It’s been a long time since I’ve hit up Jams blog. *sings* “It feels like foreverrrrr” (is that even a real song)… never mind. As I was saying, it’s been ages and I miss the little image icon thingy that Jam Jam has on the corner of the page when you refresh it so I’m backkkk bishessssssss.

Do we remember the post I did a while ago about having a show on Rinse Fm every sunday? (11am-1pm, lock in… safe). I think I mentioned that I can’t mix records to save my life. I couldn’t. In fact I don’t even think I’d even touched a deck before (Disclaimer: This might be an exaggeration – if you have a pic of me touching a deck then… don’t quote me). So having a show was wicked and I was glad Rinse had given me and Julie the chance to play some exciting new music and chat about… stuff… on their station. Now it’s about six months down the line, (methinks) and Rinse have their legal licence (WHOOP WHOOP) so in celebration of this. And just because I thought it’d be useful and fun to know how, I decided to learn how to mix. If you’re a beginner then listen up, just follow these steps and you’ll be a badderman deejay in NO TIME!

Step 1: Find Skilliam (Rinse FM badder man DJ) and lock him in a room with you and Julie for two hours with CDJ’s and multiple CD’s.

Step 2: Find DJ JJ (Rinse FM’s badder BADDERMAN DJ) and get him to use his connects to magically hook you up with some CDJ’s.

Step 3: Take them home and ring (any which badderman DJ above) and learn how to hook the wires up to the mixers.

Step 4: Stare dumbfounded at the mixers and flashing lights, squint your eyes really hard and try to remember what Skilliam and JJ taught you.

Step 5: I can’t help you with, this is the part where you need to put your musical knowledge, and your concentration along with your common sense together and work out A) Your tune selection. B) The tempos of your tunes C) How all the channels and cross faders work. Play around a little bit, get to know your music properly, every beat, where the beat drops, where the lyrics begin… EVERYTHING and then spend some time getting comfortable with the equipment.

Step 6: Announce on Twitter (tweet tweet) that you’re going to attempt to deejay and then bobs your uncle (INSERT FLYERS HERE) you’re booked at some NEXT HYPE raves.

Step 7: Realise you’re actually moving way to fast for your own good and feel a bit sickly and panic that you’re about to embarrass your whole entire life when you flop the mix in front of everyone at the bookings.

Step 8: PRACTISE! FOR HOURS/DAYS/WEEKS/MONTHS/YEARS (In my case days)

Now I was prepared (and by prepared I mean I hyped so much that I couldn’t back down) I cheated though. I wrote down all the songs I was going to play and practised the hour long set over and over again for four hours straight. I went to the booking and BLAM! The CDJ’s were NOT the ones I had been practising with. CRINGE. I panicked. The amazing DJ Motive calmed my life down and I put my CDs in the mixer and waited… and waited… and waited… and… nothing happened. The CD’s DIDN’T WORK. So as you can guess, that was a flop. (No par to me the profession DJ Complex after me had the same problem).

Step 9: Rant on Twitter about what happened and be a moany cow till the very lovely promoter of The Bang Bang event contacts you and tells you to come to his event later on that day and do the warm up set. Accept it and arrive at your destination.

This is the part where you realise this is NOT your bedroom, the speakers are VERY loud and the decks are up 5 foot 8 high and you’re 5 foot 6. See that the rave is infact a Hip Hop rave and although you have Hip Hop CD’s with you you’ve never mixed Hip Hop in your life, realise the venue is fast filling up and (yup you guessed it)… PANIC.

Step 10: DO THE DAMN THING!

Now I wanted to chicken out. Soooo badly. But I thought “what’s the worst that can happen”. The worst that could happen… happened. The mixers were not starting on beat. I wheeled up the tings dem, cue’d it, and started a funky tune. The left deck decided it was going to start playing automatically and you’ve got the cross fader in the middle so everyone can hear what’s just happened.

Step 11: DON’T PANIC

Everyones seen you now, it’s now or never, in the words of Dizzee Rascal… Fix Up Look Sharp. So I did the damn thing, someone came and tweaked the decks a little bit so the tune started at the right time and I was off! DJ Joel (who was “wow” on the decks) was by my side just in case I flopped and helped me with the mix for the first couple when I did…flop. BUT people were vybzing to my selection! Best feeling in the world (other then the feeling you get when you’re eating red velvet cake… yum) and I played half an hour of funky, grime and dubstep…UNTIL some woman came and asked me to turn it down because she’s “trying to have a conversation and she can’t hear herself think”. I had the pleasure of informing her the bar is now a rave. Had giggle at her frustrated expression and then switched up the set to … HIP HOP.

Step 12: Common sense!

Apply everything you practised at this point. It would be silly to not mix them if possible. I was in the groove and thought “what the heck… I may as well try” and I selected a couple tunes that were similar speed, IT WORKED! I mixed four Hip Hop tunes, perfectly! The DJ Yasmin came. We got chatting. I forgot I was supposed to be mixing and she had to quickly lean over the decks (which were facing me NOT her) and listen into the headphones to hear what tune was next on the CD, mess with the tempo a bit and then the cross fader and then the bass and then the volume and BLAM! the tune mixed. She mixed the tune when all the equipment was facing the other way. In a dim light… I don’t need to say it do I? Yeah I do… BADMAN!

