Category Archives: Interviews

Interview With Talib Kweli on US Politics, Hip-Hop, Drake, The Five Percent & The Occupy Movement

Talib Kweli – an internationally renowned American rapper and a celebrity within the hip-hop scene – once said: “I don’t fuck with politics.” Yet, when asked about his views on the upcoming US elections he becomes animated: “Politics is as entertaining as a soap opera. [President] Obama plays an ill political game, if there were no term limits, he would be President for a very long time!” he says. He also expresses his views on the Republican candidates. “Some of the political rhetoric coming out of conservative right in Americasounds like the same thing that set the stage for Nazi Germany.”

Kweli, known for his politically conscious music, has just finished touring the UK with British-born rappers Lowkey and Mic Righteous – also known for their “conscious” lyrics. “I’m not actually that familiar with them,” he admits in his softly spoken voice, perhaps the antithesis of the bravado with which many other rappers speak. “But I’m looking forward to getting more familiar with them.” It is not just his meek voice that stands out, his diction does too. Kweli, the eldest of two sons, grew up in a highly educated household: his mother Brenda Greene is an English professor and his father an administrator at Adelphi University. Isn’t strange, then, that he decided to pursue a career in rap? “My parents are writers and the writers of my generation are rappers,” he says.

During secondary school Kweli met Mos Def aka Yasiin Bey, a Grammy award winning emcee and DJ Hi-Tech, an American producer and rapper. These encounters would prove pivotal to Kweli’s career: in 1998, he combined with Mos Def to release the seminal album Black Star and teamed up with Hi-Tech, to release Train of Thought, both considered hip-hop classics. While the albums didn’t sell millions, they received critical acclaim and earned the respect of many fellow rappers. Now, five solo albums later (although not all of his records lived up to their expectation) Kweli, 36, is married to DJ Eque as of 2009 – and has two children from his former partner Darcel Turner.

Kweli, who insists his name be pronounced “Kwali”, rose to prominence amid the renaissance of Afrocentric, politically motivated hip-hop in the 90s but, since then, there has been an increase in music which – he believes – portrays, “sex and drugs…the gangster lifestyle…and just having a good time.”

“When I first came, hip-hop was about opening people’s consciousness but now even the great lyricists – J Cole, Kendrick Lamar – are rapping more about having fun,” he says. “Kwali” has never had an ostentatious demeanour – the big chains, flash cars and extravagant lifestyle associated with most high-profile rappers doesn’t seem to apply to him. Likewise, his physical features don’t particularly make him distinguishable: he stands at a height of around 5’8 inches and his soft features resemble that of any other Afro-American.

What does he make of the rampant materialism endemic in mainstream hip-hop? “I’m able to differentiate between what an artist creates based on how he grew up and what he creates as an individual. Jay Z the rapper, is different to Sean Carter. The same way as Arnold Schwarzenegger is different to The Terminator. It’s entertainment – I’m not here to judge.”

In a recent radio interview DMX, humorously, talked about why he doesn’t like fellow rapper Drake. What does Kweli think of Drake? “He is a shining example for mainstream artists – he is a really good rapper, singer and he can write, he is like a triple threat.” Many people have criticised Drake and Lil Wayne, both signed to Cash Money, for doing music purely for the money. Kweli disagrees and raises his voice: “I think that’s a very, very unfair, ill-informed criticism. They [the critics] are not really in hip-hop if they think like that. They just listen to the radio and end up getting sick of them and their lyrics. They forget they [Drake, Wayne and Kanye West] come from somewhere – how many people listened to Wayne’s first album? But everybody knows Carter IV.”

Many critics of hip-hop have claimed that it isn’t the “same” and isn’t as “good” as it used to be. Kweli again becomes annoyed: “Why should hip hop be the same? When I was first listening to hip hop in ’87, you had older artists saying this music is shit. The Cold Crust Brothers didn’t like LL Cool J, now he is  classic MC. They thought he was a young snotty nose punk. People look at things in their own perspective. If we could all see through the same eyes we would welcome new artists.”

Unlike many of Cash Money’s artists, Kweli’s music has always been synonymous with truthfulness and honesty. His views on the current political climate in America reflect this honesty. “A lot of American’s are greedy and selfish so they only want to listen to these messages [from the Republicans]. He describes these messages as “moronic,” “stupid,” “ignorant”. Kweli then speaks about the problems in American society. “The education system isn’t geared so that we know anything that goes on in the world; it doesn’t set you up to be part of the world either. The reason why America is having a crisis in education, science, and finance, is because we’re not prepared to deal with a world that is interconnected.”

One political movement Kweli has taken an interest in is the Occupy protests. Kweli says that he grew up in a protest culture and believes they are a “natural” part of society. “People aren’t just accepting things as they are; people are peeling layers back and seeing things for how they really are.”

Kweli, like many other black rappers have dabbled in the Five Percent Nation, an American organisation that believes 10% of the world’s inhabitants know the truth of existence, 85% live in ignorance and the remaining five percent know the truth and are determined the spread it. “I’ve got huge respect for the five percent,” he says. “When I was a teenager, I dabbled in the five percent, I also dabbled into Rastafarianism and Islam, I was trying to discover myself. I’m very much in touch with my spirituality now. I don’t claim to follow a particular religion.”

Why has he now disassociated himself from the five percent? “Disassociate is a strong word. I don’t like dogma. Even atheists will disagree with me but there is dogma to atheism, there’s a dogma to the five percent, whether people say there is or not. I would like to take something from every thought process. Nothing turned me off [the five percent] it makes a lot of sense, it makes as much sense as Christianity to me,” he says. “But I’d rather be open to see and receive everything,” he adds.


