Author: Jasmine Dotiwala

JASMINE WITH CRAIG DAVID.

BACK AGAIN, COOLER THAN EVER.

Jasmine
So welcome back to town Craig, how does it feel to be back?

Craig David
You know what, it’s a weird one cos I don’t feel like I’ve really been away, but its like you need to put the faders down, and just monitor things for a moment, but now I’m raring to go, like you almost got to calm yourself down cos youre gonna blow some speakers cos you’re hitting red on the meters, I’m back in that young sixteen year old kid mode so its lovely, I love it!

Jasmine
What inspired the return cos you’re suddenly everywhere?

CD
Do you know what, I went away for a minute cos I felt like musically the direction I was getting to wasn’t me, so lets I started off with “I’m checking this girl next door, you’re that guy with a beanie hat, evisu jeans doing your thing kinda repping your whole scene… and then fast forward all the way to the point where one of the last records I put out which was a covers record, which I loved the songs that I sung but when you are doing like “ sitting at the dark of the bay’’ and I mean we’re straight up, not chopped and screwed versions, not like we’re some sixteen bar trap version with a rap on it, just a straight up cover …I was like wait up, I was like I gotta put all this away, gotta go away for a minute, go find myself, get hungry, go to Miami drive the car that all this success has given you, live in a house in Miami, live in that little palace that you’ve got going on to the point where you get so bored to being in that and you get that hunger again that you wanna go to the most gritty dirtiest street you know and do it all over again and that’s right up to the present moment.

J
For me its like the biggest come back since Mariah Carey, do you feel people had written you off?

CD
The love has always been there d ’you know what I mean …so you never really go away cos as a song writer I’ve always got three mins in me that can change my life and anyone else’s..

A MUCH YOUNGER PAIR- JASMINE AND CRAIG IN THE EARLY DAYS.

AMERICAN LOVE AND THE ORIGINAL UKG MUSIC SCENE.

J
Globally and America is particularly obsessed with you. Drakes been name checking you, Justin Biebers been doing Craig David karaoke.. I mean it’s really cool to be down with Craig right now, how do you explain the cool factor?

CD
Things are very cyclical you know, now you’ll see people rocking double denim, musically people who grew up with my music are now fifteen years older and they’re at a point in their life where they could be married, have children and they’re looking back at some of their best times and all those different memories are linked to my music in their youth.. Thankfully my music was part of the whole generation growing up so there’s that nostalgia but then also throw into the mix , there’s the fifteen year old, sixteen year old kid who doesn’t know who I am, has never heard my music before right, and they hear “fill me in” for the first time, I was checkin this girl from next door and her parents went out and we was just doing what young people do, parents tryna find out what we’re up to,…so its relevant if you’re thirty or thirteen!

CRAIG DAVID WITH A VERY YOUNG FAN – JUSTIN BEIBER (WHO HAS RECENTLY BEEN SINGING CRAIGS FILL ME IN AT KARAOKE!)

J
So classically you have that old school audience and lots of new, young people, but what happened to that old school audience with the UK garage and the UKG scene?

CD
It was my time with the Artful Dodger and Dream Team , Wookie and MJ Cole, an amazing fraternity of people coming through and changing the game, it was the UK vibe globally; I was seeing Timbaland doing songs on a sort of two-step vibe, you had Ronnie Jerkins with Whitney Houston’s “its not right, but its okay” which is pretty much a garage tune … from the time you were having an impact on American producers people tried it, they were very straight where it came from – we just had this feel from the UK and we owned it.
“Twenty-one Seconds” came through and So Solid changed the game, it was just like ‘how was this possible, how many guys can you have in this crew, it was Wu Tang but on ecstasy, it was on some next flow of what was going on,and the grime scene did its thing, but even then it still it wasn’t getting rated commercially. It wasn’t getting the success in the charts as well that I thought it would’ve had, especially as the garage scene had had that kind of success with Sweet Female Attitude and Flowers and Sweet Like Chocolate … then it needed a time to go dark, it needed to go underground, it needed guys to just spit and get on the mic and just be emcees.

I remember how it used to be before with the jungle scene; like there’d be a line of like six, seven guys and you were like fourth in the line and you was like trying to rip a mans arm to get to the mic, you wanted your sixteen bars and everyone was on their hunger thing, it was aggressive … and then what happened, the scene evolved within grime and we got up to date, we started to see the Stormzys coming through where you’d start to dominate the charts, without actually having that push that you’d expect from a major on a freestyle. You start to see the Skeptas getting love from the Drakes and getting recognised, seeing Kanye West recognising the whole Boy Better Know crew, that this is real and now the grime scene is actually being recognised as being a commercially viable asset, not just some kids on the street who just ran a car with the boot open playing some heavy bass subs just trying to emcee, its real.

J
To me, the grime scene is the modern day son of the garage scene, would you not agree, UK accents, mic, fast chatting, what’s the difference?

CD
Do you know what yeah, to be honest, it is the same. I think that the difference in terms of what its up to now, is that its found its feet where, when it comes to song because of the same time as me doing Rewind and the Artful Dodgers stuff, and I recognised that the one thing that was so good about garage days was that there were usually songs like Jaheim’s Just In Case and I say Sweet Female Attitude again cos it was like, we’ll take an R&B sample and just, it was a proper song with a beat, so it was like a slow jam but we just put a beat on it and feel like it was up tempo… now you got the same things happening now where people are starting to recognise that the chorus actually needs a hook, it cant just be sixteen bars of fire and another sixteen bars of fire over a hook, give us the pay off!…and people are starting to recognise that pay off now, which is more of a song structure so that’s why the scene is so gonna BLOW, oh man, its gonna, and its still in its teething days, trust me it hasn’t gone full, there’s a vocalist coming on the R&B thing, trust me!

J
The Americans never got UK hip-hop though so why do they get grime, what is it about grime that stands out?

CD
I think because its gone back, the kind of tracks and beats are kind of similar and flow similar a little bit towards garage, which is something that we’ve owned for however long, you have to live the culture and be in here to get it, … and then, the flows are then accepted. As soon as you start to do almost a grime emcee over a hip-hop track its where it starts to get lost a bit in its translation in America, where they go we don’t quite get this?
But we have fierce emcees in this country, that when you see any of those kind of ciphers or fire in the booths, and sometimes the Americans come over and you’re like ‘’you better go back and step up your game and come back again cos that aint gonna go down around here’’… I love it, its like the levels up here now are BIG and social media has also helped these people now, before these were hidden gems, now these people are all out everywhere!

J
What’s the main difference between the garage scene back then when you were first seen and now?

CD
Okay garage when I was coming through it was very fashion, oh wow fashion,… reebok classics on, in full effect, girls felt sexy, the guys having a bottle of champagne in their hand and a glass and they felt kinda sexy by the whole thing cos everyone’s having a good time, it was just bubbling, it was nuts and it was enjoying the music… if someone stepped on your shoe, its cool bruv, its alright man, girls in front of me, life’s good. I’m seeing organised chaos at grime gigs now, it’s like a rock event… there are people in a mosh pit going at it and its not we’re going at it like we wanna beat each other up, I mean if you get in the middle of it, you may get a knee in the face cos you was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but it kicks off and its just mad, the energy is crazy!

CRAIG AND JASMINE IN CRAIGS FIRST COMING SUCCESS YEARS!

8-YEAR BREAK UPDATE, FITNESS AND THAT 8-PACK BODY.

J
So you’ve been away for …has it been eight years now? What have you been doing in that break time… obviously the whole image has changed, you talk about losing the beanie, the clothes are different, the body is different, you’re very about the fitness trends, talk us through that.

CD
I think always that there was a point where my fitness was taking over where my music was at, I was getting so on my fitness, losing body fat, looking ripped and but then having the question of why am I getting so ripped for? And also when you get super duper kinda ripped you look gaunt in the face, like 20 years older, you look sick if you wanna wear a brown paper bag over your face then your abs are gonna look great… but people don’t really go for the brown paper bag over your face walking around town with your top off thing, so I was like lets ease this back and its okay if you have four abs, doesn’t have to be six, eight, ten, no one cares… what people do care with me is that come with the music so I had to put the, the fitness had to find balance, but it was good that I went to the extreme to know that there is a middle ground.

J
From the outside looking in it felt like for you, it was a distraction, you just needed something to be away from the pressure of making music?

CD
I think it stemmed from there and also stemmed back to being an overweight kid who was always like one day I’m gonna go to the other extreme… life is very simple when you look at it.

J
Actually I completely forgotten about that, you used to talk about that when I used to speak to you in the past about that whole being that overweight kid in your past and bullying, do you think that had finally come through …

CD
The overweight kid will always find a way of always being that fat kid inside, trust me. I mean when I open the fridge I will rinse everything that’s in there, I still have the mentality of have the dessert before my mum made my tea and all that kind of madness, which got me fat in the first place, but now I’d experienced what its like to be kinda super duper ripped but that didn’t quite work, it didn’t quite give you the satisfaction you wanted because once you’re at that place where the fear starts to kick in from both sides… now you’re fearful of losing it so it becomes more important than going out with your friends for a nice meal and socialising, you’re like nah nah nah I gotta stay in and do my cardio tonight, what are you doing, what are you doing it for, are you going in for some body building competition because nobody cares so ummm… eat clean, train dirty, which is my little motto is the ideal, its balanced.

J
A lot of young people are always going through food and body issues in all generations, but now more than ever. ..bulimia, anorexia, body shaming is like a real thing in the media now, could that have something that was even there with you?

CD
I think mine was deep rooted as a kid, I mean I see it in the media because obviously that’s the way that certain set ups are made, like if you look in the modelling industry I don’t quite understand it d’you know what I mean, what you see on the billboards is not real, telling a girl who’s perfectly healthy to lose more weight puts her in this state of mind where she thinks well I want to be a Victorias Secret model so bad, and everyone wants to be a model chic or whatever… so you go and do all kinds of nonsense, eating tissue paper to try and keep you there, bulimia and anorexia all that kind of stuff starts to happen …

J
But even men are affected now…

CD
Oh yeah.. but men, I find that they do it for the reasons of ego , they want to feel like worthy so they therefore need to get into shape. When you start to realise girls don’t even really care they’re like I actually like a guy who’s got a little bit of cushion for the pushin d’you know what I mean, I like a guy like that, I don’t need the guy with the six pack, it looks like you take it all too serious.

J
So when did you realise that then, where did that come through?

CD
When my manager was saying to me, Craig, in your face, you’re looking old, and then you start to have an awareness of people around you and start to see that there were beautiful beautiful girls who would just like a very normal guy, who kept himself nice, did a little run when he wanted, had the food when he wanted, a bit of cake cos he felt like he wanted some cake… and there’s me, going all out going crazy and thinking that’s what people wanted and what I needed was to get out of the ego that was tryna give me all these things to do.

J
It’s a control thing isn’t it, it’s being in control of some part of your life?

CD
And recognising the duality in life, everything has its opposite, when I got to my second album, first album had sold seven million, second album record company are looking at maybe eight million, nine million, they’re already like, they’re in the willy wonka elevator, they’ve gone through the roof, they’re in another place right. Second album did three point five million and they was like hmmpff what are we going to do, tsss its on the decline, where are we going to go… and I bought into it. I bought in to the fact that three point five million people had gone out and bought my album, if you think you’re on a downer at that point and I’m seeing albums now going like ten, twenty thousand to get to number one, or the life of a record maybe hitting two or three hundred thousand and everyone’s saying yes we did it great success lets get onto the next, three point five million and I’m on a downer!

When you’re in that cycle, you’re in a different world, you’re in it, and they tricked you. Instead of just loving and going out with your friends, having a drink, have some fun to celebrate, its like ‘’oh I’m a bit scared cos what’s my second single gonna do?’’, so you’ve forgotten about the number one you wanted, your whole life tryna get that number one, you’re scared for your next song. So you start to realise that failure and success are in the same seed, its like a magnet, positive and minus are on the same thing but unless you start to get balance and recognise that that’s actually you, you think that you’re positive and pretend that negative isn’t a part of you, but you’re part of the same thing. And I’ve started to find that in life and that metaphor for everything that I do now is amazing cos failure is part of the success, if you didn’t have failure you wouldn’t know what success was, and I love it so don’t take any of it serious!

CRAIG AND JASMINE AT THE MTV AWARDS RED CARPET A FEW YEARS AGO.

EVIL RECORD INDUSTRY?

J
Well it shows record labels can actually be place of evil I think, it can put you in a very dark place if you’re a young artist trying to maintain those levels of success.

CD
I think for any young artist coming through you need to have a good team of people around you outside of going into music industry and I hate when people call it industry because it shouldn’t be that. When I was making my first record or my early stuff it was turned into a commodity it wasn’t to sell it. It was just like I went out the studio, I played it in the car I was like man this baseline is sick! I don’t care if anyone likes it or doesn’t like it Rewind, its fire! That was my pay off, that was my number one! that was my millions of records sold! that was my first cheque, everything was in that little car on my way home, and when that changes to when its not about making music for you, its making music for this ‘pressure’ you created from everyone else and what they expect of you or for a record label. You’re in it. Another little trick. you’re in the game. Once you get into that it’s a rocky road and its not fun, for me right now its just FUN and then people say “yeah its easy for you because you had the career and da da daa got some money in your pocket” trust me, the same amount of money in your pocket doesn’t change – the ratio is the same, you’ve got a leak in your apartment and back in the day it cost you £500 to fix the roof, now with your bigger house it will cost you 5 grand to fix the roof, or it will cost you 50 grand to fix the roof. It’s the same thing …biggie said it “more money more problems” trust me its all the same flow, money is not going to make you happy trust me.

J
So this time around you’re coming back with new music, tell us a little bit about the new music and working conditions of the album.

CD
Ok so not to be hyper man but I can get a little too gassed on this like I hype the whole thing up too much but I’m back in the mode like I said the 15,16 year old kid whose hungry and got everything to prove who wants to get his mum out the council flat she’s in, in Southampton and put some money in my dads pocket, and make sure people around me are cool, because the awards and stuff along the way how amazing they are and very proud of, one of the things that I started to realise it’s a beautiful piece of validation. But the validation that I need now is that people around me are healthy and happy.
Big Narstie was funnily enough in this room with me and spotted that I had some of my old awards plaques on the floor and was like “Craig whys that Born To Do It plaque on the floor “ and I was like “you know , I haven’t had time to put it up” he was like “woah woah woah bruv you don’t know how the times I was grounded with my cousin and we were listening to bootyman or whatever from that born to do album that got us through being grounded that made man wanna get on the mic and do this thing’’….so it GAVE ME some perspective.

