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 Ricochet of Universal Soldiers Interview
interview 0258 added
15.11.04 words: Mike technical:
QED
On one of the first days of winter this year, I met up with Ricochet.
Being a grey and cold day, it was the perfect atmosphere to talk to the man who,
as part of Universal Soldiers, has released one of the great UK Hip Hop albums
of the year. Slanguage is the soundtrack to dirty, gritty city life, with beats
that conjure up visions of urban living, and quality storytelling raps that
enhance these visions tenfold. Over a couple of pints in the World’s End pub, I
caught up with the man himself, who, contrary to what his personality on record
might suggest, is a pleasant person who loves to laugh. During the course of the
interview he provided insight into many topics, including recent events and of
course, the obligatory discourse on the UK Hip Hop scene. Here’s what he had to
say:
First up, can you introduce yourself please and briefly tell us about your
group?
 R: Yeah, cool. Ricochet, Universal Soldiers. One half of the crew with Ultra V,
and with producer A H Fly. We’ve been together about five years now, we first
formed back in 99. We put out two EPs, the Street Veteran EPs plus the follow up
compilation CD, the Heavyweight Product single, Life’s Like A Movie single, and
Slanguage which just dropped earlier this month.
So how do you compare to Jean-Claude Van Damme?
R: (Laughs) Yeah, I know, it’s a bit of a strange one and that. Cos as far as
coming up with names for the group it was a bit difficult. So we just threw a
few ideas in the pot and came up with something in the end. But I’d probably say
that Ultra’s more Jean-Claude Van Damme rather than me. I mean, he’s the fire
and the aggression of the group.
Ok, in the past couple of weeks there have been a number of security breaches
in places that are supposed to be extremely well protected. Would the Universal
Soldiers do a better job of guarding Buckingham Palace and the Houses of
Parliament?
R: That goes without saying mate! Those guys were shoddy. I don’t know what
they’re doing. Letting Batman and all that in, it’s crazy!
Do you have a view on hunting and what the protestors did? Were they right to
be so disruptive?
R: As far as the hunting goes? That’s not really a topic that I’ve given a lot
of thought to. I appreciate the fact that everyone’s got an opinion on it, and I
appreciate that the two different sides of the argument are very strong, and
both people are behind their ideas very strongly. But it’s not something that’s
a big thing for us really. We’re more city boys, countryside issues… we’ll leave
‘em to it. I can’t see myself chasing foxes any time in my life time.
"...We’re
more city boys, countryside issues… we’ll leave ‘em to it. I can’t see myself
chasing foxes any time in my life time..."
Well, you never know, we do got a few in North London!
R: Yeah, yeah, yeah! We’ve got a few round my flat actually, regulars!
Ok, on to music now. How have you developed since your first two EPs,
individually and as a group?
 R: We’ve gone through a fair amount of changes because the first two EPs were
more a product… they were not clearly defined in terms of a concept linking all
of them. It was just a question of, me and V, we’d first hooked up together,
threw a few tracks down and basically the two EPs is the outcome of that. So as
far as Slanguage goes, the album, we had time to sort of step back from the
scene, focus on exactly what we were doing and build a proper project around a
solid concept, that being Slanguage. So I think as far as rhyming and that goes,
we learnt a lot, we developed a lot more. The more time that we spent in the
studio, the more confident we got in the booth and the more we were prepared to
experiment with styles and ideas. It’s been a gradual development but now, if
you look at Slanguage compared to some of the earlier stuff, it’s a lot more
polished, a lot classier and we’ve got more finesse with what we’re doing. So I
think we’ve found our direction as we’ve gone along. Same goes for Fly as well,
in terms of the beats. A lot of the earlier stuff, if you was to talk to him
about it, he’d be kind of embarrassed, he’s a bit embarrassed by his early
beats. I know a lot of man are feeling them but again for him, the whole thing’s
been a learning experience, so we’ve all matured as we’ve gone along.
And although it hasn’t been out for too long, how would you say your album’s
been received so far?
