maybe number 1. As far as a person, can we do a Frankenstinian amalgamation job? Some sort of combination of a few human beings - Germaine Greers conscience, the humour of Bill Hicks, Chris Morris and Peter Kay, the survival skills of Ray Mears and John Wiseman, the storytelling ability of Alistair Cooke and Philip K Dick, the empathy and kindness of Mary Seacole, the medical knowledge of the best doctor on the planet , the self-defence of a Shaolin monk, the nympho appetite of Valeria Messalina, and the physical attributes of Salma Hayek and Winona Ryder. Now sod off and let us get on with some real work instead of this marketing nonsense.

Cheers...................................................................................................................................... //

TOP LEX LONG PLYERS BONAFIDE TALKS YOU TROUGH FOUR OF TE BES LEX RELESES

Tes – Times Two Tes demonstrates the strength of the Lex canon featuring a homage to NYC post 09/11; New New York is a condensed and concise version of what the Beastie Boys did with To the 5 Boroughs, only better. A Bouncy, positive, big sounding LP with NYC’s panoramic scope. Ehquestionmark go back to school with this piece of packaging. Features subtle embossing with added worn in dirt and authentic biro pen scrawls that gives it that home-made, been kicking around in your bag for 6 months feel. The fashion industry would call it vintage or artisan. We say plain dope.

Dangerdoom The Mouse meets his Doom. The seemingly omnipresent Dangermouse joins forces with the seemingly omnipresent MF Doom. The Mouse beats compliment Doom’s ﬂows to a tee and both demonstrate their ear for dope tracks with tunes such as The Mask, Old School and Benzie Box. As you would expect with something so leftﬁeld, Ehquestionmark provide a menacing front cover displaying a hybrid Dangerdoom mask. As ever with the E design there is a twist; the mask actually came with a run of the records which you can don and scare old ladies with.

Lexolum sampler With an array of talent – Jamie Liddell, Boom Bip, Edan, Madlib, Dangermouse, Sage Francis – this LP is an introductory work into the world of Lex. Standout tracks include Kid Acne’s vocal inﬂections on Rap Dracula and the Dangermouse and Sage Francis bloodied Garden Gnomes. The artwork; hardy outer shell that looks like a piece of wall while the inner is an elaborate foldout affair. Features the usual high attention to detail such as different surface textures, a delicious hand drawn font and some striking, psychedelic graff.

Dangermouse & Jemini – Ghetto Pop Life The super rodent producer who created the Grey Album and Michael Jackson’s lawyers had on speed dial brings his first LP to the Lex plate. Featuring Sadat X -lite rapper Jemini, it begins on a grand regal tip that firmly announces we are in the presence of a special musician. Ehquestionmark don’t disappoint either. The packaging is lush with the trademark embossing, gold leafing and swirls. If any of the packaging for any of these albums cements the Ehquestionmark rep its this one. You would buy this LP on the strength of the cover alone.

RECLIM TE SREETS BY GLENN WHORRALL..................................................... It’s four a.m. on a dark November morning and the street is alive with loneliness. Our team is twostrong and we cycle deserted streets in search of a canvas. A concrete grid makes the perfect frame on the corner of the financial district. Both first time writers, we nervously scan the road for signs of life hoping that the local force are safely tucked up in bed. I shake, kneel, spray and then lift. We both look down at the pavement where our words, appropriated from an old folk song, have fallen perfectly into context. When I told the editor I was thinking of writing an article on Banksy, the ubiquitous stencil graffiti artist, I got this reply: “Write about him being one of the most important and effective contemporary fine artists around.. a view that sits uncomfortably with his anti-establishment and belligerent viewpoint.” Illustration - Jerome Libert

FOR THE AMATEUR GRAFF WRITER, THIS MAY BE A FINAL CRY FOR RECOGNITION AFTER EVERY OTHER MEANS OF COMMUNICATION HAS FAILED.

Very well said James, I couldn’t have put it any better myself… so I wont. Attempts to intellectualise graffiti and claim it for the high order of ‘fine art’ often miss the point entirely, creating false problems for empty conclusions. And anyway, Banksy gets more than his fair share of publicity. I want to write about the grass roots practitioners who may only be moved to write graffiti once in a lifetime. Writers who eschew the limelight, and retreat into the shadows of their anonymity. Before Banksy and similar seriously talented artists hit the scene, graffiti used to be the arena of the amateur. If you look with the right kind of eyes you see it everywhere. A poem on the back of a bus seat. Simple initials or a slanderous insult on a toilet door. A statement demonstrating

your football allegiance. A call for sexual deviancy, like the scene in the film Withnail And I where ‘I Fuck Arses’ is carved on the toilet wall in a moment of drunken sincerity. For the amateur graff writer this may be a final cry for recognition after every other means of communication has failed. Like the writer who scribbled ‘I Know I Have Lost’ in huge white letters on a red brick wall. These words could mean anything; an open suicide note, the residue of a failed existence or a burning desire to poeticise the streets. The beauty of the amateur act is that once written it remains anonymous and is invested with an air of mystery. This quality is the antithesis to graffiti tags or the Banksy style of branding. These messages are often transient, local councils and

The point of this scribble then; Even everyday daubings are following a tradition that goes back to the days of men living in caves with something to say, whether it be solely to the perpetrator or a message for a larger audience.

authorities seek to expel the threat of grafﬁti by whitewashing walls or sandblasting pavements. In a small way, though, this makes the amateur daubing all the more unique and makes seeing them a special experience. Like spotting a rare species of bird in its natural habitat before it becomes extinct. The wall, the recipient of these honest musings, is suddenly given a surrogate voice and it speaks with a reassuring candour and wit, contrary to the cold and calculated vernacular of the adverts that dominate our spaces. It can also invite a spirit of public dialogue where anyone with a marker pen is free to voice their opinion or join in on the latest topical debate. ‘Question Everything’ is written on a wall to which another writer has added ‘But Why?’. The magic of stumbling upon a certain piece of writing is almost inexpli-

cable. It is as if you have discovered the work for the ﬁrst time and may be the only person to ever see it. At best it is a deeply personal experience that can heighten an awareness of your surroundings. Our ability to interact with our surroundings is greater than we think. Most amateur writers are forced into back alleys and side streets away from the constant gaze of the CCTV cyclops. This lends the art a certain romantic charm. Amongst the back roads and underpasses that Capital has ignored, the writers seek to reinvest a sense of the poetic and the mystical. There can be no real beauty without decay. The practice of semiotic participation is rooted in political activism. From the French student riots of 1968 to rebel movements in Southern Europe and South America,

graffiti has always been an easy, low-cost way of spreading simple propaganda messages. Wall, Huh, What Is It Good For? “A friend told me that when he was drafted into the Vietnam war he was so disillusioned he wandered the streets of his home town, spraying ‘War’ under every Stop sign he could find.” The practice of altering existing signs has been used by the Adbusters movement and The Billboard Liberation Front in the United States. It is here that graff writing utilises its site-specific power in the face of mass produced advertising. These groups subvert the meanings of billboard adverts by making subtle changes to the wording or by more sophisticated means. The replacing of a picture of the Dalai Lama with the image of Charles Manson in Apple’s ‘Think Different’ campaign springs to mind................... //

GEORGE DUBOSE TE GODFTER OF HIP-HOP PHOTOGRPHY

DuBose has been producing record covers for over 30 years. He was the ﬁrst photographer to shoot Madonna, is credited with most of The Ramones covers and produced important record covers for ‘80s and ‘90s hip-hop pioneers such as Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane and RUN DMC. We caught up with the godfather of hip-hop photography and asked him about his colourful life in ﬁlm and his approach to creating iconic artwork.

The Notorious B.I.G and 50G - G.DuBose

A trip last February to the Beautiful Losers exhibition, Milan, highlighted that our potted history of the record covers wasn’t exactly watertight. We realised we had missed out influential heads, and furthermore might be wrong in theorising that the evolution of music packaging has lead to visuals being fine art. Perhaps it hasn’t been a linear progression, maybe it was down to different philosophies producing different types of work. Bonafide decided that the best thing to do would be to go back in the day and speak to an OG creative heavyweight. That someone was George DuBose.

“SOME DESIGNERS ARE CONTENT TO FLEX THEIR CREATIVE MUSCLES AND PRODUCE WONDERFUL DESIGNS THAT HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE STYLE OF MUSIC CONTAINED IN THE SUBSEQUENT PACKAGE. “

How did you become involved in photography and what has driven your career? As the result of a happy LSD trip in college, I decided to change my life’s direction from the study of law to the study of photography. My photography career has been focused on making my clients look their best in a photograph. The graphic design aspect to my work came much later when I was encouraged by Tony Wright, the creative director of Island Records to design my own projects after I had taken the photo. Needless to say, I always treat the photos that I am designing with respect and let the photo inﬂuence the rest of the overall design. You have worked with many people

from what is an iconic age. Your images, especially from the Cold Chillin’ era, essentially document the birth of hip-hop music. Can you summarise your initial feeling about working with hip-hop artists? At ﬁrst, I thought that hip-hop was a part of ‘new wave’. I was part of the ‘downtown’ art scene and would hang out at the Mudd Club, CBGBs and when I was on the guest list, Studio 54. At the Mudd Club we were exposed to a wide variety of contemporary music, Blondie’s ‘Rhapsody’, ‘White Lines’, Man Parrish and other hip hop music was often played, but we hadn’t heard the expression ‘hip-hop’ nor were we aware of the roof parties in the South Bronx. Unless you knew somebody going to these parties, it was ‘no-man’s land’. Several of the

hip-hop artists, like Fab Five Freddy, would come and hang out with us in the Mudd Club. It was my later work with XCLAN that led me to realise the depth of messaging that some hip-hop artists were trying and able to attain. From the view of lyrical politics, I am still surprised that Lumumba Carson and XCLAN even BEGAN to work with me at all. In the end, they made me feel as if I was an important member of the XCLAN, owing to the fact that I pulled the covers together in such a powerful way that reﬂected their philosophy, even though that philosophy could never be mine. Following on from this did you think the legacy of those artists would stretch so far and create such a powerful culture?

Da Grustler - G. Dubose

Absolutely not, my generation was used to seeing trends come and go, it was just another trend to us. I am still surprised at the universal appeal that hip-hop has around the world and that it has become one of the longest lasting musical genres.... ever! Was your interest in hip-hop purely musical or did you take any interest in grafﬁti and break dancing? My interest in hip-hop was purely from a professional point of view. My only contact with hip-hop artists was at their photo shoots or the necessary creative meetings for those covers. I was interested in grafﬁti and worked with Rammellzee and Bil Blast, I often saw break dancing on public display around Times Square, but I wasn’t involved in the culture. I did photograph

the New York City Breakers for their publicity shots. Hip-hop was all around me, but I wasn’t recognising it as a separate culture. It all seemed ‘new wave’ to me. In our correspondence you mentioned that, in reference to a creative approach, your philosophy, as opposed to the work of Saville, Ehqhestionmark etc. to creating artwork for records is quite different. Can you elaborate and explain exactly what you try to achieve when you are commissioned to do artwork for a record? Some designers are content to ﬂex their creative muscles and produce wonderful designs that have absolutely nothing to do with the style of music contained in the subsequent package. These designers

think that the cover is an outlet for THEIR creativity. The musician has little or no input. The buying public is not influenced by the cover to buy the music. The buyer most likely already knows what music is contained therein and would buy the record in a brown paper wrapper. By having creative meetings with the musician, I find it possible to listen to their music and get inside the musician’s head. Further discussions with the artist will allow the art director to conjure up images that reflect the artist’s lifestyle and the music he/she is recording. Assembling all this input, it is possible for me as a photographer to come up with photographic images that reflect the musical style, the style of the ............ >> cont’d

P-FUNK PIONEER BOOTSY

PHY FOR MARLEY MARL

COLLINS COLD CHILLIN’

AND CRAIG G’S ‘DROP-

ON THE ROOFTOPS

PIN SCIENCE’ 12” - 1988

OF MANHATTAN

MARLEY MARL & THE

ORIGINAL PHOTOGRA-

JUICE CREW ALL STARS

PHY FOR KOOL G RAP

STRIKE A POSE FOR MR.