So all in all, I clanged a few times, panicked a few times and mixed perfectly a few times. There was a healthy balance. So whilst you were all (hopefully) locked into the Radio 1 & 1Xtra clash (If you wasn’t listen back here:)  I was DJing at my first ever booking. It felt brilliant.

I’ve got a long way to go in learning, and I’m going to try and learn properly because it’s really fun but I have the utmost respect to a lot of DJ’s now, it’s definitely not easy, the pressure, the tune selection, getting the mix right, it might sound simple, but it’s definitely an art, one you have to master. So big up all the DJs. I’m not trying to be a DJ as a career, it’s just loads of fun and I love music so sharing the music I love with other people is very worthwhile to me.

Last night my winning tunes were:
Young Mad B – Superfly
Cleo Sol & Davinche – Addicted
Meleka – Miss Me
Roses Gabor & Redlight – Stupid
Katy B – Katy On A Mission
P Money, True Tiger + Kelly Rowland – Commander
Jay Z – D.O.A
Beyonce – Upgrade U
Cam’rom – Hey Ma
Luniz – I Got Five On It
M.I.A – Paper Planes
Drake Ft Lil Wayne – I’m Going In

That’s all folks.

P.s prize for the person who can correctly guess how many “DJ terms” I used up there. Dun-know-the-lingo.com <http://Dun-know-the-lingo.com>

Catch me here next saturday anyway. It’s going to be wicked (believe I’m practising hard)

Toodles

x

Sian Anderson investigates…

Hey!

I’m back, I know you guys missed my regular updates on Jam Jam’s blog but I’ve been away traveling and getting to know the “inner-me” you know, become more “cultural” and stuff. I’m also completely out of the loop with more or less everything musical hence the silence whilst I catch up, but seriously I’m so out the loop that you could tell me Roll Deep went number one for three weeks and I’d actually believe you – As you can

see, I’m still funny

Anyways – the first thing I’ve noticed upon my arrival back into the music industry is that a hell of a lot of artists are stealing instrumentals and adding their vocals to them. No I haven’t spent the last 19 years of my life with earplugs in, yes this has been happening forever but I’m noticing it more so nowadays. And when I mean stealing I literally mean taking instrumentals without the permission of the producer and giving their versions to DJ’s who are unaware and playing them anyway. As a DJ (And by DJ I mean someone who has a show on radio but doesn’t actually mix anything) this has happened to me, resulting in a phone call from producers and management asking me to not support the artist or the said tune. My first reaction is ‘what’s your problem? Your instrumental is getting out there and being promoted”. But apparently it’s not that simple…

Rudekid, the 22-year-old producer from London is predominately known for making some of the hottest grime instrumentals.

“I find it a disrespect when an artist vocals my tune without consent. It’s not hard to get it touch with me and ask for permission”. He says. “When I’ve finished making a beat I can imagine who I want on the vocals and utilise the Internet (Twitter/Emails) and get in contact with the artist to make it happen”. But for an artist to get hold of your instrumental you must have played your part in putting it out there. “I have to tell DJ’s not to give certain instrumentals to emcee’s without asking me first. I’ve got a CD out now called Are You Ready so if you buy that then you can vocal the instrumentals. That’s one of the reasons why I put the CD out in the first place. But if it’s unreleased and you vocal it without asking first I find that a disrespect.” Which is fair enough I guess, if you’ve already got a vision of someone vocalling your tune and someone else gets there first it must be very frustrating.

At just 17-years-old S-X from Wolverhampton, is undoubtedly the most talked about producer this 2010 for the legend instrumental that is “Woooo”. Within days of people hearing the beat vocals filled our radios, clubs and YouTubes with versions from half of the grime scene. Some were good… and some were owjsdeihdrferjtoirjt.

The producer (who mainly makes Hip Hop beats) came out of his shell with “Woooo” and sent it out to the artists he already liked but his way of making sure it wasn’t in the hands of people who shouldn’t have it, was pretty old school… “I always travel with the beats to play to artists if they’re exclusive. If they like them then we go from there”. Now that is dedication, and quite sensible if you ask me. Although his travel card must be worn out travelling round England playing music. “When I make a beat I can almost hear a certain artist on the vocal straight away, or I’ll send the same beat to a few artists I have in mind and some will be feeling it, but the others might not, so it just works out like that. Now that he’s hot property every grime-emcee-and-their emceeing-dog must be sieving through their emails looking for beats that he’s previously sent them to get a bit of S-X hype; but FYI – tell him you’re gonna use it first. “If people vocal a beat that I’ve put out for anyone to use then that’s fine, like I’ve got the Wooo E.P out now for anyone to buy and vocal but I do appreciate when they ask me for permission on a beat. If someone had some exclusive beats of mine on their computer and just used it on their mixtape without asking then that’s not cool. I would have sent it to them to see what they thought and it’s not impossible to get hold of me and tell me they’re actually going to use it.”