J
You mentioned just now that motivation back then was obviously your mums house, getting your parents, family set up and secure, what’s the motivation this time round?

CD
It is actually similar; the management company I’m on with right now is the same guy I’ve always been with. Colin has been with me from like day 1, 15 years ago he came to my house for the first time, he was actually the first person to give me a record deal when everyone else was like yeah got a development deal…what more do you want to do to develop Rewind because it seems like its developing pretty well by itself. Colin’s been with me for years, he is hard-core but when you know him there is a soft side trust me, like he’s got that business uh he don’t play like he’ll go all out like sixteen’s at a drum and bass gig, but when it comes to knowing him the love I have for him is ridiculous cos like he held me down, he’s held me down like a father but at the same time I love him for it because we’ve been together 15-16 years if it wasn’t for him taking a risk on me then I might just have been a regular kid in Southampton.

JASMINE WITH COLIN LESTER – CRAIGS MANAGER.

BO SELECTA.

J
Oh he has always championed you, always protected you I remember seeing that moment when that clip had gone viral where he freaked out about that Bo Selecta skit thing….. I was laughing at Keith Lemmon thinking ‘’ its not Craig that you should be worried about, its actually Colin!’’

CD
Oh he went hard-core and wasn’t even that fussed about it…

J
Really? I know its part of your past and it was many years ago, and a minor blip compared to everything else you’ve achieved, but how did you feel when that first came out on TV?

CD
Do you know what its weird because the mainstream media betrayal of it was they quite didn’t know how I felt about it, that’s why it kinda lingered on for so long. At the end of the day it was no different from Spitting Image, which I used to watch on Channel 4. it was……

J
Flattering?

CD
Completely if you’re having a caricature done of you, you have to be well known enough to have a impression puppet and there were loads of people that also had them too, like David Beckham, Michael Jackson… all these different guys ….so if you cant have a bit of fun with it then that’s not cool. The thing where it got blurred is where my PR were involved. I mean come on, I clearly embraced it cos at my Royal albert hall show I walked on with the puppet mask on. Meanwhile my PR was putting out stories saying that I was mad and so it became all confused. if I had followed my intuition back then I would’ve just stayed out of it completely cos it just wasn’t affecting me as people thought and frankly we patched it up a long long time ago.

J
How did that happen?

CD
It was at Ferns (Cottons) wedding and we were both in the room …

J
Awkward?

CD
Awkward tension in the room I think from everyone else, they were like ooo whats gonna go on its gonna kick off, you know like at school, oh I hope it kicks off that’d be sick. So I saw Keith and I walked up, gave him the biggest hug and it was a good embrace, he hugged me back properly. It was like, I know what it got to but just to let you know I have no care in the world about this, listen you’re a comedian on the come up and that was your come up through the door cool, if I allow my music to get affected by that then I’m a little chief who needs to go back and sort himself out, because at the moment you come with heavy weight songs no one can trouble you. If you think of Kanye, he’s like ‘’you know what I don’t care you’re still gonna buy me Yeezy Boost, and I will rock that presidential candidate angle and I will come with the hottest girl in the game and I’ll shut you all down!’’ and I’m just like ‘’yes’’, this is the guy – love or hate him – and that’s where I was, just don’t buy into the mechanism again, don’t take it all too so seriously and I knew ultimately as an artist people just wanna hear music and that’s all I wanna bring.

This time I wanna do it not just for me and the fans though. Like I said I wanna do it again for my manager Colin, and the rest of my team.
Alex has come aboard and is part of my management and Matt who has been here with me. Alex and Matt are younger and I want it for them guys. I remember Matt saying to me “Craig you’re in Miami and I don’t really feel you’re gonna get the record that we talk about being out there, you’re gonna HAVE TO come back to London and be in the mix” and it took me a moment to understand that and I respected the fact that a young kid could say that, and it was a pivotal moment in my career and I was like you know what who cares about this car, who cares about this apartment right now I need to get back in the mix and I came back over. I wanna see those guys walk up with their suits on going to Brit awards, Grammys the MOBOs, whatever it may be, its really not for me I experienced it, I know what its like to be in the arena with ’60,000 people going nuts to your music’ I know it how it feels to hear your record on the radio for the first time and like get gassed and be like ‘ah’ its shifted. Its like when you have a baby and the responsibility is for them. my babies in my life (because I have no children) are my songs!

J
So you say new flavour, tell us about the new music does it sound similar to the old stuff, are you going on any new explorations musically?

CD
I hate saying this cos it sort of sounds like harping back to the past and I never really wanna be locked to that heritage thing or nostalgia artist label because right now like I said I’m a 15 year old kid and gotta prove myself. I know with 7 days and Fill Me In I was narrating stories people could relate to, they were simple melodies and I wasn’t taking it all too serious and that’s where I’m at with this new record. Its RnB but it always has a hint of pop. Trust me, I embrace the genre of pop. trust me you could say Ed Sheeran is a pop artist but those songs will rock a rave you know what I mean! You throw a grime beat on any of his tunes and he will stand up there with an acoustic guitar and play to like 80,000 at Wembley stadium! I’ve got so much respect for Ed- that acoustic thing was something I loved from day 1 seeing him go up there with just him and his foot pedals and rock the whole stadium that’s sold out!

J
In a way he’s been a lone ranger holding up the fort for soul music for the UK, do you feel like soul music and RnB music here died?

CD
I mean it went from George Michael, and then Elton John doing his thing. I came through and it was kind of more of an RnB tip more like the traditional RnB that America would kind of get on, so when I listened to Ed Sheeran’s song I said its kind of in the pop bracket, its got a guitar open for everyone, everyone can like it, doesn’t matter if you’re 80 years old or if you’re a street kid, you get what he’s doing. There’s even Sam Smith on the Disclosure stuff, everyone loves that BUT I just feel there’s always been and its not me being egotistical but there’s a void do you know what I mean of that RnB thing…… but like not like Chris Brown not like Usher not like Trey Songz not like Omarion…. these guys are doing their thing, if I tried to do what Omarion does or Chris Brown does I’ll be a watered down version of Chris Brown but if I do me. Oh man if I stay in my lane and do what I do no one touches what I do cos I know that’s me, you cant be someone else! To Usher I would say on camera, Usher ‘’do a confessions album right and you come back with that style let it burn, you got it bad, you make me wanna, nice and slow you will shut this all down cos I’m an usher fan, its like me jumping on a whole bunch of EDM songs, it works for a moment and people like yeah that’s the thing that’s happening but people deep down are just ‘give me nice and slow, that’s what we want’. Usher if you bring that you will get the love beyond, anyway….

J
Its interesting to me that you mention the Americans, you mention Usher, Omarion, Chris Brown when we talk about UK soul singers we talk about Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith. I read an article recently that said UK soul music has been high jacked by white singers, what happened to the black singers, where are they?

CD
HHMMM the race card one.. I always think is a bit of a cop out … I… there’s racism in everything d’you know what I mean… it really can go both ways and it would diminish everything that I did to say, yeah well d ’you know what ‘’its heavily dominated by white guys or girls doing their thing’’ but I’ve never really been in that white black thing, my mums white, my dads black, I don’t know this colour thing, …

J
Right so tell us new music, is there an album title, have we got some singles, how would you describe it?

CD
Okay new album id love to call it, Following My Intuition.. Because that just pretty much self explanatory, I’m in that place where I’m going with what I feel and every time I’ve done that, its always made the right decision, every time that I haven’t, at the time it might have seemed right but it bit me in the ass later on, that’s the biggest piece of advice id give to any young aspiring artist, just do what you’re doing, from tying that I go back to Stormzy, from time you can do a freestyle and you can infiltrate the chart scene and everyone’s going nuts for you… he just did his thing cos he didn’t go soft and do some nonsense. I’ve been working with some really good people, I’ve been working with this guy called White Nerd from up in Manchester and he is that next guy who is gonna come through and bring a whole NEW feel to the whole garage scene, he’s an amazing producer and he does his own work as an artist himself. Tre Jean-Marie, I’ve been working with him, weirdly enough he’s a song writer whose father was background vocalist for my first tour, so that’s a mad one, I’m working with the father and the son, Trey is amazing, so I’m working with him. The names that people would know I would say Kaytranada, I’ve been doing some stuff with him, his stuff is amazing, a futuristic R&B….
Trust me – your boys back in town and its gonna change right now.. That’s the mentality that I’m going on, let me just go out there and do it, I’m in that mode, I’m like listen I don’t care, I’ll come out all green and crush this whole thing down!!

….and with that Craig David jumps up and eagerly plays us parts of his new album which sounds amazing and of course, he cant resist singing along for the whole channel 4 news camera crew who are fans!

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT CRAIG’S NEW SONG – with Big Narstie #WhenTheBassLineDrops

CRAIGS LIVE MUSIC MIX PARTY RADIO SHOW TS5 has now been picked up by NOVA FM for Australia & George FM for New Zealand which is great news on the radio front.

GO TO @CraigDavid instagram as all his updates are on there for upcoming shows and music

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Craig David interview Transcription by;
Sheikh Islam
Nadia Mahmood

In the late seventies, as a kid, I recall my mother and aunts excitedly gathered around the television. As I pushed my way through the spirited bodies towards the bulky boxed TV, I was confused as I noted the show playing was Star Trek, and my mum wasn’t exactly what you’d call a space head. It transpired that a new Indian/Persian actress named Persis Khambatta, was about to play bald Deltan woman Lieutenant Ilia in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and was on a talk show promoting the fact. In fact, so fascinated by this were we, that I even did my first ballet solo to the Ilia’s Theme music at the local ballet school show later that year.

Persis Khambatta in Star Trek.

Ever since that time, I was an avid Star Trek viewer, mesmerised by the ability to explore the universe and my imagination ran wild with possibilities! So when I was offered a chance to attend one of my all time favourite venues the Royal Albert Hall to see Star Trek –The Ultiate Voyage, it was a Beam Me Up Scotty from me!

7 reasons why the world premiere of Star Trek with London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall was out of this world!

1-THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL IS THE BEST BADASS VENUES OF ALL TIME.
Seriously, just entering the hallowed doors of this heritage institute makes you feel you’re in the presence of history. You know that a once in a lifetime memory is about to be had. Whether watching the annual Christmas runs of ballet, a proms concert or hip-hop show, this is the king of music venues with its stunning ceiling and acoustics. Its mushroom shaped flying saucers on the ceiling added to the futuristic theme of the afternoon. Watching Star Trek in the circular venue adds to the experience of being in Captain Kirks circular Enterprise ship front port. This theatrical magnificence is further enhanced, by the 70-foot film screen that we gaze at whilst watching the Enterprise crew gaze into theirs. A wonderful parallel world. I thought these events were a recent dreamt up phenomenon, but on further research it transpires that the RAH’s first ever screening was on 21 October 1905! That’s 91 years of fabulosity in the heart of west London.

2-TREKKIES ARE HARD-CORE
Of the two most-loved and well-known science-fiction franchises, I was always more of STAR TREK kid than Star Wars. Some of the very best writers, artists, producers, actors, and directors and of course musicians contributed to Star Treks on-going legacy. I watched the initial William Shatner series with obsession, but then life got in the way so seeing five decades of Star Trek summed up in two hours was mind blowing, It made me realise just how much Star Trek I have not watched and need to catch up with! (although in my mind the real stories are only the ones with Kirk, Spock and Scotty in them) Especially as the fans, all dressed in their red, black and yellow uniforms sitting all around me, noted their appreciation for various characters and storylines that I was oblivious about. But whilst the storylines, uniforms and characters changed over five decades, the one overarching constant was the symphony orchestra, which helped us imagine we were soaring and exploring.

3-WITHOUT MUSIC THE UNIVERSE IS DOOMED.
When I religiously watched Star Trek as a kid, I was mesmerised by the final frontier and voyages of the Starship Enterprise that explored new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations and to boldly go where no-one has gone before. In 2016 when watching the action on the big screen at the RAH, and imagining the series from my childhood without its musical accompaniment, was painful. The sets are pretty basic and shaky…even when the enterprise hasn’t collided into an alien ship. The graphics back then were pretty basic, but the acting was awesome considering they were never really teleported. It’s the watching of the London Philharmonic Orchestra strike up that made me realise just how much the music score brings to the emotional engagement of the story. The 100-strong London philharmonic orchestra lead by conductor Justin Freer did the film score uber justice. In fact, just Google any of the Star Trek sound tracks. They stand alone as incredible works of classical music.

4-LEGENDS FROM THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK WERE IN THE HOUSE.
Not only were composer/ guest conductors Ron jones (Grammy and Emmy nominated composer, Family Guy, etc…) and Jay Chattaway in the crowd, but they actually also took the baton separately, to lead the orchestra at different points. Ron says ‘’I know that every note I put on the score paper mattered. How does one express the greatness of space? That is the challenge of creating this music’’.

5-FORGET BAFTAS, HOUSE OF LORDS INVESTIGATIONS AND LENNY HENRY- LOOK TO STAR TREK FOR TRUE EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY.
Considering the Star Trek franchise was made from the seventies onwards, it’s unreal that back then they had all ethnicities and nationalities appearing as regular staple characters on the Star Ship Enterprise. This was ground-breaking TV that won the hearts and minds of millions globally. Mainstream broadcasters today could learn a thing or two about great content and casting from Star Trek.

6-STAR TREKS ULTIMATE VOYAGE IS LONG!
A narrator led us for two hours through all five series; that’s twelve films and 29 pieces of music. Scenes and montages with a variety of themes were edited to give the music context. Star Treks brand naturally lends itself to a variety of themes such as friendship (the love and loyalty between crew members), descent (when even space trotters had beef, Mr Spock and Captain Kirk forced to fight gladiator style in one episode!), the Starship Enterprise (its many journeys and adventures making it a part of the family), romance and more. Also it birthed numerous slanguage catchphrases like ‘’live long & prosper’’, ‘’to boldly go where no-one has gone before’’, ‘’warp drive’’, ‘’alien life’’ ‘’transporter’’and more way before Apple hit our brand awareness radar.

7-ROYAL ALBERT HALL LIVE MOVIE/MUSIC EVENTS ALWAYS GIVE YOU MORE.
I’ve now attended a few of these incredible events. Great movies like Gladiator and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, even the Pixar films. Whilst the orchestral element is mesmerizing in itself, at the end of each screening we are always treated to behind the scenes, archive photos and video slips from the days of making of the movie. Priceless!

In my humble opinion, orchestral music is the true star of these RAH events. It really has lived long and prospered throughout history and yet also feels so very futuristic.