AND DJ POLOS ‘92 ‘LIVE

GEORGE DUBOSE

AND LET DIE’ ALBUM

THE ORIGINAL GANGSTER RAPPER AND SMOOTH OPERATOR BIG DADDY KANE

ORIGINAL PHOTOGRA-

“IT’S ABOUT HAVING THE ARTIST’S COVER PRESENT A GRAPHIC IMAGE OF WHAT THE ARTIST IS TRYING TO SAY WITH HIS/HER RECORDINGS.”

This gives the musician the feeling that the package is ‘his/hers’. I want my artists to be as proud of our package as they are of their music. That’s the way it is supposed to work, n’est-ce pas? As the art director of Cold Chillin, what kind of image were you trying to project about the artists and the music being produced? It varied from artist to artist. Biz, we tried to capture his humour and class clown image. Kane, we always tried to depict as Black Caesar in the lap of luxury. Shante,

we tried to glamourise her. Kool G. Rap and DJ Polo along with Grand Daddy IU, we tried to give them the ‘gangster’ image, sometimes the gangster fashion look of the 1930s or in some cases, a modern gangster look, as on the cover of “Live and Let Die”, cop-killing ninjas. Without guns... From the beginning, I always tried to give my hip-hop artists images that would be comprehendible by the massive white youth market in the US. I ﬁnally and clearly achieved this goal when I executed the cover of ‘The Diabolical Biz Markie’. We put Biz in a white afro, looking like a mad scientist. The video company turned the white afro into a white powdered wig and put Biz, as Mozart, playing a clavichord. The song was ‘Just a Friend’ and when one day I heard a white guy humming the

Photo Shoot for Kane’s ‘Daddys Home’ lp

artist themselves, their taste in clothing, their environment or the environment where they would like to live, the car they would like to drive, etc.

“ONE DAY I HEARD A WHITE GUY HUMMING THE MELODY TO “JUST A FRIEND” IN A NY DELI, I KNEW THAT BIZ HAD FINALLY CROSSED OVER.”

melody in a NY deli, I knew that Biz had finally crossed over. It was the video and the white wig that MTV played that got Biz his first gold record. Of all the record covers that you have produced, what is the one that you take most satisfaction from and what is the reason for this? That’s a very tough question. I am very pleased with most of my covers. I would have to say, any of my Big Daddy Kane covers. Kane and I were always able to create covers that reflected the lifestyle that he aspired to. Biz’s ‘Toilet Stool Rap’, Shante’s ‘Dance To This’, G Rap’s ‘Live and Let Die’. Many of my rock covers come to mind as well. It’s all about reflecting the music found inside the package, not my

abilities as an art director/photographer. Is there any record cover that you wish you had your name on as the creator? Mott the Hoople - Mott the Hoople, I love the work of M C Escher. I bought that album because of the artwork. Looking at the work of you produced for Biz Markie, Biz comes across as open minded individual, do you think today’s musicians would be amenable to your concepts? Hip-hop in terms of the mainstream, seems to have become warped by money, guns, women. Machismo that might not sit with the types of fun ideas that you would want to document. This does seem to have been evident in the ‘80’s but less pronounced.

I present concepts to the artist that are based upon THEIR music. Their songs often create visual images. After absorbing the ﬂava of the music, photographic concepts come to me by the truckload. I present the most appropriate images I have to the artist and we always are able to ﬁnd a concept amenable to both of us or meld several concepts together. I never let my personal politics or point of view get in the way of making an image that an artist wants. There are many covers or photographs I have made where there are guns included, fast cars, women and cash money. Look at my photos of Notorious B.I.G; Grand Daddy I.U. had several thousand dollars CASH, spilling down the stairs of Grand Central Station. I like to draw the line at disrespecting

X - Clan - G. Dubose

women. Otherwise, all fantasies will be considered... At the end of the day, it isn’t about me or my photography or design skills, it’s about having the artist’s cover present a graphic image of what the artist is trying to say with his recordings. When the artist is happy, I am happy. When the record goes gold or platinum, we know we all have done well. You mention Kane’s lifestyle aspirations. Talking speciﬁcs, one of the album covers that catches my eye is Kane’s Daddy’s Home 1994 LP. For me, the whole look is perfect, reﬂecting the title but also the whole late 80s early 90s middle-class living style. How did that shot come about and what were the ideas behind it?

Several of the early hip-hop artists aspired to living the high life. Middle-class? Shit, man, that house we rented for the location of Daddy’s Home was upper-class deﬁned…mad palace on the water of Long Island Sound in a very chi-chi neighborhood. Some artists have a thing for cars (Tone-Loc); in Kane’s case it was houses. Check ‘It’s a Big Daddy Thing’. Another palace…Girls, fast cars, big houses. Signs of success…

could make me work real hard, with all his changes-of-mind, but it once took me 30 working days to design and shoot “Demolition 23” with Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks, sitting next to me at the computer.

You mentioned your covers for rock musicians. Who would you say were the most demanding people to work with, rock stars or hip-hop acts?

Reading your new book it became apparent that you have worked with a variety of characters and always seem to have built up a level of mutual respect where you can direct the artist and they will follow. Were there ever any situations that you felt intimidated or uncomfortable in? Working with guns doesn’t sound the most relaxing of experiences.

Both genres produce prima donnas. I wouldn’t say one genre was more demanding than the other. Masta Ace

I have a military background and the highest respect for weapons, especially loaded ones. Otherwise, I have been in Trenchtown,

From left: Album artwork for The Genius a.k.a the Gza in his pre-Wu Tang debut lp. Grand Daddy I.U photo shoot. Album cover for the Diabolical Biz Markie’s ‘All Samples Cleared.’

Jamaica shooting Bob Marley and BedStuy shooting B.I.G. and Masta Ace. I will go anywhere as long as I am WITH the bad guys... The more respect and interest in the artist’s character, the more respect they show me and the better cover they get in the end. In our correspondence you mentioned that you now have a gallery and have recently had an exhibition in Berlin. Where can people see your work and have you anything lined up in the coming years? The Wonderland (Klein) Gallery is exhibiting surreal, realist and photographic artwork. I will show the work of international artists. Wonderland is not a venue for

self-aggrandisement. I am having exhibits of my own retrospective and/current projects all over Europe. At the moment I have my collection of rock and hip-hop photos in a gallery in Maastricht, NL. In 2007, I will exhibit my own work in Rome and a group show featuring the photos of Mick Rock, Adrian Boot, Chip Simons, Jeffery Newbury, Josh Cheuse, Erik Weiss and myself in Cannes at the MIDEM 2007 music convention and probably PopKomm, Berlin, 2007. Also you worked with Warhol for his magazine ‘Interview.’ What was ‘Interview’ about and what was Warhol like to work for? Did he pass on any help regarding design? ‘Interview’ started as an actors interview

magazine, so Andy could get free tickets to movies and be invited to the openings. It grew to be a source for cutting edge artists, musicians and actors. Once when I was 20 minutes late delivering Andy’s ﬁlm and contact prints that I had developed from Andy’s previous evening at Studio 54, he yelled at me and taught me the importance of meeting deadlines. I never forgot that experience. You mentioned designers using record covers as outlets for creativity as opposed to channeling their creativity so that it relates to the music being produced. You linked this to the way record companies commission artwork, suggesting that if you are friends with a musician you can produce their artwork. In the past it was, ‘you got

“IT’S ALL ABOUT REFLECTING THE MUSIC FOUND INSIDE THE PACKAGE,... NOT ABOUT MY ABILITIES AS AN ART DIRECTOR/PHOTOGRAPHER.”

a design job for a label, you oversaw the development of a body of work and worked with the artist to something complimentary.’ That argument interests me and I have 2 questions. 1. During your time in the game have you seen a change in the way the record and design industries work?

nection to the artist. Nor do they have the interest in developing one. These kind of designers are only interested in stroking their own egos, not providing a service to the artist or helping the artist sell more records. How many covers have been spot varnished with designer jizz? I don’t care to know.

It all depends on the relationship of the artist and his A&R contact. If the A&R knows how to image the artist, that’s great, but it is also pretty unusual, in my experience. Today, because of the tenuous nature of the music industry, the smaller labels are asking the artists to bring them ﬁnished recordings AND packaging. Major labels have the bad habit of working with trendy designers and too often the designers have no real interest or con-

2. Following on from this you noted that you wanted designs that complimented the sound. From a theoretical perspective, is it your belief that record cover artwork’s ﬁrst and foremost aim is that, as you are designing for a product, the work should represent and promote the music/artist in a commercial sense? That the artistic merit/creativity (designers ego trip) should come second? I know in the art world and parts of the design

world, the idea of putting commercialism ahead of aesthetics is seen as blasphemous. If a designer is working for a recording artist other than himself, he must accept the commercialistic aspect of the job. Otherwise, stay out of the music business. These kinds of people should just stick to making their own paintings. They need to respect the artist’s aesthetics, not their own. They should keep in mind who is going to have to live with the cover, it isn’t themselves, it’s the artist. Interview by J. Grifﬁn

IN CONCLUSION.....

Bonaﬁde wanted to discuss record sleeve artwork because of the intimate relationship between the visuals and the music. Within record collections we all have sleeves that are excellently executed and, because they compliment the music, resonate. This makes them brilliant pieces of pop art. As with the world of art, its practitioners have different philiosophies, resulting in pieces that are individual and stylistically removed from each other. Dubose, and I’m sure he wont mind us saying this, is an OG practitioner. Methodical, commercially aware and a great photographer. His philosophy is to respectfully replicate what is within the sleeve through photography and, in comparison to the artwork for many of the hip-hop records released today, it is original and soulful.

Dubose’s work is a brilliant documentation of a genre comfortable in experimentation and exploring its boundaries.

Ehqhestionmark have a different ethic. Their work, with its diverse use of texture and media, compliments Lex’s cutting edge sounds. It is, though, a departure from Dubose’s. It rarely directly references the artist it is promoting. Instead it hints subtly and it can be ventured that its aesthetics have a ﬁne art quality rooted with the idea of the artist as a creator. There is no correct approach, instead as Dubose notes, changes in the mechanizations of the music industry, the ephemeral nature of trends and the evolution of design has contributed to the different philosophies. As testament to both Dubose’s and Ehquestionmarks quality we need only take a visit to our local record shops to see how these people have inﬂuenced the packaging that contains the music we buy.