But it’s not just in the UK where this is an issue. And it’s not only the producers this affects. What about when an artist vocals something another artist has already put out? That’s beef right? (Yes I still use the word “beef” …rate me!) “I heard Backstroke by Teedra Moses and I loved it.” Say’s Mega from the Rap duo SAS.

“I looped the end of the beat and myself and Mayhem did our own version simply because we loved the tune. It was never meant to be a single.” Which I suppose is how it initially starts for a lot of the artists who enjoy experimenting with music. “TVT (the label looking after Teedra at the time) contacted us and wanted to know what we were doing with the tune because they’d heard it getting love on Choice FM and other radio stations, but we never intended to use it as a single so they were cool with it.” It’s not only the label who must be wondering what’s going on. If I were an artist and someone has re-vocalled my tune I’d be letting all hell break loose. “Teedra hit us up on MySpace and said she liked the tune. To her it was all promotion and she was flattered that we liked the tune enough to do that. In America and with Rap/ Hip Hop I don’t think it’s seen as such a bad thing. I mean look at Giggs, he blew up with a freestyle on one of Dre’s beats, it’s all good promotion. When you’re selling it that’s when it becomes and issue. We’ve got a CD out in August and we’ve had to get clearance for a tune on there but it’s cool cause as an artist if you want to do that and make money from it you’ve gotta show props to the people who originally own the tune.”

I’m beginning to slightly get it now. And I’m guessing by now it comes down to your status and how good people think you are. If you’re a good artist and you vocal and instrumental and do something amazing with it, then I don’t think the producer should be annoyed. They should just embrace it. But when the artist is pants and shows no recognition that you made the beat it must be exasperating. (Yes I still use big words!) One of the not-as-successful-as-we-initially-hoped-for-stories was Gracious K’s Funky Anthem “Migraine Skank”.

The instrumental came from an old US house tune called Don’t Panic by DJ Gregory and was vocalled last year by artist Gracious K. The clubs loved it, the DJ’s loved it and the people loved it. But with everything in this music industry, nothing is that simple. I don’t personally think that Gracious believed it would have such a big impact, but when it did, he had to change the instrumental to release the tune when labels showed interest. To use the version originally by DJ Gregory the process of getting it cleared would surely have taken too long. Personally I didn’t prefer the version with the new instrumental, it had lost it’s edge in my opinion and I’m sure it did to a lot of others resulting in the tune not charting (52 in the top 100) as opposed to the top twenty it should have received simply because of the hype it received and the fact that it was a bloody good tune. So the end result saw an artist being creative (as they should) and being held back because of it.

For some people though, it’s not seen as a problem. I for one have never heard London based producer Davinche complaining of a leaked tune, and I figure there must be a reason why his instrumentals are not snapped up by Ben, Jerry and Tom. It’s evidently not because artists don’t want them. Tunes I personally loop on my iPod (Tinie Tempah – Tears, Kano – Brown Eyes and Cleo Sol – Hero) have proved that Davinche is the producer that every artist needs to have on speed-dial… So why no leakage?

“If someone has vocalled my instrumental then it would be because I’ve released that instrumental,” say’s 25-year-old Davinche, who’s been producing for over seven years. “It’s happened to me before without my permission but I didn’t have a problem with it. It’s short sighted too. The only time it would be a problem is if the tune was s***” He laughs. “I don’t buy into this whole “disrespect” thing – it’s just an artist trying to make a better name for themselves. It’s not personal. If worse came to worst, maybe I’d get them into the studio and mix it down properly and make it better. At the end of the day we all want hits!” Then what I personally don’t get is, doesn’t it lose him money when this does happen? “It’s all about handling your business. It’s not really going to lose me money cause I’d just make sure I get my publishing after. I’m all about positivity and promotion.”

After listening to the views of a couple of artists and producers I’m going to have to side with Davinche. If you don’t put your instrumental out there, the artists won’t be able to vocal them. And if you don’t like the end result then you have to hold a tighter reign on who you give your beats too in the first place or embrace it and get them into studio when it does happen. Some of my favourite freestyles * cough – Giggs – Talking The Ardest * have been because of artists getting creative with an instrumental and that’s what music is all about. Creativity. When you do have a red-hot instrumental. Keep it to yourself and do a Rudekid, use your contacts to get the tune to the said artist to vocal and then put it out there on a CD for everyone else.

So I guess that’s it guys… “Positivity and promotion” – Davinche 2010…  To me that say’s it all.

Toodles

Sian x

But the funniest time, for me, had to be attending the Biggafish Camden Payback in which North West’s 15-24 year old residents could “Dagger” each other in the Roundhouse to DJ Vectra’s mixing ting. No word of a lie.

Now the idea, (which in theory is bloody excellent) was for Biggafish (who hold events for young people) to come together with Bang Radio and The Roundhouse to support the NHS in their fight to get young people tested for STD’s. The line-up was fantastic, Nu Brand Flexxx, Princess Nyah, Griminal, Scorcher, Bashy, Skepta, Ironik, Wiley and a surprise guest. Foam, non-alcoholic-pops and Jazzie, Dr Psycho and Policy being the “host’s with the most”. I was very excited. Sidebar: I’m well within the age bracket so I was well within my right to be to be over the moon about this event). The rule “No Test. No Ticket. No Entry”. What could go wrong?