About these ads

Paul Mason: The Global Revolutions, Social Networking & The Demonisation of Arabs

Live Magazine‘s interview with Paul Mason.

In a nutshell, why did it all kick-off?

It kicked off because the economic system started to fall apart, that changed young people’s outlook as to what their prospects were and did so almost immediately – and over large sections of the western world.

It happened at the end of 10 years in which communications technology has become very democratic. This is rushing at us and the combination of social media, a huge economic crisis, empowerment of individuals and a generation that acts and thinks differently, has basically produced the explosion

Why are they acting and thinking differently?

The human being who experienced the arrival of movies, motorcars, aero planes and phonograms, were very different human beings to their parents. They acted, moved and dressed differently. Even the women were freer than 20 years before that.

There has been a historic change in human behavior driven by mass consumption. What I’m saying is, above all, social media and mobile telephony have literally changed the way we do [things]. They have even changed the way what we do with different bits of our body, our thumbs – we type text messages with our thumbs.

Okay we are still human beings, we are the same animal, but the social side of us and the empathy we have with each other, has been enabled more. It’s very hard to pin down, nobody is theorising it, nobody can study it scientifically, there is no mass sociological study of it yet, but it’s the job of the journalist to notice this stuff.

There is a quote in the book by a young person who says “social media isn’t making us more antisocial but ultra social.” Is social media really making us more isolated individuals – and is it such a bad thing?

I think there is strong evidence that a creation of an online world is a creation of an extra human space that has its own laws of interaction just like the physical world does. Margaret Wertheim said there is an extra bit of consciousness being created and when we are in this world we’re not so defensive of ourselves and our personas. That we can’t share our intimate feelings and thoughts with people we hardly know. That’s quite interesting. Nobody knows where it’s going.

Another young person in the book said: “I can’t believe people still read articles when we have instant information from social media.” What’s the future for young journalists when social media is becoming the main tool for journalists?

All the business models of media are in crisis. That doesn’t mean they can’t exist, it just means we have to find something people are prepared to pay for.

For a journalist, the question is: how do we create the content people want? People already have a lot of the truth coming at them, unmediated by us – they choose who to follow on Twitter. I followed the right people in Libya so I could work out when they had started the assault on Tripoli way before even the newswire started reporting it. I thought, “shit they are going to assault Libya, this is amazing.“

Does that mean I don’t want a fantastic photojournalism essay of the assault on Tripoli? No. I want to read it.  All it means is that us, as craftsman, as journalists, are the only people who can make the whole thing. I just think there are going to be fewer journalists making lots of money and a lot of people doing bits of journalism for free. It has changed the dynamics of it.

In that case, is it worth going abroad to pursue journalism?

I think it’s the story of this generation. In emerging markets in places like: Brazil, Columbia, Turkey and Egypt – Egypt and Turkey are so developed that if you are a professional you can live a very decent lifestyle.  With the right language and the right social skills and the ability to fit in – I think people of all professions: finance, engineering, architecture; people are going from the west to these emerging markets.

I think for journalists there is only so much you want to read about your own world. Journalism has to bring the unknown into you. Sometimes the unknown is an estate in Manchester but sometimes it’s in Mongolia.

With our country’s debt pile now at £1 trillion, youth unemployment still bad ­–  here and around Europe — how will the youth react in the next year?

I think this generation of youth – even people who are very disadvantaged in terms of money and education – are still very self-educated, they know more than my generation 20, 30 years ago. And therefore they are able to be more entrepreneurial; some will be pure business entrepreneurs but others, social entrepreneurs. But they are very individual people. Like I say, this has happened before in the world where generational change has taken place and people’s behavior is different.

Yes, the west is going to be crippled by debt probably for a decade, yes the form of capitalism will have to change, at the very least if it going to deliver anything like social justice.

Do I know what the final outcome of that change is? No. Can we predict some things? Yes. What can we predict? It’s going to have to be greener.  The Germans are pouring money into green technology, it’s going to have to be more hi-tech, the point is through hi-technology we will create new markets. There will probably be markets in genetic medicine in 10 years time.  Not just genetic medicine but genetic, cosmetic surgery. Out of that will come the Richard Branson of the future, and other stuff that might be more attractive than Richard Branson.

How have the recent protests differed from those over the last 200 years?

This is the paradox. Something like the Egyptian revolution is following a classic pattern of revolution that we can recognize from the year 1848, which was the big year of revolution in the 19th century. It was led by the educated youth but with the workers and the urban poor proving the decisive numbers to overthrow the government. And then, also in 1948, you get an election – huge numbers of religious, rural dwelling people who get the same vote as everybody else, quite rightly – and they vote for reactionary religious parties. So anybody who has read history knows the revolution to be predictable.

Because of social media, the young students, the educated youth, people who have dragged themselves out of slums to become educated, are in a more global world. They are on my Twitter feed, I am on their twitter feed. When you watch the Twitter feed of fighters in Libya, sometimes it’s about Gaza or a piece of hip hop music  - and it is this fascinating unpredictable bit of it that I’m trying to study.

What makes these revolutions different, however, is their sustainability through virtual communities, even when parts of reality turns bad, the ability to sustain the spirit, feeling and discussion of what you are fighting for, through this global medium of interchange of ideas, is new.

What role do you think the likes of CIA and Mossad have played in the Arab revolutions and what role will they look to play now?

I think the CIA and Mossad isn’t the end of the list. The state department, of course, had a project to support liberal oppositionists in various Middle East dictatorships. One would like to think they [the state department] could see the dictators would fall but they had no idea. The state department held training sessions for young liberals – that’s what the American state department did in the cold war as well.

