THHV - To those that don’t know you how would you describe yourself and your sound?
Primarily I’m a lyrical dude. I’ve been described by a lot of people as someone who spits about what’s going on, you know, I’m not scared to address any topics. On the music side it’s grounded in boom-box hip hop but its constantly elevating to more experimental sounds and I really try to make my music more interesting. I’m a real energetic, come alive – live performer. I’m a real passionate dude when it comes to it and on stage it’s quite obvious.
THHV – Do people refer to you as a white rapper or has rap finally crossed that race bridge?
Sometimes. Yeah normally white people refer to you as a white rapper (laughs) that’s what I’ve kinda noticed – for some white people it’s a bit of an issue. For real hip hop heads - the fact that the culture has become wider – and this generation is probably more mixed in terms of culture than ever, I think it’s widely accepted.
Have we crossed that bride? To be honest yeah I think we’re kinda there. I just came from New York and if there was a problem with a white guy not being received very well - a lot of people would expect that New York would be where, but you know it was absolutely on the contrary. The amount of love I got out there, from the real hood guys, from the real hip hopers was…it was just straight love man – you know what I mean?
The more I look at it I think the stereotype of race exists more in the mainstream culture than it does on the street level. In hop hip, if someone is nice they’re nice. The labels are the ones marketing stereotypes rather than skills. It’s a tough question but all I know is that when I tour I share a mic with MCs of all different colours and the only thing that matters to any of them is the crowd and how well they can spit.
THHV – I ask this question to everyone. Are you a “braggadocios” rapper like Jay-Z or more a story-teller like Talib Kweli?
There are certain MCs that when I listen to them I can kind of see what is motivating them at that time. Like now in 2010 when you listen to Jay-Z its like he is doing it to prove that he can still do it – not really pushing any boundaries or saying anything of any real relevance. Not to hate on Jay-Z or anything but that is what is happening.
But if you pick up a Talib Kweli CD he is still really talking about issues, he is still trying to cram as much lyricism in there. He is still trying to show you different sides of his personality. So I would definitely put myself in the Kweli, Black Thought (The Roots) school. If we are gonna have to put people in boxes…then yeah definitely on that side.
THHV –You perform with such energy. What does it mean to you to perform live?
For me it’s where everything manifests. We can write and we can cipher and we can politic as much as we want about hip hop but on stage it’s like freedom. I can’t explain it. I have this thing in my mind when I perform. If I’m consciously thinking too much, it’s never a good thing. I need to – like – just be with the moment and let it flow. That is always the sickest show for me in terms of what I do and in terms of crowd reaction. There is something weird about the stage where you just have to hand over to the moment and that’s when it happens.
THHV – You won the EOW. How has that affected you as an artist and your profile?
Man yeah it has affectedly me massively. In terms of the network that I’ve now created it’s mad. They already swung me out to a Jam in France; I had New York and next month Germany so I’m travelling again. It’s like, real recognises real, so when you got an MC that’s got skills or an MC that can spit they gonna keep on asking you to come back – so that’s legitimate. The motivation for most of the people involved in EOW around the world is more skill orientated than anything else. They make you feel at home. When I was out there in New York I was getting invited to people’s houses, having dinner with their kids and stuff. It was straight love man.
So in terms of what it does for you – it sends you to loads of different places, meet a whole different bunch of heads and that has it’s knock on effect – that makes you think – hell we can take it anywhere man, we can do anything. And now you get to carry this title of EOW World Champion. You know most people don’t even know what the EOW is they just hear World Champion – so it legitimises what you do as well you know what I mean?
THHV – I love that thing you did with the coat hanger in the bag at the finals of the EOW. Do people really freestyle anymore or is a freestyle really just a pre-written verse with no chorus?
(laughs) The last few years that’s been a huge thing where it’s like “so and so freestyle” but then you can place that verse to an actual track that they’ve done and it’s like “oh come on man”. I realised this the other day – I had a little thought about it and its like freestyling in some circles even gets a bad rap. So you get some MCs that go “Nah man I don’t freestyle – you crazy? I don’t freestyle” but it’s like only the MCs that can’t freestyle that seem to have an issue with it.
I honestly think that freestyling is one of the best fitness things an MC can do. Like some one who is a runner might go out and train? It’s exactly the same for an MC it’s like freestyling is your training. It improves the way you think. It improves the speed at which you think. Then it improves your vocabulary. You build more words in there then you take your pen to your page and you start writing it has it’s affect on what you do there. I personally train, practice everyday. When I met Big Zoo from EOW in the States he was one of the best freestylers I had ever met. You could tell he was freestyling because of the relevance of what he was saying but just the level and the skill! It was that good it could have come off a written verse. I had to step out of it for a minute because I was that blown away.
THHV – But isn’t freestyle and battling how we determine who has the greatest rap skills?
Exactly. But which MC do you know that is going to have the balls to go on live radio and try and kick a free style. I mean, we can go in to all the bravado and balls but very few people have got the balls to do it. I just do it man. If it flops on radio it flops but at the end of the day I got the skills to do it. They should try it man. Real legit freestyle.
