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  Excalibah: The Legend Lives On Interview
interview 0321 added 11.07.05 words: Nikesh
technical:
QED
In June 2005, DJ
Excalibah’s hugely popular Tales from the Legend show
on 1Xtra, a standard place for hearing new and exciting UK
hip-hop signed and unsigned as well as the best underground
hip-hop from all over, was taken off the programming schedule
for 1Xtra. This resulted in huge outcry from the 1Xtra listeners
and complete surprise and cynicism from those working in and
making UK hip-hop. For, Excalibah’s show has been where you hear
Klash’s new record, interviews with Doc Brown and Evil Ed or
whoever as well as the ubiquitous UK Dubstate. It’s been the one
mainstream output for this small scene of ours. It comes as a
shock, especially seeing as UK hip-hop had had an excellent year
last year with heavyweight and critically acclaimed releases
from Ty, Skinnyman, Yungun, Rodney P and Roots Manuva. It seemed
the music was finally getting the column inches it had lacked
for so long, and this year it was building on last year’s
amazing progress.
I met with Excalibah in the Poet pub in Shoreditch to get drunk
and get the Ex-clusive truth on this Ex-tremely unpopular
decision to axe Tales from the Legend. Armed with mounds of
internet speculation, I wanted to know, was he pushed? Did he
leave? Was he about to usurp Big Tim Westwood? Was he finally
taking that job in Freemans catalogue? The truth is out there.
Please introduce yourself and tell us
the best freebie you’ve blagged from 1Xtra.
 I am DJ Excalibah. I am Tales from the Legend. It used to be a
radio show on BBC 1Xtra. As of 1st August, that will no longer
be the case. I’m the pinnacle of UK hip-hop representation. I’m
the guy that makes sure it gets out across the world. That’s
always been my task… from when I was on pirate to now. That’s my
aim and that’s me. Ex-Files, UK Dubstate mixtape, DAT Sound
family, Da Boyz and various other projects. But this interview
is mainly about the radio show and what happens now that the
show no longer is… Best freebie I ever blagged from 1Xtra was a
DAB radio, but now I got no real reason to check it.
So you won’t be listening to 1Xtra
anymore?
I thought that for a while. When I was first given the news that
they no longer wanted me around, I thought, should I listen? And
I didn’t for about three weeks and I still don’t. So I guess,
yeah is the answer. Before, there was only certain shows I
liked…
Well, the whole point of your show is
to play stuff you like…
I check P and Skitz’s show, Sem’s show, Seani B and Ace and
Invisible’s show… there are shows I like on there and I will
check them in the future for my dose of hip-hop. I wanna see the
direction they’re going in now anyway.
"...I’m not dead..."
Before we get into the how’s and the
why’s, I wanna ask how you plan to stay at the cutting edge of
UK hip-hop in the future.
The whole time I was at 1xtra and previous to that, I was always
at the forefront of pushing UK hip-hop. That’s why I was signed
by 1Xtra in the first place. Because I was the man to do the
job. I’m still the man to do the job, and I plan to continue
doing the job. I just need to explore different avenues to do
it. There’re various avenues and radio isn’t the only medium to
get your message across. There are mixtapes, there’re magazines,
there’s the internet, there’s television. There are so many
different things going on. And, of course there’s radio! Of
course, my passion is radio. And that’s something I’ll strive to
continue to bring to people.
Last time we chatted on tape was when
we were doing the 10 Poet Jam last year at Stratford East, and
you were talking about how happy you were at the way the radio
show was developing. Almost a year to the week later, it’s been
taken off the air. What happened?
 I don’t know. I’ve been given so many contradictory reasons as
to why the decision was made. Ultimately, it is one man’s
decision. I’m sure it has been discussed but ultimately, it
comes down to the head of 1Xtra’s programming. It’s his decision
and it’s a final decision so far as I’m aware. I’ve heard so
many different reasons from different people. From him, I got
told that the scene I was supporting was too small to warrant an
entire 2 hour programme and that the show hadn’t developed the
way he wanted it to develop. I can’t argue against the latter
because if he’s got an agenda and I’m not following that agenda,
it’s his job to sort that out. If the way he sees it is to say,
we’re going to get rid of you and spread what you do amongst
these other shows, then I can’t argue against that. But I’m here
for the long run and I’m going to keep doing what needs to be
done.
