Wha’ Blow? – Task Force Interview

Rolls Royce catches up with rap veterans, Task Force, for a cup of tea and a chat. Chester P’s resting up with a recently broken leg, Farma G is feeling philosophical.

 

RR: So you guys grew up round Highbury Estate, first there was Bury Crew, right?

 

Chester P: There was Highbury Hoodlums first! But then people started coming in from all over, like Finsbury and Bury Crew was the best way to abbreviate that..

 

RR: Ok, cool, so then came Skinnyman and Mud Fam?

 

CP: Well Skinnyman and Mongo were affiliates long before we had crew names, we were just kids in the youth club jamming from 8 or 9 upwards, you know, we always knew each other, Skinny, Mongo, all the members of the Bury Crew..

 

Rolls Royce: So, what kicked it all off?

 

Chester P: I started rapping cos he started rapping (gestures to Farma) but it had a lot to do with Intenz, it was gonna happen regardless, but there was a fast track.

 

Farma G: Intenz could freestyle!

 

CP: He was always battling and on the circuit, he grew up quicker than us as well, got into situations the rest of us felt a little bit too childish to be involved in. He was getting into battles with Mic Skilla [Skillagan], who’s Remus’ uncle. That was memorable moments of Hip Hop for me, obviously everything evolves from every generation, but that’s what it meant to us. Farma and Intenz were friends for years, and it was a natural progress to follow my big brother, that’s what happened.

 

RR: What was it like seeing the rise of British Hip Hop, with people like Skinnyman, Roots Manuva and Rodney P?

 

CP: It was beautiful seeing that. Especially people like Roots Manuva, Blak Twang… I mean Rodney P’s always been successful, from before I was even beginning to think about records, Rodney P was famous. But to see people like Roots Manuva, Blak Twang and especially Skinny go through in the way they did is a beautiful thing, we grew up doing the same things together, we were all rapping in the same studios, having our weird little conflicts and egotisms. We’re all brothers in this game, we came from the same segment, the same mind-state and they were the leading part of that group, besides us, who were doing active work, but we were far too scatty, we weren’t focusing on business, we were focusing on music, we were just wild and hence, in the business sense, we might not have been as successful as the next people. But that’s the bullet you bite…

 

RR: What made you write rhymes?

 

FG: La di da di!

 

RR: Uncle Ricky!

 

FG: Well, we were stirred with the notion of this whole rap and Hip Hop thing. You’d have to pinpoint 1985, 1984, where you had the Breakdance film phenomena…

 

CP: You had Public Enemy!

 

FG: It was being publicised a lot in 84, 85, over here, that was when people had a mainstream blast of it, that it was really obtainable. The Breakdance movie was based around underground kids getting down with some upper class kids and there was always that mentality. Roxanne, too, The Sagas of Roxanne, I used to love that album and that was always about conflicting views…

 

CP: And Shante would always have her little battles.

 

FG: That was all it meant to us, it was like story telling. So I think our writing, in the Hip Hop sense, was kind of inspired by the people we listened to at the very beginning.

 

CP: As well, though, I think people like KRS ONE and the first Public Enemy album, they’re very political, not necessarily in the government sense, they were talking about some kind of struggle and I always related to that. There’s a massive part of me that couldn’t live without that, and everyone’s cup of tea is a different thing, if I wanna think consciously about things that I see and feel around me, then I don’t inflict that on no-one else. But I definitely know that as a young’un I grew up wanting to battle rappers, I wanted to show off something that I was good at, cos I didn’t feel confident in life, and things around me didn’t make me proud, for me, it was a struggle to feel any confidence and then I found something I knew I could do, something I knew I was witty with and knew I could craft and it just made sense. It was always about battling until I grew out of being able to battle.

 

RR: Yeah I was watching some of the old 5 word freestyles the other day..

 

CP: Yeah, I still like the 5 word freestyle, I’m into the art-form of battling, there’s many levels, but for me, the best battle you can win is against yourself, cos that’s the only time you win something they can never take away.

