Interview With A Pioneer: UK Hip-Hop Chat With Rodney P (@Rodney_P)

Q. What first made you get involved in Hip-Hop? Where there any artists that influ­enced you to pick up the mic?

I was always into poetry but hear­ing Rap­pers Delight on ‘Top of the Pops’ change my life. The first groups I was a really a fan of were The Cold Crush Broth­ers and RunDMC. My broth­er brought cop­ies of ‘Fresh, Wild, Fly & Bold’ and ‘Suck­er MC’s’ back from NY in the early 80’s and I was hooked.

Q. In the past you’ve col­lab­or­ated with artists that, per­haps, people wouldn’t expect you to. Who would be your dream collaborator(s) alive or dead? 

That’s a ques­tion I’ve been asked a lot and have nev­er had a real answer for. There are far too many fant­ast­ic artists dead and alive to choose from…so how would you like to hear me col­lab­or­ate with?

Q. Why do you think that main­stream Hip-Hop has moved so far away from the move­ment it was when you started? 

Money and cor­por­ate America.

Q. Are there any artists today that you think still carry the flame of ori­gin­al hip hop, doing deep­er than the super­fi­cial tend­en­cies of main­stream Hip-Hop today?

I think there has always been and always be artists who bring more to the table than just a desire to be rich and fam­ous. The prob­lem to me isn’t about the artists or the music but about the lim­ited vari­ety of the music people are feed through the mainstream.
There are many new and estab­lished artists like Pub­lic Enemy, Logic & Bro Ali who bring social and polit­ic­al issues into their music. And I feel like people have been bored to death by the ‘bling’ and are get­ting back to being cre­at­ive musically.

Q. Tell us a bit about the B.R.O.T.H.E.R. move­ment you were a part of in the late 80s? Why isn’t there any­thing like this in UK  Hip-Hop today do you think? 

The Broth­er Move­ment was a col­lab­or­a­tion between many of the lead­ing lights in UK Hip Hop at the time as well as Bernie Grant (RIP) the then Labour MP for Tottenham.
We recor­ded the track and video ‘Bey­ond the 16th Par­al­lel’ in sup­port of the Anti-Apartheid Movement.
There are move­ments with­in UK Hip Hop today that are social and polit­ic­ally minded. The Peoples Army, Lowkey and Akala are per­fect examples

Q. What’s next for Rod­ney P?

I have a busy 2014 planned. My new album on Tru Thoughts Records is the pri­or­ity right now but my hustle is com­plex so look for me to pop up in the most unex­pec­ted places!!!!

http://www.tru-thoughts.co.uk/artists/rodney‑p

http://rodney‑p.blogspot.co.uk/

[youtube]http://youtu.be/8NoRb64xSYQ[/youtube]

Micky Roots 

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Gata Malandra

Edit­or / Research­er at No Bounds
Gata is a music and arts lov­er, stud­ied anthro­po­logy, art man­age­ment and media pro­duc­tion ded­ic­at­ing most of her time to cre­at­ive pro­jects pro­duced by No Bounds.

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About Gata Malandra

Gata is a music and arts lover, studied anthropology, art management and media production dedicating most of her time to creative projects produced by No Bounds.

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