Oh yeah, Wiley not turning up (again). *Insert hysterical laughter here*.

Anyway – the event kicked off at 5pm, the kids queued up patiently to get in, all excited and what not. DJ Vectra spun some big tunes on the decks. He had the crowd going mad to Funky, grinding on each other to Bashment and slow dancing with each other to slow jams before Nu Brand Flexxx were invited onto the stage.

Now lets bare in mind Nu Brand’;s big hits include “Anthem” and “Gash By The Hour” which were released in like 80BC were performed on the night, and in true good music form, they still managed to make the crowd go wild. Their new song “Runway” didn’t have a massive reaction but understandably the crowd we’re about 15-18 at most and they’re more into songs they know and can dance and sing along too. I personally think it’s a very good tune.

Princess Nyah came on stage, with very nice pink heels and a pink pleated skirt-thingy. She looked very pretty (every no-homo intended) and performed her anthem “Frontline” and some other songs off her E.P “Diary Of A Princess. I don’t like Funky (as we all should know) but Princess Nyah is definitely one of the only good and constant ones to break through with that trend. She also gave the quote of the day during her performance of “Big Boy”. “Where’s all my big boyz at?” Babes, no par, but they’re not even old enough to cross the road by themselves.

Next to grace the stage was Scorcher, he performed his verse on “She Likes” and brought Liam Francis out to perform “Lipsing Ting”. (Which had the crowd going crazy) and they gave the lil’uns a speech about not having sex without a condom. It was a good performance but it seemed to end very quickly. He jumped into the crowd to for the girls to touch his hand and stuff. We’re still unconfirmed as to whether he made it out of the crowd alive.

Following him was Griminal *cue a million girls screaming* he performed bits and bobs from “Don’t Phone Me” and “She Likes” then performed his latest solo tune “Invincible”. The crowd seemed to be more amazed by him, than his actual tunes which was disappointing, but again, I think they’re more into stuff they religiously know/hear.

In true lets-stick-rival-schools-and-people-from-one-area-in-one-location form, a fight broke out. It was quite vicious (from two floors up where I was sitting) but the security and Biggafish organisers ended it ridiculously quickly and peace was restored. One of the hosts took to the stage then to say what everyone with an ounce of common sense was thinking. “After having numerous Biggafish raves where every area can attend with not one fight, we bring you this rave, exclusively to Camden residents, and you go and fight with each other, in front of the NHS who has made this happen”. What should have been said and what was so rightly pointed out by Bang FM host Tahirah Edwards “You lots pissed in a bottle to be here so behave yourselves…bruv”… a girl after my own mindset.

Bashy (who come on stage in his signature gas mask) performed “When The Sky Falls” with Loick Essien, then a couple of other tracks and swiftly left the stage.  Skepta performed the anthem “Too Many Man”, a track off his album and his new hit single “Bad Boy” before coaxing the crowd to keep buying the single in a “BAD BOY OUT NOW” t-shirt, spoke about having safe sex a bit, and then left the stage.

Ironik then came on, in glasses. I left the room at this point… I was, er, thirsty.

Next thing you know, the hosts are talking about the surprise act, but huh? Where’s Wiley? I don’t think any of the kids even noticed to be fair, there was no rushing of the stage in anger or “Where’s Wiley” chants, just nothing. Chipmunk was called out as the surprise act *cue screaming* he performed “Sweet Dreams” off his “For The Fun Of It” Mixtape, “Fire Alie” and “Diamond Rings”. His performance of “Oopsy Daisy” seemed to be where ever Wiley was (god knows) but in all fairness, that audience didn’t deserve to hear it anyway as he received the biggest response from the grime track “Fire Alie”. Which was interesting…

So that was that, performances done. All in all it was a very good night, although watching 14-18 year olds strip down to their underwear to stand under the foam, groping each other during the Bashment tunes and even one couple on a lisping ting did feel a big R Kelly to me. Hopefully the fight didn’t put the NHS off of doing future events with Biggafish and understand that there are always a couple of people who will spoil it for the rest. Hopefully the next one is for everyone in London, and doesn’t have Wiley on the line-up.

Ps. Wiley didn’t turn up, he musta had Bigga Fish To Fry… Geddit? AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.
Toodles.

Sian x

Now we’ve got an answer, not a full answer, but the ‘youth’ of Merseyside have spoken, in the form of “Shooting Star Poets”, they’ve made a track entitled “Campaign Time” which is centred around thinking about crime prevention, putting down the guns and knives and mourning for those who have lost someone to violence, in the form of six emcee’s and a singer. Now lets be fair, the tracks not that great in terms of ever trying to chart and have a hit record and they could have gotten someone way more famous then Trim but I doubt they’re trying to chart and at least they’re doing something to try and stop people from stabbing each other in the back – literally.