 

RR: Do you always win?

 

CP: I’ve never lost a battle with myself! I would say I’ve lost rap battles, maybe the judges never said I’d lost, but I think after, if I wasn’t me, I’d have probably lost that, maybe there was a stigma attached to that and I got through on a whim at times, but in the beginning, when I was a battle rapper, no could have beat me and it didn’t matter, I would’ve stood against anyone. But I don’t do that now, there’s enough rappers that could beat me in a battle now! They used to be rare like ants teeth, boy! There’s fucking hundreds of them now!

 

RR: Farma, you’ve got a boy, right, do you feel you’ve got a responsibility to educate the younger generations?

 

FG: Not so much a responsibility, when it comes to music, but in my own head I tend to think a bit more about what I’m sayin’. In the early stages of me being a father, there was a lot more anger, a lot more blame being forced outward, whereas now I’m trying to eradicate blame. Maybe the best message I’ve been able to incorporate into my music is that there is something worth striving for. You can still have a lot of fun even when you’re in pain, you can still learn a lot even when you’re suffering and there is always an upside. In ‘Little Miss Sunshine’, there’s a quote at the end, Frank says, ‘all those years he suffered, those were the best years of his life, 'cause they made him who he was.’ Looking at that, suffering subsides when you can understand it, you get through it. I don’t really feel any responsibility except for myself and my son, Remus.

 

RR: I was over at my boy Tek1’s last night, he shares a studio with Chu, who did your album art, you guys grew up writing too, yeah?

 

CP: For me, it was an essential part of being young.

 

FG: It’s been disputed, man, I think people have to question and validate and get a feel of authenticity, when people have massive claims that they were this or that, they should have to back it up. It’s nice recently that certain people, even vindictively, are trying to put that on us, where was it, who was it with, all that…

 

CP: I don’t even know about that!

 

FG: It’s minor…

 

CP: I can imagine… Well, that person might go around telling everyone he’s with DDS, but if he said anything bad about me to the DDS boys, they’d probably whop him in the face, cos that’s my friends, I’m nothing to do with graffiti, fuck graffiti. At the end of the day, when I used to do graffiti, I walked tracks, I sprayed on trains, I’ve done all that shit, I didn’t live and die and eat and shit graffiti, but I don’t live, die, eat, shit nothing!  I’ve got to accept that when I wake up every day I‘ve got to be prepared to admit the way I thought before might be wrong and to keep changing and evolving. But, yeah, I did graffiti man, I wasn’t nothing special, I ran around with good graffiti writers and no-one ever bothered me, but he was good (gestures to FG) he’s done yards. You know there’s some things in life no-one can ever tell you you haven’t done, cos you know you’ve done.

 

FG: Yeah, the Graforiginees track on the album is a true story!

 

CP: I walked train tracks in roller skates!

 

FG: When you’re kids you do nutty stuff…

 

CP: Big up to all the writers though yeah, I love graffiti writers.

 

FG: To me, music is just a form of entertainment, for everyone to be I am this, this is me, all the time, you’re not gonna get an albums’ worth out of that, you gotta start thinking outside of the box, which is why you get people fantasising and writing completely off the wall stuff, but it’s an homage to the art form and we can talk about as a third party…

 

CP: Yeah, but it’s like a rapper saying you can’t talk about guns if you ain’t got guns and then talking about Mescaline and Peyote like they know what Mescaline and Peyote are.. But, you know, what’s good for the Russian kills the German, innit…

 

RR: Talking of homage’s, your name comes from a comic right?

 

CP: Yeah, an old British comic, Brainstorm, by Bryan Talbot, everyone should check that out!

 

RR: Yeah I love my comics man, I like the Preacher series! Where does Farma G come from?

 

FG: It came from the cultivation of different styles, growing them and pushing them out there like a crop, then I came up with an acronym, Fortified Aspects Represent Me Alone, with the G on the end, Genuinely, which I like better than the farming crops bit. People think it’s cos I’m from the countryside.. But we grew up in London..

