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ROOTS MANUVA



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// INTERVIEW: ROOTS MANUVA

by Dylan Collins



Roots Manuva has an almost sage-like quality about him. Laid back almost to the point of horizontal, his delivery of normal speech rivals Obi Wan Kenobe in terms of reserved wisdom. Punctuating every few lines with his onomatopoetic "coool", his south London dialect hints at more Caribbean origins. I imagine it would take something along the lines of a small nuclear strike coupled with a very early morning to even temporarily change this disposition.

Perhaps all this is a manifestation of the confidence he holds. Justifiably so, given the reviews that "Brand New Second Hand" has received from critics across the music board. Arguably the first British hip-hop album to break out of it's domestic market and appeal to a wider audience, it now battles the Miseducated Fugee and Slim Shady for shelf-space in HMV. All this is quite odd. For a couple of reasons. Firstly, Roots Manuva seems, to most, to have sprung from just south of nowhere. Even to the knowledgeable, he has only released a couple of tracks (albeit excellent ones) in his career.

"Nah, I been around for years man! There's this community studio in Brixton, I was just bubblin' around there, you know. It's a programme that helps people record music, I did most of the album there. There's always people to work with, you know, new artists".

Okay, fair enough. Second, British hip-hop has a pedigree of international disregard in terms of sales. Perhaps this is due to the accent, perhaps because they don't portray Puff Daddy's lifestyle in every line.

"I see myself as hip-hop made in England. That 'British hip-hop thing' is a bit, you know…It's music man, it's all about the music".

So, could you distinguish yourself from the likes of Braintax and Taskforce? "Yeah, well I mean, I'm from the community and I go to the jams. If anyone comes to jam, I'll go and check it out. I'll listen to the Disorda mix-tapes and I'll get more energy from it, so I suppose…".

If you haven't heard the album, go out and buy it now. Yes, I'll wait. An interesting mix of hip-hop, reggae and in places, almost spoken word, the sheer diversity of styles is impressive in it's own right. As per usual, some of the purists have been offended for it's lack of conformity. "Hah, people will always complain. From day one, I've always just done what I felt like doing, you know?". This tendency towards spoken word intrigues me. The likes of Saul Williams and Sarah Jones are taking hip-hop to re-discovered heights previously inhabited by The Watts Prophets et al over twenty years ago. "Spoken word? Nah, it's just conversation. It's coming through as a subconscious thing. What I'm doing is just vibing man, just trying to express myself and be as musically honest as I can"

This is reflected in the video for "Juggle Tings Proper" that was doing some rotation on MTV Raps recently. About as far removed from Puffy, Wu-Tang and Noreaga as chainsaws are from kittens, the video had an impact of it's own. "It's always nice to get a video you know? It does help, it helps a lot. Especially when you can do something different instead of a group of people just standing around nodding their heads" At twenty seven, it's fair to consider Mr. Manuva old school. Saying this, he had a more passive role in the breaking phenomenon. "I was the world's greatest spectator, you know? It was all over my school at the time. As for graff, well it was just messin' about on school books, you know, nothin' in a serious way. The whole thing is part of an era I grew through, you know? And to see people still doing it now as enthusiastic about it as I was, it takes you back, man. Especially going out to like Germany and seeing people breakdancing and that. It's nice"

So the paradox of hip-hop is revealed. Where old school turns to new school and the future depends forever on the past. Roots Manuva is a prime example of this. Citing James Brown, Lee Scratch Perry and KRS-One as just some of his influences (and was most put out to be restricted to just three selections) he is not one of those who dismiss the new school as simply aesthetic. Taskforce and Skinnyman are nice. So too are Outkast from the States.

Speaking of the western shores, how has he gone down there? "Yeah, we toured the States, supported Herbaliser over there. We went down fine, fine. It was quite surprising, you know, with the people. Everywhere we went there was someone who knew the music". This is aided by frequent guest appearances on other Ninja Tunes productions, most recently the Leftfield album. And that's not all. "Me, Taipanic and a guy called Shortie T roll around together. That's our kind of, we've got a little, you know, a little cipher that we do. It hasn't been named yet but we're hoping to get together and do a record or an EP, something".

The music industry can be hard to break into financially. Many groups depend on each individual unit sold for a living. For someone in Manuva's position, is this still the case, can he tour and still pay the bills?

"Yeah, just about! I've got to do my books though, see what's actually going on. But hey, ha ha, there's money there somewhere!"

And so, the future remains wide open for this emcee. After writing, producing and performing an album to which the words critically and acclaimed will inevitably be attached, what remains? Well, at twenty seven years on this planet, there still a great deal of avenues to be investigated. There is more talk of production, of investing in a home studio. Collaborations have already been written. But the big question must be the next album.

"Oh yeah, I've got to make another album. Ha, ha, otherwise, you know, I wouldn't be a complete human. There's more room, more room".



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