I don’t see these revolutions as a tool of the west; I don’t see them like that at all. And as for Mossad, the Israeli military and intelligence community was as surprised as everyone by the Egyptian revolution.

And of course there is a third big security service in the Middle East and that is the Iranian one and they have lost control as well. If you think of Iran’s proxies  – Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria – they are all in crisis.

The modern world is not a world of the hierarchical, structured religious – or ideological in [President] Assad’s case, I’m certain that all of that is doomed. I don’t see anything of this as the creations of western interests. Maybe you do, I don’t know.

In Tunisia, Libya, and possibly in Egypt, we will see moderate Islamist parties ruling the countries, is this something we should fear?

For decades, Europe was ruled by “moderate Christianist” parties in France, Germany, Italy. So one should have no fear of the term moderate Islamist.

Given that the leaders of many of these parties [in Egypt] were treated as terrorists by [Hosni] Mubarak, we should celebrate the fact they are willing to play the game of democracy. Part of me wants to celebrate the Muslim Brotherhood being able to hold itself together and be a party that contests elections like any other. The Muslim Brotherhood may be riding high now but it is being disintegrated by forces.

What forces?

The forces of modern youthfulness. Its own youth wing broke away and formed a separate party not because they are secularists but because they are Muslims who don’t want to be in this sense, Islamists.  They want to be devout but don’t want to be defined by it.

If, along the way in Egypt,  a whole bunch of parties that are Islamist but are prepared to take part in a essentially secular constitutional system, that would be a great achievement. But many who began the revolution want to go further than that: they want social justice, social democracy, liberalism and secularism.

Florence nightingale once said the Arab would be beaten to death rather than give up. Did you observe a difference between the Arab’s mentality and ours in the West?

What I observed on the streets of Egypt is that when you see the possibility of everything changing – and you realise they can kill some of you but they can’t kill all of you – things will change. This is what has made it different to the Intifada [in Palestine] which has come and gone, and while the youth have been at the forefront, it has been led by Fatah or Hamas.

What I observed was something much more fundamental, and that is when an entire community comes out – which I think is not open to the Palestinians – and see total liberation was at their grasp.

The fact they [the Egyptians] could do it with such humour and good nature. It was an insurrection of joy such as which the Arab world has not seen.

As a white, western journalist, I do think so much of what we have produced hasn’t helped to understand the Arab or the Muslim world. It’s partly because in Britain and in the west, Islam exists as a community and it, like it or not, seems like a separate community and all the differences with the west are emphasised. But if you go to a Muslim country and stay there for any length of time, it is just like anywhere else. This may upset some Islamists, but I’m afraid there are drunks and prostitutes [in the Muslim world], just like there are in Brixton.

Once we realise that the “other-isation” of Islam becomes pointless – it’s just a religion. The west has got into this situation because we only see the Arab world through the eyes of Islam when there is what you might call the “Arab culture”, which embraces the secular liberals – the dancing, the jazz clubs, the folk singing – on Tahrir square. As somebody said about Tahrir: “It’s Glastonbury without Bono.”

Does Egypt, therefore, have a positive future?

I think it [moderate Islamism] might lead to dictatorships, that’s the problem. What a lot of the secular left in Egypt talk about is “Attaturkism”. [They say] “We aren’t going to have any Sharia Law so we have to insulate the country against religion by having a strong army that cracks down on anybody who tries to ‘religious-ise’ Egypt.” I think the Brotherhood has got to be quite careful because the Salafis are so strong and they are recruiting from the poor and it is very difficult to combat it especially amongst uneducated people. And especially when they are playing the same game which Hamas and Hezbollah played which is to give money. They will exert a big pressure on the Brotherhood.

So do you think our perceptions of the Arab world is now changing?

There is a struggle between the “Arabists” and the people who are still reducing issues to terrorism, violence and religion – and there are people like me who want to see beyond that. I’m afraid Syria, and then the war in Libya, has allowed this image to come back. Look, people shout Allah hu akbar. Why are they shouting it? It’s because they think they are going to die. They want it to be their last word. They aren’t shouting it because they are religious fanatics.

When I’m watching the news I just want people to pop up and explain why they are shouting Allah hu akbar! It was Edward Said who said 30 years ago that we still haven’t grasped the complexity of the Muslim and Arab society.

“I’m a devout Muslim, I’m a hip hop artist, I’m a dancer I’m a revolutionary.” I met a leftist revolutionary who said: “I want to study Hebrew so I can understand the Israelis”. None of it fits the stupid two-dimensional stereotype, none of it.

Why should a young person buy your book?

My book takes you on a tour of the ideas, the people, and the biggest thing that has happened in your lifetime. It’s the first draft of history so it’s quite rough, some of it will be proved wrong.

What I’ve tried to do – because of my background in understanding social history and the Labour movement history – is try to relate these movements to stuff that has happened in the past that has been forgotten.

An interview with the Headmaster of Trinity Catholic High School, Dr Paul Doherty

Dr Paul Doherty commands respect: he has that reverential aura that when he enters the room, even the most raucous people shut up. Dr Doherty, an award winning author and historian, has published 80 novels and is known under the pseudonyms Paul Harding, C.L. Grace and Vanessa Alexander. Most importantly, though, he has been the headmaster of Trinity Catholic High School in Woodford Green, Essex, for 30 years.

His secretary calls me into his office and, upon entering the room, I am met with a pair of analyzing eyes and a half-smile. He greets me in his husky voice: “Hello Omar”.

