Sweet P From The SL Troopers Interview

"Cold chillin, I'm moving about for fun. I'll take you suckas out, each and every one"

I recently had the good fortune to communicate with one of the UK's most eloquent and humble microphone masters, Fabian Stephenson AKA Sweet Pea from London's SL Troopers.

The late 80's were an exciting time for UK rap, almost a golden age, and there were a lot of great records coming out regularly with a creative buzz previously unseen for this genre.
The two heavyweight record labels of the time, Music Of Life and Kold Sweat put out some of the most memorable tunes and were home to some of the UK's most legendary acts such as Hijack, Hardnoise, She Rockers, Derek B, MC Duke, Krispy 3, Katch 22, Daddy Freddy, Demon Boyz and so many more.

Both of these labels at one time or another managed to sign the SL Troopers , such was their status at the time.
Beginning with DJ Woodhouse and DJ Crime, Sweet Pea arrived soon after where the first single Debut (Unarmed, Yet Dangerous) was released in 1988 on Global Rhythm Records. With a simple break loop, scratched horns and a Lord Finesse-esque rap flow this signaled the arrival of the Troopers.

1989 saw the release of the still-firing 12" single, Movement on the Music Of Life label. Moving with a fast style and furious scratching, this track boosted the group's status further and got the attention of Kold Sweat who signed them the following year where they would release the single Knowledge / Put Your Brain In Gear and the Systematic Terror EP both making waves on the UK scene.

Since the disbanding of the group Fabian went on to record with the Acid Jazz band Quiet Boyz, Chris Bangs for the Mr Electric Triangle project, Kosmosis Of The Heart and subsequently in 1996 worked with The Herbaliser on Ninja Tune. It was here where his friendship with Ollie Teeba would grow while he featured on the albums Blow Your Headphones and Remedies.

The late 1990's would see the birth of an alter-ego, Travis Blaque who Fabian would use as a mouthpiece to relieve his vent and fury on the industry.
Travis has since worked alongside Ollie again as well as producers RJD2 and East Coast crew, Ugly Duckling.
His album, The Many Facets Of Travis Blaque was released in 2006 and Fabian is still very much busy recording to this day.

Ageing B-Boys Unite!: What was the first record to interest you in music?

Fabian Stephenson: There are so many records that have interested me in music, but if there is one it is Max Romeo's War Inna Babylon.

ABBU: Can you remember the first record that you purchased?

The first record I purchased with my own money was the Slave album Visions of Lite.

ABBU: You were a keen dancer in your youth. Which crews were you in?

I used to hang out with Anthony Duncan (DJ ADEE), Mark B, Ollie Teeba, Baby K/DJ Afro Puff (ex-Choice FM/DJ 279's mix DJ) Regal from The Wise Guys, Malachi (The Herbaliser) Julian from The Creators and others from Kingston and surrounding areas. We all shared ideas and developed styles and would go uptown to Covent Garden to showcase our styles. The main influence for me was Poppin' Pete from L.A. the master of locking. I was a big fan of Live To Break and Francisco Diaz from Epsom was a good friend of mine.

ABBU: How did you make the transition from body-popping to holding the mic?

I was listening to Tim Westwood when he was a presenter on LWR and he was a judge at a Rap competition with Tom Silverman from Tommy Boy Records. The Cookie Crew won best group performance and I could say that they were my main influence to start writing rhymes.

ABBU: Who were your peers when emceeing? Which crews did you roll with?

Other MC's at that time were Sergeant Rock, MC Mello, Blade, Uncle B Nice, Demon Boyz, London Posse, Huntkillberry Finn, Kamanchi Sly who all influenced me in one way or another.

ABBU: Grooverider was a heavy presence in your earlier days. Did you ever feel like going down the hardcore/drum & bass route?

Grooverider was and still is a good DJ. An old soulboy at heart who embraced house music and techno to drum and bass and was instrumental in guiding me in the early days of Global Rhythm Sound System which the S.L. Troopers were part of. I have no problem with drum & base as an MC you ride the rhythm and I would love to work with German group N.O.H.A. and the diverse British producer Manifest.

