Leeds Hip Hop Scene » Exclusives

The Headspace Interview

Chris — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:37:53 +0000

We wanted to push for a line up that would excite UK Hip Hop heads, and have loads of exclusive tracks. At the same time we wanted up and coming artists to be sitting alongside established artists.

I briefly caught up with Vice from Basement Sessions about the Headspace Mixtape that will launch tomorrow, 5th February 2010, with a raft of UK Hip Hop Acts dropping exclusive tracks for this new project between Basement Sessions Podcasts, HipHopHypeDog, Sensei FM and Soapbox Clothing.

For our readers who don’t know who you are, can you briefly introduce yourself?
My name’s Vice. I run Basement Sessions, an online Hip Hop community which has been running for a year now. My partner in crime is Hype Dog, one of the best UK Hip Hop blogs around. Hype Dog’s pretty new in the game but doing things properly. We are just about to drop the first volume of the Headspace mixtape, which is supported by Sensei Fm and features graphics from ever fresh Soap Box Clothing.

What motivated you to release your mixtape? Can you let us know who features on there?

Initially I wanted to release a mixtape to celebrate a year of the Basement Sessions podcasts. I got at Hype Dog with the idea and we decided to join forces. There’s a lot of Uk mixtapes that come out each year and they tend to follow the same pattern, with similar sounding tracks, the same artists every time, and very few exclusives. We wanted to push for a line up that would excite UK Hip Hop heads, and have loads of exclusive tracks. At the same time we wanted up and coming artists to be sitting alongside established artists. Weve got tracks from TY, Stig of The Dump, Mystro, Jack Flash, Alphabetix, Prose, Brotherman, Lowkey, IQ and loads more artists from around the country.

Do you have a fave track on the mixtape?
ah man! I love all of the tracks on there. Every single track on there was picked because we were feeling the artist, not just on there because of their rep. I love Ty’s new track with Corey Mwamba, thats got a really nice vibe. There’s an amazing Akira Kiteshi remix of Asaviour & DJ IQ from the A-Loop Theory that gets your head nodding every time. I’m a fan of all of these artists so it’s really hard to choose. I guess one other track that I’m feeling is Jack Flash’s new track produced by Wizard, that’s a banger!

Where do you think the UK Scene is right now? Where would you like to see it go?
The UK scene constantly gets ripped apart by everyone. The ‘Golden Days’ of the early 2000′s is way behind us, and people keep on clutching onto that sound, with artists like Taskforce, Jehst, Moorish and alike constantly selling out venues. Those guys are still sick but there’s way more out there to discover. The UK Hip Hop scene has really crafted it’s own sound, and every city sounds different. From boombap, to soulful, to double time to wonky sounding beats there is everything you could ask for in a genre.

The one thing that is stopping the scene from blowing up is the clique mentality and every city being separate. London is always classed as the hub of the scene, but cities like Leeds, Brighton, Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham, Derby and loads more and pushing their music hard. So many crews in each city only except particular artists into their network, and as each city tends to have a relatively small scene, if you are a new artist it can be hard to push through. People need to switch their mentality and try and discover music from all over the country and across the British Isles.
There is no reason to be negative about UK Hip Hop, it’s an amazing genre with a great scene. I would just like to see it come together, and be more supportive of the artists who are really moving our country’s sound forward.

Are you cooking up any other ways to bring fresh ways of releasing music to this digitally obsessed age?
We’ve got some ideas! I think the key is to tap into that digital market but be sure double up with a physical format aswell. Headspace Volume 1 is strictly digital, but there’s some very different things happening for the upcoming volumes! For the next volume we will be bringing it to the people! We’d like to get more live shows on the go and some different ways of releasing the material.

Basement Sessions have recently began working on a series of 4 day events, the first took place at Knowle West Media Centre in Bristol in January called XLR. The event consists of Workshops, Film Screenings, Live PA’s from the best local talent and lectures. The whole idea is redefining Hip Hop. All of the footage will be uploaded and promoted, and live tracks sent out to shows and blogs, to route back to the ever growing digital scene.