 Woodford Green — a fairly affluent and calm suburb in North East London — has witnessed two shootings in recent weeks. What does he make of it all?

 “The area is definitely changing. I haven’t got stats, but aren’t guns becoming more common? Much of violence in London is gang related – well that’s the message we’re getting from police. I think much of the gang culture is related to drugs.” He backtracks: “I’m not too sure about drugs [hard drugs], actually. From what I can gather, the real drug is alcohol.”

Having authored a myriad of books while simultaneously running a school, he must have a secret. “I was given a very firm grounding in history. I trained in Medieval History, Theology, Greek and Roman History. I was a voracious reader. I was a massive depository of ideas.”

What sort of ideas? “I’ll give you an example. I studied Alexander the Great. We, in the west, think he is marvelous. In Persia they think he is awful – they spit at his name. The more I researched, I found out he destroyed their sacred books and fire. I found out he was a killer!

“Then I found out he died a rather mysterious death in Babylon. His body didn’t actually decompose straight away.Then I thought: was he poisoned or did he take too much arsenic? One of the effects of arsenic is your body doesn’t decompose. So I wrote a book about it all.”

Having attended Trinity myself during sixth form, I remember a few inconspicuous students telling me how much they despise Mass (a Eucharistic assembly). It’s “bloody boring” one student said. I remember another student at the school saying “oh for f*** sake” when he found out they had Mass on that day.  

I gulp and bravely ask: Isn’t it time the school, perhaps, jazzed it up a bit? Dr Doherty is silent for a few seconds and then responds: “If they find it onerous or boring all I can say is that’s true of many things in life. I find it boring. I don’t like going to Mass sometimes.”

“You can jazz it up, but what can we do? We are competing with the bite size culture: the Internet, Facebook, Twitter. I think we are losing – on a superficial level we have lost.“

Dr Doherty trained as a priest for three years and anyone who knows him describes him as a ‘man of God.’ Does he think the children in his school have become less religious over the years? “No. I would say slightly more religious – particularly among younger ones. We still have problem with people leaving their faith when they reach 14-15. The debate in society [does God exist] doesn’t help. People see religion as trouble so it’s best to have nothing to do with it.”

He then somehow seamlessly moves on to the topic of religious fundamentalism. “It’s very easy to pick up a sword in the name of Christianity, Islam or Hindi.” Hindi? It’s Hinduism! But I dare not interrupt well he’s in full flow. “Lets say all religions disappeared. We would still find some other cause to have a go at each other.” There, however, I can’t argue. 

Interview with Black The Ripper on Mainstream Music

Do you consider yourself a conscious MC?

People have been calling me that for a minute now. That’s a way to categories me. If I talk sly shit I can talk it better than niggas. I’m consciously aware and I say it.

I think most of them [other rappers] are conscious but most of them don’t know how to express it.

Because you have to remember certain issues attract haters. When you keep it fairly simple  you don’t have the haters. When you address certain issues you have people who are powerful who are there.

Why aren’t artists like you promoted in the mainstream?

Because it’s against their agenda. For them to push us, it’s working against them. For record labels it’s all about money. They are trying to pollute your message.

Given the recent unrest in this country – riots, occupation at St Pauls – are things slowly changing?

We are in England and it has just started now. We are just starting our wave now. We still remember were we come from. There are a whole bunch of white people who are cool with how things are.

The media has got everything to do with it. If there’s a political rapper in the media the whole world would fall in love with them. But they [the media] then have a problem ‘coz they’ve now got to silence them.

Why are a lot of your lyrics about political issues and things other MCs wouldn’t talk about?

I’ve got self-belief. I stand for something. I don’t think they [other rappers] do – they just need that quick money. For them to talk political they could get black boarded.

You’ve got a song called Wake Up. When do you think people will ‘wake up’ and what do you think will happen when they do?

I think it’s about time. I don’t think nobody is going to wake up – everyone is comfortable, they are cool. Get benefits, not really starving. You don’t get no help in certain countries like Libya. Man are getting free shit here.

I’m second generation. Our grandkids, they are not going to give a flying fuck. They aren’t going to take it. We were born here we aren’t going to be content. They’re [our grandkids] going to be less content. Ultimately means nothing though. Nobody stood up [after the riots] when they came to your mums house and arrested you… they weren’t on a bad ting then.

Twitter: omar_shahid

An interview with Diary of A Badman Star, Humza Arshad

Why do you think your act has exploded and become so popular?

To be fair, its probably because of my looks.  You can’t be ugly and famous. I genuinely believe it’s the looks.

But if you want a serious answer, I owe it to God. He’s given me this opportunity. Nothing to do with talent. I’ve been given this… to use my fame and position in a responsible way not just to entertain but to make people smile and hopefully learn something from it.

Its not just Muslims who watch your videos, why do you think it appeals to so many people?

I think people can appreciate the humour and there is a message behind it, a moral behind it, it’s not entertainment there’s an extra added value.

You don’t have to be a Muslim to respect your mum or women or not finding violence as the answer and I think people can relate to that.

Do you feel comedy is the best way to ‘break the ice’ when portraying Islam?

I don’t think comedy is the best way to portray Islam. But its definitely one way to teach morals and values. I’ve tried to provide entertainment with good message, but allow people to learn from it. The most powerful thing is it engages everyone.

I’ve had people from everywhere saying they like my videos: Mexico, Kenya, China, Singapore, Poland…actually I made Poland up. But in America and Pakistan etc you expect a fan base. People from different countries tweeting me saying ‘I really like your video and you’ve got a massive fan base here.’ I’m like: ‘Do you lot even speak English’?

