Somali Hip-Hop star K’naan will give fans more than enough opportunities to see him live as he hits the road for a series of summer festival performances in the US and Canada.

The trek will kick off June 14 with a performance at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.

K’naan will follow Bonnaroo with a stop at Lollapalooza in Chicago, the Star Belly Jam Music Festival in Crawford Bay, British Columbia and the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in Edmonton, Alberta.

At age 9, K’naan, who was born in war-torn Mogadishu, Somalia, learned how to rap by listening to tapes by Nas, Rakim and other rappers, before he could speak English.

He left Somalia for the United States at age 13. His family eventually settled in Toronto, Canada.

In 1999, K’naan befriended a promoter who landed him an audience in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, where he performed a poem criticizing the UN for their failed efforts in aiding Somalia.

Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour was in the crowd and invited the rapper to appear on his 2001 album Building Bridges.

K’naan then linked with Jarvis Church and his Track & Field production team (Nelly Furtado) and produced the rapper’s critically acclaimed 2005 debut, The Dusty Foot Philosopher.

"This is isn't very surprising to those that are familiar with him,” said Dominic Del Bene, the label manager for K’naan’s recording home, Interdependent Media. “In the past two years he's played at everything from reggae music festivals to Live 8 and [has] been on tour with Mos Def, Nelly Furtado, The Roots, Damian Marley, dead prez, and Pharoahe Monch.”

K’naan’s summer festival tour comes as Interdependent releases The Dusty Foot Philosopher Deluxe Edition for the first time ever in the United States.

Originally released in June of 2005, The Dusty Foot Philosopher was a favorite among critics and won a Juno Award [Canada’s Grammy] for Rap Recording of the Year in 2006.

The album also earned a BBC Radio 3 Award for Best New Artist, World Music.

K’naan’s The Dusty Foot Philosopher Deluxe Edition is slated to hit stores in June.

The following is a list of summer festival dates that will feature K’naan:


June 14 - Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival - Manchester, Tennessee
July 19 - Star Belly Jam Music Festival - Crawford Bay, British Columbia
Aug. 1 - Lollapalooza - Chicago, Illinois
Aug. 8 - Edmonton Folk Music Festival - Edmonton, Alberta
Aug. 9 - All Points West Music & Arts Festival - Jersey City, New Jersey
Aug. 23 - Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival - San Francisco, California

www.allhiphop.com

PEACE TO AL SHARPTON. I JUST FINISHED THE MICHAEL ERIC DYSON BOOK THAT BREAKS YOU DOWN... WOW, THIS SHIT IS NO JOKE.

PEACE BY PEACE, WE WILL WIN THIS WAR:

www.allhiphop.com
By Tai Saint Louis

Reverend Al Sharpton is calling on citizens of New York City to come together for a day of active protests throughout the city on Wednesday (May 7).

Sharpton and the National Action Network are organizing a citywide “pray in” in six locations across Manhattan and Brooklyn, in hopes of moving the United States Department of Justice to action in the Sean Bell case.

Joined by Bell’s fiancé, Nicole Paultre-Bell, Joseph Guzman, and Trent Benefield, Sharpton will lead the afternoon protests from One Police Plaza, the NYPD headquarter in Manhattan, starting at 3:00 PM.

Other civil rights leaders involved will be National Action Network chairman Franklyn Richardson in Harlem, NAACP leader Hazel Dukes in Tribeca, and Reverend Herbert Daughtry in Brooklyn.

The meeting points for the planned protest - 125th Street and Third Avenue; Park Avenue and 34th Street; 60th Street and Third Avenue; One Police Plaza; Varick and Houston streets; and in Brooklyn at House of the Lord Pentecostal Church, 415 Atlantic Ave – are all strategically located near busy traffic areas in New York City, including the entrances to the Midtown Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel, and the Triborough Bridge.

At each location, protesters will be asked to get down on their knees in prayer, leading to a citywide slowdown.

It is Sharpton’s intention to continue these protests on a weekly basis, leading to a citywide shutdown later this Spring.

While the call is for acts of peaceful, civil disobedience, Sharpton has indicated that demonstrators should be prepared to go to jail in protest of the April 25 acquittals of Officer Gescard Isnora, Officer Michael Oliver, and Detective Marc Cooper.

The three undercover NYPD Policemen were cleared of charges including manslaughter, reckless endangerment and assault stemming from the November 2006 shooting that killed Sean Bell and left Guzman and Benefield wounded.

“If you are not going to lock up the guilty in this town, then I guess you’ll have to lock up the innocent,” Sharpton told supporters while announcing the planned protests during a gathering at the National Action Network’s headquarters on Saturday (May 4).

