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  Underground Alliance Interview
interview 0310 added 02.06.05 words: Nikesh
technical:
QED
Boasting more members than the population of your average
village in rural Gujarat, Underground Alliance have oodles of
talent on display. Featuring excellent rappers such as Skrein
and Prem-C, impressive turntablists in the Beat Brickies and
links with those excellent folks over at Rare Kind and Dented
Records, these boys have the will and the manpower to make it
big. Without using the analogy “throw enough shit at it and some
of it will stick” in a malicious way, I mean to say that Undali
have something for everyone. Whether it’s the street wisdom and
dark humour of Skrein’s eloquent rhymes, or Wytfang’s strictly
underground productions or even DJ Moodie’s excellent cuts, they
represent enough of a spectrum for every hip-hop fan to find
something they like.
After a series of screw-ups, involving Undali descending on my
friend’s house whilst I waited for them in a bar and other
organisation nightmares (you try getting a 15 strong collective
into one room), we decided it was best to do this over e-mail.
Hell, it even saved me hours of transcribing time cos boy, these
cats have a lot to say…
Check it: DJ Moodie, DJ Blunted Needles, Skrein, Wytfang and
Doobie all cropped up with someone to say on their Underground
Alliance.
Introduce yourselves and the members of your multi-faceted
clique...
 Doobie: My name’s Strappa Doobie aka Doobious Gryme, but the
heads just call me Doobs. I'm one of the original founding 4
members of Undali, alongside DJs Moodie, Blunted Needlez and
Colombo Majik (The Beat Brickies). I grew up with Blunted (our
parents were friends before we were born), went primary and
secondary school with DefDFirez and also met Skrein and Las when
I was about 10 or 11. Gringo's my younger brother so he's always
been involved to some degree. At about 16/17 ('98/'99), I met 'Lumbo
and Moods through Blunted when I started 6th form at La SWAP
(where I also met Louis Slippaz, Elmore Judd and Supar Novar)
and established the name Underground Alliance in 2000 by putting
on weekly Hip-Hop nights in Tufnell Park.
“...We try and
keep it snappy with not too much chatting shit between tunes.
You have to remember that as a performer, people are paying
their spare cash to see you...”
After quitting my A'
Levels, I went to City and Islington College on Holloway Rd,
where I met Graziella and Wyt-Fang and I also linked up with
Skrein again after having lost touch during our teens. Then,
when Skrein moved in with Chef D, I was introduced to Prem C,
Thre and the rest of TMF. In 2003, after releasing the
Basementality 2 CD, I started a Commercial Music course at
Westminster University and that's where I met the eccentric
genius that is Jimmy Wha'Gwan who introduced us to the rest of
Contact Play. The rest is History.
Skrein: My name is Skrein and although I am respected for my
rapping ability, my main asset is being a dinnerlady casnova,
being able to pimp so many dinnerladies is not easy. But, you
know… I survive.
Wytfang: I am Wytfang, Producer and part time Emcee of the clan.
Moodie: I am DJ Moodie AKA Jimmy Spinna. I am one third of the
Turntablist Trio, The Beat Brickies, along with Blunted Needles
and Colombo Majik and Underground Alliance DJ. I co-founded
Underground Alliance alongside the Beat Brickies and Doobie in
2000 since when we have grown into the click we are today.
Blunted: Blunted Needles, part of the Beat Brickies trio.
How did such a huge group of people hook up? Do you manage to
cover all 5 elements?
Doobie: I rep Love, Peace, Unity, Wisdom, Knowledge and
Understanding, those are the essential elements of Hip-Hop to
me. We ain’t really got any Breakers or Beatboxers in the crew,
but before Undali was even a twinkle in the milkman’s eye, I was
runnin with Rare Kind, a graf crew who made a name for
themselves in London in the 90's. They now own the UK’s No. 1
Graffiti Gallery by the same name based in Brighton.
Skrein: We rep all nine elements fool! I thought you knew!