Comedy is so powerful; it’s a great way to engage people.

What is the real message behind your videos and what is your reason for doing it?

What I think I’m capable of is making people laugh and smile. I’m crap at everything else but I can make a fool out of myself. If I get their attention I want to give back. I want to do something positive. For this particular project [diary of a badman], I wanted to give something back and spread a good, positive light on Islam. Most people don’t realize we are normal human beings as well.

We have the same morals and etiquettes as they do. We’re stereotyped. A lot of the Muslim community – especially the youngsters – get led astray but even if one person might get inspired and go out and do his own research then it’s all worth it.

I was in Birmingham and this guy told me he went off the rails and started drugs and joined a gang, and he said when he saw my Diary of a Badman, it touched him so much he wanted to change. Now he is studying law.

I think the most rewarding thing is when people say ‘I watched your video and now I respect Islam’ or ‘thank you for giving me a better picture of Islam’. Even atheists are saying ‘I’m looking into Islam now’. At least a handful of people have reverted because of it.

It’s just that tickle. If you go full on then people will lose interest. You don’t want to feel you’re manipulating them, jut give them a little advice.

Its up to them to make the choice. It doesn’t have to be about converting people. If people are happy with their faith that’s fair enough but go back and treat your mum with more respect at least.

Sorry for such a long answer blad.

Do you ever get any negative reception for your videos?

One thing I’ve learnt is that no matter how hard you try, you can’t please everyone. I’ve had negative feedback . The first mean comment I got, I was really upset, my brother sat me down and said this is how to look at it: ‘you know you’ve made it when you’ve got haters’.

Jay Z is the one of the biggest rappers of all time. [He's got] more fans than most people but then look at how many haters he has. These people must be ugly. As long as I make more people happy, I’ll carry on doing this.

What did that person say to upset you?

I genuinely can’t remember but it was a stupid thing. It’s jealously.

You can take it two ways. You turn a blind eye or use it to motivate you.

People are very quick to judge. They need to look in their own mirror.  We make mistakes. You don’t have the right to say this is wrong. You have just got to ignore it. These people are trying to bring you down. And they are the ones probably cleaning toilets.

Even this 60 year old was saying to me you’re very funny. I genuinely thought it would just appeal to the youth, I’ve got so many young fans but even aunties and uncles. I went to a BBC Asian network charity football event and the amount of old people taking pictures of me. I don’t know if they were like: ‘all the kids are doing it, so lets look cool’!

Have you always wanted to be a comedian?

Yeah definitely. I would do anything for a laugh when I was younger. Don’t want to get into details but… I was such an attention seeker. Always been naughty kid in the family, Chatting too much tutti.

When I was doing GCSE’s I was genuinely dumb. I couldn’t do anything right, one thing I could do is make my friends laugh so I decided to use it as a career.

I don’t see myself doing anything else now. From a little kid, you’re like: I want be a policeman or a fireman or a rocket scientist but from day one I wanted to be an actor.

Unfortunately there are a lot of similarities between me and Badman. Certain things are over exaggerated though.

You’re going to be taking your act Nationwide, with tours across the country, tell me what the motivation was behind this?

Money Init. Cars or something. Might get my mum a new kitchen so she can make less daal.

No, seriously,  I’ve been asked to do this tour for a long time but I’ve been reluctant but its a great way to give back to the fans. But the buzz you get from it will be completely different to just sitting in my room making a video.

Follow me on Twitter: omar_shahid

My Phone Call With ‘The Best MC In The Country’: Ghetts

For those of you who don’t know who Ghetts is, he is an MC associated with the music genre ‘Grime’, and has been played on national radio like BBC Radio 1 and KISS 100. His fans will testify to his unique flow and witty lyrics.

I’ve lost count how many times my friends have said to me: “Omar, Ghetts is the best MC, hands down.” But then again, I’ve come across plenty of people who have said to me: “I don’t like Ghetts, I don’t feel his music.” I personally stand more with the first group of people, but defining what constitutes the best MC is subjective and depends exactly what you’re looking for. I rate MC’s higher if they have something positive to say and if their lyrics convey deep meanings which can change people for the better. Ghetts, I found, feels the same way: “You see me, I like Akala, I like Lowkey, we have deep conversations. I like that sort of thing when it’s got a message behind it. But no one is saying anything real these days, I can’t listen to these kids chatting about guns and drugs I cant listen to that,” he admits.

A bit hypocritical, some of you may say, Ghetts saying he can’t listen to music about ‘’guns and drugs’’, when he has incorporated exactly that into his own music. What’s his response? “The pictures we painted and the way we talked about all of that [guns and drugs] wasn’t us running on the mic, man was doing it with an edge to make man forget man was talking about a madness.” That’s fair enough, but as I elucidated on in an earlier post called ‘The truth about music nobody will tell you’ was that music can enter the subconscious mind and have an effect on people’s behavioral patterns. “That argument about music making people do things, that argument is deadout. That argument is dead! Music is a very powerful thing though. When you got a visual it’s often much more powerful. How many man are shotters because of scarface? It [music] can have an effect on you but not like a film.”

There is no doubt that Ghetts is one of the most talented MC’s in the country, but, saying that, a lot of people wont even read this because they don’t know who Ghetts is. “Of course I want to keep getting bigger but you see me yeah, I know what would work on radio and what would get played on TV. I always try and go against the grain,” he tells me.  It’s not for the money, nor is it for the fame Ghetts expounds to me, but he does exactly the type of music he believes in. “In my album Ghetto Gospel, I filmed ‘Top 3 Selected’, but if I shot ‘Understand’ instead, I could have got more mainstream attention but I didn’t because as a person I’m like that.”

