Back to back meetings in the Barbican Centre.

YT was in town to talk to the Arts Council about some funding for his Sativa record label and he shuffled his schedule to fit me in beforehand. It was good to see he still had his hustle on.

The Barbican is one of London's most fashionable places to live, a cathedral of modernist architecture. We settled down to talk on the Lakeside Terrace. It was a different place and a different time but, sporting a track suit and baseball cap, it was definitely the same Y to the letter T.

 

He may have been visible on festival stages with Zion Train, a procession of European produced rhythms and a successful Soul Jazz compilation, but his grass roots here in England have been neglected. The new CD 'Born Inna Babylon' is changing all that. It's a commanding collection of songs, best summed up by YT's own words:

" Real music for real people, road music for road people, ghetto music for ghetto people, strong music for strong people."

The title track is an anthemic rumination on the subject of Englishness. "This bad attitude, it's these streets where me got it from" being one of the glorious illustrations of YT's lyrical expertise.

"When I go abroad I find I'm a much nicer person. Easier going, more relaxed. You come back here and become more insular. People aren't open here, especially in the south of England. Another thing I wanted to say was that just because we're born here doesn't mean we stand for the 'typical English values'."

YT is a straight talker and challenging values comes naturally. Album track 'Visa' is an example.

"It just got on my nerves that I was having a lot of conversations with people and they've got a really negative view of asylum seekers and refugees. A lot of it's to do with media and the way they manipulate statistics at a time like this when money's getting short. I felt like refugees were getting the blame for a lot of things that were nothing to do with them. Some of these people are running for their lives. It's very easy to say they're bad people coming over here and all that; but until you've actually been in that situation where you're hustling for your life, you can't really judge. At the end of the day we owe a big debt to the rest of the world. We're part of the reason that they are so broke and their countries so war torn."

He was talking truth and rights for sure, and when YT tackles an issue he really nails it. He breaks down a topic so clearly that sometimes he resembles the kind of artist who would have taken up the banner of Rock Against Racism, Anti-Apartheid or striking miners in days gone past. 'Wicked Act', his chilling examination of the 7/7 London bombings, condemned the killing of "working class residents". A reference to the working class crops up on the new album as well. When he analyses the situation, does he see a class war or a class struggle going on?

"When I speak about working class, I'm talking about people like my parents who've worked all their lives. I think what they face is a class war or a class struggle. The minority are ruling over the majority with money. Ninety per cent of the wealth is in the hands of one per cent of the population. The rest of us are scrapping over what they leave us. I've got no faith in politicians, I don't vote or nothing like that; but the whole way they're manipulating the world is politics I guess. All you can do is help people to open up their minds. That's the only way you can change it, apart from full on armed revolution!"

He has the instinctive intelligence you'd expect from someone who can manipulate language in the way that he does. I tried to congratulate him for 'Mr Politician', a track that he recorded last year that seemed to accurately predict the current MP's expenses scandal. He shrugged it off.

"We knew all along really. All these scandals, they're not even a surprise are they? I reckon that's the tip of the iceburg they're showing us as well. That's not the real money, you know what I mean."

 

I was interested in where he would plot himself, as an independent musician and entrepreneur, on his diagram of society.

"There's a class below working class isn't there? The criminal class or whatever. I grew up with a lot of that during the late eighties and early nineties. I was below working class."

In his collaboration with Skinnyman on the new album he talks about the life of a hustler.

"We can all relate to Skinnyman's lyrics. I know a million people like him. He talks about jail and how he came outta jail and all a them things. I've grown up around people like that, people like Skinny. I was a fan from when his album came out. A few friends of mine knew him and they kept going "oh you should link him, he's really cool, he's well down to earth". I got a number off somebody and I phoned him up. I said I'd love to do a tune with him and he was like "who are ya?". I was telling him who I was and he goes "oh I was watching you the other night in Uptown Splurt, I got you on my phone!" It turns out he was really into what I was doing as well. We're kindred spirits in a lot of ways. We can sit down and have a burn and he's very much on the same level. It's a kind of really natural thing and it's amazing that's the only thing we've done so far."

As someone who's been paying attention to UK Hip Hop, I wondered how he would compare it to homegrown Reggae. Hip Hop communicates in an authentic urban English dialect, Reggae uses patois.