You haven’t lived unless you’ve seen and heard the Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage mission live at Royal Albert Hall. Soaring from light, ascending melodies to dark, apocalyptic scores, this unique event transported us to where none have gone before.

Future film and orchestra double threat bills include;

Alice in wonderland- 12 December 2015
Raiders of the lost arc – 9-12 March 2015
Gladiator – 25/26 May 2015
E.T – 28 December 2016

You may have noticed #TeamUK have been bombarding social media with news about a variety of new ITV2 show commissions and pilots recently…
Well, here’s the 411… ITV2 has commissioned a raft of comedy and comedy entertainment one-off shows, which have been hitting screens this month, featuring new talent on and off screen.

We all know over the past couple of decades how difficult it is to get any diverse programming content supported by British mainstream TV players.
Well ITV2 seems to be making a positive, non-patronising, genuine change this month, although only time will tell whether this is a box ticking exercise or whether they are taking it seriously. As it stands now, I’m pretty impressed.

The four, 30 minute comedy and comedy entertainment shows that have been commissioned by Entertainment Commissioning Editor Asif Zubairy and Director of Digital Channels and Acquisitions Angela Jain, to air in the run up to the MOBO Awards this week, on ITV2 all include some of the most prominent players on the urban, young comedy scene.

This weekend saw All About The Bants, a hidden camera comedy show air, very confidently presented by music star Tinchy Stryder. AATB see’s a host of rising stars cause mischief and mayhem for unsuspecting members of the public, including two cocky estate agents. Its basically like MTV’s Punke’d and Beadles About with Jeremy Beadle from the eighties and nineties. Tinchy’s cast are strong, memorable and diverse in ever way. The kind of team that i can image will all have their own standalone shows in the future.

ALL ABOUT THE BANTS CREW, PRODUCER DHANNY JOSHI (rear 2nd left), AND STAR HOST TINCHY, WITH JASMINE.

All About The Bants sees hidden camera pranks meet lad culture. Accompanying Tinchy, the show features an all-star cast including Facebook prankster Arron Crascall helping execute pranks on unsuspecting twenty-somethings across a number work and leisure locations. Directed by Atul Malhotra (Tricked, Man Vs Expert, Breaking Magic), All About The Bants is executive produced by Dhanny Joshi and Thomas Stogdon of up and coming BAME indie Big Deal Films.

I caught up with Tinchy Stryder, and All About The Bants Executive Producer – Dhanny Joshi – this weekend to hear just how a grime star had made the transition from music to TV hosting.

TINCHY.

Tell about all about the bants and what it was like turning your hand from music to TV hosting?

All About The Bants is our take on making a hidden camera show and flipping it on its head a little with riskier and edgy pranks. Yeah there was an obvious difference going from music to TV, but it was really just about being myself and having fun. I had to adapt to the situation & challenge myself, so I just embraced it you know.

What was your favourite sketch to film?

I would have to go with the Shisha lounge (with the bad waitress). Too much jokes, when you see people looking all-uncomfortable, not knowing where to look. Got tense at times.

What makes AATB different?

I just think we’re making a show that’s in line with youth culture. Like people these days go to shisha places to relax so why not prank someone at a place where people really go to? Same thing with the estate agent prank – I think everyone knows that young and cocky agent so we thought it would be good to prank one. I just think it’s about time there was a hidden camera show that’s relatable to this younger audience. Whether that’s through the pranksters we’re involved or us doing riskier pranks we do that you might not see on another channel.

What did we not see on-screen that didn’t make the cut cos it was too outrageous?

We did a prank outside involving an actress asking guys to post for a picture with her for her fake portfolio. She flirts with them a little and then you see the men flirting back. This one guy didn’t see the funny side after the actress told him it was a joke and it all kicked off. He grabbed the cameraman by the throat and screamed down at one of the runners. It was a little mad.

Do you remember Beadles About- the 80’s middle-aged version of the show; you’re the 2015 version of Jeremy Beadle?

Yeah I remember that I’m sure, 2015 version yeah… Cool!!

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PRODUCER DHANNY JOSHI.

Tell us how AATB was born, inspired, early life, how did you source and bring the talent together?

AATB came from us wanting to see a hidden camera show that spoke to us. Most hidden camera prank shows are made for a family friendly audience and we wanted to watch something that had more edge and banter to it so we came up with the concept of hidden camera meets lad culture. We liked Tinchy and approached his team and their humour was equally as warped as ours and they were totally up for it. The commissioners at ITV2 really got where wanted to go with it and greenlit it. From then we just approached talent that we’re fans of and we knew they would be able to deliver.

Are ITV2 simply ticking a diversity box around the end of black history month?

I don’t believe they’re trying to tick a box but I do think they’re aware that giving opportunities to a diverse off screen talent can only be a good thing. You’ve got the Mobo’s coming up and credit to the channel – they’ve used it as an opportunity to give a platform to companies to show what they can do in the TV. I think the topic of diversity is part of an ongoing larger conversation, but we’re grateful to the channel for putting their neck out – and money – for a relatively new company like ours, BAME or not.

What were you keen to avoid in ‘’urban yoof culture’’ with this show?

We didn’t try to avoid making any type of show. I just think if it’s funny, it’s funny. We wanted to make a show that was representative of what we feel young people might enjoy and between Arron Crascall, London Hughes and Psychomar, there’s content in the show for everyone.

What was Tinchy like to direct and work with?

Tinch really was a pleasure to work with. He took direction well and was more hands on with his own thoughts of how some of the pranks or scenes could be which was quite refreshing. He was a real member of the team and it made for a great working atmosphere especially on the long filming days.

How well do you think the Uk’s main TV broadcaster- The BBC – represent youth and urban programming content?

I think they’re trying. Within our first year they’ve commissioned two projects from us, which heavily feature diverse contributors and stories so I can say that I’m seeing an active effort to want to reach out to wider communities. I think they were smart to recruit commissioners from diverse backgrounds as the wider perspectives – be it urban, youth, LGBT, disabled and so on will hopefully be catered for if there’s someone in the channel knows their world.

What’s next for AATB?

We would love to turn this into a series, as there’s so much scope to take the jokes further. Once we finished filming we had another thirty ideas for pranks we could do. The main thing for us is we’ve made a show we can be proud of, and if the audience likes it then we’ve done our job. Whatever happens after that is the channel’s call.

OTHER SHOWS IN THE ITV2 NEW RAFT INCLUDE;

The Ty and Ky Show is a sketch show made by new production company Unstoppable Inc, starring the talents of dynamic duo, Cousins Tyrone-Lee Davis and Kieran Shekoni (aka Ty and Ky). The Ty & Ky Show is a collaboration with Release The Hounds series director James Abadi and Marc Allen, who is also Managing Director of True North, (aka Jy & My), and has influences from a diverse range of shows from Little Britain to David Chapelle.

WeHustle Productions, the makers of footballer Ian Wright’s seminal auto-biographical documentary Ian Wright: Nothing to Something (ITV4) are proud to be joining forces with ITV again to produce The Comedy Basement for ITV2. The Comedy Basement will feature the sharpest, cutting edge black British comedians including Kojo and Eddie Kadi. The programme will explore and demonstrate the wealth and depth of comedic talent in Britain’s vibrant black community. The Executive Producer is Richard Botchway.

C4 backed indie Renowned Films has also been commissioned by ITV2 to produce a 1 x 30 comedy special, completing the set of singles. The show, entitled Pranksterz will feature a brand new cast of up and coming Black and Asian comics, as they hit the streets in a mix of fast paced provocative hidden camera and character based pranks poking fun at prejudices and stereotypes around race and diversity in the UK.

Angela Jain said:
“It has always been a cornerstone of ITV2’s strategy to work with new talent and these shows are the perfect opportunity in the run up to the MOBOs, to bring some funny stuff to the telly from some people new to telly.”

Asif Zubairy said:
“There’s a wealth of talent in the UK – plugging away, trying to get TV attention. It’s exciting – and quite right – that that they, and hopefully others in the future, will get on ITV2 for the benefit of viewers who can expect funny, edgy and different ideas from whoever’s got the best ones.”

MTV EMA’S 2015

MTV EMAS 2015 FUN!

I took the week off my main day job to re-join my old MTV family in Milan, for the annual MTV Europe Music Awards 2015. Like last year with Nicki Minaj, I was host producing. This year our hosts were Ed Sheeran and Ruby Rose.

THE FIRST PIC OF MTV EMA 2015 HOSTS ED AND RUBY TOGETHER!

Alas Milan was hot. I say alas as I had packed a suitcase full of woolies as every year its always freezing wherever we go across Europe. So on the coach from Linate airport to our hotel, were roadies with their one rucksack and I with giant suitcase. SMH.

The awards were held at the Mediolanum arena. As with all arenas, we could’ve been anywhere in the world. The stage was surrounded by corridors lined with dressing rooms, and production offices buzzing with scriptwriters putting in last minute changes to the script, and techie crew testing mics and rigging.

RANDOM TABLES HEAVING WITH BOTTLES OF PATRON ALL AROUND THE ARENA.YOU KNOW, JUST IN CASE A RANDOM POPSTAR GETS THIRSTY.

Hair, make up and glam squads were preparing miles and miles of hair extensions, makeup palettes, clippers, weaves, wigs and more. Dressing rooms were being dressed in black, with fancy candles, huge vases of white flowers and flattering lamp lighting for the many private jets and commercial airlines flying in music acts and dancers the next day.

Our food was provided all week by long-term EMA caterers ‘eat your hearts out’. All staff working at the awards get free lunch and dinner. A daily choice of at least six main courses of fancy meals of chicken, veal, duck, venison, pasta, curries and more. Plus all the salad and accompaniments you may like. Add to that a selection of at least 8 desserts and a heaving cheese board with grapes, it’s pretty easy to put on a couple of stone after four days. Even with the endless walking around the venue, stage and climbing into high stage sets in the arena. Although the sweetie fountains do give you a really needed sugar rush, to keep you high and going at 2am when you’re exhausted.

ARTIST CATERING LOOKS ALOT SEXIER THAN MTV STAFF CATERING.

Also being prepared the day before are press packs which include fascinating-fact lists that journalists can add to their EMAs write ups. How many miles of cable, how many bottles of champagne and patron, how many cans of hairspray, how many black Mercedes, how many thousands of pounds worth of booty in the goody bags.

On day two we ran through the show onstage with cameras and directors without our main hosts as Ed was flying in the next day, and Ruby was flying in the night before! This day is useful for checking the floor plan and planning routes for sprinting through sneaky backstage corridors for costumes changes and making sure its set in stone with the floor managers so its easy to teach the hosts once they arrive.

EXHAUSTED MTV EMA HOSTS ED ANDRUBY WITH ME 1 MINUTE AFTER THE SHOW FINISHED STILL ONSET!

Its also a useful day to be able to liaise with the travel/red carpet/ glam squads about times you will need their teams to attend to our hosts and their entourages. Also to make the show running order work with exact minute-by-minute precision to ensure all music stars, entourages and crew are on the same page.
For example Ruby was flying in from South Africa from the film set of Resident Evil, where she’s acting in the upcoming film which see’s her chased by zombies in a post apocalyptic world. So Ruby’s finger nails which were broken and dirty from that role needed immediate attention to be MTV-glam. She also needed her hair colouring, tailor fittings with top Italian designers and a spray tan. So we ensured she was met around midnight the day before the show at her hotel with a manicurist, hairdresser and spray tanner. This process took till around 3am. Being uber professional, Ruby also re-worked her script to perfection so that I was able to have it changed on the auto-cue the following day.

MTV EMA STAGE 2015 GETTING READY!

The following day Ed flew in straight from his red carpet promo for his film so he was really grafting hard too. This day saw us rehearse with Ed, with me playing the part of ruby opposite him. Ed was also exhausted, as he had just flown in from his best mates bachelor party. He drove straight in from the airport to the arena to see the show set and rehearse his links, all with a smile on his face and a polite greeting for the whole crew. (its so easy to love him).

FINAL SHOT OF THE DREAMTEAM FRONT AND BACKSTAGE CREW!

Later that day I was rushed off to Milan’s Main Square, to Sugar Music Studios right in the shadow of the Duomo, where I was overseeing a studio rehearsal with the legend that is Andrea Bocelli and up and coming singer Tori Kelly. I was to be the MTV presence in case either of their teams had any questions or concerns about their artist live sets. I couldn’t believe my luck and the fact that this is my job. I’ve had hundreds of ‘pinch-me’ moments and im still excited by every one! I watched as Andrea and Tori ran through their set for the next days show gob smacked at both of their breathtaking vocals. Tori’s manager Scooter Braun (also Justin Beiber and Arianna Grandes manager), was also in the room and his dad called on Facetime whilst both artists were mid-song. So Scooter calmly let his dad watch for a minute before speaking to him. His dad’s stunned, overjoyed face at having been witness to the moment was priceless!

WITH SARA AND SONIA- MY FLOOR MANAGERS DREAMTEAM!

On show day the arena and the whole of Milan was buzzing. We ran through the camera angles and stage positions first thing in the morning after Justin Beiber had sound checked. Next it was the host’s first and only rehearsal together mere hours before the show. Then a full dress rehearsal with full cast, acts and dancers. Straight after dress-run we gave the hosts an hour to rest before the red carpet before I knocked on doors to drag Ruby to the red carpet. The fans in Italy are amazing! Really passionate screamers and so sharing the red carpet with Ruby and Jason Derulo who was flanked by two tall blonde models was hysterical.

ARIEL VIEW OF THE MTV EMA2015 BEING PREPARED.

As soon as we whisked Ruby off the red carpet it was go, go, go! The show kicked off with us climbing loads of steep steps for the opening scene and by the end of the show we were all drenched with sweat from three hours of running, changing clothes, changing scripts, learning last minute changes and more. Its tough to keep your host moving when other celebs like Justin and Ellie (Goulding) pass in the corridor and they all stop to chat. Even more impressive was that the autocue /teleprompter on one of the cameras didn’t work for two links and Ruby just reeled off her words to perfection without a flinch. No-one would’ve known.

WITH TINIE TEMPAH AND HIS MANAGER DUMI AT THE AIRPORT THE MORNING AFTER.

Ultimately, the show was great with performances by Macklemore, Jess Glynne, Jason Derulo, Rudimental and Ed Sheeran, Andrea Bocelli and tori Kelly, Pharrell and more. The celebrity glam pit in the audience was full of other names like Tinie Tempah and Naughty Boy and much hilarity was had during and after the show.

