SED*8 Magazine

INTERVIEW BY Emmanuel Cole

What is the essence of rap, what is a conscious rapper, why all the talk of violence and where is London’s rap scene taking us?  In conversation with South London MC’s Big Mix and Mad Max,  Emmanuel Cole mulls over the issues that face British rap.

Sed*8: Hello and good day. My name’s Emmanuel Cole  and I’m here interviewing my guy Big Mix.
Mix: What up, what up?
Mix is an up-and-coming artist direct from the streets where there is a great amount of stigma and bad press.  I’m here to find out why. Tell us a bit about yourself Mix.
My names Big Mix I’m a recording artist. I started out in a four man group called Similar G’s/Black Emerald entertainment.  We’ve been doing this music thing since the age of fourteen, the first mix tape I dropped, ‘Bars Cant Done’, was BIG…it was on fire, it got my name on the map in certain circuits until we dropped our next mix tape ‘Gun to Roses’…
To those who don’t know Mix is from Peckham. As soon as people hear Peckham, they build a negative mental picture in their mind, why do you think this happens?
There is a lack of respect for urban talent. Some people are quick to assume that you’re not working so you’re not doing anything good with your life. I see a lot of young people being judged.  I just urge them to keep doing what they do so long as it has positive affects.
What is a conscious rapper for you?
It’s someone who is not glamorising violence or any illegal way. They speak the gospel the truth not necessarily in a religious way. They are a socially aware person, that is always trying to better themself and others, who is not afraid to speak about real issues.  I love rapping about real issues but nobody wants to hear it too real.
So do you feel if you’re more of a conscious rapper with your lyrical content your respect level on the street will go down as well as your credibility as an artist?
I feel it can affect your credibility but that’s just to the weak-minded people. They watch you doing a track and think ‘oh he’s moist, he’s whack’.   There are a lot of people who will criticise your work. As long as you don’t let it effect you, so long as you put out your stuff at a level you’re satisfied with you’ll be safe.
Do you think rap still holds old school values?
Right now, basically you got to sell it and you got to sell yourself with it. You’ve got to show it off.  There are too many weak-minded people and they need the visual. Music is about listening, the visual goes nice with it but a lot of people like to stunt act like they got a lot of dough but after making the video go back to living their normal life.
Me, I just like to keep it real. I make a video on my estate with the people who are close to me.  They make me feel at home and it feels right and authentic. People will feel me at a spiritual level.
What do you think of the kids influenced or inspired by hardcore rap and imitating it?
I feel their need to wake up.  There’s more to life then all the violence. I remember what it was like growing up, we all use to follow the hype. Some of these young people are waking up with stresses that they do not need to be waking up with. They know what other people expect of them and then give it to them. It’s like seeing a trap then falling straight into it.  It will continue to happen until we all wake up.
That’s beautiful alright. Let’s come off the dark topic into something lighter what type of music were you first inspired by?
Back in the day we started off with jungle. I had a little tape deck in my bedroom the most standard tape deck you could ever believe it was so standard the microphone take was like a headphone take. I use to record instrumental on tape from my friend’s turntables.  I brought my TDKD 90, got another tape and recorded myself splitting over instrumental that already been taped. I also used to call my friends round, we had one microphone and used to pass that around until I upgraded and got the next bit J.E.T mic. We used to go back to back in my bedroom on a little set recorder, no technology like we’ve got now, no studio no booth, no 100-odd pound microphone. We got a little name for that.
Do you feel music can be your saviour?
I guess it could be a saviour, it could bring happiness for a lot of people but obviously happiness could come at a price.
I appreciate that. Just before wrapping up what top tip or advice will you give young inspired artist coming up?
Be original, be real. Don’t rap American or don’t try change your accent. If people refuse to tell you your stuff is good they’re not telling you anything. More than likely it’s because your stuff is good. If they’re telling you it’s rubbish obviously you’ve got to look in to it AND DON’T LIMIT YOURSELF WITHIN YOUR POST CODE.
www.myspace.com/bigmixtapes

BIG MIXSTAPE Volume 1 has just been release so get your hands on it at independent record stores and on itunes.  BIG MIXSTAPE Volume 2 is out in December. Sed*8 will be down at Mix’s launch to have some drinks on him, showing love and that.
Watch this space www.sed8magazine.com