"Where we're going, those that know won't say, and those who'll say don't know," Sharpton added. “All they'll know is why we're going. And we're going because the world must see that we're in a climate where the justice system in this state will lock up folks who'll be nonviolent and pray, but will not lock up police."

Paultre-Bell, who was present at the impromptu rally, also confirmed her involvement with Wednesday’s protests.

“Justice wasn’t done, so I’m still here,” said the mother of Bell’s young daughter. “On Wednesday, I will be there. We are going to do this peacefully.”

“I was actually right on the block when it happened. As a matter of fact, we heard the shots,” Queens rapper Graph told AllHipHop.com. “That’s where we from, that side of Queens. So that could have been me and my friends as well as it was him. So when I heard the verdict, and “not guilty,” it’s like an extra slap in the face. It’s almost like killing Sean again.

“In my honest opinion, and if you look at both sides,” he continued, “what the police’s story was and what Sean Bell and his friends’ story was: I do not honestly believe that the cops approached those young men with the intent to diffuse a situation. I believe that they walked up with their guns out, prepared to squeeze, with the intent to do harm. I’m from that area, I been in those situations. I know how the cops around there get down, especially the DT’s.”

~~~

REALLY? REALLY THOUGH??

An unidentified woman is set to testify she engaged in sexual activity with R.Kelly and an underaged female, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The woman’s testimony was among the items discussed in secret hearings last year, the newspaper reported over the weekend. The judge in the case, Vincent Gaughan, will allow the testimony from the woman. “She was involved in a threesome with [the girl] and R. Kelly,” a source said. The underaged girl is at the center of the case. She was the young female allegedly in the infamous sex tape with the R&B superstar; she’s now in her ’20s. Kelly was charged with a number of child pornography counts in 2002 when video tapes of the singer participating in lewd acts with what looked like minors surfaced. Jury selection of the often-delayed case begins this Friday. If found guilty, Kelly could face up to 15 years in prison.

~~~

SAIGON = ONCE AND FUTURE KING:

While the anticipation of Saigon’s debut album The Greatest Story Never Told mounts, Saigon hit up Amsterdam in The Netherlands recently to spread his name and message. Amsterdams’ PP2G.TV caught up with him before the performance, and Saigon had some interesting tidbits in hand.

Saigon explained his perseverance in staying strong throughout the label problems. “You know why I never got discouraged? 'Cause I look at all the great artists that went on to do well, and their first time around their label didn’t see their vision. When you’re innovative, and you don’t just follow what’s going on, and you try to do something new, a lot of times they don’t get it. They don’t understand it right away. They let a rock turn into sand and it slips through their fingers.”

Saigon also explained how he got connected with Just Blaze. “A mixtape deejay named Sickamore, he was a big mixtape deejay in New York. I got a call from Sickamore and he was like, 'Would you wanna work with Just Blaze?' I was like, 'Do bears shit in the woods nigga? Do bears shit in the woods nigga?' Yeah man!”

Hoping to bring New York back, Saigon let be known he’s got a mission to get rid of “sucka emcees.” “Back in the day, there was a moniker called a sucka emcee. A sucka emcee was somebody who was not suppose to be doing it. I’m trying to bring that back to the forefront. If we got rid of these sucka emcees, Hip Hop would be Hip Hop again.”

