j*9 interviews D-Sew

It is cold, its January and I am running five minutes late to meet D-Sew a female rapper from East London. It was a huge pleasure to meet her and have chat about her music, influences and plans for the future. Our conversation started out on a positive note - as we were both wearing matching checkered shirts. Check the interview below.

J*9: How were you exposed to music?
D-Sew: My first tape was Michael Jackson ‘Bad’; I have been influenced by the Bollywood scene, Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran. Also my Sister in the late 80’s early 90’s was into Bobby Brown, Prince & Cookie Crew so I became exposed to the soulful side of music. When I was young I was in a group with my cousin and we used to do showcases for our family. She used to do the dancing and I took more control in the singing

J*9: How did you first start writing?
D-Sew: I was 11 and my first song was a love song. I was just writing about my feelings at the time. I liked this guy and he just overlooked me, it really hurt my feelings and so I thought I need to write this down.

J*9: When did you start spitting?
D-Sew: When I was like 16or 17 and I used to write poetry. During this time I started listening to Rinse and Kool fm when drum & bass was at its peak in the mid 90’s with DJs like Micky Finn, IC3. I started to construct my words in more of a rhyme and I used to pretend that I was actually emeceeing on the radio.

J*9: When was your first performance?
D-Sew: It was at school assembly and I did an acapella of Mariah Carey ‘Hero’ with two other girls from my music class. I felt like that I had a voice from that age. My first ‘proper’ performance was at the HQ in Brixton. I hadn’t performed in years and I felt like I blossomed and people around me were encouraging to do my thing.

J*9: How you talk and emcee you sound like two different people.
D-Sew: When you listen to Grime and Drum and Bass you are hearing these fast spitters and I grew up on that. I grew up listening to Wiley, Dirty Goods and Neeko they are not soft rappers they are in your face and that is how I evolved with my style.

J*9: How did you get involved with the People’s Army?
D-Sew: It was the launch of the very first People’s Army event in January 2008. I loved their revolutionary ideas, the beliefs and causes, standing up for justice. It was through word of mouth and got to meet Logic and Lowkey [Members of People’s Army]. I was really feeling the movement and thought I will back it.

J*9: Are you affiliated with any other collectives?
D-Sew: Black Piranhas are a collective of very diverse musicians of producers, rappers, singers. It’s just us coming to together making tracks. I like them for different reasons it is more musical love.

J*9: How do you get our name out there?
D-Sew: I am trying to kick down doors; the [music] label industry is closed. We are not being heard enough and you have to do it yourself nowadays; creating your own empire and put your music out there. So I do my podcast and invite everyone in and play everyone else’s music. I also network a lot by going to events and building up contacts.


J*9: Hip-hop that people are listening, buying and seeing is really materialistic and shallow, as a conscious rapper how do you feel?
D-Sew: What like 50 Cent?

J*9: Yea, for example.
D-Sew: Putting the materialistic video’s, the bling and all the rest aside when it comes to 50 cent, I think he is still an iconic role model to a lot of people in the sense that he has a business head on him & a great focus. He came through & up going through extreme experiences in life and where he is now well I commend him for it in that perspective.

J*9: My problem is that he doesn’t live that lifestyle anymore so why are you still talking about it?
D-Sew: I think 50 cent still raps about his past experiences merged into his current lifestyle because may be he just can’t let go of his past. Why he gets so much attention is because he knows how to make money. He uses that as his focus and talks about the rougher side of life. He’s always been about the money and that comes across in his music relating to his current lifestyle and how he was hustling back in the day. I think that is the key relation in his music and why he often brings up his past.

J*9: What rappers do you listen too?
D-Sew: Mos Def, he breaks it down. I love him because I feel he is true to hip-hop. J Dilla I love his productions and that is how I got into making beats.

J*9: How do you know when you got a good beat?
D-Sew: It’s a buzz that I get in the belly, you can play a synth and if you tweak it up slightly and put some base into it goes from this sounds alright to yeah I am feeling it. I usually stick to playing the melody first, then layering various instruments around it & then finally adding drums. To get that yeahhhhh affect & buzz I would then tweak everything up using tools in the mixing process.


J*9: I heard you met DJ Kool Herc?
D-Sew: Yea I did when I went out to America in August [2009] in the Streets of the Bronx. DJ Ready Cee arranged the hook up on that one. What a moment that was!

J*9: Wow. You met a hip-hop pioneer.
D-Sew: [She laughs] I managed to get him on camera. Words cannot describe that experience. For him to shout me out was amazing. He felt a vibe in me which was special. He lives up to his name definitely.

