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 DJ
Excalibah
Interview
interview 0215 added
24.06.04 words: Nikesh technical:
QED
DJ Excalibah - Read My Mind
He’s young and he’s beautiful apparently.
He’s a charming radio presenter and
has a good ear for the UK underground’s brightest hopes. He’s a mixtape man and
hours after this interview, he will read my mind, play tricks on me using ESP
and generally embarrass me in front of my friends for being open to suggestion.
DJ Excalibah: 1Xtra’s young and bright hope for the UK scene, in terms of
getting airplay and exposure. From his carefully formatted show to his on-point
selections and theatrical background, he has many strings to his bow. During
rehearsals for our 10 Poet Jam gig, I got Ex on MD giving us his thoughts on the
scene.
So, ok, please introduce yourself.
 I’m DJ Excalibah, Tales from the Legend. 1Xtra and various other fingers in
various other pies.
You’ve been working at 1Xtra for 2-3 years now, how has the show progressed
from when it started to where it is now?
When it started, it was really shit. Now it’s really good. Because I was on
pirate before, I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted. And when I started on
1Xtra, some regulations came in. I couldn’t say, "You know this MC, he’s a
racist bastard isn’t he?" So, I had to tone everything down and I kinda lost my
personality. I was just presenting. Now, the personality is back. Best radio
show in Undercover along with P and Skitz, which was cool. You need to do a
poll. Have you done a poll recently?
Not for a couple of years. What? Just so you can see what people are saying
about you?
Yeah. I need to know what ukhh.com saying.
Just sign up on the forums under a bullshit name and start talking about how
good you are. Now, you’ve got your format sorted, what do you think the public
perception of 1Xtra is?
If I judge from being within 1Xtra, I know it’s being very well received. If I
judge from outside, then I know it’s still got a little bit of a journey to
travel before it’s hitting MTV Base. It’s strong, we get calls and emails from
all over the world. People from New York saying, "Yo, I didn’t know you UK cats
could rap like that. I put everyone on the block on to you," which is cool. I’m
happy. I’ve got my job. I’m doing what I wanted to do. I’m making money off
hip-hop and all I can try and do now is bring other people through in terms of
exposure or whatever.
What other projects are you involved in at the moment?
 I’m working on 10 Poet Jam, with this guy called Nikesh Shukla. It’s just me and
him! No, it’s 10 poets and I’m the musical director. I’ve been at this theatre
since I was young. Theatre Royal Stratford East, through youth theatre. Lots of
acting, acting, acting, acting, then got into rapping, stopped rapping, put on
variety nights here, then they asked me to do a musical director’s course. And
then, I did "Da Boyz" last year, hit musical, blah blah blah. And now, the
second 10 Poet Jam.
Tell me about "Da Boyz", cos at the time, it was hailed as the first of its
kind, a UK hip-hop theatre show…
Yeah… I mean, the idea behind it…
Were you involved in writing it?
Yeah, there was three of us. A guy called Ultz, who was an opera designer by
trade, He’s also a director. He had the vision, he designed it and directed it.
He decided he wanted to eliminate all the script… cos it was an adaptation of
"The Boys from Syracuse" written by Rogers and Hart, written in the 30’s. Their
estate hasn’t let anyone adapt any of their work in 100 years or something. And
because it was 200 years since one of their births, and it was the second
centenary, they decided to open it up and make their musicals fresher. So it was
perfect timing. When they got me and Skolla (Dirty Diggers) involved, he handled
most of the lyrics and I did some of them.
"...I
want to hear what makes people people. If I listen to someone’s album, I want to
feel like I just went out on a date with them..."
I won’t tell you which ones, cos
everyone will go, "Yeah, that was the shit one." But it was cool, we had to try
and remove as much dialogue as we could and make it like a concert, which we
achieved. We took out all the seats, overspent on the budget by bringing in
lighting and sound rigs, lighting and sound engineers from clubs as opposed to
theatre designers, big video screens on the walls and then, the one thing that
was needed to cement it for UKHH fans was the rappers… We brought in Blak Twang
and Rodney P as guests, Mystro and Kyza playing twins, which was quite cool. If
you dress them up alike and stick a skull cap on them, they do look exactly
alike.
As well as Stallion Solo, featured in 10 Poet Jam…
Yeah, Stallion Solo, who I’ve known since I was 13. He was in the youth theatre
as well. He’s got his own production company. DRD. This theatre, if you can get
a foot in, they really help you up the ladder and give you a big push.
