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  Nine High Interview
interview 0393 added
25.04.06 words: Mark the Mongrel
technical:
QED
UKHH scribe Mark Mongrel caught up with NINE HIGH around the end of March just before they went on stage in support of Jehst. What followed was lively interview with five of the crew in attendance and gives a good insight to a talented crew who should be bringing ruckus to a jam near you soon…
Just to start, can each person give a few words to describe another member?
 Fraksha: You got Felony that smells like a skunk basically…
Felony: Is that all you’re gonna say?
S.A: Do the usual shit, he’s a well gifted rapper from the garage scene, Fraksha went to Australia, did loads of raps, became big daddy Fraksha. Scotty Hinds caning open mic’s all over Berkshire representing. Wandan, the mother-fucking beat-box, goes all over the world, where-ever you’ve been, he’s been, making noise…
Fraksha: Brinks Mat…
Felony: He’s a fucking piss-head.
Fraksha: He’s absent without leave right now, probably down the pub.
S.A: Dealing with some drama in Saudi Arabia.
What do you prefer, playing live or recording tracks?
Felony: Playing liiiive! All about the live vibe.
Fraksha: Recording tracks is long sometimes.
Felony: I suppose it depends on whether you’re a fan of instant gratification or just…
S.A: I suppose we’re just trying to transcend musical boundaries, get that chestnut out there.
(Laughter all round)
Fraksha: Live is our element.
Felony: Live is what it’s all about mate.
Fraksha: Lot of crews find it hard to follow the hype that we bring.
Felony: Well it’s not all hype, there’s something behind us.
Scotty: All vibes man…
“...The point of reference now is the fucking internet for everything...”
I’ve seen your name about quite a lot recently and you seem to be doing a lot of shows. Have you found certain crowds or places more receptive than others?
 Felony: Well to be honest, let’s not put up any boundaries that don’t exist right. Pretty much anywhere we’ve gone we’ve had a good reception. Now we can probably nit-pick and say this place give us a bit more and this place give us a little less, but I don’t think we’ve ever been received badly. We’ve always been shown love regardless of it being in London or…name some other places we been?
Fraksha: Chichester, Bristol, Swindon, Oxford…
Scotty: Norwich…
Fraksha: We played to different sort of crowds, we don’t just play to hip hop crowds. We played to straight up students, we played to drum and bass…
Felony: We played arty-farty places.
Fraksha: We played to the tugs, to fucking everyone. We played to real people out there, doing real shows as opposed to…
Felony: Internet mother-fuckers!
Fraksha: Putting out a vinyl or CD and then not backing it up with any live shows.
Felony: Or even being capable of doing it. Next question.
When you play shows do you get on with the other acts on the bill or is there ever any tension?
S.A: Yeah, mother-fuckers are shit!
(Much laughter)
Felony: How I see it yeah, my little motto is show love get love and I tend to show, as everyone else does, every other act at least if they done well, you gotta show them love when they come off the stage. I believe certain people they don’t show, people don’t show that same love and it gets a bit dogged down. Seeing other people’s reactions and you react yourself, they’re intimidated.
S.A: I’m like a rabid dog, look us in the eyes…Jesus.
Scotty: We ain't trying to say too much y’know, when I’m laughing at your lyrics…
Felony: We’re above that…there’s no need to say there’s bare weak mc’s out there.
Scotty: Come one, you know as well as I do.
Felony: Of course bruv, but we’re above that. I see us as, we don’t need to say there’s weak mc’s bruv, everyone knows there’s weak mc’s. We don’t need to lower ourselves to their level, that’s what I think. Maybe I’m wrong…
Fraksha: Anyone that gets on stage gets respect to a level, but at same time a lot of people have not got the talent and shouldn’t be there and unfortunately they’re in a better position than us and they don’t like showing love ‘cos they feel raa, these boys are better than us.
Felony: Yeah I’m feeling that.
“...fuck America, it doesn’t really mean that much...”
How important do you think it is in this day and age to have a website and make use of the internet as a promotional tool?
 Fraksha: It’s vital basically, big up Wandan for the website.
Felony: Its DA future, and when you transcribe this I want you to write ‘DA’!
Fraksha: The internet has opened up a whole lot of bullshit, a lot of crap out there but at the same time why not give yourself that avenue of promotion when it’s so easy and open to you and you reach so many people with it. Without the use of the web-site we might not be getting half the bookings we do maybe.
Felony: And you can show yourself as a product y’know what I mean. Slap a CD on the table, well that’s fantastic but y’know what I mean…the internet opens up a whole new crowd. Is that what you just said? People that never listened to hip hop, people that don’t live in England…we get internet love.