EMA WICKED WHISPERS

Which pop star went around the venue nicking bottles of alcohol to take back to their hotel when they could’ve just added it to their MTV rider?
Which pop star had a last minute hair and dress dilemma and had to make emergency plans for a new look?
Which pop star refused to enter the venue unless they came last cos the last one to arrive is the one most important and worth waiting for?
Which pop star needed their song words on autocue, as they couldn’t remember them?
Which pop star wanted to say very naughty x rated things whilst onstage, but luckily refrained?

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TINCHY STRYDER

On my return to London which barely 8 hours sleep across the past 4 days, I was invited down to a private screening room in Soho to watch a new comedy prank show – All About The Bants – hosted by Tinchy Stryder for ITV2, which is airing this weekend.

WITH TINCHY STRYDER AND HIS ‘ALL ABOUT THE BANTS” ITV2 TV SHOW CREW.

I entered the basement room to find it full of guys, not one woman up in there except me. I felt like Beyonce for a hot minute. The show is like a newer, fresher, younger version of eighties TV show ‘’beadles about’’ where Jeremy beadle and his acting team of pranksters played jokes on the unsuspecting public.
The sketches are well timed, full of diverse scenarios and a great watch.
My cynical side did think ‘ah ITV trying to tick their diversity boxes with 4 new BAME TV shows’, but actually it was good and Tinchy did a great job hosting.
Watch ALL ABOUT THE BANTS this Sunday ITV2 10.30pm.

(straight after the screening we popped into Nandos where we bumped into Giggs who was telling me about his new projects, both human and music 😉
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GOOGLE BHM EVENT

Then it was off to the uber fancy Google building for their Black History Month celebration, where after a couple of keynote speakers and musician, a panel talked about the importance of young people of colour entering the techy industry. It pays at least 30% more than most industries, and at Google they even provide all food- breakfast, lunch, dinners, drinks, snacks and a gym and cinema room. Where do I send my CV?

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CRAIG DAVID.

JASMINE WITH CRAIG DAVID THIS WEEK.

Finally it was time to catch up with my old mate Craig David who is back and cooler than cool! He’s been telling me about his new music for months, but this month he’s been interviewed and on front covers of every mag and digital website going from Vice to NME and more! Even Justin Beiber covered his hit ‘’Fill me in’’ in a televised karaoke and Drakes been name checking him for years!

Craig blames it on the cyclical nature of trends ‘’ Things are cyclical. Double denim. Tim boots. Musically my fans are 15 years older and feeling nostalgic. They have memories that are linked to my music. There’s also the 15year old kid that doesn’t’’ know who I am. But the lyrics of ‘fill me in’ whether a decade ago or now are still relevant to any young person’’

Craig took a decade off to recoup and enjoy life by buying a rib in Miami and a super-duper swish sports car and just living the dream. Why not? He’s earned it right? ‘’ My actual last record was a covers record. Just Regular. Nothing but covers I was needing to put it all away and take a break. Live in palace in Miami, drive the car I always wanted’’.

Craig admits his mind became warped by record labels and agendas. ‘’I knew it was unhealthy for me in the music industry when I realised that even though my albums sold millions, I bought into the fact that it was a downer and hadn’t sold enough! The industry males you panic about Chart positions, getting number ones for your next single, you experience extreme success and thoughts of failure in the same seed! ’ Any young act coming through needs to understand these things. I knew rewind was fire and my first cheque proved it. But when that mentality changes to you creating music for a label it changes and isn’t fun anymore. The biggest truth is when Biggie said ‘’more money, more problems’’. So for me right now it’s fun!’

When he moved to Miami craig started an intense #eatcleantraindirty workout regime that showed him transform on social media to muscleman.
‘’my fitness was taking over from music. I was ripped but gaunt. I aged 20 years. My abs were great but my face was not. I eased back to having just 4 abs not my usual 10. Its better to come with good music and I finally found a balance for both. Ultimately it may have been about control as I used to be an overweight kid. And that fat kid inside will always exist with me. I knew I needed to go to the extreme of being ripped. But then the fear of losing it happens as you can’t go out for a meal with friends. My eating thing was deep-rooted as a kid. It’s like telling a girl in the model industry she needs to lose weight, it turns her mad. She eats tissue. Men are also affected, as it’s an ego thing about feeling worthy and in shape. Then you realise that girls don’t need that. My manager told me I looked old and crazy. I saw beautiful girls that just wanted a normal guy. I was killing myself to stay in shape and being in control. So now it’s all about balance’’.

More recently he also stated up his TS5 dj brand in his Miami home, which has now gone global, London, Europe Australia and more!), and has been at summer festivals and did such a hot set at carnival the police had to shut it down after the crowd became too excited. Did you watch him on Radio1 Xtra’s KurruptFM takeover where he was in the studio with Mistajam, Big Narstie, Stormzy and more? He shut it down!

Of course these new, young acts grew up on Craig’s music so is it any wonder they adore him? Isn’t grime the modern day child of garage? Wasn’t UK garage the forefather of grime?
Craig told me ‘’ People hadn’t forgotten me but I needed to find my hunger for the music industry again. You never really go away. As a songwriter I’ve always got a3 minutes in me that can change things‘’

Craig says what happened to the old skool UKG scene was that ‘‘the scene evolved. Led by names like Artful Dodger and Wookie, Timberland and Rodney Jerkins were doing UK vibe songs. We were having an impact on American producers. So Solid changed everything. Then the grime scene did its thing, although I don’t think it got its fair big profile. It then needed a time to go dark. Like the jungle scene. The buzz was still underground when you’d be 5th in line to rip the mic in a dark studio or rave. Now we see Stormzys come through. you see Skepta being recognised Drake. Kanye bringing BBK onstage at the Brits. Also it’s now seen as a commercial asset’’.

So is the garage scene back? Did it ever go anywhere? What changed?
‘’Back then it was more of a fashion scene. Girls felt sexy. Guys were flossing with champagne bottles. If someone steps on someone’s shoe it’s cool no problem, I’m just jamming with my girl’. Then it got dark and the scene was blamed for lots of negativity. I’m seeing organised chaos at grime events though. It kicks off and the energy is crazy!’’

Do Americans steal our sounds?
It goes both ways. We mimic their soul. We have such a multicultural eclectic mix of sounds. When Skpeta does shutdown Americans go \’what is THIS?\’ and try to jump on board. Like when I first did rewind people just looked at me confused but in months the Americans were playing it all over radio.

For this young Boy from Southampton who came to London and made it big, this time around he says ‘’its more important now to make sure that the people around me are happy. I want my team Colin Lester 15 years who’s fought for me for years Alex. Matt. All my team who do this day in and out working hard for me. Matt said I’d have to come to London to make and put out new music and it took me a moment to realise he was right. It was a pivotal moment. I left my apt and car and returned to London and am back in the mix. I wanna see my team enjoy their graft at awards and ceremonies’’. ‎
‎
‘’Big Narstie came to my studio and was offended that my ‘Born to do it’ plaque was just sitting on the floor in my studio. Narstie told me that ‘That album got me through hard times man!’. So I had to get s screwdriver and put the plaque on the wall. I now tell that story to you cos that was a poignant moment for me. I had perspective and realisation’’.

And Craig isn’t like the ushers of this world who jumped into EDM when it was hot to have a hit. Talking about his new music he says the sounds the same ‘’my new music flavor? If born to do it was my first big break I was narrating simple relatable stories and melodies and R&B. That’s exactly the same place where I’m at now. Look at Ed Sheeran…he’s fly, acoustically, with beats or with a guitar. Simple but great!’’
‎
With most of the UKs black soul singers not visible to the public, I ask Craig if at least on the UK soul music scene, the public view of the industry has been hijacked by white singers? Craig disagrees ‘’the race card is a cop-out. Race can go both ways. It would diminish all I’ve done. My mums white my dad’s blk. I don’t recognise it at all’’.

”I’m calling my album ‘Following my intuition’ cos every time I’ve followed it, it’s been right. When I haven’t, it’s bitten me in the ass. I’m working with a guy called White Nerd from Manchester – he’s amazing. Trejohn Marie a great new songwriter. And Kay Trendada futuristic R&B.

JASMINE WITH CRAIG DAVIDS MANAGER COLIN LESTER.

Hallway through my interview Craig’s manager (Colin Lester), who I’ve known for years arrives in the studio and jokes that the interviews over!. After he leaves the room Craig tells me that he loves Colin like a dad for having his back for so many years. ‘’ We used to do inerviews and Colin would bombard me and play jokes and I’d be like in ’embarrassing dad mode’ but now I’m all good with it cos he’s really held me down over 16 years and always championed me…’’

I remind Craig of the video that was secretly filmed of Colin being furious about the Bo Selecta sketch back in the day that was all over the Internet. Craig laughs ‘’yes, Colin went mad!” It’s a father son thing.

When asked about how craig had felt during that time he reveals ‘’ The mainstream media portrayal of it was out of control. It was flattering. I was caricatured alongside David Beckham, Michael jackosn and more. The thing all got blurred. I thought it was funny and went onstage at Royal Albert Hall even wearing my own caricature mask. But PR teams were putting out stories everywhere saying I was angry. But I wasn’t. Its only hurtful if you let it be. Keith (Lemmon) and I patched it up a long time ago at Ferns wedding. There was an awkward tension in the room. Guests were probably hoping it would all kick off like at school in the playground. I walked over to Keith and hugged him and it was all-good. If you’re a great musician you can take the heat. Kanye gets the heat ripped out of him daily but he carry’s on and says ‘I’m running for president and you\’re going to buy my Yeezys! And by the way, I have the hottest girl in the game!’ That\’s what it’s about. Not taking it all too seriously. People just want to hear new music and that’s what I’m bringing to them!’’

Clearly it’s Craig having the last laugh.

Fresh Dressed is the fascinating movie chronicle of hip-hop, urban fashion, and the hustle that brought oversized pants and graffiti-drenched jackets from the New York discount markets to high fashion’s catwalks and shopping malls all around the world. Its out in UK cinemas from October 30th 2015 AND I caught up with the film’s director – Sacha Jenkins – ahead of it’s release!.

(All photos courtesy of Jamel Shabazz)

Who is Sacha Jenkins, how did this film come about and why was it important for you to make it? What inspired it and why is it timely now?

At my core, I’m just a kid from Queens who has remained a kid for a long time. And in my adult life, I’ve been able to chase the dreams that I chased as a kid. As for Fresh Dressed coming together, I’ve been writing about hip hop for a long time for various publications, writing various books, working on various projects related to hip hop culture. I at some point realized that one of the most important facets of hip hop culture – fashion – hadn’t been touched on in the way I felt I could. I believed that hip-hop could be a platform from which I could discuss a broad range of ideas. I was inspired by what I remember about being a kid growing up in inner city New York, and remembering how important the way we looked was- and how we judged one another based on what we wore. But it was also competitive and fun in many ways…liberating even. Fashion was language for us. I wanted to make a film that could speak to all of these ideas.

Producer Nas? How did that happen, Why was it important to him as he’s not exactly known as one of hip-hops more experimental with fashion names?

Nas and I went to the same crappy middle school in Queens. We were both told that the only thing we can do in life is to go on to become mechanics. I don’t know how to fix cars- I wish I did. But what if Nas went on to become a mechanic? Truth be told, Nas and me are partners in a business. It’s called Mass Appeal. We publish a magazine, produce a website, books music- the group Run the Jewels is on our label. We do a lot of creative things via Mass Appeal. To me, Fresh Dressed is more about WHY people wore/wear what they wear as opposed to specific brands. So while Nas isn’t known for his fashion, he’s known for his lyrics and overall cool vibe; his influence went a long way in getting bigger names like Sean “Puffy” Combs to come to agree to be interviewed and more.

The influence of hip-hop fashion is global with hip-hop culture taking over commercials, creative arts and modern day language. How big an impact has hip-hop culture had on everyday clothing and fashion?
Hip hop’s influence on global culture is too large to articulate here. I think hip-hop can be distilled down to language, and the words and sentiments of hip hop have been incorporated in the languages and cultures of the world.

Cultural appropriation is a phrase that’s been thrown around regularly in recent years. How much of modern day culture when it comes to Hip-hop culture do you think this relates to?

I think cultural appropriation in America boils down to who’s an American and who is not. In other words, if black and brown people in America felt like Americans, they wouldn’t have a problem with Miley Cyrus getting her Twerk on. But because folks of colour in America don’t feel like “Americans”, their identities become one of the most important and most valuable assets an individual can “own”. If you have to worry about the justice system and bloodthirsty police officers and lack of opportunity and debt and what have you, your culture -your beautiful and vibrant culture -becomes the only asset you can likely control…Until Miley comes along and gets Jiggy with it.

There’s been a real return trend this past year, to 80s hip-hop adidas phat laces. Kangol fashion and more. What are your favourite memories of that time in fashion and the energy around hip hop fashion?

That first pair of suede Puma Clyde shoes-putting those on as a kid, I felt like I could fly. Matter of fact, I felt…FLY.


At the beginning of hip-hop culture establishing itself, how did fashion speak for communities with political issues and issues with the establishment?

No one took hip-hop seriously in the beginning. So it was ignored. It blossomed quite nicely, minus the thirty eyes of outsiders, and the fact that hip-hop blossomed where and when it did is a strong political statement in itself.

Street fashion used to be organic and uniquely put together by the streets. Now street youth globally, seem to be more fascinated and aspire to top fashion couture lines. Have we succumbed, elevated or sold out?

Hip-hop is about being original, being an individual, and there are a lot of people out there who live by this code. At the same time, there are schools of young people who have bought into a heavy consumerism vibe. It’s scary. It’s sad, and some people are getting rich because of it -and those people ain’t from the ‘hood.

‘Being fresh was more important than having money’ Kanye says this about his youth. Has much changed in 2015 across 3 decades? Is the emphasis we place on clothing and image I hip-hop culture too strong and unbalanced? Does it make youth aspire to staying poor to look rich?

America is consumed by consumerism – so much so that we’re literally consuming ourselves. Eating away at ourselves. For some poor folks, what you wear is a measure of who you are. I’m not saying that isn’t the case in circles of the rich, but in the inner city, in some cases, poor people judge poor people based on what is being worn by people in those communities. Why have we ascribed so much value to what we wear when there are so many bigger fish to fry? Why am I judging you-and you me- when we both know that we’re poor and living in housing projects?

Pharrell and his giant ‘’happy’ hat was a ‘moment’…what are your other top five personal favourite hip-hop fashion moments and why?

I’m not much of a fashion guy. I’m more interested in why people wear things as opposed to what they’re wearing. Was Pharrell inspired by Smokey the Bear? We’ll never know. But it doesn’t much matter: Pharrell is an individual and an innovator.