Any Shout Outs?
The headspace mixtape will be available to download on Friday. Go to http://ukhiphopmixtapes.blogspot.com to cop it! Plus it will be all over the UK Hip Hop online circuit so you can check us anywhere! Particularly Hype Dog, Certified Banger, Hip Hop Chronicles, Leeds Hip Hop (of course!) and UK Allday
There’s too many! You can check the Basement Sessions podcasts at:
www.basementsessions.podomatic.com
We’ve got regular shows from myself in Birmingham, Jagos in Bristol and 456 in Ipswich, plus guest mixes and interviews with some great artists.
Our blog is:
www.thebasementsessions.com
www.twitter.com/basementsession
And you can join the Basement Sessions Facebook group at:
www.tinyurl.com/streetface
Plus check our You Tube channel:
www.youtube.com/basementsessionsuk

You can check Hype Dog at:
http://hiphophypedog.blogspot.com/
twitter.com/hypedog1
Also check out UK Hip Hop Mixtapes for a whole host of paid and free mixtapes and projects:
http://ukhiphopmixtapes.blogspot.com
twitter.com/ukmixtapes
And be sure to check them both out on Twitter plus check out their London Events page:
twitter.com/ldnhiphop

Plus be sure to check our supporters Sensei FM, who are home to tonnes of great online shows:
www.sensei.fm

And check Soap Box Clothing, who offer Limited Edition clothing with a difference:
www.soapboxclothing.co.uk

The IRS – Interview

Editor — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:07:01 +0000

It’s a cold Friday December night in Leeds and Aidan Severs is stood outside the Atrium club with the IRS boys trying to get an interview out of them before they hit the stage and tear it up with their usual brand of comedy and social commentary…

Can you tell me who we’ve got here first?

Ed Strong: Big Ed Strong. Big Producer, big MC, big producer, IRS family.

King Kaiow: Big King Kaio…or bigger King Kaiow and like I only need to MC and I’ll eclipse everything else that anyone else just said before me!

Superb: It’s Superb, butter with words, stuttering nerd, I heard I recite something like nuttin you ever heard, here with The IRS crew and my boy…Guide One.

Guide One: You stole my thunder man. DJ Guide One, brother of MC DV who’s not here today.

What does IRS stand for?

ES: It stands for all s… I tell you what, I’ll hold the mic yeah and we’ll do a little circle and you lot all say it yeah?

KK: He’s trying to take control!

ES: I Rock Shows

KK: I Rhyme Sublimely

S: Intelligent Rhyme Style

GO: Impossible Rendered Simple

ES: I’m rarely Sober.

GO: It’s Really Something.

KK: In Record Stores.

Lots of things then. How did you get together as a group?

KK: Basically from the very grassroots level it was me and D and my other boy started a little thing called AMS. Then I left my college and went to another college and that’s where I bumped into this miscreant…

GO: DJ Guide One!

KK:…and his brother DV and then we started chatting and he was like ‘oh there’s this boy called Ed, he’s a DJ as well’ and I was like ‘Ah I met him…when he was skateboarding one time’ so we all met up and started making tracks and it just grew from there.

S: There was a lot more of us then. There were about ten of us.

KK: Yeah, you lose the deadweight.

ES: Yeah, lose the deadweight and get on with the serious people.

Can I write that?

ES: You can write that, they know it.

You in education as a job yeah?

ES: I was in education but I quit. I was a software trainer in a secondary school in South East London. I’ve just got a new job, doing the same sort of thing in tertiary education with people doing BTEC’s and that kind of thing. Education’s my career, man.

I’m a teacher too.

ES: Good, good. Help the yout’ them. (sings) ‘Teach the yout’ them, to survive, every time’.

You know that Rodney P track? The Future? That’s why I’m in education.

ES: Yeah I know what you’re talking about man. To be honest, from a Hip Hop point of view, working in education, it pisses me off hearing a lot of artists saying ‘What about the Kids?’ and I’m like ‘What are you doing for the kids?’. It’s a horrible thing, man. Understanding the kids is part of being a good…

KK: I’m one of those MC’s!

ES: That’s why I hate you!