Wandan: The point of reference now is the fucking internet for everything. If you’re doing anything you fucking google it man. The internet is how everyone communicates, how everyone gets their information. It is secondary to working hard, you do the work, you need the web-site. You need to be able to tell people what you’re doing on the web.
Felony: If you’re not on the net, then you’re gonna get left behind really in this day and age.
myspace.com/ninehigh blup!
S.A: That’s the whole interview right there.
Wandan: All the personal pages and that, thinking you’re gonna get a girl…’you’re really cute’, there’s some real real sad people.
Scotty: I heard one dude that blatantly said ‘I wish I could get in your batty and I’d live in it’ haha. He said he’d live in it, talking about that Buffie the body with that big round bubble butt, talking about how he’d live in that shit.
Fraksha: If you’re not with the internet you might as well go home. It just makes things a lot easier to push your name forward. Also the internets worldwide, you can look further than your own town.
Felony: You can give people you’re music, most important thing, simple as that.
Wandan, I see your name popping up a lot outside of Nine High as well, how does it differ going to do a PA solo as opposed to with the crew?
Wandan: If you’re on your own you’re on your own, if you’re with other people you’re with other people. Going on your own's kinda hard to fucking keep up a vibe, you’re on your todd. I mean, I’ve gone and done shows on my own and its kinda weird man. Doing a show with other people it’s just much more fun.
“...We got so much fucking stuff we might as well just put it out on a mix tape and get people hype with that before we put out our own tracks...”
Have you got any plans to release any ‘beat-box music’?
Wandan: Yeah I’m working on my tape right now, but y’know it’s gonna be good that’s all I’m saying at this stage. I’m working hard to make it bloody good. Its gonna be all that ‘urban’ stuff, gonna market it as an ‘urban tape’, purely urban. I was thinking of calling it ‘Urban’, I reckon it’ll sell loads then!
Do you honestly think hip hop made over will over blow in a) the UK and b) the US?
 Felony: A) yes, b) I don’t give a fuck about the USA, so fuck ‘em. I’ve got to do my own country first before I start jumping over to next country.
Fraksha: It’ll never blow in USA full stop!
Felony: ‘Cos it’s a whole different society thing man.
Fraksha: Me and S.A were talking about it the other day. Hip hop is American. Drum and bass is English. That’s why Skibba and Shabba get paid loads of money to go to America and they’ll never bring a US drum and bass mc over here cos why would they, we got the fucking best in the world. You don’t even need to blow up the US to do anything, you got the rest of the world.
S.A: The thing with every kind of music is ‘cos the US is its own single market, Europe’s treated as a whole separate market y’know what I mean. If you can sell records in Europe and Australasia you can fuck America, it doesn’t really mean that much. I think a lot of heads have gone to Europe and get much better reception, people make livings doing shows and just selling records in Europe. So there’s no real need to go out there and push our records cos it’s like pissing in the Thames, drop in a fucking lake.
Felony: And can I just say sorry, I’m not anti-American.
Fraksha: People don’t even understand you can sell in Europe and no-ones heard of you, but you can make loads of money. We’ve been to Europe and seen that and some crews have realised that and you might think they’re doing anything but they’re making money selling their records in Europe.
What are you working on now and what plans do you have for the near future?
Fraksha: We got ‘Take Two’ the mix tape, out in April.
Felony: It’s massive.
Fraksha: Better than your mix tape!
Felony: Better than your mates mix tape!
Scotty: A lot of people wanna get in a hurry to release things and get out there as soon as they can, but Nine High, we don’t really get like that. We wanna get a good wodge of tracks behind us and then start releasing things.
S.A: The mix tape’s a good reflection of what we’ve been doing this year so far. A good reflection of our live shows, we done bare stuff this year, its not all we done though.
Felony: By no means is it all we’ve done, in fact we…
Fraksha: We go stupid amounts of stuff. People say sometimes why you doing mix tape’s when you could do an album, but that’s the thing. We got so much fucking stuff we might as well just put it out on a mix tape and get people hype with that before we put out our own tracks. No point rushing, too many people put out these shitty 12” and no one buys them cos no one supports them.
Felony: Exactly.
Fraksha: We’re putting out mix tapes and selling a thousand of the first one easy, people don’t even realise.
Felony: You can build a house on mud, that shits gonna sink, unless you got a foundation there, then boy, you’re fucked!
Fraksha: We got like 40 tunes outside of the mix tape that no one’s even heard and we’re gradually building.
Scotty: And when we get to 100 tunes say, then we listen to them all and select the finest of the finest, quality control. Then we make an album and people are gonna be ‘serious!’, the constant issues, metaphor side of it, the storytelling side of it, the way we all feed off each other, the way it works, the production of it. Ghost Town, who are gonna have a large part to do with it.
