|
  One Self Interview
Part 1
interview 0322 added 20.07.05 words: K-Per
technical:
QED
Vadim is most probably one of the hardest working men in hip
hop… and he has been for a very long time. He’s also been
responsible for some absolute classic tracks in the past
(Terrorist anyone?) and has recently embarked on a new musical
journey alongside two long standing partners of his, Blu Rum and
Yarah Bravo. Together they form One Self and have just released
their new album, ‘Children of the Possibility’. They’ve also, in
trademark Vadim fashion, embarked upon a massive European and
worldwide tour, with DJ Woody in tow, that started back in May
and is going to finish god knows when. And so for all these
reasons and more Kper managed to get a hold of Woody back in May
and arranged for a chat, as One Self prepared themselves to rock
the stage at the Jazz Café for the ‘official’ start of their
tour. After some delaying and time for the guys to get some much
needed food in their stomachs, we sat down backstage with Vadim,
Woody and Blu Rum (unfortunately Yarah was too busy putting the
finishing touches to the band’s show) to find out where One Self
comes from, where they’re going, what all the fuss about East
Ham is and what their view of hip hop is today. By far one of
the funniest and most interesting interviews we’ve done in a
long time, be prepared for the possibilities of One Self…
Note: This is part 1of the interview, with part 2 coming up soon
and featuring a more in depth chat with the one and only DJ
Woody.
First thing I wanted to ask was what you've been up to since
finishing the album?
 Vadim: Just been touring and doing shows...
Is this the official beginning of the tour?
V: I guess you could say today is the official launch of the
project, even though as everyone can testify we've been doing
this for quite a long time now. Doing shows in Switzerland,
Spain, France... Kinda warming up for now but it's always been
continuous... (to Woody) ever since I met you really isn't it?
Woody: Yep! (laughs)
So you looking forward to that then?
V: What the show?
Yeah and the rest of the tour... you've got forty odd dates or
something haven't you?
V: Well we're doing 20 shows all around Europe, France, Germany,
Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Italy... that's just now and then
we got festivals and to be honest the shows are countless…
relentless.
Well you've always kind of been known to tour extensively
regardless of what project you're doing...
V: Just trying to get out there really I suppose.
"...To
be honest the shows are countless… relentless..."
So how did One Self come together?
V: I'd say it's a culmination of all the tours myself, Blu Rum
and Yarah have done. Just touring and doing so many Russian
Percussion shows, recording with James (Blu Rum) for his LP,
recording for my stuff, recording with Yarah for hers, and so we
just decided to put the whole thing together from that really.
Woody came on board through working with us on the Russian
Percussion shows so he stayed here for the album and the group.
Even though the name is new, the group isn't new. It's not like
we've all suddenly found each other at a bus stop and decided to
make a group! Even though I only met Woody 2 years ago, still
we've probably already done 60 shows or something like that
together, maybe more... with James it's hundreds, literally...
maybe thousands! (laughs)
Blu Rum: Maybe... could possibly be that many...
As One Self you guys span quite a lot of ground geographically,
3 continents actually. Has that had an impact on how you made
the album?
 V: For me, I think distance is something that is in people's
minds. The way I see it, some people think Manchester is a long
way from London, some people in England have never been to
London and think 'whoa that's well far', but then that's just
how people see it. For me, I can fly to LA on a 12h flight and
do a show the same day. Or go to Australia... the world is as
big or small as you want to make it. And with the Internet,
telephone and that kind of multimedia technology you're in
contact with people from all over the world, so in that sense
music has now become an international language… more than
language itself. Especially hip hop. I would say that's a
language in itself that you can communicate with. You can speak
to Germans, French, Japanese who may not speak a word of English
but you can communicate with them.
B: They all know 'Yes, yes, ya'll' though (laughs)
V: Like when you went to Yugoslavia you were surprised.
B: That's what I'm saying, they know the phrases, the slang, so
in a way they know exactly what you're saying and get the idea.
As long as you put it in a hip hop context it's like a language.
V: When you're freestyling we could be in Yugoslavia and they
could speak not a word of English, but if you're ripping it they
know you are. In a sense it's weird because you might think they
need to know what you're saying but I've seen you do freestyles
on tour and you know people can't be clocking every word you
say. It's like a second language for them but they cheer like
it's the second coming of Christ.
