NEWHAM GENERALS

Pic: Tony @ Black Ink
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New Nation, 1 May, 2006 17
Pulse
Pulse
Pulse
THE HEARTBEAT OF BLACK ENTERTAINMENT
NEWHAM
GENERALS
Dizzee’s boys
do the d2ir3 tee
PAGE
OMAR
Return Of The Original
BASHMENT VIBES•RAS KWAME•GOSPEL FLAVA•ARTBEAT•HANGIN’ OUT•WHAT’S UP!
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New Nation, 1 May, 2006 27
NO ONE LIKE HIM
OING HIS OWN THING
pop or go r&b and it’s confusing.
That
Fundamental
track
[Playground] is definitely r&b and
that track could stand up in the
States and get played worldwide.
We’re coming out with some good
talent.
You recently sang at the DJ Swing
funeral. How did his and Lynden
David Hall’s death affect you?
Fundamental: talented
What did Estelle bring to the
track?
Having her on there was godsend
because she came in and done that
rap in, like, 20 minutes. I listened
back to it – it’s f***ing hardcore.
Nuff respect to her for doing that. I’m
looking forward to working with her.
She’s got a wicked singing voice and
I didn’t exploit that too much.
Is there anything or anybody else
who excites you on the UK scene?
The grime thing totally gets me
going – in a good way. Channel U is
one of my favourite channels. I’ve
been calling out for that channel for
at least 15 f**king years. Even in
Japan they have rap channels and
stuff that they support. Germany,
France, Spain – all got their own little communities that they support on
TV and radio, but you didn’t have
that here so it’s fantastic to see all the
youts doing their thing and establishing their own identity.
One thing I get from them, which
is so true, is that they’re fed up of seeing Jay-Z and Ja Rule, like they’re
supposed to relate to them. How the
hell are they supposed to relate to
them when they don’t have a
Cadillac?
I just want the guys coming up to
organise themselves now because
how many crews are there? Then
there’s crews with other crews….
They gotta get paid somehow but
also set themselves up as some fledgling industry.
It was very sad. We lost two beautiful people in such a short space of
time. I saw Swing at the hospital just
before he passed and I really wasn’t
prepared for it.
I hope I never have to witness that
again, somebody suffering in the way
he was suffering. I hope it just raises
the awareness and the need for more
black people to become donors.
Seeing all the people that came to the
funeral was touching.
Lynden I saw just before he passed
too. He and Swing were in the same
hospital and I think they were in
opposite wards to each other at the
same time. It was really freaky.
Lynden was also a beautiful guy.
His wife Nikki – what a woman –
she looked after him so well before
he passed. I just think those things
are sent to teach us something.
Tell me about the track Ghana In
Motion
My parents are both from Jamaica
but have now retired to Cape Coast,
Ghana. They’re back-to-their-roots
type people – dreads – and Ghana is
more suited for people who want to
go back to mother Africa.
My girlfriend and I went to stay
with them two years ago when they
first moved in. It was a massive complex. My dad set up this music room
and me and him started jamming –
me on the keyboards, him on the
drums. So I just started recording it
on MiniDisc, took it home and made
a tune out of it.
Could you ever see yourself settling down in Ghana?
I’m not sure. I’m a bit more of city
boy. It’s funny cos DJ Joey Jay [the
brother of Norman Jay, whose Giant
45 show can be heard on BBC
London], is a good friend of mine
and lives out there but my thing is
more South Africa. My girlfriend’s
What about artists on the r&b dad is from Lesotho and they’ve got
tip?
a place near Cape Town. We stayed
Terri Walker I’m feeling because there in January and that’s more up
she’s got that old-school vocal. I’m my street. I need some of the modern
really loving her new stuff and would comforts. But there’s nothing wrong
like to do something with her. It’s with going to hang out with mum
good to see artists like Fundamental and dad for a couple of weeks.
because you can’t recognise they’re
English. There’s a lot of stuff though ■ Sing (If You Want To) is out 15
that the industry is stretching to go May on Ether Music
26 New Nation, 1 May, 2006
www.newnation.co.uk
THERE’S STILL N
SOUL DON OMAR EXPLAINS WHY HE’LL KEEP DO
studio, put up the mic and did her
t’ing. After I worked on Common’s
Electric Circus album, he said he
wanted to be on my album but rather
than flinging him on any old tune I
gave him a good tune. Stevie called
up and said “let’s go to the studio”. I’d
been waiting since 2000 for that.
Justin
Onyeka
O
mar is laid out on a leather
sofa upstairs at the
Running Horse pub, in central London, as if he’s undergoing
deep therapy. It’s his playful way
of telling me to ease up on my
analysis of his latest and sixth
album, Sing (If You Want To). ‘It’s
just that he reminded me of my
grandfather…,’ he says mockingly, before sitting up and breaking
into laughter. ‘You’ve read into
sh*t much deeper than you need
to,’ he says, after yet another
probe into a lyric about integrity.