Fraksha: They make some of the illest beats around and everyone will be hearing them soon I’m sure, whether they’re through us or other people.
“...I like making lively music for mother-fuckers to get rowdy to...”
 Felony: How I see it is, you can start and maintain a high level and frankly I know every person in the crew is not willing to do any less than that and wouldn’t have it any other way, so we’re keeping it at that standard and we only gonna get better. I ain’t releasing something that’s worse than what I released two months ago know what I mean. Boy, we keep pushing each other, its consistent progression and it’ll all pay off.
Fraksha: We’re doing shit all the time, recording all the time constantly and not just with ourselves. We’re doing shit in Oz, we’re doing shit in Europe with sick producers all over the place but we don’t need to jump on someone’s back to do it. We do it ourselves. We’re driving round the country all the fucking time, we’re playing more shows than people with fucking albums out, reaching real people like I said.
Scotty: Anywhere, you need to have a good underground, a pyramid or something to build a basis before you get anywhere.
Fraksha: Like a toblerone…
Scotty: Yam up fake mc’s…
(Laughter)
Fraksha: You just love talking about eating up fake mc’s innit?
Felony: He’s just a fucking animal though mate.
Scotty: That’s what it is y’know. Its like this, if you’ve got sick flow and no lyrics then it may be excusable. If you’ve got lyrics your flow may be excusable if its wack, but when you’ve got the sick flow and sick lyrics and you put it down and never fuck up once then man cant fault you, then you’re a good mc. The best mc, and I ain’t talking about none of us, I’m sure there’s people out there that I like and I’m sure there’s people out there that you like, but there’s mc’s out there that you know you cant fault them. Personally that’s where I strive to be one day, where it means things to some people, makes their fucking hairs raise up on the back of their arms, when you hear that lyric that you know is deep, mans on it. And it ain’t no sad feeling, I don’t like love songs, make you have sad feelings, ‘aah, it didn’t work, aah, loves a bitch mate’, fuck that, I like making lively music for mother-fuckers to get rowdy to, all about the that live vibe Nine High ting, none of that ‘baby I love you’ shit…naaa.
Fraksha: Have a dick…
Scotty: Yeah, have a dick!
Where are Nine High coming from musically and lyrically?
 Fraksha: All manner of things man, all manner of things…
Felony: Diversify. See I’m talking about a lyric about nothing to a lyric about the deepest human emotion. If you cannot diversify from one to the other then you’re not really good enough, you shouldn’t really be here and shouldn’t be pursuing it if you don’t have all that all round ability that frankly you should have to be a recording and performing artist full fucking stop!
Fraksha: We got everything, hype tunes, deep tunes, make you cry tunes, Felz will make you cry…
Felony: I’ll make you cry blud, every time I swear.
Fraksha: Stupid tunes, tunes that mean fuck all, tunes about food, know what I mean.
Scotty: When we make the album we want by the end of it you’re like ‘Jesus this album’s really made me think’, y’know everyone learns as they get older, on a learning curve. If we can bring lessons to people through the music then well done. As felz said then you’re worthy to be here, bring that flavour and feeling.
“...that personal connection when someone has listened to your music and they’ve felt it in their fucking heart...”
Who are some of your favourite rappers from UK and US?
Scotty: Big L!
Fraksha: Big Pun.
Felony: Talib Kweli.
English as well…?
 Fraksha: Fallacy, I think never got the love he deserved. I think he was one of the heaviest mc’s to come out of this country, some others may disagree…
Felony: I’m a fan of Kano…
Scotty: Klashy also got certain aspects that other people don’t have, ‘Focus Mode’ is sick.
Felony: That’s the way we should be going, focus mode…
Fraksha: We’re focussed…
Felony: And we’re in that mode, see what I did. All the others are in jokers mode!
I saw on the website the track about the July bombings on the underground…
Fraksha: I cried like a bitch…
Scotty: I think of things on a very big scale and without a doubt what them bastards did to our fellow countrymen was fucking out of hand.
Felony: They ‘were’ our fellow countrymen…
Scotty: They weren’t our fellow countrymen, they were some fucking cunts! They weren’t like us, not like us, they view things different to you and me. I wouldn’t wanna kill no-one, fuck going to war.
Felony: Blending in there ain’t no better disguise cos boy you could see a matey walking down the road tomorrow and next week he’s the bloke that blows up your fucking mum.
Fraksha: But at the same time its fucked, we’re both doing the same thing even though we’re not personally doing it…our countries responsible for a lot of bullshit.
Felony: ..And people can’t go and blow up the White House or No.10, so you have to do something else. If you want a reaction and people ain’t listening to you then you gotta pull out some action.