Saigon’s The Greatest Story Never Told is looking at a July release

www.hiphopdx.com

~~~

DIZZEE RASCAL SPEAKS (BEFORE YOU GET THE MINDBENDER INTERVIEW :)

Interview: Dizzee Rascal
Interview by Mark Pytlik

Two hours before he's due onstage, Dizzee Rascal is in a downtown Toronto audiophile shop, where he's surrounded by a small nation's GNP worth of imported speakers, pricey turntables and pre-amps that, by some miracle of engineering, are powered exclusively by the fumes of burning hundred dollar bills. He is sitting opposite a pair of cameraman who are preparing to film him for an interview with a national music television station. He handles the interview expertly (sample questions: "What is grime?", "Do you think you can tell us some British slang?" and "Do you feel like its Showtime for you?") and once it concludes, quietly asks to see the playback. With the cameraman kneeling beside him, Dizzee watches himself on a 2x2 inch monitor, transfixed despite the lack of accompanying audio.

Scheduling misfires and a sudden pre-show emergency lead us to do this interview in a label rep's car on the way to a downtown department store, where Rascal is heading to pick up some unnamed last-minute supplies. Riding out the final week of his first-ever North American tour, the 20-year old Brit registers as charming, excitable and possibly a little bit drained. Here he is on Three Six Mafia, grunge and, um, Internet messageboards.

Pitchfork: Tell me a little bit about this first North American tour.

Dizzee: The shows have just been so live and so energetic. That's been the main thing that's been surprising-- I didn't expect it to be this good. I've enjoyed it all. Five weeks is a long time to be away. I've never been away from home this long.

Pitchfork: What kinds of kids are you seeing at the shows?

Dizzee: Everything from indie to hip-hop, there's been some metalheads there. One of them came up to me and said "I'm not into hip-hop-- I'm a metalhead-- but you rock man!"

Pitchfork: Do you get grime kids at all?

Dizzee: Yeah, definitely. There are kids that are into it. It's funny to see how far grime's come. I guess it's through the Internet or whatever, people listening to Semtex or stuff like that.

Pitchfork: Have you had much of an opportunity to hook up with any of the American hip-hop guys at all?

Dizzee: Yeah, when I was out in Houston, I hooked up with Bun-B, from UGK, we did a track together. And also, the Grit Boys, they're from Houston as well, some underground up and comers. I did a remix for Beck, but you heard about that already. That's been the main thing so far.

Pitchfork: Someone told me you're into a lot of the Dirty South stuff.

Dizzee: Yeah, I like Three Six Mafia and stuff like that. And Crime Mob! "Knuck if you buck!"

Pitchfork: Do you have a real interest in working with the American guys? Do you think about crossing over?

Dizzee: Most definitely. It's not something that's definitely gonna happen, though. I like to work with the best artists, full stop, around the world, and just make things happen man.

Pitchfork: Do you feel like American hip-hop guys get what you do?

Dizzee: Yeah, they really do. They understand it.

Pitchfork: You mentioned the Beck remix. You've also worked with Basement Jaxx, participated in Band Aid, and designed a shoe for Nike. You've broken out from grime into the mainstream, but there's nobody else there with you. Do you ever feel caught between those two worlds?

Dizzee: Definitely. There was no name for what I was making when I was making it. It came out the way it did cause of how open-minded I was about music. [It was] because of everything I was listening to-- drum and bass, garage, hip-hop, grunge or whatever. So when I was making music, I wasn't afraid to use other things. So I think that's what, in a way, got so many other people listening to me-- I wasn't stuck in a genre or a loop, I was beyond pirate radio and raves and things like that.

Pitchfork: You made Boy In Da Corner pretty much knowing that it would be the first grime record, but by the time you made Showtime, other MCs were already starting to come out with full-lengths of their own. Did the knowledge of the fact that people were nipping at your heels change how you approached the second record?

Dizzee: Yeah. Now I'm aware of an audience beyond where I came from-- I've got the space and the freedom to do more. I have other people in mind to make music for. I've kept in touch with the whole underground thing by bringing people like Youngstar and Wonder in to produce my album, you know what I'm saying. Other than that, I was really thinking [more] about the world, cause I've been able to see a lot more of it, and now I know that the world was listening.

Pitchfork: Did you have a lot of difficulties with your crew after Boy In Da Corner first broke?

Dizzee: By the time it came out, I wasn't with Roll Deep and that...

Pitchfork: But even with your friends...? Being the one to break out must have changed a lot of your relationships.

Dizzee: Yeah, but at the same time a lot of my friends were in and out of prison or in bad situations or whatever, and five minutes ago, I was the same. I made it clear to people that I was on my own thing. No one could say that I didn't work hard, so from there, if people didn't like me, it was just whatever. Maybe it's not even about jealousy, it's just more about, at my age where everyone's finding themselves and everyone's on their own thing, so I don't take it like that.

Pitchfork: Where do you live in London now?

Dizzee: East London.

Pitchfork: Have you moved at all in the last couple of years?

Dizzee: Yeah I moved. I'll be where I need to be, all the time.

Pitchfork: Are you still tight with the people you came up with?

Dizzee: Some of them. Some things that some people are doing make me not able to be [friends] with them. Conflict of interest or whatever.