 Moodie: We started as a DJ crew back in 2000 putting on club
nights and just having a laugh really. We met a lot of people
through doing these nights and through college and anyone who we
felt was on a similar wavelength and representing UK Hip Hop
with flare, we started to work with. It was a natural
progression in a lot of ways. Underground Alliance is an
umbrella for a lot of artists doing a range of artforms. A lot
of the people we are associated such as Rare Kind are doing
their own things, but are still strongly associated with Undali.
I consider anyone to have helped out in anyway as part of the
alliance. This includes graffers (the Rare Kind boys), graphic
designers, such as Sam at Meercat Design, who does the Beat
Brickies artwork, film/video makers, and anyone else who chips
in, although music is our main focus and linking force.
What is your plan in terms of project releases? Is Undali an
umbrella for a bunch of solo artists or are there plans to
release proper Undali albums?
Doobie: The next 12 months should see a lot more solo releases.
So far, we can definitely predict a 7" from Skrein feat. Supar
Novar called "Idols", due for release 11th July and September
should see a new Beat Brickie Mix CD from Blunted Needlez,
featuring all your favourite artists and a 12" from Thre, all
produced by Blunted. We're currently working on Skrein's Mix CD
"The Eat Up" due for release later this year alongside his next
12". There's also talk of releases from Contact Play, Graziella,
DefDFirez and of course the Basementality EP pt. 2. Hopefully
this time next year we'll have an Undali Album ready for
release.
Wytfang: Personally I am looking to drop a shed load of shit
this year, with Undali and on my lonesome. I have production all
over the gaff in the UK & US coming soon…
Moodie: The good thing about Underground Alliance is there are
no rules. Most people in Undali are working on solo projects, or
mini group projects, such as the Beat Brickies, Blunted and Thre,
the Def’Defiers etc but on top of that we are planning official
group albums too. There will also be any combination of artists
working together within the clique and collaborations with
people outside it too. Such as on my CD ‘Construction Skillz’
there are a range of rappers from outside Undali, alongside a
load of Undali tracks.
Blunted: This is going to be a big year for us. We have all been
in different parts of the country for a while, but we will all
be back in town in a few months so some proper Undali stuff is
definitely on the cards.
Tell us about the releases so far and what you feel you have
achieved with them?
Doobie: Well, we released the Basementality 2 CD at the start of
2003, really just to prove to our selves and each other that we
could actually achieve something amazing as a group if we really
put our heads to it. After that everything changed. Suddenly we
had stepped into the game and had to get up to speed with the
rest of the competition, but still really didn't have a clue
about what we were doing. We had a lot of material ready to
release and knew we had to get some vinyl out but didn't have
the funds or the know-how to get it together. We gathered cash
together (as we had done for the CD before) to put out one
record, but Skrein had a lot of solo material ready and after
the popularity of his track on the Foreign Beggars album,
Orifice offered to put out his solo 12" on Dented. This helped
us out in a lot of ways as not only did we get to put out
another release at the same time, but also through seeing how
Dented orchestrated a release we were introduced to important
people behind the scene, like Mr. Lawson from Gameplan
Promotions and Dat from Dat Sound.
“...You link
wid people when you respect them as artists but you have to
connect wid them as people first and foremost...”
 It was a standard choice to
hook up with Foreign Beggars and the Dat Sound crew (Excalibah,
Shameless, Skully) when we put together the Basementality Tour
with the guys from Padded Cell who'd helped us out with funding
for the E.P. The Tour was a relative success. Highlights were
Brighton, Nottingham and Newcastle (which wasn't on the official
flyer- but has the best vibes in the country). Prem had recorded
some tracks with the Beggars a few years ago when we first met,
but they had been left half finished. I thought the shit was
dope so encouraged him to finish it and put it out on the label.
It received excellent reviews, better than we had hoped, but the
Radio response was worse than we'd expected. No love- mainly
because Itch was off air for most of the promo campaign, but
generally the radio DJs weren't backing it which is a shame.