GETTING FIXED UP AND LOOKING SHARP WIT DOPE GRMS BY ANSWER AND TE GUIDE TO DRESSING LIKE MUMBLING RP SAR 50 CEN FOR 50 PENCE

Artwork: www.eelus.com

FSHION

DRESS LIKE 50 CEN FOR 50 PENCE

The success of monotone rapper 50 Cent is, alongside the immeasurable beauty of Gisele and the concept of Earl Grey tea, another inexplicable occurrence of this contrary modern age. Fiddy, a man bereft of charisma, élan, wit (although it could be suggested that 50 Cent is actually an arch, self-depreciating pun, Ken Brockman style) - and decent rhymes. Bonaﬁde is driven by a desire to reveal those that make a difference to modern culture by challenging the rules. So how did Fiddy end up with an article about him? A man whose commercial success is built on an un-innovative take on the same anger that made NWA groundbreaking well over a decade ago. Sky’s Channel U served up an interesting question. How can a man so monied up, have such sartorial shortcomings? Its an anomaly, that we struck out to explore, hell

celebrate, with Sarah Birch, ex fashionasta of Leeds College of Art and Design. Sarah’s interest in hip-hop is pretty old school and pressed for sound bites to describe the fashions of a number of her hip-hop icons, she described Biz Markies early years as ‘loud and fresh’ as the man himself and Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force as ‘YMCA meets Space Balls’. Asked about Fiddy Cent…. “50 Cent’s

core fashion statements conﬂict: excessive bling but also excessive blandness, suggesting a predilection for being invisible but also ostentatious. It’s almost like he is insecure.” At this point we would have liked to have brought in a psychiatrist to explore

this dichotomy but funds acquired after raiding the piggy bank were earmarked for Sarah’s challenge which was to dress someone like 50 Cent. The catch? Fiddy is cash heavy and has no taste, so Sarah has to dress our model and outdo the brute with only 30 x 50p’s (do the math Nick Lesson that’s £15). Keeping it hip-hop fashion real in Leeds ‘the city of failed fashion models’ with these kind of ﬁscal restrictions is a big challenge. SARAH’S RESPONSE TO THE BRIEF: When I was ﬁrst told about the article,

I thought it was going to be hilarious. The fact that we were dressing somebody up as 50 Cent meant I was going to have loads of fun looking for some Goldie Looking Chain bling. I was excited that we only had a budget of £15, I was born to shop on a tight budget and was looking forward to going to all my favourite vintage and charity shops throughout Leeds. THE SHOOT: After scoping out various venues I chose to do the shoot at Babycream. I was rapt with the place, it’s got a fabulously glam interior and we chose

to do the shoot in the aptly nicknamed ‘gangster booth. Dressing like a pseudo gangster, in a faux gangster booth inspired by a chart friendly gangster. How many ironies do you want!?! After asking nicely and explaining that there would be a star in da club, the staff supplied us with more champagne, brandy, and £20 notes than I’ve ever seen! My model didn’t have any trouble posing and showing off his new look. He seemed to be providing entertainment for the ﬂow of passers by who kept doing double takes as they walked past. Obviously my skills at creating a celebrity

“THE SUCCESS OF MONOTONE RAPPER 50 CENT IS, ALONGSIDE THE IMMEASURABLE BEAUTY OF GISELLE AND THE CONCEPT OF EARL GREY TEA, ANOTHER INEXPLICABLE OCCURRENCE OF THIS CONTRARY MODERN AGE.”

look are far better than I thought, I got the locals thinking that 50 Cent had come to Leeds. THE GEAR: I chose all the items assuming that all you Fiddy wannabes own the basics. Come on, admit it you all own baggy jeans and box fresh white trainers. For the rest of the outﬁt here’s the breakdown on how you can look street like 50 Cent for 50 Pence. STOCKINGS: You read right. For £1 you can purchase a decent pair of woman’s stockings or if you are inclined nick a pair of a girlfriends. Stockings are surprisingly effective for creating a fake gangster doo rag. I can’t quite work that out. VEST: Yup the staple way for the British

male in 1940’s Blackpool to cover his beer belly operates on a different level for a gangster superstar. If you’re buffed and have no shame a bargain at £5 as a pyjama pack at a well known high-street chain BELT: Your baggy jeans need to be held up by something, you don’t want them falling down in da club to reveal your Y’s that your mum bought you for Christmas. This was a gawd awful snakeskin affair with faux diamonds encrusted in it. HAT: Hats are mad, they are remixed for all sorts and tend to get used as part of an identity for one social group then adopted by another. The Pork Pie hat, so long forgotten, has a new lease of life for all the Doherty wannabes. This hat was brown suede, large, offensive and I’d hate

to wear it but take it from a stylish cowboy and put it on in a club and we have instant Fiddy! Bought from Mr Ryans, my favourite place to rummage around and haggle for bargains in town. Oh I do love the smell of vintage clothes shopping in the morning! JACKET: Ok this is mine and I purchased it from a stall at a festival. It’s a proper Del Boy 1980s number with faux Alsatian lining. It’s a boys coat, I wear it and now it’s a gangsters garment. Oh I give up in trying to understand fashion! Article by Sarah Birch

................................................................ //

ANSWER “I’M LIKE VAUGHN BODE I’M A CHEECH WIZARD, NEVER QUITTIN, SO WON’T YOU LISEN”////////////////////////////

When the Beastie Boys dropped ‘Sure Shot’ (‘Ill Communication’, 94) they were still into hi-jinx and delivering bonaﬁde hip-hop tracks. ‘Sure Shot’ referenced Doug E Fresh to John Woo to Vaughn Bode. And if anyone in terms of visual culture needs wider recognition its Bode, self-proclaimed ‘cartoon gooroo’ who’s creations include Cheech Wizard and Deadbone. Forward a decade and Bode is being referenced again. Answer run from London by Emmet Keane and Will Bankhead produce high quality hand screen-printed cloth. A scion of the now dormant Park Walk, the label continues the tradition producing designs with a distinct artistic sensibility and awareness of contemporary culture. Quality in terms of aesthetics and

Bode’s impact on visual arts cannot be understated. A serious lender of styles to grafﬁti legends - rendering his characters and lettering and cartoon was a rite of passage for crews including Dondi, Seen, and Mare 139 – and arguably the roots of NY stem from his luminous, psychedelic informed cartoon creation’s.

product is a pronounced characteristic of Answer. The Bode series, as a project along with designs that check Eames and the Dead Kennedys, emphasize this. This approach maintains resonance with limited production and distribution. Eschewing the compromise of mass production, Answer champions the idea that exclusivity

is part of the fun with clothes - a polemic at odds with popular culture but bang on. In our opinion this holistic approach is pretty admirable. Most wanted in Japan, by in the know heads globally and Pharrell means something is working. Bonaﬁde investigated further by tracking down the most helpful Emmet K. ............................................................................ >>

QUESION.........................................................................................

ANSWER

AESTHETICS: Referring speciﬁcally to the Vaughn Bode, Eames chair and the Dead Kennedys sampling t-shirts. The actual image you are putting on to the T seems to be the central concern (if that makes sense). Its like the T is a format to celebrate culturally relevant and timeless design. In terms of the identity of the label, is this aesthetic appreciation important?

Basically, I think the designs we use reflect what we are into visually and culturally. The shirts we produce are about the designs first and foremost. We are huge fans of Vaughn Bode, our awareness of him came about through his comics and his influence on Graffiti.

VAUGHN BODE: (At the start of this article it was the noted that Vaughn Bode is due some respect in the wider artistic led world and that his influence on street art is pretty potent. On this thread…).The Bode(s) are responsible for some of the singularly most recognisable imagery and have been hugely influential to the graffiti and graphics world. What was the motivation for the link up and how did it come about?

We established contact with the Bode Estate long ago, we wanted to explore the possibilities of bringing Bode’s work to the fore in various ways. We had a good dialogue going with Mark Bode, and the idea of doing shirts featuring Bode characters seemed to be something obvious. People have done Bode shirts before, but they always seemed real bad quality and cheaply made. We wanted to do something really special. ..................................................................... >>

ARTISTIC LICENSE: Park Walk /Answer have used some real deal design talent - Fergadelic (Silas/Tonite), Ben Drury (Mo’Wax) Will Bankhead (Mo’Wax), Rob Dukes (Skater/Fine artist) as well as the cross-over projects with Vaughn Bode and Bathing Ape. Dead or alive. If you could pick an artist to work on an Answer T, who would it be and why? The possibilities are endless, we’re always searching and trying to track people down who we’d like to work with. Picking a single artist… hard. Maybe Bosch. All you have to do is look at any of his paintings or drawings for the reasons…that guy was totally amazing.

LEGACY: Park Walk was big in Japan and deﬁnitely had esoteric kudos. The label has now faded away with Answer to the fore. Do you feel you created a fashion myth/legacy? I mean I don’t know if it was coincidence, but you were dropping rainbow inﬂuenced graphics, then seemingly a season or two later, they were all over some mainstream T’s? Don’t know about a myth or legacy. A lot of people were aware of Park Walk through Japanese mags, such as Relax, Popeye, Boon etc. I guess the fact that Park Walk stuff was really hard to get hold of outside Japan, made it all that more desirable… Park Walk was all about Will, his designs and the artists he got to do designs. For me Park Walk is still one of the most

innovative labels ever. Quality wise, graphic wise. That is all totally down to Will. You mention the rainbow logo.. that was a killer. At the same time there were a lot of PW designs that were full of skull and skeletal imagery…12 months later, and everyone seemed to be putting skulls and skeletons on T-shirts. I’m sure it’s all coincidence. There are a lot of people out there who think along similar lines, but at the same time there are also a lot of biters. Answer uses the same designers and artists as Park Walk - Fergadelic, Will, Ben Drury, Ed Gill, Chris Love, Rob Dukes etc... these are all seriously talented guys. Without these guys…well there would be no Answer. BUSINESS PLANS: On a practical tip,

considering the number of smaller, sophisticated, image led labels that have emerged over the past 5 years (brands ranging from Grifﬁn, Silas, Goodenough UK, Burro etc), in this competitive environment what would be the most useful piece of advice you would give to anyone thinking of setting up their own clothing label? It’s a tough game, especially right now. But you know, if you believe in what you are doing, whether it’s clothing, music, design etc, then stick with it, build slowly and have self belief. Don’t give up. In terms of investing ﬁnances etc, never invest in something unless you can afford to write that money off. Keep it small to begin with and do your own thing, most importantly, be original!!