So, you’re working for Stratford East and for 1Xtra, and you’ve just had the
"Ex Files" mixtape just come out. Tell me about the "Ex Files".
Basically, I’m fed up of American mixtapes, by people who can’t mix. People who
think that shouting between the songs is good enough for a mix. "Did you like
that mix? What word did I say? Yo holla!!" Yeah, that’s a nice mix. Err, no,
it’s not. It’s shit, it’s shouting. I wanted to do what Kayslay and Clue do but
in my style. If you listen to it, it sounds like my radio show. 100% UK, guys on
there you might not have heard of. It’s like an extension of… did you get the
mix I did for Hip Hop Connection? Well that was a BBC project. This is my baby.
I had complete control over this. I could do what I wanted to do.
How did you get everyone to do the vocals? Did you record them as they came
on the shows?
 For the dubstates? Basically, every week on the show, we have UK artists over an
American beat. I just went through them and thought, well, the Rodney P one was
amazing, Klashnekoff one is amazing…
You actually used the live ones from the show?
Yeah, they were the ones from the show. Not everyone is going to hear the show
but I still want them to know what’s going on. That’s a big feature of the show.
And there’s a guy out there called Street Visions, who said he’s going to call
his next album "UK Dubstates"… no, you’re not. UK Dubstates is a feature on the
show. Believe me, I spent months trying to come up with that title. I wanted to
include America and I wanted to include the UK, and dubplates… so it finally
came to me: UK Dubstates. And now he thinks he’s going to take it. He says he’s
going to rap over loads of American beats and then call it UK Dubstates. No, no…
Wha’s next for you, after "Ex Files"? You got more mixtapes in the bag?
It’s going to be a series. I’m going to try and do one or two a year. DAT Sound
are hopefully going to do a tour at the end of the year. DAT Sound just signed a
big name to the label, a big DJ… Skully. So, it’ll have Skully on the tour, me
on the tour, Shameless and TB, who’s up and coming and has some 1Xtra love.
That’s September, and "Ex Files Doc 2" should be dropping around then. I’m
writing a new musical with Skolla, well, doing the music for it. Hopefully, next
year, 10 Poet Jam will be a full show, a full month run…
Let’s hope eh?
Yeah, let’s hope… for the bank account.
What do you think will push UK hip-hop upwards and outwards?
The main problem with UK hip-hop is that the fans are dwindling. Not because
they’re going away from hip-hop but because they’re getting more and more
involved in hip-hop. So, every single fan is a rapper or a DJ or a producer, so
you go to clubs and everyone is criticising everything. Everyone is involved in
the scene, which is good for the scene as it’s vibrant and it’s constantly
changing and evolving but it also means that there’s no one to buy the records,
except DJs. There’s a lot of good things happening. I'm a good thing happening.
P and Skitz are a good thing happening. 1Xtra is a good thing happening. Disorda
with Boombox is a good thing happening. They're distributing my stuff and
they've got it into HMV, which is a good thing.
"...My
ethics and morals: Well I’m not religious or spiritual. I believe in matter and
non-matter. If it isn’t one of those two, it probably doesn’t exist..."
People like Ty and Jehst are
filling out the Jazz Café three nights in a row. It's big. Jehst isn't working
or studying anymore, same with Braintax, same with Tommy Evans. Everyone is
getting on a level where hip-hop can look after their life in some way. Even if
they have to open up a pressing firm, like Braintax. But it's all music, it’s
all industry. It’s not stacking shelves. Also, musically, I think things are
changing with Dizzee Rascal and Wiley. Drum and bass has had a huge impact on
music in this country. Like the big sub bass, which Ty is using right now. Ty's
album for me was incredible, really musical. My mum has nicked that off me and
listens to it constantly on her way to work every day. It’s a musical album. I
think, people need to say that "Yeah, 1994 was a good year for music in America.
But let's try something different and break some boundaries."
A lot of artists I know complain that people are making lots of Premo-sounding
beats with straight battle lyrics over the top...
Also it’s getting to stage now where a lot of people are coming out now sounding
like Jehst, like Rodney P or like Blak Twang and there's no originality.
You produced as well. Are you hoping to get more of your own productions on
the Ex Files in the future?
 The idea originally was to do a couple of ordinary Ex Files CDs with me
producing a couple of tracks and then do one with me producing four or five
tracks. Then take the three best tracks off that and put them on a twelve inch,
along with one other produced by someone else.
How long have you been producing for?
