Monthly Archives: November 2010

Firstly thanks for taking time to do this exclusive interview for www.HipHop4Days.com. Let’s start at the beginning. How did you get into making music and when would you say your career started?

I started making music in secondary school with my boys Big Ben and Turbulance. We started a crew called Flip Tha Skript when we we’re 12 years old and we still rep that under the name F.L.I.P to this day. It all kicked off for us around 1999 when Skinnyman put us on radio, then we supported Mud Fam at a few shows and I ended up becoming a member of Mud and touring all over with them when I was still only 16. I released my first solo record almost 10 years ago now, in 2001.
 
From when you started to now, what you consider being your biggest tracks or releases?

I’d say my biggest tracks really haven’t been released yet to be honest, I got a track featuring Dappy from N-Dubz that I’m sitting on right now and some other big hits ready to go. Out of the stuff that I’ve dropped over the years tho, The Mud Family EP and specifically the ‘In Da Park’ track was a big release. Plus my singles ‘Reppin’  and ‘Tomorrow’ as well as ‘English Kids’ from the Beezwax album with me and Stylah on it. My dub ‘Nuff Tings’ over Nore’s ‘Nothing’ instrumental was massive for the time also, I sold a lot of white labels of that one.
 
How would you describe the music that you make?

My music is emotional, it reflects my life and the things I’m going through at the time of recording. I’ve been known for making aggressive hard hitting Hip-Hop and I still do that stuff but these days I’m connecting more with the emotional stuff. I’m at uni at the moment studying music production and when I handed in my tracks as my final assignment for the end of the first year, my tutor’s feed back described my music as honest. I liked that description.
 
Have you done many collaborations, if so who have you worked with and what was your most memorable experience?

Well I mentioned the N-Dubz thing and Stylah, plus obviously the Mud Fam stuff. Other than that I’ve worked a lot with Foreign Beggarz, those features were some of my biggest releases as well. I’ve worked with Skrein, Doc Brown, Shameless, Mystro, Rich Kidd, Pyro Barz, Farma G, People’s Army, I’ve collaborated with MCD a lot over the years and we’re currently working on an album project together at the moment. Another collab I’ve got ready to drop is a single featuring Graziella who was on X-Factor last year in the group Miss frank. The most memorable I’d say was the early Mud Family stuff tho just cos I was so young and it was all so exciting to me. I’d looked up to them guys already for a while and becoming a part of the movement and being in the studio with them was a big thing for me.
 
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?

I’ve enjoyed every generation of Hip-Hop music that I’ve experienced. I’m not one of them people who sits here complaining about how Hip-Hop is dead and it’s all gone commercial. There has always been underground stuff out there that’s bangin’ for the heads that feel like that but I enjoy a lot of the commercial stuff as well anyway. I think people just get frustrated with what becomes successful cos they feel that there is much better rappers out there who deserve it more. I don’t see that as anything to get angry about, it’s just the way it is. The commercial stuff gets more attention because it appeals to a wider audience we can’t really hate on that. As for how it’s treating me, I’ve always had support from the scene but I get out what I put in. Over the last few years I haven’t released much music as I’ve been grinding in the studio tryna get things right first this time round. Now that I’ve dropped a couple new bits people have been embracing me again and I can see that the love is still there. On the Flip side man do get a lot of hate as well tho, haha. That’s why I prefer the old days when everyone was happy cos a lot of people came into this game after me with the wrong attitude. Thinking they deserve something more than me even tho I been working for twice as long, twice as hard. Fuck em tho, I’m a nice guy and I treat everyone with respect until they cross me. Keep it nice and I won’t have to fuck you up. F.L.I.P got a bad rep for a few situations that for the most part we’re caused by other people taking the piss and us not having it. But we don’t mind being the games most hated cos hate is love really. As far as my opinion on these dudes I’m indifferent.
 
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?

At the moment I’m not on a label, I’m taking a demo with the big single’s I’ve got ready to go, around to a few labels at the moment to see if there is any interest there but in the mean time we are setting up Flip Life records to run in conjunction with our video movement Flip Life TV. That’s run by me, my boy Benny B-Sides and Danny Bones at the moment but Big Ben, Ragz Sweet Jones and others will be involved with it as well.
 
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 think it depends on a number of things but it is heading in that direction. There is still a group of people who buy CD’s but it’s a lot less than what it used to be. There is also a large percentage of people who buy music online legally and have embraced that new way of purchasing music. A lot of artists panicked with the state of the industry and not realized how to adapt. Especially in a scene like UK Hip-Hop, where a lot of the sales relied on vinyl. When even CD’s stopped selling as much people didn’t know what to do and nuff artists disappeared like they had given up. When my album dropped in 2006 was a time when this transition was really starting to take place and at the time I don’t think the label knew how to deal with it. A lot of stuff dropped that year that didn’t achieve the sales they should have and I think everyone blamed it on illegal downloads and the scene kind of died because of the artists reactions. In reality we just didn’t embrace the new model of doing things. If you look at the facts, everywhere else in the world has had a major decline in record sales but overall the UK has still kept the same statistics over the years. Obviously smaller scenes like ours are affected more but it shows that there is still a record buying public out there for us to reach.
 
So where are you from exactly and have you ever done any local gigs?

I’m from North London, Holloway road, Camden Town. I’ve done loads of local gigs over the years, the most memorable being the old kung Fu days in Camden, that’s when the scene really felt alive. I miss those days like crazy cos we don’t really have a place where all of the artists get together anymore and see each other regularly. I think that adds to the reason why lot of these artists look depressed all the time. I see people around who I haven’t seen for ages and they all look miserable. When I used to see the same people at Kung Fu they we’re always in a good mood and happy to catch up. Another big one I did was my album launch which was also in Camden, that show there had a great vibe, all the people come out to support me and show love. I ended up wining a Best Hip-Hop award of the back of doing that show.
 