ABBU: What kind of emcee were you? Did you actively battle?

As a young upstart living in suburbia, The Royal Borough of Kingston I had to get myself together and battle other MC's whenever or wherever. Going into London with the guys and the S.L.'s gave me confidence. As you get older or as you mature you still keep the battle principles, but life is much more than that now. There's much more to talk about from a spiritual and humanitarian perspective.

ABBU: Which of the 4 elements of hip hop have you participated in, however successfully?

B-Boying - I was good.  
Graf - I tried it and was caught tagging in '86 in Feltham shopping centre by the police!
DJing - Well I used to mix well, but didn't master the scratch mix.  
MCing - Well that's my chosen field and I'm content.

ABBU: Would you have liked to released an album on either Music Of Life and Kold Sweat?

I would have been happy for an album on Music Of Life as I was The S.L. Troopers' first MC, Sweet Pea. Unarmed, Yet Dangerous was the first 12", then Movement/There It Is came. I left the S.L.'s due to creative differences. The other MC's they worked with. That's another story!

There was a track called Ready To Run recorded in Kingston with The S.L.'s in '86. I don't have a copy, but it was OK.

As Fabian I have 8 tracks recorded with The UYD's on DAT. As Travis Blaque I recorded Ego Trippin' Pt 3 in 97' with Ollie Teeba from The Herbaliser. Killer Tune!!

Travis Blaque and Misty Oldland - You Can Be The One. I love the tune and it will probably be on the 2nd Travis album.

There is also a nice Soul cut I recorded with Marsha Ambrose (Floetry) before Floetry blew up. One day, perhaps when I die these tracks will see the light of day!

ABBU: What was the difference between Music Of Life and Kold Sweat?

With Music Of Life you were happy to get a tune out. It wasn't about the money, that's me being naive! I heard that Kold Sweat actually paid royalties. To be honest I actually earned money working with British labels such as Acid Jazz, Delancey St. and Ninja Tune. German labels Unique and Buro 9 have also been good to work with.

ABBU: How involved were you in the production?

I tried to steer the S.L.'s in a P-Funk, Jazz influenced way before the genres were big in Rap Music. This resulted in me leaving.

However as Travis I have to be in the thick of it and add some creativity here and there.

ABBU: What do you think of the current UK rappers compared to the golden age of the late 80's/early 90's?

In the 80's there were MC's who were influenced by the American sound and rapped as if they were from the US, I was one of them. MC's that have heavily influenced the way the UK sound has developed in my opinion and no particular order are Blade, Rodney P, HKB, Roots Manuva, MC Mello, Demon Boyz, Blak Twang, MCD, Chester P.

I like some of the current crop, however some of those who come from the grime arena, well that's another story!

ABBU: You're marooned on a desert island. You are allowed one of each of the following items. An album, a single, a book, a dvd, and one type of food. What do you take?

The album would be Gil Scott-Heron - Pieces Of A Man. The single would be The Roots feat. Common UNI verse. The Book would be Can't Stop Won't Stop by Jeff Chang. The DVD would be Roman Polanskis' Chinatown. The food would be fresh veg and salad.

ABBU: Is there any one person or persons that have influenced your musical path in life?

My father and my mother's cousin Uncle Boogs for introducing me to Soul, Rhythm & Blues, Ska, Rocksteady, Calypso and Reggae. Chris Bangs for helping me to find my Jazz chops and understanding the need to experiment.

ABBU: What are your musical aspirations for the future? Who would you love to work with?

I would like to release a 2nd Travis Blaque album in which I have 4 tracks which are ready to record.

I would like to work with Nomadic Poet of The Planets, the legendary HKB, my friend, time permitting Mark B, Gael Blondeu from France, Shareholder Tom from Germany. The Beat Barbers from Sweden, legendary UK Soul Vocalists Misty Oldland, Noel McCoy, Paul Johnson & Leee John. Steve Spacek, David Mitchell. German Jazz vocalist Alison Degbe, Primo and Pete Rock.