After doing a little research on the Shooting Star Poets it turns out they’ve been together since 2003 as a crew and have all separately been involved in crime in one way or another, if that’s not background and incentive enough to get up and take action then I don’t know what is. The campaign they are working on is supported by SAMM (Support After Murder and Manslaughter) and their aim is to tackle the subject of knife and gun crime using music as a platform. SAMM is a registered company who deal with the aftermath of the families affected by these issues and and they provide research into the affect crime has on society. I’ve never really seen how a tune about crime prevention could help the crime rate in the UK go down, music’s supposed to be a vybzers but I really hope that if everyone takes it a little bit more seriously and actually listens this could be a step in the right direction. I mean UPROAR and Rolling G’s made a tune about Swine Flu and had half the nation wearing swine flu masks so why can’t Shooting Star Poets make a tune about putting down knives and make half the nation put down their weapons?

I rest my case. Anyway – I dunno, let me know your thoughts and if you want more information contact their website. The tracks out in April and you can catch the Shooting Star Poets performing live at ILUVLIVE in Proud Camden on the 29th March.

Toodles.

Sian xxx

Are you a Sugababes fan?

Do you want to see them tomorrow night… live?

Well…

Go to the “contact” form on mistajam.com with the answer to the below question for a chance to win entry to the the Sugababes Sweet 7 Official Matinee Album Launch Party tomorrow at The Supper Club, London.

The Matinee Album Launch Party will include performances from the Sugababes, signed posters and complimentary soft drink. (Alcohol is not permitted on the night)

Question: Name the Sugababes’ first single release from their album (Sweet 7)?

I’ll be picking one person at random to win entry tomorrow night with two of their mates. Go to the “contact” form on this website now now now and fill in the subject line with “Launch Party Comp”. Include your answer in the “message” box and I’ll hit you back IF you’ve won =)

Please do not enter if you know you are:

A) Under 18.

B) Unable to make it to London tomorrow.

What are you waiting for? Competition closes at 6pm today. GO GO GO!!!!

P.s I’m so nice to y’all in’t I…. *sigh*.

Toodles.

Sian xxx

*The small print that everyone misses *evil laugh* Entrants will be added to the Sugababes mailing list for future events.

I’m trying not to give a damn about Lil Kim the 2nd but it’s pretty damn hard when that’s all I’m hearing about on Twitter/Facebook/The Radio and now on the We Are Young Money album I purchased in order to drool over Lil Wayne and Drakes voices! (When I say ‘purchased’ what I really mean was downloaded from MPE via Umusic PR – thanks Shane O Neil) – Anyway, it seems as though everyone’s got some “It’s Barbie Bitch” fever and apparently it’s due to this Minaj chick.

So I YouTube her (as you do) and the first lyric I heard from her tune “Biggest Freak”, is… is… I can’t even type it, it’s too disgusting. Along with a picture of her.. wearing… more-or-less nothing and erm *ahem* sucking on a lollipop. Now can I just put it out there – I used to love those lollipops when I went to the funfair with my mates aged 16. After seeing that picture I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to look at a lollipop again in the same way. *No connotations intended*.

[**UPDATE - The photo Sian uploaded to Photobucket above is the famous Nicki Minaj does Lil' Kim on the front cover of the hardcore album legs akimbo squat so you can see her hoo hah while licking a lollipop shot you can see here - the fact that it violates Photobucket's terms of use under "unsuitable content" speaks volumes]

This is the point where I ask myself. “Is this what we’re promoting in life?” I know this is hypocritical, considering my iTunes consists of various tunes entitled “Suck Your Mum”, “I Slapped Your Girl” and “Champs and Weed”, but at least it’s UK music and at least it’s not an absolute disgrace to females all over the world. I’ve got a little cousin, who is aged 15, if she ever, and I mean ever comes home wearing a pink leotard reciting lyrics from Minajs tune “Sticks In My Bum”, then I swear on my beautiful mac laptop’s life she will be calling the NSPCC after I get my hands on her.

In the wonderful words of Bashy during an unreleased interview I had with him last week “We should all just listen to Bob Marley”. Maybe then we’d find actual love, instead of Ann Summers coupons (I mean vouchers right? See what this chick is doing to me?) then we can all hold hands under the apple tree (No Adam & Eve) and sing pretty songs about shooting the sheriff instead.

Anyway – can a Minaj fan just clear up the whole “Minaj hype” for me please and maybe give me a reason (other than to drool at her polystyrene breasts) to watch her music videos and endorse her sound.

Thanks

P.s. Remember a recent MistaJam blogpost I did where I asked you all wether female emcee Lady Leshurr is the new Nikki Minaj? I take the question back… the answer is NO. Not unless she’s looking to get her tits out, and if she is.. uhr… llow it.

Toodles

Sian xxx

Rinse.FM Sunday 11am-1pm is where you’ll find me now. Every week. Jealous? Thought so. We’re on our third show at the moment, when I say “we” I obviously mean my partner in all things non sexual, Julie Adenuga. We contacted Rinse about a year ago about getting a show but we didn’t really get anywhere. I mean we’d never really done radio before. A couple guest shows on LBC with Tre Azam and Nick Connrad and various other radio stations but we’d never actually hosted one. And DJing? Phahahaaa. As if we could DJ. So naturally we didn’t get a great response about having a show.