KK: to be fair, my mum was a foster carer so I have done something for the kids. I’ve helped more kids than a lot of people have… I’d just like to say that.

I find it annoying when you hear these rappers saying the schools are instilling bad morals in the kids ‘cause I’m not.

ES: You’re talking to them kind of people: ‘I work in a school’ and they’re like ‘ah you work for the man; you’re evil’. And what do they do? They sign on and get their JSA every two weeks and they blatantly pimp off the system. They don’t do anything for their community. There’s a lot of good hearts in education, it’s the people at the top who mess it up.

GO: At least you’re putting into the system instead of taking from it.

That was a bit of an aside but…

ES: I like them kinda questions.

How would you describe your sound overall?

GO: What we talk about, what we think about from day to day. You know, the funny stuff, the deep stuff. The album is almost like, if you sit in a room with us for one day and listened to what we were talking about, that’s what the album is like.

KK: I’ve got one word for us…Greatness…hahahaha.

ES: Nah that’s it like…we don’t wanna say, yeah it’s real hip hop but at the end of the day it’s us. People that know us say ‘Yeah, I listened to your album. That is you lot as a sound’.

KK: I’ve gotta say…Anyone who’s literally just putting a real version of their life on record, I can appreciate that. Whether you’re a bum and you don’t earn anything and you talk about that or whether you make money and you talk about that…I can listen to that. If you’re 50 Cent yeah? You’re earning that money for real, I don’t rate him for talking about guns that much, but when he’s talking about money; that’s his life! That’s what he’s around and he’ll say it in a comical way. But when people talk about money when they aint got money or they talking about guns when they aint using guns or they talking about drugs and they aint selling drugs then that’s stupid. But if you’re talking about it and you’re doing it then that’s real innit?

GO: That’s why when you’re listening to the album you might hear contradictions. You might hear us saying one thing on one track and someone else saying something on another track that kinda contradicts that but that’s what people are like, no-one’s perfect.

I get the impression that with your lyrical content that you have serious things to say but you say it in a funny way. Not out and out humour, not ridiculous humour…

GO: We’re not trying to lecture anyone but at the same time we ain’t a joke ting.

KK: We’re dry wit…

(Guide One’s other brother runs up to him and jumps on him at this point)

I was talking to someone today about what success is in Hip Hop. In the USA you’ve got success as being big earnings, big money. But in the UK, no-one get’s big money for being in hip hop. It seems to me success is having your name on peoples lips. What’s your view on that?

KK: It’s good to have your name on people’s lips; we haven’t had a bad thing said about our album but at the same time it doesn’t put food in your mouth. Until British Hip Hop gets to a point where you can sell and be self sufficient off it, you’re not gonna get the best out of it. You can’t make the best possible hip hop if that’s not your life. At the same time it gives us more life experience. A lot of people make it and they’re not sampling real life because they’re separated from where they came from. That’s why British hip hop is at its real level because people are still living what they are saying rather than in a retrospective way.

ES: I aint gonna mention no names but I know for a fact that one of the biggest acts in urban music in this country…not N Dubz or Dizzee, we wont mention his name. All I know is I know a person that works at his record label and my man is in tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt and he’s got people screaming and shouting at his shows. What is success? I’ve put my album out and I’ve got mans coming up to me saying ‘IRS, you lot are sick’. My man’s got 15 year old girls he can’t even bang and tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt so what is success really? I’m not mentioning his name…

S: It’s Kano innit?!

ES: Nah, nah I’m just saying man…The thing is over here, what’s messed it all up is the internet. When we were growing up to get that Wu album you had to cop it off your boy which would take 90 minutes cos you had to record it onto a tape or you had to pay for it yourself. Nowadays 16 year olds can just download albums whenever they want and they’re spoilt for choice. If someone’s talking about shooting guns, they’re gonna want to buy it rather than us talking about what’s going on in a grown man’s situation. Success is hard to measure.

On the internet thing…don’t you think those 16 year olds downloading that stuff wouldn’t actually be the people buying it anyway. When I was 16 I wasn’t buying all the stuff I wanted. Are they actually taking any money out of it?