B: Divine inspiration...
"...Even
though the name is new, the group isn't new..."
It breaks barriers down doesn't it? I also wanted to ask you
what it was like for you to be working with just two people
whereas normally you have quite a lot of guests on your albums
and Russian Percussion has always had a fluid line up that
changed regularly.
V: Well they all paid me a load of money just to stick with
them... (laughs) They said please...
B: And we're still paying... (laughs)
 V: I don't know… there are good and bad things. It's like we're
in a relationship in a sense... so there are both good and bad
things involved. It's good that you're there and musically we
can all be on the same page, and readily available and willing
to do it. When I was working with loads of people, sometimes you
have to go and look for people, sometimes people are unreliable.
Whereas with this project it's much more focused, it's there and
you can see and understand it. Also now I think it brings the
best out of everyone. I think I've worked harder, I definitely
think James is spitting harder and Yarah as well. Sometimes if
you just take an MC that you maybe never met before, it's not
that they won't be good, but they might not give you their best.
They might think 'shit there's a dude in London emailing me,
I'll just give him some shitty rhymes I don't give a shit
about'. Whereas here, with all of us in a group, you think that
if you're going to be lazy it's going to reflect badly on you,
because your name is on it. But if you put effort into it,
people are going to see that. That's the good sides.
I guess having known each other and worked together for a while
has also been a bonus...
V: For sure. If I'd met James and Yarah last week and said
'Let's make an album together, I've got some beats at home, come
on', the album would have been totally different. Hopefully I
think that when people hear the album, they'll be able to hear
the maturity in it, it's not like a bubblegum...
W: Rent a rapper type situation.
V: Yeah it's deeper than that. I think that people will
understand and feel the kind of...
B: Group at work...
V: Yeah feel the labour.
"...In
a sense music has now become an international language… more
than language itself. Especially hip hop..."
(turning to Blu)
I also wanted to ask if you guys had some
themes and ideas for the lyrics before hand that you wanted to
bring to the album or if you wrote mostly while making the music
with Vadim and being inspired by the vibe?
B: Well we weren't really sure that we were making this album,
while we were making this album so I would record a few tracks
based on how I felt the music. The themes were those that came
to me from the samples or the style of the beat that we were
using. And same with Yarah, when it slowly became an album we
started having more of a say in beginnings, endings, intro,
outro, drops, which rhymes worked better than others, etc. I've
worked in partnerships where you write the songs together at the
same time, but that wasn't the case for this album.
And production wise was it similar to this process, did you all
work together on creating the songs or was it more of a solo
work?
 V: I did all the songs myself but James might say 'why don't you
flip that' or 'drop this', 'change that'. And the same with
Yarah, so they have an input. Some sort. Most of the recording
for this album happened before we even thought of being a group.
We were just recording like James said. We didn't sit there
thinking 'shit we're gonna be a group, let's record some
tracks'.
B: We need a radio hit, an underground hit, something for the
ladies... (laughs)
V: We just did it, and then later we started to think about
things more and now we're starting to think about the second
album. Because Ninja Tune have asked us for one. So now we're
thinking about 'what are we going to do', bla, bla, bla. James
and Yarah are thinking about how they're going to write it, so
now for the second album it'll be interesting how that will be
really different from the first one. Just simply because we feel
it much more cohesively now than we did before.
It might be totally different to how you made the first one.
V: Yeah it's gonna be rave...
B: Either that or we break up... (laughs)
V: What about broken beat styles?
"...I
think that when people hear the album, they'll be able to hear
the maturity in it..."
While we're talking about production, I was wondering how you
worked on this album. Did you incorporate any live
instrumentation?
I was also wondering about how you used the turntable this time
round, as you've always managed to fit it in your productions in
a way that was always quite unique in a sense.
V: For me this is just a progression of everything that I've
done before. Some people have come up to me and said One Self is
just unbelievably different to anything I've done before and
they couldn't believe it, and I'm like well...
