Drake

It's been a long while since I added a new post (*bows head in shame*) but what better way to come back than with DRAKE! My oh my, he's really hitting the right notes with me ... check out two of his tracks

Sexy Slow Jams

Recently it's all I've been listening to, morning, noon and night ... yours truely, the sexy slow jam. Is there a justafiable reason behind this? Quite possibly. But either way in light of this I just thought I'd share a couple with you. I'm not one to have favourite songs because there are just waayyy waaaayy too many, but hope you enjoy ... ...

Tah Mac feat Mutya Buena

Tah Mac

Having cut his teeth with the legendary hip hop outfit, The Def Squad featuring Erick Sermon, Keith Murray, Redman, Jamal, Malik and Da Rockwilder, Brooklyn based producer Tah Mac is one of the most understated producers of his time. Not one to be pigeon holed, over the past fifteen years, Tah has worked with a diverse array of well established talent including Onyx, Aretha Franklin, The Charlatans and Ciara.

Making the unique decision to take his production to London and lay his foundations, Tah has now perfected his concept of global sound by producing a debut album that introduces the world to his musical journey and has the ability to penetrate through various demographics.

Flavour met up with the down to earth producer who left a long-lasting impression (not only because his roots lie where mine do, in Guyana), to discuss homegrown talent, platforms and breaking barriers.

What’s the story behind the name Tah Mac?

Tah Mac: Tayshaun Macintosh is my full name so that’s about it.

You’ve worked with an array of well established artists, how did these opportunities come about?

Tah Mac: I guess it more or less happened in God’s time. I didn’t really force any of the situations, so I was first and foremost blessed to be in those arenas. I was introduced to various people and I just kept using the platforms I was presented with.

Why have you only now decided to compile your own album?

Tah Mac: You have to really be in the right space to be able to go out in front of fifteen thousand people or even ten people. I’ve worked with so many artists who in their frame of mind are not really built for this situation, but now I feel confident that I am. Globally I just wanted to be able to reach my peers the best way I can and that’s through sound.

Do you think producers receive the recognition they deserve?

Tah Mac: Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. Not every producer who comes out with an album is successful, but I think I was ordained to be an entertainer as well as the musician that I am.

Why do you think producers such as Timbaland and Pharell are so widely known?

Tah Mac: Because they crafted their own niche and didn’t follow anybody else’s sound. Pharell’s situation was more or less a question of whether or not people got it. I mean we as musicians, we as artist, and we as just creative people go through these frustrations of people not understanding what we’re trying to do but the bottom line is, they won’t understand until its done.

With all of your achievements and diverse experience why do you think you are not an international household name as yet?

Tah Mac: I think it takes time. You can’t force-feed a situation. At the present moment I’m on a UK tour, and I’ll be hitting some of the smallest of the smallest towns that some of the biggest stars from around the globe won’t even go to, but I feel that it’s important so that people don’t feel left out and they can really connect with you on a higher level than just seeing you on Sky TV or Radio 1.

How long has your forthcoming album Welcome to Tahland been in the making?

Tah Mac: Three years

Why has it taken so long?

Tah Mac: Because I worked on it in different parts of the world and that’s between here, Germany, France, L.A and New York and I just was in the transition of amalgamating all of the sounds that I was coming across. I was introduced to the whole drum and base vibe, to the garage sound, to the grime sound, and I come from a place that’s just straight funk hip hop. People are going to question how I have a record called Back In Time that’s so commercial, how I have a record like Give Back that’s so funk-defied but Mutya Buena is on it singing her soul out, and how I got a record like Lavish Lifestyle that’s so rock n roll? That’s because I moved a wall that was in front of me coming from Brooklyn to knowing that sound is sound and you can go in front of any mass of people and they can embrace it as long as you’re doing it the right way!

So why did you go for the rock n roll sound on your single Lavish Lifestyle?

Tah Mac: It’s been wanting to be done. It’s been done from when Run DMC done it. I think it boils back to a confidence situation where certain gates are in front of you, and you have to conquer one arena before you can move on to the next. I paid attention to a situation with Lil Wayne when he introduced his latest record Prom Queen, and the way he had the masses of 30, 000 people rocking to a rock n roll record, it shows you that anything is possible!

What genre of music would you say you produce?

Tah Mac: Hip-hop, rock, alternative, soul, so I call it love, life and reality!

Do you think the music scene is ready for your ‘global sound’?

Tah Mac: I would say so because in the last couple days I’ve been into the smallest regions where when they see you’re of a black ethnicity they automatically classify you as urban, but now going in front of a mass of Caucasians, Asians, or whatever, when they hear that amalgamation of sound and you say put your hands up, you see complete unification because that barrier is gone. It’s a beautiful thing.

What is the concept behind Welcome to Tahland?

Tah Mac: Welcome to Tahland is a positively charged album. I’m proud to say that there’s not one curse word on that album. We as black people and we as young people in general do not have to talk in that derogatory manner. The people completely decide your fate, so as long as you can put a smile on ten people’s faces, those ten people will tell another ten people and so forth and so forth.

Is Welcome to Tahland a way of introducing people to your life?

Tah Mac: I would say more like welcome to the amalgamation of my sound!

Who from your album did you most enjoy working with?

Tah Mac: Mutya Buena because she was going through a situation at the time you know coming out of a group and all that and she was afraid about whether people would embrace her album when I working on some tracks with her, but when she got on that microphone it was whole different ball game.

What compelled you to work with so many UK artists on the album?

Tah Mac: Because I wanted to at least help and provide myself as a platform. There was only so much of an opportunity that I was given so I had to just pick the ball up and run on my own. I encountered Leona Lewis from before the whole X-Factor situation and when I heard her sing I started telling different media outlets that she was going to be one of the biggest selling pop artists coming out of the UK, but people just looked at me like you’re just another American producer talking crap! Fast forward to 2007/ 2008, my door bell started ringing and people were like oh you that cat that did that record, what’s up? That was a beautiful thing.

Are there any other UK artists you would like to work with?

Tah Mac: I like Calvin Harris he’s dope. I’m also a real big fan of Kano because he deserves a shot. I like what Tinchy Stryder and N Dubz are doing. Shout out to all of the artists that haven’t been nationally recognised as yet and are in the struggle.

What do you think of the UK music scene?

Tah Mac: It’s amazing! It’s on its way up. It’s frustrating but at the same time you have to understand that that happens when people don’t understand what you’re trying to do, but once they do you’ll start to see the fruits of your labour so its just a matter of time.

Why do you place such a great emphasis on laying a foundation here in the UK where others concentrate on America?

Tah Mac: You could sell a million records between the UK and the rest of Europe and you wouldn’t have to concentrate on America because America would try to catch up to you! America’s such a big outlet and there’s so much going on, I feel like we don’t really appreciate sound anymore, we’re just doing what gets that fast dollar ring tone. It’s different here in the UK.

You have worked alongside some of the greats, who has been the most memorable and why?

Tah Mac: I would say Redman, because he taught me the art of entertainment, how to capture an audience, how to sustain that audience and how to take that audience into your own world!

Welcome 2 Tahland was released in the UK on 30th March 2009. For more information on Tah Mac check http://www.myspace.com/tahmac

Words by Susanne Singh

GT Anthem!

Just came across this song and had to put it up on the blogspot for you all to hear ... ... ...