Our conversation then heads in a similar direction to the one I had with P Money [click here to read my discussion with P Money].  Why is that DJ’s are too scared to play different types of music? Why is it that 95% of all mainstream music is crap? And why is it that they wont give people like Ghetts a chance? He says: “As a DJ yeah, you want to stick to what everybody likes. When you watch the music channels most of the videos look the same, they fix it all so nothing seems out of place. So if they were to play me, it would seem out of place.” It’s all about marketing he tells me: “How do you market my type of music? They don’t put it out there because they don’t think they can market it. But its deeper, much deeper than that. If you’re an artist and you’re not willing to play the ‘game’ you wont make it into the mainstream.”

Ghetts is notoriously known for his claim that he is ‘the best’, but does he think there are some other MC’s who are over-rated? “I do actually like a lot more people these days but I don’t want to call anyone shit. I don’t really listen to grime. Honestly.  I understand why people would think I’m lying but its true. I rate Maxsta but not many other people. The grime that’s put out these days I don’t like. And the people who I did like, they don’t do grime anymore…Grime is deadout. Grime is dead!” he re-iterates. But why is grime dead? “In grime only one thing is appreciated. There has to be different things. It can’t be one sort of sound.”

Ghetts will be performing at Hackney Empire on the July 7 in an event called RE:DEFINITION with a host of other talented artists, with the headline act being Kano. How does he feel that Kano will end up stealing the show and not him? “The truth is this: Kane isn’t meant to be the main act,” he jokes, “it should be me and Kane going on together. “

Ghetts was watching Wimbledon as we talked, and I found out he’s a fan of Serena Williams. But it’s not her tennis skills he is a fan of… “See the women there playing, I like all of that,” he jokes.

One thing is clear when speaking to Ghetts -as I have encountered when seeing other interviews with him. He is actually a fun and bubbly person, who, believe it or not, is a pretty clever guy. Don’t be fooled just because he said stuff to me like: “Man is just here to make music,” the slang he uses is a product of the environment he was brought up in and doesn’t reflect his intellectual capabilities. I mean, to be able to think of thousands upon thousands of lyrics which make people laugh, get people excited and are satirically clever, you have to possess a pretty special talent.

Follow me on Twitter: @omar_shahid

Follow Ghetts on Twitter: @TheRealGhetts

An interview with the talented artist: Francis Joseph

Francis Joseph, 20, is an up and coming artist whose unique drawing ability has catapulted him from drawing for just friends, to illustrating album covers for MC’s. His story includes: struggling at school with his studies but realising he possesses a hidden talent for art – which he believes is a “God given talent” – he now has his work sold in Oxford Street.



1) Why do you draw and why is it important to you?

I draw because I feel that I have a natural affinity with art; drawing is like second nature to me. Give me a pen and paper, and I’m just going to have to start doodling. I’ve always been a terrible student academically, even since primary school. I just thank God my parents were so supportive. It seemed the only subject that really grabbbed me and I was good at was art; since I was young it was the only way I could honestly express myself.

I think I have an overactive mind of which my wild imagination is fuel, you can see it with the drawings I come up with, some good, some bad, bad as in I would get in trouble at class for drawing them…

2) Does your art have any particular message?

It depends, I tend to just freestyle, I’ll draw an object, an animal or a person and quite often, a sentence or word. Depending on how it comes out, I get an idea of what to add to it and it just comes together naturally.

3) Which artists inspire you?

I cant list them all, mainly comic book artists and Japanese comic cartoonists (Mangakas) like: Mike Mignola, Jim Lee, and my personal favourite- Yoshirio Togashi. I love his dark style and line work, it really inspires me. I try not to let my inspirations influence my work too much visually, I try and keep my own style so you know its my work straight away.

4) Do you have anything big planned at the moment?

I have quiet a lot of plans lined up at the moment, my art is up for display at Urban Outfitters in Oxford Street, my piece ”Was it All a Dream?!” is being sold as a limited print of 100 copies. I plan to draw about 20 new pieces at least before the end of the year.

I’m working on some Illustrations for musicians to use for album/mixtape work. I’ve finished art for east London rapper Kaos’s follow up mixtape to Heir to the Throne and recently finished illustrating album cover art for Margers release KushWave the Album coming out soon.

I’m continuing to develop a story I began two years back, I plan to create a comic out of it called “Sirius the Wishing Star”, this is a comic I want to start drawing out from once I’ve graduated.

Also, I’m starting up my own clothing label, fusing my art with clothing, Im aiming to launch it before the year ends, this is something I’m really excited about.

5) Do you work from imagination or life experiences?

Everything I work on is from my imagination, its all pure fantasy.

 

 

 

 

6) You seem to draw the same girl in many of your pictures, who is she or what does she represent?

Beauty. But also, what is hidden behind the beauty! Looks can be deceiving and the women in my drawings may seem beautiful but they hide there true selfs inside. I like to show strong women who are at the same time beautiful, my piece “She’s Coming” is the best example of that…

 

 

 

7) Does any of your art have a deeper meaning?

Yes, each of my work has a distinct narrative. Usually, I add a phrase or simply a word and that becomes the theme of that particular piece. What brings all of my pieces together is the style, I’d say my work is a bit dark and as such they all link all my separate pieces together. It’s a matter of how people interpret it, I’ll have work up and people will come up with different ideas of what it means to them, its really interesting!

8)Where do you see yourself in ten years time?