Is there a man more opulent or fabulous that Andre Leon Talley and what’s his relationship to street wear and hip-hop culture if any at all?

Mr. Talley is just THE MAN. Plain and simple. He said he used to spend a bit of his college stiepend on high fashion articles -does it get any more ‘hood’ than that?

Dame Dash and Puffy have always highlighted the importance of not just music, but fresh to death outfits…..are their 360 degree music/business/fashion/film/ etc legacies as respected today as they should be?

The world knows about Puffy’s contributions and his innovations when it comes to maximizing the power of hip hop. Dame Dash doesn’t really get his just due in my eyes. He has always pushed the notion of culture being first and foremost always. Jay Z of course, also personifies that notion of culture first. But Dame, in my eyes, was the guy who was interested in Basquiat before the man became a rap trend.

Labels like D&G Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph gained from the adoration Hip-hop in the eighties and nineties but never seemed to give back. Should they? Do they owe the culture anything?

America is all about making money and if you can make it there and make money, more power to you. Should these brands somehow give back? It would be nice, but they are of course not obligated to do so. Ralph Lauren is originally from the Bronx. He comes from humble beginnings. Many inner-city fashionistas look to him for inspiration. They believe that if he can make it, they can too. That sounds like the way America is supposed to work.

FRESH DRESSED MOVIE DIRECTOR SACHA JENKINS.

Will Smith wearing Cross Colours in the Fresh Prince, is a great example of how black brands used to unite to stand powerfully and lift each other up. Have we lost that in 2015?

A lot of folks are more interested in wearing brands that they can’t pronounce. That’s cool. But I get chills every time i hear Karl Kani tell the story he tells in my film about Tupac saying he wouldn’t charge him to appear in a print ad for his Karl Kani brand…

Has the way the hip-hop community dresses ever held us back when it comes to misconceptions or judgments from wider society?

Hip-hop is a reaction to society; therefore what society thinks about hip-hop fashion should never matter.

What is the biggest challenge for fashion entrepreneurs today from the hip-hop community?

The term “hip hop” can sometimes put you in a box marked “dangerous”. That is changing as older folks with negative perceptions of hip-hop leave the planet. I hope Rakim is pumping at their funerals.

How much fun was it making this film and what’s next for Sacha Jenkins?

Making Fresh Dressed was a blast. I had the opportunity to speak with such a diverse range of people. As far as what’s next, I’m just going to keep on telling stories. The beat goes on, and stories will continue to be told over said beat. I’ve loved beats ever since I was a kid and I don’t see that obsession going anywhere any time soon.

I’ve never been one of those kinky girls that likes to be blind folded for fun, but last night I popped on an eye mask in public for a very important cause.

SIGHT FOR SOUND STAGE, SHOWTIME!….WEARING EYEMASKS!

Every 15 minutes, someone in the UK begins to lose their sight, that’s almost 2 million people in the UK. October 8 was World Sight Day, and in London this was celebrated with a very unique music event called Sound For Sight, at The Tabernacle, in Notting Hill, and on October 14 a similar event will take place at The Mint in LA.

It’s a very unique music concert, where music artists from multiple genres as wide-ranging as opera, pop and folk, perform two songs at the “blind” event ‘, which raises funds for specifically RP (Retinitis Pigmentosa) a sight loss disease, for the UK’s leading sight loss charity Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).

IZZY BIZU SINGS AT SOUND FOR SIGHT 2015.

Music Company Soundcheque put on the event because their CEO, Laura Westcott in 2014, found out that her friend Yvette Chivers had been diagnosed with the sight loss condition Retinitis Pigmentosa. The condition means Yvette is losing her sight slowly throughout her life. Last year Laura went “blind” for one week to raise awareness for Yvette’s sight loss condition, and celebrated the end of the week with a concert she called ‘Sound for Sight’ on World Sight Day.

Laura told me: “I did a lot of research last year about RP and found out that it’s potentially curable. After making myself wear the sight-loss glasses last year for a week it really struck home to me how horrific this condition is. The first day the tunnel-vision gave me bad headaches and made me feel nauseous. Throughout the week, the challenges were when other people would try and grab me to help. Its weird, like a weird invasion of your privacy. I realised when you lose one sense, all the rest are heightened. With music being my life I accidentally created something incredibly special for a cause that’s really important to me.I wanted our audience tonight to really feel how life changing blindness can be’’.

Attending ‘Sound for Sight’ made me realize the importance of music to the partially-sighted and blind. The aim of the night was to raise funds to fund research into the curable degenerative eye disease through the power of live music. And what a lineup of powerful musicians there were on the bill!
The inaugural 2014 event was hosted by the BBC’s Jeremy Vine and included performances from opera singer Bryn Terfel and Dan Gillespie-Sells of The Feeling. This year we had a 15-strong line up of names.

I love the idea of a blindfolded audience, particularly as the quality of the acts were true big-voiced artists like Denise Leigh – the blind opera singer who opened the Paralympics, new about-to-blow female vocalist Izzy Bizu, Paul Potts (winner of first ever Britain’s Got Talent), Drew McConnell (Babyshambles), Luke Friend (X Factor 2013) and very excitingly, also solo star Markus Feehily (formerly lead singer ‘’Mark’’ from Westlife!)

MARKUS FEEHILY SPEAKS TO LONDON360 AT SOUND FOR SIGHT.

Mark told us ‘’If I’m available I like to support charities, and I particularly loved the high-concept experience element of this evening. These days there’s so many charities out there that they have to think of a way to grab peoples attention,this was really unique. I’ve never performed before to a fully masked audience. It’s such a mixed line up too. I love it! If I were to be affected by an eyesight loss disease like RP I cant even imagine life. When I meet people that are affected, it put’s my life in perspective’’. Markus also mentioned that this had been an important show with synergy for him to be a part of, as his solo reincarnation is more about his vocal ability, as opposed to his pin up past from Westlife.

MARKUS FEEHILY PERFORMING AT SIGHT FOR SOUND 2015.

X Factor star Luke Friend told us the reason it was important for him to support the night was ‘’ playing music is the only thing I’m good at so if I can help it’s a great thing. I mean, if this suddenly happened to me, how would I cope and still play my guitar? Its really difficult, my life would change completely if I went blind’’

Rising star Izzy Bizu had the crowd awed with her jazz tinted vocals and told us‘’ basically everyone in the audience have to wear these glasses so they can only partially see us performing and some people have also been performing with the glasses on too so that’s challenging!’’

IZZY BIZU SPEAKS TO LONDON360 BEFORE GOING ONSTAGE FOR SOUND FOR SIGHT.

Each act took to the stage for around ten minutes and really did the campaign proud. Scattered amongst the music talent we were also treated to comedy by the hilarious Mark Watson who literally did a freestyle set about the actual night, the cause and the audience.

IZZY BIZU PERFORMS AT SOUND FOR SIGHT.

Concertgoers wore black ‘’sim-specs’’ which simulated reduced vision as we watched the exciting line-up of artists and experienced music in a whole new way. It was a strange mixture of emotions. On the one hand the music felt so much more immediate, powerful and every layer of musicality was highlighted to my senses. On the other hand it was unnerving as it was like seeing only through a teeny pinprick of a hole enveloped by darkness. So in a usual music show when people pass by you, feet stomp behind you and spotlights spin overhead, it’s all accepted and unquestioned due to our peripheral vision. Here I jumped nervously as I only heard and didn’t see the thuds, nudges and energy from passers by which was anxiety inducing.

ASHISH GOYAL- AMBASSADOR SIGHT FOR SOUND.

Ashish Goyal, Ambassador of Sound for Sight and the world’s first visually impaired trader told us: ” last year when Laura spent a week living as a blind person I was one of her mentors. My job and journey is fascinating, as I had to convince people at JP Morgan that I could do my job as a blind person after I loss my sight as a teenager in Mumbai. I use screen reading software and technology as I trade, so technology has changed the way I live. Sound for Sight is a remarkable concept for an amazing cause. I’m pleased to be associated with it.”

This is the first ever music concert for the RNIB and James Risdon, Music Officer at RNIB, agreed it was a great night: “As a blind musician I’m really excited about how Sound for Sight challenges the way we listen to music. I hope the audience enjoyed the chance to experience live music from a new perspective, even if it is just for a few minutes with the glasses on”.

It’s been a strange week for stories in the press dominated by race issues.

Firstly the debate about whether Jamaicans are owed both an apology and reparations for slavery by the UK, then the protest about allegedly racist nightclub DSTRKT, in London’s west end, where four black women weren’t let in, as apparently they were too fat and too dark.

Being Persian and therefore neither black nor white, I tend to hear comments from all races as they see me as some kind of weird ‘neutral in betweener’’. Many say ‘oh God aren’t they over slavery, it happened nearly 200 years ago, surely we can all just move on?’’, not realizing that the legacy of slavery in this country has kept high society, stately-home owning families rich, and allowed their grandchildren a privileged lifestyle, whilst simultaneously leaving a legacy of destructed black families, broken homes full of poverty, issues of male emasculation and more, as seen by this weeks Evening Standard coverage of life on the Angell Town Estate in South London.

It’s really important to change the perception of the black community in the UK. They’re not all rappers, reality stars, gang members or footballers. Just as many have careers in medicine, law, fashion, journalism and more but aren’t ever given any profile in public.

However, I’m not here to dwell on that. I like to think of positive actions to problems. I believe that if you can teach a classroom new ideas, they in turn can change a whole communities thinking, and eventually these small seeds can change the world. Make me sound like an eternal happy-hippie optimist? Maybe so.

Someone making small moves to change perceptions of the black community and all it has to offer is Kanya King with her MOBO brand. Thus far, for twenty years it’s mostly been associated with British black music. But this month Kanya unveiled the MOBO ‘Rise With Us’ Season (at two launch events on London’s South Bank and legendary Soho music venue Ronnie Scott’s), which highlights black talent in the wider creative arts areas.

JASMINE WITH KANYA KING AND SARAH JANE CRAWFORD AT THE MOBO NOMINATIONS EVENT AND MOBO SEASON LAUNCH THIS WEEK.

The MOBO season (28th September – 4th November) see’s a month-long run of wide ranging cultural and educational events that are taking place in the lead-up to this years MOBO Awards in Leeds on November 4th.

Every act that has ever been nominated or won a MOBO Award has a story to tell. Now, it’s time to tell more inspirational stories beyond the realm of music and pave the way for the next generation. As part of its 20th anniversary celebrations, the next chapter of MOBO will look to celebrate and support those driven individuals, whatever their chosen path in the creative arts may be.

MOBO ‘Rise With Us’ Season is jam-packed with an incredible range of events all hand-picked by MOBO from across the creative industries of film, theatre, fashion and art. From a ‘Late at Tate’ event, to the homegrown critically acclaimed cast of ‘The Etienne Sisters’ at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, and the exploration of the golden era of sound systems at the exhibition ‘Rockers, Soulheads & Lovers: Sound Systems Back in Da Day’, at the new Art Exchange in Nottingham, the MOBO team has curated a programme of the highest quality.

Kanya King, founder of the MOBO Organisation told me; “We are delighted to be launching this exciting season of initiatives and proud to have the support of so many great organisations such as the CIF, ITV, BFI, Warehouse, The National Theatre, CCSkills, the London College of Fashion and the British Library among many others. The Creative Industries Federation report highlighted how much can be done to address the lack of diversity across the industry and the exciting season and the amazing opportunities created by the fellowships are evidence that the industry is ready to join hands and make positive contributions”.

A cornerstone of the MOBO ‘Rise With Us’ Season is a series of curated films within the London Film Festival, including a renovated version of the celebrated Senegalese cinema of ‘Black Girl’ (1966), Hany Abu-Assad’s Palestinian drama film ‘The Idol’ will also be featured as part of ‘MOBO Film’ along with this year’s topical story of desperate refugees ‘Mediterranea’. Also celebrated will be timely Brit documentary ‘The Hard Stop’, which explores the life and death of Mark Duggan and the riots that followed, as well as ‘Fresh Dressed’, a fascinating chronicle of hip-hop and urban fashion, featuring the likes of Kanye West and Pharrell Williams. The selection of these diverse films showcases the fresh talent and established names that should be supported and celebrated within the entertainment and artistic genre.

In addition to the abundance of artistic offerings, there are also a number of educational events, including the PRS For Music Panel session for budding music entrepreneurs who can follow in the footsteps of people like internationally acclaimed songwriter to the stars Wayne Hector, as well as The Labels Fashion show highlighting the next generation of designers and stylists like international stylist to the stars Richard Shoyemi, and ‘Rise With Us’ talks held at the British Library featuring successful entrepreneurs sharing their inspirational stories I the same vein as Colorblind Cards founder Jessica Huie.
Incredibly successful black people in a variety of fields do exist – you just have to know where to find them!

The MOBO Season calendar runs from 28th September until 4th November. For further information about the MOBO Season and the events, go to www.mobo.com/season

FULL LIST OF EVENTS AS FOLLOWS

• 28th September: The Creative Diversity Launch Report
In partnership with the Creative Industries Federation, this event celebrates the launch of the “Rise With Us” campaign by announcing findings around diversity in the creative industries in a diversity report.

• 30th September: MOBO Awards Nominations Launch
The annual event that announces the nominees for the MOBO Awards. This year we are also introducing a new award in conjunction with ITV2 as part of our MOBO ‘Rise With Us’ Season.

• 1st – 3rd October: Hannah and Hanna play performance at Greenwich Theatre London
A play written in 2001, this story is about the refugee crisis in Kosovo, which is still painfully relevant today. The casting is one of the significant changes to the way the play is usually presented, with the UK Hannah played by a young black actress, enabling us to explore changing ideas of British identity through ethnicity.

• 2nd October: Late at Tate at Tate Britain
Late at Tate kicks off the new Autumn series with exploring the idea of status and power by providing a vibrant mix of music performances, workshops, talks, special guests and DJs. The event will include a performance by The Age of L.U.N.A., a digital commission from innovative interactive media artists Jae Huh and a workshop from East London creative Kojey Radical’s project Push Crayons.

• Until 3rd October: The Etienne Sisters at Stratford East
Featuring MOBO Award winner, Allyson Ava-Brown who won Best UnSung Act in 1998, The Etienne Sisters is a brand new British production set to a contemporary jazz soundtrack that explores what it means to be part of a family today.