Pitchfork: Are there any grime MCs that you're really feeling right now?

Dizzee: D Double E. I signed him to Dirtee Stank! What's good about him is that he's from my area, and when I was little I listened to him. He was into drum and bass then, and I grew up with his brother. One of the people you're talking about in Bow is his brother. Also, I signed a group called Class A. They're from the Midlands, from a place called Leicester, it's like the countryside, but they're on a hip-hop tip. That's who I'm feeling, D Double E and Klass A.

Pitchfork: When's the D Double E record coming out?

Dizzee: Later on this year I think. Newham General's one's gonna come out, that's his group, it's D Double E, Footsie and Monkey.

Pitchfork: So who distributes Dirtee Stank? Who's the label deal with?

Dizzee: Everything's still being set up and that, so I can't tell you yet. Nothing's actually been signed yet.

Pitchfork: Are you currently A&Ring for more additions to the label right now?

Dizzee: I'm satisfied right now. If something came up, maybe I'd take it, but I'm really happy with what we've got. I've got the next step figured out anyway-- I've got two of the best in the country.

Pitchfork: What was the impetus for releasing "Off to Work" so soon after the record?

Dizzee: Yeah, I just wanted to put out something different. I know the beat is kinda awkward for some people, but I wanted to go that step further again.

Pitchfork: What do you make your music in?

Dizzee: Logic, most of the time. There was that whole rumor about using a Playstation and all that, but naw. Both albums were done in a studio on Logic.

Pitchfork: What happens when the tour is finished and you go home?

Dizzee: Me and the Dirtee Stank team are working on a soundtrack for a film called Rollin' With The Nines. It's like the first black British gangster film, it's like Snatch or Lock Stock or something, but on a bit more of a serious tip.

Pitchfork: Do you have any thoughts about a third record yet?

Dizzee: Yeah. I'm writing little bits and pieces, hopefully I'll be able to put something out by next week.

Pitchfork: You tend to work pretty quickly, huh?

Dizzee: Sometimes I feel that if I stop, I'll have trouble starting up again, I'll lose the incentive. Music's something that I really wasn't pushed into, it was something I just kinda chose, I just kept pushing myself, and it was all down to me. There are so many things to divert my attention that if I don't keep my head stuck in it...it's like anything, do you know what I mean. Especially cause this all started out as a hobby.

Pitchfork: Do you remember what you did with the first big check that you got?

Dizzee: I don't think I was that reckless with it. When I started coming to America I started buying a lot of those big jackets with all the patches and stuff like that, you get me, cause I was fascinated. This was the shit that I never found in England, like clothes and trainers and stuff like that, but as far and jewelry and cars and all that, I didn't really get into it. I got my first big chain about two months ago or something, a gold one. I didn't really do the typical hip-hop thing.

Pitchfork: What kind of music would people be surprised to know that you listen to?

Dizzee: Grunge, like Nirvana and all that. Heavy metal, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Guns and Roses, drum and bass. I like to listen to it and try and break down what makes a fan of that music say 'Ah fuck that other music', do you get me? Trying to figure out what makes them tick, I always try and break that down with every piece of music. But the energy in that music, I love it.

Pitchfork: Do you have favorite producers?

Dizzee: Timbaland, The Neptunes, Outkast-- they never cease to amaze me. Even their most poppy records, where at first I don't like them, later on I end up thinking, "No one else could've done that."

Pitchfork: What about grime producers?

Dizzee: Wonder! I like Youngstar's stuff as well. Plasticman's got a few new things too that are like yeah yeah yeah.

Pitchfork: Do you get the sense that grime could take off in America?

Dizzee: Yeah! I think, for it even to have reached here, coming where I'm coming from and seeing how underground it really was, underground in the sense of underground hip-hop clubs where people get on stage...most of the raves got shut down for shootings and stabbings. To see it come this far has been wow. If certain individuals keep working on it and being open-minded and trying to progress, I think it could. It's already a recognized genre. If you'd seen it come from where I've seen it come from, you would've never have thought that.

Pitchfork: You mentioned the Internet earlier; are you conscious of what people are saying about grime on the Internet?

Dizzee: I'm aware of it. Sometimes people chat loosely. Sometimes people just speak their minds and what's on their mind ain't necessarily real or facts, so I don't take it too serious. I'm more interested in making the music, I don't really play that. Sometimes I check that Rewind forum, but it's only when people tell me something's on there that I'll go check it, I don't really surf the Internet a lot.

Pitchfork: Tell me how the stabbing incident at Ayia Napa changed your life?

Dizzee: It's just another near death experience. Another near-death experience. So I dunno. The main thing was that it made me stronger. What don't kill you only makes you stronger. I've seen people get stabbed and shot, so it wasn't new. It hurt! Like, physically. But it mostly just made me stronger.

AND
A DOPE DIZZEE RASCAL INTERVIEW DONE BY THE HOMIE MATT SONZALA!

Dizzee Rascal
East London, UK
By Matt Sonzala

Where exactly are you from?
East London, UK. It’s the part of London that was in the First World War, the Blitz, that’s the part of London I’m from. From the opposite side to where the Queen lives. Jack the Ripper is from down the road from where I’m from.