J*9: What projects are you working on?
D-Sew: I feel like I have so much of myself to show, I am working on individual solo project that will be out in 2010 and it will show my skills and my passion for music. It is something that been working on my own and it will represent me. I want it to be organic and pure and pretty much original.

Check D-Sew on:
The D-Sew Show - www.dsewmusic.podomatic.com
Youtube - www.youtube.com/dsewtv
Twitter - www.twitter.com/dsew
Gmail - dsew.music@gmail.com

j*9 interviews Choxanne from all female graffiti crew 'Girls on Top'

Choxannne is graffiti artist and has been doing so for the past twelve years, she is part of the respected all femle graffiti crew Girls on Top. She was also involved in the UK’s first and only all female graffiti exhibition in 2008 and is a part of Paint My Panda customisation street art crew.

j*9:What got you involving in writing?
Choxanne: I used to see loads of really good graffiti on my way to a youth club when I was about 14 or 15 but never did it myself. I was more trying to be a skateboarder; I just liked what I saw around me really and got more and more interested until I started doing it myself. I had always liked painting and drawing as a hobby so it was definitely something I should be doing.

j*9:How long have u been writing?
Choxanne: I have been writing graffiti for 12 years

j*9:What did your first bomb feel like?
Choxanne: I was nervous about getting caught but did more!

j*9:Have you ever been caught doing illegal’s?
Choxanne: No comment!

j*9:How would you describe your style?
Choxanne: Funky fresh

j*9:Who have you collaborated with?
Choxanne: Kelzo Akel, Skyhigh and Luna more than most

j*9:What it like taking part in Girls on Top, the UK first female graffiti exhibition?
Choxanne: Well the crew had only just expanded so it was early days, it was good for us because we got quite a bit of attention from it but a lot of the crew weren’t really ready for the show and I think that showed in the work, so while it was fun and a new project to do it wasn’t a tight enough show for any longevity


j*9:Was it through this exhibition the Girls on Top Crew formed?
Choxanne: No it formed years ago but got revived when I started painting with Mira, I then held a girl jam in 2007 and invited a load of different girls to paint for fun and from then I expanded the crew and we got offered the show from that I think.

j*9:What do you females stand for?
Choxanne: Free thinking & fressssssssssh attitudes.


j*9:What do you think of the UK graff scene?
Choxanne: I think there’s a lot of talent around and very skilled artists but there is also a lot of negativity around and people dragging each other down. There is also not enough scope for a lot of writer’s talents we need bigger legal walls and shop shutters and buildings to be painted ideally but the councils actively discourage this, there is a lot of narrow mindedness towards the art form but then the UK is a bit backwards at times so I’m not really surprised! People still think you are mad for doing it as it’s hard to make money at the moment. But I am still here!

j*9:What place do you think women have in the UK Graff Scene?
Choxanne: A very small one! There really aren’t many girls pushing it here that i know of i could count them on one hand! There are a lot of talented artistic girls don't get me wrong there are more street artists but not many graffiti writers :(

j*9:Do you have any favourite artists on the scene at the moment?
Choxanne: mickey & phemme9 are my favourite female graffiti writers; they have great funky styles not just technical ability

j*9:Are women starting to get some recognition?
Choxanne: Only the ones who work really hard or have been writing for ages, you can’t fake it
j*9:Tell me about any upcoming projects you may have?
Choxanne: I am part of a company called paint my panda which specialises in hand painted denim jackets (inspired by the old New York painted jackets) and other fashion items like caps, bags and shoes, along with private commissions, live painting at events and youth projects, so far it has been received pretty well, and I have a couple of big murals to paint next year, I am glad to still be painting :)

Check Choxanne at:
www.paintmypanda.com
www.myspace.com/girlsontopgraff
www.flickr.com/thcuk
www.flickr.com/paintmypanda

Hip-hop Feminism Literature

Earlier this year, I purchased a few books on hip-hop feminism to help me along my way of creating BITCHES. In fact I can say, all of these books had a huge influence in my understanding of ‘black feminism’ and how it differs from ‘feminism’ which to be fair is based upon the experience of white middle class women. More importantly, how women are used as a currency of exploitation by mainstream hip-hop. (I say mainstream because conscious stuff, as it name sake is not interested in that rap). All of these women refer to themselves as ‘hip-hop feminist’ they grew up in the culture, appreciate it but yet see so many flaws in terms of the construction of masculinity and femininity. It also rooted my knowledge of all these females who were as the pioneers of hip-hop but for some reason they are never mentioned or given a shout out. So if you have the time please do check out these books.