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  Mic Assassin Interview
interview 0396 added 28.04.06 words: Delbwoy & Jess
technical:
QED
Delbwoy & Jess caught up with one of the UK’s premier battle
emcees
fresh off the plane from battling NYC as The JumpOff’s UK rep.
Despite the jetlag he had plenty of views on that overseas trip,
future plans, a new mixtape and much more besides. Run the tape…
How do you think you did in NY with your JumpOff tour?
 I
think I did good and represented! But me I’m always trying to
improve in every aspect. When peoples get a chance to see the 6
of the 8 battles I’m hoping they can see the body of work I put
in and the levels and lines I was coming with. I lost a few, got
murked once ha ha…. but I came back home with a win record
meaning I won more than I lost so that’s always a good thing.
It’s a sign of success in it? So when other UK emcees go out
there it’s been proved that we can survive and match the emcees
out there.
Was there a difference in battling technique over there?
Definitely!! Which surprised me, from my angle I was thinking
“I‘m in the Mecca of Hip Hop” so it was gonna be straight off
the head battles and freestyle craziness from the emcee’s. But
how it was explained to me is that New York is always evolving
so a lot of emcees see Freestyles off the dome or off head as
“old skool” and pretty much back in the day. Even though I was
well aware of the Smack DVD’s and Fight Klub battles where
spitters come with 100% pre writes I still didn’t expect it to
be like that.
Even some of the sick emcees I faced wrote verse’s for me which
surprised me, because I free styled in all my battles but I
guess that’s just how it is now. It’s different for us over here
I’ve been to millions of battles where if the crowd think your
spitting writtens then your liable to get booed!!. Not saying
every emcee out there pre writes but most of the emcees I
battled had pre writtens. Plus I know a lot of the time peoples
couldn’t even understand me even in my general conversation! So
hearing me battle must have been confusing to them ha ha.
“...There wasn’t any real in depth perception of the scene at
all...”
Looking at it like that with New York usually innovating the
trends in Hip Hop Probably over the next few years all battles
even ones over hear will be largely written. If all the emcees
know the other person their gonna battle is gonna spit writtens
then you’ll be at a disadvantage. It’s like playing paintball
shooting and the dudes your going up against have real guns
there’s a disadvantage.
What is the perception of UK Hip-Hop in NY?
There wasn’t any real in depth perception of the scene at all ,
A lot of people knew who S.A.S are ( Big up to S.A.S they got a
big rep out there) also the peeps I came in to contact with knew
who Dizzee Rascal was but that was pretty much it…
From what I could gather there wasn’t any knowledge not even
about artist who are quite big over here in the scene. So I
don’t think they purposely ignore us over there, they just don’t
get a chance to hear us.
Plus I had to deal with the general Stereotypes, some funny
shit!!! you know like Tea, Crumpets, The Royal family etc. I was
breaking down a lot of things like our Council estates, our
music scene, slang we use just trying to educate them let them
know about the UK.
Actually before I went out there I recorded my CD “How to Murk a
mixtape” with a song called “Slewisham Slang” which breaks down
our slang kind of how Karl Hinds did it on “Don Grammar” but
more Up to date. So when peoples heard the track that definitely
helped them understand me a lot more, and overall the UK as
well.
Were you surprised by the frequent use of the word ‘N**ga’ by
non-black emcees?
 A
little bit, I didn’t really like the frequent use but it’s a
word I try not to give power to either. Where I’m black I
understand the word’s past negative connotations so I don’t
really sponsor the word and try not to say it my self. With the
emergence of Hip Hop it’s almost become like a greeting to each
other or a stock phrase and the word has in a way lost its
previous negativity. There was a few times when I would be
chilling and someone who wasn’t black would use the term in
general conversation and the black peoples they were with didn’t
check them on it. I didn’t feel that it’s like it was accepted.
In
your opinion, is the standard of battling in the US higher or
lower than here in the UK?
Ha Ha a lot of peoples have asked me this question and except
for other rappers there surprised by the answer…..Me personally
I’ve battled some heavy UK emcees and some quality US ones so
from what I’ve experienced I’ll definitely say that levels over
here in the UK is slightly higher than in the U.S.
Even though I did get murked in a battle that happens in it you
have off days and bad performances. Even Great Boxers didn’t win
every fight and every round. Mike Tyson’s been knocked out! ,
Even Muhammad Ali’s been out boxed it just depends on the day
and the situation.
Even though I think the UK levels are a little bit higher from
what I experienced there wouldn't be like a large difference.