For all you that don’t know Mad Max is a recording artist.  Back in the day he dropped a mix tape called Welcome to the dark side and started rolling with a group called SW9 Millies  they’re still going strong four albums deep. Max is from Brixton, a place that also has a pretty bad rep why is that?
Max: Because of history, history’s what made it like that.
What about the media?
That’s part of it yeah.
We know you’re passionate about your art but what values do you find important in your life?
Trust, loyalty, freedom, God and family.
Are you a conscious rapper?
I’m a truthful rapper, I’ve got conscious bars and I’ve got quite a few conscious songs. Artists are supposed to rap how they feel but if you don’t feel conscious sometimes people just have to accept it.  At the end of the day if someone’s in a positive page they feel positive…
Do you agree with Mix that if you’re recognised as a conscious rapper your ratings on the street go down?
No. I listen to conscious rappers, I love listening to them they make my day good. A conscious rapper is someone that’s true to themselves and in tune with themselves and tells the truth. Also, he thinks before he speaks.
What about the values of rap nowadays?
Rap’s changed. Music on a whole has changed. Nuff people were doing it out of love and then got a break. Nowadays it’s all about the money
And the essence of rap, has that been lost?
It’s not the artists it’s just a lot of wannabe rappers that have lost it, that’s what it is. Musically you can’t diss the real artists because they are just doing their thing. All these wannabe rappers they’re not even really taking it seriously they’re selling themselves out.
Do you think the media’s exploiting what’s happening in the streets for money purposes?
The media exploits everything man, the media controls it all.
What kind of music inspired you growing up?
Madonna was my girlfriend in primary school I was in love with her. Prince, Luther Vandrous, KRS1, Busta Rymes, Wu-Tang, Nas, Tupac… All my friends that were producing music inspired me, like Simon Says from the Ill Kid he’s the first person I went on stage with when I was 16.
When did you decide that you wanted to take music more seriously?
2005, that’s when I decided to take it seriously but I still made a lot of mistakes.  I learnt you cant mix the two, music and this street thing. You’ve got to focus on your main aim.
If you weren’t doing music where would you see or what would you be doing?
I don’t know…probably own a restaurant lol…seriously, I’d own a restaurant!
Do you feel music can save people?
It can if you do it properly yeah it’s definitely a positive
Ok so to wrap this up, do you think that youth culture is influencing music or vice versa?
I feel the industry tries to lock people in a mental box and but I think kids today they’re on their own thing still.
Final words?
Yeah. The mixtape’s called Aint got a Clue trust me it’s coming out soon; track called ‘Nobody Like Me’, tunes for the girl dem and man dem. Don’t Watch no Face the Mad Max album, working on that right now. I’ve got a female artist coming out her name’s Lady Destiny and we’ve got a couple of tunes in the pipeline.

That was Mad Max check him out and it’s your boy Emmanuel signing out from Sed*8. Peace.

INTERVIEW BY Rob Khan / IMAGES James Adabie

The Illersapiens are a seven piece hip-hop collective from South London. They merge stunning instrumentals with soulful vocals and intelligent rap and at nearly two years old have already made big strides in reigniting the dormant UK hip-hop scene. They have a number of live performances under their belts and their very own night, upstairs At The Ritzy in Brixton is a regular success. Rob Khan caught up with them to find out more…
Firstly where does the name originate?
Mr. Man: The name Illersapiens comes from ‘homosapiens’ which means humans, for those that are silly, and then we’re obviously ‘illa’ which is a hip-hop term for ‘better’. So we’re basically saying were better than humans. But not to sound big-headed, it’s more like we are the best humans we can be.
How would you describe your sound?
Louis: Soulful London hip-hop.
As talented artists in your own right how did you get
together?
Mr. Man: Well Louis and I had a passion for hip-hop and we wanted to start a hip-hop band, to bring live music and incorporate it into hip-hop and create something new that wasn’t really being done on the London/UK scene. We got in contact with a few musicians with a passion for good soul music and we brought them in. The Illersapiens
were formed.
So did you guys feel a little bit disillusioned about what was happening with the UK hip-hop scene before you formed?
Mr. Man: Definitely…I grew up listening to UK hip-hop artists like Klashnekoff and Jehst who I have a lot of respect for because they pioneered and were on their grind for many a year. But I just felt hip-hop wasn’t really moving forward, it felt like it needed an injection of freshness.

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When class was done we caught up with Swiss to talk about So Solid Crew and also what drove him to write his new book ‘Spot the Difference’.

For those of you too young to remember the glory days of So Solid here’s the story in brief. So Solid Crew were a thirty-strong group of MC’s, DJ’s and musicians lead by Swiss’ brother Megaman. The crew released two albums and got to number one in 2001 with the infectious beats of their single ’21 Seconds’. But they were constantly criticised by the media for encouraging anti-social and criminal behaviour with violent and ‘negative’ lyrics. So Solid maintained they only spoke the truth of their experiences growing up in South London and what’s more they showed their fans that there was a way out of the thug life. Controversy came to a head in March 2001 when an 18-year-old DJ was murdered in a gang fight outside a So Solid gig. In July of that year one of the crew, Asher D, was arrested for carrying a loaded gun. Following a series of unfavourable incidents So Solid were ripped apart by the media and slowly the crew were forced to go their separate ways.

As part of So Solid Crew Swiss experienced the unparalleled highs and the filthy lows of being at the forefront of the media’s attention. Like Swiss, some members of So Solid have taken their experience and are using the power of the media to inspire young people within their community and beyond. We wanted to find out a little bit more about Swiss’ involvement with So Solid and what words of wisdom he had for hip-hop’s next generation.

Sed*8: So what inspired you to write the book?

Swiss: A lot of bad things are happening in my community. You see these things going on and some people choose to do something about it and some people don’t. I chose to do something. I did it in the form of writing this book

So what does the book have to say?

It highlights the things that stop us from elevating as young people. It points out different aspects of ourselves that we can focus on and use to fine tune those other things that we may be lacking so we can propel us to go further and do better for ourselves.

