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  Cappo & Styly Cee Interview
interview 0581 added 05.11.08 words:
Hamish McBeef
technical:
Spoon
Styly Cee hasn't featured on these pages since 2000 but Cappo has been here plenty of times over the years. Now these Notts stalwarts have a storming "Fresh, hard & heavy 21st century hip-hop" EP on Son Records which is picking up some well deserved praise so it was high time they were back on ukhh.com again...
Bearing in mind you've both been in this for more than a minute now, and growing up when you did hip-hop wasn't the mass-market ubiquitous pop culture phenomenon that it is now, can you put your finger on a moment when you 'found' hip-hop and you thought 'yeah this is my shit right here'? if there wasn't a 'lightbulb' moment as such, describe the journey from regular person to fully-fledged b-boy status.
[Cappo] I got an NWA tape from an old friend at school and listened to that extensively, especially some of the skits, then they gave me the Public Enemy album '...A Nation Of Millions' and I listened to that till the batteries ran out on my walkman, this was around the time I fiended for a pair of Patrick Ewings but never got them. We would go to Arcade Records in town when I got a little older and buy vinyl such as Crooklyn Dodgers and Blahzay Blahzay, I would buy breakdance and DJ battle videos from there, one of the videos was 'Battle Of The Year' and I would study breakers like WildCats and sketch down the footwork patterns then practice them in my garage. At the same time I would write in Notts as Maniacs and Stash with B Kid, we made the Lady Bay Arches bridge a legal place to write and its still being used today, Graffiti was where I first got involved properly and I used to watch for artists like Mode 2 and Shok 1. From there I took the rhyming on as full time and worked on it through ACNA arts with Courtney Rose and Big Trev. From then I got in contact with Al at Son records and hooked up with the Legendary Styly Cee....
[Styly Cee] It's hard to remember the first time i heard a hip hop track that got me but i can remember certain things, like people in Nottingham used to walk the streets with big massive tape recorders, on their shoulders blastin out electro and early eighties tunes. I used to watch crews breakin' in the street on kitchen lino. It was pretty exciting. One of the first jams i went to was at the Hyson Green Boys club when i was 12 or 13. It was where i needed to be. To hear hip hop loud, the atmosphere was perfect. I was into the DJ side of it originaly, people like Mr mixx from 2 Live Crew, DJ Cheese, Chris 'the dirty glove' Tailer and my favorite DJ, Jazzy Jeff.
And similarly, can you remember the moment when you realised that you were gonna get serious with this music, be an active participant and make it more than just a hobby?
 [Cappo] Thats when I borrowed the Theorists sampler and began working on beat making, I spent a good two weeks putting loops and drums together. I put all the tracks together then began writing from intro to outro, I would practice the whole 15 tracks in a row then I took it a studio and laid it all down. I began writing constant without showing anyone, then I rhymed to my girlfriend and she said it was good so I sent the demos out and got a deal with Son records. Through that I started rhyming on features and doing shows, Styly showed me how the breaks worked and I took it on board from there.
[Styly] Quite a while after i was doing beats, I think i wanted a better sampler to get better quality and longer sampling time. When i did that i just thought it would be amazing to actully release something. I'd also been friends with Alastair for a few years and he was talking about starting a label and that made me up my game a bit with the thought of if i wanted to get my stuff heard i needed to focus and spend a bit more time making beats. I had been on Heatwave radio for about 5 years and i was getting a bit bored and i needed to free up some more time. So i left there and concentrated on getting a record made. I think the first thing i did was a remix on the Quakes record. Once you get the buzz from getting your music released and doin live shows its hard to stop.
Thinking back over the course of your long involvement in making music, are there any particular snapshot moments that really stand out as fond memories that you'll look back on with nostalgia in years to come?
[Cappo] When I was asked to get up on stage with P.E after passing a demo of 'Spaz the World' to Chuck D. When I got chance to rock at Stack Chedda in Bradford because the crowd was so responsive and amped. Recently getting the H-Bomb vinyl back from press was a big moment for me. Spitting on the John Peel show live at the Boat club next to the City ground. I remember being able to sit behind some giant speakers in France while I was touring with the Herbaliser and just watching a giant crowd and zoning out. Spitting rhymes with L Fudge when he was recording with Joe Buddha and getting to rock the crowd with him at a show in Portugal. I have good memories of recording with Styly on various occasions and filming the video for the Unwritten Rule, that was a good few days just rolling with Styly and 1st Blood recording scenes. I remember being on holiday in Florida and getting taken to an old flea market and junk warehouse and just finding a whole row of shelves with old vinyl with some of them still in the shrink wrap and finding out they were all $25 scents a piece, that was a good day.