Last year I worked with Shareholder Tom, a multi talented German musician/producer and featured on two tracks on his 1st album. I didn't meet him until a few weeks ago when he asked me to repeat the process, but record in Cologne as supposed to the UK. The music is Reggae-influenced and Mambo which I am happy to work with. There will be a 7" before winter 2010.

Many thanks for Fabian for the time and respect to DJ ADEE for the hook-up.


Link-a-rama

Travis Blaque Myspace
Travis Blaque on Discogs
SL Troopers on Discogs

SL Troopers article at Heroes Of UK Hip Hop

Clyde Stubblefield's Long-Lost Brummie Son

It appears that the UK has a new Funky Drummer in it's midst. Yes, new video footage reveals to us that hip hop producer, DJ, radio show presenter and all-round biscuit entrepreneur, Waxer has a new talent up his Adidas sleeve.
As to what that talent is I'm not quite sure but here we can see some Pumpkin-esque skin-hittings as Steve tries to replicate the classic drum pattern of Schoolly D's almighty PSK What Does It Mean on an authentic 80's-looking, Simmons drum kit belonging to the Son Of Waxer.

Regardless of whether he fully achieves it or not, I see a series of videos in which Waxer recreates a new beat each time. Next month lookout as he plays his inimitable version of Sucker MC's!

Essential Elements & DEF Momentum blogs?

Both the Essential Elements & DEF Momentum blogs are down at the moment and have been for a while.
Supreme and Def D, I hope this is just a hiccup in your bloglife and that you'll be back up very soon!

Link-a-rama


Essential Elements

DEF Momentum

Rammellzee R.I.P.

Rammellzee, hip hop visionary, ex-graffiti writer and non-conformist, Lee 'Scratch' Perry-alike, all-round nutbag, has very sadly died.

I like many others first heard the nasal tones of this interesting guy via the ball-breakingly long hip hop classic, Beat Bop (1983) whilst listening to Electro 2.
His other big moment was his standout appearance in Wild Style (1982) featuring in the Ampitheatre scene at the end. For many, this is the best scene of the film and after witnessing this yourself you may  agree.

If you have the Style Wars dvd in your possession then you may be aware of his contribution to the disc's Extras section. He makes a strong case in his concept of "warring letters". Here is one of his quotes:

"The Romans stole the alphabeta system from the Greeks through war. Then, in medieval times, monks ornamented letters to hide their meaning from the people. Now, the letter is armored against further manipulation."

Even though his discography was not as large as others from the same era, he leaves us with a enduring piece of music that will live on for ever. The ending of Style Wars wouldn't have sounded the same with anything else.

Rock on. To the breaka dawn.

Here are some of his standouts.

The end scene of Wild Style. Check Rammellzee's confidence as he wields his piece!

Rare footage from 1983. Witness a master on the mic.

Rammellzee Vs K. Rob - "Beat Bop" (1983).

Link-a-rama

Interview with 149th St

Rammellzee's Myspace

Style Wars The Original Soundtrack - Mk II

I've rebooted my original version of the Style Wars Soundtrack which I made just over a year ago.
This version includes extra dialogue (as indeed, inspired from a thought by Mr Lovegrove), a remix of the intro piece as well as a brand spanking new cover (courtesy of P. Shop).
Respect to Waxer for reminding me about this, too.

Download freely as this is a must for all ageing b-boys and b-girls.

EDIT: This has since been updated again (V.3) which is found here.