I see myself just living life to its fullest, with my wonderful family, my amazing girlfriend and closest friends, I want to be able to have a biillion reasons to be happy and smile. Work wise, I see my art being successful, and all of my future projects to be running smoothly. I plan for my clothing line to be running smoothly and my comic to be published. I want to do a lot of charity work too !

by Omar Shahid

Follow me on Twitter: Omar Shahid

Follow Francis:@TeamPaccuJayiDS

My Discussion With P Money about The Music Industry & Grime

I had an interesting talk with P Money today in Nandos, Lewisham. Ay, how did Omar get talking to P Money in Nandos-you’ll be asking? I was one of the winners of a competition held by Live Magazine. The criteria to enter was: ‘Tell us something interesting you’ve done recently’; so I told them about my blog. They happened to quite like it and selected me as one of the five winners.

I went to the lunch not really knowing what P (Paris) Money was going to be like. There is no doubt that he is extremely talented in what he does, but I wasn’t sure if I would like somebody who raps about violence and ‘his anaconda’. I was pleasantly surprised to find that P was soft spoken, humble and lacked pretentiousness.

So I started chatting to him and asking him questions. He told me about his upbringing and the environment he was brought up in. How he never involved himself with gangs and violence – but was often caught up in it because of the area he lived in. Consequently, this has had a huge influence on his music and lyrics. He tells me how he doesn’t rap about what people want, but about what’s going on in his mind and what is immediately affecting him. “But what if somebody offers you a multi-million pound contract to become commercial, but they tell you to veer away from your natural style of music, are you telling me you would say no to this?” His answer to my question was immediate and certain: “I wouldn’t accept it. I don’t do music for the money.”

We then talk about the grime scene. “Grime is just as good as it use to be, it just doesn’t have the same support. It’s because people who were around back in the day have grown up and have matured now.” P then goes on to complain about how radio stations feel reluctant to play grime, and feel more safe playing commercial music- even though the lyrics are often worse and more negative.

“There are people at the top who control what we listen to. People like Lady Gaga aren’t born like that; why would somebody want to dress up in a meat costume? They’re told to dress like that and they are told what type of music to produce.”

Before meeting him I had a lot of respect for his MC’ing ability, but now I have respect for him as a person. He seems to be grounded and despite the sudden popularity and success in his life, he is probably the same person as he was before. Salute.

Follow P Money on Twitter: @KingPMoney

Follow me on Twitter: @omar_shahid

Interview: The Weird & Wonderful World of Billy Childish

The chances are you haven’t heard of Billy Childish, or if you have, you may just vaguely recognize the name. Those who have followed his career, however, will be familiar with his eccentricity but will also admit that he is a very talented individual. Childish is actually a internationally renowned artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist.

I had many preconceptions before I interviewed him, however, they were soon dispelled once I began talking to him. We met at Trinity Catholic High School, where he was visiting the school to help the art students with their work.              (Can you blame me for the preconceptions???)>>>

Beyond the pointed moustache, and his clothes that look like their from the Victorian era; what I found was a man who was not only genuine, but also completely detached from the materialistic world. Childish was offered the opportunity to appear on Celebrity Big Brother a few years back, but refused, not necessarily because he didn’t want to make a fool of himself, but because he takes no interest in TV. His disinterest actually extends beyond TV, in fact, he dissociates himself with all the other forms of communication which are endemic in our society like: radios, newspapers and magazines.  ”Don’t aim for fame” he tells me.

But back to art. What does one need to become a great artist? He thinks about his response: ”A sense of faith, honesty, engagement and an inquiring mind…they should be unafraid of tradition and not to worried about what’s cool, or what’s perceived to be cool.” I couldn’t help but think Childish was the embodiment of this non hypocritical explanation. I, personally, cannot draw or paint to save my life but Childish gave me a tip:  ”Immerse yourself in drawing and immerse yourself in emulating the art that you love, be authentic in what you draw!”

They say to be the best, you have to think you are the best, and Childish is no exception: “I believe I am better than most artists, without sounding too arrogant.” Many would regard this as a fairly supercilious statement- I don’t- it was him being brutally honest.  

Throughout his illustrious career he has produced more than 2,500 pictures, published 40 books of poetry, four novels, and released dozens of full-length albums . “I would like people to remember me for my honest engagement with elemental forces with painting.” I wasn’t quite sure what this meant-maybe because I’m not an artist, but one thing is for sure-whoever has the opportunity to meet him will feel the passion he has for his work.

by Omar Shahid

South Korea’s Weird Obsession with Plastic Surgery

I’m in Dubai International Airport, sitting in the lounge area waiting for my flight back to London when I meet Davina Spencer [name changed to hide identity], a South African teacher who regularly teaches in Seoul, South Korea. My conversation with her was, erm, weird but also intriguing.

To say that the culture of South Korea is different to ours in Britain is a complete understatement. “If a child performs well at school, their parents will reward them with money for plastic surgery,” Spencer tells me. If the prospect of children as young as 14 getting plastic surgery doesn’t freak you out, maybe it’s because I haven’t told you what type of surgery they receive. Spencer further tells me: “Because they [South Koreans] generally have round faces,  the plastic surgeons break their jaw on both sides to make their face longer so that they can look more western.” Ouch. That is, of course, just one of the many procedures that they go through in an attempt to look –in their opinion — more aesthetically pleasing.

In Britain, plastic surgery is, generally speaking, a rarity but in South Korea it is a norm. Their desire to look better borders on an obsession. And for teenage girls their primary concern is their eyes. The mentality is ‘the bigger my eyes, the more attractive I am.’ A girl’s dream can come true via a $800 operation whereby a small incision is made above the eye which creates an artificial double lid – this operation has come to be known as ‘an eye job’.