What do you think is the biggest challenge stopping young people from using their time creatively?

I think the biggest challenge is believing in themselves. A lot of us as young people were good at being bad, we were good at stealing, good at smoking, good at wasting time. It’s easy to do something when you’re good at it. I thing the biggest challenge for people is looking into themselves, seeing the positive and gravitating towards that and utilising those positive things in society that are there to help us and to move us forward.

Why do you think a lot of young people, like you, were drawn to music?

It spoke to me. It spoke about what I was going through it was energetic, it was free and it was fun. That’s everything that school’s not, everything that other things in society are not.

Was it easy getting involved in music?

No it wasn’t easy. You have to work hard but if you love something you will work hard for it, as long as you have a purpose behind it. But it made it easier because it was fun.

What do you think it takes to make it in the music industry now?

It takes determination, persistence and the ability to see clearly. You need to be able to see when you can jump on board. Like for instance you had garage, you had jungle and you had hip hop and these things all came at different times and the thing that made people successful was the ability to see what could help them within those genres.

Is there anything you would have done differently with So Solid?

I would have been more outspoken. When the press were magnifying a lot of the negative things that surrounded us we never came out to our public and spoke about these things, the reasons why they happened. We never had the chance to say sorry. I would have done that differently, been more out there and spoken to our public about what really happened.

Do you think So Solid was something unique?

It was a one off wasn’t it, one in a million, no one has been able to do what we did. And not a lot of people saw the story behind it. They didn’t see the hard work we put in to get where we were and that’s why people haven’t been able to replicate what we did and be as successful.

What age were you when all this happened?

I was bout 15 or 16, so I was a young DJ.

And are you still MCing?

Yes I am. I’ve got an album coming out in the first quarter of next year called ‘One in a Million’.

Who do you admire in the music industry?

I admire Jay-Z for his business head. Kanye for his determination. I admire Pharell for his talent and P. Diddy as a mogul.

What about in British music?

I admire a lot of artists out there, Kano, Sway, Klashnekoff. I respect Estelle for her persistence, it’s paid off so well done Estelle!

What do you think of the X Factor generation, do you think it’s good for music?

It is good for music because you are able to see that not everyone makes it, that you have to work hard to become a master. I think it’s brilliant because it gives us the opportunity to see different aspects of the music industry, you know, the whole journey. You see the story behind the glory.

So, what else are you working on right now?

I’m doing a project called Rappogram which is teaching young people from 14 to 19 grammar and English Language through Hip hop which is a fun way to learn. It’s something that we’re trying to get into schools at the moment. It’s going through a charity called Skills Training and is funded by several different charities. It’s a very good thing!

Find out more about Swiss at www.myspace.com/swisssosolid
Order Spot the Difference on www.amazon.com

A true child of Hackney, JMC has emerged from this fair borough to hit it with the hip hop heavies on both sides of the Atlantic.  Recording with New York big shots Cassidy and Styles P among others, JMC is getting British MC’s the recognition they deserve on the international stage.  Refusing to lick major label asshole and produce music that no-one wants to hear, JMC and his producer Xcess have set up there own label and studio, The Vault.  We went down to their studios on Shoreditch’s Curtain Road and met the emerging independent mogul to find out about his debut album Safecracker and his impending domination of international hip hop.

JMC what does that mean?
It stands for Just Maintaining Culture, that is my experiences and the culture that I know.  I put that into everything I rap about.

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pictures: Hitomi Soeda

Despite his diminutive proportions Tic Tac is making big waves on London’s underground music scene. His honest rhymes and disrespect for the limitations of genre earn him a prominent place in Shoreditch’s bank of musical talent.

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words: Kyle Getty

On a cold night in November, we caught up with legendary London M.C Skinnyman to talk about his one man revolution, drugs, jail and water. He was supporting GZA, from the Wu Tang clan, on his U.K tour. Both artists tore down the stage at Camden’s Electric Ballroom to a super hyped sell out crowd.

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Last Saturday afternoon Sed*8 wandered outside the boundaries of East London for some extra-curricular activity down Elephant & Castle way where ‘hip-hop historian’ Aundrieux Sankota John (aka Brother Khonsu of the London Rhyme Syndicate, 1988) invited the public to delve in to the history of his art form. The Hip Hop History sessions runs for eight weeks annually and covers everything from the early days of rhythm and rhyme in Ancient African culture to modern rap.

This week we were lucky enough to catch special guest Swiss from the now infamous So Solid Crew as well the ‘Golden Age of UK Hip Hop’, Khonsu’s area of speciality.

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At Sed*8 we are always interested in the kind of artists that steps outside the boundaries of genre. So, we were keen to meet Adaggio the self-styled ‘street violinist’.  Adaggio is a musician with a very marketable difference, he bridges the gap between classical and urban music and brings us something entirely new to listen to.

Half Guyanese and half English he was raised in Clapton where he still lives across the road from his Irish gran.  He has a street smart style that doesn’t strike the figure of a typical classical musician.  Still he insists he is first and foremost a classically trained violinist, one who takes his musical expertise and refined sound into the world of popular music.

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