Foreign Beggars

Having grown from the underground Hip Hop scene to becoming international dance and rapstars, Foreign Beggars have evolved with the times and still remain on top of their game. With a new record out on Mau5trap, Foreign Beggars have got a busy schedule ahead of them, including putting in an appearance at SW4. BBM’s Hannah Shakir catches up with MC Orifice Vulgatron to discuss the state of Hip Hop, Grime and DnB amongst other things.

So how are you today?

All good! Album’s almost done and the sun is shining!

Good stuff, so what you been up to this week?

Glade Festival and Provinsorock Festival in Vaasa.

‘Palm Of My Hand’ is the new single, what’s the reception been like to this?

Reception’s been awesome… it’s more of a teaser than a single but the response has been great, felt really good to release a straight Hip Hop track and a lot of people responded nicely to it. With Kidkanevil on the beat it’s pretty hard to go wrong.

It’s got that old school underground feel to it, what were your intentions behind the track?

We never really had any intentions with it… it’s something that we started in 2010, we loved the beat and just spat on it… it’s kinda been dormant for a minute but we finally got the chance to smash it out with the support of Mau5trap so that’s what happened.

I’ve read that you and Dag Nabbit met in Dubai playing in Metal, Grunge and Indie bands how did the shift to Rap, Hip Hop, grime and Dub come about, as obviously this is quite a change of scene?

Well yeah, I was in those bands with Dag from the ages of 13-16/17, but had been listening to Hip Hop since the age of 9. Only really started rapping in about ’96-‘97 after I’d gone to school with Anik from Dark Circle and met this rapper from San Diego called Movez 1 (now a producer)… Dag was already DJ-ing and producing Trip Hop and other forms of electronic music in his home studio. It was in about ‘97 when Hardstep and Jungle pretty much took over everything. We moved to London in ‘99/2000, set up studio and continued to record and throw DnB parties… the Dubstep came later, having been into Garage, Hip Hop and DnB from before its inception, it all was already a part of it anyway.

So Foreign Beggars is made up of yourself, Metropolis, producer Dag Nabbit and DJ Nonames how did you all eventually come together and where did the name ‘Foreign Beggars’ arise from?

I met Nonames doing the sound and lighting for a production of the Wizard of Oz, Nonames was scratching all the sound effects in off a Wizard of Oz wax on a 1210, so I spoke to him about graffiti and Hip Hop, we knew a lot of the same people in the scene, he introduced me to Metropolis as they used to kick it a lot together. When the ‘Where Did The Sun Go’ 12″ was ready I hollered at him when we were putting the band together. Metropolis was in South Africa at the time. When he returned, he started recording with Dag and on hearing his first stuff we asked him to join the band as well.

You guys have got a mad summer season coming up with Finland, Japan, Belgium, then back to the UK, also SW4, then more European dates toward the end of the summer, where are you most looking forward to playing?

Honestly, SW4, and Japan as we’ve never been there before and have always heard and seen so much. We’re looking forward to Spain and maybe Portugal again this year. Looking to hit the States again in November too.

You’ve been around since the 90s and obviously seen a lot of change, what do you think of the London grime/dub scene in 2012? What’s changed? What’s better and what’s worse about it?

I like the fact that finally in the last 4 years Rap music in all its forms, Hip Hop/ DnB/ Grime/ Garage/ Funky (anything with rappers) has finally become a major force to be reckoned with in the UK, and the artists finally have the recognition they deserve. For the last 20 years there has been a wealth of urban/rap music which hasn’t got the respect it deserved from the public (partially due to no industry backing), unlike almost every other nation which has had its own Hip Hop superstars and Rap classics. Regarding the Grime/Dub scene, I think Jungle days were the most exciting raving days, closely after the Summer Of Love years. The birth of Dubstep and its rise through parties like FWD and DMZ were really special, but the scene blew up really quickly and overtook the DnB scene in no time at all. Things are perpetually changing, and London is the hub of so many movements and sounds, to the point there are different parties happening around town that wouldn’t play the same joints, as the public in attendance are so different.

What do you think about the state ok UK Hip Hop?

It has its ups and downs, primarily I’d like to state that I hate the term UK Hip Hop as it kind of boxes it off from the rest of the world and I think this has always affected people’s understanding of it. Hip Hop is a worldwide phenomenon and artists should be working to world standards as opposed to local standards.

Hip Hop in the UK is really strong but it is a little disbanded into scenes, there is the classic backpack scene, the Grime scene and a new wave of “road rap” for lack of a better definition. As far as skills go, UK is repping possibly harder than anywhere else on the planet for MC’s, and the levels are going up and up. I think however extreme the music and out of the box the music people are making, people tend to be a little conservative within their area and I would like to see people breaking out and having the confidence in themselves to not give a fuck about what their immediate or extended peer group might think. Only then can truly ground breaking Hip Hop artists like Outkast or MF DOOM really be born.

Who would you say was good up and coming talent that our readers should be listening to?

Marger, Piff Gang, Lady Leshurr, Two Inch Punch, Dusky, Disclosure, Balltrapmusic UZ, Bauuer, Darq E Freaker, Danny Brown, Tnight (Lunice = Hudmo), Flosstradamus and RiFF RaFF SODMG.

Wow, that’s a big list, thanks! You’ve worked with some great people in the past from Mickey Finn to Skinnyman and now you’re working with people like Skrillex and Noisia, Alex Perez who are actually quite new to the scene in comparison, so would you say you pick up tricks from the new kids on the block, or are you still the influential ones?

Not really, everything is in a constant state of change and flux so the tools are different, approaches, roles and genres… we’re lucky to have worked with old school Don’s and been a lot younger, but the new school heads have had to come up with a lot of different competition and parameters… I don’t think it’s possible to compare working via the Internet and 3 countries with someone like Skrillex, to hitting in a park smoking spliffs and writing raps with Skinny while someone is beat-boxing. Maybe the Noisia experience is comparable as we were all in the same room when writing those songs, however I may be wrong because the only difference is that the input is immediate as opposed to thoughts and instructions in emails and over Skype.

Since you’ve signed to Mau5trap, you appear to have been thrown more on the side of the mainstream, is this something you want to embrace, or is Foreign beggars about keeping it underground for those in the know?

I don’t think that’s true… is that public opinion? I think a lot of people are saying mainstream because we’re not making super leftfield backpack like we were 10 years ago. We worked with Skrillex who has since become the force he is and we had a collab single with Vato Gonzalez on Ministry that hit the top 10 in the singles charts last year… Frankly the situation with Mau5trap has been the opposite. We were worried entering into it that they would have expected us to make Dubstep and Electro within a certain popular vein, but they actually said, “Do whatever the fuck you want” and we’ll back it… They are a really progressive and forward thinking organisaton that respect the music ant the artists at the most important core level. Most of the album is Hip Hop/ weird glitchy Grime, a bit of DnB – and is very heavily centred around slick production and raps… This really is something people should say after they’ve heard the music.

What’s the message you would like to put out there for all your Foreign Beggar fans?

LETS FUCKING GO! Our generation, Our Rules, Our Time… don’t sit around and wait for someone to make it happen for you.. YOU HAVE THE POWER!

Love.

By Hannah Shakir

@hanshak

Catch Foreign Beggars at this year’s SW4…click HERE for more information.