During the “Sian’s a rude blogger who says hilariously mean things about music on her blog” stage of my life, I was invited on BANG radio by the lovely and amazing Tahirah Edwards where myself and Loukia “HIYA”d up the place and talked all things rude boys, sex and the music industry”. Anyway blah blah blah was contacted by Scratcha DVA who hosts a hilarious morning show on Rinse FM. Smacked that up in my normal grime-rude-girl stylee and BLAM. Me and Julie get a show.

On our first show we had the experienced and mixing genius DJ JJ to support us as we hosted, Twitted, shouted out the phone number and played some exclusive grime tuneages. It was amazing fun! Our last show was on valentines day. And in true give-a-f*ck-about-valentines-day form we entered the Rinse building ready to basically take the p*ss out of the people in love.

Sidebar: How funny is this?

We’ve got a monthly playlist of amazing music, (also known as tunes that me and Julie have on our iPhones on repeat), have a look at our playlist it’s fantastic. Then we made an agony aunt section where we respond to peoples problems using tunes. It’s probably the funniest part of the show. Imagine being told your girlfriends having a baby by your twin brother and we tell you to get some nuts via “Blacks ft Jammer – Timid”. Julie made an agony aunt terms and conditions; I very nearly wet myself with laughter when I heard it.

The bottom line is; radio is fantastic. We’ve even learnt to DJ as well. Julies on vinyl and I’m on CDJ’s. Proof that if you lock myself and Julie in a room with anything we’ll have the basics on lock in under 24 hours.

P.s Grime Forum tw*ts who reckon (iQuote) “What have they done to deserve a Rinse show? there’s more deserving DJ’s”. – Get a show on Rinse and THEN holla. Thanks.

Toodles

Sian x

[Getting a show on radio and keeping it and learning the art of DJing is a lot harder than Sian makes out in this post which is essentially full of lies & more gas than Calor. Rinse don't even broadcast live between 11 & 1 on Sunday, they just tell the girls they're on air to stop them from going Tempa T in the Rinse offices. Trust me, I know - Jam]

My problem with the PC was “when I’m 20 the worlds not going to be running on a PC”, and now look. I’m running on iMovie. Pricks. I promised myself that if the next two weeks of my life weren’t spent constructively I’d go back to college. That was three years ago, and I haven’t looked back… Until now.

I’ve been thinking recently, about school, education and my journey in life.

Old friends have been updating their Facebook status’ recently about how exciting university life is and I’ve found myself wondering if it would make more sense to drop out of working life and go back to college or uni.

It’s kind of life a life path isn’t it? You go primary school, secondary school, college, uni, then you wait five years, get a highly paid job, have kids go back to work and eventually you die and get eaten by maggots, but it must be easier than being 19 and a freelancer of all things media.

I love the music and media industry, the buzz and energy is what makes it so entertaining. But the thought of being 20 years old, with no set job, is pretty scary.

I get shit loads of freelance work, enough to keep me in Ugg boots, Pauls Boutique coats and frequent nights out, but I’ve suddenly thought what happens when there’s  no freelance work left that I enjoy? I mean I’ve never had a job interview in my life yet I’ve had about 200 media related freelance jobs. Sidebar: This proves it’s definitely a lot of who you know integrated with what you know.

I’d really like to be a Psychologist. I was so good with cognitive psychology, eye witness testaments psychological theories and all of the rest of it. Believe me when I say Alan Baddeley’s proposal on ‘components of a working memory’ gave me sleepless nights for weeks on end! But now I’m wondering whether it’s even worth another five years minimum of my life to go back to education and qualify to do it and whether I’m even the type of person who can do an everyday 9-5 without the glitz, glam, goss and greatness of music-bizz.

I need inspiration people… hit me! I wanna know the ups and downs of uni, what 9-5 ish is like and whether the education being taught now is even going to help me later in life if I did decide to go back to it.

If I do go back though, I’m definitely getting rid of the secondary school hairstyle!

Toodles.

Sian x

Now, five years after the break up Sabrina Washington is back and this time she’s doing it solo. Every girl band has their bitch fights, their power struggles and their personal problems, if you want the fame you’ve got to play the game but did the media over exaggerate the reasons for the split, or were there genuinely problems within the three?

“Mis-Teeq were constantly busy and on the roads and after seven years, when it boiled down to it and we all sat down and decided what direction we wanted to go in, I was happy for us to split up because to be honest I was just knackered and tired of always living out of a suitcase” says Sabrina, and rightly so. If I were a teenager with three successful albums under my belt yet never solo in the spotlight I would have packed up my suitcase too! “I understood compromise you know, being in a group of three girls you always have to compromise and I needed to find time to be me and work out what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. I didn’t have a chance to spread my wings at the time but being in a girl group was something I’d wanted to do since I was a little girl. As I got older our musical directions had changed, so it was just the natural progression” she humbly claims.