A lot of people have a hard time categorizing you. Some people might call it hip hop, some might call it garage, some might call it drum n bass…

I don’t think people should try to categorize it because I’m still developing as an artist. I’m a decent way through my second one really and I’m improving lyrically. So what I do is just kind of a variation. It’s more about stretching the art form. I could make an off key beat on purpose, and challenge myself to spit on it and make it sound good. I put a lot of thought into it. I can rap, so that’s where the hip hop side comes to it, I’m definitely a rapper, I’m at a lot of rapper’s levels, I’ll say that with confidence. But the beats…because of the environment I grew up in, drum n bass—for people who don’t know what that is, it’s a lot of rave culture basically, hardcore house or whatever—that had an effect on me. Also I listened to a lot of hip hop when I was growing up and even rock.

Here in the states, we see the rave culture as being a Black thing at all. It’s more White kids with techno. In the UK, is the rave scene separated with different musics?

It’s a mixed thing. Drum n bass was very much Black and White. Drum n bass especially. Over in America I don’t know the effect it’s had but in England everyone came together. And garage kind of did the same kind of thing. There’s the kind of stupid garage that a lot of people associate garage with, but it started getting more street. I was always making my own type of shit from school days on the computer. I would just see what I could make with the sounds I had and I would experiment. And the more I did it the more I started to cultivate a sound. By the time I got into a real studio I already knew what I was doing.

You’re 19 now, when did you start making beats?

I started making beats around 14 or 15. I just used Cubase, a mini disc player, a stack, CD player, 2 speakers, a tiny little mixing board, a purple one, I remember. Then I started using a proper studio.

Why do people always say you made the beats on a Playstation?

Not the beats on the album. I knew how to make them because of that program Music 2000. I know some people that have made tunes on Playstation and have cut them onto dub plates and they’ve become big tunes. The beats on my album were made on Logic. I don’t try to get too technical hardware-wise. That’s not my concern. I always think of a way to manipulate a sound just by thinking about it, not by twiddling. Now we got Protools so it’s different. But on the first album I wasn’t sitting there for hours seeing what that does and that does. I heard it, it works. I worked at as quick a pace as I can and when it was done it was just done. It was time for lyrics. I like to leave a lot of space for vocals.

Did you do every beat on the album?

I didn’t do three. "Just A Rascal" was brought to me, I just spat on it. "Fix Up, Look Sharp", I wrote, it, I arranged it, but the beat was done by somebody else. You know that was a time when people were still calling me garage and I wanted to show my versatility. Because I can spit to all tempos. And it was a time where the whole Kanye West thing where he’s speeding up the vocals, I thought that was wicked, but I didn’t want to copy that. So on the Billy Squier vocals I just kept it the way it was. I felt that’d be interesting cause that’s a totally left world for me from what I do. It’s just a universal beat, the essence of hip hop.

Did Roll Deep come out of the garage scene?

I left Roll Deep. With Roll Deep, we was all kind of doing different things. We were doing a lot of raves together, a lot of radio. Groups like So Solid Crew and that, they were already quite big and they had the raves already readymade. I joined Roll Deep last. I was about 17 or 16. It was a good experience. We went around and did loads of raves. But even before that, I had already made three beats that were getting rotation. I was cutting them on dub plates and giving them to a couple DJ’s. I was solo then as well. I was only with Roll Deep for about 2 years. I MC’d with loads of other crews in London as well like More Fire Crew, Nasty Crew, Pay As You Go. I was just everywhere already. I put a couple out on the underground but I wanted to concentrate on making an album. Making an album was a big achievement for me, to see if I could do it. I wanted to be as creative as I could. I could sit there and make a typical hip hop album, that’s not hard man. I was still in the street mentality, I was still in the streets then, I was still drinking, all kinds of bullshit, I was around, so, what little change I was making off whatever… I started making more money off of music than selling weed or street robbery and all that bullshit so it drew me more towards the music. Plus doing raves and all that. It was just a mad time for me so it really came out in the music in the album. That time man.

We don’t get a big picture of England here in the United States, except for maybe what we might see on comedy shows or some bullshit. Can you compare the streets where you came up, I know you mentioned crack a while ago…

People don’t even realize there’s Black people over there. It’s calmed down slightly in the past year, about 2-3 years ago was about the worst it’s ever been I think. There was a big influx. A lot of guns came in, a lot of crack. I think they’re supposed to be coming from Eastern Europe. There’s a lot of guns coming in. A lot of people taking to the roads. I didn’t get into the crack thing. Some of my friends, some of them are still on it now, I just sold a little bit of weed, from young, back in school. There started to be a lot of shootings and people started linking the shootings to the raves and that culture. It’s similar to here with hip hop, it’s a similar situation.

They blame the music there too?