"Yeah it became really wack for them to chat in an American accent, so I don't know how they think about what I'm doing. I haven't had no-one say anything about it. The strange thing is, there's loads of Reggae in other languages now. I was supporting Tiken Jah Fakoly at a festival last year with Zion Train. You could see, as soon as he came onstage, that's a huge superstar right there. The crowd were all singing his songs. There's loads of Reggae in other languages that we don't even know about. But for me, when you do it in English it just don't sound right. That's not how I've grown up with it. Million Stylez, Gentleman, Al Borosie; they all got patois. Smiley Culture and all that, when they was caning too much cockney, it became cheesy. It didn't have the same edge. I don't know why. I hope that you can hear that I'm a British artist from the lyrics."

On his track with Skinnyman 'Hustler', on 'Bills', 'Baby Father' and 'No Time To Idle' YT demonstrates a pre-occupation with financial survival. He reveals a work ethic that combines with his hustler's mentality and a determination to face up to his responsibilities. Like any good album it's an honest reflection of his state of mind during the time that it was being made. Despite the self assured way that YT takes care of business, he's not had an easy ride.

"Basically if it weren't for Curtis Lynch, over this last couple of years, I wouldn't have had nothing out. I've been proper struggling to balance everything and to pay my bills. That's why it took so long to get the album out as well."

A full time music career is a puzzle. YT has all the necessary pieces. However, when he returned from touring to promote his last album he found that it wasn't all fitting together quite right.

"I've been busy touring and going through certain things in my own life. I wasn't really focused on the Sativa label. I only had one single 'No Sandweed' released on it since my last album came out. It's supposed to be my imprint for getting my own stuff out, but I haven't been able to do it, financially and everything else. I've finally taken charge of it myself and I've started to get my own stuff out again."

 

'Born Inna Babylon' is the first output under the new regime. In many ways it's a more satisfying collection than it's predecessor 'Straight Outta Britain'. The only thing it doesn't have yet is a massive smash hit single like 'England Story'. If you expected YT to still be basking in the glory of that song's colossal success, you couldn't be more wrong.

"In a way that's not something I'm happy about. 'Wicked Act' was my favourite tune. It was completely my own invention whereas 'England Story' was like a remix of something else. Dave Kelly took a big percentage of the publishing of 'England Story'; all mixes, even the Curtis Lynch one. But it's not just a financial thing. It's a bit of a bastard that you've got to do something that 'fits in' for people to play it and for it to get the love that 'England Story' got. They could juggle it on the '85' riddim. But if you come with a completely new melody and riddim, there's only a few taste-making DJs or whatever that'll play it. The others kind of go "It's a bad tune but my man ain't got no name" and they'll play a Movado tune instead. You see what I'm trying to say? It's a slight regret that I have about 'England Story'. I would like something completely original to be my biggest tune."

YT's conversation is always frank and revealing but it doesn't mean that he's a trusting character. He has a way of fixing you with a penetrating gaze. You feel that your motives are constantly under scrutiny and his bullshit detector is permanently on full power. It's the wary manner of someone who's had his fair share of struggles, betrayals and hard knocks. He doesn't hype himself and it's a trait he has no tolerance for in others. The subject is explored on the album track 'Who Dem Think Dem Is?"

"Certain people's vibes is a little bit too superstar for me. Having been on the road and seen how some of the artists are moving, I find it a bit obscene. Whether they're Jamaican, European or British. It's their ego, the whole vibe what they got; speaking down to you, you know what I'm saying. Some won't even speak to you, won't acknowledge you. Yard artists who've only had a couple of tunes out, they come over here and it's their first time in foreign. They're a big 'superstar' and they can't even talk to you. A lot of the European Reggae scene has caught onto the hype thing. There's a lot of arrogance, with people acting like they own Reggae. It's important to remember that we don't own this. They've caught the Jamaican vibe of hype. 'Who Dem Think Dem Is?' is about that and it's about certain groups of people resenting me because I'm the one who get's the work."

The track is a combination with veteran deejay Daddy Freddy.

"That's my uncle man! Freddy's a good friend of mine, he's one of the main people that got me linked up in Europe as well. I've known him five or six years. He's based in Nottingham now, but most of his work has been abroad over the last few years. He's got a new album coming out as well. I remember Freddy when he first came on Youthman Promotions, which I mentioned on 'England Story'. On some of them Youthman Promotions tapes, with him and Blacka T and them man dem from about '87 or '88, he was wicked. He was the hottest thing in Jamaica at the time."