 

CP: Yeah, but we’re country trained, we know how to be in the countryside!

 

RR: Nice, I grew up in the country, then lived in Bristol for a bit before I moved to London.

 

FG: Yeah, it’s good to have a bit of the countryside in you…

 

RR: So we covered a bit of old-school Hip Hop, but there’s still a lot of new stuff coming through, how do you see the two together, is it a natural progression?

 

CP: The only progression you can have is a natural progression. It might not suit me, but you gotta let things take their natural course, it’s no-ones right to interfere, really, for me Hip Hop music’s a yout ting, not in a disrespectful way; it comes from a certain generation. The best Hip Hop music is made by a certain generation and I’m too old to be able to catch that pulse, no matter how much I try and pretend I’m 20, I’m too old.

 

RR: So you’re not stuck in the golden era then?

 

CP: The golden era is nostalgic, to me, in that sense there’s a golden era to everything, in children’s TV, like the kids today, I look at their programs and think, this is shit! Like when my mum used to show me programs they watched back in the day, I used to think this is rubbish! But that’s nostalgia. I believe that no-one’s got the right to tell someone they haven’t got the right to do something they like doing. To me, I prefer the sound of hip hop from the 90’s, but it ain’t the 90s anymore.

 

RR: What new artists have you seen coming through that are impressing you?

 

CP: What new artists have I heard, boy?! Remus, to me, is the most exciting thing, I ain’t really in tune with Hip Hop, I ain’t really heard anyone new..’

 

RR: How do you feel about new artists Farma?

 

FG: The actual real Hip Hop, not Grime fusion, if you’re talking about that, for me, the people on the cutting edge, people like Squid Ninjaz, Children of the Damned, there’s more but just off the top of my head, for me, are on the forefront, but there’s also a real reminiscence, a real nostalgic sense to it, real underground shit, it’s sort of like Wu, just styles and really crusty beats which is really nice, but on a professional level, people who are established, for me Kashmir. I’ve always known he was great, he asks if he can send me over verse sometimes and i sit there like this guys fucking crazy,  I tell that from the bottom of my soul as well, he’s so underrated, so badly underrated, I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s his own confidence, but he is fantastic, man, he really is.

 

CP: But people are only meant to reach where there meant to reach..

 

FG: Yeah, but he’s incredible, he reaches me! Tinie tempah, on the other side of it, is fantastic, whether or not he’s mad or on crack, I don’t know what the fuck he’s doing to make himself that way… I seen a video of him where he’s working with Westwood in the supermarket, Westwood’s the manager of this supermarket and he’s like, ‘that was a par, man’ and Westwood’s like smacking his vest up. He’s just like full of energy and that’s exactly what he’s like on stage.

 

RR: Yeah, how do you feel about Westwood?

 

FG: I love Westwood!

 

CP: I’ve never had a reason to say a bad word about him..

 

RR: He’s done a lot for British hip hop…

 

CP: I don’t care what he’s done, I’ve always liked him! I think he’s cool.

 

FG: The thing is, as a youth, I didn’t like him, who he was, because you hear him on the radio and you think, this guy is a muppet. But then you meet him and take him out of his radio situation, like we had him standing on the corner of our flats and he could’ve well just been on his desk at the radio show. He’s like ‘You’re so dope, man, is this where you live, maan? Yo, drop the bomb, ka-puuuuchh!’ I was like woahh, bruv, we’re not in the studio, but he’s a funny cat man! And he’s straight up as well, he showed us one time we were on the radio and came to the ad break and he’s like, what’s goin’ on with Wha’blow and Graf Da Bus up, it’s kickin’ off, are you re-pressing it?’ and we were like, no, and he started telling us he was gonna bootleg the record.