Considering the life span of both labels, you have functioned while remaining relatively low key. Has this been purposeful and one of the reasons for your success? And with the past established, the present evident in the new wave of limited edition T’s dropping (the Bode Birdoc T is hot) what are the plans for the future? What direction do you intend Answer to take and what is your ambition for the label? Well, we’ve always looked at things long term and are still building. We’re currently looking at expanding beyond just shirts. We want to do it all, full clothing range, toys, prints, music.. it’s endless, and hopefully all not too far off. In terms of keeping it low key, everything we produce is deliberately limited. We just feel that it makes it more interesting for us and for the people who are into what we do. Financially it would make more sense to be mass market, but that isn’t really what we are about. Birdoc…yeah that design is pretty incredible, well it’s Vaughn Bode isn’t it. Nuff said. Interview by James Grifﬁn ................................................................................................................. //

Artwork: www.eelus.com

MUSIC

SETTING OU TO SPEK TO ORIGINATORS FROM BURNLEY TO CLIFORNIA AND REVELING TE SHOCKING SECRET SET TO ROCK TE WORLD OF HIP-HOP

Bonaﬁde met up with Ultramagnetic MCs legend Kool Keith, aka Dr. Octagon, aka Dr. Dooom, aka Black Elvis, aka The Spankmaster, aka Poppa Large for a somewhat inept interview with the legendary old school champion MC. The always entertaining Dr. Ultra spoke to us about the old school days, mental institutions and the state of hip hop today. Sit back and let Bonaﬁde take you on a roller coaster journey of poor journalism: How long have you been in the UK? I’ve been in the UK erm, about two days. We’re just on a mild tour out here. But you know I’ve been travelling to England for years, back and forth since 88, since the Ultramagnetic days. My Euro days have been pretty insane. You were originally a breaker before an MC? Oh yea, yea, I was Dancing.

What got you started on hip hop in the ﬁrst place and what made you wanna MC? Where I was growing up in the Bronx I was surrounded by hip-hop. I was friends with Kenny Compton, from the Cold Crush before I was even rapping. I just started rapping but not really exposing myself on the mic till I went to school in Clinton and I met Ced (Gee) and we started Ultramagnetic. From then on I just started writing rhymes. I was never a rapper that exposed what I was doing. I used to write all my lyrics indoors, then one day I just started trying to get a deal and stuff. I had a slow start to my rap career, slow start but long jeopardy you know? It was hard to get a record deal back in the day but ﬁnally me and Ced got to do an album together, I was meant to go out solo originally but it happened that way. I went to school and met Ced, ended bumping into him by accident. We started Ultramagnetic at his house, his brothers had equipment, we ended up making three albums together. What are your strongest memories from the Ultramagnetic days? Travelling, travelling. We originally came out and toured Eu-

rope in 88’ 89’ People were running up to us in the street and wylin’ out, it was crazy. We played Brixton, we rocked everywhere. Where does all the scientific and abstract influences come from in your rhymes? Mostly Television influence, I watch a lot of programmes, I read a lot of ill books. You’ve been around 3 decades? Yeah, I’ve been around 3 decades, my career is never ending. Where’s it going to go? I’m like John Lee Hooker, I could do shows forever. I’m into producing now, I do a lot of production. What’s your production style? I’m getting into a lot of African drums, a lot of heritage drums. I’m into everything, I like snares and kicks. I’m getting into a lot of percussion. I’m about more percussion, you know, making sounds. I’m trying to make records where all sounds are sounds. You can make a record out of any sounds, hip hop is very open right now, you don’t have to sample a record no more. You can make records out of a door closing, anything. That’s my thing now. I wanna make ...... >>

“THAT’S MY THING NOW. I WANNA MAKE RECORDS OUT OF ELEPHANTS, ROCKS, COUGARS, BONGOS, WHATEVER, I’LL MAKE RECORDS OUT OF ANYTHING.”

records out of Elephants, rocks, cougars, bongos, whatever I’ll make records out of anything. I don’t want people to feel offended if I didn’t do a record a certain way. We (Ultramag) made the best records, the classics. I just feel I want to make experimental music more. I want to broaden rap with more sounds. What do you feel about the commercial hip hop scene at the current time? I think everybody is kind of stuck, commercially stuck. Everybody wants to stay safe. There’s a lot more instruments out there to work with, more things to use. As far as record sampling I’m done. My sampling time was cool, it’s cool to loop something and sample it, but now I want to experience the

creativity of making sounds from nothing.

really care, it doesn’t bother me.

There’s been a lot of rumours ﬂying around about you over the years, what’s the worst thing you’ve ever read about yourself? People say I’ve been in the crazy house, I’ve been in Belle Vue and stuff. We were so bored at wild pitch one day, we had about 80 000 interviews and I just got tired at the end of the day. I remember we were sitting in the ofﬁce and I said yea I was in the crazy house and I went wild. I went mad and I ate a gorilla. The press printed it and it circulated but you know, Poppa Large was coming out at that same time and they put that whole stigma around it so I was just like fuck it, just went with it. People wanna believe it, they wanna make shit out and blow some shit up from nothing. I’m like whatever, I don’t

What’s the favourite line you’ve ever written? Er…. “I got my shades on, big rock star, compared to Elvis.” errrrrr..... ok.......I guess that’s a pretty good one. You’re a big fan of german porn, discuss. Oh yeah, where can I get some tonight (laughter)............... Where’s the spot, where can I buy some tonight? Erm… Where can I buy some tonight? And on that note we thought we’d better quit while we were ahead. Kool Keith you’re certainly one of a kind. Ta very much. .............................................................................. //

WHOAH NELLY.... SEDY ON TERE LD, TAT’LL DO FOR NOW

Hip-hop/R&B experts WACFLO, a Huddersfield based think-tank, are worried that superstar rapper/singer/actor/plasterer Nelly (above-right) may be overdoing it a bit with his hectic schedule of putting out a different piece of floppy toss every fortnight and appearing in shit, straightto-DVD films. The group believe that the multi- talented chicagoer (real name Alan Goldstein) is in need of a well earned rest and accordingly have set up the ‘Not in herre!’ foundation, designed to persuade the star to take a short break (of around 35 years) from recording music. Their plan involves setting up a direct dialogue between the diminutive legend and his public, by printing his address, telephone number and hotmail account details on bits of paper and leaving them

in pubs and shops and that. Having conducted extensive market research, WACFLO are conﬁdent that enough members of the public will then be motivated to contact the midget millionaire themselves and convince him to keep it quiet for a while. Fellow actor Steve Guttenberg of ‘Police Academy’ fame welcomes the campaign. Speaking from his Rotherham bed-sit, he gushed…“He should deﬁnitely concentrate on movies for a while, he could come and work for the Hallmark channel with me, it’d be right up his alley, we’re doing a modern comedy version of ‘Snow white and the seven dwarves’ set in Halifax, I’m sure there’d be a part in it for him somewhere.” The foundation’s chairman, former broom cupboard presenter Andy Crane, has been overwhelmed by the response

already generated by a campaign still in its infancy. “Everywhere we went we heard the same thing,” enthused Gordon the Gopher’s long time partner, “He sounded knackered on that one he did with Christina Aguilera, or the lyrics to ‘Pimp Juice’ sound like he wrote them on the shitter in about 5 minutes, in the end we realised that somebody had to do something about it.. WACFLO are looking to see fast results “By the end of the week hopefully, if not sooner. I mean surely he can afford to piss off on holiday for a few years at least.” No spokesperson for Nelly was available for comment, not even that one out of St Lunatics who wears a mask. If successful the campaign would be seen as a victory for fans of music everywhere. L. Masterﬂaps........................................ //

MYSRO WWW.RPNEWS.CO.UK CTCH UP WIT LOWLIFE RECORDS’ HEVY HITTER AND UK HIP-HOP SALWART MYSRO ON BEHALF OF BONAFIDE MAGZINE If you’ve not heard of this diverse UK veteran by now you’ve probably been living under a hip-hop shielded rock for the past couple of years. Check it. How far does your rapping CV date back to? I think my ﬁrst ofﬁcial release was in ‘99 with Deal Real Records called ‘Kiss That Arse Goodnight’. Prior to that, I featured on a couple of mixtapes via Blufoot and Disorda. Tell us about Natural Born Spittaz. Is that your crew, and who else is in the fam? Yep, that’s my crew. It’s me and my partner in rhyme, Jargon. He was already in MI5 when I met him, but we connected so well that we had to form a group. I didn’t wanna get in the way of what MI5 were doing already out of respect, so even

though we were spreading the N.B.S. word, I felt it was better if they established MI5 as a group ﬁrst and then we start coming with the Spittaz stuff, which is slowly happening now. People need to understand that as artists who are unsigned and without management or a team behind us, it’s not easy ‘cause as much as we love this music shit, it don’t pay the bills etc…So this means that things will take longer than you want them to, but hold tight man. The Spittaz are coming for all you biters! How do you feel your EP ‘Music Mystro’ was received and how did you link with Lowlife Records? I think it was received well enough to put me in the circle of who’s who in the UK scene. It didn’t get released when I wanted it to because there was a lot of politics going on behind the

scenes that slowed the process down. The only other thing I was unhappy with was the fact that they called the CD version an album, because it had a few extras on which were previous releases. To set the record straight, I wanna let people know that my debut album is still yet to come and there’s no way I’d put someone else’s single or a feature that was released 2 years prior, on my debut album…That’s not my way of doing this! Linking with Low Life was done via Harry Love. I linked with him through Deal Real’s open mic sessions and a little while later Braintax asked if he’d produce a track for ‘Biro Funk’ and then asked if Harry would be his DJ…Harry then suggested Joe should release a Mystro project as well as get me as his hypeman. Being that me

“I HAD A WEBSITE BUT WHEN THE PEOPLE HOSTING IT FOR ME DIDN’T RENEW IT, SOME FOOL ACTUALLY THOUGHT I’D PAY THEM TO GET MY DOMAIN NAME BACK! YOU CAN KEEP IT, PRICK!”

and Harry were already crew, it made sense. I didn’t really know much of Brainz’s material so I just got him to tape all the tunes he wanted to perform and I learnt them and that’s how it happen… ‘On The Road’ talked of touring the globe. What country/scene did you enjoy visiting the most? I gotta say Australia man…I love travelling. Period. So wherever you put me, I’m gonna have fun. But I’ve been there more than a couple times now, both with uncle Joe and on my own. And boy! I’m heading back there in a minute mutha luvaz. What can I say? Follow the yellow brick road! When do you think a full Mystro album will drop and what would you like it to include? I dunno when it will drop ‘cause

this independent shit is hard to predict but I’m always working on stuff so you’ll be informed on when I feel I’ve got it together and ready to release… I don’t even know who’s gonna put it out yet… any suggestions? It’s gonna include that shit you lot know me for man… The shit that got me on Blak Twang’s ‘Kik Off’. The shit that got me on Rodney P’s debut, the shit that all you little clones out there try and replicate. The ﬂows, the funk, the style. All of that… I’m a humble guy and people who know me keep telling me that, but at the same time I’m fed up of hearing… ‘this one sounds like you’ or ‘that one is making a name off your style blud’… I’ve been getting told this since my ﬁrst release! It’s time I addressed it ‘cause my belly’s still empty bruv…

You take charge of the open mic at Kung Fu nights in Jazz Cafe, but how are you at the freestyling yourself? I think I’m shit, but I’ll still do it now and again ‘cause that’s just part of me as an MC… I’m not a specialist in that department but when it’s time for war, I’ll rap the blood out of you and the real heads. No, a battle ain’t working without the freestyle man,and I think when it comes to that shit, you have your good days and your bad.

“I’M A HUMBLE GUY AND PEOPLE WHO KNOW ME KEEP TELLING ME THAT, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, I’M FED UP OF HEARING… ‘THIS ONE SOUNDS LIKE YOU’ OR ‘THAT ONE IS MAKING A NAME OFF YOUR STYLE.’”