01  I'm Not An Art Critic   0:35   Bernie Jacobs

02  The Death Of Arthur (Götterdämmerung) (Style Wars Version)  6:36   Trevor Jones

03  They Call Themselves Writers  0:45

04  8th Wonder   7:25   Sugar Hill Gang

05  Seen's 6-Month Vacation   0:47 

06  The Wanderer   2:49   Dion & The Belmonts

07  Skeme Does Doodle On The Paper   0:36   Skeme

08  Jam Hot   7:20   Johnny Dynell

09  Iz The Wiz Has An Orgasm   0:26 

10  Pump Me Up   6:39   Trouble Funk

11  Kase2 - Extra Telest   0:45 

12  The Message   7:13   Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five

13  Trap's Gonna Be The Next Picasso   0:29 Dez & Trap

14  Beat Bop   10:11 Rammelzee Vs. K Rob

15  Skeme's Out To Destroy All Lines   0:39   Skeme

16  Sing, Sing   7:20   Gaz

17  I Call That Fairy-Flying   0:42   Rock Steady Crew

18  Give It Up or Turnit a Loose   6:12   James Brown

19  Live Third Rails & Crazy Cops   0:30   Dondi

20  Rockin It   6:39   Fearless Four

21  Writer's Bench   0:53   We Are All Graffiti Writers

22  Rocket In The Pocket 3:30   Cerrone

23  I'd Kill You Maaan   0:37   Crazy Lady

24  Feel The Heartbeat   5:35   Treacherous Three

25  Iz's Prophecy   0:19   Iz The Wiz



Ahh, I like that!

Recommendation! - Style Warrior

The 'Heroes' LE print

Music Of Life shirt - upcoming

There are a few places you can find the old UK b-boys hanging out these days. If not here then over at Waxer's Disco Scratch or Websta's Heroes website. There's some really interesting people about and some are still working hard pushing forwards with the UK ethic.

I've dug out the old original logo and dusted it off to bring your attention to one of these people in particular, Lovegrove, and his Style Warrior site.
A few years back he originally produced some Hijack t-shirts and then moved on to Overlord X, Son of Noise, Gunshot and MC Mell'O'. Being an ex-writer means that he has that graphic edge just right for design work.
He is now in the process of putting together a Music Of Life shirt and has the blessing of Simon Harris, too. More news on this when I have it.

In the meantime you can still just about get hold of one of the few remaining copies of his Limited Edition 'Heroes' print. This comes in A2 in size, printed in 3 spot colours using a litho press on a heavyweight art stock paper. Look closely at the picture and see how many legendary British acts you can see.
I own one and it really is a thing of beauty. Get yourself over to http://www.stylewarrior.co.uk and grab one today. Or email Lovegrove at info@stylewarrior.co.uk

Hush Hip Hop Tour Flicks

12 

34 

567 

89 

1011 

1213 

14

All pictures are the property of J Glover. Please do not reproduce without permission.


Hush Hip Hop Tours are based in New York City and take the form of a busride through the city stopping at famous landmarks along the way with luminaries such as GrandMaster Caz from The Cold Crush Brothers, Kurtis Blow, Rahiem of The Furious Five or even Reggie Reg from The Crash Crew stepping onboard.

One ABU! member, Jim, has had the lucky fortune of going on one of the tours and has very kindly sent in all of these fantastic shots. In his own words this is his description of each picture.



1, 2 & 3 - The Bronx Walk Of Fame



4 - A b-boy demonstrating one of the elements on the hip hop tour.



5 - Grandmaster Caz with his reply to 'Rapper's Delight'. He was left out of a bigger place in history by his then manager who stole his rhymes in a audition for the Sugarhill Gang, so he'd written a slightly scathing attack on the track, describing what happened.



6 - Caz demonstrating the look and attitude.



7 - This was once Harlem World, in Harlem, where people came from all over the 5 Boroughs in the late 70's to check out what was going down in the Bronx.



8 & 9 - It looks very different now, now that most of it has been demolished, but this is the amphitheatre used in Wild Style.  Shame really, but at least some of it remains.



10 - Random photo of a gateway to the Bronx.



11 - Kool Herc DJ'd his first party here in 1973. There were so many people trying to get in that it eventually moved outside and became the first block party.



12 - Two members of the Disco Four who were just walking along the street as we passed them by. The girl that runs the tour gave them each a t-shirt of the tour.



13 - Caz outside the Graffiti Hall Of Fame, East Harlem. It was closed for a while when we got there (June 2008) when these photos were taken.



