INTERVIEW | BRISTOL DUO CODE RED DISCUSS NEW MUSIC AND THEIR HIP-HOP JOURNEY

We sit down with Bris­tol duo Code Red, pro­du­cer and MC Kil­aze along­side vet­er­an DJ Style. Deeply rooted in the found­a­tions of the cul­ture, their sound is steeped in 90s grit, clas­sic sampling and uncom­prom­ising authen­ti­city. They are not chas­ing trends. They are pre­serving and pro­gress­ing a lin­eage. From grass­roots radio at Ujima Radio to con­sist­ently spot­light­ing Bristol’s inner-city tal­ent, their latest pro­ject feels less like a release and more like a state­ment of intent. This is hip hop as her­it­age, com­munity and craft.

Code Red’s sound leans heav­ily into that raw 90s hip hop feel. What was it about that era that shaped you both cre­at­ively, and why does it still feel rel­ev­ant now?

KIL­AZE: For me, that was an era when some of the best hip hop music was cre­ated. Those albums and that sound qual­ity moul­ded the shape of hip hop, which people are still try­ing to duplic­ate or match in today’s music. If you were raised around that time, it will always have a heavy influ­ence on your pro­duc­tion and style.

DJ STYLE: The sound of the 90s was much more cre­at­ive. Pro­du­cers were integ­rat­ing clas­sic samples with ori­gin­al pro­duc­tion, build­ing on the 80s sounds. The 90s embod­ied that for­mula, with pro­du­cers push­ing the bound­ar­ies of how hip hop could sound. Code Red is a product of that era and lifestyle.

Kil­aze, you juggle pro­duc­tion and rap­ping. How do those two roles feed into each oth­er when you’re build­ing a Code Red record?

KIL­AZE: It is not a case of jug­gling, they go hand in hand. There is no album without pro­duc­tion, and not much sub­stance to a beat without a rap­per. Most of the songs are writ­ten while the beat is being com­posed. The inspir­a­tion behind the col­lab­or­a­tion makes it easi­er to con­struct the sound and style.

DJ Style, you’ve been a corner­stone of Bristol’s hip hop and R&B cul­ture for over 30 years. What changes have you seen in the scene, and what has stayed the same at its core?

DJ STYLE:I have seen the ter­min­o­logy of hip hop come to rep­res­ent a dif­fer­ent sound to what I grew up listen­ing to. There is a new audi­ence and gen­er­a­tion labelling songs as hip hop that I some­times struggle to define as such, but maybe hip hop is now in a dif­fer­ent place.

Those pur­ists mak­ing authen­t­ic music, the likes of DJ Premi­er, Pete Rock, The Alchem­ist and Buck­wild, still have the drive and cre­ativ­ity that has enabled real hip hop to remain as strong as ever. That is the core of the foundation.

Your pro­jects con­sist­ently spot­light Bris­tol artists, both emer­ging and estab­lished. Why was it import­ant for Code Red to build loc­ally rather than look elsewhere?

KIL­AZE: Being from the city inspires me to cre­ate art based on the cul­ture and envir­on­ment I am famil­i­ar with. I also feel we do not get enough spot­light on our music scene, espe­cially from the real inner-city artists where I grew up. I sup­port and enjoy work­ing along­side south­w­est tal­ent, which also helps pro­mote them as artists.

DJ STYLE: There needs to be an aven­ue that enables the next gen­er­a­tion of tal­ent to come through, nur­tur­ing their skills so they can step up and keep the cul­ture alive. That starts at grass­roots level in the area. That is why Bris­tol acts have to be cent­ral to this project.

Bris­tol has its own music­al DNA, often asso­ci­ated with sounds like trip hop and drum and bass. Where do you see hip hop fit­ting into the city’s wider music­al identity?

KIL­AZE: Wheth­er people like to acknow­ledge it or not, hip hop has the strongest and longest last­ing found­a­tion in music. There are many forms of hip hop and expres­sion through the art, so it is undeni­able. The city’s found­a­tion may have star­ted with dub, reg­gae and drum and bass, but Bris­tol prob­ably has more hip hop artists now than any oth­er genre and it will con­tin­ue to thrive on a wider music­al scale.