There are three things you’ll
always read in every article about
Omar. One, that he’s a ‘British soul
icon’. Two, that his instant classic
There’s Nothing Like This (released
on his dad Byron’s independent
label, Kongo, in 1990) marked him
as a founding father and ‘the original
nu-classic soul guvnor’. Three, as a
result, he’s been cited as a major
influence by its stars such as
D’Angelo, Maxwell, Jill Scott and
India Arie. Erykah played his music
as therapy before she blew up. Stevie
Wonder, meanwhile, famously
remarked: ‘When I grow up I want to
be just like Omar.’
Omar Lye-Fook (his drummer
father is of Jamaican-Chinese heritage) was born 37 years ago in
Canterbury, Kent. The classically
trained multi-instrumentalist developed his craft not only under his
father’s tutelage but at various music
colleges around the country.
More than 15 years after the success of There’s Nothing Like This
Omar still retains considerable props
But he’s just tagged on at the end
of Feelin’ You. Why wasn’t he
featured more?
Estelle: a godsend
Stevie Wonder: ‘When i grow up
from the streets simply because, amid
the continued accolades thrown his
way, he’s resisted the temptation to
go the commercial route. He does his
unique thing and does it incredibly
well. The jittery bass rhythms, meandering keyboards, percussion and
horns all make for a bubbly concoction that is typically Omar.
Sing (If You Want To) has all of
that and is his most collaborative
effort to date featuring the likes of
Stevie Wonder, Common, and Angie
Stone and, from the UK, Estelle and
Rodney P. Here’s what he had to say
about it.
the push on radio and TV. At least I
have that body of work to show what
I’ve been about. It’s a testament to
me sticking to my guns. Now, for the
past few years I go to the States four
or five times a year touring because I
have a big fan base there. Japan is
I want to be just like Omar’
another place. So I’ve been doing
you can play in the clubs. The last things the right way and enjoying
album I explored film soundtrack myself more than ever.
music and it was very jazzy, Latin. I
just had fun, like I normally do. But How do your sales in places like
it was a completely different set up Japan compare with the UK?
I think it’s all pretty much the
for me. I changed manager, I
changed label. I built my own studio
and became self-sufficient so that I
can keep making the music as and
when I want to. It’s been a fantastic
bonus because you don’t have to
worry about the costs. The studio’s in
my garden in Thornton Heath [south
London]. I call it Back A Yard for
obvious reasons. [laughs]
Are you happy at this stage of
What were your main aims when your career?
producing this album?
Yeah, I’ve been very lucky, man.
I just wanted heavier beats, tunes I’ve been in the business for 21 years
now. I think I achieved what I set out
to do – which was to establish my
name and a sound that people could
immediately identify. I feel blessed to
be able to still make music and have
the freedom to create. I will want to
do that for many years to come.
You’re lucky you got that mate! He
played the keyboards and wrote that
track [the music] for me. I did the
lyrics and arranged and produced it.
He originally suggested that I should
have a girl singer on the track and I
didn’t want that. What I used of
Stevie on the track was the best bit of
what he laid down because he didn’t
lay down lyrics as such, he just went
off.
Ad-libbing?
Yeah, he sang the verses but he
writes like me. He doesn’t write
lyrics, he’ll just do the melody – ‘na,
na, na, na, na, na…’. You can’t really
use that. So the bit that’s on there is
the best bit that I could actually use.
Also, when you get Stevie in the studio, use every minute that you can
because you don’t know when you’re
gonna get it again. He said he was
‘When you get Stevie in the
studio, use every minute
that you can because you
don’t know when you’re
gonna get it again’
same – all low key. It’s enough to pay
the mortgage and HP things to stop
me taking that waiting job [laughs].
Plus the celebrity is just how I like it
– not over the top where I can’t go
anywhere or do anything. People still
But hasn’t there been any sense recognise me the world over, but not
of regret or resentment over the in a hassling way. I’m really happy
years that you haven’t attained with that.
going to be at the studio at 11pm but
I had to go and pick him up at midnight. Then we didn’t get to the studio until 5.30am. Stevie is a law unto
himself. So that’s as much as I could
get, so tough! [laughs]
Was the anti-gun tune Lay It
Down inspired by any personal
experience?
the commercial success that people have constantly said you Why so many guests on the
No, I’m lucky enough not to have
deserve?
album?
experienced any of that but it’s affect-
DJ Swing and Lynden David Hall: sad loss
Hell no! I’ve been in the position
to make six albums and lucky
enough, or stubborn enough, to stick
with the theory about making the
sound of music that I wanted to
make even if it meant running the
risk of not getting the backing from
the labels I was signed to before or
I did it already with Best By Far,
which had Angie and Erykah on
there. With the music I was putting
together on this album it just seemed
right to have those guests.
Angie called me out of the blue in
the studio, played her some stuff and
she flipped over it. She came in the
ing a lot of people. You see a lot of
the senseless sh*t that happens
because of it and something has to be
done. But it’s a whole, deeper issue:
the youts dem not having things to
do, places to go. It’s not simply about
the gun t’ing and that’s something
I’m waking up to as I get older.