R: Well, the thing was, even though it just dropped at the beginning of this
month, the promos went out back in sort of early/mid July. And a lot of promos
went out to man in the rap scene as well. I personally sent a lot of promos out
to other groups. We got a lot of positive feedback in the form of emails, text
messages, phone calls. A lot of people ringing us up saying they were feeling
it. And they appreciated that we’d gone through a lot of struggle, it was three
years of very hard work to get to that finished product. Up to this point in
time, it seems to be very well received. And we can only hope from here to get
stronger and stronger. It’s like with anything, when it comes to English rap, it
sort of has to filter out. If you’re not one of the main groups at the top, a
product you put out is gonna take a certain amount of time to filter through to
everybody. But in that time I know we’re gonna keep building the reputation and
I’m expecting within the next six to twelve months that the name will be
properly solidified within the rap scene.
"...It’s
like with anything, when it comes to English rap, it sort of has to filter out.
If you’re not one of the main groups at the top, a product you put out is gonna
take a certain amount of time to filter through to everybody..."
If you got to number one in the album charts, what would you think and how
might you celebrate?
R: (Laughs) First thing would be a holiday yeah!?! Straight to the West Indies
mate, but I’m avoiding Hurricane Ivy. I’m not going to Grenada! But, to me, that
would be an incredible thing if that was to happen but you gotta understand that
everything we do, from setting up the label, is based in reality. From the very
moment we came into the game, we were realistic about what our goals and our
achievements could be in the short term. Again, with everything we’re doing,
it’s just building, from Street Veterans 1 right up to Slanguage, it’s just been
a building process. And it can only get bigger and stronger from here. I don’t
really know what the future is right about now but I’m proud and I’m pleased
that we’ve got this far.
Slanguage is a choice title for your current project, what with your use of
North London slang and your mastery of the Queen’s English, but have you
invented any words yourself, and if so, what do they mean?
 R: I’m not gonna say that in here, cos it’s a bit public! But I mean, we use a
combination of a lot of terminology that you’re average yout on the street would
use plus obviously we have our own little phrases or our own little slangs that
we throw in, certain things that probably only a few people would really
understand the full meaning of. I like to try and keep it secret, it just keeps
the mystery behind it. But that was the main concept for the album just because
it’s completely natural to us and we wanted the whole album to be as natural and
realistic as possible. So that’s why we based the whole thing around the idea of
how we communicate on a day to day basis.
And why is storytelling such a big part of your sound?
R: That’s a good question, I like that question! For me, personally anyway, as I
was growing up, a lot of my favourite rappers that I was into included people
like Rakim, Kool G Rap, Slick Rick, even that early BDP / KRS One stuff, which a
lot of it was based around storytelling. And as I’ve got older I’ve been
listening to people like, a lot of the early Wu stuff, or Nas or whoever. A lot
of my favourite rappers have been those who’ve been able to paint pictures with
their rhymes, you know, tell a story with their rhymes. So I think that’s been a
big influence on me, that’s part of the reason why I did that tune called Mad
Runnings which was on the Food album, which was basically a day in my life while
I’m tearing around trying to take care of everything. So that sort of thing’s
always been a big influence on me just 'cos I like the way you can sort of bring
very every day circumstances to life in rhyme. And the art of being able to tell
a story and to rhyme it really well is something that not a lot of people can
do. Not over here, anyway.
"...I
like the way you can sort of bring very every day circumstances to life in
rhyme. And the art of being able to tell a story and to rhyme it really well is
something that not a lot of people can do..."
And can you explain the Edmonton state of mind?
R: It’s a miserable one, it’s a grimy one! Edmonton’s a bleak place, I don’t
know if you’ve ever been there but when you come out of the station, it looks
very grey. I suppose a lot of people would say that quite a lot of our music is
morbid or bleak sounding, and it’s not like it’s a deliberate reflection of
where we live but that’s sort of how it comes out. And even A H Fly based all
the way in Brighton, he ends up building these very dark sounding beats.
So what inspires you to write the lyrics you do?
 R: With us, with me and V, I would just say that the thing about us, the best
way to describe us is that we’re lifestyle emcees. So when it comes to spitting,
it’s just everyday life. Especially in most of the Slanguage material, it’s just
everyday lyrics, stuff that we’re going through. Stuff that we’re living. We
just try to bring it to life and make it vivid and paint pictures with it. But I
think that’s the essence of what our style’s supposed to be all about.
What advice would you give to anyone looking to become a Hip Hop artist?
