Pyroradio.com recently caught up with the man of the moment and North West London`s finest - Bashy, who’s undoubtedly had one of the biggest track’s of the last couple month’s with ‘Black Boys`. After the huge success of both ‘Ur Mum Volume 1 & ‘The Chuppa Chupp Mixtape - Assorted Flavours`, which sold over 2000 copies in less than a month, BASHY the UK’s self confessed most charismatic street artist talks to Pyro about his plans for 2008 with his album, acting, remix’s and other movements!!!!
Pyroradio.com: How’s life keeping bruv I know you been busy?
Bashy: YES, mad tired! It’s crazy how if you put out a big single how quickly things start moving. Before it might be a booking, two bookings a week, now it’s bookings everyday or even two bookings in a night and then you have to wake up early and do a interview or morning radio show and your FRASS, but it’s all good man, people may ask me do you work hard, are you in the studio all day, but you can work in the studio all you want but a lot of people don’t put the work in after. I can spend three months in the studio, you can spend a year in the studio but because I’m doing so much promo and press my presence would be felt more, that’s a tip to artists out there, if you wanna do your ting obviously spend a lot of time in the studio but get your plan together, so when your ready your promoting your ting hard! That’s how you get known , it’s not always the guys who’ve got the best bars, cos to be truthful a lot of the bigger artists are wack, well not wack just not as lyrical or on the same caliber as other artists but because their work ethic, marketing aint there, their not out there.
Pyroradio.com: So ‘Black Boys’ was a big look for you and it’s a very positive track. But one thing I don’t understand was why it caused so much controversy with it being banned temporarily and some people saying its racist how does it make you feel when you hear these things?
Bashy: I think it kinda reflects the times, people say racism’s gone and it’s a thing of the past, London’s changed it’s so cosmopolitan but it’s not! There’s a clip on Youtube where they’ve got ‘Black Boys’ playing in the background and their wearing a Klu Klux Klan outfit so when I saw that I thought NAR! For me I’ve never seen anything like this bar in movies, books and documentary’s so for me to see that it’s alive and still relevant and that people still think like this, in this ignorant manor it makes me think rar there’s still a lot for me to say, there’s still changes to be made, so I’m gonna still be talking about this cos these are topics that need to be addressed. So the fact that there are still ignorant people in society like this it’s terrible blood. the music industry is a reflection of this as well cos Black music gets a bad name in the media, they don’t pump a lot of money into it, I just think it’s a sign of the times
Pyroradio.com: How did you get all the artists to feature on the remix, you even had some artists you had disagreements in the past with to feature on the track, you had the grime boys, hip hop artists……How did you get everyone on board?
Bashy: It was a mad ting Matt, to be honest I made some of the phone calls, management made calls, it was a joint effort, everyone kinda knows each other and has everyone’s number and everyone seemed to be on it. For me if you’re a black boy and you don’t wanna touch this track you’ve got something wrong with you. I even spoke to Wiley yesterday and he was like Bash, Bash, Bash why have I not done a Black Boys remix can you send it to me please? I was like yeah course two minutes sending. I think it touched everyone and it came at a time when it was needed, but ‘Black Boys’ is bigger than me, it’s good everyone can come together rather than me take a load of praise, it’s good everyone put their ego’s aside to come together.
Pyroradio.com: Yeah man it’s definitely good cos a lot of times there’s not much unity in the Uk music scene.
Bashy: Yeah man it’s a shame, we’ve got a midlands version coming with Malik from MD7, Rukus and a couple man. But I still wish it was bigger, people may say half a million Youtube hits, MTV Base play list, this and that but for me it’s not big enough, tunes like that need to be at number one and everyone supporting it whether your black white or asian because it’s for the cause, it’s got no American influence it’s ours
Pyroradio.com: When can people expect the DVD collectors edition coming out?
Bashy: It’s got all the videos on there I think there’s six or seven don’t quote me I might be wrong! But there’s all the videos, there’s a twenty minute version which is different to the other videos it’s edited differently, it’s got a hour long documentary on there, everyone’s there sitting down and being interviewed and not just about music but on a society thing and why these type of tracks are needed. Ghetto’s on their chatting real sense, Jaja, Wretch 32, Megaman, Tinie Tempah, Chipmunk there’s a load of people on there. It’s good to see people’s favorite artists talking on there in such a way.
Pyroradio.com: Moving onto your album, what can people expect from that and when do you think it’s gonna be ready for release?
Bashy: My album could have realistically been finished already but this is my ideal thing, when Black Boys came out in October I would have wanted my album to be finished then but because we didn’t really know what Black Black’s would have done, it was kinda like arr shit! I’m usually the guy that says you should have your album done before you release your single and be prepared, but when it happened to me it was unexpected. With the album I’m about 60% done though, there’s a load of stuff I wanna re-vocal, I’m getting new track ideas everyday, it’s good man, it’s gonna be a good blend of music, it’s gonna have quite a bit of grime on there, because I haven’t done as much grime as certain other artists, it’s definitely gonna have grime influence, obviously hip hop influence but it’s gonna be a mix and blend because I’m from London so it’s gonna have a melting pot of London’s music taste. Some people are like later I’m grime reh reh reh but my music is a complete blend, cos I’ll go Camden and watch some live shows with some vocalists singing with their guitar like Eliza Doolittle and these kind of artists so I’m getting influence from them. The albums entitled ‘Catch Me If You Can’, Naughty Boy’s produced a couple joints on there, I’m gonna record about 40 tracks then whittle it down to 10 or 11 tracks. Hopefully it will be released September, I haven’t got a proper date for it yet but I’m aiming for it to be released some time around then, it could be later but I doubt it will be earlier!