Despite the obvious link, being a Guyanese girl myself, this song also links to my next post ...

Lady Sovereign - So Human

Lady Sov's first release So Human, from her follow up album Jigsaw which will be released on her indepedent label Midget Records. This track could so easily have come from the Skins soundtrack ...

Lady Sovereign Interview

Victim to an era unsure of how to market a white female rapper from North London, Lady Sovereign was not so hotly received in the UK when she first released her debut album Public Warning back in 2006. It was not long however before she became part of a very small pantheon of UK artists to make a bigger impression in the U.S than here in the UK.

Being discovered by Jay Z, Lady Sov soon signed to Def Jam and went on to become the first ever UK artist to reach the #1 spot on MTV America’s video countdown with ‘Love Me Or Hate Me’. Across the next couple of months her career continued to escalate, performing on David Letterman, touring with Gwen Stefani, recording sessions with Pharrell and the The Beastie Boys and headlining Times Square on New Years Eve 2007. However as quickly as she shot to fame and stardom, her career began its downward spiral. Leaving Def Jam and drifting off the music scene, Lady Sov had reached breaking point.

Two years later and she’s back and ready to do things her way, releasing follow up album ‘Jigsaw’ on her very own label Midget Records. Flavour caught up with the 23 year old who detests interviews and managed to have a good conversation about where she’s been, where’s she’s going and what she loves and hates.

1. So why the alias Lady Sovereign?

Lady Sovereign: You say it like it’s a really bad name. Only kidding! Well there’s two reasons, one’s a bit stupid and the other one’s just a bit whatever. Basically I was smoking sovereign cigarettes at the time and then I had loads of sovereign rings. Seriously that’s the reason why. I’m not going to say I looked in the dictionary and sovereign means power and that shit, because that would be a lie. It was all down to lifestyle I guess and it was just iconic at the time.

2. What’s so love or hate about you?

Lady Sovereign: I don’t know really. A lot of people have this assumption that I’m just any girl and I’m just trying it, but I’m better than a lot of people think. You can’t really categorise me and I guess that confuses people.

3. What’s the story behind Jay Z discovering you and your being signed to Def Jam?

Lady Sovereign: I’ve banned that question because I’m fed up of answering it. Seriously, the best thing to do would be to go on google.com and look up and old interview and just copy and paste the answer.

4. Fair enough. So why do you think you managed to break America where other British artists have failed?

Lady Sovereign: I’m likeable and I’m genuine. I’m not saying anyone else isn’t, but I went out there quite early, even before Def Jam picked up on me and people just took to me quite quickly. I guess when you look at me, you expect something and then I do something else, so it was all brand new and fresh for the Americans and they’d never seen or heard anything like it before. I love it over there, it crazy, I’m so much bigger out there than I am over here and it’s weird because I want things to work out more over here and it’s a shame that it hasn’t but things are looking good at the moment, so we’ll see.

5. Why did you leave Def Jam?

Lady Sovereign: I was tired and fed up. I just felt like I was doing the same old thing over and over again, you know, interviews, interviews, interviews, promo, promo, promo, all for the same song! I was rising so high at that moment that I think they could have at least released more songs off my album then I would have been a bit more excited about things. I just felt like I was repeating myself all the time, I didn’t have any time to make any new music, I felt like I was letting down ,y fans and myself and I just got depressed and walked away from it really.

6. Is this why you disappeared for so long?

Lady Sovereign: Yep

7. How did you pick yourself up after such a low time in your life?

Lady Sovereign: I just locked myself off from everything really. I wasn’t going on big holidays and trying to get all up in the media or whatever because I kind of stay away from that but I was just living a normal life. I had to get back into a social circle again and I needed to see my family and my friends and just sort my life out really

1. How did you come to start your own label, Midget Records?

Lady Sovereign: It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do. The whole Def Jam thing was great, it got me out there and did good things for me until it went pear shaped. Me and my manager set Midget Records up and EMI approached us about distributing for us. We only set it up at the end of last year and it’s going well already. We don’t have much of a budget but industry people are amazed.

2. What has been the most rewarding thing about beginning your own independent route?

Lady Sovereign: Having more control, and everything just seems more relaxed and I’m more enthusiastic about things now than I used to be.

3. What have you learnt from your past experiences that will benefit your future career?

Lady Sovereign: To know when to draw the line. I’m not going to push myself as far as I can just because it’s going to make me a huge star you know. I’ve got to think about myself and my well-being. I broke down last time and I don’t want to do that again.

4. What genre of music would you say you make?

Lady Sovereign: I don’t know you know. I like so much that it’s hard for me to stick to doing one thing. I’ve never known how to categorise myself really. People try and throw me in the grime box but that’s just stupid because I’m not a grime artist and that would just be unfair for me to claim that.

5. What is the concept behind the forthcoming album Jigsaw?

Lady Sovereign: There is no concept. Seriously! I just write songs and I put them on an album, but I guess I do get a little more personal on this one. Just a little bit.

6. What can we expect musically from your album?

Lady Sovereign: Well I sing on this album, or at least I tried. There’s one song called Pennies which is a bit of a banger langer, but I like them all. I like So Human, the one that’s out now and then I like Jigsaw which is one I sing on. There’s something for everyone on there really, there’s electronic, there’s guitar based music, there’s hip hop and there’s stuff that I don’t even know what the hell it is, but its on there.

7. Why did you entitle the album Jigsaw?

Lady Sovereign: I don’t know. I really don’t know, it just made sense at the time to call it Jigsaw

8. Your album includes flavours of Britrock, electro, dance-floor, would you say you were pigeon holed into the hip hop genre with your last album?

Lady Sovereign: A little bit. That’s why I was getting a bit annoyed that in America they were just promoting Love Me Or Hate me because there was other stuff on my first album that could have defined me a bit more. Now I think people will realise that I’m a little bit more than what people thought I was

9. Do you think it will be easier to market your music with other British acts such as Lilly Allen and M.I.A around now?

Lady Sovereign: Yeah definitely. In the past year and a half since I’ve been missing, people like M.I.A have totally blown up and you can’t really define her either because it’s just a genre that doesn’t really have a name. I don’t think I really got the full appreciation I deserved when I first came out but we’ll see what happens now.

10. Do you think having acts like these around makes you less unique?

Lady Sovereign: No because at the end of the day I’m the originator whether people like it or not.

11. You received recognition from a number of international artists whilst signed have you maintained a good relationship with these people and are there any plans to work with them again in the future?

Lady Sovereign: Yeah I would work with Gwen Stefani. I’m actually trying to get her on a remix of something right now. I spent like two months with her when I was on tour with her and we get on, and it’s not pretence, we honestly get on. At the end of the day, I’m only going to collaborate with people I get on with and people I like really

12. Are the signature ‘chav’ side ways ponytail, gold rings and baggy tracksuits making a comeback with you or have you had a whole image revamp?

Lady Sovereign: No that’s all gone I don’t even wear side ponytails anymore, that’s gone. I like to crimp my hair these days and use a bit of colour. I wear a hat a lot but that’s just a comfort thing I suppose, so no side ponytails just a hat to the side.

1. Are you happy to retain the ‘chav’ label?

Lady Sovereign: No! I’ve never liked that label. I’m not a chav no way! A chav is just not me. Let’s not even go there.

