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Push review
by Smiffy
Push review by Ghost © ukhh.com - 2004
interview 0203 added
10.06.04 words: Nikesh technical:
QED
You must have heard his name on all those
up-and-coming lists, seen him rock a gig
somewhere. Obviously you weren’t paying attention cos Yungun is here, has been
for a while and isn’t planning on going nowhere. After 12” releases with Mr
Thing and Lewis Parker, he’s setting his sights bigger with an album release
“The Essance” through Janomi records, constant live shows and a fully-fledged
album proper in the works.
I met up with Yungun in Camden’s World End to discuss the future, UK hip-hop’s
lack of fun and the essence of a good MC.
Introduce yourself
please...
Good afternoon all UKHH.COM people. My name is Yungun a.k.a. Essa. I have a crew
called Dupa Styles. My mission statement is to entertain, amuse and enlighten.
That’s what all my music is about. A bit of entertainment, something to think
about and something to keep people happy.
With Yungun, Essa, Chef YG, Nico Suave,
do you ever feel like you have borderline personality syndrome? Who are you most
days?
To be honest, Essa is probably the closest to me, because out of all those,
that’s my nickname, it’s what people have always called me. The origin is from
my last name and people kinda twisted it to become Essa. All those personalities
of me on wax are different moods that I’m in. I love cooking, I love getting
down. That’s Chef YG. I speak Spanish and I’ve got a smooth side and that’ll be
Nico Suave. Yungun, that’s the MC side of me. A real straight-spitting MC. Essa
is just me, personally.
If I came round for dinner, what would
you cook me?
I reckon it’d be a curry but seeing as you’re Asian, you’d probably laugh me
away cos your mum probably makes it ten times better than I do.
How did you get into rapping?
I got into rapping through a love of the music. I started really getting into
hip-hop in the mid-nineties. By the time of Illmatic, the first Wu Tang album,
the first Snoop album, the Chronic, the Redman albums out around then, that’s
when I was really getting into it. I remember listening to De La Soul when I was
a kid. Those are my influences. I used to listen to Max and Dave on Kiss, Choice
and 279, Westwood, all those shows anytime they were on and just absorb the
music. From that, I got into writing lyrics for a laugh. Then I met Devise and
all the people from Dupa Styles, and going round to this guy’s house in Harrow.
They set up Parlay FM, which was basically a bunch of us messing about on the
radio, playing the stuff we liked, doing some rapping and deejaying. I was 15
when I first starting doing that. It formed us into a group, which was Dupa
Styles. That was the birth of my style, it was the party atmosphere. I was 15, I
was enjoying my life, messing around. All I could think about was having fun.
"...I’d
like to see less division within the scene. A lot of people, who I think, don’t
have a good grasp of things, immediately see hip-hop as one form or another form..."
So you started through party raps…
Kind of. My lyrics back then were about party behaviour. It was a house party
with a radio transmitter on. There would be whole sections where we’d go outside
and have a barbeque or whatever, and we’d put on a whole side of a Funkmaster
Flex mixtape and come back half an hour later. We basically used to mess about
and that was the party style, which is Dupa Styles.
Any plans to put out some Dupa Styles
material?
Definitely. Devise is now gonna be a part of my live show. He’s gonna be backing
me up. I’ve got him in the studio a few times. Whether it’ll be Yungun featuring
Devise or Dupa Styles material, you’ll definitely see more of us together. He’s
on my current CD (“The Essance”) coming out in June. He’s also gonna be on my
next proper album.
In terms of your rapping style, how did
you evolve from rapping in your bedroom to doing showcases at the Jazz Café?
Basically, we used to build our skills by rapping in a cipher. Me Devise and M.E.
Moon. From doing that, we’d meet random people in clubs. Devise met Jargon in a
club ages ago and they clicked and we started doing ciphers with Mcs from other
crews. We formed an extended crew, which was Dupa Styles plus MI5 (Jargon,
Valiant and Diligence) and Ricochet from Universal Soldiers. We used to go round
to my house and just cipher together. All matching up our skills and then we
started going to as many open mics as we could. We used to look at other MCs and
look at what they were doing right, what they were doing wrong and we used to
build our skills. From there, we started meeting more people in the scene. The
first producer I ever linked with was Harry Love through friends of mine in West
London. He gave us some wicked beats and me and Devise started rhyming over
them. That progressed, we met more and more producers, I started doing my solo
material and it just kept rolling. Recently, I’ve been putting my stuff out with
Janomi, cos we have a good business relationship. That’s how the Jazz Café came
about. From doing a whole heap of shows and putting out material and supporting
that through shows, it progressed organically.
As a veteran of the open mic scene, how
do you think it has changed in the last ten years, bearing in mind 8 Mile and
the internet key-style revolution?