They did for a bit. They tried to. Projects, government housing, you don’t see that side of things on TV. You’ll usually see The Office, Buckingham Palace. All that kind of shit. Government housing is the same all over, it’s the same thing as over here. Quite high unemployment, you know, people do what they need to do for the money. As for them blaming it on the music and that, I’ve seen people get shot at raves, I’ve seen all kinds of shit, I’ve seen it in the streets. My opinion is if something’s gonna happen it’ll happen at McDonalds or it’ll happen at the train station. If them two energies collide, if they find themselves in the same place at the same time it’s gonna go off anywhere. Raves are meant to be places where most people do gather round after a hard week and they want to let out their energies. It’s something for fun.

Some people might not even know what a rave is.

A lot of times it’s the clubs. But we got hip hop clubs there as well. Hip hop’s massive in England. Dancehall. It’s club culture basically, but we call it raves.

Who were some of the hip hop artists you came up listening to?

2Pac, Jay-Z is the man. I don’t focus on any one rapper. I just try to respect the qualities of every rapper I could. I really got into the South shit about 4 years ago, Three-6 Mafia, Cash Money, Master P and No Limit. I remember Soulja Slim, I only ever heard one song, but I just would repeat it, repeat it repeat it over and over and over, "It’s hard to maintain, soulja life mentality." The South is just starting to get big in England now. Ludacris is good, UGK definitely. Bun B, every time I listen to it more and more. I’m not ashamed to highlight a rapper’s name, I will say it, this man is good. I’m about the art form. Bun B man, he reps for the South. E-40, some of the rappers that people might stray away from because they’re not as commercial as they want to hear cause they’re actually doing something. They’re stretching the art form.

Did Pac have a big impact on the UK?

A lot of people listen to him, but I feel a lot of time people take the wrong message from him. All the good shit that man said and people are still on the Thug Life thing. He said a lot, man. He schooled the world. Sometimes people take the wrong shit.

Would you hear Pac on the radio in the UK?

Yeah, they play him a lot. The thing is he never came to England. Pissed, man. I never got to see him. That’s something I would have loved to see in my lifetime. People love Snoop back home, Eminem, Nas. We grew up on the shit a lot of people grew up listening to, but a lot of time people don’t go in as deep. I can name check a lot of South rappers, West Coast rappers and East Coast rappers that people might not have heard of cause I’m deep into it.

I’ve always kind of looked for someone from outside the US to come with something that fits within hip hop, but doesn’t just copy what the US is doing. I like the fact that there’s someone in England who could actually speak to people here in the streets, whether they know it or not. Do you feel like people understand you?

I think a lot of people get it and a lot of people don’t as well. That album was extreme, it’s one of them ones you either love it or you hate it. Sometimes I wonder if it’s what I’m actually saying, or is it my voice or is it what I’m doing with the actual music, the beats? Or is it everything together? I think it’s wicked to have been all over America. I’ve been to Texas, I’ve been to the South been to the East been to the West. This is the home of hip hop. We grew up listening to it. And I get to talk to people like Bun B, someone I listen to. Start meeting interesting people and seeing what their culture really is. Aside from just the music industry bullshit that can come with it.

You said that things were getting crazy in England, I know there’s guns there, less than here…

Yeah, this place is bigger as well though.

Would you say you come from a violent place?

East London? It’s violent. There’s other violent places in London. Inner city London, some people come and they won’t see it for that. Most people that were born into the suburbs, they’ll just go to work and they’ll just hear about it, might read it in a newspaper. Some people, like I say, we come from government housing, we know it, we might even be a part of it. I’m from that side, Council Estates, what you might call the projects. It ain’t all to the same scale as over here, but it’s the same idea.

Are you from government housing?

Yeah, from a council estate. That’s what they’re called over there.

Is there a lot of music going down where you’re from?

Yeah, pirate stations. A lot of pirate stations. They’re normally based in abandoned flats in council estates. DTI will come along and try to lock things off but the station comes on again. And that’s the real way, aside from the raves for people to really get heard. And I think over the past two years is when people really started to come with their own shit. Like whatever they’re making, on Logic, Playstation, they cut it to dub, they’ve got airplay to play it. Whether it’s a 1, 2, 3, set, I was doing 1 o’clock in the morning till 3 o’clock, that’s how I started and then went to school the next day. That kind of shit, that’s the way a lot of people grow man, I come from that. There ain’t no other avenue. Most people from the street, from the road, there’s not a lot of avenues to make it.

Pirate radio is cats from the street getting some equipment and putting out their own radio station for their neighborhoods?

Yeah. Some of the big ones, Rinse FM, Déjà vu, they’re both East London based, and they’re the two largest ones, all across London and some of the surrounding counties, they’re like the most popular ones. But they’re still street based. That’s the way man.

Do pirate radio helped you to come up? Kind of like mixtapes here?