B: I didn't do that shit! (laughs)
V: Yeah I had a ghost producer. I'm like ‘no it is me’. If you
listen to my very first album and compare it to what I've done
now than maybe you can say that's a bit of a big leap, but if
you go through all the albums I don't think that this is, music
wise, that different to the album before. It's just another
step. Whether it's a step forward or sideways, it's still a
progression. I've used the same equipment, I've just got more of
it. What I would say is that on this album I've tried to
concentrate more on songs. As a DJ, producer, traveling the
world I meet so many people who give me tapes or CDs of dope
beats. There are loads of good producers around the world, loads
of good bedroom producers who make really nice beats.
"...Even
though we're One Self and that encompasses a sort of Blues feel,
it's a little soulful, it's got an Asiatic vibe in places, it's
still hip hop..."
 But
there's a difference between making a nice beat and making a
good song. To make a good song you need to have a structure,
chorus, an intro, an outro, strong lyrics, something to catch
you with. It can't just be a two bar loop, you know? It's trying
to incorporate everything, make it simple... this is the 8 bar
scratch bridge, this is the vocal bridge, this is the intro, the
outro. Trying to make it like a classic song, whoever you think
is that makes classic songs. Like if you listen to a Beatles
track or something classic like that, you can tell there is
structure in places, there is some sort of overall classic
approach. And I guess it's trying to take that and put it into a
hip hop frame...
Which is unconventional...
V: Well hip hop is unconventional because sometimes people just
have a two bar loop and rap for four minutes. But for me this
whole album, part of the reason why it's called 'Children of the
Possibility' is because hip hop is gone past that. I don't
really wanna hear hip hop that just loops up James Brown over
two bars for four minutes, and the same ahh, fresh scratching
and the same guy rapping about why he's the best MC rapper, and
how he's bitch-slapping everyone else. There are new ways of
doing it, you know?
"...It's
just another step. Whether it's a step forward or sideways, it's
still a progression..."
That's what hip hop is all about ultimately.
V: I'm not talking about re-inventing the wheel, but people like
for example Black Thought have taken it to places where hip hop
has never been. The Roots have. Jay Dee, Dr Dre, they both have.
It's advanced hip hop and that's what I'm trying to do.
Musically I try to progress. I still use samples and loops and
stuff, but I try to replay a lot of stuff, try to make it in a
musical way where you listen to the song and you don't think
'shit I'm bored of it' after a minute. You want to feel like the
music is taking you somewhere. It's all different elements
really... there you go.
I wanted to talk to you about East Ham... I read on your site
that it had quite a lot of influence on how this album came out
after you moved there, and I was just wondering if you could
break that down for us a bit more really...
 V: Yeah East Ham... that's a... You lived in Barking right?
Yeah, don't live there no more though...
V: Where are you now?
Down the road in Leyton.
V: Ah Leyton, I've been to Leyton as well. East Ham I think is
very similar to Barking...
Definitely.
V: It's loads of Asian people, but then you have Colombians,
Lithuanians, Polish people, Ugadans, Angolans, some Caribbeans...
B: There are quite a few Caribbeans I found... I've probably
walked around your yard more than you!
V: True, but it's not the same as Brixton for example.
"...Well
hip hop is unconventional because sometimes people just have a
two bar loop and rap for four minutes..."
You can walk around East Ham and think it's all Asian, or think
it's all African, depending on where you are.
V: Yeah, it's much more Jamaican than Suberton was (laughs). But
say you go to Upton Park, that's much more Caribbean, while East
Ham is much more Indian. So it depends which parts of Newham you
go to. But of course seeing the people, hearing the sounds,
eating the flavours… it kind of rubs off on you. You end up
seeing the world as bigger than just yourself. It's like the
whole world living on my block. All these countries, continents
living right here. So you think 'how can my music touch them?'
Seeing as you've got Woody on the road with you, and having seen
your setup on the way in, I was wondering how the DJ fits in the
live shows?
V: This live show really all goes back to how I first started
doing live shows with Russian Percussion. And so in a sense it's
gone back to the basics really. When we first started doing
Russian Percussion shows, the first line up was Blu Rum and
Killa Kela on the mic, and myself and Mr Thing on four decks.
