How are you doing, I Hear a party in the background,
I'm not dragging you away from anything am I?
No it's alright, I'm just chilling, we were just having
a relaxing one, watching a film, sitting back.
So you've been relegated to the kitchen have
you?
Yeah that's exactly what's happened. I'm in the kitchen.
I'm in someones kitchen right now that isn't my own, this much is true..
Alright, question number
One, what's in their fridge? What shouldn't be in there?
I'm checking, I'm looking right now, I can see Dog food,
butter and Chinese plum sauce.
And what can you cook with that?
Something really repulsive.
So I'll ask you a
couple of easy questions first of all. If your willing, what's your real
name? What's your real age, where were you born and what's your marital
status (that questions not for me,
it's obviously for all the adoring female fans. Promote and pimp your
yourself).
Duncan Beiny,
24, London town and very single! Available for groupies!
I asked the
users of the site if they had any questions for you, and the one question
that was really
asked was "Why do you call yourself Yoda?"
Ah, I really hate
the name Yoda actually. I really wish I hadn't have been stuck with that,
I'm not happy with it, but there's really not much I can do at this stage!
But it was because there was this toy, this huge kind of Yoda in my bedroom
when I was younger, so it just kind of got latched onto, it used to sit
next to my turntables all that time.
There's
a guy from my way called Scooby, who's using that name to DJ, and I found
out why he's called that because when Scooby Do used to come on TV he'd
go completely nuts running round and running into walls and stuff.
Wicked, that's not
so dissimilar to me man, when Star Wars comes on I still go nuts!
Being
that you've got a Star Wars name, I've got to ask the Star Wars questions;
Are you excited by the next film Attack Of The Clones?
It's weird you should
ask that today, 'cos I just saw the trailer today and it was like an extended
trailer, like a longer one. Nothing like the same excitement I had for
Episode One.
And
what did you think of that? I've got to ask that.
Episode One, there's
no way it was on the level of the old ones is there? It was still amazing.
It couldn't have failed to have been amazing, just because it had light
sabres and Jedi's and Yoda and stuff.
You
mentioned the Light Sabres, just as a quick aside You've got Quin John
(Is it?) who was Liam Neesom (Quay Gon) and you've got old Jedi McGregor,
and Liam Neesom gets his ass kicked by Darth Maul in the Desert, and then
Liam Neesom and Ewan McGregor have a fight with Darth Maul and again get
their asses kicked, then Liam Neesom dies and rather than getting angry
he suddenly just flips up and beats Darth Maul. so do you think Liam Neesom
was holding him back?
I think it was constructed
so that he would do that little flip out from the tunnel like Luke Skywalker
did.
I've
heard comparisons to Naseem Hamed coming into the ring.
Yeah, the thing is
with Episode One is, I think it was cool but I think a couple of things
that let it down. It had two major faults, which was that stupid Jah Jah
Binks.
I
thought he was a cross between a Yardie and a bloke from Wales because
he kept on going "Yeah Mon, Boyo" and everyone thought he looked
badly animated but he was meant to have a cool limp.
Yeah, It didn't seem
in the Star Wars tradition did it? But that was one of the things that
let it down, and then the other thing I thought was the music! I was really
looking forward to the music, and they just didn't use any of the kind
of familiar themes that they did in the other three, it was all new music
apart from the very start, the titles at the beginning.
So
what would you have done?
I would have just
had the same themes and stuff, the same music. Yeah you know like the
Imperial March and all that kind of thing. There was none of that, and
it kind of let it down a lot!
I
think 'cos Darth Vader wasn't in it they didn't do the Imperial March,
the had a hint of it with the Emporer, but if they did a different version
it wouldn't have worked so they did something different that didn't quite
work
Yeah, I think that's
what they needed though, they shouldn't have done something different.
People wanted more of the same, they should have done that. I think the
second one will be better though to tell you the truth.
That
Princess Amidala Decoy person, everyone new it from the start, it was
meant to be some sort of surpise.
It wasn't much of
a twist was it, and neither was that one of that guy being the Emporer.
They're all quite obvious aren't they? There was nothing like "I'm
your father Luke".
So
how long have you been Djing and how did you start?