A nose job is not particularly unusual, many celebrities get it, but what is weird are calf and thigh operations. Many girls in South Korea get liposuction on their calfs, or worse, get the entire muscles extracted. “This is because Korean girls often have very muscular legs, and they don’t think it suits them,” Spencer tells me as I ponder whether I want to hear anymore.

It is not just looks that the Korean race are obsessed with, it is also their intellectual ability. All the school children are so clever and they are in constant competition with one another. It is not unusual for the whole class to excel academically, but when a student fails to, say, get an A or A*, they become depressed. But why are all the children so clever?

South Korea is one of Asia’s biggest economies, behind, of course, the titans China and Japan who have the first and second largest economies respectively, and, in an attempt to compete with their rivals, education is seen as key. The meritocracies send their children to the elite schools, and the parents and grandparents who cannot afford to do this, make sure their children miss no opportunity during the course of the week to be schooled. Sleep is seen as a weakness. And as such, children are schooled from around 9am till 7pm on a week day, this is followed by a couple of hours break before another couple of hours of private tuition until the early hours of the morning. The weekend is by no means a time to relax either.  “Children come into school even if they are really ill,” I am further told.

Although I don’t agree with the obsession of aesthetic beauty, I’m not sure if constant schooling is necessarily a bad thing. Sure, it does have its defects, in that children are over worked and may not have the chance to enjoy the younger years of their life. However, if the entire nation is being stripped of ignorance and all ultimately become intellectuals – and if they become great scientists helping humankind; is this a bad thing? Surely not. One thing I kept thinking was: South Korean children – a future ‘super race?’ Hmm quite possibly.

by Omar Shahid

 

An Interview With Alastair Campbell

Known as the spin doctor of New Labour, Alastair Campbell has a reputation that seems to divide opinion. Campbell certainly is a proud man, and after having achieved so much in his life, he has the right to be-doesn’t he? Political editor of the Mirror, overcoming a nervous breakdown, helping Labour win its landslide victory in 1997; and can now add becoming a successful novelist to his list of achievements. However, his legacy will always be plagued by the Iraq war and the death of Dr David Kelly.

We are seated at a table at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London, before an awards ceremony where he was due to give a speech. Prior to sitting down, I felt as if Campbell was analysing me as we met and shook hands. I wasn’t surprised though-in fact, I expected it as many of Campbell’s books including- ‘Diaries Volume One: Prelude to Power 1994-1997’ prove him to be very perceptive character.

The discussion begins with a bit of banter. And it was Campbell’s beloved football team Burnley that was the topic. “Do you think I should be the new manager?” he asks in jest.

A lot of people go into journalism because they want to ‘change the world’, ‘expose corruption’ and some because it sounds like an interesting career. Not Campbell. “This is going to sound bad, but… I can’t remember why I chose Journalism” he says half ashamed and half buoyantly. Then slightly digressing (as he did for most of the interview), began talking about how he applied for a Journalism scheme when he was a teenager; there were 1000 applicants but only 12 places. Needless to say, Campbell was offered a place. He then tells me the key to his success: “I’ve always thought I was better than the next person up.”

Before Campbell worked as Tony Blair’s press secretary he was the political editor of the Mirror. But things have changed since he was in Journalism- which is now over 15 years ago. “Journalism is in a pretty bad way. I think things will change and evolve, and I think eventually return to a higher standard.” Who is he, some may ask, to talk about “higher standards” when he himself, made a career out of spin?

One fact remains unassailable though. It was the government- of which Campbell was an influential member – that decided to invade Iraq and as a result lead to many deaths. I ask him if he regrets anything in his career? “I can justify what we did and when we did it.” This remark was surely a reference to the decision made to invade Iraq. But hold on… I didn’t mention Iraq. Neither did I have any intention of bringing the topic up. Campbell, however, equated my question on ‘regret’ in his life, to the war on Iraq. “Regret is the wrong word” he continues “but it is whether you can see things in a slightly different way when you put things in perspective. The top level of government is full of really difficult decisions.” Some conspiracy theorists may even deduce, perhaps, nuances referring to Dr David Kelly.

Upon elaborating about his role in government, his phone rings-he didn’t hesitate to answer it. After the brief call, he carries on where he left off: “I feel incredibly privileged to be part of it [Labour’s success]. I feel very proud of the role I played in getting us organised and into power.” He even slips in the fact that his new book is due out soon.

I was starting to feel very comfortable around Campbell and was taking a keen interest in what he had to say, and although my time with him was almost up- I had to ask one more question. His views on Ed Miliband. “I didn’t vote for him, I voted for David. I think David would have been the right guy. I think he [Ed] has got into the position because of the way he was elected.” Campbell has been, and always will be, a vehement supporter of TB, and his unremitting defence of Gordon Brown during the 2010 elections cannot be argued. But for some reason, he doesn’t seem as enthusiastic about Ed.

“I quite like the way he is not doing crazy stuff and is cool about the whole situation. Ed made a lot in the campaign about how we have to learn from the lessons of what went wrong. But let us not forget about what went right. What went right is that we understood through New Labour that most people live their lives not in the two extremes, but kind of in the mainstream. I don’t think Ed is departing from that in terms of policy, but you’ve got to be careful of how you allow others to position you and I think others have so far positioned him in a place he doesn’t want to be.”

It is this sort of fighting talk that Alastair Campbell may use to help repress any bad memories he may have. And the things that “went right” in New Labour, it seems, Campbell attributes a large proportion to himself.

by Omar Shahid

Feel free to leave a comment below

*Picture from Alastair Campbell blog