Mikel Ameen Interview

Mikel Ameen is one of the leading battlers on the UK scene. We speak to the man himself about recording, why he got into battling, performing with established acts and the feedback on his first CD!

 

Mikel Ameen, when did you first start rapping and how?

 

I started rapping in primary school when my teacher told us to write poems about our favourite things. But I started taking music seriously when I was 16

 

You’re an established battler right now, but what did you start doing? Battling or recording?

I started recording first since I was 14. I only ever got into battling as a joke to win money. 

You’ve been doing the rounds on the live circuit as well, supporting people like Immortal Technique and Wu-Tang Clan. What’s it like sharing the stage with legends like that?

 

It was a real great experience; it let me know that I can successfully rock a big crowd.  

 

Did any of them hear your music or give you any feedback?

 

Yeah I was talking with the managers of Wu-Tang Clan and he gave me some real good advice; I was just spitting rhymes for him and I also gave him a promo cd. 

 

So what projects have you put out in the past and where can we get them from?

 

My first cd is out now and available. To buy from iTunes and all good digital download sites.  

 

Where they well received?

 

Yeah!! The feed back was great, people love the content, I even had people that never knew me buy the cd because the packaging is one of a kind, and people had never seen it before. 

 

There was a beef with fellow UK rapper Arkaic was there not? Can you elaborate on how that started and is it still going on?

 

Nah man, that’s a fairytale!

 

What project are you working on now?

My next project is a promo cd entitled Fu8ers. This is a free mix cd I will distribute whilst I prepare my album and its singles. It’s going to be BIG!

Also look out for my new single with Dionne Reid, DRUG DEALER which you can hear on the upshot website. 

Where can we get in touch with you online?

 

www.itsupshot.com 

 

Do you have any shout outs or last words?

YEAH BIG UP THE AMEEN DREAM. UPSHOT BABY – FU8ERS.

NO DUMB BUMS WE AIN’T! BO!

 

Jaze Juce

There are some exceptionally talented guys in the battle scene, and we caught up with Jaze Juce to chat about freestyling, battling, recording and whether lyrics are important in hip hop today!

 

Jaze Juce, you’re from the home of hip hop, New York. Is it coming back to the lyrics in rap right now?

 

Honestly, I don’t feel lyrics were ever out of the picture in NY, maybe just out of the spotlight. NY has a deep tradition of hip-hop and that includes raw lyricism. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s Raw MC’s became household names, and that is in recent memory for a lot of NY hip-hop  heads. 
However, when the mainstream rap game shifted away from the potent lyrics and moved more in the direction of commercialized products, dances etc, NY seemed a bit assed out. After all, what  were the Nas’ of the game supposed to do in such a climate? MC’s like Jay-Z and 50 cent obviously changed with the times and made a huge mark for NY, but the market changed so MC’s dedicated to writing sharp rhymes had to find a different table to eat at so to speak.

 

You’ve got people like Slaughterhouse blowing up, real lyrical cats! What’s it like on the underground though? Who’s really killing it out there?

 

NY has really so many people in general it is actually overcrowded with talent. That is hardly the perception of NY in the global hip-hop community, but NY has such variety that almost entirely different worlds all intertwine in one mega-hip-hop community. Nowhere else can you find someone like Arsenol or Head Ice pushing thousands of mixtapes in the streets only 105 miles away from a buzzing movement like The Brown Bag Allstars, something altogether different yet very dope. As far as moving units, being from Yonkers it is glaringly apparent to me that D Block is a force to be reckoned with in the underground.  Slaughterhouse as you mentioned is powerful. The list is to long to even address really.  Nobody is really dominating all across the board. Underground fans have favourites, mixtape  fans have favourites and mainstream fans have favourites. Certain cats have pockets of heavy movement, I don’t think any individual artist or group is what really needs to kill the scene right now, unity is the next big step for NY, not artists. We have a lot of artists here, now let’s work together and co-exist.

 

You’re heavy on the battles. What’s your technique when it comes to freestyling?

 

Free-styling is like debating. You make observations, you listen you look you feel the situation out and just never stop responding. Sometimes ignoring things that are irrelevant is important. Offence can be more important than defence. It really depends on the situation.