Do you think that your show can be
replicated amongst other shows fairly? Especially when you
are/were the beacon for unsigned acts to send their stuff to for
feedback and radio plays…
I have no idea. I don’t think what I do can be replicated
because there’s no one doing what I do already, insofar as
getting people unheard of and getting them played next to a
Kanye West track or whoever. I think that you can at best do a
little feature and that’s what’ll happen. They’ll probably have
a bit where you send your demos in and they play them back to
back every week. That’s cool but it’s not the same as saying
that these tracks are good regardless of whether they’re demos
or not. These guys are making hip-hop I believe is as good as
signed acts. It’s just Group A doesn’t have the money to polish
and produce it like the rest do. Keep sending your shit to me
I’ll keep doing what I do with it. I’ll put it on mixtapes, I’ll
take it to companies who I think should be pushing it in the
same way I help push TB or Willow or Dirty Diggers. To the point
where I push Sway and put him on the first mixtape and get him
played on Radio 1.
"...When
I make music, I hear the MC’s I want over them so I try and get
in contact with those people and get them on the track..."
Do you think that the growth and
popularity in grime had anything to do with the station’s
decision to sideline the type of music you play?
Quite possibly. I can’t speak for them and I can not be 100%
sure that the reasons they’ve given me are correct but I slowly
embraced select pieces of grime that I thought were worth
including cos they were so close to the music we’re making and
enjoying. People like Kano, Swiss, Sway with the whole crossing
of boundaries he does. By encompassing that on the show and
saying, yeah hip-hop is a broad umbrella and below that, you
have all these sub-groups. Grime is one of those sub-groups.
Independent hip-hop is also one. But independent hip-hop isn’t a
sound. It’s a way of making and distributing your music. I try
to encompass the ones I thought were underground, groundbreaking
and fresh. If that included parts of grime, then I should have
been accepted for that. A lot of people didn’t agree with me
when I made the decision to do that. One of the things said to
me by the 1Xtra management was that they weren’t sure me
encompassing those things was good. By me being playing Kano for
example, I only piss off the UK hip-hop heads and the grime
heads. I don’t believe that at all. I think I open eyes and ears
for both audiences.
Enough of the past now, let’s talk
about the future. What’s next for you?
 I’ll be playing at Blackpool Pleasure Beach twice weekly, the
local pool halls… the bingo and tombola… nah, I’m going to
continue rocking the jams of course. There’s musicals to be
written, there’s mixtapes to be put out. There’s radio to do.
That’s one of my biggest passions. Somehow, Tales from the
Legend will continue on the air. Whether that means I do a two
hour mix every week and put it online or it means I’m on 1Xtra
doing a mix on Semtex’s show… from one end of the scale to the
other, I will get on the radio and people will be able to hear
Tales from the Legend. I’m hoping people are also able to see
Live from the Legend, which is a project in development right
now with various television people and it’s an expose of the
music we love in a visual form, in an attempt to broaden the
audience. It’s all about younger people and older people buying
the music. The music is so vast, from what you’re doing with
spoken word to what Plan B’s doing with his guitar…
He nicked my schtick man!! (I point at my guitar case)
Oh, I always thought that was a case for your paperwork. Yeah,
there’re live bands. It’s so vast and I want to show it to the
world. That’s what I enjoy doing.
What about the production?
Production-wise, I’m doing production on Shameless’ second EP,
“Smokers Die Younger,” which is out on October 1st. I’m also
doing production for MC Trip, who is Killa Kela’s MC. Got a
wicked track at the moment, “Ringside.” Doing it for the usual
fam I’ve been doing it for… The Colony, Diagnostix and a remix
for Mentat of an MCD track. The production is something I’ve
always done, from way before I starting rapping… in my bedroom
when I was 15 years old on my computer. Now I got an MPC, the
beats are there and the people I’m playing them too are feeling
them. Dom G’s taken a couple, Plan B’s taken some, Willow’s
taken some. It’s all people I know and respect as friends at the
moment. Beyond that, I wanna get an album together, which is me
with people who I think are incredible, taking UK hip-hop in a
broader direction to a wider audience.
"...I’ll
be playing at Blackpool Pleasure Beach twice weekly, the local
pool halls… the bingo and tombola..."
