Now Signed To Blackmail Records 100%

It’s been a while coming since the ‘So Much Drama' and ‘Ellache' but it must have been frustrating, how did you keep yourself motivated musically?
Having positive people around me, people who genuinely give a f**k, my mates inspired me, kept me going through a rough period. Also feedback from fans on things like soundclick.. Bebo, um.. Just people saying positive things. It was hard at times, but I never doubted myself, I always knew I could do it (get the new album started).

How are you looking to promote the album?
We're going to do a tour around locally, standardly. Blackmail have put a lot of work into everything. Just working it and the streets, y'know... The streets are watching, man.

You’ve made your feelings on major labels pretty clear in the past, has anything changed there and why the hook up with Blackmail? I mean they’re not necessarily a major label in the music industry, but in Hip Hop, they are...
Business mate, that’s pretty much what it comes down to. I’ll be honest with you, there are so many reasons why it happened on this label, and I can’t even really go into it. And I appreciate what they’re doing, they’ve put their money where there mouth is and i've got confidence in every other artist on the label, trying to expose em to different markets… Making moves.

Do you like Grime?
Yeah, course I like Grime man! I’m friends with enough of them mans anyway.

Is there anyone you would be interested in working with?
Definitely. A lot of them, in terms of production I’ve been looking to do something with Sin for a while, we're mates anyway, but he’s given me a lot of beats and it’s due to me being a bit too laid back that nothings happened. Who else? …hmm, maybe Phobia, Deuce, White Swan.

Even though Hip Hop is the world’s most popular music, homegrown artists are for the most part still failing to make an impact on the mainstream, why do you think that problem persists?
Ahhh… too many factors man. I’m not even sure where to start, there’s one theory, where they (record labels / music industry) are trying to churn these artists out to quickly, rather than developing artists from the ground up they’re trying to push things through to quickly. And now there’s this trend where these major labels will put loads of money into acts and then actually present them from a ground level-putting f**k loadsa' money into them and then release these sh*tty little mix CDs. Then they’ll ask me to jump on a track to add credibility, but I’m not interested in being a part of their lies. The infrastructure is still lacking, it comes down to development in the end.

What annoys me are these one album or even single deals I keep hearing about, no major labels seem to be willing to nurture an artist with a 2-3 album deal, and let them grow more naturally. While the opposite seems to be happening within the Indie scene. Success has to be very immediate with UK Hip Hop.
Exactly, I mean even pop music, some pop was actually decent back in the day, but now record labels are spreading the equivalent of 3 budgets on 15 or 16 different artists to find a star. Also, it’s now a lot easier for people to make music, everyone’s a producer or MC these days. I mean hahahaha, it makes me laugh when I see these little kids on Channel U spending money on videos and the equipment, Myspace and what not and a lot of people are flooding the market with sh*t stuff.

I see what you mean, the distinction between rapper / producer and even critic-to-fan has blurred since the digital revolution. Ok, moving on a bit what’s the situation with MobScene now?
Hmmm, I knew this was coming. Blackmail is here man! Obviously Melo'D the Mob, said he didn’t want to be in the group no more. But Effektiv and me are working on new material that should be out in the next few months. It's all about Blackmail now, baby.

So how ar

Main Genres

Where'd You Go (Ft. Lisa Gallo)
# 636 in HipHop (highest position was 604). Total songs: 1,173,770
# 29 in Positive Vibes (highest position was 29). Total songs: 21,311



Sub-Genres

I Care
# 185 in New School (highest position was 112). Total songs: 72,805

Acoustic Godfather
# 297 in Alternative Hip Hop (highest position was 77). Total songs: 83,219

Man 4 The Job Freestyle
# 410 in Hip Hop General (highest position was 410). Total songs: 684,691

Ruthless
# 702 in Hardcore Rap (highest position was 43 . Total songs: 154,457



Previously Charting
These songs have previously been on the charts.

Defying Expression
# 1,675 in HipHop. Total songs: 1,173,770
# 37 in Positive Vibes. Total songs: 21,311

Freestyle (Ft. Shadow)
# 384 in Hip Hop General. Total songs: 684,691

Living A Chess Game
# 866 in HipHop. Total songs: 1,173,770
# 281 in Hip Hop General. Total songs: 684,691

Mad World (Ft. Gary Jules)
# 538 in HipHop. Total songs: 1,173,770
# 297 in Hip Hop General. Total songs: 684,691