This is down to the fact that we all listen to same music around
the same time. Like if sick emcees like Papoose or Saigon drop
Mix tapes then we’ll all likely to hear it around the same time.
This basically means that levels can always be seen so it lets
emcees know what levels to come at and what levels to try and
surpass.
“...Even though I did get murked in a battle that happens in
it you have off days and bad performances...”
How were you treated by the other emcees being from the UK in NY?
Yeah it was cool, It was nuff fun! A great experience. A lot of
peoples I met out there had probably never ever met an English
Black dude before… ha ha let alone hearing one of us rap and
battle. But yeah I connected with manz through Hip Hop and could
relate to and found common grounds with peeps out there.
Like being in someone’s Housing projects even though they were a
little rougher and bit more gully the feeling and atmosphere was
the same as the estate I grew up on. So that just made me feel
more comfortable while battling even though there was a lot of
battle politics.
The whole experience for me was amazing but there was still a
lot of politics like audiences wouldn’t cheer because I was
English and even at Fight Klub the judges favoured the U.S.
emcees over me because of my accent.
During nearly all of the battles I could fell it in the air like
the way anybody would feel if you was an outsider it was that
kind of slight animosity which will sometimes affect my
freestyles and what I could come up with.
I did have pre conceived notions about how difficult it would be
to get the crowds on my side as I I’m the outsider. When I
freestyle I run off the crowd reaction so if there no reaction
my freestyles suffer it’s like a mental block. For example On
the second day I was this was the toughest. That Saturday I
battled Nems early in the day , then early evening times I
battled Syanide, then about an hour later from that I battled
Iron Soloman. And all of these manz know each other from End of
The Weak Jam, so if you look at the audience carefully in these
battles it’s made up off a lot of the same people more or less.
Would you change anything about the trip?
 Yeah
I’m always critical about myself so when I watch back the
footage there’s always things I wished I said or did different
but with my overall performance I’m happy. I had an opportunity
to do what only one emcee from our Country has had a chance to
do and I feel I repped hard. It wasn’t like I was just selected
to go; I had to win the UK Street battle tour in order to go.
One thing I wished I did do was have more pre prepared or
written lines to match the writtens lines emcees were using
against me. Because most of emcees I battled knew we was gonna
battle about a week before I even flew out so there was nuff
time to write bars about me. So maybe I put myself at a
disadvantage because I didn't write any lines and just tried to
push my freestyles to a higher levels.
Any plans to battle over there again?
Definitely as it helps to navigate the scene over there , It
will be dope next time as It will be about music as well
recording tracks and projects with the artist I met over there ,
just vibes and pushing forwards. That will be a good look some
international link up’s, that helps to strengthen the
connections and helps break our brand of Hip Hop outside of the
UK. Were planning to go over there like every 4 months just to
keep trying to grind both in the UK and in the US
simultaneously.
What would your advice be to up and coming MC’s and rappers?
From the battling perspective, battles are fun and for me very
enjoyable and help build hype but it’s not everything! Just try
to make sure your music is tight. My main goals used to be
aiming to come out of a recording session with just dope Hip Hop
but now its way more important to make good music ya feel me.
Good lasting music is way more important than your freestyles or
battle bars. Check out our Elite – Team debut release from 2005
“The Phone Home Ep”. If you listen to that then you can see with
our live band Django Thief what we create it’s heavy ….it’s dope
music.
Who are you feeling in the scene at the moment?
At the moment I’m feeling peoples who are making good music and
trying to create their own movements. I just recently got back
from Manchester doing the UME with Jump Off / 1xtra / And
Channel U that was HEAVY!! I got this CD called The City is ours
– Manchester Mix tape Massacre which is bare Manchester artist
like Envy, Raw T I’m feeling that!!
“...its straight business every day! Were very organised...”
I like Lowkey I always big him up in interviews his Key to the
Game series is classic shit. That track “Bars for my Brother” is
crazy I heard that around the same time I lost My Sister so I
feel that song Hard! I it has a deep meaning for me because I
can feel and relate to his pain on that track… Also Underground
animals like Sin Army – Manage, Skandal all them manz they got
bars for days. Just peoples who are creating movements Big up to
Mr Drastick he just sold like 10,000 of his mix tapes
“Gladiatorial Passion” on road that’s crazy figures!! Also Blind Alphabetz Iron Braidz and Cataclysm them man are family.
Not forgetting I met a lot of sick emcees on and around the time
of The Jump off UK Tour. Big Up’s to Stig, Sonny Jim, Kosine,
Respeck Ba, Arkaic there all firing! Also Check Sonny Jims Ep
that’s proof dope battlers can make heavy tracks.
