Happy New Year everyone!
What a great year for music 2017 was for London!
LONDON MAYOR SADIQ KHAN WAS DOWN AT THE MTV EMA AWARDS AT WEMBLEY ARENA.
My favourite event, if I had to choose just one…and there were so many from the grime festivals and so many more twos year, were the MTV EMA AWARDS 2017 at Wembley SSE Arena on November 12th.
At the world famous Wembley Arena and hosted by West London’s very own Rita Ora, it featured more acts than i have seen in one night all year!
With performances by Stormzy, Camila Cabello, Eminem, David Guetta, The Killers, Travis Scott, Rita Ora, Liam Payne, U2, French Montana, Clean Bandit, Zara Larsan, Kesha, Demi Lavato and Shawn Mendes!
It was a huge night for our capital, and my favourite stand out moments were Camila Cabello and our very own Stormzy. CAMILA ON THE MTV EMA STAGE AT WEMBLEY ARENA!
Camila has had an incredible year, breaking recent records with her debut album- Number one in nearly 90 countries and her MTV EMA set and performance was one of my favourites of all time! Stunning detail in every moment,it was like watching an old Hollywood Busby Barclay musical!
STORMY DOWN WITH THE MET AT MTV EMA.
Stormzy’s set saw him enter stage via a MET Police car which he rode, straddles, leapt off and basically claimed as a big, unique moment certainly giving grime music an international jump off!
I HELPED DRAG RITA ORA OUT OF HER CRIB AND WE JUMPED ON THE LONDON UNDERGROUND TO MAKE SURE SHE GOT TO THE MTV EMA IN TIME!
I don’t want the memories from that night to end so I have just voted for MTV EMA to win the The SSE Live Awards which is now in its third year!
Basically, the event / act who receives the most votes from their fans at each of the SSE venues will be announced as the SSE Live Awards winners in February 2018.
Voters not only get to help their favourite acts win the prestigious trophies, but also have the chance to win tickets to the event of their choice taking place at the SSE venue of their choice later this year!Maybe you will chill in a star’s dressing room like this one;
Over three million public votes received last year across the three legendary venues and last years’ winner for The SSE Arena, Wembley was Matt Goss…I know that we can do better than that right? LOL
Voting is now open until the 31st January 2018, anyone can cast their vote, not just SSE customers.
So many of us complain when our favourite music stars don’t get recognised so back you act! Remember every vote counts!
PROMOTE THE VOTE! (See, I can rap too!)
Maybe if MTV EMA win the award, I will share some of my big backstage memories of the night….. 😉
Nadia Rose has had a whirlwind past couple of years with live performances, awards and touring.
She’s also just completed a European tour (taking in Spain, Belgium, Greece, France) as well as New Zealand over the New Year!
She’s performed at Festivals all over the country and internationally this year. Hip-hop is now accepted and more mainstream than it’s ever been and Nadia clearly loves performing live.
JASMINE WITH NADIA ROSE.
She’s done so many shows this past couple of years… Soundskool, MOBOs. Wireless, Afropunk and more. As well as all of that, she’s been nominated for and won awards….MOBOs / BBC sound of 2017.
This Croydonite has a really very distinctive voice. Her early musical inspirations included Eminem, Missy and Ludacris who have all clearly had an impact on her sound.
The nineties hip-hop influence is strong in both her sound and visuals- and also her trademark afropuffs hair style…is it inspired by hip hop legend Lady of Rage or Star Wars Princess Leia? Apparently neither- it was just a hairstyle her mum liked to put a young Nadia in.
A big part of her look is that she’s always surrounded by her girl ‘skwod’ – strong females are a big part of her brand, as was her late Grandma.
Nadia’s parents and family background is both Caribbean and African…(Jamaican dad/Ghanaian mum). That hybrid of music – afrobeats energy – seems to be the next one to takeover mainstream charts -there is a cultural pride in the music scene that’s very strong, and cultural pride has had an impact on her sound.
Nadia also has a little bit of a showbiz background, the BRITs school on Saturdays , and she studied Music and Music Management at university. She juggled working in a south London betting shop, whilst attending the BRITs school, where she used racehorse names for inspirational lyrics, which she scribbled down on betting slips.
She’s one of the lucky ones, as there have been mass cuts to education and arts for young people in recent years, meaning that young people from working class backgrounds across the UK haven’t enough of an opportunity to engage with the arts.
There are quite a few big names like Krept/Konan/Stormzy/Section Boyz and more that have come from her locality. When asked what is it about the social conditions in south London’s that makes it bold, loud and unapologetic she states that they didn’t have much and were always under pressure to prove their worth.
MUSIC
Nadia’s album is titled Highly Flammable (13 January 2017), and is full of fiery explosive subject matters. She’s not concerned about whether speaking her mind gets her in trouble. Nadia’s music videos celebrate London…filmed at a market in Croydon (skwod), south London train stations (station), and more, its clearly important she reps her endz. Her songs also contain a lot of messages about female empowerment (Tight up) ….she reveals to me that in her experience there has been pressure to conform to a mainstream stereotype image of what a female rapper is being told to ‘‘Sexy it up’’ by her label!
INDUSTRY
The news recently has been dominated, by stories of sexual abuses in Hollywood, and most recently female musicians have also spoken out, after a new report revealed that rape and sexual abuse are “endemic”, within the music industry. Nadia admits that she is aware of these things going on, and that young women in music are not supported enough.
