Eastborn, Riz - Riz, Eastborn…….However you know Richard Harcus, you will no doubt know him as a quality emcee and without a doubt one of Scotland’s (if not, Britain’s) finest to pick up a microphone.
Some may think that being from Scotland may hinder one’s chances of making a name for one’s self? Not in Eastborn’s case.
Be honest, who else do you know who has worked with the likes of Mark B and Blade, Ugly Duckling, Goldie, Freestyle from the Arsonists, Task Force, Mud Fam, Gunshot, Kela, Disorda, etc, etc, etc. (Trust me the list goes on), has been on TV, radio, mixtapes, vinyl and is appearing on the Vol 2 Dark n Cold video, and still doesn’t have his own release??
Ladies and gents, I presents…………..EASTBORN.
Firstly, let’s start with your name. Tell me a bit about Eastborn:
Basically, I’m Riz to everyone who knows me, my mates and family an that, they call me Riz. Riz isn’t a Rap name but Riz just kinda changed into being a Rap name. I was conscious of there being a Dj Riz and folk like White Child Rix, then the Rza came along and it was like - Riz wasn’t an accessible name or a name that would stand out.
So because I’m from Edinburgh originally but now live in Glasgow, and still feel attached to Edinburgh I decided to call myself Eastborn, as in born in the East. I didn’t actually anticipate that someone would say “Well why would some one call them self Eastborn” as in getting it confused with some sort of seaside resort in England, you know what I mean? That’s like someone calling their self emcee Bognor Regis or some shit.
The thing with the east and west was - being from the east and getting more love or recognition in the west meant moving to the west in order to get more recognised in the east. It’s kinda mad but that’s how it was. It took me moving through to Glasgow before Eastborn started really circulating round Edinburgh.
Still on your name - I’ve noticed (on the site etc) that you don’t really promote your self as Eastborn. Why is that?
Well what it is really is. It’s like a Glasgow - Edinburgh thing, Riz - Eastborn, split personalities, split loyalties, battle with myself, yin & yang, good vs bad, 666 vs 777, Riz and Eastborn.
Eastborn is my performing name whereas (as I said before) Riz is my ‘go about my daily life name’.
I don’t really get called Eastborn unless it’s at a gig, but I’ve done gigs where folk’ve asked me where Riz is, y’know, where Eastborn is “I thought there were 2 of you?” kinda thing.
To be honest, it’s like I do it to piss people off most of the time. Which probably isn’t a good thing when I’m trying to promote myself, but fuck it.
You’ve worked with tons of acts but how did you come about working with Disorda:
Honestly man I cannot for the life of me remember. I think it was though a magazine (Represent?) or something. We used to be in this thing called Platoon. It was Koaste, Kela and the other 360 Physicals, me, loads of British guys. We would have this big envelope and it would get passed round from person to person. Basically everyone would write a letter, stick flyers in it so you knew what was going on in each others cities an that, it was kinda like an E-groups thing in the Internet.
I think I heard from Disorda that way...I think that’s what it was? Either that or it was the Message magazine I used to run.
Aye Disorda’s a brand new guy. He’s a fuckin lightweight on the bevvy though. And he’s a shit hot emcee
Ok, on to this EP I’ve been hearing about you working on. What’s going on with that:
Right, the thing about this is, well really, it’s beginning to annoy me really. The original plan was to to do 3 tunes on one side then 3 tunes on the other side. I had Disorda on it, Krash Slaughta, I had spoke to Plus One and Extra, they were up for it, I had Defy, Nick Wong, Switch was on it.
I had done the tunes, they were done but because I’ve got to work out distribution, costs, this and that, the next thing I knew the tunes had began to get old. I had Disorda shouting on it “1999” and I was like “fuck” so I mean it’s 2001 now.
Basically there’s still going to be an EP but I have a lot of new tunes that I’ve done with Switch. I’m working on a Glasgow All Stars 141 thing just now and a couple of tracks with some guys from London, I’m featuring on their tracks, like an all over the UK thing which is to be disclosed when I find out all the ins and outs of it all.
The thing is - being from Scotland, some folk down in London, they might have heard your name if you’re lucky enough but out with that they don’t know you’ve done anything. What people don’t know about Eastborn is that I’ve been on vinyl, TV, I’ve been on radio, I’ve supported some of the biggest acts in the UK and the US and I’m in talks with different labels about signing to them but I need to find out which one is best for me y’know what I mean?
The thing is, I don’t think anyone can promote me as much as I can promote myself so I’m probably best doing it myself so at least if anything goes wrong then I only have myself to blame, you know what I mean.