Fraksha: I wanna see tag team, Bush and Blair against Saddam and Bin Laden, Gaddafi as the referee.
Scotty: The reason it made such an effect was what they blew up, that money shit, the US put money above human life…everyone knows wha
blizzo.
“...If we can bring lessons to people through the music then well done...”
What’s been the best moment of your amateur career so far?
S.A: Calling me an amateur!
Felony: This is pro shit, Liza Minelli shit baby!
Fraksha: Getting people at shows coming up to you to shake your hand and say it was wicked or whatever or appreciate the lyricism…
Felony: Yeah that personal connection when someone has listened to your music and they’ve felt it in their fucking heart, that’s it for me.
What UK mc’s or groups would you like to go head to head with?
 Felony: I ain’t got no fear bruv, I don’t fear no mc’s. No one’s better than us, I don’t care bruv…
Fraksha: Don’t concern me, we do our thing they do theirs. We doing our thing and progressing. We don’t even wanna associate ourselves with any scene cos the scene’s bollocks! Too many tin-pot labels putting out crap records and being left with half their stock still. Its like any old cunt is like ‘yeah I’m gonna start a label’ and then these acts are like ‘yeah I’m signed to ‘whatever’ records…’. You ain’t signed to nothing mate!
Felony: There ain’t no scene!
Scotty: We don’t make hip hop, we just make music…
Fraksha: Nothing worse than playing to your typical UK hip hop crowd to be honest, it’s fucking lame.
Felony: UK hip hop, know what I mean. If UK hip hop was a chat up line you’d turn off every single chick you ever fucking met cos UK hip hop instantly says to me, geezer who sits in his bedroom who listens to Jehst and gets stoned and that’s fucking fuckery. That’s not the sort of person we’re looking for, its people who walk down the street…
Scotty: Anyone who like’s music for what it is, the way we rap is fast spoken word, its rappin’ yeah, but it’s not just rappin’ to us. Some of the beats stray away from the standard hip hop beats…
Can you each name the last tune you listened to?
Fraksha: Ghost-face – Biscuits, in the car on the way up…
Scotty: Think it was Immortal Technique where he talks about murdering you in front of your crib like John Lennon.
Felony: Goo Goo Dolls – Irony
Fraksha: YOU were in the car with me! The last tune you listened to you dick…
Felony: Oh I thought you meant last tune you listened to at home innit…
“...Nothing worse than playing to your typical UK hip hop crowd to be honest...”
..Last tune that stuck in your head then?
Felony: Well ‘Irony’ then, listened to it before I came out innit.
Fraksha: I don’t even have a fucking stereo at the moment, I don’t listen to anything.
Wandan: ‘Woo-Ha’, on the way down in Scotty’s car, fuck yes!
S.A: Saukrates…
What was the last thing you stole?
 Scotty: Someone’s lighter. I’ve actually got Wandan’s lighter in my hand, but the problem is he’s right next to me. I’ll give it back to him…
Felony: I don’t agree with thieving man, I’d rather buy shit with dirty money than steal it innit.
Who was the last person who swore at?
Felony: Fuck you, you cunt!
Fraksha: The wanker at the petrol station, gave me all my change in coins!
Felony: A community support officer who said he was gonna give a £30 fucking fine on some woman who was riding her bike in the high street, fucking mugs!
Scotty: Think it was when I got wheel clamped at a Mystro show in Reading about three months ago. I proper cussed someone out. £90, I go ‘you gotta make a living, but that is taking the fucking piss, get a new fucking job or you should be on Britain’s grimiest jobs or whatever it’s called’. That one where they clean bogs and shit. Should have got boxed for it really…
Who would you suggest keeping an eye out for in the future?
 Fraksha: Just us really…
Felony: Klash new album gonna be ludicrous and generally the UK scene is an explosion waiting to happen cos no countries got our creativity…
Scotty: Universal Soldiers…
Fraksha: They’re in jail innit…
S.A: Broken English gonna murk it I reckon. They’re on some different flex and making the Manchester scene work for themselves. A lot of crews move to London for the limelight but it seems they got their own thing going on up there. They gonna murk it cos that’s the way to go, get your home base supporting you.
Finally, any shouts?
Everyone: NAAAAA…
Felony: Fuck everyone else, we do it ourselves.
Fraksha: Don’t rely on no one for nothing.
Felony: Ghost Town, that’s it…
Fraksha: And Drifter, best producer in Reading, Siren and a couple other people…
Felony: Mikey T and Lumes…
Fraksha: Alright then, some people…we don’t need to big them up, they know who they are. If you’re down with us then you’re down with us. If you’re not then get the fuck out!
Felony: You will be soon or you won’t be…so come with us or get left behind, come with us or get left behind…
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Mark the Mongrel
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