 

Of Course the most significant collaboration on the album is with producer Curtis Lynch Junior.

"He is the top boy over here at the moment. Most of the stuff he's doing is re-licks of old riddims; but the way he does them! The last few that he's done have been Gussie Clarke Music Works riddims. He's been over with Gussie consulting with him. Gussie loves it and I think Gussie's mixing one of the tunes. What started out as a tribute has become a collaboration 'cos Gussie's so impressed with him. Curtis is a big producer, he's been around a long time. He's done a lot of stuff with Shola Ama and D-Influence on the Soul side of things. All the majors used to go to him for the Dancehall remix. So he's done Alicia Keyes, Wyclef, Gorillaz and Ms Dynamite. We started to do work together in 2005. He did the album version of 'England Story'. His profile got bigger since he formed his own label, he's got more recognition. I think he was doing alright and eating foods off all the majors, but his own Necessary Mayhem label is what he wanted to do and it's been really successful for him. He only does sevens and most of his sales are in Europe. I think in the future you'll see more and more original material from him."

 

There are several reasons why YT is the first person to come back for a second interview with culturereggae. The physical reaction to a tune is one of the explanations . 'Wicked Act' was a song that literally made me shiver. 'Running Wild' was a single with a similar power to move me. A new version, featuring Blackout JA, is included on the album.

"I was always gonna use 'Running Wild' for the album, but it took so long coming out that I wanted to refresh it. It's a strong tune and a lot of people never really heard it. I had to do the distribution over here for it, so it was only in Dub Vendor and a few other shops. So I felt it was a big tune and deserved a bit more coverage and re-released it on the album."

The rhythm comes courtesy of the Rebel Cuts production team from Germany. Today Europe more than matches Jamaica in terms of Reggae releases. The style suits YT far better than most of the cheap and cheerful UK Dub productions. Too much time and effort goes into his lyrics to throw them all away on bedroom beats.

"More European producers are linked to the Jamaican side. They're following the trends of Jamaica, they're keeping up. Production values have really gone up in the last few years. What's happening now is that people send me riddims and I write to them. That's a change because it's not how I started writing lyrics. I used to write, and then find riddims. Now someone sends me a riddim, I get a melody for it first on my dictaphone and then fill it out with verses and stuff. It's a weird one, because sometimes I love the riddim but I've got nothing for it for ages. Then one day it'll hit me. Other ones come straight away. There's not really a set pattern to it. It's a mood and a vibes thing. When I'm having a lot of problems I tend not to write. To write to a high standard, I don't think you can do ten tunes a week like some bredda do. It's impossible. There's been some prolific writers from Jamaica, but I think most of them are doing too much to be able to keep the quality up. I was in Anchor Studio when Jazwad was building riddims for Sizzla. he was like "yeah, play me some of the riddims that you've got". Jazwad played him some riddims and Sizzla goes "yeah seven tune me a voice tonight yuh know." He was walking round writing the lyrics in his head as the riddims were playing. Seven tunes in one night! That's impossible, I don't care how great you are, you can't write seven good tunes. A lot of them are writing too much stuff man. I talked to Alton Ellis about it, a year or so before he died, at a festival in Denmark. He was saying that when they was writing a song they used to find the chords on a guitar first, then find a little melody. You know, it would take them two or three weeks to build a tune. That's real music, that's songwriting. Every morning under a tree, bunnin' a spliff and practising the tune. That's the real shit."

 

The laid-back picture that YT painted contrasted considerably with his surroundings. The City of London is the belly of the capitalist beast. A place where nothing is quite what it seems. Fat cats with big bonuses pretended to know what they were doing until the whole place was exposed as bankrupt; morally and literally.

Appearances can be deceptive. It seemed as if YT had turned his back on the hardcore Reggae congregation; as if he was indifferent to his role within the England Story. In reality he was furiously treading water to stay afloat. Poor distribution meant he wasn't heard enough on record and he went awol from domestic stage shows. A track from the new album called 'Just Begun' attempts to set the record straight over some blistering Dancehall beats from upcoming Tottenham crew Raspect.

"A lot of people haven't heard about me for a couple of years. Especially in London because a lot of my gigs have been abroad. I ain't done any of the main Yard artist shows like I was doing in 2006. Some people might think that I'm done. I'm just letting them know I ain't even started yet."

 

May 2009

 

Sativa website : www.sativarecords.com

culturereggae's previous interview with YT