R: Don’t have unrealistic goals and ambitions. Be prepared for a lot of hard
work. And if you have faith in what you’re doing and you believe that what
you’re doing is solid or has potential, don’t be scared to take criticism from
other people. There’s no point surrounding yourself with a set of people that
are just gonna big you up on everything you do, cos I think that’s the big
problem over here with the UK rap scene. Even to this day there’s a strong
element within the scene where people are scared to criticise one another or
criticise themselves. With us, everything we do, we’re always very critical of
it, we’ll sit down and we’ll break it down. Even any bad reviews we’ve got,
we’ve partly agreed with them on certain things if it’s been constructive
criticism. It’s not to be scared of that and not to be put down by that, cos
that’s the only way you’re gonna get better, so that’d be my advice.
"...Even
to this day there’s a strong element within the scene where people are scared to
criticise one another or criticise themselves..."
And what about those people wanting to go the independent route like
yourselves and set up their own labels?
R: Yeah, again with that one, be prepared for an incredible amount of hard work
because from when we set up the label towards the end of 99 to now I’ll admit
it’s been slog, slog, slog all the way. I’m talking from the very moment you’re
writing lyrics to trying to get them recorded and mixed as professionally as
possible right up to the point where the product is actually on the shelves.
You’ve got so many different things to take into consideration, and the thing
is, if you’re working on a shoe string budget you’ve got to have the right
contacts to get the best value for money. Because a lot of people don’t have a
certain amount of dough and their product ends up being shoddy as a result. If
you can cut corners and still keep your product tight then you’re laughing.
That’s why I’d have to big up Braintax really, cos he was the big link for us.
He helped us get on our feet and he showed me how the business side of things
worked 'cos I handle everything from a business point of view. So try and get the
best people around you, try and get the best possible advice and be prepared for
a lot of hard work.
Do you have any plans for your label beyond Universal Soldiers? Any signings
on the way?
 R: That’s a good point actually. Tongue Tied Records was originally just set up
as an avenue for Universal Soldiers product so we never really thought beyond
that. But what with our own future looking a little bit uncertain at the moment,
I’m gonna start looking at other people. It’s funny, I just ran into Willow The
Wisp today, from that group The Colony, and I’ve always really liked their
stuff. So it would be nice if we were in a position where I can help out the
next man, than I will do. But it’s a question of timing and finance. I’ve
outlaid a lot of money on the album and it’s gonna take a certain amount of time
to get it back. Once that’s back, I’ve got more options.
Is there anyone else out there that you think would fit in perfectly with
Tongue Tied?
R: That’s a good question. I think another reason we set up our own label as
well, because we did have an option, there was a possibility we could have come
out on Low Life and there were lots of factors why that didn’t happen and we set
up or own label in the end, but I don’t think there’s another group really out
there like Universal Soldiers. We’ve definitely got our own little niche, our
own little corner, and our style and the things that we talk about, I think
makes us unique within the scene. 'Cos the sort of things we’re talking about
over the sort of production that we’ve got, which is straight up Hip Hop
production, isn’t really being done. And you’ve got a lot of these youts who are
coming out now that are ex garage emcees that have moved over into the rap
scene, or creating their own rap scene if you like. And I suppose some people
would compare us to them or draw parallels between those emcees and us, but what
we do is straight up, undiluted Hip Hop. And I think if you listen to us you can
hear that our roots are in Hip Hop. We’re youts who grew up listening to it from
day. So I think it’s very difficult for me to say whether there’s anyone I could
imagine fitting in perfectly with us cos I don’t really think there’s any other
group like us within the rap scene.
"...We’ve
definitely got our own little niche, our own little corner, and our style and
the things that we talk about, I think makes us unique within the scene..."
Is there anyone else you’re feeling at the moment?
R: British stuff? I’ve been listening to that Colony LP, I quite like that,
production and rhymes wise, I think it’s a bit fresh, it’s kinda original
sounding, so I’m quite into that. The only other thing that I really like, which
came out about four years ago, is that 12 Stone CD [12 Stone Productions –
Stone-Age 2000], it wasn’t technically perfect, but there was a lot of things
about it in terms of the flavours and from where they were coming, which I was
feeling. There are a lot of other groups out there that I would give props to,
just for the fact they’re doing what they’re doing and it’s of a professional
level. So people like Jehst, Yungun, Skinny’s got his album which I know is
doing big tings, Rodney’s got his album coming soon and so on. So there are
various people within the scene that are doing their thing and I respect them
for what they’re doing. But as I said, the two things that really stick in my
mind, that I really personally felt, would be that Colony CD and the 12 Stone CD
which came out about four years ago.