How much time usually goes into penning your tight verses of punchlines? As much as is needed. If I’ve to do the verse there and then to record, then so be it. I much prefer taking time with writing, but at the same time, I work well under pressure. Is there a particular track or verse of yours which holds a special place in your memory? They all do man! I gotta remember them shits for the shows my friend! There’s a whole load of shit in my life I don’t remember, so if I can remember all them tunes, then they must be in a special place already… Have you been involved in other areas of the culture such as grafﬁti writing or breaking? I used to pop and break when I was like 8, ‘til around 12 with my God

brothers and then I dabbled in a bit of Graff, but as soon as I learnt my ﬁrst NWA tune, that was it for me man… “Mummy, I wanna be a rapper!” How can people keep up to date with the latest from you. Is there a website or anything? I had a website but when the people hosting it for me didn’t renew it, some fool actually thought I’d pay them to get my domain name back! You can keep it, prick! I got www.myspace.com/mysdiggi on the go and I’m dealing with it myself so hit me up there for more info’. Care to drop some words of wisdom or shout outs to wrap up? There’s so much to say but you know what? You’ll hear it in the music or read it at Myspace, otherwise, much love to those showing support man.

It’s always appreciated for real… A peer that I grew up listening to in this biz reached out to me the other day and said he loved my work and that this aint the states, so people won’t let you know your good unless they’re beneﬁting from it. He mentioned other stuff which was so true and it touched me man… So I’m saying to anyone who ever gave me props for my music… Thank you, Of course much respect to Rap News X Bonaﬁde for wasting space on the ‘Natural Born Spitta’ that’ll run up in your house and pull my pants down just to take a crap in your dinner”… Peace. Interview by Tony Wright www.rapnews.co.uk www.myspace.com/mysdiggi

A BRIEF HISORY OF TIM WATCHING TE CURREN HOLDER OF TE POSITION OF TIM WESWOOD HOOT, SKRONK AND SQUEK HIS WAY TROUGH ‘PIMP MY RIDE UK’ IT’S SOMETIMES DIFFICULT TO REMEMBER TAT TERE HAVE BEEN ANY OTERS WHO HAVE HELD TE TITLE...

TE BIG BANG

Tim ‘Jimmy Savile’ Westwood The rank of ‘Tim Westwood’ is at the very top of the UK hip-hop tree. The role of Westwood was created by Jimmy Savile who actually invented the subculture of hip-hop in 1947 using primitive dansette record players and some sports leisure clothing. His reign in the position of the original ‘Westwood’

“ He laid the foundations of it all, you don’t have to look any further if you want to know the history of hip hop. Savile was the innovator, he’d take two records and make them sound like ﬁve, or one. It was beyond maths, he was breaking atoms.” - KRS One.

was longest of all lasting a full 20 years until John Peel’s succession. Arthur ‘Cutmaster Ice’ Blenkinsop, remembers the time well. “I remember he’d play the intro to ‘In The Mood’ by Glen Miller and well of course all the young dancers would come out on the ﬂoor, but then he’d play the intro again from another record

player, then something else. He really knew how to work the crowd. I remember when he’d play ‘Crash Bang Wallop’ by Tommy Steele and dance along to it, that was how all we original B-Boys started out. We just copied what Savile called his ‘Westwood’ moves.’ ............................................................................ >>

SOME WOULD SAY THAT THE ONLY THING SAVILE DID WRONG WAS NOT MAKING PROPER PREPARATIONS FOR HIS REPLACEMENT.

“ Savile used the mic in hitherto unexplored ways. He would be sayin ‘Now then, now then’ and ‘Guys and Gals throw your thumbs in the air’ then making the most extraordinary sounds with his mouth, like

a drumkit” remembers Raymond ‘Floormaster Loc’ Dunk, one of the original Peniston Working Mens club B-Boy society members. The first time that Savile used what he called his ‘human washboard,’ the church hall had to be exorcised because it was thought that a ghost drummer had taken posession of the building. In 1957, Savile invented graffiti by signing a supermarket he was opening with the simple slogan ‘WESTWOOD’ in 12ft high neon letters. This incident forced the government to reintroduce colour to Britain for the first time after wartime rationing. Tributes are still paid to this day by the ritual burning of cigars and the wearing of ceremonial chains and tracksuits such is the affection that still remains for the first pontiff, who, as it happens, has sidestepped mortality.

TE DEMISE Peel’s tenure was a controversial one and a troublesome time for hip-hop. His tendency to play records at the wrong speed drew dead stares. Further resistance was met with his attempts to get heads into Captain Beefheart and Tyrannosaurus Rex. Tensions built right up to his attempt to add a ‘ﬁfth element’ of rural crafts to the never disputed quadrangle of hiphop skills. This proved to be more than the mass rank B-Boys could take and a vote of no conﬁdence in the Peel administration was called. Biz Markie is scathing about Peel: “T’aint right to speak ill of no dead

brother but shit was wack. He there with his raggy ass beard and brother need a haircut. Nah’ mean? An, yep I know the brother collected records and shit, but I bet he ain’t got no goddam action ﬁgures in that collection.”

Markie concurs: “Shit is REAL, can’t fake that. You know ‘Seasons In The Sun,’ Terry Jacks? Gets me right there. It was through Blackburn I ﬁrst went diggin’ for Elton John records. Man, ‘Crocodile Rock’ is the joint. Don’t Sleep!”

Peel himself refused to speak about his time as ‘Tim Westwood’, going so far as to erase details of his time in the ‘Westwood’ hot seat from his autobiography. After years of turmoil, UK hip-hop needed stability. Tony Blackburn (pictured above-right) was the man for that job.

Blackburn’s tenure ended when, breaking up with his woman, he played ‘I Need Love’ by LL Cool J on air 17 times and had to be led from the studio by his producer Marley Marl. The incident ended in chaos when Blackburn’s wife was the victim of a drive-by shooting at the hands of an angry mob, in retaliation for the emotional pain inﬂicted on their ‘Westwood.’ Blackburn’s only option was to resign. He holds the record for ‘respect paid via album credits’ in the Guinness Book of Records.

Kool Herc conﬁrms: “Me and Flash used to get round his mom’s clock radio and listen to that shit. That was what we were raised on. You know that song ‘Baker Street?’ That’s my shit right there.” Biz

TE GLORY YERS Steve Wright (above,) now of Radio 2, occupied the post for much of the 1980s. RZA: “It was only after Steve Wright came in we even thought about having a crew. Before that, Meth and Dirty was doin power ballads. I was producing on my mom’s Bontempi, making keyboard beats. Steve came along and the whole thing blew up. We had different characters, alter egos. ODB always said he was just a ‘Mr. Angry’ tribute act. Wu Tang owes everything to Steve Wright. We found out some of the other kids on the project was tuning in too, so we’d organise parties. Shit was wild.” These were the glory years of hip-hop and tapes of his shows exchanged hands

WITH AN ABILITY TO DJ, MC AND BREAKDANCE SIMULTANEOUSLY, WRIGHT IS FONDLY REMEMBERED AS THE ‘ENTERTAINER KING.’

for massive sums between DJ’s across America, eager to latch on to the latest trends in UK hip-hop. “Man had a lot of knowledge and wisdom to share with the world” says Chuck D of Public Enemy. “Listening to his show gave me the courage to speak my mind, and Flav actually dreamt up his ‘What time is it?’ catchphrase as part of his dream to get on the show, he reckoned he could get a regular slot.” These were the glory days. With an ability to DJ, MC and breakdance simultaneously Wright is fondly remembered as the ‘Entertainer King.’ Wright was renowned for his habit of ‘dropping science’ in the form of ‘factoids’. Kool Keith was mightily impressed: “We used to call him ‘Bestwood.’ That guy

rocked the mic like no-one else” he laughs. After initially praising NWA as a post-modern reaction to an increasingly polarised world in the tradition of the situationists, Wright abdicated from his role as Grand Westwood in 1992. He was particularly unhappy with the negative reality projections encouraged by the new school. On retirement he went to live in a commune with A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and the Jungle Brothers, oblivious to the vacuum of chaos he had left his kingdom in. “Me and Ced-G used to make pause tapes of that shit. Just vibin’ off it at the back of class, we didn’t need no educators apart from Westwood in them days. Shit was funny and Scientiﬁcal.” - Kool Keith.

TE MODERN ER: TE CURREN TIM WESWOOD: FORMERLY KNOWN AS GEORGE MICHAEL

‘ HE’S A POET’ SAYS RAKIM, A MAN WHO KNOWS A THING OR TWO ABOUT FLOW. OTHERS DISAGREE, ‘THE MAN IS A CLOWN’ SAY BOTH KID AND PLAY, MANY OTHER RISING STARS SUCH AS HAMMER ARE IN AGREEMENT (WHEN ASKED ABOUT WESTWOOD, HAMMER WILL ONLY MAKE ‘THE GAS FACE.’)

What followed was a time of flux in the role of ‘Tim Westwood.’ After frantic auditions a man was found. The new occupant of the position was a relative unknown but RADA trained with a great deal of experience in musicals. “What people forget about Tim is that he can do so many things, he’s a dancer with a great voice and just exudes class,” says Michael Ball, who worked with him in the West End. “He’s a talented guy,” says Afrikaa Bambaataa, head of the Zulu Nation, “When he walked in, I knew our search was over.” But not everyone agrees. Some find his delivery ‘affected’ and ‘contrived.’ Mr. Lif disagrees; “The current Westwood is in a very difficult position, on the one hand he has such a rich legacy to draw on, on the other he needs to project his indi-

viduality. Hip-hop has always been about characters, I’d say he’s carrying on in the tradition of Gil Scott Heron and Slick Rick, a storyteller.” Is the time due for another man or woman to step into the legendary Westwood hi-tops? Chuck D says: “Perhaps it is time for a change, but it’s not right to push a man out of his job, I think we can all trust Westwoods judgement on all matters.” The current ‘Westwood’ himself commented how the “hottest joints’ would soon be ‘coming in your face baby! Ooooooooooooooohhh!” before driving off in his pimped up Vauxhall Nova with his thugged out friends. A JG production ................................... //

Bonaﬁde speaks to one of the most innovative and musical DJ’s/turntablists to date. DJ Woody holds the 2001 World ITF and 2002 World Vestax titles amongst many other accolades. Whether he is doing showcase sets, creating mixtapes, doing live shows on his own or his crew The Table Gimps, recording guest cuts on peoples tracks, rocking shows with One Self, or sat at home inventing new routines, he’s a very busy man. Straight out of Burnley, UK, DJ Woody, take it away. Bonaﬁde: Having already proven yourself on the battle circuit, picking up two world titles in the process, do you think you’ll enter any more battles? Woody: To me battling was a personal thing. I used battles as an incentive to push myself

and prove that I could come with fresher shit than the other DJs. I ended up winning more than I ever felt possible. I’d won two of the three main world titles and the only one left was the DMC but I lost faith in them eventually as they didn’t seem to acknowledge creativity and it didn’t seem to be about what I would call ‘true hip-hop ethics’. It felt like a natural end after my last Vestax comp. I’ll never say never on the battle front, but I see no point in treading old ground. I’ll not enter the comps that I’ve already won and I’ll not enter DMC until it brings in some sort of criteria for judging. You were the ﬁrst Brit to win the ITF world title. Is this your proudest moment or did you just take it all in your stride? That’s a tough one, it’s up there but it’s the

