Example Interview interview 0525 added 22.08.07 words: Hayley Rebecca Coyle technical: Spoon West London rapper Example, civvie name Elliot Gleave, has rhymed since school days. After being plucked from the underground by Mike Skinner of the Beats label, the roguish Fulham boy is lambasting the UK hip hop scene with his biting lyrics and ambitious beats. His previous singles have been daring, dark and droll – but when chatting to him he’s got a refreshingly winsome attitude towards music. His debut studio album is imminent, and he’s about to tear up the stage at 'Get Loaded In The Park' this Sunday. Hayley Coyle caught up with him while he washing his smalls in a local laundrette. "What we made" has been in the pipeline for a while. Why has it taken so long? Well, because there are so many samples on it. Most UK rappers who cut their albums don’t clear their samples. We’ve got so many on there, its just taken longer then expected to make. How long have you been working on it? "So Many Roads", the first single, we actually wrote two and a half years ago. We’ve had so many versions of it. We had a two verse, and a three verse and we re-recorded the both of them like seven times. It’s probably our oldest song. These things do take ages, but two years ago we were still searching for a record deal to be fair. I brought out an album independently a year ago but this one’s much stronger. The next single to be released early next year I actually wrote about six weeks ago, and it’s probably our strongest track (Me and Mandy). It’s blatantly our most poppy song, and it’s got one of my mates - who’s an indie singer, on the hook. I think that’ll probably be our biggest commercial track on the album. Fingers crossed anyway! You cover a lot of songs. Is your new album trying to distance yourself from that type of music? Well, this album’s got thirteen tracks. Seven of them are sample-free and eight have samples….so I don’t know, it’s a bit of a mix really. But we don’t just decide: "Oh, let’s do a sample song". It’s just whatever my producer (Rusher) makes. Seventy to eighty per cent of the album is all my chorus writing and stuff. " Slick Rick would be someone I’d look up to. Because a lot of rappers just talk about the same shit. ..." Your lyrics are quite cheeky, and you don’t seem to take yourself too seriously. Do you think there’s too much of that in current hip hop? I think it depends on the person, you know? I’m sort of a relaxed, happy guy in general, and I’ve been quite fortunate in life. So I’m not as down and angry and upset as a lot of other hip hop artists. I know a lot of people have a lot of reasons to be angry, but with me, as I said - I’ve been fairly lucky. On this album there are only a few really dark and moody songs. One of them is about insomnia because I get really fucked off when I can’t sleep at night! I’ve always been able to write both types of music, but I just think that upbeat stuff better reflects my personality. Who’s been the most fun to support and work with? I think the person I probably got on best with was Plan B. There was a lot of fun on his tour because he lets his hair down - not that he’s got any hair! A lot of jokes and drinking and stuff… But I think that my favourite tour this year has probably been the Hadouken! tour. Just because it was for all ages, and we basically just loads of nutty 14 year olds just bouncing non-stop for the whole set. Just Jack was pretty good too. I like playing to different audiences and even when I supported Get Cape. Wear Cape Fly, who’s obviously an indie / emo act, we got a pretty good response. Even though he was playing guitar and singing, and I was doing hip hop on the backing track. I’ve done like 150 gigs in the past sort of eight or nine months, so I know how to cater our shows for specific audiences. I know if they’re hip hop heads I’ve got to do a certain show, and if they’re indie kids I’ve got to be a bit different. And if there’s an electro nu rave crowd I’ve got to cater for them too. It all comes from experience…I’m still learning more and more all the time. Who’s your hip hop hero? Well, I’ve never really met that many famous rappers as such, but I think the most famous person was Stevie Wonder. I met him in New York in a restaurant. I was out there with some mates and at the end of the holiday we had a couple of hundred dollars so just decided to blow it on a big meal. And Stevie Wonder was in the restaurant and I had a picture with him….he was looking the wrong way though! My hip hop hero though is probably Jay Z. But that’s because I’ve studied him more than anyone else. My favourite album’s probably Doggy Style and my favourite rapper lyrically is probably Slick Rick. I love Slick Rick’s storytelling and his humour. I wouldn’t say I base myself on him, but though I’ve studied Jay Z and Nas more than anyone else for flows, I try and do what Slick Rick does in terms of his storytelling and songs based on parties and female relationships. He’d be someone that I look up to. Because most rappers always talk about the same shit. Also, I think the way he looks at things and the way he flows is often nice and simplistic, without over-complicated lyrics. That’s something that I’ve always tried to do as well. " I’m not as down and angry and upset as a lot of other hip hop artists ..." Why should we buy your album then? People should just go out and buy it! The main thing I was trying to get across in the album is that everyone always says: "Oh I’m trying to do new things and I’m doing something no one else has done before". And then you listen to the album and think: "Shit, I’ve done hundreds of songs like this before". Conceptually on this album at least, I wanted to explore something that hasn’t been done already. I mean, like "Popcorn and Fisticuffs" is about having a fight in a cinema, and "Milk your Goat" is about a guy Rohypnolling girls up in a club. So there’s little bits and pieces. There’s a song about forgetting your girlfriend’s birthday card so I really thought I’d challenge myself to write about stuff I didn’t think had been done before – especially in hip hop. And really, I just want people to acknowledge me, praise me, make me rich! 'What We Made' is released in September on The Beats. Example is at 'Get Loaded In The Park' on 26th August, check the links below... - Hayley Rebecca Coyle   Related Links: Example webspace Example myspace Get Loaded In The Park - Tickets here

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