Well, when I first going to open mics, there was a still a lack of quality
around. I didn’t see many people who stood out to me. Anybody can get up on the
stage and rap. Sometimes we’d see good people like Chester P and Farma, other
times we’d see people who were just weak, people who just wanted to show off.
These days, what I see that is different is that younger people are doing it and
more people are doing it. The standard has gone up. The Kung-Fu open mic can be
of quite high standard. I’ve seen that change whilst Kung-Fu has been rolling.
There’s a lot more talent around. As for the web forum battles, I don’t rate
that. With MC’ing, the sound of what you do is as important as the content of
what you do. You could have a weak voice, weak flow, no rhythm and you could
still write down some lyrics that seem clever. I think the character and sound
of an MC is as important as everything else. To be fair, I haven’t checked out
that many forum battles.
Kinda related to that, what makes you
sit up and think “That guy’s got skills”?
Because of the kind of MC I am and the type of stuff I do, what I like is people
who rap with rhythm. A lot of rappers don’t know how to ride the beat with a lot
of rhythm. I like people who sit on the beat real nicely, who can make all their
syllables rhyme in a nice way. Just that and nothing is just dull though,
because it becomes just a technical skill. So, with that as a basic level of
skill and within that, I like people with character. Something about them that
makes your ears perk up. Something different about them so you can see some
personality coming across. Like a strong voice, or it might be the stuff they’re
talking about or their swagger. I’d say it’s some form of character in their
rhymes. My pet hate with rappers are people who haven’t got any neatness in
their rhymes. Untidy rappers get on my nerves. People who don’t know how to
finish off their bars properly or can’t rhyme to the beat. To me, that’s basic
ABC stuff. And you have to be original within that basic structure. Having said
that, there are some rappers who go in the face of all these things I’m saying
and I like them. I can’t explain it.
"...I’d like to see people get on a more energetic vibe, a
more lively vibe. I’d like to see more party music getting made..."
How did you hook up with Mr Thing and
put that whole live show together?
I met Mr Thing at various mics where I saw him deejaying. I must have met him
through Harry Love. I’d be at Harry’s house sometimes working and Mr Thing would
call up and play Harry a beat down the phone and Harry passed me the phone one
time, grinning and nodding his head. I heard it and thought that’s good. Harry
suggested to him he hook up with me. I remember one time, I saw Mr Thing in
Scala and I said “What have you been up to man?” and he said “Well, I just won
the DMC” and I felt like a chief!! That was a funny time. I went over to see Mr
Thing one time and he hit me with a CD of 30 beats, which were all sick. He had
beats for days. I played them to Devise and we were freestyling over some of
them, writing to them, developing some of the tracks you may have heard by now.
We made a few tunes and put them out, started doing shows together to promote
the songs. Now, I want him as my DJ. I’m getting into hosting stuff and I want
him as my DJ. We’ve formed a good working relationship and we’re really good
friends now. It’s all good. Big up to Thing!
Do you prefer working with a lot of
different people or do you like having the same people around you?
I now prefer to work with lots of people. On my album, there’s a core set of
producers who I’ve been working a lot with recently. Harry Love, who I’ve always
worked with, Mr Thing and Ben Grimm. I want to do a lot of stuff with all of
them. There’s a lot of producers out there with good stuff. Some people, I just
seem to really like the way they approach music. So I end up rapping over
different styles. Some producers, I might not like all their beats but I might
like one loads and want to use it. I’m open to anything. If any hot beat comes
my way, I’m on it. I’m not the kinda guy who’s tied down to one producer. I’m a
solo artist so I work with different producers. I do find that the same people
consistently hit me with wicked beats. I like to have a core of producers, but I
like to look here and there for interesting bits and bobs.
Who do you still want to work with?
I’m feeling Lewis Parker’s beats, Jehst’s beats, Rawdog. I’m feeling First Man…
I’m blatantly gonna forget someone… Joe Buhdha, who I haven’t linked. I like his
beats a lot. I’d like to link up with that guy. Ghost’s got some good beats.
Beyond There make some nice stuff. All kinds of producers. Out of the ones I
haven’t met up with: I’d like to meet up with C-Swing, Joe Buhdha, and whoever
else, someone out of the blue.
Tell us about the “Essance”. Most
people will be familiar with the 12”s. are there plans for an album proper or
did this set of songs always go together?
They didn’t always go together but they came around at the same time and while I
was in a general mood with making music so they sit together pretty well.
Basically, “The Essance” isn’t exactly an album but it isn’t just a random
collection of songs. I put out some 12s and some different projects and I wanted
to gather it together as a longer body of work, put something on CD for those
who don’t pick up records. And add on some unreleased tracks that people
wouldn’t have heard before. The result is the “Essance”, out on the 7th June on
Janomi. I don’t know what to call it. A dude from Da Luniz once put out an album
called “Thugged Out: The Albu-lation” and I like that. I kinda think this is an
“albu-lation” cos it ain’t an album and it ain’t a compilation. It’s somewhere
in-between. It’s a taster of things to come. I’m already 15 tracks deep into a
proper album, which will be a full-fledged debut.
