We bring you the people about to set the world alight, this week, Skreintax
You are two of the most entertaining characters in the British music scene today – high quality hip hop, soul, jazz alongside stunning production and heartfelt lyrics. So, Skrein and Dr Syntax… tell us about your new album ‘Scene Stealers’ out on December 1st on Dented Records…what tracks are you most excited about?
Syntax : “Thank you. The new album has been a long-running side project for the past three years. We’re each a solo artist in our own right, and until now, our solo projects have taken priority over this album so it feels like it has been a long time coming. I’m satisfied with how it’s come together though. My favourite track is ‘Breathe’ which is the first single and I’m happy with my solo track ‘Back Down’ as well. It’s produced by Tom Caruana who I used to be in a crew with called the Menagerie a few years ago – so it was nice to get back in the studio on one of his beats.”
Skrein : “For me personally, ‘Breathe’ and ‘Mothers’ are the tracks I feel best about, they might not stand out instantly as much as tracks like ‘6 Bitters’, ‘Reach’ or the title track, ‘Scene Stealers’, but they are the type of chilled tunes I feel the most when I pick up an album. I’m not always into the most hyped tracks on an album, I’m drawn to the more reflective joints most of the time, and ‘Mothers’ and ‘Breathe’ definitely fit that category.”
How did the joining of forces happen in the first place?
Syntax: ” We know each other from touring with Foreign Beggars in 2004, and also from freestyling down at the Rare Kind Gallery in Brighton which has long been the meeting point for the hip hop community there. Obviously, we’ve got very different styles and approaches to making hip hop, but there was a point when we were always rhyming in the same places so it seemed like a logical progression for us to do something together.”
Skrein: “On the back of a stinky Foreign Beggars tour bus coming back from Scotland, we’d been in Leeds gigging the day before and I think Oxford or somewhere the day before that… and we were just like fuck it, this bloody journey is gonna take hours (I think it took 11 hours in the end!), so lets do something productive and write a track. Synners had a Dag Nabbitt beat tape with like 50 beats on it and Scene Stealers was the first track, we didn’t even get to track two!”
The album, wow, you’ve brought along some of the scene’s playaz onto your tunes. DJ IQ, Stig of The Dump, Farma G, Verb T and of course DMC Champ DJ Skully – amongst others. How did you pick your guest contributors…?
Syntax: “Pretty much everyone on there is a close personal friend or connected to us through the scene, be it through touring together or meeting up along the way and having a mutual appreciation for each other’s music. Sometimes there’d be a half finished track and someone would be passing
through the studio and ask to drop a verse, and neither of us were overly precious with anything. It gives the album a cypher feel to it.”
Skrein : “We just picked whoever we felt was right for the track or whoever was sitting in the studio smoking at the time. We’d be like OK, write a verse, drop it and it’s all good.”
Who were your early musical influences the pair of you?
Syntax: “All the usual, from Zappa to Hendrix to Public Enemy to Ice T. Chuck D was always my favourite rapper as a nipper.”
Skrein : My god’s are Barry Manilow, Bros and 2 Unlimited. I grew up on them. Nah really, I’ve always been a Hip-Hop head, I guess I used to be a bit ignorant when I was younger, all I listened to was Hip Hop, Hip Hop, Hip Hop. My brother used to listen to all types of amazing world music and I just didn’t get it, but as I’ve got older, I’ve opened up so much that I don’t really listen to too much Hip-Hop any more. I’m mad into my Soul music right now. I love Jill Scott, Lyfe Jennings and Erykah. I love Coltrane’s Jazz, there’s a group from Brazil called Azymuth who are so sick, check out their track ‘ Linha do Horizonte’ – it’s so ill.”
Who else on the scene excites you at the moment?
Syntax : “Rup, Stig, Dubbledge, Enlish, Scizzahz.”
Skrein : “Ghetto is ridiculous. His album Freedom of Speech is so sick. Guilty Simpson is ill too, I really felt his album ‘Ode to the Ghetto’.”
What Hip Hop clubs over the years has seen your trainers jumping around in?
Syntax :”All the good ones. Nowadays, however, I tend to go to Wetherspoons in Arsenal, and that’s about it.”
Skrein : “Man, Dingwalls back in the day was sick, the old Camden Palace (now Koko’s) – I got mashed up there sometimes, HQs in Camden – that was cool, but the best club by a long, long way was The Temple on Tottenham High Road… the Westwood jams there used to be WILD, WILD, WILD…”
Big tunes for you at the moment – apart from your own!
Syntax : ” ‘Meat City’ by Big Dave is pretty hot, as is Martha Wainwright’s cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘See Emily Play’. Some of that new Devin The Dude album is OK too. Also, check out ‘S.T.Y.L’ by Rup on Youtube. Dope video.”
Skrein : “Jack Flash ‘Intoxicating’ (Accoustic version) is real cool, I’m in it.”
Skrein, your performance at the BBC Electric Proms (which even The Independent newspaper gave you props) Africa Express show was unbelievable, performing alongside Damon Albarn and Hard Fi. What was that show like?
“Unforgetable. Although it wouldn’t have been half as nice without the African guys there though, they definitely opened my eyes up a lot. Their instruments and performance styles were just incredible. But all the British guys were so safe and humble, it was just like one big jam session back in the day in my mums house! The only difference was this time, Flea from Red Hot Chilli Peppers was there with Johnny Marr from The Smiths and Tony Allen…along with pretty much every ill indie band in the country and all the most talented Africa artists – plus it was live on BBC interactive and Radio One so I guess it was a bit different from my mum’s house then! But I just wanna say, much love to Magic Number, Baaba Maal, Richard, all the Hard-Fi Boys, Natty and my boy the Last Skeptik for the good vibes and niceness.”
What do you think of the current euphoria about the turntablist scene?
Syntax : “It doesn’t really surprise me as Hip Hop tends to move in cycles in terms of what the kids are into. Scratching was big in the mid to late nineties, so I knew it would come around again.”
Skrein : “It’s ill. All of the 9 Elements of Hip Hop need to be evolved, respected and nurtured and I’ve got love for all the DJ’s ‘cos I used to be a DJ myself – believe it or not! I called myself Scratch-Master Skrein and I was the worst scratcher and mixer in the history of Hip Hop. Luckily I found MCing, happy days eh?”
Syntax, you’ve opened up for the Wu Tang Clan, Pharcyde and Slum Village… tell us about that sheeeeet!!!
“Those gigs were all a while back whilst I lived in Brighton. It can be great doing a support slot for a big name as you get to play to a lot of people who won’t necessarily know who you are, and if you win them over it’s an achievement. It can go tits up if they just want you to piss off after one verse, of course.”
What’s 2009 going bring us?
Syntax : “Western world-crippling recession, war with Iran, possible nuclear holocaust… and a hot new mixtape from Dr Syntax called ‘Off The Radar Vol. 2!’ Peaks and troughs, eh?”
Skrein : “My Solo album. Which is gonna be nice. More touring with Nathan ‘Flutebox’ Lee and hopefully some bloody sunshine, cos we ain’t had none
this year!”
Skrein, we get the feeling hip hop isn’t everything in this world for you, other music areas interest you – true?
“Like I said, I’m a lot more open minded now and I love Soul, Jazz, Samba, Funky House, Metal, Rare Grooves, Jungle. The works, thats the way its supposed to be!”