For longer than I've been doing anything else other than rapping. Maybe, 8
years. I started off on the computer. My first set-up was two Gemini Soundlab
deck, belt-driven and a Gemini mixer. That was pretty much it. Four records that
I used to mix all day along, well, except that I couldn't mix. I never really
intended to be a DJ. I never even meant to be a DJ. I used want to be a vet, or
an actor but I never once said I wanted to be a DJ. It was a hobby that turned
into a job, which I guess is a good thing.
Do you still do a lot of acting?
I don't do any acting at all. I don’t even think I can remember how to act. I
did a film with Armando Ianucci, Ewan MacGregor and Ray Winstone when I was 16
and that funded me getting turntables. That was "Tube Tales", ten funny stories
about the tube. To be honest, I found the whole film thing completely boring.
You sit around doing nothing all day. At least with DJing, when you get up to
start working, you're doing it.
What artists you feeling in the UK at the moment?
I really enjoy UK hip-hop in general. At the moment, Ty, Klashnekoff, although I
think the album was a bit of a throwaway. I would have liked to have heard more
new stuff, as opposed to the 12"s.
"...I
don’t want to burn out. I got my chance really young. In 5 years time, I could
be stacking shelves in Woolworths..."
I dunno, I thought that was a good business decision, for him and Yungun to
give the CD buying audience, who aren't record geeks, a chance to hear their
material.
But Yungun kept me happy because even though I have all the 12s on there, he had
remixes and different versions and new tracks and skits. It does make sense. It
would be good to see people put out stuff on CD singles, but it is so expensive.
It does open it up to a whole new market.
And that market is waiting for it. I get so many emails from people who can't
find things I play and I say, you’re not going to find it unless you have a
turntable. You won't find it in Woolworths or HMV because it isn’t on CD single,
or they don’t have proper distribution.
So, yeah, Yungun is incredible right now. Jehst. Skorzayzee, Foreign Beggars,
Salvo, Sam Sure, Broke n English, Cappo, Dirty Diggers, even though they're my
crew. I love my crew. TB. I think hip-hop is a really local type of music. It
doesn't mean you have to be from there. It just means that you have to
understand that music really carries the place where that person is from, it’s
so personal like that. It’s like Eski beats and Grime. If everyone started doing
their own version of it, that would be interesting and scary...
But it'll always have its origins in East London...
Yeah. Kids really love that stuff. Grime, garage, Dizzee, Wiley, Crazy Titch,
Nasty Crew, people I don’t even know of, unless I'm listening to 1Xtra or
checking Channel U. I don’t get why kids don’t love UK hip-hop. They'll love
Klashnekoff but they won’t listen to Ty or Jehst. They love hard-edged street
shit.
Which label do you think is consistently putting out the best UK music?
 Consistently, it has to be Low Life. And they know that. They know they’re on
top of their game over here. Zebra Traffic is following up. Big Dada has that
Big Dada sound.
What was it about hip-hop that first drew you to it?
I dunno. I got into hip-hop so late. I didn't even know that it existed. I was a
big Michael Jackson fan and I wasn't listening to anything else but him until
about 1995-6 and then, I started moving with new friends. They were big into
hip-hop and I couldn’t even understand what they were saying. And that was
Fugees! They got me into Fugees, then Biggie's "Life After Death" and Foxy's
"Ill Na Na" were the first hip-hop CDs I ever had. The older I got, my politics
and morals changed and so did my tastes.
What are they?
I’m very left-wing and so, I don’t agree with big businesses or multi-nationals.
This theatre (Stratford East) is very left-wing, which is why I’ve always
enjoyed coming here. My ethics and morals: well I’m not religious or spiritual.
I believe in matter and non-matter. If it isn’t one of those two, it probably
doesn’t exist. I don’t want to offend anyone though. "Don’t take my god away!" I
don’t even think it’s a leftie attitude, it’s about me thinking that I
understand what life is about. Having an idea that life isn’t really about
anything. It’s about the timeframe you’re given and therefore be the best person
you possibly can.
What kind of rappers do you go for?