Even from the offset of the conversation I’m having with Sabrina I can sense the excitement she’s experiencing and the drive within her about her new project. Her attitude towards the break-up isn’t bitter, as I’d expected. I wondered where this new rush of hope had come from after such a long break and whether fame had taken its toll on her on such a young age. “I loved everything that came with the fame but I needed to get out of the industry and do nothing. I sat on the sofa for the first couple of weeks, just being with family and getting used to everyday life, watching Eastenders and just pigging out” she reminisces. This is where my jealousy is allowed to kick in. Being able to sit comfortably on enough money to be a couch potato for a while has got be the best feeling EVAH (no typo)! “I brought property actually and rented some flats” she laughs, “I’ve got ten god children and I missed them so much. I had a boyfriend at the time as well”.  I add my little two pence there, asking whether boyfriends had anything to do with the Mis-Teeq split: “My boyfriend didn’t have much to do with it honestly” she laughs, “I’m not with him anymore but it was more just for myself than anyone else.” Yeah yeah Sab… that’s what they all say…

We talk for a while about general things, her want for a big family of her own, five children to be exact, lord help her when she’s trying to push them out (adoption is going to be my best friend when I’m ready for kids. The thought of labour is ewwww). I think to myself how hard and scary it must be to completely start again relationship wise let alone career wise. Evidently the day I split with my boyfriend Ice-cream, pizza, movies and calling-into-work-sick became a regular occurrence. She seems positive about having kids later in life but is focusing on her career for now, describing her way forward as a ‘clean palette’.

With all this said, I’m not entirely convinced. What’s the difference between her life as an artist then and what her life is going to be like now that she’s solo? Being the investigator that I am, I begin to think there’s more to the story than she’s letting on. I dig a tiny bit further into Sabs life now and how she feels about being in competition with Alesha Dixon who appears to be in a constant battle with the media and the UK charts. Her view is that everyone is competition but I don’t want to know about everyone, I want a bit of dirt on her versus Alesha… “It’s so easy for people to say it’s competition, but it’s not competition between us personally cause the three of us [Mis-Teeq] have shared something that no one else can ever share or experience. We’re always going to have a tight bond, no one can break that”.

This was like a ‘get the violins out’ moment, but I knew she was being genuine with this. I couldn’t help but ask if there was going to be a collab with Alesha though. Humbly and with little hesitation she replies that she’s happy to do her own thing for the time being, “but you never know”. No, we don’t Sabrina, sorry guys you’re not about to see these two lovely ladies shaking their thang together on your TV screens any time soon!

I delve into her relationship with music. “It’s weird when you’re a musician, you kind of have a love hate relationship with music”. She explains the feeling of not wanting to be anywhere near music the day she left Mis-Teeq, removing stereos and CDs from her house and falling out of love with music. This is where I see a different side to Sabrina, the human side of every artist who becomes a brand. “I didn’t want to hear music for a while. I had to let it go first to get my love for it back”. She laughs when remembering the day she made the decision to start listening to music again. “I started playing music over and over again. I was constantly experimenting and then I made a sound that I knew was exactly what I wanted to make”.

I’m totally hyperventilating at this point. A life without music. Meh? And I’m not even an artist. Mis-Teeq had everyone hooked, and not only to their sound. Every girl wanted to be like them, sing like them, have attitude like them and dress like them. Well, When I say “every girl” I obviously mean me and my primary school ‘crew’ who used to dress in belly tops and re-make the dance in the ‘Why” video. It dawns on me how much Sabrina wanted to break out of the industry and how needed the break she took was. She explains that she wants people to realise that she’s not a little girl anymore, that she’s grown up (think Britney Spears) and that she shouldn’t be compared to how she was in Mis-Teeq. I find it hard to believe that people won’t compare her and I ask her what she’s done to ensure she’ll not be tarnished with the memory of the outfits she wore in 1999. “Hopefully cause I’ve been out of the scene for so long people will look at me differently. It’s taken time for me to grow and I want people to appreciate that. I’m scared about being solo of course I am, I always had the girls around me. But as scared as I am I’m equally excited and my sound now isn’t like what it was back then so people should see that this is the grown and fresh Sabrina”.

Admittedly her new single “Oh My Gosh (OMG)” resembles a Lady Gaga type sound with an urban attitude and an electro chart vibe. At such a healthy time for UK music is her return anything to do with wanting to chart? She explains what she went through in the studio trying to create the right sound experimenting day after day and I’m satisfied that she’s comfortable with the sound of the new single.

As the conversation draws to a close we chat about her time on the ITV show “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here”. She speaks excitedly about confronting some of her biggest fears whilst being on the show: “I was terrified of flying on an aeroplane; I’d make sure I didn’t sleep the night before just so I can sleep on the journey”. I laugh at this, thinking about the amount of times she’s had to fly overseas on tour in her earlier life. “It’s not funny” she laughs, “I was so terrified and then on I’m A Celeb they made me jump out of a plane with a parachute! Looking back on it now it was the best experience and it fought my fear of flying.” Rather her than me mate. You’d have to pay me a mill a day to get me to fling myself out a plane! Mamma didn’t raise no fool!