2. What do you want people to take from you and your music?

Lady Sovereign: Maybe they can relate to it and enjoy it. I like to put a smile on people’s faces so hopefully my music will be able to do that.

3. What do you hope to achieve in the near future?

Lady Sovereign: I want Midget Records to be an established well recognised label, with great artists that come out on it. I also want to keep doing what I’m doing, and there are things that I’m not going to say right now because I don’t want to speak too soon, but I’ve made certain things happen so we’ll have to wait and see.

4. How do you think you’ll be received by the UK after such a long break?

Lady Sovereign: You know what I’m going to say don’t you. I don’t know. At the moment I’m just hearing reviews from the media and all that, but I just want my album to come out already so I can hear the true opinion from the people that buy it.

5. I read that you like to hear a new song every day, what new song did you listen to today?

Lady Sovereign: Yeah I do, but I haven’t been able to listen to one today because I’ve been doing interviews all day! But when I get home I will get on the iTunes Genius and see what it recommends for me.

6. Are you a rebel or a diva?

Lady Sovereign: I’m a rebel although I can be a bit diva-ish at times, it just depends on how I’m feeling.

7. And to end, a brief quick-fire love or hate session …

Dresses - Hate

Gold rings - Love

Def Jam - Love

Girl Bands – Hate

Jigsaw will be released on April 13th on Midget Records (via EMI). So Human will be released on March 30th. Visit http://www.ladysovereign.com/ for further information on the featured artist.

Words by Susanne Singh

This interview can be seen by visiting the Flavour website - http://www.flavourmag.co.uk/?p=1617

So the general consensus may be that I've been slacking ever so slightly .... but that couldn't be further from the truth! Across the past two weeks I've carried out interviews upon interviews and so it's about time that I started bringing you some of these ... enjoy!

Keep Dreaming Big!

Inspirational tune right here ... and thats what's needed in life... Enjoy!

British Music Experience

So I went to get an exclusive sneek peek of the British Music Experience exhibition at the O2 in Greenwich yesterday (Weds 4th March) and I have to say it's definitely worth a visit. It is essentially a look at the history of music in Britain, from all the way back in the 1940s to the present day and it features a full and extensive timeline and information on all of the different music movements from skiffle, to breakbeat, to pop, to rock, to hip hop, to rnb, to garage. The exhibition officially opens to the public on Monday 9th March, and is held in the top floor of the O2 bubble. In addition to the features I just mentioned, there are tons of interactive features including the Gibson Interative Studio which is a room where you can learn how to play instruments from the guitar to the piano to the drums to a personal favourite of mine, Hey Mr DJ, which is essentially a duke box with tracks dating back to the 60's.

Check out some of the biiiiig tunes I came across whilst using this feature ....

And these were just a few of the tracks that I heard that day thanks to an extremely friendly member of staff who was bubbling along to the music with me in the middle of the exhibition. What? What can I say? The music can take hold of you in the most random of places

SIZZLA KALONJI!

The following interview was carried out on behalf of Flavour magazine and will feature in the upcoming issue of Flavour magazine. For further information visit www.flavourmag.co.uk

Born Miguel Collins on 17 April, 1976 and raised in the ghetto community of August Town, St Mary by devout Rastafarian parents, the now 33-year-old man better known by his stage name Sizzla, is yet another prime example that anything is possible as long as you put your mind to it. Having experienced extreme hardship throughout his younger years, Sizzla is now considered to be one of the most prolific leaders of the conscious Reggae/ Dancehall movement.
I caught up with the Raggae/ Dancehall legend for an inspirational talk in light of his forthcoming album release, ‘Ghetto Youth-ology’.

1. How did the stage name Sizzla Kalonji come about?

Sizzla: That name come about based upon the attitudes people have of youths growing up in the ghetto. The youth got that feel for the music, that energy, that fire, and they just want to express themselves and be a part of the music and feel that vibe. Mr. Harris (jamstyle producer and mentor) is who called me Sizzla because he thought I was just too hot!

2. What types of things did you experience as a child growing up in the ghetto?

Sizzla: A whole lot of things. I seen my friends being killed, people suffering, people dying, people catching diseases, poverty, political warfare, and parents who can hardly find a good night’s dinner for their kids.

3. How did you succeed in your pursuit of your music career where others have failed?

Sizzla: Perseverance. You’ve got to be educated about what you want to do, about where you’re going, and about the music in general. So I really studied the music industry. I watched television and listened to a lot of icons like Bob Marley and all of the great icons. I knew early on that music was where I wanted to push my energy, so I started to go to live sound systems and working night and day in different communities. This is how people started to hear about me and they started loving my style and I started getting that confidence and that conviction. From there it just propelled!

4. You are an inspiration to many, growing up who were your inspirations?

Sizzla: My inspiration is from the most almighty, the Rastafari, creator of Heaven and Earth. And then my whole environment and experiences, and people around me like my friends and family and people in the music industry like Baby Sham also gave me a lot of inspiration.

5. Now that you are in a position to do so, in what ways do you give back to your community?

Sizzla: We keep concerts and we help out the school by paying the school fees, light bills and water bills. Then we have a number of community projects to help educate people and we belong to a lot of institutions who come together and we try to come up with solutions to the problems we see. So we do a lot in the community.

6. What can fans expect from your forthcoming album ‘Ghetto Youth-ology’?

Sizzla: More righteousness, more love, more life, more vibes, more Rastaman inspiration, more nice lyrics, more melody and a beautiful album to comfort the soul and help you see through the problems of today. Rastafari! More Love!

7. What is the reason for your album being entitled Ghetto Youth-ology?

Sizzla: The reason for the album is for the youth to have a better insight in their life, to see the world and see what’s happening presently. This album is for the youths to give them strength, to let them know that education is the key, to clear up all the corruption and to just look towards the future, heads high and just praise the almighty and believe in yourself and know that you can make it.

8. Your current single, ‘Black Man in the White House’ is obviously about Mr. Barack Obama. Do you believe that Obama will be able to solve the problems that deprived youths face?

Sizzla: The problems people face were present way before Obama, but we just hope and pray that someone with a good heart has the people’s best interests in mind, and knows that the family is the basic unit of society and so you’ve got to keep the family together and let them get a good wellbeing. But the Government system has been corrupt from way, way, way before now, and because of the lack of resources and activities, a lot of people turn to drugs and guns and all other negative activities. We just hope and pray that Obama can be an inspiration to the youth and try to make things a little better for them.

9. How does it feel to be considered as one of the Dancehall greats?

Sizzla: It feels good. It’s honourable to know that you are accepted and recognised. That’s what we have been working for, not just to be physically recognised, but for our work to be recognised.

10. What key messages do you want people to take away from your music?

Sizzla: That is love, help one another, live good, share and be kind. Love is the only thing, there is nothing else Rastafari! Continue in your education, educate yourself, educate your family, and help those that are not educated.

11. Why do you use your music as a vehicle for your positive messages?

Sizzla: That is Reggae, that is Rastafari, that is our culture, that’s our life, that’s the way we life, and we bring it all out in the music.

12. You have been releasing good music since the 90’s why do you think you are still amongst the top artists in the Raggae/ Dancehall game?