GO: I see what you mean. If you are putting out stuff on the internet then you’re reaching people who you wouldn’t reach other wise but I think at the same time you still do lose people who would have bought it. At the end of the day we want people to hear our music.

ES: At the end of the day, if you’re an artist, your career as a music musician is to make money off of live shows and selling records. That’s the truth innit. No-one in the UK sells records.

KK: No, no, no…Spice Girls!

ES: UK Hip Hop. No-one in UK Hip Hop sells records. But success is another thing…as long as nothing bad is said about us then I think we’re successful.

Would you prefer to be in this scene than the US scene?

ES: You know what? I’d rather be making hard house and earning ten grand per beat, as a producer…but I don’t like hard house, I can’t get down to it. That’s the thing, I love Hip Hop.

Have you got anything else to say? Any funny stories?

KK: Yeah, IRS are great. We’re great!

GO: I’ve got a funny story…Kaiow was asleep in the car most of the way here with the biggest dribble dribbling down the left corner of his mouth.

ES: And he farted.

GO: He farted in his sleep. What have you got to say? What’s your defence?

S: My defence is: I’m dirty and I like it.

ES: When’s this going out?

Soon as I can listen to it and write it out!

ES: We got a show on Friday, Friday the 14th of December in Brighton. Beer and Rap with Task Force, Dirty Diggers, Mystro…Mystro’s album launch party, check out Mystro. Then on the 21st we got a gig in Guildford; Platform 9. Big up everyone. Big up DV who couldn’t be here, DV’s a laugh, he woulda argued all the way with me but this time I got to talk all the way through. Thanks for having us man. Big up Leeds every time.

All: Brap Brap!

Breaking The Illusion – Mixed Messages (advance review)

Wisdomtooth — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:56:03 +0000

Seems Christmas has come early for me this year.Last week some tubby old guy in a red suit came up to me in the skuzzy little ‘after hours’ bar that is The George. Very quietly he slid a CD under my beer mat. I did not react, continuing my hand of Black Jack, but I could still see the shabby old man in my peripheral vision make towards the exit. I quickly turned to look upon the door but it was too late, there was no one there. Could it really have been my secret Santa? No matter, the importance laid in the gift that was given, a supremely advanced copy of Breaking The Illusions debut album Mixed messages.
I ran to my car, it was cold and I was alone. I hit eject on CD player, out popped Woody Guthrie, in went BTI, I hit play.

Now before I get into what came next, let me just say this. Until this point Breaking The Illusion, to me, had just been an incredible live act. I’d seen most of the tracks on the album performed countless times and chuffin loved em, but I’d always had my doubts about how effectively they’d crossover to the studio. Non the less as I sat there in my car down the side of the Town Hall I held a breath of excitement and hushed into a wait of anticipation.

First track to hit my speaks is “Big” and dag-nabit it feels just like I’m at the gig. It’s the same track they always open with and it sets the scene perfectly. I turn the dial to full and my cruddy car speaks farts out the next bass heavy groove. The album has a distinctive sound and surprisingly I find myself drawing comparisons to El-P on the production front.

A group of students lumber past my car dressed in all manner of inadequacies. They lurch their heads down to see my face with a “what’s this guy doing sat in his car in the middle of the city at 5am blasting out these future classics” kinda look on em. I return the glare in a kind of, “How do, have you heard this shit!? Wanna come join my party!?, especially you in the silver skirt with your arse half hanging out – you look up for a laugh” way. Still alone and tales of Mechanical dongs and ego driven door folk are among some of the more familiar topics keeping me company throughout this 14 track offering. I’d say the main focus on the lyrical front is quite sub-political. Iraq is parodied as a holiday destination for troops, Tom (Stewart (BTI)) also tackles the bling culture and in his very unique view of the world shares his thoughts on drugs and woman.

Fifty minutes and 26 short skirts later and the last track (Nobody Likes you comes to a close. The album ejects and Woody Guthrie is retuned for the journey home. I reflect, humming away to “run away with another man, run away..” and decide that Mixed messages will stay in the car, but I’ll have to take Burt Bacharach back to my room to make space. I also concluded that Breaking The Illusions power house “Girlwatcher” is my new favourite track of the minute. It’s just kicked “Sweet Talk” out the water as far as I’m concerned. It’s like Chemical Brothers meets Death From Above with Tom on vocals.