Pyroradio.com: What’s gonna be the follow up single to ‘Black Boy’s’ I remember last time I spoke to you it was ‘We Can Do Anything’?
Bashy: Yeah it was gonna be but it’s changed now, mans got a BANGER for the next single, I can’t tell you what it is cos it’s not finished and I don’t want to let the idea out but it’s sick believe!
Pyroradio.com: So I know you’ve been doing your acting thing, what have you got coming up?
Bashy: I just went to an audition yesterday, for a lead role in a play that went well. The television and the movie thing is good but that’s not really the direction I wanna go in, I’ve always come from the Theater side of things, I’m trying to stay on that path at the moment and concentrate on that, cos Theater is more intimate, when you do Television and Films it’s far less intimate, with Theater you get to connect with your audience. I wanna do it more for the acting as apposed to just the money and the exposure, I wanna do the Theatre thing until I get to a certain place where I can say yeah I can branch out now.
Pyroradio.com: So what keeps you working so hard?
Bashy: The dough! Nah I’m only joking, you know what it’s my family, one because I’m not a doctor or a lawyer or any of these things, I could have studied for that cos I done got my A Levels and GCSE’s and I went Uni but left cos I thought this isn’t for me. This is my occupation now and this puts food on my table and allows me to put 3 or 4 bills on the table when I need to for my Mum or sister, just little things like that keeping me grounded and on my grind, for me family is the most driving force behind me.
Pyroradio.com: So what are you listening to at the moment?
Bashy: Nuff cd’s, Lupe Fiasco ‘The Cool’ that’s got me on smash that track ‘Dumb it Down’ I need the beat for that I’d murder that!
Pyroradio.com: I know you’ve got the Chupa Chupps Platinum Edition coming out, when’s that coming?
Bashy: Yeah that’s the ting! Basically cos ‘Black Boys’ has come out, I’m all over MTV, mainstream radio so I’ve exposed myself to a whole new audience so rather than them buying everything separate, the Chupa Chupps Mixtape, Ur Mum Volum 1, all of those things I put together the Platinum Edition so they can get my backlog in one fare swoop. It’s more for my new audience to see my journey and what I did before. Some people who heard Black Boys think this boys so positive reh reh reh but then their gonna listen to my older stuff and think rah, but people need to understand the transition you go through as an artist and a man, even Malcolm X was a burglar and went jail. But now you can see where I’m heading and really where I’ve always wanted to go.
Pyroradio.com: What else have you got in store for 2008?
Bashy: So much man, the album, I’m on tour with Lethal Bizzle, that’s 23 dates up and down the country, big shout out to Lethal for that one, I’ll be supporting him. I’ve got nuff shows check my myspace for all the dates, I’ve got like 40 dates up there, nearly every day, it’s dumb (laughs), but it’s good fun and cos they are at night I can do what I’m doing during the day. The sequel to Kidulthood is coming out in the latter part of the year, it’s called Adulthood, I’ve got the theme song for that, that’s entitled ‘Kidulthood to Adulthood’ and is produced my Maniac so it’s proper grimey, it’s hard! Definitely one for the Grime enthusiast’s
Pyroradio.com: So how has your audience changed from your first mix cd to now Black Boys is all over Myspace’s home page and MTV?
Bashy: Imagine that, I’m on the home page of Myspace that was big man. For me my audience has matured, but I still think I’ve got my core fan base which are people the same age as me and of a similar background, not just black, people from a similar area. Obviously I’ve still got my younger fan base but I think ‘Black Boys’ exposed me to an older audience, maybe even middle aged people and working people in there 30’s and 40’s cos I get a lot of people coming up to me on the street and if I catch the train there’s people showing me love and appreciation so my support base has expanded.
Pyroradio.com: What’s the maddest thing someone’s said to you since ‘Black Boys’ has come out?
Bashy: I get so many bruv, I get mad ones like ‘Black Boys’ changed my life, I’m like rah is it, I’m baffled cos for me I’m not on this superstar thing, like I remember when I saw you in Tinsletown, I’m just there normal, I’m a normal guy, people get it twisted, obviously there’s people out there who are in it for the fame, but man like me loves doing music, obviously the money is good, but it’s fun to do and I can be creative with it and if I can make a change and leave a mark then so be it, but other than that I’m a normal breh, you’ll see me in Tinsletown, you’ll catch me in the cinema, a couple raves even though I don’t rave to much, you’ll see me in the local fish and chip shop in Kensal Rise it’s nothing, I’m not on the famous thing.
Pyroradio.com: Have you got any last words or shout out’s?
Bashy: Yeah man the Chuppa Chupps Platinum Edition is out in a hot second, look out for Adulthood I’ve got the theme tune on there, the movies good I got to see a sneak preview! Obviously check me out at Bashy.com, its Rags to Riches bitch, don’t be Naughty Boy’s and Girl’s. Also look out for J2K, Nolay, Wrecth 32, Chipmunk, Ghetto, Big Narstie everyone these artists are putting in work, Swiss, Sway, PDC, Northstar, there’s a load doing there thing, the midlands massive Rukus, MD7, there’s bare people doing there thing so make sure you check it out, that’s all is an say don’t bootleg it, buy it!
For more info check out
WWW.BASHY.COM
Words: Matthew Power