Sizzla: Because I think I’m uplifting the spirits of people and enlightening the youth of the world. People want you to keep providing them with righteousness, and this is what I do so this is why I think the people continue to like my music.

Ghetto Youth-ology will be the fourth album to be released on Sizzla’s independent label, Kalonji Records and is produced by the Firehouse Crew. The album will be in stores nationwide on April 21st.

Words by Susanne Singh

Michael Keith (Formerly 112) Interview

Hardworking and passionate, since then his untimely departure from Atlanta Georgia based RnB quartet 112, Michael Keith has been working on his career as a solo artist. Promising to offer the same high standard RnB that fans worldwide came to associate with 112, but with an added hint of individuality that couldn’t be accessed before, Michael has now released his debut album.
Ambitious Heights caught up with Michael to talk about his self-entitled debut album, leaving 112 and being a rock slut!

1. For those that don’t know, how did 112 come about?

Michael Keith: We all lived in the same neighbourhood growing up and we went to the same school and realised we had a natural connection and an affinity for music. We started building our name doing talent shows in Atlanta Georgia and winning them, and we finally met our manager who introduced us to Puff and we became 112 at that point.

2. How did 112 sign to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Bad Boy record label?

Michael Keith: Basically Puffy gave us an opportunity that nobody else was willing to give us at the time. Puff was serious about 112 and wanted to sign us as soon as we met him, so we were ready to rock and roll.

3. If you had never became an RnB singer is there another career path that you would have followed?

Michael Keith: I’d probably be out selling drugs. It’s that real. The people that grew up in my neighbourhood didn’t really have too many options, you either played sports, you were a musician, you tried to rhyme or you sold dope. I was fortunate enough to have people that believed in me.

4. Do you think Obama’s appointment will change that, and present more opportunities for the unfortunate?

Michael Keith: Absolutely, I feel like him being the President has opened up a lot of people’s minds and hearts. The mind set over here in the States is that we were always second class citizens and now for the first time it’s like we can say ‘I’m a part of this country’. It really speaks volumes to the nation about how well we have evolved as a whole. I’m very proud as an African American because we’re more than just rappers, we’re more than just athletes, we’re more than just singers, we’re also politicians, we’re also leaders, we’re just as much a part of this world as anybody else.

5. I read that you have an operatic musical background, what is the story behind this?

Michael Keith: The story behind that is really crazy, like I said I grew up in one of the worst areas of Atlanta Georgia and I grew up in one of the hardest schools in the district, so opera is the last thing that anybody would have thought would have come out of a kid from there. But I used to watch Tom and Jerry as a child and they always used to have operatic songs in the background so I’d always sing it. One day when I was singing in school, my music teacher who was operatically trained pulled me aside and she wanted me to start training under her. I tried everything I could to avoid her, because I wasn’t ready for the backlash I’d get from my homeboys but she made sure I didn’t waste my potential.

6. Do you feel that this has influenced your music throughout the years?

Michael Keith: Yeah, I mean I always loved listening to classical music growing up, but I just never thought I could apply it to anything. I have a song on my album entitled ‘Off Up In His Bedroom’ and if you listen to it, you’ll hear that its very operatic and that’s all me, it’s not a sample, it’s not Pavarotti, it’s all me, and it’s definitely influenced the music.

7. Which artists inspired you?

Michael Keith: Kurt Cobaine from Nirvana. In terms of RnB it’d be pretty much the ones that everyone says, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Donnie Hathaway, James Brown, Michael Jackson, but I think my writing style, ability to sign and my production skills started from the rock side of things. I’m such a dichotomy it’s ridiculous, because I sing RnB and I have a real soulful, gospel voice, but I grew up listening to rock music.

8. So what stopped you from becoming a rock singer?

Michael Keith: My colour. There’s only one Lenny Kravitz man, you know what I mean. We haven’t evolved enough in my opinion to expand on that type of music though it’s getting better. I definitely want to expand and be more of a universal artist, so if that means being called rock or pop I have no problems with that.

9. Do you have a favourite 112 song?

Michael Keith: I would have to say Cupid is my favourite 112 song.

10. 112 is often directly compared to Jagged Edge, what do you think of this comparison?

Michael Keith: They were fair comparisons because Jagged Edge and 112 at the time were the only groups that were out there doing something and we pretty much grew up around each other. I respect their craft and they put some great records out there, but if I had to choose between 112 and Jagged Edge I would say 112 all day long.

11. You left 112 in 2007, now I must ask, there was a rumour about a publishing cheque, can you tell me about that?

Michael Keith: Yeah absolutely. One of the main reasons why I had to leave and go do my own solo thing was because there were some discrepancies about a publishing cheque that was meant for Slim and myself. Basically Daron and Q felt like they were entitled to more of the money. Overall I felt like we had done so much as a unit that there shouldn’t have been a discrepancy with the cheque to begin with!

12. So what made them think they had more rights to it?

Michael Keith: In the beginning under the philosophy that neither one of us would be where we were if it wasn’t for the other person we would split everything four ways, regardless of who did what and we signed a contract to this effect. In the beginning when everything was even keel it was cool. But once everyone started branching off and doing songs outside of the group and producing outside of the group that’s when the discrepancy started.

13. Are there any plans to get back together for a follow up album to Pleasure and Pain?

Michael Keith: I’m going to be honest with you and say I’ve grown and lived long enough to never say never, so if that was to happen in the future I will welcome it under the right circumstances. I never felt like we had accomplished all that we could have, but right now I’m so focused on my solo project and everybody else, from what I know is focusing on theirs, so I don’t see it happening in the near future.

14. Other members of the band are also working on solo projects, would you ever consider collaborating with any of them in the future?

Michael Keith: Absolutely! Like I said this is a business and one of the main things that prohibits us from being like Bill Gates or Donald Trump is that we have an inability to work with somebody that we may disagree with. I have a tonne of disagreements with Daron, Q and Slim, but I can look past all that as a businessman to talk about what’s going to make the 112 brand and our solo projects bigger and better. I can definitely see myself working with the others, but it’s a four-way street.

15. You recently released your debut solo album, what can we expect from it?

Michael Keith: You can expect pretty much my soul and pretty much everything I’ve wanted to say for the past 13 years as a member of 112 and as a solo artist. This is something which is from the heart. My album is basically an album full of questions that I feel we as a people are too afraid to talk about, like why does love hurt or why is it that I love a girl who is promiscuous. Then I have a song on my album entitled ‘Father’ that Daron helped me to write, and I’m talking about the fact that like so many people I grew up without a father. So if anything I feel like the album could be a learning tool for people who have the same kind of questions that I have had through my life, because despite the fact that I’ve been successful, I still go through the same issues as everybody else.

16. Are there any tracks that you particularly like from the album?

Michael Keith: Each one of the songs represents me at a particular point in my life. So the first song is an emotion, the second song is an emotion and so on. So tomorrow you might ask me which is my favourite and I would say ‘Love’ and then the next day I’d say ‘Off Up In His Bedroom’ because that would be how I was feeling at that time. The album only has 11 songs for the specific reason that I didn’t want to extend on who I really was to just try and sell a record, but there is so much depth to it.

17. How have you found being on an independent label?

Michael Keith: It’s fun. I have more creative freedom, I know exactly where my money is going when it’s sent out which is definitely a good thing and I don’t have to go through the middle man. I don’t have to go through the A & R, I don’t have to listen to this executive and that executive, I am the executive along with my manager/ label head Carlo Farina, and so we just do what we feel.