Think of words in your head you want to say, think of general ideas and approaches to  situations and keep that approach in your mind and allow the words to formulate and just

follow the sounds. 

 

You also host the things, what’s the importance of a host in a battle in your opinion?

 

A host hypes the live crowd up for the battle. If a host is putting people to sleep, the audience is not going to really pay attention to the battle. Further, a good host can attract people who are not interested in battling into the battle scene because the entertainment value is the hook that baits em in.

 

 

There was the legendary moment back in 07 with the Arkaic/Eurgh battle. After that, have you checked any UK rappers out, and if so what do you think to the scene out here?

 

Truthfully, I am not very educated on the scene out in U.K. At the end of the day a battle is a battle and I have the utmost respect for the U.K. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, it’s what you bring to the table. Going into the 07 battles I had a great deal of respect for Possessed from Rhyme Asylum. Without knowing too many artists off hand who are wrecking shit out there, I would not be surprised at all to discover a multitude of hardcore rappers from U.K. who deserve spotlight.

 

Battle rappers seldom make a successful transition to recording artists, have you had any projects out in the past?

 

I am a recording machine. I have countless tracks/songs and am always open for collaborating with all different creeds colours and nationalities. The most recent work I released was a collaboration mixtape with World Rap Championship partner Frankie Wapps called “This is Only the Beginning.” This mixtape is available for free download online at

www.eqjonez.com/mixtape. 

 

Are you working on any records currently?

 

I am currently working on a number of projects including a fusion hip-hop project, a collaboration mixtape with Complex, another collaboration mixtape with Abstract Vision, and also work regularly with Ova Ya Head Productions, Shake Em Down Music, DJ Dea Arthur and a whole list of others.

 

Where do you want to be this time next year?

 

I would like to be in California smoking some Purple Kush.

 

Where can we check you out online?

 

To follow my music keep in tune with my myspace, my soundclick, my twitter, and my

youtube
www.myspace.com/jazejuce
www.soundclick.com/jazejuce
www.twitter.com/jazejuce
www.youtube.com/jazejuce

 

Do you have any shout outs or last words?

 

Yeah shout outs to the U.K. shout outs to Yonkers, Complex, Abstract Vision, Roosevelt, imaredo, Friday Da 13th, Chuck Black, Uncle Nephew Films. Cortez, Murda Ave Gang. Hollow da Don L.O.M. Frankie Wapps, my man Nick in jail right now. My family my friends my girl. The Whole Beast Coast movement. The Fresh Coast, Lush One. Dizaster, all the hungry artists out there, the established artists who still keep the artform first and foremost. Shout outs to everybody working hard in this economy. Get it how you live it. Shout outs to Theheaviestinterviews. Shout outs to Smoove1 productions. Shake Em Down, Highlight beats. Dj Dea Arthur. Mic Fiend, Omen, Scoop Jackson, Noncentz, shoutouts to the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten, Mt Vernon, New Rochelle, White Plains, upstate, Amazin Crack, Philly, Jersey, Delaware, Detroit, Florida, Chicago, PA, Canada, Australia, shout outs to jumpoff.tv, Sub-Zero, grindtimenow, everybody. It’s everything! If I forgot you, you know you deserve a shout out and i’ll catch you on the flipside. PEACE!

 

Professor Green Interview

If you’re into your UK battle rap and you haven’t heard of Professor Green you must have been under a rock. We catch up with him to talk about the infamous Jin battle, the UK scene compared to that in America, what he’s going to be up to this year and also about Egg Yolks. Intrigued? Read on!

Professor Green, you’re one of the most well known British battle rappers, competing in many competitions over the past few years. How did you first get into the battle circuit?

I saw a poster by Farringdon for Lyric Pad, and I told my peoples and we wandered down there. I think it was either a Tuesday or Thursday night. I battled there, and to my surprise, I won! The rest is, to coin a cliché, history!

 

Professor Green

 

 

Was there a big scene where you grew up? You were brought up in Hackney if my memory serves me well! Has that got a big hip hop culture?

In the early days it was Ragga and jungle. Don’t get me wrong, hip hop was always big as well. After that came garage, and then that was followed by grime. It was all prominent, apart from with the orthodox Jews in Upper Clapton, they prefer dubstep.