What about the older stuff? What are the classics for you?
 R: That I grew up listening to? Oh my God, where would I start? I could go right
back to BDP’s Criminal Minded, Public Enemy stuff, the first Ice Cube album,
AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, I like the early Kool G Rap stuff, Big Daddy Kane’s
Long Live The Kane and It’s A Big Daddy Thing, Eric B and Rakim’s Follow The
Leader, I could go on. I grew up listening to all the traditional stuff that a
lot of kids grew up listening to. So that’s where a lot of my influences would
lie. And as I got older I moved through listening to Gang Starr, Nas, Wu Tang,
Biggie, the early Jay-Z stuff. So yeah, that’d be it, more or less.
You supposedly had plans to release a solo album quite some time ago now…
R: Did I? (Laughs)
Well, that’s what I’ve been reading. Is it likely to happen, and if so, how
will if differ from Universal Soldiers?
R: Well, I wasn’t aware of that, that might have been something on the Low Life
site…
"...There
are a lot of other groups out there that I would give props to, just for the
fact they’re doing what they’re doing and it’s of a professional level..."
Yeah, that’s right.
R: Was it? Yeah, ok. But I didn’t have any plans as such. I’ve done just that
Mad Runnings tune, and the Evil Ed album’s coming out, I think in October,
November, and I’ve got a solo tune on that but I haven’t really had plans to do
anything else other than that so far. It’d be difficult to say but I think if I
was to do solo stuff, I would have a chance to express other things that I
hadn’t had a chance to within Universal Soldiers. Cos Ultra’s got a very clear
idea of what he’s trying to project and a lot of the concepts and ideas that I
build for our tunes are sort of… Obviously you have to take that all into
account for it all to work. With my stuff I suppose I could explore being a bit
more reflective and talk about other things that I probably wouldn’t talk about.
It wouldn’t be just hustling, hustling, hustling all the time, that’s only one
facet to what Ricochet’s all about and I’m hoping that, obviously with time and
with the right producers and, God willing, the label’s able to do it, I can put
out other material that will show people that I’m a diverse emcee. 'Cos as long
as you’ve got the ability to rhyme, you should be able to tackle anything.
What’s next for you in the immediate future? Any touring plans?
 R: No, we’ve got to wait and see what happens with V at the moment cos he’s away
unfortunately. I’m hoping by the end of the year he should be back with us. So,
God willing and he’s back we can do some promotion, 'cos we haven’t promoted this
album at all. And I feel proud of the fact that we’ve got as much love as we
have already 'cos we’ve done no promotion. It was basically trying to work on the
underdog angle of tings, which we definitely are. With him back hopefully that’s
what I think we’re gonna be doing for 2005, promoting the album to the hilt. 'Cos
I’m sure we could shift nuff units, it’s just about pushing it, pushing it,
pushing it. So apart from that really, hopefully just get back in the studio and
keep writing, even if it’s for solo stuff. Fly’s still making beats, there are
other people I’d like to work with. I know Jehst has got his thing set up now
and I’ve known Jehst for a long time so it’d be good to work with him. So yeah,
just hopefully more writing and more material.
"...as
long as you’ve got the ability to rhyme, you should be able to tackle anything..."
And finally, any shout outs you wanna make?
R: Shout outs, yeah, I gotta shout out Sundragon AKA Supa T for guesting on the
album, cos he blessed us. I gotta shout out A H Fly of course, our producer.
Evil Ed cos without him it never would have been possible. My whole Tongue Tied
staff and family, that’s Andrea, Danny T, Daz, my brother Black who handles our
website, and basically the whole Juggler street team. And of course to Ultra V,
big up, and you’ll be home soon blud.
Well, many thanks to Ricochet for taking time out to answer some questions.
Go cop the Slanguage album now, you won’t be disappointed.
-
Mike
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