18. Has the response to your debut album been what you expected?

Michael Keith: It’s been more than what I expected. I actually thought I was going to get more of a mixed review about the album, but from all the reviews that I got about the album, everybody loves it. I haven’t got one negative review, so I’m just really excited. The more I do interviews and radio the more people are going to hear about this album, so I’m really proud of myself.

19. How are you finding being a solo artist?

Michael Keith: Its weird, because if something goes wrong, its my fault, I can’t blame it on somebody else, but at the same time if everything is successful then that’s me too. For years I have been saying that I need to figure out who I am as a musician and becoming a solo artist has really given me that freedom.

20. How is your style as a solo artist different to 112’s style?

Michael Keith: Well I’m singing more! I think that’s the biggest difference. I’m a lot freer as Michael Keith as opposed to Mike from 112. I’ve introduced rock and operatic themes into my album which are genres I really enjoyed growing up but I couldn’t really experiment with them in 112 because we had a particular sound that people were accustomed to.

21. Describe Michael Keith’s musical style in three words?

Michael Keith: Soulful, eclectic and legendary.

22.What inspires your music & lyrics?

Michael Keith: I’m a big rock music dude. Since my first introduction to Nirvana in 1991 I’ve been a total rock slut. I just love the freedom that those guys portray in their music. We have so many confines in the RnB world, where you can only talk about love or how fly your clothes are.

23. What do you think of the state of RnB today?

Michael Keith: With the exception of maybe Kanye, Will-i-am and Timbaland, everybody else is just cookie cutter and it drives me crazy because we are so much more brilliant and so much more evolved than we are portrayed. As artists, we’re stuck in a catch 22 because the record labels want you to be an artist that sounds like everybody else, and being the ones that hold the cheques, artists pretty much have to do as they say. This was something that I had a real issue with because 112 had always been at the forefront of music and I just can’t see myself being anything else other than a trendsetter.

24. Back when Bad Boy came out, were there as many rules then?

Michael Keith: We had a lot more freedom as opposed to what’s going on with Bad Boy right now, because we were all just learning as we went along, and everybody started from the ground up. There are a lot more opportunities now, but there was a lot more freedom back then because everyone was just grinding. Now we can’t really give the new cats the freedom that we had because their coming into a situation that’s already built.

25. Are you familiar with any British artists that you like the sound of?

Michael Keith: I’m familiar with Dido, I love Dido. Everyone is familiar with Amy Whinehouse. I’m a big Sting fan because I’m old school. I’m a fan of Craig David, I loved his first album, and then Floetry. Them girls are incredible, I’ve seen them live and oh my God. Also I have to mention Oasis and Coldplay.

26. What’s next on the agenda for you?

Michael Keith: Just making sure that the world understands that Michael Keith is here to stay. You know how 112 did it and with me you can’t expect anything else.

27. Would you ever consider managing your own band?

Michael Keith: No. 112 was a special breed. A situation like that only comes around once in a lifetime for an individual, and there will never be another 112, or another New Edition, Boyz II Men or Jodeci. So as far as I’m concerned I couldn’t do it because if they couldn’t do a tenth of what we were able to do, then I’d be disappointed. I’m always going to have what we achieved as my bar and if you can’t live up to that then I can’t work with you.

Visit http://www.michaelkeithonline.com/ to buy a copy of Michael’s debut album.

Words by Susanne Singh

Recordkingz - 'Heavyweight' album review

Nurturing a vinyl addiction since the age of 10, manifesting as the link between some of the hottest producers such as Just Blaze (Rocafella), Alchemist (G-Unit) and Havoc (Mobb Deep) and officially the first UK artist-producer to garner widespread acclaim and support with the release of landmark LP, ‘The Weight’ in 2000, Juliano ‘Recordkingz’ Creator is back with his long-awaited sequel, ‘Heavyweight’. Littered with contributions from big in the hip hop game artists such as Mobb Deep, The Beatnuts, Little Brother, Aftermath’s Joell Ortiz and Bad Boy’s Assim to name but a few, and doused with the very rare breaks and loops Juliano himself sourced, it would seem that the album title is not a far cry from the truth.

Would you expect anything less from the founder of http://www.recordkingz.com/, the leading source of rare records for collectors and producers alike, and an individual who not only surrounded himself with, but was also well respected by the likes of Funkmaster Flex, DJ Spinna and Stretch Armstrong? If you did, you need to become better acquainted with Google.

‘Heavyweight’ is a compilation of all of Recordkingz favourite artists who he has met and worked with over the years. When opportunities to record came up, Recordkingz would hit the road running with a bag of beats, the end result being tracks like ‘Rock Ya Shoulders’ featuring The Beatnuts recorded in London, ‘Heat’ featuring Mobb Deep recorded in Paris, ‘Take A Walk’ featuring Joell Ortiz recorded in New York, ‘Playin’ To Lose’ featuring Little Brother recorded in LA and ‘Hip-Hop Throwback’ featuring Guilty Simpson recorded in Detroit.

With a healthy 18 track playlist featuring exclusive hit after exclusive hit, in true hip hop fashion, ‘Heavyweight’ features 4 skits, one being the intro, ‘The Heavyweight Muthaf**ka’ which introduces ‘that fat ba****d yet to be mastered’ Juliano Creator in all his glory. From there on out, the listener is treated to head bopping beat after head bopping beat (without which a hip hop album would be lost), many permeated with an obvious old skool, rare groove, gangster vibe, and paired off with some perfectly delivered hip hop lyrics working to fully reinforce the album title.

A fan of Mobb Deep, my favourite track has to be ‘The Heat’, which in true Mobb Deep fashion delivers the ‘realest’ talk about just how hard they really are. However, covering all topics essential to a hip hop album; money, drama, street life and illegal substances, ‘Heavyweight’ presents all of the featured artists, established and upcoming, on one equally impressive platform, the common link being Juliano Creator’s innovative production.

Truly international in its nature, all in all, I predict that ‘Heavyweight’ will bring the quality of many a hip hop listener’s album shelf up a notch or two and be a notably welcome addition to the collection of anyone who can appreciate good music. Delivering pure enjoyment from intro to end, the fact that Juliano is representing the UK is a very good look.

Words by Susanne Singh

Be sure to check this review out on the Origins Media website - http://www.originsmag.com/origin_pages/origin_content_main.aspx?thetable=reviews&thenum=54

No - No- No - NOTORIOUS

Everyone who loves them some hip-hop, will know a little something about one of the games most talented lyricists, Christopher Wallace better known as Biggie Smalls or Notorious BIG. For example it’s not too difficult to find out that he was born on May 21 (a date that has borne many greats *cough*ME*cough*) 1972 to Voletta Wallace and George Latore who left them when Biggie was only two. However, did you know that Biggie kept all of his rhymes in his head until freestyling them on the spot, that his mum used to call him ‘Chrissy Pooh’ and that he attended the same highschool as Busta Rhymes and Jay Z? Probably not, but all bar the latter fact are just a few of the points portrayed in NOTORIOUS, Fox Searchlight Pictures latest depiction of the remarkable rise and untimely fall of Christopher George Latore Wallace.

