With a new single and album about to hit us……
Yo dude. What you up to at the moment?
“Hi Dan, I’m at home mopping the floor, just fed my boy and girl their dinner, usual working class dad stuff, you know how it is.”
Well thank you for taking time out to speak to the DMC World. Big night for you then, hear there’s the patter of tiny feet coming your way tomorrow joining the family…?
“That’s right, got another boy coming, another soldier…”
So you’re signed to Jehst’s incredible label YNR Productions along with the likes of Kashmere, Jyager, Billy Brimstone, Verb T and Sir Smurf Lil’ – exciting times for you all. How long you been on the label?
“Hard to escape really, theoretically just over one year. Realistically I have been here since day one when Jehst sort of took me under his wing and took me out on the road. He saw me sitting at home and recognised a wasted talent, if it wasn’t for him, a lot of dudes – and I’m not gonna name any names, wouldn’t be where they are if was not for him.”
A self-confessed Hip Hop junkie, what sort of artists were you listening to growing up though, who were your idols and inspirations?
“Wow, too much. Blak Twang were important. Blade and The London Posse also – it was people when I was ten or eleven that made me think, ‘yes – I want a part of that.’ Back then it was all about the whole Hip Hop scene, these artists were sitting on shelves in record stores alongside the likes of Chubb Rock, and Big Daddy Kane – it wasn’t about this segregation we have today where it’s a case of ‘oh that’s French Hip Hop, that’s US Hip Hop – it was just Hip Hop. The Demon Boyz and Monie Love were other acts that filled me with hope and forming the NWC crew with Kyza, Ahmos and Ram, meeting new people and simply talking to them about the scene inspired me.”
You have an amazing stage presence as an MC, an unmistakable voice and the words flow so easy for you. Two questions, I’ve just interviewed a singer who admitted practising in front of her mirror with her hair spray – I can’t imagine you doing the same though…
“Ha ha. I never practised at home, I was down in the park with my pals with a couple of cans and some spliff just freestyling, this was before I got into the beats. It was those early days when I had something inside my head that was telling me, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life…”
What other MCs out there do you rate?
“The thing is about my love for my counterparts is that I go out and actually buy their stuff, I’m not one of these people who download stuff for free, it’s all about respect. Jehst in my view is a poet, he’s ridiculous, his flow is amazing. MC Phonte from Little Brother – we love their shit.”
You’re performing at the DMC UK Mixing Final at The Islington Academy on July 9th with Jehst – looking forward to it?
“For real. I’ve never done anything like this before, I’ve heard about it, seen the posters all around London on walls, heard about turntablists like Q-Bert, but I’ve never been to or performed at one. It’s always an honour to perform on stage with Jehst, he’s the god father to one of my children you know, was at my wedding – I’m always saying ‘you’re the man’ and he comes back with ‘no Micall, you’re the man!”
What sort of artists do you listen to at home chilling out?
“I could be listening to Prog Rock one night, James Brown the next. But to be honest Dan, I make so much music you’ll usually find me out on the balcony smoking a spliff with my headphones on listening to my rhymes, going through what I’ve done and seeing if anything needs changing. I tell you, you won’t believe how much I’ve also written on that balcony.”
Best club you’ve ever played at?
“Well, sorry UK fellas, but the best place I’ve appeared at is the Espy club down in Melbourne, Australia. Could not believe the crowd – they were off the hook. I didn’t have to sing anything, they knew all of my material. It baffled me, I totally rinsed it.”
What do you think of the current state of Hip Hop?
“We have to stop looking it as ‘UK Hip Hop’. There should be no barriers, we all make music and we should be trying to teach the world – that’s why on my myspace page I relate to Planet Earth. I just happen to be from London, what we are doing is an artform and we have to look at it as a universal thing – everybody raps everywhere. Saying that though, if the England football team came knocking on my door, I’d be there in a shot.”
You have released some great records since 2005 with the launch of ‘The Working Class Dad’ album – great name by the way. What do you think has been the best song you’ve ever released or maybe, about to release on your new album ‘First Second Time Around’ that you’ve cooked up with producers Apa-Tight, LG and Australia’s M-Phazes and features vocal duties from the likes of Jehst, Kyza, Kashmere.
“I have released so many records I am so proud of you know. I love ‘Dunya’ and ‘Hungry’, but as you said, what awaits around the corner for you all? The best is yet to come…”
So it’s been said that you are much like your TV-interviewing namesake – when you are on stage you educate and always captivate the audience’s attention – why are those qualities so important to an MC?
“We are the new politicians Dan. We are the new trendsetters, no kid out there wants to listen or take notice of what Gordon Brown or Tony Blair says – they have no idea what it’s like out there. As an MC, people like myself have to act as a role model, I’m a parent myself and I have to install the right way of doing things in life to them. It’s the kids that we really have to get hold of now, look at the state of gun and knife culture today – there’s nobody over the age of 25 getting killed, it’s the under 25s. Hey, I’m not denying I wasn’t a bad boy once and yes I came from a broken home – but one day I thought to myself, yeah I do smoke spliff and I can spit it, but enough is enough. I have a family now, I’m now Billy Cosby and I have my Clair Huxtable and my Denise and Theo. Life is good…”
The DMC UK Final takes place at The O2 Islington, London on Thursday July 9th, 7pm-midnight. dmcworld.com
Micall Parknsun ‘All 4 Hip Hop’ out now on YNR
Micall Parknsun ‘First Second Time Around’ is out on YNR on August 3rd