I started nine years
ago. I kinda started like into hiphop and everything and I just nicked
my parents record player from the hi-fi and then I just started buying
records for that and then I was like messing around scratching on one
turntable that you can't really scratch on, and then I just right I should
get turntables I suppose and it just took of from there.
Listening
through headphones so they can't hear the swearwords and then pretending
you weren't really scratching when they come in "I was just changing
it mum". I've ruined hi-fi's
Yeah, though I've
hijacked the hi-fi past that point. The old hifi's grind. I've ruined
a whole bunch of Ice T records and Big Daddy Kane records doing that.
WOW
what was that?
Ignore the dogs, there
are dogs going mental in the background 'cos the doorbell was going?
I
was going to ask you; Spread Love, how did that come about?
Um, that started about
two and a half years ago now or something, and it was me and a friend
of mine called James Leibens who's just moved from Leicester down to London
and we were both really into hiphop. I'd left university at the time,
and I was like "you know what I'd been promoting at university and
we should have our own night!". We realised that there was no regular,
as in more than monthly, decent free hiphop jams in London, which is quite
surprising really when you think about how much hiphop there is in London.
There's no free thing you can go to every week or fortnightly.
So
'free' was the definitely main thing about it?
Yeah that was the
main thing, 'cos you get clubs like that, but it'll be about eight quid
to get in. So we started it up at the O Bar back then.
Did
you find they were keen to take on a night? You weren't charging an entry
fee, but did they think you could attract a crowd?
Well we just made
a convincing case, explained to them that theres nothing like this and
that there is a gap in the market for this kind of thing, and in the first
few of weeks they realised that we were right. I remember that one of
the first things we had was a launch party for that issue of fatlace and
a load of people came down, and actually I was reading Seven magazine
last week and there was an interview with Mark B, and they said to him
what's the best night out you've ever had and he mentioned that Spread
Love, one of the first spread loves we ever did, so that was fucking a
real result.
You
know I was really surprised that Spread Love was free. Why isn't it £10
to get in?
Well, I'll tell you
why, we started by pulling in a lot of favours, from people we've met
just through music, and now we've built up a name where people know that
it come in to London, especially from the states or whatever, that it's
going to be worth their while to do spread love for the first few for
no money or a little amount of money, 'cos the right people go down there,
and I'll say to artists that are coming in from the states "you'll
get all the journalist from the hiphop magazines at spread love, you'll
get all the people from the record labels at spread love, and you'll get
all the, basically, tastemakers in UK hiphop down there, and that's why
it's worth your while, it'll raise your profile". You know hiphop
connection often cover what's happened at spread love, and it seems to
work for everyone involved, and the bar are happy because we're filling
it out.
Well
they've got all the money from the entrance fee to splash on booze!
Exactly, so everyone's
a winner, and as long as everyone's happy to come down there it'll be
a success.
I've
checked
the website out, and to be honest there's a staggering list of names.
Not exactly necessarily commercially huge people, in some cases they are,
but you've got loads of names of artists like who you'd want to have on
a mixtape, who you'd want to have on your radio show!
Exactly, we'll the
music policy down at spread love has found it's niche now and what it
is is basically the more underground side of hiphop, the cheekier side
of hiphop, you know? a few breaks and stuff as well and so there's a certain
kind of artist we like to get down at spread love and we've built a certain
crowd up. I really think we've found our niche.
On
that note. As a DJ with a girlfriend, I've been told (by her) that if
I want to play out I need to "buy the records that people like",
and you know what that means. I always said that I wanted to do it for
me, as an alternative to that sort of music, I don't want to be Westwood
or Trevor Nelson, So what would you say to her?
Well your in an unfortunate
position with your tastes because, I don't know if it's deliberate or
not that your not feeling the stuff that's basically popular. You know,
sometimes it's deliberate, sometimes it's deliberate, people say to themselves
"I'm purposely not going to enjoy the music that everyone else enjoys.
I wanna have my own thing that noone else understands, but then there
are other people who genuinely don't like what's pop music. So it depends
on your reasons. So what I say is you'll basically be able to DJ playing
the stuff you love, but you've gotta make sure that what you love is what
everyone else loves as well.
My
take on the hiphop - pop music thing is that you've got to put a bit in
there to get it over, that's all well and good but I just don't want to
abandon it and run off in the other direction.