• 7th – 18th October: Film Curation at the London Film Festival
MOBO and London Film Festival identified 9 films that reflect the MOBO Season values and represent a breadth of styles, textures and diversity of cultures.
– 7th October: Black Girl screening with Borom Sarret
– 8th October: Cronies
– 10th October: Ayanda
– 12th October: The Idol
– 13th October: They Will Have To Kill Us First: Malian Music in Exile
– 16th October: Necktie Youth
– 16th October: Mediterranea
– 17th October: Fresh Dressed
– 17th October: The Hard Stop

• 8th October onwards: A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes at The Tricycle Theatre
Award-winning playwright Marcus Gardley returns to the Tricycle Theatre following 2014’s critically-acclaimed The House That Will Not Stand. This fresh take on Molière’s Tartuffe, set in a world of fast-food tycoons and megachurches is a wicked new comedy that rocks the foundations of trust, faith and redemption.

• 10th October: The Labels Fashion Show at The Royal Over-Sea League
An annual independent platform for designers to showcase their work to potential clients and professionals within the fashion & entertainment industry. Its aim is to inspire budding designers by helping them build a brand and a network within the industry, paving a way for their talent and skills to be seen by other creative individuals.

• 10th October: New Art Exchange Exhibition in Nottingham (Rockers, Soulheads & Lovers Sound)
The launch of a new exhibition at New Art Exchange called Rockers, Soulheads & Lovers: Sound Systems Back in Da Day which explores the golden era of sound system culture from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.

• 10th October: 10th Annual Huntley Conference at Guildhall Art Gallery (No Colour Bar Exhibit)
FHALMA (Friends of the Huntley Archives at the London Metropolitan Archives) are proud to present ‘Mountain High_Archive Deep’, the 10th Anniversary edition of the Annual Huntley conference. Artists, poets, musicians and storytellers unite to deliver a live celebration of black British identity and the importance of Black British art.

• 10th October: Africa On The Square in Trafalgar Square
Launched in 2014, this new festival celebrates the best of African culture from noon-6pm with a talent show, fashion show and food market along with live music, DJs, dancing and lots of activities for kids.

• 12th October: London Film Festival Sonic Gala at ODEON Leicester Square
As part of the London Film Festival and in partnership with MOBO, this red carpet event will be the UK premiere of The Idol which tells the incredible true story of Mohamad Assaf, winner of ‘Arab Idol’. Both Mohammed and the two-time Oscar nominated director Hanny Abu Assad are expected to attend.

• 13th October: Miguel Concert at O2 Academy in Brixton
Following his recent sold out London show, Grammy Award winning recording artist Miguel has announced a UK headline tour for October 2015.

• 14th October: The Women of Kampala at Greenwich Theatre
A one-night concert called The Women Of Kampala, presenting an evening of East African music by 5 Ugandan singers backed by a 7 piece band.

• 14th – 17th October: Frieze London
An annual art fair featuring over 160 of the world’s most exciting galleries. View and buy art from over 1,000 of today’s leading artists, and experience the fair’s critically acclaimed Frieze Projects and Frieze Talks programmes.

• 14th – 18th October: Frieze Masters
An annual art fair that brings together several thousand years of art in a unique, contemporary context.

• 15th – 18th October: Stylist Live
A four-day festival of cocktails, culture, catwalks and conversation hosted by Edith Bowman and Dawn O’Porter.

• 15th October: Miguel Concert at O2 Academy in Birmingham
Following his recent sold out London show, Grammy Award winning recording artist Miguel has announced a UK headline tour for October 2015.

• Until 17th October: Our Country’s Good at The National Theatre
A profoundly humane piece of theatre, steeped in suffering yet charged with hope, Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good (based on a true story) celebrates the redemptive power of art.

• 17th October: A$AP Rocky & Wiz Khalifa Concert at the O2 Arena
A$AP Rocky & Wiz Khalifa bring their talent to the O2 Arena for a night of great music.

• 18th October: Miguel Concert at O2 Academy in Manchester
Following his recent sold out London show, Grammy Award winning recording artist Miguel has announced a UK headline tour for October 2015.

• 20th October: The Black British Business Awards
An awards programme that recognises, rewards and celebrates exceptional performance and outstanding achievements of black people in businesses operating in Great Britain.

• 23rd October: Otello Opera Show at St. James’s Theatre
Produced by Nadine Benjamin via her company Everybody Can Opera!, this performance of Otello mix opera and jazz to encourage other cultures to join for the evening to celebrate opera and understand it is not just for the upper classes. At the moment, it will involve Nadine, Ronald Samm and Denver Smith.

• 26th Oct. – 1st Nov: ‘Past, Present, Future: An Ode to Black British Artistry’ Exhibit
S|SPACE° will host an exhibition showcasing a range of young Black British artists. The exhibition is titled ‘Past, Present, Future: An Ode to Black British Artistry’ and will attract various creative industry professionals, as well as educational institutions and general art enthusiasts.

• 27th October: “Rise with Us” Inspiring Entrepreneurs the British Library
Four inspiring entrepreneurs will discuss their ground-breaking stories of achievement during a panel discussion as part of the British Library’s “Inspiring Entrepreneurs” event series to celebrate the contributions of British entrepreneurs and creative talent in the UK today. The event will also be complimented by a drinks reception and private view of the upcoming West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song exhibition.

• 28th October: Warehouse Fashion Showcase at Flagship Store
For the first time ever, Warehouse is handing over the Oxford Street mezzanine space to 3 MOBO fashion designers to showcase their clothing and will host an evening networking event where they invite their network of fashion insiders.

• 29th October: Safe Gorton Concert in Manchester
After winning a competition with Island records, members from the Safe Gorton music scheme perform covers of Jessie J’s songs to a crowd of over 250 people.

• 2nd November: PRS Panel Sessions in Leeds
As part of a nationwide road show, PRS for Music is hosting an industry panel event featuring a Q&A with key industry speakers followed by networking event as part of the reception..

• 4th November – The 2015 MOBO Awards ceremony in Leeds

MULTI MEDIA MASTERCLASSES

JASMINE WITH SO SOLID’S MEGA AND HARVEY AT THEIR LONDON360 MASTERCLASS.

So it’s the final quarter of the year and notoriously the busiest time in entertainment, music and showbiz!
This fortnight’s been hectic with key influencers from London all attending Media Trust down at the BBC site in Wood Lane to lead a master class in their chosen fields. Its an off-shoot of my main LONDON360 brand that has been supported by the bigwigs up at City Hall and City Bridge Trust and this past 6 weeks has been supported by the Mayors Fund.

JASMINE WITH BBC ARTS CORRESPONDENT BRENDA EMMANUS AT HER LONDON360 MASTERCLASS.

This fortnight we’ve had BBC Arts and Entertainment correspondent Brenda Emmanus, So Solid Crews Mega and Harvey, Dolce & Gabanna PR gurus Chandni and Ruth, fashion stylist to the stars Richard Shoyemi (Nicki Minaj / Eve /etc), radio broadcasters George Kay (Mi Soul), manny norte (Capital Xtra and Krash Williams (Westsidefm), Rosa Doherty on the art of blogging (Jewish Chronicle), PR sessions from Jessica Huie MBE and songwriters master class with songwriter to the stars Wayne Hector (Westlife/ Jes Glynne/etc).

JASMINE WITH FORMER D&G CELEB PR LADIES CHANDNI AND RUTH.

JASMINE WITH SONG WRITER TO THE STARS- WAYNE HECTOR!

The next three weeks will see them take on master classes by film actor, write and director Noel Clarke and multi media polymath Alesha Dixon – both who are London360 ambassadors. Now that’s what you call leaving a legacy and giving back on a huge scale! A money can’t buy experience for young Londoners that in the past may not have had an easy road into the media industry!

JESSICA HUIE MBE WITH LONDON360 REPORTERS AFTER HER PR AND PERSONAL BRANDING MASTERCLASS.
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COMEDY NIGHT- JAMAICA VS THE WORLD

Next it was off to comedy night at Shepherds Bush Empire for Jamaica vs the world, which had a sold-out audience roaring with laughter from 7-11pm! Such a great line up of comedians representing both teams. On the world team were comedians from Africa, the UK and more.

One of my faves was white female comedienne Maureen Younger who killed it. But my ultimate fave comic on the UK scene is Slim, who once again tore the house down. Slim represented the Jamaican team who won and of course lapped up the accolades in pompastic style. He always comes with new, fresh, news and topical content and has the audience eating out of his hands. Its crazy that the top 20 uk comics are still all white, male, and middle class when there is so much diverse talent out there selling out packed theatres nightly across the country! Great job to the whole Comedy Warehouse team led by Alpo!
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AINY NAIM HOSTS CELEB DINNER FOR NAUGHTY BOY, SWISS BEATS AND MORE FOR HER DESIGNER LINE LNZ!

VIP GUESTS AT FASHION DESIGNER AINY MAINS DINNER.

The following night I was invited to a VIP only dinner, thrown by a new fashion designer who I predict is about-to-blow, called Ainy Naim, one of the innovators of the LNZ brand. In a lovely basement restaurant in Chelsea around 50 of Londoners movers and key influencers were gathered to have dinner and party with Ainy and her team.

SWISS BEATS AND NAUGHTY BOY ROCK AINY NAIMS LNZ GARMS.

I was sat as what can only be described as the top table with American music producer Swiss beats, business entrepreneur and event planner Becky Fatemi, music and events PR lady Fiona Ramsey, artist manager Nadine Scott and more. Later in the night Naughty Boy turned up to DJ for the guests.

Over dinner I was told that ‘’LNZ is the brainchild of 3 collective individuals from the Middle Eastern background living in the UK. With an educational background of Central St Martins, Regents Business School and 15 years of experience in the industry.

SWISS BEATS AND ANGEL DINE IN HONOUR OF LNZ.

Conceived in 2014. LNZ is a contemporary London Based fashion label under the creative direction of Ainy Naim. For the past 10 years she has been styling some of the most celebrated artists in the music industry that led to creating limited edition custom made pieces that lead to a vast amount of private orders for collectors. This led to the emergence of a contemporary line showcasing the essence of their ideology’’. On the evening of their dinner LNZ clothing was displayed around the venue so that taste makers like MTV/ ITV presenter Laura Whitmore and others could take it all in.

JASMINE WITH MTV/ITV HOST LAURA WHITMORE, PHOTOGRAPHER ERICA,ROKSTONE CEO BECKY FATEMI, MUSIC/MARKETING LADY’S FIONA RAMSAY AND NADINE SCOTT.

The label creates a dynamic combination of modernized prints and redefined social ideology behind the symbolisms used. They’ve clearly merged popular culture with retro Arabic culture that has been worn by the likes of Swizz Beatz, Krept and Konan at yesterdays MOBO nominations event and other celebrities. They told me that the label also ‘’pride themselves in using British manufacturers and retro knitwear factories that are having a huge presence again in the British fashion scene. The label is the first of many to branch out from the Middle East into the western market and is becoming recognized by pioneering personalities in other creative industries, in fashion and music’’. So keep your eyes peeled for that!
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MOBO NOMINATIONS EVENT

JASMINE WITH TV PRESENTER AND MOBO AWARDS 2015 HOST SARAH-JANE CRAWFORD AND MOBO CEO KANYA KING.

Finally it was off to legendary Soho music venue Ronnie Scott’s where MOBO CEO Kanya King was unveiling this years MOBO nominees.

JASMINE WITH UP N COMING LADY LESHURR!

Alongside this years awards show presenter- the lovely Sarah Jane Crawford they revealed all the names in this years categories.

JASMINE WITH THE LADY WITH THE INCREDIBLE VOCAL AND GUITAR SKILLS – TORI KELLY!

In the house were names like Krept and Konan, Ella Eyre, Lil Simz, Tori Kelly, Stormzy, Blak Twang, Lady Leshurr, music manager Kwame Kwaten, Columbia Music’s Taponeswa Muvunga and more. The red carpet media run was overflowing with music names and record label press, bloggers, vloggers and photographers!

KREPT & KONAN SPEAK TO LONDON360 ON THE MEDIA RUN.

A great turn out! Get voting for your favourite MOBO2015 acts and see you at the awards in Leeds at the First Direct Arena on November 4th!

MTV Shuga is a sizzling sex and relationships drama and multimedia campaign for young audiences, which aims to raise awareness of HIV and Aids globally, and this fortnight I attended the premiere of season 4 of this ground breaking TV brand.

JASMINE WITH MTV SHUGA EXEC DIRECTOR GEORGIA ARNOLD.
Photo courtesy – MTV Staying Alive Foundation.

I spoke to Executive Director at MTV Staying Alive Foundation, Georgia Arnold, to ask about its impact and also why MTV has stuck with this area in helping youth across the globe instead of also embracing topics like cyber bullying and depression, which might be what more British / Western youth are affected by?

GEORGIA;MTV Shuga has fans all over the world. The key to the success of the show lies in the storylines and the relatable characters. I know the MTV Shuga team get regular messages from people in the UK and elsewhere asking when we can bring MTV Shuga to their country. The show resonates around the world.
MTV Shuga is just as relevant in Britain. The stories and the messages are about sex and relationships, and it really doesn’t matter where you live for it to be relatable to you.

But MTV doesn’t exclusively focus on HIV, we also cover other social issues. We currently have a global campaign called ‘MTV Breaks’ about getting your first break in our career; and we’re highlighting the refugee crisis on all of our channels.

Shuga started in Kenya then moved to West Africa to Nigeria- why? Does this continue to make HIV seem like an African problem when recent numbers in cities like London have risen?

GEORGIA; We moved to Nigeria because there’s a real need to target the epidemic there; 10% of adolescents living with HIV in the world, live in Nigeria and there are 3.4 million HIV+ve people living there. Nigeria is also the most populous country on the continent so there’s real potential to achieve huge impact and deliver behavior change, which is what MTV Shuga is fundamentally all about.

Why isn’t HIV awareness being talked about more in the UK?

GEORGIA; The issue of complacency around HIV in the UK (and elsewhere) is a huge issue. In fact, I think that complacency is helping to drive new infections. Young people in particular think that ‘HIV doesn’t exist anymore’ or ‘I can just take one pill and it’s cured’, and because of this attitude, it means that unsafe sex isn’t a concern for them. We need to talk about HIV much more than we do. It needs to start in the classroom, and at home, and with friends. Shows like MTV Shuga are helping to drive these conversations.

Sir Elton John this week had a meeting at his Windsor home to gather leaders across the world that can help use their business power to help LGBT rights and help end aids around the world. Music stars are now more than ever involving themselves in pro-social causes, why do you think this is?

GEORGIA; Celebrities know they have the power to positively influence people and if there’s a cause that touches their heart or they’re passionate about championing, they can really add weight to a campaign’s activities by getting involved.