Directed by George Tillman Jnr (producer of such films as Roll Bounce, Barbershop and Soul Food), NOTORIOUS was in fact the creation of a joint collaboration between some of the people that knew Biggie the most intimately. From his mother Voletta Wallace to Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs, and screenwriter Cheo Hodari Coker who had not only had hours of one-on-one interviews with Biggie himself, but also had in-depth conversations with many of the principle figures in Wallace’s life, NOTORIOUS offers a no-holds-barred portrait of the A-Class student, turned on the corner crack dealer, turned innovative rapper from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

Beginning with scenes from BIG’s last moments on March 9, 1997 just before he became the second fallen victim to one of hip-hop’s most controversial and conspired about fallouts, the audience is then taken back to Biggie’s younger and more innocent years, played by his son, and mirror image CJ Wallace. Here we learn that Biggie was sheltered from the Brooklyn streets he grew up on as much as possible by his stern, yet loving mother who would walk him to and from school and then forbid him to leave the front stoop from thereon out. However, learning that the good kids were easy targets for the gangsters and longing for all the flashy things in life, it wasn’t long before Biggie turned to drug dealing to make money, something which in turn led the straight A-student to be a highschool dropout.

In between drug dealing, becoming a father, serving time in jail for drug dealing, beginning an intimate relationship with Lil’ Kim and drug dealing some more, Biggie would freestyle quick witted tales about life on the streets amongst friends which gained him great respect and led to his demo tape falling into the hands of upcoming producer Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs. Wasting little time in signing him to new label Bad Boy records, it wasn’t long before Notorious BIG was a globally recognised artist and one of the major players in the hip hop game. Young, popular, successful, managing his own group, ‘Junior Mafia’ and recently married to artist Faith Evans, it was at this point as prophesised by friend and fellow artist Tupac Shakur that things started to go badly.

November 30 1994 saw the beginning of the Eastcoast Vs Westcoast rap war between Biggie and Tupac as Tupac blamed Biggie for his attempted murder whilst visiting his recording studios. Spiralling out of control, NOTORIOUS illustrates the events that followed including the released diss songs ‘Hit Em Up’ by Tupac and ‘Who Shot Ya’ by Biggie, which in turn led to the untimely deaths of Tupac Shakur in 1996 and Notorious BIG in 1997.

Understandably favourable at times, NOTORIOUS depicts an all round vision of Biggie from a mummy’s boy to a street dealer to a heartless player to a true friend, lover and innovative rapper. Coupled with a great cast, from a near identical Biggie, crouch grabbing Lil’ Kim and of course two stepping Sean Combs, NOTORIOUS is a must see movie for all hip hop fans, providing the perfect opportunity to understand the life and death of the late, great Christopher George ‘Notorious B.I.G’ Latore Wallace himself.

NOTORIOUS is released on Friday February 13. So ‘if you don’t know, now you know’.

Film review featured on Origins Media website at http://www.originsmag.com/origin_pages/origin_content_main.aspx?thetable=reviews&thenum=53

Also featured on Flavour Mag website at
http://www.flavourmag.co.uk/?p=1345#more-1345

Updates Soon Come

So, it's been more than just a hot minute since I last updated my official blogspot, http://www.ambitiousheights.blogspot.com/. My sincerest apologies, but please let me reassure you that my absence has not been time wasted, and I will be bringing you a taste of what I have been up to, as I continue to strive for that 'life less ordinary.

And so in the meanwhile, and doubling up as a tribute to my eldest brother Johnny who first got me into hip-hop, let me leave you with a hint of what is to come very soon ... One of rap's finest, Notorious BIG

That day I interviewed Angela and Vanessa Simmons

Certainly not ones to follow the crowd, the young, ambitious and innovative daughters of Run DMC rap legend Joseph ‘Rev Run’ Simmons are busy showing the world that they have troughs of talent in their own right. From acting and modelling to singing and writing, Vanessa and Angela Simmons have also found the time to pioneer their own fashion brand, which after taking the States by storm is now being launched in the UK. Flavour caught up with the talented duo to have a chat about fashion niche’s, family values and … Pastry!

1. So your brand is called Pastry, what’s your favourite pastry?

Vanessa: Well the whole collection started with the cake collection because that’s what everyone thinks of when they think of pastries so I’m going to have to go with cakes, but I’m good at baking cookies

Angela: My favourite is cupcakes

2. Why the name ‘Pastry’ for your company?

Vanessa: What woman doesn’t love pastry? It’s like that guilty pleasure that you have to run off all the time on the treadmill and we like baking, so when we were coming up with a concept we were like why not …

Vanessa & Angela: Pastry!

Vanessa: It’s like fun and interesting

Angela: And it’s different, there’s nothing like it out there, it’s really girly and feminine

3. Who came up with the name ‘Pastry’ initially?

Angela: Well it was like a joint collaboration. We kicked around a lot of names. One day we just sat at home, sat in my room and we were just going back and forth with different things like cake, and then cake was the initial and then we were like no Pastry! That would be cool.

4. What exactly can people expect from the Pastry line?

Angela: Well right now, we’ve already expanded to clothing and we’ve got handbags and eyewear. What else?

Vanessa: Everything, we’re just hoping to expand to a full empire and they can just expect fun. Everything in the sneaker/ athletic world is very male driven so what we used our initiative and we made stuff that girls like us would wear and we made it more fun, more chic and more feminine

5. Why did you decide to design trainers rather than shoes?

Vanessa: Because that void was just missing. In the market there was nothing out there for females made by females, there was nothing cute. Nike or Pumas or Addidas it’s just so male driven, so we went ahead and made the first silhouette which was the Cake Runner, then we branched out to Fab Cookie, and then to Glam Pie. We’re working on Fruit Tart right now and Secret Sundae. The list is expanding by the day it’s just really really exciting!

6. You said you like cakes and cookies do you have a specific trainer you like the best or a design?

Angela: Right now I’m still on the Glam Pie’s but the Fruit Tarts are going to be so cute!

7. So with Barack Obama winning the U.S Presidential election, everyone is talking about trendsetters, would you consider yourselves to be trendsetters?

Vanessa: Absolutely I don’t follow in the footsteps of anybody else we kind of just blaze our own trails and you know just do what we do.

Angela: I think this is definitely completely different to anything else that’s out there so I would say so.

8. How long has ‘Pastry’ been in the making?

Angela: Almost two years

Vanessa: Well it’s been around for about two years, but I would say like three years. We started a year before the actual launch which is a really really fast turn around time

Angela: Wait did it even take a year? I think even less time

Vanessa: Probably about seven months, eight months, very fast turn around

Angela: It was a lot of hard work but fun

9. So you guys launched Pastry in March 2007 in the States how have things gone in the past year?

Vanessa: Fantastic, I mean the percentages that we were getting in sneaker stores were unheard of. All the retailers were like really excited and I mean just being here in the UK and launching it, it’s like wow I mean when we started it started as a dream, as a vision

Angela: Just an idea

Vanessa: An idea and we’re here talking to you! I mean to have your sneakers in footlocker that’s like top of the top like that’s where people want to have their footwear

Angela: When we started off we had like one or two

Vanessa: Well like a couple of retailers but very few people actually believed in the idea, but we were so strong in it that we just kept pushing and kept pushing and the next thing you know we were having all of these amazing reviews and it was just like honestly it was such a dream come true

Angela: Yes it was

10.What are your specific job roles within the company?