I don't really think
I'll have that problem ever, I mean, I really like Pop music, stuff that
even people who are into hiphop music might consider sell-out music.
Thanks!
That was actually a bit of a red herring question, 'cos I wanted to lead
it into this one for you. If you went out with a girl, the most stunning
woman on the planet! And she demanded that at your next show, that you
play at your next show, that you found to be personally dreadful, or inappropriate,
what would you say to her. Without hurting her feelings, 'cos this could
happen.
That's a very good
question. I would probably do what she wanted, because at the end of the
day, the two things that you said, what's your priority; your personal
life or your business? 'cos that's what it is to me Djing now it's just
work, it's like saying would you put your company before your family.
So I'd probably do what the girl said. I'm happy to, I think there's a
lot of problems with how a few people view sell outs, especially with
hiphop as opposed to other kinds of music, I think people get very het
up about it for no real reason. There'll always be an underground. For
me it just comes down to music. I like what I like, and if that's stuff
that's considered commercial then I'm not really bothered.
Moving
on from Spread Love, your involved in Spread love magazine. I won't ask
how that came about it's quite well documented. It's quite a popular magazine,
and it's quite praised by hiphop connection, but it's got a heavy element
of in-humour that quite a lot of people don't get. I think that people
find that frustrating at times.
I can understand that.
The thing with fat lace is that it's always been done as something, more
than anyone else, for the journalists. You see what I'm saying? A lot
of it's for self amusement, a bit like a lot of the music I make as well,
they're there to amuse myself first, and if other people get the joke
then that's great.
I
find that the comedy, at times, comes across as a bit Reeves and Mort.,
a bit something else, a bit Monty Python, a bit throw this in, but in
a very hiphop way. It's amusing, it's ok if you get the joke, but if someone
sits next to you and doesn't get it, it makes it all the funnier. You
feel a bit guilty at that point.
Exactly, humours always
funnier when you can get something specific. You can't really get much
more specific than English, Comedy and hiphop. It really does narrow out
most of the world immediately.
On
a side note, your taking my interviewing virginity. How does that make
you feel?
Dirty!
You've
got tapes out called Jewbonics, Jews Paid, Jews Paid II. So how did these
names come about. Obviously there's a play on words.
Yeah, well I'm Jewish
and it's a source of amusement to me. You don't get many proud Jews in
hiphop.
It's
just it could have been some joke comment where everyone loves to speculate
on what it is.
Nah, it's just that
I'm Jewish and it's amusing to me.
So
tell me a little bit about the progression from the tapes to the CD's,
'cos the tapes were in a few record shops and mail order, and the CD,
and the CD's are about 15 to the dozen in HMV.
Well, as far as from
the creative process it's been a completely natural progression, there's
been no point where I seem to have made a big jump. I made my first tapes
for myself, I made my second tape for my mates, I made my third tape and
did ten copies of it and sold them in Deal Real records in London. The
tape after that was 20 tapes, the tape after that 50, the tape after that
100, then 500, then a thousand, then two thousand, and now the CD. It
just kind of doubles each time. There's been no big jump from one thing
to another.
So
how would you describe your style. Your style of mixtape and your style
of Djing.
Well, from an outsiders
perspective I'd just say it's kind of scratching and hiphop with comedy.
That's it in a nutshell really, at the end of the day, for myself, I just
play the songs I like and mix them in in amusing way.
Personally
the way I've looked at the way you've done your tapes, and especially
your new CD, has been kind of an extension of the kid in English class
with the tape recorder, his parents record collection, and his own childrens
story collection just having fun.
Yeah totally. I have
as much fun making them, I probably have more fun making them than anyone
does listening to them. It's quite sad, I'm just there you know, in my
bedroom slashing up old records making myself out loud.
I've
done similar, you just find one really perverse sample and put it next
to a really clean one and just hear something wonderful and sit there
for three days replaying it.
Well the way I see
it, in a way I wished everyone in the world made the kind of music that
I make because it really does explain someone as a person to hear all
their influences mish-mashed together in a great big hotpot. You can just
totally tell what someone's like, I'd love to just meet someone, them
to play me a mix like the mix I did, and I'd just totally understand where
I'm coming from.