In our campaign, we understand the value of celebrity culture and making sure we can interact and engage with young people in a way that will spark their interest.
Our Association with MTV also means we have access to some of the biggest music stars in the industry, which is one of the best ways to reach young people.
In the latest series of MTV Shuga, we’ve enlisted celebrities such as Ice Prince, Patoranking, MI, Jagz, Reminisce and Eva Alordiah. In previous series, we’ve worked with Wiz Kid, Banky W and Tiwa Savage, —music artists which have a wide youth following in Nigeria, and across Africa.

Is there any part of the African diaspora or groups that are NOT happy about Shuga and the education around awareness?

GEORGIA; MTV Shuga has been really well received globally; we currently have 122 broadcasters airing the fourth season including 42 African countries. We also have NGOs and youth organisations using it as a tool kit to educate young people as they love the messaging and see it as an important way to teach young people about sexual health issues. We’ve worked with the Kenyan Government and very closely with the Nigerian Government. I’ve met with parents, grandparents and religious leaders to show and discuss MTV Shuga – while we might come from different viewpoints, ultimately we all agree that MTV Shuga is needed to help drive conversations and action taken by the audience (e.g. going to get tested for HIV after watching Shuga).

How does the show actually translate into young people going to get themselves tested?

GEORGIA;This year, in partnership with the Elton John AIDS Foundation we launched “On Tour with MTV Shuga” across five states in Nigeria, with the aim of encouraging 18 to 27 year olds to get tested. We trained 160 MTV Shuga Peer Educators to work in local communities using the third season of Shuga and conducting peer education sessions and encouraging people to know their status. This work climaxed with a spectacular live music event held at UNILAG (University of Lagos) where free testing was offered to those attending. The booths were swamped from the moment doors opened to the end of the show. Through our work at the festivals and thanks to the work of the Nigerian Peer Educators we trained, over 4 months, we managed to test 47,642 young people.

MTV Shuga cast members Emmanuel Ikubese and Dorcas Fapson on the London red carpet.
Photo courtesy – MTV Staying Alive Foundation.

Shuga is on season 4- has it ventured into the most controversial areas that it could do or is there still a lot more to explore narratively?

GEORGIA; The scripts for MTV Shuga always begin with discussions with young people from the country in which it’s set. I believe the power of the show comes from the fact that we tell the truth about young people’s experiences.

We work very closely with our project partners including the government who give us very clear boundaries within which we are able to work and they help ensure our messaging is culturally relevant. It is a team effort and balancing act to ensure MTV Shuga is relevant but does not get banned.

A good example of this is in Shuga: Love, Sex, Money, a series based in Kenya, we worked closely with the Kenyan government on messaging and included a gay character, because we felt it couldn’t be ignored and it’s an issue that is rarely raised in African cultures. This had to be done with caution. We want to break boundaries, but at the same time, we also don’t want broadcasters throwing us off the air or parents switching channels on us. So the storyline was minor. In the future, I hope that this is a storyline we can tackle again with a main character.

The show fuses world-class storytelling and believable characters to explore themes that include sexual relationships, domestic abuse, the stigma around HIV, and accessing support services. Have the actors engaged with the scriptwriters to advise on storylines because perhaps they were wrong tones/ inaccurate etc?

GEORGIA; It’s important that every actor goes through training so they understand the messages and are confident in talking about them as actors and MTV Shuga ambassadors. We work closely with Nigerian writers, actors, and artists so MTV Shuga will be authentic and entertaining and appeal to the youth of Nigeria. During the scriptwriting process we held focus groups and met with young Nigerians to ensure they were able to tell their stories. MTV Shuga is a reflection of real young Nigerians. In addition, many of the actors over the 4 series have been tested because of their work on MTV Shuga, and with individual actors we explore each of their storylines (eg Sharon Ezeamaka, who plays HIV+ and pregnant ‘Princess’ went to a maternity clinic to talk to HIV+ pregnant women and HIV+ mothers, to understand what they’ve been through).

Shuga is credited with the discovery of actress Lupita Nyong’o in its 2009 Kenyan debut season, how has her celebrity success helped catapult the brand further, does she still help spread awareness?

GEORGIA; We’re proud to have discovered the Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o. It’s amazing to see how MTV Shuga has catapulted her career into a household name and Hollywood star. She was very passionate about her role as Ayira in Shuga and helped raise awareness around the issues her character faced; and in season 2, she directed the first episode.

Is the idea that HIV Aids can be cured/ended realistic?

GEORGIA; Unfortunately the world is still a long way from finding either a vaccine or a cure for HIV & AIDS. However, look back over the past 15 years, and we’ve made incredible progress, particularly with access to treatment. But the next 5 years are crucial: we need to ensure that the world still talks about HIV & AIDS, that young people are given the sex education that they need to make good choices in life, that pressure is still put on Governments and drug companies to find better (and cheaper) drugs; and that the most vulnerable and the most powerless in society, who are most at risk from HIV (eg LGBTs, sex workers, IDUs) are not criminalised, but supported. If we don’t take these actions, and take them with some urgency, then we have a truly long way to go.

TERRI WALKER LIVE SHOW.

Much of the London urban scene came out to support singer Terri walkers show at Under The Bridge at Stamford Bridge- home of Chelsea football club. On the support act bill were acts that Terri had hand picked herself after seeing or hearing about them. Supports were: Dora Martin, Akelle Charles, Hayley Cassidy and Call Me Unique. They were all as expected, uber talented.

JASMINE WITH TERRI WALKER BACKSTAGE BEFORE HER LIVE SHOW.
PIC – J LAURENT.

Terri performed her new music to a buzzing crowd of London’s trendiest fly crew who included actors like Jay Brown, Aml Ameen, Femi Oyeniran and more, other singers like Roses Gabour, photographers to the stars like Richard Pascoe and Paul Hampartsoumian. bloggers, vloggers and more.

TERRI DOES HER THING ONSTAGE.

Rocking a classy black dress that showed off her voluptuous curves to their full effect, topped off with fierce leopard print shoes she sang her heart out for which the applause and whoops were loud!

LONDON’S FINEST – ACTOR’S AML AMEEN AND FEMI OYENIRAN.
PIC- PAUL H.

Cheering along were Hollywood actor – hailing from good old London town- Aml Ameen – who told me he’s been ultra busy with work, which includes Sense 8 (Netflix Series by Wachowskis, creators of The Matrix), he is playing one of the leads in this show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKpKAlbJ7BQ

Fellow actor, director Femi Oyeniran confided that he was just finishing up editing his next film.

JASMINE WITH ACTRESS AND SOON TO BE BBC ASIAN NETWORK BROADCASTER PREEYA KALIDAS.
PIC- PAUL H.

Actress Preeya kalidas was on a high after revealing to us all that from later this year she has signed up to host a Saturday afternoon radio show for BBC Asian Network.

JASMINE WITH ONE HALF OF GRAMMY AWARD WINNING FLOETRY – NATALIE STEWART!
PIC – R.PASCOE.

I was most excited to see one half of Grammy award winning act Floetry, Natalie Stewart, in the house. Not only did she have the crowd buzzing with her presence, she also joined Terri onstage for a wonderfully powerful vocal duet. It was like rainbows, waterfalls and fire all in one. Natalie and I chatted about her return to the UK and she mentioned that she was passionate about bringing together a new UK movement that would unite the soul music community and singers again.

JASMINE WITH FLOETRY’S NATALIE STEWART AND COOKIE FROM LEGENDARY UK RAP CREW – COOKIE CREW!
PIC – R.PASCOE.

Fashionable fly miss Roses Gabour and the rest of the crowd were left on a high after Terris knock out set!

Terri also has a new album coming soon titled ‘The Champagne Flutes’ album for 2016, a body of works produced by Salaam Remi; and there’s definitely a collaboration on the horizon with the Floacist!

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MTV SHUGA LONDON PREMIERE

MTV Shuga is a TV series in its 4th season – a sizzling sex and relationships drama and multimedia campaign for young audiences, which aims to raise awareness of HIV and Aids.

JASMINE ON THE MTV SHUGA RED CARPET.
PIC – R.PASCOE.

For over a decade MTV has stuck with this area in helping youth across the globe get more educated about HIV and Aids instead of being distracted by more western youth culture issues like cyber bullying and depression, which might be what more British / Western youth are affected by.

Only this past week Sir Elton John had a meeting at his Windsor home, to gather leaders across the world, that can help use their business power to help LGBT rights and help end aids around the world. Music stars are now more than ever involving themselves in pro-social causes.

With recent HIV and Aids diagnoses being confirmed in London being higher than recent years, we should question why HIV awareness being talked about more in the UK?

Shuga season 1 started in Kenya then in later series moved to West Africa to Nigeria. Does this continue to make HIV seem like an African problem when recent numbers in cities like London have risen? Maybe, but its necessary as apparently when it comes to young people contracting HIV over 10% are located in Nigeria.

The show fuses world-class storytelling and believable characters to explore themes that include sexual relationships, domestic abuse, the stigma around HIV, and accessing support services.

And its not just TV entertainment. It actually translates into young people going to get themselves tested and using safer sex methods. During the last 12 months MTV Staying Alive Foundation has expanded the Shuga campaign through the development of a peer education programme and festivals aimed to get 25,800 young people tested for HIV – they have nearly doubled that figure by testing 47,642 young people over four months – 84% more than their initial target. These numbers were achieved by the brilliant work of their specially trained peer educators, counsellors and clinic staff, as well as the successful promo opportunity to win tickets for one of the MTV Shuga Festivals after visiting a health clinic.

Off screen the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, who make this show and are behind the campaign, creates and distributes challenging and entertaining HIV- prevention content across MTV channels and with third-party broadcasters, while finding and funding young leaders who are tackling the HIV epidemic in their own communities.

To date, MTV Staying Alive Foundation programming has reached 100% of the top 50 countries affected by HIV, and has awarded 500grants in 66 countries around the world, distributing over $5 million to grassroots HIV-prevention projects and directly benefitting 2.6 million young people.

Shuga is also credited with the discovery of Hollywood actress Lupita Nyong’o in its 2009 Kenyan debut season so its responsible not only for making stars but also for helping keep their communities and peers alive!.

JASMINE WITH MTV SHUGA EXEC PRODUCER GEORGIA ARNOLD.
PIC – R.PASCOE.

Georgia Arnold Executive Director at MTV Staying Alive Foundation told me: “MTV Shuga has exceeded our wildest expectations; we started out with a TV show that had a simple aim of relaying HIV-related issues to its audience in a relatable way, a concept that has developed into a multimedia awareness- building powerhouse! In the past 12 months we’ve expanded the campaign through the development of a peer education programme and festivals. We’ve covered incredible ground with MTV Shuga so far, and I’m thrilled that season four is ready to take the world by storm!”

MTV Shuga Season 4 premieres in the UK on Sunday 13th September at 10pm on BET International (Sky 187, Virgin 184 & Freesat 140)

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CAPITAL XTRA UNLEASHED

Capital Xtra held their ‘’unleashed’ music showcase at Koko in Camden where music acts Melissa Steele, Nick Brewer and Krept and Konan with Stormzy jumped onstage for a big night.

STORMZY JOINS KREPT & KONAN ONSTAGE at Music Potential’s ‘Unleashed’ Showcase.

The ‘Unleashed’ Showcase was the culmination event for the pioneering and hugely successful youth music programme, Music Potential, and was hosted by my old New York work buddy Jez Welham and afrobeats champion DJ Abrantee.

MELISSA STEELE WAS BRILLIANT KEEPING THE AUDIENCE SINGING AND DANCING ALONGSIDE HER at Music Potential’s ‘Unleashed’ Showcase. .

Now in its fourth year, Music Potential supported by Barclays, helps 16-25 year olds who are not in employment or education to develop the necessary skills and experience to build a career in the music industry.

SOUTH LONDON CHAMPS KREPT & KONAN LOOK SERIOUS BEFORE THEY HIT THE STAGE at Music Potential’s ‘Unleashed’ Showcase. .

The event showcased Music Potential’s budding talent and encouraged participants to ‘unleash their potential’, as they continue their journey into training and employment.

THE BOYS UNLEASH THEIR HITS ON THE KOKO CROWD at Music Potential’s ‘Unleashed’ Showcase. .

The performances were followed by a DJ set from one of my favorite turntablists – Manny Norte. Some of this year’s rising stars onstage included Madison Hall and Dee Ajayi performed live on stage alongside Melissa Steel and Stormzy.

STORMY’S ALL SMILES ON THE RED CARPET at Music Potential’s ‘Unleashed’ Showcase.

The ever polarizing Tim Westwood, Capital Xtra presenter and Music Potential ambassador, said: “Our Music Potential youngsters absolutely smashed it. This incredible programme gives emerging talent of the future a platform to get their music heard, along with the best advice from some of the top people in the industry.”

KREPT AND KONAN CLEARLY KILLING IT at Music Potential’s ‘Unleashed’ Showcase. !

Emma Bradley, Director of Global charities and communities said: “Capital Xtra’s Music Potential has helped more than 1,700 young people learn new skills and gain experience to help them get into the music industry or other employment. It was brilliant to see the next generation of industry talent last night at our ‘Unleashed’ Showcase event.”

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ADIDAS GOES TUBULAR

The same evening Adidas launched their latest ubercool street sneaker, the tubular with a strikingly visual party.

DJ’S worked their magic for the room which saw high flying key influencers from the digital and fashion worlds partying together. Names like Wretch32 and Example were in the house having fun too. A typical uber cool adidas function!

Maxwell Ansah AKA Lethal B is an artist after my own heart. Passionate about his craft, works hard, plays hard, and speaks up articulately when he needs to call a spade a spade.

JASMINE WITH LETHAL B.

Years ago after he and his single Pow, were banned from performing at clubs due to the intense energy and excitement it caused with youth jumping around, he managed to perform instead at indie music festivals, and found that the indie crowds were as intense, if not more than he saw at urban gigs. He was quoted afterwards in a cover feature of a Time Out story as saying “when white kids jump around it’s called moshing, when black kids do it’s called a riot”. As a political commentator he’s locked horns with David Cameron and more when defending his scene.

In the first week of October he starts his UK tour covering Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, London, Bristol and Brighton. Earlier this year he also did shows at numerous European beach resorts too. This is an act that is consistently working and making his mark on the music industry on his own terms. Many say that the UK’s top three successful all-round MC’s are Dizzee Rascal, Tine Tempah and Lethal B. Lethal B is mature enough to understand that playing the game does not equal selling out, he uses social media as his office and makes modern day technology work for him.

Years ago when he made his original version of Pow and started his own Lethal Bizzle Records, he had a £1000 budget and paid all the other acts £100 each to take part on the record. Today he has a new record deal with Virgin EMI, he’s a lover of flash sports cars, he’s diversified his brand with his visual image and clothing range and uses every opportunity that is in his path.

