What am I doing here? I found myself in the offices of Creation Records in Primrose Hill, sitting underneath a framed Oasis gold disc. I only wanted to talk to YT, the guy who recorded the crucial reality tune 'Wicked Act', and this was where I'd ended up.

After a few minutes left wondering if I should make a break for it I was ushered into another office by YT's publicist (he's got a publicist?). The man himself appeared younger than I'd been expecting and the dancehall look he was sporting reassured me that we were still dealing with reggae. Once we started talking, the surroundings were forgotten and I immediately recognised the attitude of an independent musician, successfully taking care of business for himself.

He explained why our meeting was taking place in such an unusual setting for culturereggae.

"Hiptones is a subsidiary company of Creation. They're basically sponsoring my album. They're putting the money into it. We're keeping the Sativa imprint though; its a label we started ourselves because we were having trouble getting material out. If you chat lyrics about current affairs you have to get it out quickly to the people. It can be kind of irrelevant if you release it a year later, and sometimes it might never come out."

The output from Sativa has been so fresh, creative and successful that it has generated demand for an album from YT. Hence the interest from Hiptones. The last 7" was 'Wicked Act', a stunning commentary on the 7/7 suicide bombings which shot to number one in the UK reggae chart.

"I've been watching the reggae charts from when I was a kid; Jetstar Reggae Charts, Black Echoes and as far back as Radio London. So its an achievement".

 

YT first picked up the mike to chat lyrics when he was twelve and you don't need to talk to him for long to know that reggae is an obsession. The surprise is that his home town is Ipswich.

"That does everyone's head in doesn't it? But you know what, there was a big scene there when I was growing up. There was a leading band called Jah Warriors who were on a par with Aswad and them at that time. We could just go to the youth club and watch them rehearse. That was a big influence. I remember going to four sounds clash in the late eighties in Ipswich and it was rammed. You wouldn't believe that would you? But it was a big scene. it only really died when jungle came in and most of the youts that used to go dance, have sounds and everything, just stopped, went to raves and lost interest in the reggae thing."

A similar story was repeated across the rest of the country in the nineties and British reggae hasn't been able to offer any chance of success to the young artists coming through. It would make a lot of people happy if YT could reverse this trend.

"In Europe they're glad to see something happening in Britain. I did magazine interviews over there and they said "we haven't interviewed a UK artist for years!" But they were influenced by us in the first place and a lot of them started out in reggae because of what was going on in Britain. Rodigan is a major figure over there, he's the godfather to them, he went over and played from years ago. In Jamaica most people are glad to see anything happening in reggae because it generates more of a vibe for them. Very little British stuff has ever penetrated over there. I talk to people in Jamaica and they're still on about Papa Levi 'Mi God Mi King'!"

 

YT actually has some similarities with the fast talking Saxon DJs who did so much for the profile of UK reggae. One is an ability to tune in to fashions and trends; and having his own label has made it possible to get material released quickly enough to keep up. Tunes like 'Bad Mind People' and 'In The Air' fit in with the current vogue for bootleg mash-ups whilst also satisfying reggae's traditional love of a counteraction.

"None of the remix kind of tunes are on the album - its all original stuff. But I'll continue to put out tunes that are just for the dancehall. I'm just about to do a counteraction to Baby Cham's "Ghetto Story' - "This is my England story..." About Saxon, Coxsonne and Unity and how we used to have a scene here."

The artist he seems to have the most in common with, and its a big tribute to say so, is Macka B. A man with the uncanny ability to verbalise the thoughts and opinions of his audience. As YT explains,

"Saying something that's actually going on in Britain that British people can relate to is important. I've got something coming out about reality TV. Just trying to find the right riddim for it."

 

Having enjoyed both the humour and down to earth reality talk of YT's recordings, meeting him was no disappointment. He's extremely articulate, even in conversation his words are carefully chosen in order to paint a picture and as with all the most likeable people I've met in reggae - he didn't just want to talk about himself. The love of music outshines all other matters. My one concern was that such an ambitious artist would be courting the major record companies and that my own negative attitude to them would lead to an awkward conversation. I needn't have worried.

"I've really got a bad view of major labels. I can name about ten UK reggae artists that they've shelved. I'm not looking to go down that road, I haven't got time to waste. You get loads of money coming up front and you buy a big car; then six months down the road you're nowhere and now they're complaining about all the money you've had. Its happened to talented people. I'm totally convinced and keep telling all them at Sativa "we don't need nobody, we can make a decent thing out of this just by doing it ourselves". I've got people phoning me from Sony and Warner and I don't even want to talk to them. Years ago I was going to them with my tape, but that's not me now, I'm not about that - they're damaging."

Staying independent allows him to freelance with other producers and to cut dubplates for whoever he wants to.

"If a producer's got a beat that I'm feeling, I'll work. 'Bad Mind People' is the biggest dubplate tune I've done. I reckon I've done eighty. It ranges from Killimanjaro, Metro Media and Stone Love to some little sound in France that you've never heard of. Its a mad variety of people."

The broad appeal of his bootleg/remix singles has also resulted in interest beyond the reggae market.

"People see me in different ways. Some people see me as an MC in the whole UK MC thing. As in grime, hip hop - the whole thing. Some people see me as a dancehall artist. Some see me as a reggae artist."

 

His album 'Straight Outta Britain' will be released in May and reflects the fact that Hip Tones are in the camp that view him as a reggae artist. His own preference for reality, conscious lyrics is also highlighted. Five of the twelve tracks are what he describes as "out and out reality tunes". All but one of these feature the kind of solid one-drop rhythms that will more than satisfy the roots audience.

It seemed too obvious to mention Gentleman when talking to YT, but a sneak preview of 'Straight Outta Britain' suggests that it is one of the few albums capable of standing alongside the last two from the German artist. However YT is realistic about the comparisons.

"I rate Gentleman to the max, he's a great artist. It don't bother me that people compare me to him, it's inevitable. But what's happened with him couldn't happen here. If I got a tune that became top of the pops, all the dancehall people would start hating on me big time."

Well we don't care about them bad mind people. YT is the real deal.

 

February 2006

Sativa website: www.sativarecords.com