Angela: Well we pretty much do everything, it’s like a 24-hr job we’re always having conference calls ,we’re pretty much on top of everything. We design and everything, and even though we have a large group of people that work with us we’re very on it and always come up with ideas and new ways to expand Pastry so we definitely own a lot of titles

Vanessa: We have a fantastic group of people that understand our vision that we bought on board afterwards and they work with us and they help us to delegate our ideas correctly and explain to us what’s good and what’s not. Angela went to school for fashion I went to school for business and communication so I feel like we make the perfect team when it comes to running a business

11.What separate qualities do you both bring to Pastry?

Vanessa: Angela’s flavour woman. She’s has great great fashion sense. I feel like I’m a little more classic.

Angela – I’m probably willing to walk on the edge more with fashion but it’s that bit easier when you’re going to school for it and you’re around it 24/7 its like you’ve seen the wildest of the wildest so you’re willing to experiment with stuff.

12.How do you find working as sisters?

Angela: It’s cool, what’s great is you really don’t have to hold your tongue with your sister. You can be like listen I don’t think you’re idea is going to work or I love that, it’s just easier to communicate because you already have that communication open. So when it comes to working for business it’s easier.

13.With your dad, uncle Russel and Aunt Kimora all already established icons in the fashion world do you feel pressure to live up to expectations?

Vanessa – Sometimes but I think that pressure makes a diamond so we accept that pressure rather than try to get it off of us

Angela – It’s good pressure it helps us to

Vanessa – Aspire to be better

Angela – Exactly!

14.What has been the best piece of advice you’ve received and who gave it to you?

Angela – My best advice definitely comes from my dad and one of the things that I learnt from him was just ‘Try your best and forget the rest’ and that’s just always stuck with me in life and its such an easy one but it just goes with everything.

Vanessa – My life mantra kind of comes from a combination of things that my dad has told me over the years and I made it my own words of wisdom. My thing is to ‘Expect a no but never to accept a no’ because people are going to try and put you down, they’re going to be like ‘That’s not going to work’ but don’t accept that because if you believe in your heart that that’s what you should be doing or that’s your thing then you should just be going for it and not listening to negativity or anything else around you

15.You are both very busy ladies, so with all the things that you’re doing where do you find time for family and boyfriends?

Angela: Any relationship you want you just make time. Family is number one so there’s always going to be time for that because that’s what keeps you grounded, that’s what keeps your mind sane. I think right now Pastry is my number one boyfriend.
Vanessa: I just don’t talk about my relationships just to keep something private to myself, but yeah we always make time for the things that we want to do, you have to have me time because that’s what keeps you peaceful and keeps you going and that’s what keeps us actually aspiring to be greater.

16.Would you say with everything you have done have you fulfilled all of your ambitions in life or is there more to come?

Angela: There’s always more to come. I just feel like the more we do the more there is, there’s just always new ideas and things to do so who knows in ten years what I’ll be doing there’s just so much that I want to do.

Vanessa: Yes the sky’s definitely the limit so that’s how we look at life and approach every day with a new mind and accept any challenge that comes our way in anything we want to do

17.Pastry is definitely sweet, chic and unique and has blown up in the States in the past year, are you hopeful that the same will happen here in the UK?

Angela: I hope so, I mean we hope everybody is receptive and likes it so we can’t wait to see

18.What do you think of the British fashion sense? Honestly

Angela: It’s cool! We got to go to Topshop the other day. I love it I think you guys have some stuff we definitely don’t have in the States.

Vanessa: Yeah you guys are more fashion forward and you do your own thing and I love that a lot.

19.Have you thought of adding a British edge to the line?

Vanessa: Yes absolutely you guys have to have your own special thing

Be sure to visit http://www.pastrykicks.com/ for further information on the Pastry line

Obama Inauguration

And so the day that many did not believe would ever come has arrived. Today the world watched as Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as America's 44th President - as the first ever black president. The world now has a new face of change and progress. And so I leave you with some words from the President of the United States himself:

"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have travelled."

My brief encounter with Darnell Swallow

When I was invited to go along and review a party that Darnell Swallow from Big Brother was having, my honest first reaction out loud was, “Oh, ok sounds great!” In my mind on the other hand I couldn’t help but think, “what exactly does he have to be celebrating?”. Admittedly I wasn’t overwhelmed with excitement, but instead I was slightly confused as to what exactly Darnell was celebrating. Had he released a song I was unaware of? Who would be at this party? Still unsure, I decided to go along in a bid to get all of my questions answered and have a good night.

“Thursday 18th December – Swish Promotions hosts a very exclusive VIP Xmas party”. At least this is what the Vendome Bar & Lounge flyer claimed was in store for me and the other fifty odd guests that were present at the venue. Exclusive VIP? Considering I (and by the looks of things more than half of the other guests) had just walked straight through the doors unquestioned I was already struggling to believe this statement, but given that my best friend and I had just journeyed all the way to Knightsbridge to attend the event, the universal decision was to stay and hope that Swish Promotions would in the very least host an Xmas party.

The venue was nice, different in a dancer unfriendly kind of way, but nice. Although the event had been marketed to me as a party, everyone present (expect of course, that one person that makes every musical event complete by dancing in a special way in some open space) was seated and wholly consumed in conversations with their friends. I found myself questioning whether or not the people present were aware of what the night was in aid of, or if they had just strolled down to their local SW9 bar for a few pricey pre-Christmas drinks? Quite probable.

The night moved on, slowly, but it moved on and the DJs had rotated and were playing a pretty good selection of RnB hits, but still only a handful of people had joined the special dancer on the “dancefloor”. Scared off by the bottle of Belvedere that adorned the DJs booth, my friend and I had not yet made it to the bar and so she urged me to talk to Darnell and get a quote to spice up my review so that we could swiftly turn in for the night. This was a great idea, and judging by his recent actions in the bar, it was only a matter of time before Darnell left his mini VIP area and wandered through the bar to say hello to those that crossed his path before heading over to the bar to gather some drinks for his friends and himself. One trip, two trip, three trip, four, it soon became pretty apparent to me that it wasn’t going to be that easy for me to talk to Darnell unless I interjected one of his conversations.

And so, becoming evermore tired of the atmosphere-free party and the disconcerted look on my friend’s face I walked over to the bar, apologised for interrupting and introduced myself to Darnell as ‘Susanne Singh, a writer’ to which he didn’t seem too impressed and so I added ‘and a friend of UK Comedian Kojo’ to which he hugged me and offered to get me a drink on his limitless tab. One day my name and occupation will be enough. One day. Politely declining his offer I explained that I would like a quote from him about what we could expect from him in the New Year (maybe this would explain why he was throwing a party?).

“So Darnell, what can we expect from you in 2009?” I asked.