Yeah. I made a couple mix CD’s as well. They got a bit of circulation, but that’s a culture that’s starting to come up now. At home there’s a lot of emulation of what happens here. People really respect what’s going on here. But my thing was really Pirate Radio. And I started playing raves all over the place like I said with Roll Deep. And I was doing something different even then making my own beats. These beats were hard, they were grimy, they were street. I was that kid in the hooded top and the trainers they didn’t want to let in the club, but I got away with it cause I was Mcing. So it was a whole next generation with music that hadn’t been done before. True to the English side, because I mean I didn’t try to make hip hop or anything in particular.

I know some of the raves back then were huge and you performed in front of huge crowds, how is it different now that you’re a worldwide star but you been doing big shows.

I supported Jay Z when I was 17, that was a big step. When I first started, I went on stage with the mentality that I was just gonna say it, I was gonna spit. I was a DJ first, but I wasn’t big. I was 14, and at the same time I was making beats. The Mcing part came a bit later. And it was like a job thing to me at first. I made a couple of lyrics and tried to be funny on the mic. Then I started taking it more serious and I started actually saying something. I used to just go to the raves and I would just straight say it and for some reason people were listening. And the more and more raves I went to I started to stand out and people started going mad. It was crazy for about a year or two years and then there’d be the raves when people were just standing there hard headed and just looking. The ones who think they should be MCs maybe. That stuff is all over the world though, people just spectating. I did the big crowds and I did all the grimy places as well. I was in all different kinds of environments.

Are there people over there who don’t give a fuck about the American side of hip hop and only like what you guys do over there?

More and more now than ever. There’s still the fake hip hop heads, who are kind of respected by everyone because they’re making music that sounds like what’s currently going on here in the States. It’s kind of backwards to me. Even with fake American accents, saying English things. I’ve come totally away from that. That was why British hip hop wasn’t moving at all. I had to do something totally different. Don’t ever call me a UK hip hop artist. I’m a world artist. I might stop and do folk music tomorrow. I’ll still make it sound bad. Ya hear me? Fuck it.

How hard was it for you to break into the BBC and stations like that. Were there DJ’s who showed love?
Semtex showed love. Semtex was gonna sign me but it didn’t go. "I Love You" was big on the underground. A lot of radio stations were leery of me, cuz I was fresh from pirate radio, fresh from these raves, people heard about the shootings all the time. Whatever all that, so it’s a big adjustment to make. For them it’s a gamble to put me on there, cuz my mouth is foul man. There was no censorship. I had to learn to tone it down and everything. I got a lot more love than I thought I would get. People like Jo Wiley, Sara Cox and some other people, they opened their minds to it, and they played it on mainstream times and I think they even got in trouble for it. But they opened a lot of peoples minds to it. Bassment Jaxx, that was another one. They used to hear me on pirate radio, and hooking up with them, they’re like the Neptunes, and if you ask me I think they’re just as good. They do a different thing, but you know, that status, and working with them, that took me to another world that I might not have reached. So for them to take an interest in me like that, that was a big step for me as well man, most definitely. That helped me get played aside from "I Love You."

Did 1Xtra coming out help as well?

Yeah cause they’re kind of like mainstream radio but still in touch with the underground.

Is your new album different from your last one?

Up a level. This time around we’re on Protools and that. Sounds bigger for a start. I put my heart into Boy In the Corner. I put my soul into this one, this one that’s coming in a bit. My head was cloudy then, preoccupied, I was doing it, like I said, I was just straight off the roads then.

How much did you have written and recorded before you got your deal?

A lot of it was done. The album was done before we signed, the album was done so I signed over a completed album. But the difference between then and now is I was on pirate radio a lot so I was always writing. This time, it’s different, I’m traveling around a lot. Obviously press comes into it and promotion and all that so it’s adjusting to all that as well. And up and down it coincides with the actual art work. So this one I’m really juggling around.

Do you like that side of the business?

It can make you strong. It’s the hustle side. I know how to hustle. It’s the hustle part. You see a lot of bullshit. It’s tiring as fuck. The other thing is man the street shit. A lot of people can’t come away. A lot of rappers, I’ve got friends that are just in and out of prison, friends that might not being doing as much, they’re on the roads, selling drugs, they have beefs and everything and to completely come away from that it’s just difficult. So you got all kinds of things on your mind as well. People don’t realize that and the next thing is just getting on with that with all that in your head. It’s a lot to juggle man. I’ll hopefully be in it for a long time. I’m thankful for everything I’m doing now. I could be doing a lot worse. I’m looking to push forever. It’s just starting man.

What are your long term goals with this?