Final words, I fully expect this album to make chart success, it’s simply marvellous! And whoever you are dodgy Santa guy, thanks for the exclusive.

Mixed Messages is due for release early 2008! Support local Hip Hop!!

BTI’s Myspace

BTI Glastonbury set videos

LG Interview

Editor — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:50:28 +0000

Aidan Severs catches up with LG to discuss his influences and career to date.

For those not in the know can you introduce yourself?

I’m from London. I started Sit Tight Records with Lopez a good few years back and we put out:

Rocket Fuel feat Jehst & Skriblah / City Breaks featuring Yungun 12″ (which I produced)
Micall Parknsun – Tha Shit,
Wordsmith feat Jehst and Skriblah – Life After The Apocalypse
Micall Parknsun – The Working Class Dad album (which I produced half the tracks on)
LG & Biscuit – Smoke Rings album
LG & Biscuit feat Dubbledge – Sonshine,
Conspicuous – Family Photo album (I produced about half of it)
I’ve also produced:

Party Animals 12″ with Tommy Evans, Doc Brown and Usmaan,
Falling Down and ESP on Jehst’s Falling Down album,
Jehst – Psychadelic Phlegm 12″,
Suki Suki, Neckbreakin Remix, Souls Of The Unborn remix with Kashmere and Who’s That with Micall Parknsun on The Mengi Bus Mixtape by Jehst,
Dubbledge – Rice & Peas / Imagine That 12″
Dey Ain’t Ready and Scram on Dubbledge’s Richest Man In Babylon album
Terrafirma – My Brothers Keeper on their mixtape
Smurf – Timothy 12” and on ‘my alpha’ album,
Kashmere – ‘In The Hour Of Chaos’ I did ‘Souls Of The Unborn’, ‘Opium Foetus’ feat Verb T and ‘Have Faith’ and some other stuff which I’ve forgotten

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

That’s hard to answer. In my head my sound changes all the time but to answer the question it’s old-school-but-new-school-psychadelic-hiphop-space-jazz ????

Who have been your biggest musical influences and which Hip Hop producers have inspired you?

Marvin Gaye, James Jamerson, James Brown, Miles Davis, Coltrane, Bootsy Collins, Jimi Hendricks, Jaco Pastorius Etc
Hiphop Producers – DJ Premier, Pete Rock, J Dilla , Madlib, Beatminers, Extra P, A Tribe Called Quest Etc

Do you have a musical background? Do you play any instruments?

I’ve been learning to play the bass, I’m practising when I get time now as I wanna be in a band. I can also play a very small amount of keys, just to get by as a hip hop producer

How did you find out that you were handy when it came to crafting beats?

I just enjoyed doing it, I had a passion for it and people started using my beats, I had records out so I just kept doing it

Do you feel like many producers are overlooked or overshadowed by the MC’s that rap on their beats?

I think the UK has some of the sickest hip hop producers in the world, I hear so many people’s beats that just blow me away.
It depends on what the producer’s intention is when making a beat though. Most hip hop producers make beats with MCs being on their track in mind, so the MC can be the final part of the completion of a song. If you are making a beat that doesn’t need an MC you are probably gonna have other things or different arrangements going on in it, in which case an MC wouldn’t sound right on the beat, but part of being a producer is to find the balance and make it work whatever’s happening in the track.

What are your three pieces of equipment do you value most when it comes to production?

Turntable, MPC3000, Logic Audio

What other programs/equipment do you use?

Akai S950 sampler, I’ve got loads of software synths and plug-ins on the computer I also use a keyboard and bass guitar

What process do you go through when writing a track? Do you start with a tune, a sample, a drum beat or a concept? What happens next?

A lot of the time I start with a basic drum beat, then start chopping some breaks or playing synths or bass over it, when I get something I like I might change the drums to work with the music more and then start adding other things that sound good until I feel its kind of finished…which sometimes it never is.