There
is one that you'll be able to get hold of in the next few months, DJ DogMolest
has a tape coming out. I'll try and get hold of a copy for you.
Yeah Yeah Definitely,
send one to me, I'll review it for Hip Hop connection
So
now from the CD, what are your next plans? 'cos obviously you've got the
CD in the shops. Your face in on the front isn't it? Who chose the photo?
Yeah Yeah, it's on
the stickers aswell. The photo? I think the record company did. It's funny
though. Since that there's been associated press and gigs come of that.
I've also just finished a new mixtape called 'Fisticuts' and that's for
spinemagazine.com, their bringing that tape out and it's like a mix of
the more obscure side of early 90's hiphop, just done in a sort of Yoda
style, so that's going to be next to come out, and I've started working
on How to cut and paste volume two, and that should be out by spring hopefully,
and following that will be Jews Paid 3D.
Who
are you planning to work with, I could probably ask you about any of the
guests you've had on at spreadlove, but basically who you dream to have
on one of your mixtapes? You can list as many people as you like on one
track or just one person.
Well, my favourite
artists at the moment, I mean these change regularly but at the moment,
I'd say Ugly Duckling, Paul Barnum, Quasimoto Their my three favourites,
or Jay-z, N.E.R.D. I'd love to work with N.E.R.D. I'd love to work with
N.E.R.D I think their fucking amazing. Have you heard of them? I'd love
to work with Q-Bert I guess, Babu.
So
you like the new Jay-Z album?
I love it! I think
that and N.E.R.D. have been the best albums this year.
Really?
I hate the Jay-Z album!
Really? Ah I see,
I mean I'd gone off him, the last couple of albums I wasn't into him,
but I think this album is genius, it's lyrically incredible, I just think
the beats are really soulful, it's a really musical album it's really
incredible.
He
did one song, the original version of Dead Presidents that got me onto
him, and I wanted to everything by him. Like when you first hear an artist,
like the first 2Pac album, where everyone went "I've got to get everything
by this guy", and then after the second one had been heard you were
king of like "I don't know". I've listened to Reasonable Doubt
and I like about half of it, the albums since then I've not really enjoyed
at all, and with this one everyone really comes out with that "You
don't like him, you hate that sort of stuff, blah blah blah" and
I went to HMV and I put the headphones on and I wanted to enjoy it, and
I was disappointed!
That's understandable,
well for me it's the best album he's done. It was immediate thing as well
though. I heard it and thought "this is genius" and I don't
know why.
Alright,
fairs fair. What made you include the Delta Ebonics airline sketch from
the interview on your mixtape?
Obviously I had that
on Jews Paid II before, and it got a really good response, so many people
that heard that tape said to me "Oh I love that Delta Ebonics bit"
it was the bit that everyone talked about, it was a bit of a talking point,
and then the record company said to me "We you know what, we can
get this to go on the CD, and we might as well, people like that and obviously
theres a whole bunch of people that will hear cut and paste who never
heard Jews Paid II" So I thought cool let's have it on there.
You
know what? Having it on there, I don't think anyone would complain about
having it on there. If you were a stand-up comedian your going to tell
a couple of jokes at your shows that you told on your last tour!
Exactly, and what
I do is so comparable to stand up comedy. I mean there are some real obvious
connections there.
So
who did the front cover? And your very Smash Hits adverts in HHC.
Yeah, it was all designed
by Barry B who's the guy who designs Fat Lace magazine, who designed all
the Jew's Paid Covers, who does the flyers for Spread love.
So
why haven't you had a HHC cover CD? Given that they've had Adam F with
3 songs on there.
I have, it was last
months one.
But
that was a Promo, what I'm saying is why can't you have a whole CD, can't
they give you a commission?
I don't see what you
mean? Why wasn't the one I've done a whole CD?
Well
the one you've done was before for your CD, has HHC not commissioned you
to do a special one?
Oh, it doesn't work
like that? The HHC, the CD's are to promote an album, everyone single
one of them, or a label.
I
was just thinking that it would be nice if they'd given you a month and
said go away and do something.
Yeah unfortunately,
the whole way that's funded, that whole CD thing, is because the record
label will pay to get the CD done.
Well,
we'll put that question down to my naivety or idealism of the process.
Yeah, fortunately
there's more business behind it.
So
do you have a scratch named after yourself?