 

CP: Nuff love for the radio DJ’s, I must’ve fell out with one or two though and they were playing shit records by shit rappers, just trying to fuck us just for the fact they were fuckin’ us, and I ain’t even responding anymore, they’re shit rappers. Go and make 50 good tunes and then I’ll respond to you. If that’s how you feel and you’re better than us then go put some records out, make some money and stop hating innit!

 

RR: Word! What about the crossover artists, the grime boys, like Dizzee and Wiley, making crossover records, do you ever see Task Force making some dance tunes with someone like Calvin Harris?

 

CP: It could never be in the guise of Taskforce.

 

FG: Yeah, that’s right!

 

CP: Personally I’d never put any kind of restriction on myself, if I wanna go and do that I’ll fucking go and do that, it can’t be Taskforce, cos that’s put its roots into something and will always be that. But me and Farma might wanna go and do something else. I’m proud of Dizzee Rascal, not that I have a right to be proud of him, like I know him or trained him, but I think what he’s done for himself and showing youts of his generation what can be done, who can knock him!

 

RR: Yeah, I saw that Kate Moss diss the other day, that was classic!

 

FG: That was great!

 

CP: I was watching a documentary the other day and this one Brazilian ghetto dude was saying if anyone there is making money for any reason other than to get out of the ghetto, then they’re some dumb motherfuckers and I can relate it to that man, cos Dizzee’s successful, there’s no reason to be hating on him, he’s done well, man!

 

RR: You guys have played some pretty big gigs though, what’s the biggest? Glastonbury must be well up there!

 

CP: One Glastonbury was bigger than the others, but Czech Republic with Super Furry Animals! There were lot of people who didn’t know who we were.

 

FG: about 7,000 people who’d never fuckin’ heard of us! That was an experience, it’s all right if they know ya!

 

RR: Yeah, like, sing along to this one!

 

FG: Yeah, we did the first two or three Hip Hop Kemp’s in Czech when they were starting off, a good 3 or 4,000 people, all non-English speaking, but they knew that was in the house. But that Super Furry Animals thing was a completely different experience.

 

CP: Only a true confidence in knowing you’re a performer will get you through that, if you ain’t confident in your performance, you’re going mis-sing!

 

RR: How do you feel about Jay-Z headlining Glastonbury?

 

CP: I’m sad I missed that. Every man’s got a right to their emotions, right, but my emotions aren’t very bitchy. To be honest I didn’t see Goldie Lookin Chain, but they headlined on the Mainstage while he was on earlier in the afternoon, no disrespect to them guys, I’m glad they make their money but that was shit.. At least Jay-Z’s good and to be honest I bet he performs better than enough of them guitar heroes boy.

 

RR: Yeah I just hear your new take on Death Of Auto Tune, Farma.

 

FG: Yeah Death Of LOL, Death Of Laugh Out Loud, it had to be done!

 

RR: There’s some weird rumours about Jay-Z being involved in the Freemasons..

 

CP: Well whether i know if it’s true or ain’t, ain’t gonna change if it’s true or it ain’t, all I know is that I missed him at Glastonbury. I’m pissed about that.

 

RR: How do the British festivals match up to the European festivals?

 

CP: Hip Hop Kemp is nuts, Glastonbury’s always beautiful but, Hip Hop Kemp’s crazy.

 

FG: Yeah, even if all you’re eating is donuts covered in cheese all weekend!

 

RR: What else have you guys got lined up next?

 

FG: we got Thekla in Bristol lined up soon for Weapon of Choice, a gig in Brixton…

 

RR: How do you feel about the London and Bristol scenes,?

 

CP: Bristol’s a different vibe, I love Bristol for many different reasons..

 

FG: Well, it’s pretty similar, Bristol’s got a wicked history of dance music and that’s always gonna run through it’s veins, they love to party in Bristol, we’ve always found it very inviting, people come out and, we always have a really good time!

 

RR: Last time I was there I saw J Dilla play in a wheelchair..

 

FG: I never got to see J Dilla, but I’m not really the guy that writes ‘J Dilla changed my life’ on the computer, but I’ve used a couple of his beats.