We agree that although females are finally finding their voices to speak out in the era of Weinstein, its also men in power in the music industry who need to be educated.
There’s been a lot of talk about the UK rap/grime scene being like an old boys club and whether the males engage with the females in the scene? Nadia says the females are coming through with or without support. It’s their time.
Here is the uber talented Nadia Rose speaking to me for Channel 4 News to kick start 2018.
Hip-hop has always broken away from the mainstream. Many of its British stars don’t even have major label deals. They did it by themselves. This month the word ‘’youthquake’’ was added to the dictionary, meaning young people leading movements of change.
Another area where young people have rocked the boat this year has been politics, people talked about music stars like Nadia Rose engaging her fans. They called it the #grimeVote, how important is it that musicians speak out? Nadia says she has always voted. It was important in her family and that they always encouraged political discourse at social functions.
It’s well documented that Stormzy is Nadia Roses cousin. Unsurprising really, they’re both outspoken about youth, racist nightclubs, female empowerment, police brutality and politics.
Having publicly urged her Twitter followers to register to vote, she feels that the youthquake went well. Her generation become the most newly politicised generation for years. She publicly supported Labour and said, “People who didn’t care about elections went out and thought they could be heard-But just because the election is over doesn’t mean it’s finished. I’ll do anything that furthers the Labour cause’’. What about labour gets her vote? She likes Jeremy Coryns spirit. He doesn’t always do things by the book and has rocked the boat.
In fact Nadia famously bumped into Jeremy Corbyn’s sons at a festival, had a chat about politics and swapped numbers with one that caught her eye and has made clear to them she is up for supported their dad if and when the time should come.
Nadia’s the girl you wanna hang out with. She engages on social media and requests book recommendations from her social media followers. Her twitter handle states that ‘’ a true musician is either dead or insane. ’’. She explains that being a musician for a career is a tough ride. She gives examples of the greats like Michael, Prince and Whitney no longer being with us and that a music stars life brings with it much vulnerability and that mental health is a big issue many wont discuss but that she is aware that many live the life of a star ‘’but then go back to their mansions, alone and depressed’’.
In 2018 Nadia Rose promises to take over more of the world. She’s already done Europe and Australia. Watch out, you’re next!
Many people ask where are the women in rap/hip hop /grime? Is it an old boys club? We’ve been asking questions like this for years ‘Why Did Grime Never Go Right For Women?’, ‘The ladies are as lyrically talented, bold and as feisty as the men, why aren’t they capturing the attention of the masses?’.
Here is the uber talented Nadia Rose speaking to me for Channel 4 News to kick start 2018.
Actually there are loads of women in grime and rap. There are women pushing and championing the culture daily. Aside from the ladies making the music, there are many in media championing the genre. Ladies like Hattie Collins, Chantelle Fiddy, Rebecca Prochnik and Hyperfrank who really helped push the mainstream press into covering it as a music genre and culture.
The artists are numerous and healthy. So many. Here are just a few talented women making and championing the scene.
Nadia Rose
Ms Banks
Shystie
Amplify Dot
Lady Sovereign
Nolay
Lady Chann
Lioness
Lady Leshurr
Ms Dynamie
MZ Bratt
Paigey Cakey
Steflon Don
Sian Anderson
Julie adenuga
Madam X
A.G
Alia Loren
Flava D
Hattie Collins
Chantelle Fiddy
Rebecca Prochnik
Hyperfrank
Kieran Yates
Many who see the potential in female talent don’t always know how to sell it. Remember when London’s Lady Sovereign signed to Jay Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records? Jay Z had begun searching for urban talent in the UK and signed Lady Sovereign in 2006. The video to her track ‘Love Me Or Hate Me’ became the first by a UK artist to achieve a Number 1 on MTV’s ‘Total Request Live’ show. So it can have impact, but really how would an American know how to sell a very British talent?
Similarly Shystie was one of the most prominent female MCs in the scene and released her major label debut ‘Diamond In The Dirt’ in 2004, which went silver. She is multi-talented. I recall her acting in our ground-breaking Dubplate Drama on MTV Base years back. She was fire in the booth and on screen.
JASMINE WITH NADIA ROSE FOR CHANNEL 4 NEWS.
When we were debating it at this years Rated Awards BBC Radio 1 broadcaster Charlie sloth told me ‘’For me I’m always on the search for that big female mc…I don’t even like segregating them…I think at the moment there aren’t as many as there should be, there are loads trying to do it..its not like football where they won’t get on…a lot of acts are crying out for there to be new and more females, look at Stef and Lady Leshurr , all it takes is for there to be more females who are as consistent as men. There needs to be more of a strong infrastructure around the females”.
Posty the founder of the Rated Awards and CEO of GRM Daily agreed ‘’The women in grime are also cultivating themselves, also in American hip hop there aren’t as many females as males , but one day there will be a UK Nicki Minaj- we now have Stef London. She’s beautiful, talented, has swag and style and looks like a star!’’
UK rap legend Lethal B feels positive abut the female journey ‘’There’s loads of girls coming through, Nadia Rose, Lady Leshur, Stef London, laughter and more…as time goes on there will be many more as there’s so much more out there coming…I’ve seen it!’’.