[Styly Cee] The Monster - When Lost Island went to Italy, that was classic. We were gone nearly a week. For one show, we went on the coach. Notts Hip Hop holidays, Me and Frisco, Pepsi from Rock City Crew was there, Paul S from the P Brothers, Joe Buddah, Tower, Mr 45. It was a hip hop festival. We also had Matt Smith (Theodore) on camera shooting the Mic Life video. If you look closely at the video, Crazy Legs is in there somewhere. I got coach seat rash on my forehead from leaning forward on the seat and fallin asleep. Then the show in Amsterdam - Lost Island, Cappo and Def Tex. In a Hip Hop church, We had to go on after Rahzel which wasn't easy. He's a touring pro. We just about got away with it. We had a hotel room freestyle session that went for hours. Beat box and hair dryers were all used in that experiment.
On the flipside, any moments you'd just as soon erase?
[Cappo The Great] Selling a lot of priceless vinyl for pittance in spur of the moment stupidity, I remember not doing a photo shoot for Ecko clothing that could have got me a good new wardrobe. My basic business side of my music should have been tighter from a long time ago.... and never copping those Patrick Ewings.
 [Styly Cee The Pyramid builder] The second Lost Island live venture at the Moor Green show, one summer, probably '97. That time we went on after Morris dancers. It was that kind of thing. Fifty year old men with boys wearing make up. Holding hands and skipping round a pole. Then us on the back of a truck with a really old tape recorder and 2 little speakers. No-one watching. Why would they? They were tractor inbreds. It was a turning point. I can remember sayin " it can only get better from this point", and i'm pleased to say it nearly did. No' i've never topped that one.... Yet.
A couple of slightly random questions here...
If your respective musical careers could be compared to a movie, which would it be and why?
[Cappo Frequency Enhancer] Die Hard because I was in the building when it happened and I blew that shit up.
[Styly The Equaliser] Silver Streak: Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor and a train. Grease 2's a close second.
If you could rub a magic lamp and become any superhero or comic character for a week, who would it be and why?/what would you do with your power?
[Cappotronic] I would become Deaths Head the universe bounty hunter and smash shit to bits. Otherwise I would become Unicron from Transformers and smash shit to smithereens then eat the galaxy.
[Styly Cee the BEAST] I would be Nom from Superman 2. One of the baddies. I wouldn't have to speak to people. Just throw things and burn humans with my eyes. And kneel before Zod. The Suns gravity would enhance my earthly powers.
Cappo: what existing verse or song do you wish you had written?
[Cappo] Big L 'The Enemy' verse. Or Big L's first album, it was so ahead of its time and precise that it was literally stolen by most of the Hip Hop fraternity at the time. Rest in piece Big L.
Styly: what existing beat do you wish you had produced?
[Styly Cee] Beat wise, Leaders of the new school 'Whats Next?' Large Pro remix, Nas 'The World Is Yours' by Pete Rock. Loads. I can remember first hearing Cappo's beat off his Resilence EP with Lee Ramsey on it called 'Verbal Latitude'. I would like to have done that one. Its just right.
Agree a list of your joint top 5 emcees ever, give a bit of explanation and maybe let us know any that didn't make the list cos you couldn't agree on them
 5 - Biggie Smalls
4 - Big Daddy Kane
3 - Nas
2 - Kool G rap
1 - Rakim
This was generally agreed on though the order might have been slightly different.
Now how about your top 5 notts tunes of all time?
We're not even going there!
What are your theories about why Nottingham punches above its weight in hip-hop terms and has provided the world with so much good music and so many good artists over the years?
We believe that Nottingham has an undiluted view of Hip Hop and that Notts mainly looks to New York for its inspiration. There's a connection to New York that started years ago and has filtered through to present day. We try to impress those who have impressed us and add our own dimension to the mix. All the people involved are very passionate about the music and getting it right.
So you've got an EP about to drop. Tell us what the H-Bomb EP represents to each of you and why people should love it.
[Cappo Napalm Flicker] The H Bomb represents to me the way I want to make music for the rest of my life, it is Napalm music. It sounds like a constant air assault that will leave massive craters. It causes immediate pain and is devastating. H Bomb makes the world hurt.
[Styly MPCee] We just did these three tracks back to back, with no thought of releasing them really. When Cappo came with the verses it came together. Then i added the scratches and stuff. We were both really happy with it. Now it exists and we hope people like it and get where we're coming from, from the core itself. If you play it loud enough your eyes will bleed. It's pretty intense, in a pain-encourager way. Can't wait to do a few shows with the new material....
We can't wait to see a few shows! The H-Bomb EP is out now on Son Records on classic 12" vinyl and download. Check the recently rewritten, redesigned and probably more updated Son Records website for news, online shops, samples, videos and the real shit...
If somehow you don't know about these two artists then check the ukhh archive links below for a trip to the old school and Spoons interview with Lost Island (Styly & Frisco) back in 2000 and a far more recent catch up with Cappo from 2007...
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Hamish McBeef
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