No I don't, I'm not
a technically prolific scratcher. I don't think I've done anything innovative
within just scratching by itself.
Do
you have a really cool name for a scratch you haven't invented yet?
I probably could come
up with one if you gave me some time, The Cream Cheese Scratch perhaps?
I
just the love the names of these crews; The Invisible, The Bulletproof,
you just need one!
The Cream cheese Scratch!
Yeah
I don't think anyones got that one. So on the strange name thing, given
the fact that your DJ Yoda, what would you name your kids if and when
you have them.
Moomin, no Luke. I've
always liked the name Luke for a boy
So
there's no names like Moon Unit, or Whisper and Rumor? Artistic flair
and all that.
Nah, I've always liked
the name Luke.
So
who do you compare yourself to musically and non-musically?
Musically I think
the most comparable comparable artists are The Avalanches for 'frontier
Psychiatrist' it's very similar to the kind of thing I'm doing. Kid Koala
is very similar in that he finds all the finds all the vocal samples and
pastes them together, and from a more oldskool perspective I guess Double-D
and Stein-Ski for 'The Lessons', Coldcut, these sort of people that cut
and pasted before me.
Someone
I've always had in mind for the comedy elements have been Parlour Talk
and people like them.
Oh yeah, definitely.
Oh Aspects, me and aspects have influenced each other right from the moment
we met each other, so definitely!
That's
healthy incestuous interchange there.
Yeah Yeah, I caught
onto Aspects really early, I just thought they were genius the first time
I heard them, they came and did a freestyle for Jews Paid. Down to London,
we'd only done Spreadlove a couple of times. I'm going to DJ with them
next week, there's always been a strong Yoda Bristol connection.
I'm
from the Area actually, about 20 miles from there, South-ish.
I know Wiltshire quite
well, my last girlfriend was from there so I spent quite a lot of time
there.
So
your travelling round the country then, or is it just a few places? Do
you travel much around the UK?
Yeah totally. I mean
todays Friday, Wedensday night I played Leeds, last night I played Cargo
in Old Street, tomorrow night I'm playing a bar in Kings Cross, next week
it's Bristol, Brighton…
Is
this as well as a full time job?
Yeah, pretty hardcore
eh?
So
I'm going to ask the Corny cliché journalistic cliché for
any DJ, where is your favourite place to buy records? It's doesn't have
to be a specific one, you don't have to give away trade secrets, but...?
No, I'm not particularly
bothered about that, I don't really have any secrets in that department.
The only thing is, I wouldn's say there's one place like, I don't really
have a regular record shop that I go to. To tell you the truth I don't
buy much new stuff really 'cos a lot of it gets sent to me these days.
So the stuff that I enjoy buying when I do record shop these days is the
Old irrelevant stuff and for me that's all the kids records and the spoken
word records, and you can't go to the same spots every week to pick them
up, so what I tend to do is whenever I'm somewhere different I'll check
out the local crusty vinyl place, and that's a real shop!
I'm
into blind buying at the moment, I have been for a while. Basically going
into the shop, taking in about three quid 'cos you get about 10 records
for that, and saying "That one looks good", "The cover
on that one's a bit strange", "That one's got a trombone and
it's a midget on the front". You get some really crap stuff like
that, but…
Yeah, If I had to
say one record shop I'd have to say Mr. Bongo's, that's the place I've
kind of been to for the longest.
How
do you feel about Deal Real closing?
It's a shame man!
It was kind of an Institution wasn't it? And especially since I sold my
first mixtapes in there, but I think the gaps been filled by Mr. Bongos
and Wild Pitch and Major Flavour. There's no shortage of hiphop record
shops in London.
Right
then, Is there any lyric that springs to mind, a favour lyric or beat
that you'd name in your top 5.
I can easily name
you a few tunes. '93 'til infinity - Souls Of Mischief, probably Smooth
Operator - Big Daddy Kane, maybe HipHop Junkie - Nice and Smooth. I dunno
man, I could keep on forever listing my favourite songs.
The
songs you've just mentioned there are a more laid back one, an up-front
one and a fun one, Which is a pretty good spread. I've heard people list
off a selection of tunes, and you think they are pretty much the same
tune.