People like Kano, Sway, Swiss as well as people like Diggerz,
Plan B, Diagnostix, Shameless, Humarak D Gritty – who I’m really
loving right now, I want to hear him with TB. When I make music,
I hear the MC’s I want over them so I get in contact with those
people and get them on the track. A couple of labels have said
that if there was an album with my name and my production on it,
they would be up for putting it out on those merits alone. Which
is good, but I want the music to be so tight that it speaks for
itself. I want live instruments played over stuff: violins,
cellos, flutes, guitars, whatever. I’m bringing in all these
musicians who can help elevate the music to something beyond
just hip-hop. I’ve always wanted to push boundaries and that’s
the kinda music I enjoy. From you to Plan B to Outkast… people
who make hip-hop and say they’re hip-hop but say what they do
with it is up to them.
It’s good to hear you’re not planning
to fade into obscurity and head for middle-management… that must
be reassuring for all the message-board fans out there.
 I’m not dead…
I can testify to that, as you’ve just
bought me a beer for once. Right, we had Ex-Files 1 last year,
what are we hearing from you in terms of mixtapes this year?
We got 2 coming up immediately, 1 towards the end of the year,
and a fourth one next year. First to drop is “UK Dubstate – The
Mixtape.” It’s mad how it happened. I didn’t even realise it
happened till I was reading the message-boards and seeing how
upset people were. But UK Dubstate, the term, what it embodies,
has turned into its own mini-institution. People tune into the
show, anticipating what the dubstate’s going to be. It came
about because I love to hear people over big beats, I always
have from when I used to DJ for emcees. A UK Dubstate is just
that a UK emcee doing a dub over a beat for the States. So we’ve
stuck 30 of the best Dubstates together and we’re going put it
out for 5 pound a pop, nothing more, nothing less…
"...I’m
here for the long run and I’m going to keep doing what needs to
be done..."
Doc Brown, Taskforce, Sway, Plan B, Lowkey, Broke ‘n’ English,
Braintax, Swiss, Shameless, Luc Skyz. You’ll hear more from the
Dubstate archives on Ex Files 2, which will drop next year. The
other two are Shameless’ “Bless – the mixtape” featuring a load
of people from around the UK, as well as his boys from the ends.
That’ll be on DAT Sound, mixed in four quarters by me, Tommy
Sparks, Ghost and Skully. It’s kinda like four chapters,
religiously done…the four gospels of Shameless. At the end of
the year, I’m doing a “Happy Ex-Mas” CD, and it’s free. If you
see me, ask me for one. It’ll be 30 minutes long with 10 of the
best tracks cut up with some bonuses and some exclusives. It’s
just a thank you and to keep the shit going. It’s for the love,
haha.
You sound like you’re gonna be busy.
Anything else you gonna try your hand at?
Still writing plays, as I said, for Theatre Royal. Still heavily
involved in taking the music and spreading it around the avenues
that haven’t been looked at it before. Continuing to do my thing
with the passion, the vigour and the energy I had when I was 16
years old and when I was picked up by 1Xtra when I was 18.
Although now I’m not sure of the reasons for that…
For the magazine pictures?
Yeah, cos I’m fit and young and they wanted to put me in MORE
Magazine.
Any final shout-outs/shameless plugs
you wanna make?
I love what I do and people love what I do, so I’m gonna keep on
doing it. Eyes peeled for Live from the Legend, ears peeled for
Tales from the Legend. We don’t finish until the end of July so
stick around with me. Buy the mixtapes, “Bless – the mixtape,”
“UK Dubstate – The Mixtape,” “Ex-Files doc.2” and “Happy Ex-Mas”,
which you can get off me for free when you see me around in
December. And yeah, if you’re still making music, contact me
DJExcalibah@hotmail.com
or send it to me if you got my details… HOLLA!! All the guys
supporting me on the forums keep doing your thing, ukhh.com,
yesbruv.com, so-hiphop.com, and especially the 1Xtra board and
all the people who listen, big yourself up. You make me what I
am because I’m trying to impress you motherfuckers. PEACE!!!
Big up to DJ Excalibah. Check out his last Tales for the
Legend on 1Xtra in the last week of July. Remember, the BBC has
a licence and it is your station, so voice your opinion. If you
wish to show your support for Ex, get on the message-boards or
email the programmer schedulers and get your voice heard. It’s
like the G8, only not. DJ Excalibah is obviously destined for
more things so keep an eye out for his name and pick up the
mixtapes.
-
Nikesh Shukla
Related Links:
Listen on to 1Xtra: DAB Digital Radio; Sky
Digital 887; NTL 859; Freeview 71; Telewest 907
Online: www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra
www.datsound.co.uk
 
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