When’s that gonna drop?
I dunno. Stayed tuned. When it does drop, the impact… is gonna shake the floor.
You won’t miss it.
Who is producing on that?
There’ll certainly be some stuff from the holy trinity (Harry, Thing, Grimm).
There’ll be stuff from some of the other producers I’ve just mentioned. Maybe
some unexpected people as well as some unusual. You’ll have to wait on that. I
aim to have some nice tasty treats in store.
What are some of the lyrical themes
that’s going on in the “Essance” and what other themes can we expect from you?
The main thing I try and achieve with my rhyming is that I want to be an
all-rounder. I’ve got a lot of senseless fun jokey tunes which are about
partying and liveliness. Basically it’s just the sound of it I’m trying to deal
with. Then there’s stuff that’s more deep and thoughtful, like “Liquid Love”.
It’s a story rap. There’s a track on there where I rap in Spanish. I’m trying to
show people I can do most styles.
"...The main thing I try and achieve with my rhyming is
that I want to be an all-rounder..."
How do you think UK hip-hop has
progressed from when you started rapping to now?
It’s grown in size. There’s a lot more people putting records out. It went
through a strong phase when people decided to put out their own records. Now,
sometimes, I think a few too many people do that. Or they put stuff out before
they’re ready cos a lot of people have learnt how to put out a record. They
should still be building in a studio before coming out. Having said that, the
amount of quality acts has just grown. Plus, you’re getting labels that are a
bit more consistent, like Low Life, YNR, Janomi or whatever. I’ve still not seen
the massive smash hit in the charts unless you include Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, So
Solid Crew in the UK hip-hop banner. I sometimes do that because I see their
mentality behind is a hip-hop thing. The scene still has a lot of space to grow.
What would you like to see from the
scene in the next five years?
From outside the scene, I’d like to see people invest in it more and take an
interest in it. That will only be a reaction to what is it. Within the scene,
I’d like to see people get on a more energetic vibe, a more lively vibe. I’d
like to see more party music getting made. Not just music about partying, but
music that makes you want to party. I’d also like to see people being more
consistent. If that all happens, other people are going to want to invest in it
more. I want to see the scene grow out more, I’d like to see other people get
into it cos it has those common elements of fun to it, which it needs.
More into the public eye…?
Definitely. I’ll tell you one thing: I’d like to see less division within the
scene. A lot of people, who I think, don’t have a good grasp of things,
immediately see hip-hop as one form or another form. They see the over-ground
music and the underground scene and they don’t see artists as being able to be
on both those territories at once. They put you in a pigeonhole straight away. I
want to see people not assuming too much about certain types of music and giving
it a chance. A lot of people assume you can’t make party records because you’re
an underground artist. Or you can’t make deep records if you’re an over-ground
artist. To me, over-ground/underground, it’s all the same. It’s all music. A lot
of people in this country see hip-hop as a little scene and a little community
they can latch on to. It’s cool but it can sometimes hold itself within that
circle. I would like to see that expanded and become open-minded.
Who are your rap influences?
As an MC, Big L, Jay-Z, Blak Twang. I used to love listening to Twang, Rodney P
and Skinny. Redman, Nas, Black thought from the Roots. Those are my main
influences. The US ones are the ones whose music i really liked and the UK ones
showed that people over here could do it the same. My influences are my peers.
Devise, one of my biggest influences. I like a lot of neo-soul music, like
D'Angelo, Dwele. I also like classic soul records, like Marvin Gaye. He has so
much passion behind him and i find that inspiring.
"...I kinda think this is an “albu-lation” cos it ain’t an
album and it ain’t a compilation..."
Who do you rate at the moment?
Right now, Ty is killing it. he's done something good. you can see he's taken
his stuff up a level. Mystro is smashing it. Jehst is consistently really hot.
Terra Firma have come on to the scene with masses of energy and flair. Doc
Brown, I'm feeling right now. one of the most passionate people around right
now. That'll do for the moment.
Any shameless plugs or shoutouts:
“The Essance,” 7th June, Janomi Records. Watch out for the debut album soon
coming and there may be some tasty treats in between. Shout outs: refer to track
15 on the “Essance”. It's called out and my shout-outs are in there. to anybody
I forgot, I'm sorry man. but listen closer and you might hear your name in
there.
There you go. Buy it on June 7th. Yungun’s going big places, he has the
potential to blow UK hip-hop open wide for the outside world to taste a bit. You
get the big idea.
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