THHV – You posted a video from New York, Times Square – what were you doing there and how is the British Rap Scene holding up?
I was over there because I won the End Of The Week World Championship last year and I went over there because they held an EOW over there. They held live shows and radio interviews and everything. I ended up putting a track together with a producer called JS1. I love it out there.
In terms of the British scene over there. Those who are searching for different sounds certainly know about it. One of the radio stations I was on – we had a conversation about some of the MCs that are blowing up over here, but it’s New York – they’ve got and seen it all and they really focus on New York and the States, but why wouldn’t they - it’s a big playground.
THHV – That picture of you on Sound Of Colours is pretty intense - it scared me - tell us about that and Sound of Colours what is it about? How long did it take?
I decided I wanted to put out a free project. Its been so much fun to make. I did everything myself, I mixed it down myself. It took about 3 months. Although I used different producers I recorded most of it with my friends. It was crafted out of tracks that hadn’t been fully recorded and beats that I just had to write to.
Sound of Colours is like…. I actually found it, it’s called ‘Synaesthesia’ it’s like – every piece of music for me that I listen to - is represented by a colour. In my brain – I don’t even have to be hearing it, you can just name a track and I see the colour of it. It’s always the same colour for the same track. Any track I ever heard through history, you can ask me like – what colour is this song and I’ll be like, “oh that’s green” or “that’s a light shade of blue” or whatever. So that’s kinda what it represents on one level. The white is the music going in one ear and the array of colours coming out the other. On another level, its like I take something before it goes into my mind and it might just be one pure signal, but then like, my imagination will convert it into a full spectrum.
I didn’t want to put an album out because I’m not in a position to do that properly yet. I want to be under a decent label where I got some backing and I got some budget. In the current circumstance that is not what I have so I thought ok, let me just put something out that I can push. You know, to let people know that there is something out there that you can pick up now for free.
THHV – You also have a series called Jack Flash 24 tell us a bit about that?
Yeah… I knew that as soon as the Sound of Colours project was finished I was going to have to get on my promotion and push it a bit. I was going to have to be touring and doing shows. I needed something that was going to tie me down to writing. I love writing and know that if I got too caught up on one side then the art would not get done so I made my DJ pick a different beat every week so I never knew what was coming and I’d write a fresh 24 bars. So for 24 weeks, every week I was given a different beat and I’d write 24 bars to it.
We put it around the theme of the TV programme. If you listen back to them you can hear like references to things that were happening at the time. I think around the 12th week if you listen you’ll hear me mention Guru being awake from his coma and stuff like that.
THHV – Some beef recently kicked off on Twitter between two rappers and the core of it was “Pop and Money” v’s “Hip Hop and the Streets”. You touch on this subject in King of the Hill. What is your view?
My view is that hip hop is very impressionable. It has the potential to empower people or on the flipside oppress people by its limited views. If you take hip hop as a form of fun, entertainment and display of lyricism and skill that’s great but it also has to have a message. Inevitably when you make a song about any concept you’re gonna be spreading a message. Now that message is up to you. You can either tell the people “you are you, yourself” and inspire them to get out there and be something or you can be saying, “try and attain wealth, try and attain riches because that’s all there is in the world”. Those are the two ends of the spectrum. If you glorify one thing too much in terms of image, you are selling that image to the kids. If you spread knowledge on the other hand you could have all sorts of effects on the young. I remember it happening to me when I was younger – I was affected by it.
THHV - Are the labels to blame?
Yeah absolutely! They are not even selling to the hip hop heads; they’re just selling to anybody. The labels sell an image, a stereotype and people that are short sighted will buy that. I’m not even blaming the individual because they might just be a little ignorant or maybe just thinking this is how I get paid.
THHV – Ok you are in a band called Extra Curricular. That’s a live band right? When do we get to hear this new sound?
This is what is up with me. I’m seeing through this group that we are reaching a wider audience. I can bring what I do to wider places. Musically it has really broadened my horizons. Working with live musicians and extremely talented ones. Ater you spend like six months with them – you start understand music differently. I remember coming back after nine months after seeing my bass player every week and I now never have a problem programming my bass lines. I don’t play any instruments but I’m learning all the time about so many things from these guys. I just spend three months in the studio with these guys and it has been the best creative time I ever spent in my life. Me and the other front singers, Thabo from Zimbabwe and Ruby who is a female jazz singer make a mix that is…. I love it. We are looking to put a single out at the end of this year.
THHV – So what is next for Jack Flash?
I can’t tell you for certain exactly but for the next 6 to 12 months I’m going to be putting into Extra Curricular, getting as many live tour dates as possible. I’m still gonna have a web presence and put out new things on the internet, build my own fan base, do my own shows and finish promoting The Sound of Colours until all the CDs are sold and all the flyers are handed out and yeah….just try and stay relevant. I’d love to put out an album under a good label and I think my time will come. But right now…. It’s just push, push, push.
Interview by Sam Welbeck