Singapore Kane Exclusive Interview

How did you get into making music and when would you say your career started?
My career started in the womb homey. My pops is a reggae singer so music has been in my blood since birth. I started doin hip-hop seriously around my high school years.

From when you started to now, what you consider being your biggest tracks or releases?
My biggest song to date would have to be “My Boston” produced by DJ Premier featuring Big Shug and Termanology. But I’ve got a few surprises up my sleeve!

How would you describe the music that you make?
My music is street journalism. I spit for the impoverished cats on the come-up worldwide.

Have you done many collaborations, if so who have you worked with and what was your most memorable experience?
So far I’ve collaborated with Big Shug, Royce the 5’9, Blaq Poet and a few other cats but, I’m steppin’ up my collabo game as we speak lol.  As far as memorable appearances, its always great to collab wth Premo and Shug- we always have a great time in the lab.
 
Hip-Hop is changing all the time. How do you feel about Hip-Hop in 2010, who are you feeling and how is the game treating you?
In 2010, hip-hop is still here, so overall I’m definitely happy. I still listen to cats like Nas, Jay, 50. I just like whoever can spit over a dope beat. If the beats dope, chances are I’ll listen. Dizzee Rascal is hot…I would love to collab with him. Kardinal Offishall is dope. Red Cafe is dope also. David Banner is dope on the beats. Ludacris is hot. As far as how the game is treating me, I can’t complain because without ever releasing an album I’ve been able to tour different countries and meet people that I grew up idolizing. The money could be better, but I never did it for the dough anyways, it was about the freedom of expression. Plus I’mma get my cake REGARDLESS.

Tell me about the label you’re with, even if it’s your own label. Tell us who is involved and how many people behind the scenes are helping you?
As an artist I’m unsigned but I have a distribution deal through Diamond Music Group for my label Militant Movement. Shout outs to Matt Diamond from (Coalmine Records) for giving me a situation to put out my album. Shout outs to Malmoe at One3 Music for helping with the day-to-day stuff and also shout outs to Dan Green and Jimmy Jump (Hatim) for helping out with the promo and shows.

The music industry is changing from CD’s & Vinyl over to MP3, stores are getting closed and on-line shops are starting up. Do you think CD’s are dead or do you think it depends on the genre & artist?
I dont think cds are dead just yet, but they are definitely on the decline. But I know mad cats in the hood who don’t know their way around computers or got no mp3 players. They grab a stack of CDs still and jump in the whip!! Personally, I enjoy buying the physical copy and reading the information like who did the beats and where it was recorded at etc., but nowadays the attention span ain’t so strong. But regardless, CDs are definitely on the decline.

So where are you from exactly and have you ever done any local gigs?
I was born in Boston to Jamaican parents. I grew up in Boston but due to my large family I’ve had the pleasure of see’in life in New York, Jamaica and Florida as well. I’ve done many shows in my city.

Have you done any big gigs or played live with any big artists? If so tell us what it was like and what playing live means to you.
I’ve opened up for Gang Starr, Mobb Deep, Bun B, M.O.P, Big Shug and a few others. I love being onstage and try to give a great performance everytime. I don’t walk around the stage holdin’ my bozack…I just try to get the crowd response when I rock.

Hip-Hop is sometime viewed as negative music and in the media often gets a raw deal. Do you think that Hip-Hop should be more positive and that artists have a responsibility to the youth?
I feel as though artists do have a responsibility to let the young cats know what’s up, especially if you’re spittin’ that crack game or gun game. Gotta’ let ‘em know about the other things that come with that like death, incarceration and things like that. But if you choose to do that or not, I feel that’s the prerogative of the cat spittin’. If you feel like bein’ positive, be positive. You wanna be negative, then do you.  More than anything else, I feel that hip-hop needs to be FREE. Say what you want.

Can I get all your website links, Facebook, MySpace, Reverb Nation, twitter, etc.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/planetsingapore
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/singaporekane
FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Singapore-Kane

Life On Wax the album is coming soon!!  Peace and respect.

Interview by Stuart Patterson