14 - Caz and his helpful tour guide assistant show us how to get ''..power from a street light, made the place dark'' - I love that track DJ Scott La Rock, Blastmaster KRS. One & D-Nice - 'South Bronx'.


Thanks so much to Jim for this. I don't know know about you but this has made me feel just a bit closer to our heritage and has now fueled my desire to eventually reach the birthplace of hip hop at least before I'm 50 (I'm giving myself plenty of scope here, y'understand!)


Edit: Looking at the shots of the ampitheatre - it seems to have shrunk since 1982! Look at the pictures of the Wild Style jam with all the artists on stage and audience watching and it seemed massive. The awe I felt when LEE climbed over the main arch seems to have dampened a little as I see that it wasn't that high up after all.






Link-a-rama:

Hush Hip Hop Tours



Me after seeing the Ampitheatre shots

BBC 6 Music Street Sounds Special

Especially of interest to the European b-boys and possibly the more open-eared US counterparts is news that Street Sounds' mogul Morgan Khan will be taking part in a special 2-hour special on the radio.

Yes, on 20th June tune into BBC Radio 6 Music at 8pm and we'll hear the man elaborate on a few stories from the once-great British record label from the 80's.
Maybe we'll hear tales of how he watched in awe of the legendary Mastermind in a blur around his precious GLI as he mixed Electro 9? Or maybe how he guffawed to himself as he coined the immortal 'Electro is aural sex' tagline?

However, I feel my 'Hat Of Scorn' calling to be placed atop my noggin whilst listening in.
Why?
Well, for a start it's being hosted by Dave Pearce.
A lot of you reading this will already be feeling a sharp jab in your sides at the mere mention of his name which is a shame as this man was responsible for a lot of people getting into hip hop in the late 1980's via his A Fresh Start To The Week show on Radio London.
Unfortunately he dropped hip hop faster than a fat man discovering that he's inadvertently picked up a salad stuffed-crust pizza before it's descent.
Dave employed the prefix 'Dangerous' and jumped on the Techno bandwagon, not forgetting to add 'Eating Pies' to his list of hobbies on his CV along the way whereby playing as much rap in his sets as Steve Wright currently does in the afternoons.

Another reason I have my doubts is that a few years ago there was a much pant-wettingly, anticipated special on BBC's 'yoof' (that's the first time I've ever spelled it like that. Does that mean I'm officially an old git?) station BBC 1Xtra which featured the Grand Daddy of Electro and Hip Hop on UK radio, Mike Allen.
It ended up being a rather tame affair in which nothing new was learned about the man. And he didn't even spin the tunes himself. He'd sold his collection. And the choice of music was mediocre to say the least - no obscure classics that we remembered from days of yore. More like Our Price Presents Some Right Hip Hop Stonkers and presented by Timmy Mallet.

But I can't help thinking like this. Hip Hop has hurt me in the past and my defences are already up ready to shield me to the upcoming knowledge that maybe Morgan Khan wasn't always the smiliest and nicest man in Electro after all I'd read in The Street Scene back in my bedroom in 1985.
Fingers crossed, eh?

Link-a-rama:

BBC Radio 6

Wise To The Game

I've been listening to a great mix today from DJ AD.
Entitled Wise To The Game, it's just a touch over 30 minutes and features some well-known joints all deftly mixed together with some choice samples and snatches of dialogue from tv and films (Only Fools And Horses!)

Grab it here.

For more on DJ AD visit his pages here and here.

Is This The Ampitheatre From Wild Style?

View Larger Map

As the title says....is it?
Unfortunately there is no Google Street View close enough to check but this aerial view looks promising.
Going on the adverts in my Wild Style Sampler book, it is "4 blocks south of Houston St" or "Delancey St" depending on which advert you read.
At least it's still around.

Talking of which, I haven't read that book since I got it 3 years ago and as I cracked it open again tonight it still had that lovely 'new book' smell. Beautiful.

If anyone can shed any light on the whereabouts of the location of the Wild Style mural then that would be double def fresh.
All I know is that it was done in Riverside Park in NY. But one Google search later and I realise that Riverside Park is big. Very Big.