UKHH.com Interview

I recently caught up with the crew behind one of the UK's best hip hop portals UKHH.com Here is what they had to say about the site and the state of play when it comes to the UK's hip hop scene... check it out.

Firstly, how did UKHH come around and how do you think the site has progressed in the 6 years that it has been around?

Spoon - In the beginning was bseuk and flat4, I started tinkering with my own Bytes, Rhymes & Life at the same time as flatty (i think) started up a ukhiphop discussion group, which lead into a spin off group with people interested in starting a magazine, which eventually turned into a website when we realised how much hassle a mag would be. George Mahood (Big Daddy/Grand Slam) was in those original discussions so obviously thought the hassle would be worth it! So the original crew (see the profiles) formed ukhiphop.com with it's BSE'd starwarstastic coming soon trailer but that site was soon to be rudely stolen from us and sold to 'the man', ukhh was the next thing we could come up with and the site's been that way ever since. not a lot has changed over the 6 years. except the content. and the traffic. and the cost.

Flat4 - yeah it's like Martin says ... I'd set up the mailing list when flat4's traffic started getting into double figures per day n as it got busier and busier talk started of something bigger ... that was ukhiphop.com, and became ukhh.com ... haha I'd forgotten about BSE's coming soon biz ...

2hip - It has progressed from being a rarely updated, low content site to being a bloody huge site with constant updates and more coverage of US hiphop and some of the elements of hiphop

QED – Yeah, the general ethos was to combine all our efforts to create one site which could represent for everyone and generally uplift the scene. Also forgotten is Mark Murray and his Lyrics Archive. People like Swedger, Hobbit and Dave (COA) all helped out. What happened to Lee Merlin? The site has generally grown and it is good to see it held in high esteem in certain quarters.

How many of you are involved in the site and are you all coming from a hip hop background?

Spoon - dunno really. on the admin/web side there's 3 of us, on the writing side only a couple that you'd describe as regular, but we also take unsolicited submissions if they're interesting and well written enough (and even not sometimes). Contributors have come and gone as peoples lives and workloads change. What is a 'hiphop background'? I think we're from all walks of life really, I listen to hiphop, indie, rock, electro, folk, whatever if it's good music.

Flat4 - Nothing to add really ... can't really say I'm from a hiphop background, DJd a bit but nothing special and that was at least 40 years ago now ...

2hip - I'm semi involved with the site, don't do much really. Hiphop background... I bboy and deejay.

QED – There isn’t enough people involved with the site who actually come through with stuff. We always have too much to do. What is a Hip Hop background? I suppose a bit of an interest in Hip Hop would be useful.

Do you think the other elements of hip hop get over looked too often?

Spoon - When you mention hip hop to someone they think of emcees and turntablism first because that's the most obvious and immediate in popular media culture and the marketable elements. graf and breaking are something individuals can do but is hard for people to make money out of.

2hip - Yup, they get overlooked too often, bboying is on the rise I think but graffiti still suffers and seems to have 'broken' away from 'hiphop' in general.

Flat4 - rap is the constant ... for a long time turntablism was overlooked, now it's fashionable, breaking seems to be becoming more fashionable too now .. kind of goes in cycles

QED – Definitely overlooked, but it could be argued that they are more niche and less appealing to the mainstream. Not to say they can’t be, but with some aspects of graf for example need to be kept on the DL and as such it is hard to let everyone in on certain things. There is always more room on the site if people have interesting stuff to submit.

Which of those interviews are most memorable and why?

Spoon - the Lowlife one obviously because it was the first on the site and stayed there for a long time before we got out act together. I enjoy reading all of the interviews on the site but don't enjoy conducting them!

Flat4 - Blimey I just end up agreeing with Martin! Yeah me too the Lowlife one ... it was wicked to meet them all, get an interesting interview, some nice pics up on the roof of lowlife towers. The brotherhood interview was great too... they were all really nice blokes, Dexter even gave me an instrumental version of the album ... very nice.

2hip - Yeh the Lowlife one, cos it was on the front page for about a year! Blak Twang was a big one for me, as I think it showed how ukhh.com had developed as Blak Twang didn't want to do an interview for ages!

QED - Well, Low Life as well because it was the first time I met some of the people I was collaborating with on the site.


What plans do you have for the site for the future and would you ever consider turning the site into a physical publication?

Spoon - sometimes we struggle to keep a website going so i think a paper publication is way beyond our capabilities. with the right contacts, the right people helping it could happen though but there's always a question of demand. Plans for the future include making lots of things on the site automatic for the ukhh admin staff to make QEDs life easier meaning he can get out more...

2hip - I plan to try do more reviews basically and the odd interview if/when I get time. Would love to try get ukhh as a physical publication. Lots of work though!

QED – We have so many ideas that we just do not have the time to fulfil or do justice too. I would like to see us implement some of the stuff we have been planning and thinking of, but at the present time it is all we can do to keep the site up to date.

When does Flat 4 retire? surely 74 is way past retirement age. Is he your driver?

Spoon - He's in the fat lace retirement home for aging bboys in the alps.

Flat4 - cheeky buggers… I'm in the bleedin Congo at the mo, but I'll be back in the home soon... back to my tartan slippers & pipe ... lovely.

2hip - I thought he was retired in a sky resort in France... making money part time selling French bangers to English kids.

QED – With the European Union and whatnot Flatty has had to officially retire from active service, but he will always be our mentor.

Whats the UKHH best UK acts of all time?

Flat4 - tough one ... really don't knowblade, gunshot, london posse/rodney p ... can't name just one really. If this is a serious question we could all put forward a top 5 & give the results...

Spoon - gunshot without a doubt for me - the act that got me into this whole
thing

2hip - UK hiphop wise, Hijack...

QED – Too flippin hard. There are so many top acts each with something different to offer. Being old I’m going to roll out the usual London Posse, Hijack, Guttersnypes etc. etc.

How do you think UK independent hip hop scene compares with its American counterpart?

Flat4 - difficult to compare I think ...there's some very good UK stuff, some very good US stuff, some very bad UK stuff, some very bad US stuff ... being in the UK we hear a lot of the bad UK stuff, whereas most of the not good US stuff doesn't make it over to the UK ... so it's easy to get the impression that the US stuff is miles better. Plus, there's v little UK rap that I wouldn't class as "independent" - not sure it's a term we can really use in the UK at the mo...

2hip - Independant wise not too badly. I think the US has a much broader range of independant stuff, when as UK seems to be stuck in the whole London grimy thing. I don't think it will ever compete with US head to head, but it has got a healthy enough market to make it viable to make a humble living

Spoon - not really qualified to answer, I came into hiphop directly through the UK scene, never really had the inclination to get into the U.S. side much, too much good music from all genres coming out of the UK.

QED – UK Hip Hop is gonna blow up next year – ain’t ya heard? Haha.


A big thanks for the guys for taking time out of their schedules to do this for us. For more information and the latest goings on in the UK hip hop scene check out UKHH.com

KJ