Now not a lot of people will know this (especially out side of Scotland) but you were in a group called ‘Thoughtz of Mortalz’, what happened to that:
We had a thing on UK Hustlers Vol 4 and we got asked to come out on Flame Grilled Records, and for reasons I can’t really go into cos I don’t want to talk about other people, we said, well they said “We want you to do this tune” and certain members of the band didn’t want to do it, they wanted to do an album or an EP and I was like “Well why can’t we just do this tune here?”……”Awe well, this an that” They just kept on putting problems up.
Thoughtz of Mortalz done lots of gigs, had lots of tunes, had lots of folk who were into the stuff, it was played on the radio an stuff.
Folk kept asking us when we were releasing stuff, copies of tapes were just circulating everywhere. People were going to our gigs and recording it live.
I still bump into people who have Thoughtz of Mortalz flyers on their walls and still talk about us. It was like a mad movement that was going on in Glasgow at the time.
It was a good learning experience for me because it made me realise that if you want something then you have to go get it your self. And no disrespect to members in the band but basically they turned round and told me they thought they were holding me back and that’s how it kinda ended because they were into and enjoyed it an that but they knew that I really, really wanted it y’know what I mean. I don’t want to be sitting on my arse in a bullshit job all my life.
What about this thing you done on TV, how did that come about:
It was on S2 and ITV (or STV) or whatever you call it? It was around the time when I done the magazine ‘The Message’, around the time when I had the EP completed and it was ready to go out.
It was strange, I got a call out of the blue “This is STV, we’re doing a thing on Scottish music and we want to interview you” type of thing. I thought it was a wind up at first but the next thing I knew, they were at my house so obviously it wasn’t.
I spoke to them, went down to the STV studios in Glasgow. I think they done something with Plus One a couple of weeks before hand? They did something with Krash Slaughta also.
Basically they had me rapping for about half an hour, walking up and down until they got enough shots in. there was like graffiti and tower blocks behind me and stuff, they wanted to make it real gritty Glasgow type a thing. A rough vision kinda pish. It was ok though, I enjoyed it.
The name Riz (or Eastborn) has been circulating for some time now, how long have you been emceeing for:
We were talking about this the other day actually. I think I said to you yesterday about people who come out saying “yeh, I’ve been emceeing for 40 years an that” well quite frankly, I don’t give a fuck how long you’ve been emceeing for. It’s not how long you’ve been doing it for, it’s how good you are.
Take that guy from 57th Dynasty, shit what’s his name? Apologies I forgot. Anyway he’s shit hot, he’s better than some people who’ve been doing it for 20 years. He could be the next Rodney P (or hopefully so) but me, I’ve been emceeing for about 13 or 14 years
That long aye?
Yeh about that. But then again I was rapping before I knew I was rapping. I used to listen to other people’s tunes and write them down and just say it over and over. Rakim, Public Enemy, Big Daddy Kane an that.
I think every emcee has done that at one point eh:
Yeh, totally. I just took the words an changed them to my style. I was biting the fuck out of it!!! But I just kinda progressed and made my own style.
Who do you rate as the best emcee to hold a mic:
America I would find it hard cos there’s so many, I would say Method Man or Redman. A few years earlier I would have said Big Daddy Kane or Rakim. KRS One for me doesn’t come into it at all. I think he’s only good on someone else’s beats. I think he contradicts himself, and he’s a racist.
UK I’d say Skinnyman, Rodney P, Reveal, Bohze from 2 Tone Committee is up there with them but he’s underestimated cos not a lot of folk have heard of him. Nobody could tell me that he couldn’t compete with Skinnyman. Also, Skinnyman is Scottish, not a lot of folk know that.
You’ve worked with a lot of artists but still don’t have your own release, does it not piss you off seeing everyone else get a slice of the pie and you’re not:
Yeh, I mean there’s a tune I’m writing just now, it’s like “I’ve never done a show where I’ve never been asked back, I’ve never done a show when I’ve been out my face on smack” or something like that.
I’ve done gigs where the main act have been this major Hip Hop icon and they’re round the back snorting you know what I mean. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, it’s just not my cup of tea, I’m just into blow and beer.
It does piss me off cos big acts will treat the gig as just another night, just a game some of them. And not to be big headed but I know for sure that I’m better than a lot of the acts I’ve supported or worked along side. I also know that they’re getting paid a lot more money than me, but at the end if the gig it’s me the crowd cheer to come back on stage and the promoters are confused as to what’s going on cos I get up and entertain the crowd where as a lot of folk are there because they done the same thing last night at a different venue. To them it’s just another venue.
I try and give something to the people in the crowd cos they’ve paid their money you know what I mean. I think this comes across in my performance and that’s the reason I get asked back to gigs.
I’ve done gigs with Mark B and Blade, Grooverider, Goldie, Ugly Duckling, E-Z Rollers. I was meant to support Wu Tang Clan but they cancelled the gig which was pretty shitty.
A lot of British acts too... So it does piss me of yeh. I’m like “well I should be on this or that” I’ve been in HHC what, 5, 6, 7 times, and when I was on UK Hustlers Vol 4 they said I was a title contender to Blak Twang and Blade, and here I am now still sitting without a release.