DJ STYLE: Second to the found­a­tion of reg­gae and ori­gin­al DJ toast­ing, which shaped many Black com­munit­ies with set­tlers from the West Indies bring­ing that her­it­age to the UK, hip hop became a product of that cul­ture and is cent­ral to much of the music that fol­lowed. Many acts and DJs who went on to have suc­cess­ful careers were influ­enced by hip hop ori­gins, which played a sig­ni­fic­ant part in their devel­op­ment and sound.

Ujima Radio has played a big role in your jour­ney. How has radio helped shape not just your careers, but the wider Bris­tol hip hop ecosystem?

KIL­AZE: To be hon­est, as a pion­eer myself I have helped shape the music scene in Bris­tol through live radio broad­cast­ing, pro­du­cing for Bris­tol artists and releas­ing my own music. Ujima has played a role by giv­ing me the oppor­tun­ity to build a found­a­tion over ten years and allow­ing me to intro­duce a num­ber of inde­pend­ent artists to Bris­tol through my Homegrown show, which also takes hard work and ded­ic­a­tion on my part.

DJ STYLE: DJs and artists have a plat­form with Ujima, enabling them to build their skill set and gain expos­ure to a wider Bris­tol audi­ence. Kil­aze built a flag­ship platform.

Your recent album feels like a com­munity pro­ject as much as a Code Red release. How do you approach col­lab­or­a­tion, and what do you look for in an artist you invite into your world?

KIL­AZE: The col­lab­or­a­tions on the album were purely based on sound, who could rap and had the right tone of voice for par­tic­u­lar beats. Some artists were also reques­ted by DJ Style. I look for con­sist­ency, humil­ity and well seasoned artists who will not be a chal­lenge in the booth. Artists who under­stand song struc­ture, show up pre­pared and do not need end­less takes to get the verse right. Def­in­itely not artists who want to sit in the stu­dio and write their lyr­ics. It is too time con­sum­ing and unprofessional.

There is a strong sense of pre­ser­va­tion in what you do, hon­our­ing hip hop’s found­a­tions while still push­ing for­ward. How do you bal­ance nos­tal­gia with progression?

KIL­AZE: I bal­ance it by focus­ing on my craft, what I like and what I want from the music, not what I think every­one else wants. When artists focus on what they believe is rel­ev­ant, it can affect cre­ativ­ity because you are liv­ing up to an expect­a­tion and pla­cing your artistry in an industry stand­ard box. That does not lead to longev­ity or clas­sic records.

DJ STYLE: Good music is good music, no mat­ter the era, but there is a for­mula that makes music stand the test of time and that will nev­er change. The art lies in bring­ing the best out of the next wave of tal­ent, build­ing on a pro­cess that res­ults in ori­gin­al pro­duc­tion with a clas­sic feel. Hit-Boy is a per­fect example of that, par­tic­u­larly in some of his work with Nas.

Social media and plat­forms like Band­camp have changed how artists con­nect with audi­ences. How do you use these tools without los­ing the authen­ti­city of your sound?

KIL­AZE: To me, Band­camp is simply anoth­er ser­vice with tools that bene­fit you as an inde­pend­ent artist. I do not see it affect­ing the music. You are still cre­at­ing and upload­ing great music. The only down­side is the per­cent­age taken from sales, but cre­at­ively you are free to release what you like without clear­ance issues.

DJ STYLE: It should not affect your authen­ti­city to sell music on these plat­forms unless you choose to con­form to what is pop­u­lar and brand your music along­side that purely for num­bers. If so, then in my opin­ion you are in music for the wrong reason.

For young­er artists com­ing up right now, what advice would you give about longev­ity, com­munity and stay­ing true to hip hop culture?

KIL­AZE: My advice is to stick with your style and what you feel com­fort­able creating.

Do not try to fit into what is cur­rent, because when it becomes a trend of the past, so will you and your music. Stay true to your cre­ativ­ity and your core audi­ence, the people who sup­por­ted you for who you are rather than the latest sound.

DJ STYLE: Artists need to be groun­ded. Approach­ing the game with unreal­ist­ic expect­a­tions will affect your mind­set. Focus on your craft, be patient and allow those around you with exper­i­ence to bring out the best in your skills. Real tal­ent will always shine through and hip hop pur­ists will recog­nise it. I feel hip hop has moved in a dif­fer­ent dir­ec­tion, with more focus on duplic­ated sounds and less on ori­gin­al­ity. The sound can feel short lived rather than hav­ing true longev­ity, yet some have accep­ted that as hip hop.

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Rishma

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds

Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voiceless.

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