LHHS

I caught up with The Last Skeptik for a cup of Tea and a slice of cake and to discuss the impending release of his new album with Verb T, whats happening with the Dusty Crates Radio Show and a load of other random crap.

D: Do you think Dusty Crates helped raise your profile and make connections?

LS: The DustyCrates Show was a great platform to play fresh music and get guests down that the fans wanted to hear live. When it comes to raising my profile, I hope it did, but I don’t have any idea if I have a profile. If Jessica Alba doesn’t know who I am, then I’m nobody. Thats generally a good rule of thumb.

D: Whats happening with the Dusty Crates Radio shows, will it be resurrected?

LS:Right now, I’ve got a producer on the case who is shopping the show to a few stations. But with my album dropping, I’ve been too busy to put 100% in to the search. I’d love to carry it on, radio is something I don’t think I can survive without doing. I’ve had so many messages from people wanting to know when DCR will be back – and that means a lot to know people were feeling what I was doing. I just wanted to do a podcast every week that could be a dope mixtape for my week around uni. I also wanted to use the links I have to play ridiculous exclusives and play music to the people that really were
fiending to hear tracks that wern’t getting spun on the bigger “urban” stations.

D: I noticed you’ve recently started writing for 3BarFire how did that come about? Do you enjoy writing articles and reviews?

LS:Yea – I use to write for Undercover Magazine (RIP), and Ive always written here and there. The crew at 3barfire.com offered me a dope opportunity to talk shit in a column, and get back in to writing reviews. Hopefully you’ll be seeing my literary skills in action in more publications soon.

D: In the recent years, there has been a decline in album sales. What do you do to combat this kind of thing?

LS:Continue to make dope music that people will want to support. Times are changing and you can’t just make money from tangible bootleggable products -not right now anyway. I want to hit the road more with shows – make a brand that people will want to invest in. If the fans just bootleg the album and don’t buy the CD or come to shows, these artists won’t be able to continue to put out music. We aren’t lying when we say downloaders are literally killing the music. 300 downloads could have been 300 CD sales and I could have a new synth! You can never make people not download, but you can provide a package that is so dope (artwork, music etc.) that fans will want to support it.

D: Why did you decide to do an album together?

LS:I’d always respected Verb – Showbitchness was one of my all time favourite records. So when I eventually met him when I worked at Low Life, it was natural to try and get him on board for a project. He hates all of my beats, so I had to pay him £10 million and shares in my Stoat Farm to complete the whole project. To this day he lives on the farm and earns a lot of money from the Stoat eggs.

D: Glad to hear that Verbs is happy with the deal, so, what comes first – the lyrics or the music?

LS:For me – the music. It took me months to actually listen to Verb’s lyrics on the album – I was more concerned with the way they sounded. I belled him up like 2 months after we recorded Broken Window to tell him how dope the lyrics were!

D: Well can you explain about some of the themes explored in Broken Window…

LS:Its an honest record from both me and Verbs. I never like explaining songs too much, I don’t want to sound too prententious about the process. But it definitley explores all sides of the musical spectrum – its a solidly built LP that should hopefully touch everybody. And not in a pansy way. Its still at least 47% thug.

D: How did it feel when you found out the album had been bootlegged?

LS:Dissapointed. The album hadn’t even had the artwork completed – it wasn’t even presented the way that we made it to be! Right now – I am in two minds, because I’m glad that so many people were so hungry to hear the album, and there is that much of a buzz that people wanted to get it early. At the same time, we will see if those same people that have downloaded it will want to go out and support the music or come see us at shows or book us in their area. My word to anyone who has downloaded it:: BUY THE ALBUM! SPREAD THE WORD. Music won’t give me a pension so I need to sell units. I already gave heads over 50 hours of free podcasts of dope music, the least you can do is to try and support me the one time I’m trying to sell something…

D: Don’t worry I’m going to make sure everyone I know buys a copy – Who would you like to work on a project with in the future?

LS:Mos Def, Paul Weller, Black Thought, Sean Price. I have actual projects on the way with Conflix, Sonny Jim, Pseudo Slang (Fat Beats), Skrein and a few others – so watch out for those. I’d like to work with Hilary Duff on a “project”. It may not be musical. But it would be beautiful.

D: Who in the Hip Hop world are you really feeling? And what artists are inspiring you still on a day-to-day basis?

LS:Everything Mos Def does is inspirational – although his last album was weak on the production front (holla at me!). Kanye is still the top boy on the beats – his work on the new Common joint was so disgusting – he is at the peak of illness right now. When it comes to inspirational on a day-to-day basis when it comes to business, heart and talent – Orifice Vulgatron, Skrein, and Verb T have definitly made sure I continue to strive on despite all the set backs. And hearing new beats from IQ, Butcha and Chemo usually make me throw up in to my shoe. And then try and make beats that can match
them. And then buy new shoes.

Inspiration is all around – especially in summer time – the girls are enough to make me write an album. Also, on a sneak tip – watch for my solo LP (me on the rhymes and beats) to drop sometime late next year…

D:Who would you most like to be conducting this interview instead of me?

LS:Jessica Alba.

D:What would you have liked Jim to fix for you?

LS:the lottery.

D:Any shout outs??

LS:VERB T and THE LAST SKEPTIK “BROKEN WINDOW” LP OUT AUGUST 20th!! Featuring Sway, Edo G, Kyza, Jehst, Syanyde, Kashmere and Big Red. Silent Soundz Records. Anyone in London on August 10th come to our free launch party at the Carhartt Store on Earlham Street – Free beer, free music, loads of special guests.

Shouts go out to all the talented individuals hustlin everyday in the UK for the love of the music. There is too much talent here to be ignored, and we won’t be for much longer. Special biggups to: All the DJs spinning our music, Foreign Beggers crew, Skrizzlein, Verb, Carhartt Clothing, Silent Soundz, Tanyel, all the Leeds hiphop crew, Jeffery metal, suze, Manage + Snuff and CC militia, sonny jimbo, and to everyone who will buy my album.

For more info on The Last Skeptik & Broken Window:

www.myspace.com/thelastskeptikmusic
www.myspace.com/verbt
www.3barfire.com

[tags] Verb T, The Last Skeptik, Broken Window, hip hop, UK [/tags]

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2. Verb T & The Last Skeptik – Interview (Video)
3. Roots Manuva Interview
4. Verb T & The Last Skeptik – Broken Window (Review)