Back to his roots

[KiwiCoromandel]

Back to his roots

15 March 2005

Roots Manuva's back on the block, and every crew in Britain wants a verse from him. By Andrew Drever.

Ever since rapper Roots Manuva's stunning debut album Brand New Second Hand crashed through in 1999, British hip-hop has gone from strength to strength.

The success of the South Londoner's debut paved the way for MCs including Rodney P, Blak Twang, Dizzee Rascal, Phi-Life Cypher, Wildflower, Skinnyman, Blade, Shystie and Mike Skinner of the Streets, although he doesn't necessarily see it that way.

"There's no one act or individual that can lay claim to creating the way," says the laconic Roots Manuva (aka Rodney Smith).

"I mean, there's so much that's happened in terms of technology, the internet and people's access to studios that have been part of the big snowball. The whole stature of MCing and rapping has also grown amazingly. Now I go to schools and there are kids rapping at me, teachers rapping at me and the school song has been put to rap. The acceptance of rap or hip-hop as an art form is now deeply engraved in our society."

Roots Manuva's third album, Awfully Deep, is a worthy successor to Brand New Second Hand and 2001's Mercury Music Prize-nominated chart breakthrough, Run Come Save Me.

Also produced by Smith, Awfully Deep is musically and lyrically dense, with the rapper's highly original rhymes and beats dazzling on tracks such as the crisp, pulsing electro-tech and self-analysis of Colossal Insight, the quick-step skank and gentle croon of A Haunting and the stream-of-consciousness rapping and looped piano of Too Cold.

Framed by Smith's stoned, Jamaican-South London hybrid flow, the album's musical styles delve into reggae, techno, two-step, dancehall, bashment, funk, dub and straight-up hip-hop.

The lyrics similarly cover plenty of ground, including the birth of his son (two-year-old Elijah), self-loathing, methadone programs, binge drinking, British rap, growing older and homicide - all reportedly fuelled by a rumoured breakdown between albums.

While Smith admits he went through a tough time creatively and emotionally after Run Come Save Me, he insists his problems mainly stemmed from dealing with "the business".

"With Run Come Save Me," he explains, "we were kind of making it up as we were going along. I'd never had a record in the album charts, or tried to focus on the top 40. I was just trying to learn, trying to feel my way through, but just stumbling about. I got real kind of fed up. Besides the press attention, there was also the personal attention of the whole scene thinking that I'm rich all of a sudden. It's weird, people's attitudes to you. And everyone wanted a verse! Every crew in Britain wants a verse and you don't give 'em a verse because you're too busy, then you're suddenly all high 'n' mighty."

Lyrics in the title track ("My sanity is back on the line again/and last year I said I wouldn't rhyme again/but now I'm back for punishment time again/If I should lose my good line again/tell my management not to waste good money/sending me to the farm of the funny"), however, do little to dispel the breakdown rumours.

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"I refuse to choose that word," he says stiffly. "How I would phrase it is: instead of concealing my emotions, I was open with my vexation and I retreated from the business. I retreated from being a reasonable individual into being a hooligan, which I am!," he laughs.

"It's my spiritedness and my craziness that's got me here but I lost touch with my decorum. I was drinking two bottles of wine every night, taking God-knows-what drugs and missing shows. Everybody from Prince to George Michael starts feeling like a slave sometimes but I was being a proper prima donna."

Smith says the first steps to getting him back on track was firing his previous management, then acquiring some media training.

"I've always been a cocked gun ready to pop off," he says, "but I've taken more time to get an overview of the situation."

# Awfully Deep is out through Big Dada/Shock.

[method77]

I like Roots Manuva a lot

http://www.beatking.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11198

[KiwiCoromandel]

nice one method...i don`t listen to that musical style a lot, and i`m finding these new discoveries (for me) to be very interesting....... :) :)