Ha! You also battled some of the biggest US MC’s in your time as well, including acclaimed battler Jin. Did you feel any pressure before battling him, or did you approach him like any other opponent?

In the Bahamas I was cool with it, although I wasn’t in the best headspace after all the fuckery that went on when I was battling Serius. You can hear in the audio clip that I get stopped half way through a verse for some bullshit reason. They made up a new rule half way through my verse. Apparently we had to stay on our own sides of the ring… that threw me off a little. It was also bullshit that Jin only had to battle whoever got to the final. The rest of us had qualified to be there, and he should have been in the mix from the beginning, no one should only have to battle once for £50k!

Definitely! That does seem a bit unfair. Do you think that has anything to do with the difference in exposure? The US scene is undeniably bigger than the UK scene, do you see that ever changing?

 

Professor Green in Amsterdam

 

Nah I don’t. Our country is the size of an American state, it is just not possible. It’s always going to relate to more people over there in the States because it’s where hip hop came from originally. I was over in Miami recently and the vibe in hip hop clubs over there is completely different, even the men dance! Everyone knows every word to every song… the vibe’s insane! That said, we’re definitely making moves as artists into their scene!

Yeah, there’s a lot of activity on the UK scene at the moment. Which artists are you listening to?

In all honesty I’m so busy right now that I’m not listening to much! I also tend to listen to other types of music for inspiration when I’m writing. I listen to a lot of singer-songwriters and a lot of atmospheric stuff. I think N-Dubz are killing it, Tinchy’s killing it, they’re both killing it together! Dizzee’s gone more dance but it’s working, I’m not on the ‘he’s not grime anymore’ bandwagon. He always made dance music, he’s just more obvious about it now. I’ve heard some interesting Streets stuff recently, it’s like the old vibe with a more intricate flow. I think whats changed is I’m not really watching the underground so much. I can’t be dealing with hearing about cyborgs and the like, I can’t relate, UK Hip Hop wise I mean. Ghetts is on fire, Wretch 32 is fucked, Scorcher’s flying, Bashy and Tinie are moving. The good artists are pushing hard. I’m excited to get involved again after such a long hiatus.  

Of course you were signed to The Streets label at one time, and what followed after that folded was you couldn’t get your masters back. Those seemed a pretty rubbish time back then! Did that inspire you to come back with a vengeance?

It just made me push. I got my masters back in the end and all is rosy. That’s old now, and I’m not a bitter person. If I was to look back now it just means that I miss what’s ahead, and that’s not my ting.

Cool, so you did move ahead and release The Green EP. What’s the response to that been like?

It’s been amazing to be honest. I’ve found my sound now. Obviously that’ll change with time but right now I’m comfortable with where I’m at creatively. Adele even got in touch to thank me for using her song and to say how much she loved what I did with it! I thought that was amazing of her! The only problem was not being able to clear that and the intro ‘Don’t Let Go’ so it had to be a pretty low level release. People are beginning to hear it now and I’ve not heard a bad word about it which is good!

Adele’s definitely talented! Have you got any plans to do anything original with her?

I do know that she is really busy but I do hope that we can get a chance to work together before my albums done! I think that we could produce something massive sat in the studio together!

Is that what’s going to follow the EP? There’s a lot of buzz surrounding the album from what I’m hearing!

Nah, ‘Lecture #2’ is going to be a free download. There will be a CD version I’m sure, but I’m happy just to get people up to date with where I’m at now and let them enjoy the music for the moment. June 8th is the ‘Hard Night Out’ CDs, ‘Lecture #2’ will follow that. I’m thinking about just hitting hard with singles this year to be honest, the album can come next year! I’m looking at everything that I do between now and the album as promo. All I was ever missing was consistency and product, now I have an abundance of material, therefore consistency will not be an issue. I’m not stopping until i get there now!

Big! So, where can we check you out then, where can we get all the latest news from Professor Green?

http://www.professorgreen.co.uk currently goes to my MySpace but that’s changing shortly. So, I’ll say that there is your best bet for now! There will be lots of new shit shortly though!

Have you got any words for our readers?

Egg Yolk has no goodness in it but it tastes damn good.