Another thing is, I reckon if I lived in London I would have umpteen records out.
You’ve done a track called 7 emcees, do you want to talk about that;
Yeh, 7 emcees is basically a tune that no-one can ever argue with and no-one is allowed to say it’s pish cos it’s not (YOU’D BE LYING). It was the kinda tune we done and at the end of it we all sat in the studio and had sore jaws from smiling so much.
It features DJ Ique, Krash Slaughta, Bohze, Defy, Dan Bungladoors, Deluge, myself, Epik and Big Div. It’s just a collective of all mad guys, all 141 people. It’s something we always said we’d do but never until now.
It only took us a couple of hours to do then we just sat around the studio talkin to Simple Minds all day.
It was on the internet on some server and I think a good few thousand people downloaded it (so I’ve been told). It’s kinda creating a big stir in Germany just now also. The main thing now is to try and get it put on to vinyl.
I think it will rival any London All Stars ever put out cos the 7 emcees is something totally unexpected. I don’t think anyone outside Scotland knows that we’re capable of something like this.
You have a unique style to anything I’ve heard come out of Scotland, do you have any influences:
Yeh, my reflection. Hee, hee.
Nuff said about that then...What’s the best gig you’ve ever done:
Mark B and Blade in Glasgow was good, em, Ugly Duckling was good. They’re good actually. I dunno, there’s been a lot of times when places have been quiet and it’s been a better gig than another one that’s been totally busy. It’s different things that make them good y’know what I mean.
The amount of beer being bought for you at the end is good. Hee, hee.
I did a gig in Ireland a couple of months ago and it was the first Hip Hop act this town had seen and it was fucking mad, like an audience Limp Bizkit would play to or some shit. It was a good gig.
Another one was the Goldie gig, that was really good.
Basically the best gigs are the one’s were you feel happy with your performance and you’ve made the crowd happy cos that’s what it’s all about.
Now I’ve heard you go on about how you don’t rate US Hip Hop. Why is that:
from the tunnels of darkness to the stairway of light.
Eastborn will rise and shine on us all |
First of all, I used to be right into the US stuff, and like most people I didn’t know there was a UK scene. I just listened to the American stuff and thought it was fucking amazing and all the rest of it. And then Pete Tong played a 2 Tone Committee tune., he was like “And meanwhile, on a Scottish tip, a track by 2 Tone Committee” so I was like, right, there’s Scottish Hip Hop, British Hip Hop, started listening to it all, started buying it an that.
I was into Killa Instinct, London Posse, Demon Boyz, all that y’know. Kinda the hardcore element.
Than I began to find the US stuff getting weaker and weaker and weaker. Yes I like Wu Tang when they came out, then all this guns and glitter and gold shite started coming out and began to really piss me off.
Scary Erie, a band who hardly anyone’s heard of came out with tunes about being on the dole queue. It was something I could relate to rather than hearing people go on about welfare cheques an that, you know what I mean.
People I thought were shit hot before were just shit now (to me). They got worse were as British Hip Hop just got better and better.
Yeh it’s got it’s up and downs but Mark B and Blade, y’know, Mud Fam, Task Force, Aspects, Junior Disprol ( I could go on all day).
And see for every Blade, there are hundreds of emcees that are unheard of that could aspire to be like him y’know.
Also another thing is, I’ve been to America a couple of times now, I stayed there for like 9 months and what was a real wake up call was when I was over there, the majority people that were into Hip Hop are the same people who are into House and Garage over here.
In my opinion, Hip Hop in Britain is more pure. It’s so commercial over in the US, it’s so accessible in America. You have Busta Rhymes advertising Mountain Dew, Method Man advertising Nike, it’s almost lazy to listen to it over there.
It pisses me off, they go on about how they invented Hip Hop, and fair enough they did but I feel that Scotland has something to offer. The Scots are warrior poets and can bring something to Hip Hop. We are renowned for having great poets and philosophers an that.
Don’t get me wrong, some American stuff I am feeling but it’s majority folk faking it. I just hate fake people, fake accents and fake images. What people need to do is be real cos there’s no point in trying to escape your reality cos everyone’s going to know that it’s not the real you.
Also, America is a strange visual image to me, it’s like it’s not real, it’s all TV.
Well Riz, this is where we end this interview, do you have any shout outs:
One to Riz and one to Eastborn. Na, all UKHH people, all the folk who work there, all the people who read this this and know where I’m coming from, 2 Tone, Major Threat, STS - back to back, I’m not getting involved- all the original Thoughtz of Mortalz, 141, Disorda, Skinnyman, Blade, Mark B (for all guidance and support from you both) Krash Slaughta, Nick Wong, DJ Switch, and yourself Hiz. Oh and lastly my grilfriend.
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