Illustration - Ellie Smith: www.ellie-draws.co.uk

DJ WOODY

“I NEVER THOUGHT I WAS GOOD OR ANYTHING, I WAS BUSY TRYING TO OUTWIT THESE DJS, THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN I FOUND MYSELF WINNING UK TITLES AND GETTING TO WORLD FINALS.”

less obvious things that blow me away. Like having one of my biggest influences, DJ Supreme of Hijack, round my house for a cut, having my own signature scratches, or like having kids, in say South Africa, know your routines off-by-heart. It’s bonkers really. I certainly don’t take it in my stride. I was well stoked winning the ITF. I’d say the thing I’m most proud of is that I never entered a competition without bringing a new style to the table, I made it my mission to only battle when I had something new to show people. I think that’s harder than winning any title so that makes me proud. When did you realize you were at a level to compete for world titles? I never really looked at it like that. The first battle I entered was the DMC and I ended up making the UK finals. Once I was there

I figured there was no point in being there unless I was trying to be fresher than the best DJ’s in the comp. This was in ‘99 when in my opinion the UK (bar DJ Craze) had by far the strongest battle DJ’s entering comps, ie. the Scratch Perverts, so as it worked out I had to set my sights on being fresher than the worlds best DJ’s. I never thought I was good or anything, I was busy trying to outwit these DJ’s, then all of a sudden I found myself winning UK titles and getting to world finals, so I had to deal with that. In my opinion it was probably harder to win a UK final then than a world final as the standard of the people in the competition would be higher. How much further do you think turntablism can go? Do battles like the ITF, Vestax and DMCs still provide an ad-

equate platform for innovation? I know some of the most interesting things I’ve seen with a turntable over the past few years weren’t at battles, eg. your ‘Flutine’ routine or Tigerstyles with his showcase routines. There is tons still to do on a turntable and a mixer. Battles are still a great platform for innovation, unfortunately a lot of the DJs entering have forgotten how to think out of the box. I think the only reason people are getting bored of battling is that less and less DJs are trying to be individuals. Maybe it’s a generational thing, maybe it’s because scratching is more removed from hip-hop culture and the creativity ethos has been lost. I’m not sure, I love the battling and hope it has a great future. One thing that has developed is that it

“I CERTAINLY DON’T THINK THAT THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE TURNTABLE MUSIC IS TO HAVE 4 OR 5 DJS ALL SCRATCHING.”

is all reﬁned, but I sometimes feel that everyone is reﬁning someone elses style. Also the advent of pressing your own wax to battle with is a development and helps sets sound better but also raises questions. Does it make it into a production battle? Does it take the skill away by pressing a record especially for a routine? I can’t decide. The way I look at it, your average DJ probably thought everything had been done and there was nothing left to do after say, Cash Money hit the battle scene, but look at everything that’s happened since then. The moment a DJ says to him/herself that there’s nothing left to discover they may as well give up. It’s that defeatist attitude that is killing battling and fucks up the scene.

One thing you don’t see too often is a turntablist in a band, with the turntable playing an integral part, one equally important as say drums or keys. Do you think integrating turntables with other instruments is the next logical step, rather than turntablism being a separate entity? Yes it’s one. I certainly don’t think that the only way to make turntable music is to have four or ﬁve DJs all scratching, although that can be really cool. You don’t hear too many guitarists trying to make music with just 5 other guitarists, or drummers doing the same. Me and my original crew The Handroids used to have a jam night in Manchester called ‘Pork Scratching’ in about 97/98. Every month we’d freestyle along with a stand up bass, a drummer, my mate on a

sampler and keys and our MC. it was so much fun. I always wish we’d have taken it somewhere as back then it was uncharted

“THE MOMENT A DJ SAYS THAT THERE’S NOTHING LEFT TO DISCOVER, THEY MAY AS WELL GIVE UP.”

territory, something really new and exciting, but even now, it is something that can be taken further. So I’m writing again with the drummer from those ‘Pork Scratching’ nights, Carl Sharrocks, he’s ridiculous on the drums. So with this project I’m trying to address the issue of the turntable as a lead instrument. We are working towards an EP and live show at present, watch this space.

the wider picture musically. I have been really lucky in that even before working with Vadim, I’ve had the chance to travel to countries I never thought possible and it’s so rewarding and enlightening to experience so many music scenes and cultures in different parts of the world. Hip-hop exists everywhere, you got kids in Siberia trying to master the exact same skills as say someone from Beijing. It’s mental.

You are also part of One Self and have recently ﬁnished touring with them. What sort of an experience has that been? It’s been great, previous to ‘One Self’ we had all been working together as the Russian Percussion, so I have been touring with Yarah, Vadim and Blu Rum for three years now, it’s just the name has changed. For me the best thing is getting

Do you think growing up in Burnley was a hinderance or a blessing to perfecting your artform? That’s a toughy. I certainly think as a hip-hop fan I suffered early on because after say ‘87/’88 it seemed that everyone who had been into hip-hop had got straight out of if. It was like a craze and everybody just moved on to the next thing, most kids my age didn’t really get

it. This was obviously pre-internet, so for a couple of years my only connection to what was happening was through reading Hip-Hop Connection. I was too far away from Manchester to get the radio and too young to go to clubs etc. My brother and his mate who got me into it were still into the music but we were all skaters and by then nobody else was interested in ‘doing’ hip-hop. It was tough. I was actually writing rhymes from about ‘86 ‘til ‘92 but for the most part it was a personal thing. In about ‘91, through my brother again, I met a couple of guys who were scratch DJs and had as much enthusiasm as I did for it. I’d always wanted to DJ but never had the resources to get decks. Then ﬁnally in ‘92, I got some. From this point on I wouldn’t consider it a disadvantage to be

“HIP-HOP EXISTS EVERYWHERE, YOU GOT KIDS IN SIBERIA TRYING TO MASTER THE EXACT SAME SKILLS AS SAY SOMEONE FROM BEIJING. IT’S MENTAL.”

in Burnley. If anything it was an advantage because it allowed us to study everything from a distance and make our own minds up on what was dope, rather than be fooled by what was trendy. It probably helped not being from a city as you’ve got that underdog mentality and the feeling that you gotta try twice as hard just to get props. I certainly don’t think I’ve perfected what I do yet though. What are you having for tea tonight? Dunno we’ve not much in, need to go shopping. It can vary from the healthy shit that my girlfriend makes to McShit if we ain’t got nothing in, so we’ll see. When was the last time you had a ﬁght? Last proper ﬁght was probably at school.

I kicked his arse and got hailed a hero by the school knob heads. A great day. Owt else on the horizon? Just released the ‘A Country Practice’ mixes. It’s me and a friend called Sean Vinylment, who is an obsessive crate digger. Basically, I raid his best breaks and scratch and juggle them up. It’s not like any breaks mix you’ve heard before, in fact its more a 50 minute track. It was a real mission but I’m really pleased at how it came out. I’m starting work on the next one now, its an ongoing project like the Kon and Amir series, but more like tablist compositions. I’ve got my scratch tool that I’m gonna put out, there’s a lot of great samples and musician session recordings on there designed specially for scratching. I recently

mixed Blu Rum13’s mixtape of all his previously unreleased material. I’m about to do a UK tour with Canadian DJ Dopey and later in the year do a return tour in Canada with him. We are also working on a UK vs. Canada hip-hop mixtape with each of us repping our own countries. I’m working on the live and recording project with drummer Carl Sharrocks, this is my priority really and a long term project. And continuing to do work and shows with One Self and DJ Vadim. Cheers Woody, you’re a good lad Now check out: www.woodwurk.com www.myspace.com/woodymadera www.tablegimps.com www.one-self.net

ONE SELF Since the release of their debut lp in Summer ‘05, One Self have created somewhat of a stir with their unique sound of sublime and soulful hip-hop. A hip-hop super-group with DJ Vadim on the production, the contrasting but complimentary vocal styles of the inimitable

Blu Rum13 and the lovely Ms. Yarah Bravo on Mic Control. And lets not forget Vestax and ITF world champion, DJ Woody, with the funkiest cuts this side of Cleck Huddersfax. They go together like spam and brown sauce (a delectable combination for those who have yet to

sample this culinary delight) and with a touring schedule as ridiculous as theirs, you should probably check yourself if you haven’t heard of them by now. Bonaﬁde caught up with Vadim and Yarah over some cheese and a can of special brew to see what the big deal is about.

Bonaﬁde: Is there an overriding concept to the One Self project? Vadim: We are just a group of people who have been touring and working together for a long time. The vibe between us was so good it has developed into a recorded project. I’ve been doing DJ Vadim tours and The Russian Percussion, all kinds of things for a long time. Yarah and Blu Rum were both, at one point, the main MCs in that. We just took the Russian Percussion content one step further and became a group. What is your mission? Vadim: We don’t have a political aim as such, which of course there’s nothing wrong with, we’re just making music because we love making music. We’re musicians and we’re just trying to put out music that we believe in, have fun, travel the world and meet peo-

ple. If in the process we can inspire people to be creative, whether they do music, whether they do artwork or what-have you, that’s great. If we can raise awareness about a solitary subject, whether it’s racism, social issues, or third world debt then that’s great too. But we’re not a political group. Maybe we’re just like an average person is, sometimes you want to have fun and have a laugh, sometimes you want to think about deeper things. Can you tell us about the ‘Reclaim the Streets tour that you did? Vadim: We just did some busking in London last October/November. The reason it came about was just through sheer frustration, not being able to get our music out to the people you know. I really feel that there is a gap between what people want to

hear and what is offered to them through distribution, through the record stores, maybe even the magazines. There’s a big gap and there’s a growing gap. People want other music, people don’t just want to listen to 50 cent, some people love that shit, but some people want to hear an alternative and they’re failing to find that. So yeah, we wanted to take the music to the people. We had a drum machine, a portable turntable, a guitar amp, 2 microphones and we did it like that. How was the reaction? Vadim: Amazing, it blew people away. I didn’t think it would be that successful. We’d just done one, to see how it would go. Bonafide: Did you advertise them or just show up? Vadim: The first 3 we did, then

“WE’RE NEVER GONNA SACRIFICE IT, WE WILL NEVER COMPROMISE OUR ART. ANYWHERE PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO TELL US WHAT TO DO, WE’RE NOT GONNA GO THERE.”

following that we just went there and did it. We met so many people who’d never heard of One Self, just through busking. People were buying the CDs who’d never heard of Ninja Tune, don’t know DJ Vadim, don’t know Yarah Bravo, don’t know Blu Rum 13, but just loved what they saw. You’re lucky to sell more than 15 CDs at your own show full of 400-500 people and we were selling more on the street.

Vadim: That’s the thing, hip-hop is so big. You can’t really say these days you’re a rock fan. What does that mean? You could be into heavy metal. That’s rock music. You could listen to Oasis, that’s rock music. There’s so many different styles, The Arctic Monkeys don’t sound like The Beatles, The Beatles don’t sound anything like Santana but it’s still labelled as rock music in the store.

I think a lot of people have the wrong idea about hip-hop music sometimes, all they’ve seen is what’s on MTV. As a hip-hop fan, when people question me about musical preferences, it’s almost a chore to explain, you can’t mention hip-hop music without putting across the wrong idea to those who aren’t already aware of the spectrum it encompasses.

