Skandal Interview

For those that don't know you, can you introduce yourself? (Where you from and what do you do?) How did you get into music and why? What inspires you?

Wow that's a lot of questions lol. Ummm hi! My names skandal and I'm ur neighbourhood rapper.

Well I got into music just being a fan really, I was always amazed by spitters and mcs as a kid and was constantly reciting other artists lyrics. Then one day I was complaining to a group of novice dnb mcs that I couldn't spit and wished I could. One of them was like "yeh u can" and bam that was it.

Beats, rhymes and life pretty much does, and that tribe called quest album too.

The new single ‘Kill Em with the Flow’ and the remix featuring P Money and Klashnekoff!!! Out on the 29th March tell us about that?

Yeh that's out now. Produced by the main man beat butcha! Big ups to klash and p for droppin killer verses. Shouts to little dee and black the ripper for turning around a verse each and a video in a week for the remix part 2. That's work rate there. Support that shit man, otherwise I might have to get a proper job. Ha ha.

Who are you biggest musical influences?

Normally who ever I'm listening to at the time. Right now its a lot of American rap cause I'm working on hunger pains 2 and it has this overall American hip hop sound to it so I gotta keep in that frame of mind. Obviously I'm not spittin with an American accent or nuttin but the beats are very dr dre-ish mixed with some G-unit type ish so to stay in that mind set. To be honest I can't wait to check sum UK music. I got the Kano, Wretch 32, Sway and Charlie sloth mixtapes sitting there ready to listen to. Just gotta finish my project first.

Being an independent artist is not easy, how do you cope with all the expenses of studio times and paying for a music video?

Well I'm on benefits init, ha ha. That's right I don't have a job cause I'm fully dedicated to my craft and I use YOUR taxes to fund it... Ahh shit I just dry snitched on myself init, ha ha. Naa real talk I invested in a lil home set up to save on the studio costs cause going proper studio was killing my pocket. I havnt bought clothes in months cause I'm so addicted to funding this shit, from the PR to the vids, to the studio or paying for beats. But you gotta invest in urself I guess cause who else will if you don't?

Your sound is quite underground UK hip-hop any plans of going main stream?

I mean one of my ambtions is to have a top 20 album so those wheels have already been set in motion. Obviously I'm not gonna make bubblegum shit cause of the musical background I've come from but I'm gonna try do it with integrity. I see myself as an artist so I'm not gonna stay making one style of music for my whole career. I wanna try different things or I'll get bored.

Who are you working with right now and whom would you like to work with in future?

Working quite a bit with black the ripper at the moment, working a bit with little dee and hopefully some more tracks with p money and the rest of the OGz. Brad strut and ramson badbonez or course keeps me grounded in that underground sound. I'm doing some bits with Charlie Sloth too, videos and some tracks hopefully. Beat Butcha and Sivey are the two producers I'm working with mostly these days.

As for artists I'd like to work with umm, Davinche is a sick producer, I'd like to show him what I'm capable of in the studio. That's all I can think of right now.

What’s your comment on the way the rest of the world has responded to Haiti?

To be honest I don't watch the news that much cause I don't like their propaganda so I don't know much apart from the fact that the disaster happened and a lot of people came together to help out their cause. I know the UK artists and people of the UK scene put on a great night to raise money and awarenss for the cause so big ups to them, it was a noble thing.

What’s your opinion about fan pirating music and illegal downloads?

I'm all for it. Let's be honest who doesn't download music? Its only the industry/label heads and the money grabbing capitalists that care about making money from the music. A real fan will always support and buy the album or merchandise. So pirating I think is nothing to worry about to be honest. If anything we should be learning how to utilize this tool, the bloggers the torrent sites etc not going against the flow of change. Ride with it. Anyway even if they didn't make money we might even get some better music out of the artists cause what's good music without struggle?

What else have you got in store for 2010?

Hunger pains 2, 'new jack city' aswell which is a mixtape I got with ramson. Another single aswell. Hopefully a tour connected with one of the projects too. Oh and plenty of videos

Who do you think is the best in south? What artist in the UK are you into at the moment?

The OGz gotta be amongst the best in south. I'd like to see myself amongst some of the best..... There's a lot of artists I like from UK though, Wretch, Black the Ripper, Sway, Mystro, Lowkey, Faith SFX, Charlie Sloth etc. There's a whole heap of talent here right now.

What is your ultimate goal/dream and where do you see yourself in 10 years time?

Writing songs for other artists.

If you weren’t a rapper what would you see yourself doing?

Ha ha I don't even know you know. Probably dead or in pen.

What clubs do you go to in London for a night out?

I'm not much of a raver these times. Mostly the only time I go out to a club is to perform. I prefer staying in and making music.

What advice would you give to a female fan of yours that wanted to impress you?

I wouldn't give her any advice as my Mrs might chop my big toe off if I gave another girl advice on how to impress me haha.

If you could say something to the whole world what would it be?

Lend me a pound

If you could say something to Prime Minister Gordon Brown or President Obama what would it be?

Nuttin I'd say would have much of an affect I'm sure. I'd probably ask them if they really got into politics to do all the things they're currently doing. Did they envision themselves fucking up our enconimies and killing innocent people ha ha. Yeh suttin like that.

If you were to change something about law in UK what would it be?

I'd make drugs and prostitution legal

Thanks for taking time to answer the questions.

Thanks for taking the time out to interview me