I want to have maximum credibility. Some people have achieved wicked mainstream success, but they ain’t got as much credibility. I’d love to have that man. Get as much credibility as I can man as an artist as a producer and I also want to branch out because I haven’t got to work with that many people. People haven’t completely got their heads around what I do. I basically want to have an affect on the whole music scene. Maybe be responsible for some positive change in the way people think about music.

Is there an American artist that you would love to hear on one of your tracks?

Oh man there’s loads. The list goes on man, the list goes on. Ludacris would sound wicked on it. E-40, that would be something. Pedey Crack, I like Pedey Crack, he would sound wicked I think. There’s a few that may like to do some different shit.

You said to me earlier that you were getting tired of the gangsta shit. Are you getting tired of the way hip hop is going right now?
I mean I respect it. Cause people are talking reality and what they know and everything. It’s not the fact that I’m tired of the gangsta shit, it’s just that it feels like it’s going in circles and circles. It’s been for about ten years now, people been saying the same story for like ten years and there’s so many gangsta rappers who’s word play is like amazing, but they’re using it to just talk about that when they should be stretching out, stretching the art form. Branching out. When you’re that bad, you can make something, you can make anything sound good. No matter what the subject is if you’re that bad. Because you’re street enough, but you’re literate enough to carry it off. People will hear if you’re street, if you’re gangsta, they know. Like I said, that’s something that I’ve grown up around. It’s around me, so it’s a constant reminder. Most people will feel like there’s no escape. With music, there’s no limits to music. There’s endless possibilities with music. I feel like hip hop is putting itself in a corner, and it’s limiting itself. That’s what I meant by that. But I know there’s a next generation and a lot of people my age, hopefully they’re gonna come with something new. And I hope to have a positive effect on how people think about music in general.

Who else should we be looking out for from the UK?

You already know about The Streets, I’ll be interested to know about his second album and see what that does and Wiley as well. There’s others, even like me, I still got work to do in England.

One thing that always interested me about the UK is that y’all know how to make some stars. The music machine in the UK is pretty intense.

Well there ain’t been a lot of stars from my environment. I think that’s gonna start happening more and more. It’s just about people just waking up. It’s all good to love American music, it’s standard, we grew up on it, but some people need to start thinking for themselves and I think that’s going to start happening more and more. For the street side of shit, there’s more to come I hope.

Would you feel comfortable performing in some of the more street venues in the US?

Yeah most definitely. I performed in some of the most grimy places in England, venue wise. I been doing that, and it’s more about MCing to another crowd than how street I am, that’s secondary. That’s gonna be a part of me forever. I was never one of those boys that would try to clash, try and battle every rapper I come across. I’m more on like, "I wonder what we sound like together?" I’ve had a couple of battles, I never chose them. I’ve got a real passion for music. So I want to hear how them two voices sound, it’s more of that first and foremost.

Can you tell me about how you ended up getting stabbed?

That was some coward shit, that was some beef shit, I had some altercations before. That was some pussy shit. It took 4 people to get me. In the papers and that it said I was laying there and it wasn’t even like that. I was walking and my shirt was just dripping blood. People tried to stab me a few times in my lifetime. That was the first time I actually got stabbed, I was still standing still walking. Four people, four knives, there’s only so much you can do innit? And it sounds like some movie shit, it don’t even sound real, I can’t say it to make it sound any realer. That’s the way it happened. That’s that, and the next thing the police obviously they’re interrogating you, they want to know who did it. And I’m not telling them and I’m not telling the press. People got their theories about who they think it is but my theory is and what I live by is what’s on the road not a concern of the world. Don’t go into big details, the road’s the road man. I was stabbed right before my album came out. It was a mad time. It was in Cypress, a Greek Island. And when I come back I didn’t even go home or nothing, I was walking around in the streets, people were like what are you doing? It was a mad, confusing time for me. UGK, I didn’t listen to them from young. I first listened to them when this happened to me (lifts his shirt and shows scar from stab wound). First time I come here, LA I bought their greatest hits. And I felt ill. I got stabbed and I took myself out in 2 days on some 2 Pac shit. I couldn’t stay in hospital and I was riding around on my bike and everything and I think that made me a bit ill. I was in my room, crazy, up and down I was waking up at mad times. I was stabbed about 5 times, so my body was going mad, and I was listening to my album and I was listening to UGK stuff. And that got me through. That really got me through. It was enlightening to me. Maybe because I had never heard nothing like that before. Country rap music. That’s some real shit I was listening to there. And I was just listening to it over and over and over. I remembered them from Big Pimpin’ innit? A lot of people didn’t know who they were.

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DEATH TO ALL WHO OPPOSE.
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