To which the gist of the ten minute answer Darnell Swallow gave was, “Well the main thing you can expect from me next year is an album. Whilst I was in the Big Brother House, my main thing was ‘Don’t label me, respect me’ and so when I come out with my album I want it to gain major respect. Ok, so I went on Big Brother. So what? I didn’t go to intentionally audition, I went to keep my friend company and I was chosen. I know a lot of people probably think that I got it easy because I get media coverage because I was in the House, but that’s not what I want. I’m struggling because what I really want is respect from my community, from the UK urban community, and a lot of them give me a real hard time because they’re under the impression that the only people that enter the Big Brother House are ‘wannabe celebrities’. This might be true but all I can say is when I was in there I was real and I didn’t expect that I would get chosen to enter the house.
I’m really serious about my music and that’s why I’m taking so much time on my album. I want to be the Nate Dogg of the UK and be respected like UK artists like Bashy and N Dubz, I mean at the end of the day I’m British. Yes I have an American accent but my parents are British and I was born over here and I only picked up the American accent because I was sent to study in America.
But anyways, definitely expect an album from me in the summer of ‘09’ and I should be working with a lot of big names.”

Still completely oblivious as to why Darnell was having a party, all in all, Darnell seemed like a really nice, genuine guy, I managed to get a good quote from him and oh, his choice in shirt wasn’t bad either.

Keisha Knight Pulliam a.k.a “Rudy Huxtable” Interview

Arguably the cutest kid on TV since she her debut in Sesame Street back in 1982, ever wondered what became of little Rudy Huxtable, daughter of Bill and Clair Huxtable and member of one of the best loved families on screen? Flavour caught up with the actress responsible for Rudy, Keisha Knight Pulliam to talk about being a part of history and life after The Cosby Show.

1. How does it feel to have been a part of the 80’s biggest TV show, The Cosby Show?

Keisha: Well, it’s definitely a great joy and pleasure in that I was a part of television history and history in general. The show is still very relevant and still watched and enjoyed even today. So so many generations of people have been able to identify with me and my character and still enjoy it.

2. You have been acting since the tender age of 3 – starring in hit children’s show ‘Sesame Street’ and then moving on to star in the ‘Cosby Show’ aged only 5, what was it like growing up as a child actress?

Keisha: I’ve actually been acting since I was 9 months old! I really enjoyed it, I mean a lot of people say that I didn’t get to have a normal life and what have you but I really think that I got the best of both worlds. Normal is relevant to your experiences and so if you think about it no one has the same childhood. I mean I was able to go to school and have a full-time job and learn from some of the greats in terms of television and comedy, and just experience so much at a young age that a lot of people don’t have the luxury of experiencing in a whole lifetime.

3. I’m guessing that your career was essentially chosen for you by your parents, are you happy with their decision?

Keisha: I am definitely happy with their decision and I wouldn’t have done anything differently

4. What do you love about acting?

Keisha: I love that you can play different characters and different people and experience and do things that you may not in your normal life. I like the variety of it, the ability to be able to touch people and also the ability to affect a profound amount of people. I just love the vastness of the impact that you can have.


5. Why do you think the Cosby Show was as successful and popular as it was?

Keisha: I think that the Cosby Show was as successful as it was because it really spoke to commonalities in people. It brought people together as opposed to dividing them, it showed how much more alike we are than different, and it dealt with issues that everyone could identify with, you know no matter what race you were or what your economic background was or what religion you were, none of that mattered because it was about people and I think that’s what made it successful.

6. You acted as Rudy Huxtable for eight years and so practically grew up with the cast, were you all as close as you were onscreen, offscreen?

Keisha: Definitely! It really did feel like a family

7. Olivia Kendall who was played by Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman joined the cast in 1989, back then, did you feel like she stole any of your limelight of being the ‘baby’ of the family?

Keisha: No not all. There’s only one Rudy and she can’t be replaced. I mean it was nice to be able to grow up a little because I had played the baby for so long, when Olivia came along I was allowed to finally wear dangly earrings and be a little more my age so that was cool.

8. What was it like working with Bill Cosby?

Keisha: It was a pleasure to work with him and to have such a solid foundation from the beginning and to learn from such a master, and he was just wonderful to work with.

1. Are you still in touch with members of the show?

Keisha: Pretty much yeah, I mean Tempestt and Malcom who played Vanessa and Theo we keep in touch a little more, but yeah.

2. Who was your favourite Cosby Show character? Why?

Keisha: I don’t know if I had a favourite Cosby Show character. I know I loved it when Dizzy Gillespie came on because I remember just being awe struck by his cheeks!

3. There’s a whole host of family sitcoms that have followed in the Cosby Show’s path such as Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and My Wife and Kids. What do you think sets the Cosby Show aside from these?

Keisha: I think it’s because we were the first, we were the trailblazers so that in itself. Being the trendsetters is what sets us apart.

4. Who is your favourite child actor/ actress of all time?

Keisha: Child actor of all time, I don’t know I’d have to think about it I mean there are so many wonderful ones like Dakota Fanning (Man on Fire, War of Worlds, Simple Life of Bees) that come to my mind but there’s not one in particular.

5. Do you think that you’ll ever be able to shake the image of the cute and adorable Rudy Huxtable?

Keisha: Well I don’t aim to shake the image, I mean it was a wonderful role that I played and it was able to bring so much joy to so many generations of people and that was my foundations and where I started and now I’m just continuing to build on that

6. What has life since the Cosby Show been like?

Keisha: Life’s been great, I mean I took time off, I went to school and then I started acting again, and that’s what I’m doing now, and I’m just enjoying every day that I’m blessed with.

7. You were in Chingy’s ‘One Call Away’ video in 2004, how did this opportunity come about? Why did you decide to do this?

Keisha: It was actually kind of crazy, my brother works with DTP who Chingy was with at the time, Disturbing The Peace and they were like we really want you for the video and being that we all knew each other, I listened to the song and I loved the concept and I thought it would be a good reintroduction of me to the world you know to see me as I am now, well was then.

8. You’re currently starring in Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, what exactly is the sitcom about and what is your role?

Keisha: It’s about an extended family and the daily trials and tribulations they go through, and you know the funny things that happen. I actually play Miranda who is married to the son and we just got married in the show, so this season we are very much exploring our newly wed kind of stuff.

9. You’re set to play a heroine addicted prostitute in Tyler Perry’s feature film, ‘Maeda goes to Jail’, how did this very different role come about?

Keisha: I had done a couple episodes of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and Tyler called me and said he was writing a script and that he had me in mind for a specific role. It was for the role of the district attorney, you know a very put together, studious type of role and when he was telling me about the breakdown of the film I was Tyler I really want to play the other role. I told him, ‘I feel like I’m up for the challenge and I think it would be great to do something out of the norm from what people would expect and I really believe in myself’ and he was like ‘I believe in you too let’s do it’.

10. You’re also launching your own production company, Pullpenn Productions, what’s the story behind it and what can people expect?

Keisha: It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, a couple of years ago I produced a television movie special that I starred in also, and I went to school for directing and producing and you know the whole behind the scenes is very much one of my passions in life and so it’s something I’ve always planned on doing and I guess now is the time. Pullpenn is a combination of my partners surname, Penn and mine Pulliam. We started it last year, and we’re working on a couple of projects. Our website Pullpenn.com should be up within the next month or two. We have web shows that are coming, in addition to some shows that we’re working with for network television, so we’re doing a couple of different things, just making interesting, good, entertaining television.

11. What else can we expect from you in the future?

Keisha: Just to continue working hard, doing great work and enjoying what I do.

The Cosby Show Season 4 is available to own on DVD from the 2nd February, courtesy of Universal Playback, www.universal-playback.com