Have you done any big gigs or played live with any big artists? If so tell us what is was like and what playing live means to you.

I’ve played all over the place over the years, the biggest one on paper being Glastonbury I suppose. That was a great experience. I’ve supported M.O.P, DJ Premiere, The Alkaholics and a load of other big artists, American and British. The biggest one for me personally I think was when I supported Ghostface, just cos Wu-Tang is one of the main reasons I even started raping and I grew up on them. The night was amazing as well and the crowd was bangin’. Ragz was locked up at the time and my boy Snail got Ghost to sign a poster to send him cos he’s favourite rapper.
 
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 like I have some responsibility to the youth personally, maybe being a father has made me feel that way. I’m doing a lot of youth work at the moment, doing MC workshops as well as music production stuff. I think it’s important to give the younger generations something to do that they can be passionate about. We need to give them opportunities so that they see that it doesn’t have to be about following what the next man is talking about on a rap record. As an artist tho I think I should be able to say whatever I like and if other artist who speak about much more negative things than I do want to do that, then that’s up to them. If it’s the life that they are living and that’s how they express themselves then no one can’t say nothing. I do have some issues with artists who are of a certain age, who are promoting all these gun lyrics but don’t actually live the lifestyle. I expect the younger’s to imitate like that but if your fully grown and talking like that for no reason, then the kids end up copying you when you weren’t even talking nothing real, that’s a pointless negative cycle. Overall tho people can say what they want, we cant blame them for how the next generation is acting, we just need to put more things in place for them to realise that there is more to life.
 
Can I get all the You Tube URL Links to all your music videos please?

Yeah man, all of my new videos are on http://www.youtube.com/FlipLifeTV that is the new video movement taking over the Internet right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAlhhOQAfaI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4E1UjLnNic

Search Supar Novar on youtube for the all the old one’s, there’s too many to list….

Can I get all your website links, facebook, myspace, reverb nation, twitter, etc.

http://www.suparnovar.com/
http://twitter.com/suparnovar
http://facebook.com/suparnovar
http://myspace.com/suparnovar
http://reverbnation.com/suparnovar
http://www.soundcloud.com/suparnovar
http://www.youtube.com/suparnovar
http://suparnovar.bandcamp.com/
http://www.bebo.com/S-Novar
http://explosivemuzik.com/
http://www.youtube.com/fliplifetv

Interview by Stuart Patterson

Firstly thanks for taking time to do this exclusive interview forwww.HipHop4Days.com. Let’s start at the beginning.

How did you get into making music and when would you say your career started?

I was writing lyrics from age 13 plus I was always surrounded by music,but  I released my 1st hip hop project/mixtape in 2005,this is when I fully decided all I wanted to do was just rap and make music as a living.

From when you started to now, what you consider being your biggest tracks or releases?

A song called ‘SEND ME’ which won home grown track of the week 2 weeks running on bbc 1xtra and got alot of play and created a lot of attention and my debut single a song titled ‘ON FIRE’ featuring r&b singer Nathan and Money mayhem (rapper) produced by multi platinum producer Chad B who has worked with big names like 50 cent/g unit,Twista,Beyonce……. (not fully released as of yet) but has had alot of radio play.

How would you describe the music that you make?

I have 2 sides to me I have my dark rap side which is my roots the music I love writing which is my life and the harsh realities, and I also have a side to me which likes to make clean music for the radio’s club vibes something which isn’t always from a main prospective. It’s a difficult question to answer in full.

Have you done many collaborations, if so who have you worked with and what was your most memorable experience?

I have worked with many uk rappers including Blade Brown, singers including Katie pearl, USA rappers Ty nitty and Big Twins

Working in the studio with R&b singer Nathan/Nfg was a good experience just to see how he works he’s 1 of the most talented artists I have worked with,we got a good working vibe.

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?

Hip Hop is still alive and poppin could never die.

I think Giggs (sn1) has done great things for the uk rap game he has done what I thought no1 would do any time soon,and you gotta love his fans for that to as there making things grow.also Drake is a very creative artist.

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?

I do this on my own- Rain Entertainment but work closely with rappers like money mayhem and many other producers gotta big up my engineer NONSTOP (online studios) and Rob Pearson (online studios). 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?

cd games has died,it has got really bad it is hard to go platinum now in this day and age physical sales have declined well over 50%.Online sales have taken over Itines downloads etc…..

So where are you from exactly and have you ever done any local gigs?

South London is where I rose up and live,I have done many gigs in London and out of london, Zoo bar – west end  clubs in north London and out of london in Essex,Basingstoke, a lot of shows have come from Dj Memzee (phatbeats.net)

Have you done any big gigs or played live with any big artists? If so tell us what is was like and what playing live means to you.

I had a P.A in Ilford at club ice a few years back Plan B,Kele Le Roc,Ty and a few other artists was on the bill it was a great night, the night was held by dj memzee.

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?

hip hop cant be no more negative than a violent game or movie in my eyes it is just an easy target to blame,in hip hop there are positive rappers that use no profanity and then there are some that speak the harsh realities so Hip hop could never be all negative its just out spoken.

we all play a major part in guiding the youth but sometimes the truth needs to be heard.

Can I get all the You Tube URL Links to all your music videos please?

WWW.YOUTUBE.COM.MORERAINUK

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/MORERAINUK

WWW.MORERAINUK.CO.UK

http://www.facebook.com/pages/RAIN-OFFICIAL/117907718227052?ref=ts

Interview by Stuart Patterson

www.HipHop4Days.com