For me, hip-hop has always been, poetry with beats. Whether it’s really crass
poetry or really outstanding, that's all it’s ever been. I just want to hear
people. I want to hear what makes people people. If I listen to someone's album,
I want to feel like I just went out on a date with them. Sometimes people send
me demos and I think, that’s not you. I can tell by the way you’re talking, stop
it. That’s why Nas' first album was so good, compared to Nas' fourth album or
whatever. Because he changed and lost who he was. Recently, he's remembered and
gone back to what he was doing. I really enjoy Jay-Z's music, even though he
needs to stop this whole retirement scam. I like Kanye West, as a producer,
although he needs to stop saying he put the soul back in hip-hop, because it
never went. Ask People Under the Stairs, ask Pete Rock, ask Premo. They’ll say,
"Look, this is the last record I sampled. It’s Martha Williams."
Check out Madlib...
Exactly... Kanye might have made it commercial, but even Puff was sampling soul.
I remember reading somewhere, that he was playing a gig and the crowd were
booing his arrogance or something and he said, "Why are you booing me? I saved
hip-hop."
Well, hip-hop is a braggadocios art form. Each to their own, as long as they get
brought back down to reality. I know that I’m not the best DJ but I listen to
people like Skully or Shortee Blitz and I appreciate they’re much better DJs
than me. Kanye has every right to be arrogant. He was unsigned, two years later
he’s top of the Rocafella tree. Three hits in American top 20... I'd be showing
off.
"...The
main problem with UK hip-hop is that the fans are dwindling. Not because they’re
going away from hip-hop but because they’re getting more and more involved in
hip-hop..."
Okay, from one soul survivor to another, what do you think of "Soul Survivor
2."
I think it’s good, for 1994. The one with Dead Prez is amazing and fresh and
new. It really stands out. The rest of it is Pete Rock. And you kinda skip
through going, "I know what the Pete Rock sound is like, but I wanna hear this
or that verse." There’s some good stuff on there. I’ve been playing it for a
while. It’s not as good as "Soul Survivor 1".
From "Soul Survivor 2", to "Survivor", have you ever dissed someone on the
internet, and did your mama teach you better than that?
There were some guys in America trying to sue me over some shit that happened on
the internet. It’s kinda sad but it’s slowly seeping out that I’m a bit of a
nerd and I’m into mentalism, like Derren Brown, psuedo mind-reading bullshit. So
I was swapping documents with all the secrets in. and the guys who wrote the
files originally asked why I was trading them. And my mama? What did she have to
say about it? She said, it serves you right.
Is that a true story?
It is a true story. I'll show you how sad I am. (Shows me ESP cards in his
filofax.)
From dissing people on the internet, to girls on the internet fancying you...
Big up Carmel. Although, there is a recent thread on ukhh.com saying she looks
like Cheryl Baker. Now, I don’t know what you look like Carmel. I tried to
access the video link but I couldn’t open it...
Geez, you are a geek...
I read stuff. It’s good to know what people are saying. I normally do a search
on my name to see if anyone's slagged me off, so I can argue with them. Only
joking. I’m a non-confrontational guy, I like chilling out and listening to
music and I’m not that exciting. I’m just a normal bod who sits at home trading
mind-reading secrets on the internet. That’s life.
What do you hope to have achieved in 5 years time?
I hope to have retired, like Jay-Z, after marrying Carmel or Cheryl Baker. I
dunno. I don’t want to burn out. I got my chance real young. In 5 years time, I
could be stacking shelves in Woolworths.
 Loads more Ex Files, loads more shows, keep building on what I’ve achieved so
far. I would like to do a production album. In 5 years that could be a reality.
What one record would you drop to get a crowd hyped-up?
I’d drop "Live at the Barbeque." Can I say something else? DJ's: get on the mic.
It’s supposed to be a party there. So many DJ’s just stand there and mix. You
got 500-600 people standing there staring at you. Get on the mic, say hello or
something. Give a wave or a thumbs up. I just joke around now, live. I went
through a stage where I hated crowds but it was my fault because I wasn't
interacting with them and playing the wrong records or something.
Okay, any last shout-outs and shameless plugs:
Shameless plugs: big up Shameless. Go buy the EP. Big up DAT Sound, go buy my
shit that’s on there. Big up Nikesh for the review I haven't read yet. Or don’t
big him up yet. No, big up Nikesh and ukhh.com. Big up 1Xtra, Tales from the
Legend show every Thursday from 10pm.
www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra. Big up my family, big
up my peeps, Skolla, Max, Dirty Diggers, big up everyone in 10 Poet Jam. Thanks.
A man with many talents, and a pretty face too... or so I’ve been told. As
Excalibah's repertoire and status grows in the scene, it’s time we all switched
on 1Xtra and show him some of the love he’s showing for this scene right now.
Respect...
-
Nikesh Shukla
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