Where does your artwork come from? It’s nice to see artists putting effort into the total package of an album. Vadim: Every album is done by different people. My ﬁrst solo album, the artwork was done by Strictly Kev (DJ Food) he does a lot of the Ninja Tune stuff. ‘Life from the other side’ was done by Delta, a graff artist from Amsterdam. The last DJ Vadim album was

done by Darko, another grafﬁti artist from Paris. The One Self album was done by a graphic designer called Inogma from Barcelona. The new Vadim album is designed by a guy called Boldy from Burnley, he did Yarahs website, Mark B’s website, a lot of stuff with DJ Woody. I’m always looking for designers, I’ve always got projects coming up. It’s always one thing I’ve tried to do. People can download your music but they can’t download the packaging. I always put a lot of effort into that to make it a complete thing. One Self come from all over the world as a collective, but where do you all feel at home? Vadim: We’re actually all moving to LA very soon. Yarah kind of grew up in San Francisco, and spent time round Europe. Blu Rum is from DC. I’m

from Russia but I’ve lived in London most of my life. We’re actually in the process of re-locating to LA as a base for the music. There’s a lot of opportunities there, a lot of offers for shows, a big US tour, people want us to do collaborations and remixes. The response, speciﬁcally from California and LA has been amazing. Why isn’t there more crews like One Self, why do you think the acts paraded on MTV are what’s grabbing peoples attention? (Yarah Bravo enters room) Vadim: Out there, there’s loads of really good music, but sometimes, people are just not aware of it. Nowadays, it takes a lot of luck, a lot of marketing, a lot of other things to get music out there. There’s loads of things I think are amazing and I think. “How can’t people know about this!?”

There’s so many factors you can break it down to, maybe they’re on the wrong label, come out at the wrong time, not promoted well enough or whatever, but the music is amazing. It takes so much effort you know. I’m a DJ and I’m still discovering groups I’ve never heard of. I’m the one supposed to be telling Yarah about groups and she’s the one telling me about groups, showing me stuff I’ve never seen in the stores. Yarah Bravo: I used to go around with a big rucksack full of mixtapes, when I ﬁrst met him. Vadim: She got me up on like Shapeshifters, Freestyle Fellowship, so many groups. Yarah: Oooooh, I schooled him there. Turned my bag inside out, all my tapes ﬂying all over “Have you heard of that guy, have you heard of this guy?” There’s so much out there though, it’s impossible to discover everything, you

know? Vadim: So many people now, just go by what they see on TV and what’s on the radio. They turn on MTV, they see 50 Cent, they see DMX, they’re like, ‘Well that’s what hip-hop is.’ And they’ll see Arctic Monkeys, ‘That’s what rock is’ or whatever. They don’t know anything else other than what’s heavily promoted on TV and radio and that’s the culture we live in. That’s why the internet is so important for some people in getting their music out. Would you ever consider making a move like say, The Black Eyed Peas? who about 5 years ago were quite credible with a stance not dissimilar to yours. Vadim: You know, the funny thing is, just before Christmas last year, when we were doing the busking thing, we had a meeting with BMG. BMG offered us a

“IT’S STILL ABOUT WORKING HARD YOU KNOW. WE WORK LIKE MOTHERFUCKERS.”

contract, basically they wanted another Black Eyed Peas. They said we had the right combo and the right sound but they wanted us to do it in a very pop way. And I was like, I ain’t about to throw away what we’ve got for that, no way, we don’t need the money. Yarah: We’re never gonna sacriﬁce it, we will never compromise our art. Anywhere where people are trying to tell us what to do, we’re not gonna go there. Even though there’s a lot of cash, a lot of exposure, you know, you’re not gonna be happy there if you’re not doing it for the love of the music. Vadim: Ultimately, the really good, cool shit at the moment might sell 100 000, maybe 200 000 copies. If you’re talking about bigger units, there’s nothing in between. You know BMG weren’t interested in selling half a million copies. I was talking to them about

the Roots and the guy laughed. He says “I don’t care about The Roots, that’s like an underground group.” The Roots sell maybe 3 quarters of a million copies around the world. Yarah: That’s nothing to them, that’s underground, they’re like “We’re not gonna make the effort unless we make x amount of money.” Vadim: That’s the difference. Major labels twenty-thirty years ago would invest money in new groups, they would take risks. Record labels now, don’t take a risk. You get one album and if your album doesn’t make it, you’re dropped. If you look at some of the big groups out now, their ﬁrst album may not have been that big. That’s because they came out before this change of mentality. You have to come out with a bang. But it can take artists time to develop and to come up with something really special.

Do you think it will ever ﬂip round again and go back to how it was? Vadim: I don’t know you know. I don’t see anything changing in the near future. The one thing that could make it change however would be the internet. I think mp3s mp4s etc. are gonna push for a change in music. But it’s still about working hard you know. We work like motherfuckers, arranging tours, doing tours, doing shows, hitting the internet, hitting press hard, radio hard, TV, always trying to rep for the music. But there’s still people out there listening to good hip-hop who’ve never heard of us. So we hit different crowds. We tour with Pharcyde, we tour with Slum Village, Lyrics Born. We tour with lots of different people to attract different audiences as well as doing our own shows.

“SHE DOESN’T BELIEVE THAT WOMEN SHOULD JUST BE MATERIAL OBJECTS FOR MEN TO LEER AT. BY SAYING THAT, WE’RE BANNED FROM THE RADIO.”

You did a track with Sarah Jones a few years back called Your revolution. It got banned from US radio right? Vadim: That’s right, I got banned twice in America and I got ﬁned twice by the FCC. The ﬁrst one was the Sarah Jones one, ‘Your Revolution’ and then they banned ‘The Terrorist.’ I got $7000 for each. The Sarah Jones one has been overturned so I got the money back. It’s kind of ridiculous cause if anyone’s ever heard that track. She’s doing a poetry track saying she’s not a bitch, not a ho, not a blow job machine. She doesn’t believe that women should just be material objects for men to leer at. By saying that, we’re banned from the radio. But it’s OK for LL Cool J or DMX to say ‘I want a bitch, I want a ho, I want a blow job.’ It’s kind of fucked up. You’ve got to work out what the FCC want. It wants the hip-hop community,

the black community not to have positive role models. That’s exactly what they did in the sixties-seventies when they killed off/assassinated/imprisoned, the leaders of the Black Panther, people like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X. They got rid of them. So you have a whole generation of people without strong leaders to look up to. I think maybe they’re continuing the policy of what the American government wants to do. It’s not good to have a black woman sending out a positive message. It’s crazy, I read the court case review, they had all these English professors from UCLA speaking against the ruling, explaining what poetry is, how it’s made up, artistic points of view, that things aren’t always meant literally. But the judge said basically “No, the songs explicit, it’s profane, it promotes profanity, it’s banned.”

When was the last time you broke the law? Vadim: I was arrested on Wednesday night actually, by the police in Camden. I spent 6 hours in a police cell in Camden, from midnight to 6 o-clock in the morning. Fingerprinted, they took my DNA, retina scan, interviewed. They were hard, they took my shoes off, patted me down, took my possessions. It was crazy. What were you arrested for? Vadim: Grafﬁti. We were stencilling the One Self logo. I’ve been arrested twice in my life. The other time was when I was 18, a long time ago, in about 92, for grafﬁti again. I was paralytic drunk and did some graff on a wall, not realising there was a police car parked right next to me. Two coppers were looking at me, shocked that I had the balls. They jumped out and said “What are

“I WAS ARRESTED ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT ACTUALLY, BY THE POLICE IN CAMDEN.”

you doing?” I was quick and chucked the can over the wall, quite a high wall and had no spray on my hands. So they got me to empty all my pockets out and I had some weed on me and arrested me for that. Actually, I also got arrested another time. Me and a friend were drunk, this is when I was about 16, 17 and stole his mums car. He drove it without the lights down the wrong way of a one-way street but we were juveniles.

That’s posh Vadim: That’s posh? Why is it posh?

Well that gives you some street cred Vadim: Is that real? Is that keeping it real?

www.myspace.com/0neself (thats a zero not an O on 0neself)

You know it. How do you have your tea? ﬁnal question. Vadim: I have my tea with one slice of lemon, a slice of ginger, I dip the tea bag in for like 5 seconds and a teaspoon of honey.

One Self album “Children of Possibility” available now.

Dunno, I just have a tea bag and milk Vadim: I don’t drink milk Fair enough Now check out: www.one-self.net

New Vadim album “The Soundcatcher” out April 2007

TE CLSSICS BONAFIDE DIGS IN TE CRTES AND DUSS OFF SOME OLD VINYL INCSE IT’S BEEN OVERLOOKED. TEY MAY NOT BE TE CURREN MEDIA TREND, BU TESE RECORDS HAVE ALREDY SOOD TE TES OF TIME, SO YOU KNOW YOU’LL BE MAKING A WORTWHILE INVESMEN.

% # 33)#3

THE GET OUT VOL.1 BY CAPPO & ZERO THEORY Out on Hideous Beauty Entertainment came one of the ﬁnest releases of one of the UK’s most underrated artists. Twelve tracks of no thrills, straight to the point hip-hop. Out of all the Nottingham rapper’s material, it was ‘The Get Out EP,’ which was of album length and quality, that the scene got to hear just how easily talented the elusive star was. The album wasn’t created in a NASA standard studio, nor was too much focus put into mixing and the package as a whole, and that’s why the end result was so successful. A demonstration that if the intentions are good and the skills impressive, the end result will silence the lowest of budgets. Zero Theory handled the production of the entire release in impressive

fashion, with atmosphere running through all the tracks and strong chemistry between Cappo’s rapping and Theory’s beats. The lyrical content of The Get Out was very diverse. Tracks such as ‘A4’ and ‘Caps Lives’ were less subject orientated and saw Cappo going through the motions in ﬁne fashion, dropping quality line after line of egocentric and battle orientated boasts. ‘Worldly Possessions’ expressed Cappo’s passion for music in moving fashion and ‘Success Story’ was a beautifully reﬂective and positive way to end the release. One of the biggest assets of the release was the playback value, which is still as

BIG APPLE RPPIN’

VA – BIG APPLE RAPPIN’ SOUL JAZZ RECORDS, 2006

strong, possibly stronger, than it’s ever been. There’s lots of sounds throughout the tracks which are so enjoyable to hear, from processed vocal samples and ﬂute loops to quite industrial and dark patterns which place your head space in a different environment entirely. Aside from this EP’s sequel and Cappo’s solo album, a similar project hasn’t been heard since. With the release put out on a limited run and each copy signed by the duo themselves, it’s without doubt a UK hip-hop classic which you should do everything to get your hands on....... Tony Wright - www.rapnews.co.uk

‘Old School’ is a phrase that gets banded about a lot. In hip-hop it’s often lazily used to describe anything that pre-dates gangster rap but with Big Apple Rappin’ we get something that is very definitely ‘old school’. Put together by Soul Jazz Records – probably the finest re-issue label in the world – this two-disc compilation is made up of sixteen of the finest tracks to have appeared when hip-hop first made the transition from being a purely performance based genre. What’s more, Soul Jazz have really gone to town with this effort by including a 40+ page booklet containing archive photos, interviews, and reprints of the über rare flyers for