Then, of course, we have DJ Moodie "UK turntablism’s rising
star" I do believe they called him (too fuckin right). Moods has
been workin real hard and the mixtape reflects that, our most
professional release to date. I was very proud to have that on
the Undali roster and hope to see some sales figures that
reflect the excellent reviews it received.
Skrein: I feel we have made people realise we are serious about
this rapping shit but they still ain't seen the best of us, wait
and see the ill shit we’re doing in 2015, bwoy!
Moodie: The releases so far have only really been an
introduction to Undali. They have been a way to get our name out
there and get people talking a little bit. That’s all. In the
big scheme of things I don’t feel we have achieved that much. We
are not making a living of this shit yet. When we get to that
stage then I’ll feel like I am or we are getting somewhere. In
the mean time we are just going to continue to try and release
good quality music and go from there. We are in this for the
long haul though and you gotta start off somewhere. I feel we
are in a good position to take it further than a lot of people
have because we are very focused and are learning a lot about
the industry all the time.
“...The UK
scene has definitely upped its game in the last year but I don’t
think its quite at the stage yet where artists can make any
money off of it...”
I think that is where a lot of people
have struggled in the UK. It is not a lack of talent, but a lack
of infrastructure for Underground Hip Hop in the UK. And because
these artists don’t know how to promote and market themselves
properly, it’s hard for them to make a real impact. With Undali
Records we are trying to address this issue. We are like, fuck
that, we aren’t going to wait for someone to come along and say
‘here’s a record deal’, or ‘here’s how you do this and that and
here’s some money to do it’. We are gonna do it ourselves and
make mistakes and learn from them and do it better next time.
It’s a long process and takes time but I feel there is more
longevity in the way we are going about things. I guess we will
find out in years to come.
What is each member of Undali famous for? Who is the biggest
diva?
Skrein: I’m blatantly the biggest diva. Have you seen my tech
rider? I wont perform unless the whole backstage is cleared and
the floors are scattered with rose petals like in 'Coming to
America'. The royal penis is now clean"... hell yeah!
 Wytfang: Moodie can have his moments but so can we all…I used to
be known as a bit of a bum but I started to wash and shit
changed. I don’t drink or chuff weed no more so that cant be
bad.
Moodie: The good thing about Underground Alliance is there is
such a range of talents. We recognize that we are stronger
together than on our own, but we all bring something new to the
table.
What is the current state of play in UK hip-hop in march 2005?
Doobie: If you have to ask that you must have been sleeping for
the last year or so
cos it's here to stay and getting bigger by the day. There ain’t
a doubt in my mind about this shit, truss. This is a critical
time for the music industry. All these independent companies
sprouting up all over the place are setting the scene for a
serious industrial revolution, we just have to be able to keep
up with it.
Wytfang: The UK scene has definitely upped its game in the last
year but I don’t think its quite at the stage yet where artists
can make any money off of it. There is only a handful selling
shit loads. I want to be in a position where we can put out 5000
units of a release and have it sell quite easily, not to
struggle to shift 1000 12”s. The scene needs more fans and I
think we need to stop separating hip-hop and UK hip-hop,
otherwise the general public wont dip in an test the UK’s music.
“...Suddenly
we had stepped into the game and had to get up to speed with the
rest of the competition, but still really didn't have a clue
about what we were doing...”
Moodie: I hear this question being asked a lot but find it quite
difficult to answer. It is hard to categorise UK hip-hop these
days. There is more cross over shit touching on the mainstream
than I can ever remember, which I think is a very positive sign.
UK hip hop in the past has been too angry for it’s own good.
Roots Manuva’s album (“Awfully Deep”) was the highest selling UK
hip-hop album of all time, which says something. Overall I think
that it is definitely improving, both musically and
commercially, but there is still a lot of unseen talent too.
Where do you see yourselves at the end of the year?
Doobie: At the end of the year we'll be 6 months closer to our
goals and hopefully at the real end of the year (new years),
I'll be in Peru blazin a big ol' zooty of the real high grade.