I felt as though I’d really gotten to know the real Sabrina Washington and I was surprised at how open and lovely she is. The media portrayed her to me as a bit stuck up and a bit of a diva but other then asking for cushions on a plane to make her comfortable enough to travel I can’t imagine her being a diva in any other way. I finish the call excited for her journey. The determination surrounding her is refreshing and fun and I wish her all the best for her first solo single out 22^nd March. She told me the album isn’t anything too serious and it’s just her having fun being Sabrina, which after a 20 minute natter with her, is exactly what I want to hear when I get my always manicured hands on it… Sabrina Washing, being Sabrina Washington.

Her single “OMG” is released on 15th March on her own label sWash. Not Ca$h Money as the recent net hype would have you believe…!

Toodles.
Sian x

We’ve seen him grow, from a below average video with a shakey camera, to uploading a million videos a day and annoying more or less everyone by having Twitter breakdowns on how many people are asking him to do unpaid videos. The joke is: he never used to charge, but lets be realistic; aged 18 and in popular demand from emcee’s all over London was bound to put a dent in his pocket. I’ll have you know that London Underground Oyster cards are not cheap and the winter is nobodies friend!

At one point I stopped watching SB’s video’s completely. (No it wasn’t because GrimeDaily arrived). I stopped watching, because there was such an overload of videos to keep up on that it made me throw up a little bit in my mouth; a ten second clip of someone bigging up their crew.. like really SB?!

Anyway – he listened to the wise people around him, and by “wise” I obviously mean me, who couldn’t resist sticking my petite little nose in to send him an email about quality over quantity and blah blah blah. He more or less instantly shut me up the week later replying with his website print screens and a write up of what he had planned for the future of SBTV. I was impressed… very impressed.

With over 12,000 subscribers and videos in popular demand; SB provided us with a website we could all visit to find the awesomeness that is ‘grime’ in one place and even provided articles. He grabbed our lovely DJ Yasmin on board to present the interviews and bagged Trevor Nelson and Kano interviews for the not-so-grime people.

And this is where the F64 comes in… (Fresh 64 bars for you sorry souls who don’t know) The first to take the bait was artist Little Dee who claimed “Trust I’m the bare back king; you should see the type of girls I bareback in; nah I’m just f**king about, I put the jimmy on f*** and I’m out” – pleasant, but nobody said grime was polite! Everyone loved Little Dee’s F64 and decided to get a piece of SB’s 64…*pause*.

Me listing every artist who’s done one would be ridicuuuuloussss. So I’ll tell you what; picture the whole London Grime & Rap scene.. The only significant people to have NOT done one (in my humble opinion) yet include… Tinie Tempah, Blacks, Griminal, Sway, Bigz, Devlin, Fem Fel, Giggs, Wiley, Skepta, Kano, Durrty Goodz, Dot Rotton, Ghetts, Bashy, J2K, Trim Jendor, Smurfie Syco, Dizzie Rascal and forgive-me-if-there’s-anyone-I’ve-forgotten-but-it’s-1am-so-shatttt-tuppppp.

My favourite ones are below. To be fair; Chipmunks F64 is by far the best I’ve heard, but we’re keeping him out of this cause as he said himself “he’s in a league of his own”.

Tinchy Stryder

“A five day pass would never get you through to me”. Phahaha man said he’s not even on T-Mobile pahahhaahah.

“You’re suck in the underground you’re still training. Central Line; me; I travel by plane”.

“I heard them man are still sending, the message never got here you must be pending”.

Double S (Marvell)

“And if the industry was a desktop I’d be your icon you’ll be in the background”.

“I’m like what’s man telling me? From 15 if it weren’t like over a bill why you belling me?”

“You fuck with young girls you ain’t even got pee doh…pedo.” olekhvrhjktrjerkt

AND… MY FAVOURITE ONE… IS.. (BELIEVE IT OR NOT)

Master Shortie

“And right now, my life is not in order… and as for the girl of my dreams I cannot afford her”.

“They wanna kill me with my jeans; in a bar, but I don’t think it’s funny; so I don’t laugh”.
(His facial expression when he says it is wopsdfjjljkrfjwheaidhjk)

“No degree’s so I’m trying to find my right angle feeling like a slave the way I see all of my chains dangle”.

“When the snow falls it makes me grind harder, you got lyrics written but your flows missing like my father”.

“I wake up in the morning same grind… different shit; Its like I never flushed because I see the same shit”.

Reason why I love this is because it shows character, development, I love the delivery and the lyrics, I love that everyone said he couldn’t do it and then he came with more punch lines than most. I just love it… Basically.. yeah.

Look out for the S64 with singers (coming soon)… which is literally 64 vocals, and I’ve heard through the grapevine that SB is going to do a DJ64.. SB… Please.. Don’t.

It’s a trending topic on the UK Twitter and it’s very entertaining every sunday to log onto www.sbtv.co.uk and see a new one up there. Big shout out’s to the living legend that is Smokey Barz…www.twitter.com/sbtvonline

And if someone could comment and let me know what a “grapevine” is, that would be fantastic. I said it above but I actually don’t know what it means.

Other F64′s to watch would be Lowkeys’s (it was amazing!).. GFSH (amazing) Manga (hilarious) S.A.S (flipping geeennnniussss) JME (Pure lyrical awesomeness) and Lioness and No Lay repping hardddd *pause* for the females!

Toodles
Sian
x