And that was the first incarnation of Russian Percussion. The
second incarnation was the same as the first except we added
John Ellis, the keyboard player from Cinematic Orchestra. So
that was five of us on stage. The third incarnation of Russian
Percussion was like a live band. We had drums, keys, bass, Mr
Thing and myself, then First Rate came in, and Yarah was on the
mic, Killa Kela couldn't do it as he was doing his own thing. So
it's always been like a collective of musicians then people
would come in…
(Vadim’s phone goes off)
V: Where were we? Yeah we have people coming in like Bongo Pete
on the percussions, people playing sax and flute, and Woody
joined because... he's the best. Different people want to do
different things and so the line up always changes. And for this
tour, instead of having a big band like I had before, I've kind
of gone back to the turntables, trying to recreate stuff from
the turntables, with Woody. I've got a drum machine and sampler
for all the sounds and stuff, and Woody will be chopping in
different sounds, I'll be dropping in a kick and snare, and
Yarah has got a little sampler as well for her own sounds, and
James has got a little percussion set as well, while rapping. So
we've have kind of gone back to the basics of centering things
around the turntable.
"...You
want to feel like the music is taking you somewhere..."
I see what you mean. I should have clarified what I meant
actually... I was thinking about how you were one of the few
people who always placed the turntable as one of the center
pieces at live shows, whereas some people might use the
turntable in their productions in the studio, but won't
necessarily showcase that on stage. Whereas you've always placed
importance on the turntables in your studio and live work.
 V: Thing is for me the DJ has always been the backbone of hip
hop, there would be no hip hop without the DJ. The DJ was the
person who introduced the MC to the stage 25 years ago. There
would be no rappers if it wasn't for the DJ, if he wasn't
spinning the breaks. Everything has changed now, where the DJ
isn't so important for a lot of people. But for us, for me, I
don't know for other people, but for me it's important to have
that element in hip hop, because we're still doing a hip hop
show. Even though we're One Self and that encompasses a sort of
Blues feel, it's a little soulful, it's got an Asiatic vibe in
places, it's still hip hop. We're still a hip hop group, we've
still got two MCs blazing it on the mic, and we're still trying
to crack up scratches. But in our own way. One Self isn't Mobb
Deep, One Self isn't Snoop Dogg, whoever. Not that there is
anything wrong with those, but we're trying to create our own
thing, we're trying to create our own interpretation of hip hop.
"...Seeing
the people [of East Ham], hearing the sounds, eating the
flavours… it kind of rubs off on you..."
Well the last question I had you've already partly answered, but
you might want to add some more to it. I was wondering how you
felt about hip hop today?
V: How do you feel about hip hop today James?
B: The hip hop I do today I enjoy, and a few select others. I
mean I'm always gonna have my favourites, but the things I enjoy
about hip hop music as a whole is that it always takes the
liberty to re-invent itself. I may not like what's going on
right now but I know I'll like it soon.
W: It's like what do you call the hip hop of now anyway? Stuff
that's in the charts or the stuff that people are doing around
the world, in every city you go to in the world there's people
doing it. It's always a culture, and it's stronger then it's
ever been.
It goes back to what you were saying, about how you can go
anywhere in the world and touch people, link with them via the
music, the culture of hip hop. It happens through what it means
to everyone, what it means to you having grown up where you've
grown up, and what it means to them having grown where they've
grown up. And then how you share that link.
B: Yeah that's it.
W: I've done workshops in the middle of Soweto and kids walk in
and start popping hand stand freezes, straight breaking moves
that you've seen your boys do not two weeks ago in some club in
England. It makes you realise how deep the culture goes, and how
it's got everywhere.
"...This
live show really all goes back to how I first started doing live
shows with Russian Percussion..."
(at this point Yarah has got stuck in the car, and so Vadim
tells Woody how to go and let her out)
Any last words guys?
V: People should check out
www.one-self.net, check out
www.blurum13.com, check out
www.djvadim.com,
www.woodwurk.com, for all dates, info, all of us are doing
our own bits and pieces as well as One Self. So there's lots of
information available, and other stuff out there for people to
peep.
B: Word.
 |
 |
-
K-Per
Related Links:
www.woodwurk.com
 
|