I sat down with him as he prepares to kick off his UK Denchchat Tour in 3 weeks, to hear his thoughts on a variety of subjects; after all, he’s been working hard with over 15 years in this game.
Straight chat. No editing of his words. They’re ‘’live and direct’’ LOL.

THE DENCHCHAT TOUR!

This year has been very exciting for you; you’re a standard bonafide cornerstone of the scene. You’ve got your tour coming up and its totally sold out! What makes the Denchchat Tour different from any other tour?

‘’Firstly, that’s the whole reason I do music, performing, seeing fans interact, go crazy to the songs. This tour I’m looking to push the boat out a little bit, might even get a band, do things a little bit different. I’ve been touring for so much time now, so I definitely want to switch it up and up my game a little bit, push the boundaries a little bit. I don’t want to give too much away. But it’ll be fun man. Its gonna be Dench! ‘There’ll be loads of Rari Workout going on, loads of Fester Skanking, loads of Powing, loads of More Fire OI-ing. Loads of fun man, all the hits, all the classics. A few special guests too. It’ll be great’’.

You’re like the Puffys and Jay Z’s of this world in that you like to keep your brand 360. MTV and UK TV may not allow product placement but your Dench clothing brand isn’t suffering online- YouTube and Google don’t care. For brand Bizzle, Its music, fashion, digital, property; what influenced you to become an entrepreneur? I heard someone say recently ‘’ Lethal B is living proof that a grime act can also be a millionaire’’.

‘’I got thrown into the position from the back of being in More Fire Crew, and we had a record deal, had success, and we was getting, well not even us, just the whole kind of scene at the time were getting bad press, and everything kind of fizzled underground again. Labels, major labels, didn’t want to mess with any grime, garage-affiliated artists, so it left me to be independent, and start from scratch again, and I started Lethal Bizzle Records, and then did the POW record, which did well. So from then on it kind of spurred me to keep independent, you know keep making my own moves’’.

UK MUSIC PALS AND WHERE THE LADIES AT?

You’re a real student of the game, and known for embracing new talent. Your camaraderie with the rest of the UK urban music scene can be seen on Pow 2011 which features everyone, or the Fester remix video with Wretch, Chip and more, your Rari Workout video featuring JME and Tempa T… But don’t get on the wrong side of you- I watched the N Dubz drama unfold from the sidelines when they allegedly stole something from you. Where are they now…

‘’ Obviously everyone’s gonna have their differences and not gonna be the best of friends. But I think its definitely important that you have some sort of acknowledgement don’t be afraid to co-sign someone don’t be afraid to big up someone. I went on tour last year I brought out Stormzy, a lot of buzz was going on, I thought ‘lemme hear this guy out’ I heard his song and I thought ‘yo this guy is cool’. Bought him on tour he killed the tour smashed it, now he is doing his own tour. Things like that we need to keep doing, give to the next generation, give people a chance, if you’re in the position to then I think it’s important. It only grows the scene I think. I’ve been here for a little while and I can only be here for so long, so there needs to be people to do it and continue the run. And maybe I can continue to be involved in other ways, maybe to help them to not have to go through the stuff I had to go through. It’s important to try and stick together man’’

In recent years names like Dizzee, Tinie, Tinchy, Giggs, Bashy, Chipmunk have dominated the scene. See any reoccurring themes? Yep, it’s all about the men. What’s happened to the female acts?

‘’That’s a good question women in music, urban music in general man I don’t know what it is but its just a perception. Lady Lykes did the diss record saying that she is as good as the boys. It’s out of my hands but I think there is a lack of recognition for female talent in urban music. I think people expect girls to sing because rap is very male dominated. Obviously Nicki Minaj has managed to really cross over that gap and bring the rap and sing as well but in the UK there needs to be a lot more. They are there people need to wake up and except them, Lady Lykes, Lady Leshurr, they’re real talented lyricists and they should definitely get the credit they deserve. I’ve worked with Lady Leshurr in the past with ‘Screwfizzer’ – a track called ‘flutes’ which is like a grime sort of banger. Lady Lykes is in my team as well; we will be doing something in the future. Those two are definitely my favourite MCs in the female range right now’’.

MUSIC, VIDEOS, PORN AND REALITY.

Your Fester skank video earlier this year was so catchy, fun and inclusive. You even had chat show host Graham Norton doing a whole skit with you in it… FesterSkank was big this year!

‘’I was in the studio with the producer and he played me the beat and I just started dancing to it, he was just laughing at my dance and so he said like let me film you doing that. So he filmed me and uploaded it to Instagram. The fans saw it and started reacting to it – loads of comments and laughing and saying that’s my dance for the weekend – and then someone said that’s the uncle Fester Adams family. Then we were just like ‘rah we could do something here’ cut a long story short, we started writing bars and half hour later song was here.
The sound is weird, my producer has different influences obviously from reggae, bashment, hip hop, dance and I think this almost like a fusion of his favourite sounds. So I wouldn’t really know what to call it everyone’s like ‘what would you call it?’ Is it hip-hop? Is it bashment? Is it grime? It’s just dench. I would just say its just good music’’.

There’s been a recent trend towards pop stars making videos that say something and aren’t about the usual sexy stereotypes of girls, nightclubs and big pimping guys…sex used to be everywhere. What’s the difference between sexual images in music and reality, pornographic images VS reality?

Porn versus reality, I definitely think there is a huge, huge difference. Maybe just like social media, we’re seeing girls looking really sexy in the pictures, and you know they’ve got this thing called photoshop, and you know Porn is almost like a very exaggerated, wild, crazy sex extravaganza, but in real life it’s like, I don’t know, you might want to incorporate I don’t know some things from that fairy tale, but in reality it’s not really like that. There’s been times when I’ve seen someone on a picture and I’ll be like ‘Oh my god! Look at this girl’, and then you see her in real life and you’re like… ‘What? Really’. So, yeah, you got to kind of weigh it up man, you can’t always take things for face value, you know. Everything is exaggerated, it’s entertainment, they want you to buy into it and think that yeah this a real life experience but in reality, it’s just like you’re going to the movies to watch a massive action film dropping from a 100 feet in the air and surviving, you know, that’s not happening and all that. So, yeah I think people should acknowledge that, that there is a huge difference, don’t think this is all cracked up, that it is like it looks like’’.

UK SCENE STRONGER THAN EVER GLOBALLY.

This past few months has seen American acts jump onstage with UK acts all over the globe. But the Americans have been jumping on our favour from back in the days I was making Tour Diary’s with Jay Z and he would do his version of your Pow onstage each night all around the world…With acts like Giggs, Krept and Konan and Skepta making waves internationally, its clear that UK grime and hip-hop have finally come of age.

‘’I think the UK scene is definitely standing on its own two feet now, over the years we’ve always chased the Americans, now they’re looking at us. You’ve just got to look at things like even Krept and Konan as you mentioned before jumping on Don’t waste my time remix, even when Jay Z done his verse on Pow at his concert back in 2008. People like Rihanna working with British producers, Nicki Minaj sampling a house sort of beat. Things like that, they are looking over here like rah Europe UK is popping. It feels good man, I’ve always said to myself the only way we are gonna crack not just America but the world, is if we just be ourselves and showcase our own culture, grime is a genre but its also a culture. The sound is unique, its fresh, And back in the day man, UK rappers were rapping in American accents lol!’’

So with all these young whipper snappers at your heels will there ever be a day when you call it quits?

‘’I don’t think any music has an expiry date, I think in terms of content it boils down to where you are. Grime is a culture, its based on your experiences and your surroundings. Even the other day I was listening to some of my old lyrics compared with what I’m talking about now, I’m not talking about what I was talking about ten years ago. I’m not that person now I’ve grown up and evolved, I don’t live in the hood anymore, I’m doing alright. Me being an authentic artist. I wanna talk about real things that I’m experiencing, so I don’t think there’s an expiry date. I think there’s an expiry date if you’re not talking about real stuff and you’re just making up stuff then that’s just dead. I think just be true to yourself man, if you’re real to yourself people will have that connection and hopefully aspire to where you are at and try and emulate where you are’’.

RECORD LABELS REDUNDENT?

Your story is old skool history, with new skool thinking. Record labels used to be important, now they’re less so?

‘‘These records labels, they will support you, but there’s going to be a time where they might not be on you anymore, so you need to make sure you’ve got a plan B, so that’s always been in the back of my mind. I’ve always simultaneously built up something. And from that opportunity just arose, so clothing was an immediate thing that came to mind, I saw my fans were wearing the stuff what I was wearing, so why don’t I just wear my own stuff and make them wear that? Music opens so many different doors, property is another world I’m in, which was more I’d say my family pushing me towards: they were like ‘yo, buy a house, when you get your money,’ so at a young age I was like: ‘why am I buying a house, I want to buy a car!’ and they’re like: ‘no, you need to buy a house.’ So I listened to them and it was probably one of the best things I ever did, so that was another area I started to explore as well. And yeah I’ve just realised not just musically, but in society, just how influential you can be to people, and why not have a contribution to what they consume as well, so that’s just my whole outtake on the whole entrepreneurial side of things.’

LETHAL B THE BRAND ENTREPENEUR

Your Ghanaian genes reign strong in this business; you’re the best brand champion with 100% visibility and product placement in your videos, from your snapchat, to phones, trainers brands, car brands, property and more. Your online buzz and engagement is also legendary. Your office is the digital world…

‘’I think social media has had a big part to play. Now I have direct contact with my fans. When I started back in my More Fire days it was about just being signed and letting your record label do everything else, so I’ve seen a huge change by building a relationship online and get an immediate a response from what I am doing, whether its good or bad, social media IS like my office. I take it so seriously, I don’t take anything for granted, and l listen to the fans, I see what works, what doesn’t work, its almost like market research and then you take that information and you go back and make the product, and then you present the product’’.

You’re so digitally aware of how powerful social media can be for your brand in 2015.

‘’ The grime scene has changed a lot, when I was in More Fire Crew, the internet was around but it wasn’t important is it is now, there was only things like Channel U, AKA, only MTV base, they were the only stations that used to support us. Even the way the people bought music, we used to have to go to the shop, you had to go to OUR Price, Woolworth, (people probably don’t even know what these shops are!). we bought music on tape, people probably don’t even know what tape is, like cassette tape. But its changed now man, literally from a click of a button people can just buy the music, which has definitely, helped. It’s made the world a smaller place, and the worlds your oyster now. I can get to people from all over the world. With my music I get people from Australia. If it wasn’t for the Internet they probably wouldn’t be able to come into contact with my music. I definitely think social media makes the music travel. And definitely gives us our identity back and people like authenticity’’.

What challenges have you faced being an entrepreneur?’

‘’The challenges I face as being an entrepreneur? Well you’re on your own for once, it’s you or nothing, you know. Obviously you have team, but at the same time you’re at the forefront of your project, and if anything goes wrong, basically it’s you, you’re going to get in trouble for it, you have to deal with it. So there’s a lot of pressure and you’re taking a lot of responsibility for other people’s lives as well, because if you’re an entrepreneur you’re a boss, you have staff, you have to pay them their wages. I think being self-employed and an entrepreneur is definitely the way I’m supposed to be, it’s definitely my thing. My mum used to tell me I used to do things like sell sweets in school and I remember I used to go to Sunday market and buy fake jeans and sell them to friends for double, so I’ve always been on trying to double my money. But yeah, it’s not for everyone. I wouldn’t tell everyone yeah…you can’t always fall into this role cos it’s a lot of pressure and you’ve got to be built for it, some people just want to play behind the scenes and just have a job, that’s fine, but if you want to be an entrepreneur and really go for it, you’ve got to take the highs and lows: and there’s a lot of lows before the highs come, so you’ve just got to be aware of that.’

A hustler after my own heart! ‘A lot of hip-hop artists have gone off to make their own businesses. What do you think it is about hip-hop that makes the artists kind of stray or go into different things?’

‘‘I think hip-hop music, the culture itself just has so much different influences just on general life, it brings a lifestyle, it brings a perception that people want to aspire to and it brings a dress sense, a culture. I think that people like myself, people like Jay-Z have acknowledged that the music is more than just the music. I think hip-hop music has definitely established that whole culture and people have clocked onto that, Now, guys who’ve got their thinking cap on, like the Tidal thing, it’s like: why’s Spotify making all this money, but we’re making the music, so let’s do our own thing and sell the music to the fans and get paid for our work, so it seems like a no-brainer, but you know it’s obviously a lot harder than just doing it, it’s a long process but it’s definitely the right way forward.’

F*CK THE POLICE?

This year there have been a few themes returning to police brutality within the black community with all the repeated deaths all across the world and the recent Straight Outta Compton movie acknowledged its not a new thing. With UK musicians having a contentious relationship with police over their live gigs and the controversial 696 forms in the UK, how do you feel about the police?

‘’I think there’s always been a perception about police in general; I don’t think the perception has ever been good. It’s always going to be negative from the offset. In terms of young people, obviously that’s going to filter down to them. I think the identity of police does need to change. Maybe it’s a case of them actually speaking to young people and explaining their purpose because, as soon as you hear police it’s a negative when they’re meant to be helping us! I think its definitely a case of them going into the communities and maybe using influential people who may have a better understanding of what their job actually is to speak to the kids and maybe give them a different perception of when they see them and how they deal with them.

I also feel the police have a job to acknowledge the way they treat young people in the country, and try and change that perception, you know what I mean? It always seems to end in a negative way when it comes to the police. I know they’re here to protect us and police the country, but at the same time I think they need to go out of their way to change the way people see them.

Obviously I’m not as young as I used to be and things have got a lot worse, and I’ve got a lot more mature, but there is a lot of discrimination that goes on, I’ve seen it, I know people who are young and go through it, every single day. It’s sad, it’s definitely sad, but I think we have to do ourselves a favour and not rise to it because, you know, a lot of them probably want us to act a fool and the more we kinda play the stereotype, it doesn’t help our case. But it’s a two-way thing, the police obviously need to be aware that their perception is very bad in the young community and they need to try and rectify that’’

This years been tragic all round for deaths in police custody?

‘’Some of these recent incidents in America with the police are just terrible, to be honest, its almost like they’ve got a licence to kill, in broad daylight. I don’t even know how it’s even justified, killing a person who’s not posing any sort of threat and them not having to deal with any sort of consequences. I don’t have the answers for that, I don’t think it’s right, it almost seems like they’re above the law, you know, they’re above humanity, that’s what-what it seems like in America and I don’t think it’s right, it’s not right man, it’s not right, something needs to be done’’.

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