Do
you remember the first time you took Hip Hop seriously and
thought of becoming an ‘artist’?
I first started freestyling and writing when I was like 9 years
old I wanted to be like Snoop Doggy Dog on some South London
West coast shit…!! But only took it semi - serious when I was
about 15. That’s when I first started recording songs and
hitting open Mic Jams like Flavour of the Month , Kung Fu @ WKD
Bar , Battle Scars, FKO Raw them kind of tings like around year
2000 - 01.
Now it’s a whole different level it’s very serious as we set up
our label Elite – Team Entertainment in 2003 its straight
business every day! Were very organised from our Marketing,
Production of our CD’s etc and just how we execute our plans and
hustles. Our whole crew are entrepreneurs so we are just trying
to make our company grow and expand outside of music. That
combined with trying to make good music and become credible
artist staying both relevant and consistent.
How do you make tracks now and how far is that from your ideal
setup?
Since like 2003 we been working with our Music Family and Live
Band Django Thief I mean it their crazy!! I know at lot of crews
are on the whole band thing when their performing but it’s
different for us because we record live with them so its got
that raw energy, great melodies ya feel me… just dope music!!
So we record with them at their studios , I’m selective about
producers but Chemo’s heavy he’s sick with it also a production
team called Read and Wright we work with them. So basically we
use their studios to record all our tracks and just focus on
flooding the streets with mix tapes.
We will eventually have our own studio but right now it makes
more sense to put that money into pressing mix tapes selling
them then investing the money back in the label and pressing up
more. It’s a good way to make things self sufficient.
What new projects can we expect from you in the future?
 Rare
I swear there’s a lot… There’s a lot of Elite Team thing’s were
doing!!!!!
We got a label sampler called “Slewisham edition” which you can
get free copies which we usually hand out at our shows or you
can download from certain forums or from our sound click page.
Its
http://www.soundclick.com/eliteteamentertainment.
At the Moment my CD ”How to Murk a Mix tape” is on road so is
Rigga Romez’s “The Man and the Myth” straight Fivers, no
negotiations no £4.50’s or £4.95’s ha ha you can pay me in
pennies I don’t care as long as it equals 5 nuggets.
You can find us selling them outside any Hip Hop Jam harassing
you for a fiver!! Ain't gonna put them shops at the moment as
we’ve been selling so much units on road we’d be losing money
per CD if we put them in shops.
I’m currently working on my solo EP and our Elite – Team follow
up to “The Phone Home EP” which is gonna be crazy . So for those
releases were getting the business straight for those projects
like the marketing , distribution also two high quality music
videos … just pushing forwards.
And yeah outside of the crew were doing some nice collaboration.
I did a song with a crew called Urban Gemz which featured myself
and also K9 from The Rottenous called “Lets get it on” that’s
gonna get released soon with a video and ting.
Were working on some crazy creative tings with Ruffstylez, Ralph
Rip Shit and the the manz at Associated minds which is gonna be
so sick.... that’s one’s on the hush.
And there’s couple more things look out for some collaborations
with a few of the Sick battle dudes I met through Jump Off. Also
we got tracks coming with my boy Joe Gutta , Chemo and Syanide
from the UK , Sin Army , Blind Alphabetz , it’s all big!!!!
Final shout-outs and plugs you wanna make?
Big up ukhh.com. Big up’s Django thief – JB Sparks, Dan the Man
the whole Band… Paleface and Outlaw. Our Agent Dami and all the
DARKLING ladies. Honza @ Battle Wear clothing and Theo @ Streets
is watching for keeping us fresh!!! Big up to the whole
JumpOff.tv
peoples you can catch all the streets battles on that website
it’s fire. Also on Channel U every week night from 10pm on the
hour it’s big!!! Big up my Elite – Team family Rigga Romez,
Caution, Archer G, Smurf, Tolu, and Bones Brapppss!!
Yeah check out our label website
www.eliteteament.com it’s creative and got a lot of our
music , news , battles and everything on there. You can contact
us by emailing
info@eliteteament.com. Also it seems like everyone and there
mother has got a my space page, I think I’m addicted to it … any
way’s ours is
www.myspace.com/elite_team_entertainment.
Also check out my individual one it’s new:
www.myspace.com/mic_assassin.
“How to Murk a Mixtape“is out now floating on road so is
Rigga Romez’s “The Man and The Myth”. Both will cost you 5 quid.
-
Delbwoy & Jess
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