 

RR: So they gonna bust you out on stage with your broken leg like ironsides, Chester?

 

FG: We’ve done a couple of show with him in that leg already, we did a show without a stage the other day! That was pretty dangerous!

 

RR: How do you feel about the unwillingness to see people succeed in the UK and British Hip Hop, whereas in the states, people have the attitude they can be good at whatever they set their minds to.

 

CP: British people are prone to self loathe, that’s gonna stop growth, I think British Hip Hop attracts and magnifies people, but people who don’t have that mentality, you can see them rise and grow, like Foreign Beggars.

 

FG: Not just the self loathing, it’s the rules and regulations, I remember when House Of Pain came out, it wasn’t a trend, it wasn’t a regular thing, before that no-one shaved their heads, if they did they were skinheads, punks and that, then afterwards, everyone shaved their heads.

 

CP: I shaved my head years before that, cos of Onyx!

 

FG: There was this whole thing that got accepted and for ages that was the look.

 

CP: Things like that and pants hangin’ round your arse, kids today don’t realise why that style started was because we couldn’t afford belts and we had our big brothers pants on and they’re gonna hang round your arse. And that was standard for me, man, and cutting your hair that short was cos you didn’t have to go to the barber and you could do it yourself for nothing. That was behind the whole ethos of punk fashion too. And then once people started to buy clothes that looked like second had clothes, it killed the whole Hip Hop thing for me and then you start getting all kinds of Hip Hop looks and you start feeling that if you wear these clothes you start fitting into this Ali G prototype and that fucking freaks me out. It was never about that, kids today never had those hardships, cos kids today’s parent’s make sure that they have all the expensive clothes cos if you don’t then you’re gonna struggle, it was never like that before, we come into it when It was acceptable to bust them holy jeans.

 

RR: It puts families into debt.

 

CP: The amount of pressures on them, it’s all part of the machine, they put these pressures on you knowing you can’t watch your child go through that, shit, all these added pressures on you, you gotta buy these £80 trainers and every 3 months and if not your child’s gonna fall out the fashion bracket and start getting bullied and that’s a long arse thing. Fashion always comes from the streets. They take what poor people have managed create for themselves and sell it back to them and put pressure on poor people to be able to afford a poor person’s thing.

 

RR: Yeah my sister’s just got into this thing called the Dark Mountain Project, it was at Treehouse the other week. It’s all about taking a step back from what we see as progress and reconnecting with everything around us. It’s called the Uncivilization Project.

 

CP: Yeah that sounds proper interesting. I went down to some of the Treehouse meetings.

 

RR: Yeah it’s just a different outlook... So, you did the Music From The Corner series, have you got any other new stuff coming out?

 

CP: Yeah we got something on Skitz’s new album, Sticksman, and something else, but I lost track a bit, I’m just in my own warp at the moment… I got a solo EP, From The Ashes, I got a mix CD, Survive Or Die Trying, a mix CD called The Uprising.

 

RR: And you’ve got some new stuff coming up too, Farma?

 

FG: Yeah but that’s cat in the hat stuff, shh! People can buy my new Mixtape, on http://taskforce.bandcamp.com/album/its-a-funny-old-game-farma-mixtape-2009. That’s it really, look out, though, things are gonna change!

 

CP: Inja’s already got some new products out, we got some new stuff too…

 

RR: And what’s going on with your old night, Kung Fu?

 

FG: We got a new night comin’ up soon, based around Kung Fu, the same line up, the same people, same DJ’s, it’s gonna have a new name..

 

CP: Yeah, Come Fru! Watch out!

 

http://musicfromthecorner.blogspot.com

 

http://taskforce.bandcamp.com/

 

http://www.myspace.com/farmyardies

 

http://suspect-packages.com/artists/a-f/CHESTER_P.php

 

http://www.myspace.com/chessachess

 

Catch Task Force onboard The Thekla Tuesday 29th September.