Skrein: Same way I was at the beginning of this year… looking to
elevate.
Wytfang: Whatever Skrein said…
Moodie: Doing the same shit different day.
Performing regularly with Foreign Begz and DAT Sounds people,
how did you hook up with them?
Skrein: You link wid people when you respect them as artists but
you have to connect wid them as people first and foremost. Wid
dem, they’re good people so it was only natural we hooked up.
Moodie: Personally I hooked up with the Beggars through Doobs
and Skrein. Skrein did a track with them (“Mind Out”) for their
album and I really got to know them properly during our tour and
then on their tour where me and Skrein did a lot of shows. It
was wicked, we had a proper laugh. They are cool guys and put on
a sick live show. As for the Dat Sounds Crew, Dat was doing our
DJ mailouts and we decided to get his boys supporting for our
tour.
“...Underground
Alliance is an umbrella for a lot of artists doing a range of
artforms...”
What are your project plans for the year?
Skrein: Perform, perform, perform...
Wytfang: I want to keep producing & putting out wax. That’s what
I’m here for. I’d like to boost Headnod.co.uk and Filthy Habits
too, I’ve got 6-7 releases coming out via Filthy Habits this
year, it’s going to be a struggle methinks.
Moodie: We got a Skrein 7” coming out soon, then probably
Blunted Needles mixtape -that’s gonna be a sick one- another
Skrein 12” and that’s all that’s 100% definitely. There is nuff
stuff being worked on all the time though. We just have to
decide how and when to release it. Oh and get the funds too. So
if you feel our shit, buy it, cos if you don’t, we cant release
anymore… you get me. We are broke and trying to scrape together
cash all the time.
 Blunted: I’m working on a couple of projects at the moment. My
mixtape should be in stores next year followed something me and
Thre are working on. There is a lot to come so keep your eyes
peeled.
What is your approach to live shows?
Doobie: Eat it up.
Skrein: Smash em 2 fuckery!
Wytfang: Fall off the wagon and wreck any/all shows.
Moodie: For our live shows we generally try to make our
performances entertaining, with a lot of energy, and some crowd
participation. We try and keep it snappy with not too much
chatting shit between tunes. You have to remember that as a
performer, people are paying their spare cash to see you. We try
and give 'em their moneys worth by performing, rather than
dissing the crowd or preaching too much which I have seen a lot
of rappers do.
Blunted: Keep it party, up-tempo, keep people moving, you know,
having fun. For me, that’s what it’s about.
Any final shout-outs/shameless plugs...
Doobie: Big up Stig. Peep
www.undali.com,
www.beatbrickies.com,
www.headnod.co.uk and
www.rarekind.co.uk.
Skrein: Big up all the dinnerladies out there that I’ve ever
known.. Big up all the dinnerladies I don’t know yet but soon
will… We live for hip-hop.
Wytfang: Keep supporting us and we will only raise that bar. I
want to say thanks to all that have bought/stolen an Undali
release and say thanks to those who have shown love and bought
anything from www.headnod.co.uk, we have loads more to come. I
have the Conflix/Last Skeptik 12” dropping on Filthy Habits
alongside releases from Icon the Mic King, Matlock, K-the-I,
Baby J, Orphan & of course the Neanderthal Youth/Wytfang 7”
coming this year so cop them when they come… Peace
Moodie: Yeah, my CD, DJ Moodie’s ‘Construction Skillz’ is OUT
NOW. Nuff Undali tracks, as well as features from mans like Task
Force, Foreign Beggars, Skinnyman, Supar Novar, Braintax, Rodney
P and DJ Mentat. There are some really good tracks on it pick
one up at Headnod.co.uk. Peace.
Blunted: Watch out for the Blunted Needles Mix-tape coming
soon... Blunted and Thre 12"s on their way!
Thanks to Wytfang for coordinating this and to the boys for
their time. Go cop Skrein and Prem-C’s 12”s and any of the Beat
Brickies mixes. Some quality ish right there.
-
Nikesh Shukla
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