I'd say, within hiphop
at least, that my tastes are quite eclectic. I really like a lot of stuff
that a lot of other hiphop fans don't really get into. Serious Gangster
rap and that kind of stuff.
Ok,
I've got a question for you now. One I've robbed off of a popular magazine.
Who would play you in a movie of your life?
Who would play me
in the movie of my life… ummmm
Woman
or man? Or Animal…..
Can I pick Frank Oz
who does the voice of Yoda?
Yeah,
speaking of voices, I was listening to TV the other day and I was watching
Captain Caveman. Captain Caveman is voiced from Tweakie from Buck Rogers,
and Captain Caveman has the worlds dirtiest laugh!
Wow, what a connection
that is, that is really quite something.
Can
you do any impressions?
Let's see, Do you
know who Blink 182 are?
What
happens if I say yes?
I do an impression
of them.
Ok,
I do then.
"Hi we're from
Blink 182"
Do
you know what that sounded like? That's like one of those 0898 numbers
on late night TV where they have all these pictures of people pumping
Iron and calling on telephones and stuff. So what secret is there on you,
that I'm allowed to know right now, for the website?
There are none, there
are none I'm afraid! I keep no secrets from anyone!
Apart
from voicing over the 0898 numbers. So are there any secrets about Dj
Greenpeace that noone knows?
He can't scratch,
but that's not a secret!
Ok
then, so what do you think of the current state of UK hiphop!
It's good man, it
seems really healthy at the moment doesn't it! Doing well, there are lots
of big acts. A lot of really good talented acts. It seems that the stuff
that's doing well commercially is also kind of talented people, so I don't
think we've got much to complain about!
You've
had Mark B and Blade doing well in the charts
Yeah, and Roots Manuva
And
Phi Life Cipher, their going to be on the Gorillas single, or they are
on the Gorillaz single?
Yeah, they are on
that, so I think it's in a healthy state.
And
Skinnyman's just signed to Talking Loud or Def Jam.
Yeah that's right,
that's a result aswell.
I'd
be quite interested to hear what he says while he's doing that that. So
where do you think it's going to end up? UK Hiphop, will it be a chart
topping success?
Well, I think it's,
in all honesty I don't think it's ever going to get any more popular that
it is now, I think it's probably about it's peak right. There's only so
far it can be taken, and theres only so far hiphop can infiltrate the
media. At the moments It's more popular and commercial than it even has
been, and so in turn UK hiphop is more popular and commercial than it
ever has been. So who's to say man? It's never going to be Saturday night
ITV stuff is it? So For the moment I think it's fine.
ITV
stuff, On Stars in their Eyes now Barry from Swansea is gonna do his impersonation
of Mongo from Mud Family.
ITV the Gypo channel
It's
not going to happen is it?
I
only have one question for you now, you can talk as much as you like after
that!. What personal talents do you think you could bring to the A-Team?
Well, there's no-one
in the A-Team to my knowledge with the ability to scratch so far, so that
would probably be quite a bonus if they need to throw some sort of impromptu
hiphop jam.
I
could actually quite see that happening
In some sort of garage
with blow torches.
And
who would be the MC?
B.A. Man! He's got
the Gold Chain.
Yeah,
he's a kind of Freddie Foxxx character, but who would Murdoch be?
He would be the breaker!
Oh
god, I can actually almost imagine his arms leaving the sockets of his
shoulders as he spins around!
And Face would be
spraying Graffiti!
That's
all the questions I have for you. Is there anything you'd like to say
to the people reading the article or any extravagant promotion or self
promotion?
No I don't think it's
really necessary man, I think that the people who are feeling the tapes
have kind of stuck with it, and the people who are feeling my stuff will
continue to buy my the stuff that I put out as long as it's the same thing,
so it's all good. I don't really have any extravagant self promotion for
you.
Thanks
for chatting to us, and good luck with the CD.
If you
haven't heard any of Yoda's material, then I suggest you
check it out, there's music enough for most tastes and lashings of
creative flair and a solid slab of sonic-form british humour.
His latest release; How to Cut and Paste Vol.
1 is available pretty much everywhere (even HMV had it stacked!), and
don't forget to support Yoda by visiting Spread-Love.com
and Fat-lace.com
DJ
Yoda Interview (Well, rambling chat anyway)