THERE’S A REAL INSIGHT INTO HOW HIP-HOP WAS UNDERSTOOD EARLY ON AS A POLITICAL VEHICLE.

the early block parties and gigs. Featuring luminaries like the Cold Crush Brothers, Spoonie Gee and Spyder D, you get a real feel for the excitement of hip-hop’s ﬁrst few years. Kicking off with ‘Spoonin’ Rap’ – the opening rhymes of which grace the beginning of Grandmaster Flash’s ‘Adventures on the Wheels of Steel’ – you feel you know exactly what you’re going to get from this collection. Soul Jazz have selected numerous tracks that give us top notch rapping over the ﬁnest of funky beats we all expect from the pioneers, with most of the tracks clearing the six minute mark. What’s probably less expected with this compilation though are the reggae sounds

of General Echo and the black-power political rallying calls of Brother D and the Collective Effort. For those of us who have tended to think of Public Enemy as the ﬁrst and last word on political rap, there’s a real insight here into how hip-hop was understood early on as a political vehicle – something that is made clearer in the Brother D interview. The thing that really comes across on all the tracks though is the spirit of the early music. It’s the standard these days to hunt down the most obscure beats you can but the tracks here are strewn with cuts like Michael Jackson’s ‘Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough’ and Cheryl Lyn’s ‘Got to Be Real’. In fact, you’ll be nodding your head to plenty of samples you know and others you’ll recognise. The bottom line with the records compiled on Big Apple Rappin’ is that they

are just damn good. Hitting you for less than £13, this has got to be a compulsory purchase if you want to mine the best of early hip-hop........................... Chris Renwick

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BONAFIDE TURNS TE CLOCKS BACK WIT SOME CLSSIC RP BEEFS AND RKES TROUGH TE CRTES FOR TE SOUNDTRCK TO KICK SART TE REVOLUION

Artwork: www.eelus.com

POLITICS

CLSSIC RP BEEFS

Eminem vs. Benzino/The Source The Source magazine and unheard of rapper Benzino’s beef with Eminem is an insight into the warped mechanics of the music world. Benzino’s questioning of the cultural validity of hip-hop with a white rapper as a star was an absurd, provocative polemic aimed at raising his proﬁle. Industry heavyweight The Source, funnily enough, co-owned by Benzino at the time, lost all professional perspective and backed the failed rapper in what is a fascinating story of ego led editors losing the plot, along with years of hard won credibility. Benzino initially dissed Eminem on a mixtape, as well as slating him in various interviews, claiming he was hindering black and Latino rappers chances of success. He

had also given The Marshall Mathers LP a paltry 2 mics out of 5 in his review for The Source. The album went 9 x platinum and the magazine was forced to change its rating to 4 mics after protest from its readers. Benzino heard no reply and grew bored of waiting for Eminem to make him famous so recorded and released the track ‘Pull your skirt up’ on his ‘Redemption’ LP. Describing Em as “The two thousand three Vanilla Ice how you playin it, if you ask me, you really ain’t that nice you overrated” going on to question his street cred and call him “another backpacker rapper out of style.” By this point, Eminem had had enough and took Benzino apart bit by bit on his 2003 ‘Straight From the Lab’ bootleg EP. On ‘The Sauce,’ Em stated, “Comin’ up it never mattered what color you was, if

you could spit then you could spit, that’s it, that’s what it was.” And ”No more Source with street cred, them days is dead.” With the track ‘Nail in the Cofﬁn,’ he went on to display his lyrical superiority over Benzino and really took him to pieces “Swear that you in the streets hustling. You sit behind a fuckin desk at The Source butt-kissin and beggin motherfuckers for guest appearances and you can’t even get the clearances ‘cuz real lyricists don’t even respect you or take you serious.” Before sealing the track with the line “Oh, and for those that don’t know, don’t get it twisted yo, the Source has a white owner.” The Source bit back by releasing early Eminem recorded material containing derogatory comments about black women being

WHATEVER YOU THINK OF EMINEM IN ALL HIS COMMERCIAL GLORY, IT IS SAFE TO SAY IN TERMS OF RAP BEEFS, HE HANDED BENZINO AND THE SOURCE THEIR ASSES ON A PLATE.

after your money. This was an unexpected blow. There was moderate outrage in the hip-hop ranks. Eminem was called upon to make a public apology, which he did without haste. He then stated on the track ‘Yellow Brick Road’ from his ‘Encore’ album; “But I’ve heard people say they heard the tape, and it ain’t that bad, but it was, I singled out a whole race, and for that I apologize, I was wrong, cause no matter what color a girl is she’s still a hoe.”

The Board of Directors at the Source voted to remove Benzino and owner Dave Mays from power in an attempt to put the magazine back on track. Whatever you think of Eminem in all his commercial glory, it is safe to say in terms of rap beefs, he handed Benzino and The Source their asses on a plate.

But not before suing The Source for defamation and copyright infringement. It didn’t stop there as the beef spilled over to the whole of Interscope records and a lot of major labels pulled the plug on advertising in the magazine, not to mention The Source losing all credibility in the hip-hop world and a lot of readers along with it.

The classic OG beef with two crews dissing each other over wax with a series of high quality releases.

Boogie Down Productions vs. MC Shan/ The Juice Crew

The feud began with Queensbridge based MC Shan and Marley Marl from the infamous Juice Crew recording ‘The Bridge’ in 85, a track which implied that the NY

borough of Queensbridge was where hip-hop started. Up until this point, it was common knowledge that hip-hop had its earliest roots in the South Bronx. Boogie Down Productions, consisting of KRS One and DJ Scott La Rock, released ‘South Bronx’ to represent their borough and set straight the birthplace of hip-hop for the history books. The concept of the ‘South Bronx’ track was identical to ‘The Bridge,’ only it championed the South Bronx and even went as far as taking pot shots at Shan. “Party people in the place to be, KRS-One attacks, ya got dropped off MCA cause the rhymes you wrote was wack. So you think that hip-hop had it’s start out in Queensbridge, if you popped that junk up in the Bronx you might not live.“ BDP made it very clear the purpose of the track. Shan responded on his track ‘Kill that

Noise’ on his album ‘Down by Law,’ even having dialogue between him and Marley stating they never claimed hip-hop started in the bridge; Marley Marl: “Yo Shan I didn’t hear you say hip-hop started in the Bridge on your record?” MC Shan: “I didn’t. They wanted to get on the bandwagon.” The record went on to undermine BDP for getting offended over something Shan had never claimed. ‘The Bridge Is Over’ was the reply from BDP, directed at Marley Marl and Shan, as was the tit-for-tat nature of the fued. They decided to diss a couple of other Juice Crew members for good measure, who weren’t involved in the debacle up until this point. Juice Crew followed with amongst others; Roxanne Shante’s ‘Have A Nice Day’

which includes the immortal: “KRS One, you should go on vacation, with your name sounding like a wack radio station.” The feud ended in 87 after BDP’s Scott La Rock was murdered in a domestic incident. The beef is still remembered as a deﬁnitive ‘hip-hop beef’ moment and an important part of the history and development of hip-hop. MC Shan and KRS-One even appeared in a commercial for Sprite in which they exchanged battle rhymes inside a boxing ring. No-one really won the battle although many state KRS and BDP as champions as they had the last word. But some might say Shan and the Juice Crew won the moral side of the argument, with KRS merely taking pot shots at a misunderstood line on a track....................... .................................................. //

RECORDS TO SART A REVOLUION

‘Straight Outta Compton’, NWA Created the idea that violence in rap is valid because it relates to its surroundings. Discuss. For NWA its was guns, drugs, violence and gangs. And then more guns, drugs, violence and gangs. Like Public Enemy on steroids, NWA put hip-hop and politics side by side whilst cocking a 9mm straight into the face of middle America. Sleeping with the Enemy, Paris Imagine assassinating Bush Senior with Uzis, Scarface style and recording it. That’s what Paris did. Gobsmacking in its vehemence and audacity, the LP was deemed too incendiary for public consumption and was banned on release. One of the most socially conscious rap albums you could hope to ﬁnd. Has recently been re-released by a perceptive marketing bod. ‘Napalm Brain/Scatterbrain’, DJ Shadow Featuring seriously heavy drum samples and layered ethereal moments. This track acknowledges the US weapon of choice in ‘Nam and is a cinematic masterpiece that you could imagine the grunts running through the jungle to back in ‘67. ‘Live From the Plantation’, Mr Lif Lif condenses Marx’s capitalist manifesto and its central tenant, the value exchange system, into a 4 minute

MELLE MEL CARRIED ON AS HE HAD STARTED WITH ‘THE MESSAGE,’ USING HIP-HOP TO REACH THE PEOPLE WITH SOME POSITIVE ROLE MODEL TYPE OF ISH. KIND OF LIKE MR.T, BUT FOR GROWN UPS.

burst that re-tells the prosaic loathing and struggle of workers on the minimum wage in a 9-5 ofﬁce. If only Sociology were taught the same way, I wouldn’t have spent lectures catching up with the night before’s beauty sleep. ‘White Lines’, Grandmaster Flash and the furious ﬁve Catchy, but those white lines are coke and that dude on the original cover is a homeless bum on the verge of death. Think about it. Melle Mel carried on as he had started with ‘The Message,’ using hip-hop to reach the people with some positive role model type of ish. Kind of like Mr.T, but for grown ups. ‘Slow Down Ghandi’, Sage Francis Complex anti-Iraq diatribe, attacking the apathy and indifference of educated America

for losing consciousness, not challenging those in power and not searching for truth.

one of the most powerful hip-hop records to ever come from the UK.

‘I Phantom’, Mr Lif Is Lif the Orwell of hiphop? Conscious hip-hop is often regarded as sermonising but Lif, like Orwell, is fresh and direct with his wordplay. When those drums kick in you know a banger is on the way, only this one inspects the futility of being educated in the modern world and how your identity becomes invisible.

‘Fight The Power’, Public Enemy One of the most powerful hip-hop tracks to date, from one of, if not THE, most politically motivated groups, period. Public Enemy stamped their foot in the middle of hiphop, sending everyone running with this statement of their political agenda.

‘Great Britain’, Scorzayzee An establishment busting track from the UK that joins the dots on the hypocrisy and corruption that dominates life on our little island. Referencing our passion for debt to the deals struck with IRA to the Queens stolen diamonds and linking the sour faced old dear to Saddam Hussein. Quite possibly

‘Hip-Hop’, Dead Prez Another hip-hop anthem, this one’s from the politically active and controversial Dead Prez, a spot on critique of the state of hip-hop and the music industry. From fake thugs to egotistical Cristal sippin’, Lexus drivin’, monotonously materialistic R&B tinged bores. No-one is safe. And did I mention the beat’s a killer. Damn…that beat........................................... //

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We want to hear your views on the world of hip hop or any comments/ contributions you may have You can write to us here: Bonafide magazine 52a St Jude St London N16 8JT UK Or hit us up here: mailbox@bonafidezine.com We also want artwork and readers drawings for issue 02, draw us a picture of your favourite rapper, whether its in biro pen or spray paint and send it on. Check our website and myspace page for updates and happenings. You can also purchase copies of the magazine: www.myspace.com/bonafidemagazine www.bonafidezine.com If you want to advertise in Bonafide issue 02, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

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