You’ve worked with some big name UK MC’s but you’ve also worked with singers and musicians (most notably flautist, Biscuit). How does it differ working with each kind of artist?

Some people you know well and are friends who you hang out with, like Biscuit, which can be good because you can be more experimental or sometimes do stuff on the spur of the moment. Sometimes I don’t really know some one very well at all but have given them beats which they have written to and they come in the studio and smash it, which always brings new energy. It’s good to change it up, the best music always comes unexpectedly

How do you prefer to work when collaborating with rappers? Do you both get in the studio and write together or is there a separate process?

Again it varies. When me and Jehst had the studio in Old Street there would always be people around so I would be making a beat and Jehst or Parke or whoever would be writing the bars then and there. Sometimes they would even spit them on the track before I was even finished, like on the Guns Of Naverone on Parkes album. Other times people take beats away, write at home and then record on another day.

Have you ever been given some invaluable advice when it comes to producing? What tips would you give to an aspiring Hip Hop producer?

If you’re sampling drum sounds off records, try leaving the air on the drums

Tell us what it’s like being a part of the YNR famalam. Do you spend a lot of time with Jehst, Micall Parknsun, Sir Smurf Lil et al? Is there a lot of touring involved in being a producer?

Yeah we spend time together as we are all friends, we mostly link to do music but we chill as well. We’ve been touring recently all together but we haven’t got a lot of time to chill on tour, cause we are all trying to balance our normal lives at the same time

What can we expect from you in the future? Are you currently working on any exciting projects?

There’s some stuff I don’t really wanna say, but there will be an album with me Jehst Micall Parknsun and Kashmere, we are called Arkham Asylum

Any last words or plugs?

LG Presents ‘The Mission’ with Jehst and Micall Parknsun / ‘What Would Happen’ with Kashmere 12″ is out now on YNR. Go buy it, it’s sick (trust me I’m a doctor!)

A lot of people don’t know about the LG & Biscuit ‘Smoke Rings’ album. It’s a beautiful album, even though I’m biased, check it out on Sit Tight Records

Win a Night Out at Trash – Olympic Lifts & 9 Lives Clik Tuesday 11th December 2007!

Editor — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 01:37:29 +0000

On Tuesday 11th December Sound People, welcome Hip Hop/Pop act Olympic Lifts to Leeds as part of their mini UK tour. Support on the night will be from local hip hop act 9 Lives Clik featuring Eliphino, Chief Wiggum and Pro-Optic.

Leeds Hip Hop Scene have teamed up with the venue and promoters to offer you lucky lucky people the chance to win a pair of tickets to the event plus a £30 bar tab including some complimentary shots to get you started!! To be in with a chance of winning you need to answer the following question…

Where do Olympic Lifts originate from?

Competition closes on the 9th December 2007.
Entries to include the answer to the question, your name and full address, and send to editor@leedshiphop.co.uk

Disclaimer
One entry is allowed per email address. Multiple entries will result in disqualification of all entries including the first valid entry.
There is 1 prize consisting of a pair of tickets for the gig & £30 bar allowance, winners will be drawn randomly from the correct entries received.
Prizes cannot be swapped for anything else, but if you don’t want it then say so and we’ll find someone that does!
Entries from UK residents only please.
All entries have to have been received in the competition mailbox by 23:59 on the date stipulated above.
Winners will be contacted sometime thereafter by either leedshiphop.co.uk or the promotions company. No correspondence will be entered into by anyone at leedshiphop.co.uk. Anything we say is final.

The Prize Finder

LHHS Exclusive interview with Jehst & YNR fam!

Analogue — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 12:23:55 +0000

This an exclusive video interview for LHHS – we were fortunate enough to meet up with [tag]Jehst[/tag], Micall Parknsun, Sir Smurf Lil and LG at their recent gig at New Bohemia in [tag]Leeds[/tag]. We sat down and chatted about [tag]UK Hip Hop[/tag], Yorkshire, the [tag]Mengi Bus Mixtape[/tag], Aubergines and check for some exclusive footage from the gig…

Enjoy!

Especially the second half..