Interview #566: Klashnekoff

Klashnekoff has been a stalwart of the UK hip hop scene since he took it by storm with debut album The Sagas Of in 2003. He founded the Terra Firma crew and began to build what looked like a bright future for himself, but it turned out the sagas were not yet over. His second album, Lionheart Tussle With The Beast was tainted by issues with label and management, and didn’t perform as it should have. Now K-Lash is back, and ready to take the reins again with third album Back To The Sagas.

I Like Music spoke with Klash about his writing process, the pitfalls of a money-driven music industry, finding solace in music during a difficult childhood and having his entire album stolen, then starting over.

“I Like Music but I can’t stand all the shit that comes with it.” Klashnekoff

ILM: How would you describe your writing process, from initial idea to finished product?

K-Lash: It depends. In this day and age there are a lot of producers. Back in the day I’d be more prone to sit down with a producer, find a sample that I loved, and have them develop that sample. Now I’m just getting so many beats in that it takes away that beginning stage where I’m putting part of me in the track. The process is not deep man. It’s hot, it’s vibes. You go with what you feel. The only depth is that I try to dig within to find something that relates to the beat. It’s just being honest. Honest with the music, honest with myself.

ILM: With so many producers and sent beats, what would be your ideal way of working?

K-Lash: To sit down with someone, find a sample and run with it, but if I hear a beat and love it then I’ll pour my heart out. Sometimes it comes quick, sometimes it comes slow. You’ll get a couple of lines, leave it, come back to it an hour or two later, maybe even a day later. Could be a week later or three weeks later, could be five months later or a year later.

ILM: Do you keep a record of lyrics and beats that you’ve started on?

K-Lash: Yeah, to a point. I lose books and stuff like that. That’s just natural. As a musician, if you haven’t lost lyrics, lost data, or lost something on your hard-drive that means SO much to you…well...hahah! It’s part of the process, part of paying your dues and seeing if you have the staying power to come back.

ILM: What do you think makes a good producer?

K-Lash: I don’t know, but as soon as you say that I’m thinking about people like Joe Buddha, or Smasher. He produced at least seven tracks on this album.

ILM: The majority?

K-Lash: Yeah. We did the majority of this album in a week and a half. I mean that as well. We did nine tracks or so in a week and a half, and the reason for that was the vibe I felt at the time. I felt good, I felt positive. I just felt energetic and inspired again. Also, I just felt a bit more optimistic. The first album I ever did, Sagas, I wrote when I was feeling depressed. It’s deep and it’s got a message; it’s conscientious. But I was depressed when I wrote that shit. I wanted to kidnap my kid. I was prepared to do mad shit. I was in a mad place at the time. This album, I don’t really have that much to bitch about. So the process of this was just feel good. Not like ‘feel-good music’, but I don’t wanna talk about jancros and Tony Blair all day long. Parrowdice and all that shit.

ILM: More feel good in the sense that you were relaxed making it?

K-Lash: Exactly. Which goes back to your question about the process of making music. I wrote half of my first album in a hospital next to a TV. Eastenders is over here, my baby’s mother is over there. I’m writing with it all in the background. So it was completely different.

ILM: Obviously there's been a lot written about you, praising your lyrics, how you write…

K-Lash: No, it’s not obvious! That’s what kills me on some levels. Those who know know, and those who don’t just don’t. I know it seems mad, and I know that people always say that when they talk about hip hop my name gets mentioned, but I don’t see it like that. I don’t want to start talking about receiving my dues and respect or anything, but I definitely feel like… What’s the word? It’s not ‘overlooked’, just........I can’t explain man.

ILM: Do you feel there's a certain expectation of how UK hip hop should be for the mainstream, and that you exist outside of that?

K-Lash: The whole mainstream thing is weird. Obviously my name’s Klashnekoff, so let’s start there. I wonder how far that’s gonna take me in terms of being commercialised? They’re not going to try and push me towards kids are they. But I never said my music was for kids. On some levels it’s to do with my work rate. I’ve had opportunities, and I’ve always been on point, but I’ve had shit management. You say I’ve been written about a lot, but I’m like a myth or something! I’m like some loch ness monster legend as opposed to relevant and always there. It becomes like “where’s Klash?”

ILM: You say your music isn’t for kids, but you do talk about wanting to inspire kids to aim high. Given your frustrating experiences, what advice would you have for burgeoning musical talents who want to take an independent route?

K-Lash: It’s fucking hard man. It’s a catch 22. When people consider you a respectable rapper they expect you to do shit. They don’t value you in the same way as a commercial artist. The commercial artist will come on a show, play two songs and get paid x grand and fuck off. I’ll go and do a show for an hour and get paid much less. I’m always expected to do more. That’s just one example.

ILM: You’re expected to have this constant presence?

K-Lash: Not even that. I’ll give you another example. People think that because you’re deep and a credible rapper you should be doing free verses all day. They’re like “come on Klash man, you understand the street!” It’s a catch 22. I’m trying to eat, but at the same time I’m not trying to promote and say it’s all about money. Then, when I get to a certain age and I’ve got children and I’m trying to eat… It’s a mad ting.

ILM: How do you think you're percieved by a younger audience?

K-Lash: So...two kids are talking, one says to the other, “there’s that rapper. He’s wicked. He’s fucking deep, he’s incredible, he’s nang.” The other one goes, “yeah, but he’s broke bruv! He’s not moving. I’m not seeing him all over the place.” The other guy goes “true true true.” Then they walk down the road and they see a mainstream artist. The second guy goes “look, there’s my man.” The first guy says “he’s shit man,” and the other guy goes “yeah, but he’s making money bruv. He’s moving.” And the other guy goes “true.” That’s what kids see nowadays. Obviously there are kids seeing my stuff and being inspired, but where I come from that’s what the average youth is thinking. Even if they want to keep it real. Eventually you got to be able to make a living off this. I make a living off it, I do. But to go back to your question; number one is be true to yourself. But be aware that if you want to expand your fanbase and get out to the masses, the masses don’t think like the minorities. So if you’re going to do that then you’re going to have to compromise your music on some level, because their intake of music is not like yours.

ILM: There's that statistic - 98% of people listen to 2% of music, and 2% listen to the other 98%. Like you say, there's no balance?

K-Lash: There ain’t no balance! Simon Cowell’s like some gangster man. He’s developing artists on one level, he’s got a TV show, teams of song-writers...

ILM: A whole media circle.

K-Lash: There you go. Unless you get into the Simon Cowell circle… This is what I tell the kids: you can make money out of making good music. There are enough people around the world with open minds. You go to Germany, there are rappers there living good lifestyles and doing good hip hop. Europe loves hip hop, Canada loves hip hop, Japan loves hip hop, Africa loves hip hop. There are nuff countries for people to love your record, but it may not necessarily be in this country all day long. Don’t think there are no rich rappers who are rapping real things. There are loads of them, they’re just not necessarily from this country.

ILM: Who are some of your biggest inspirations? Musicians making real music...

K-Lash: I grew up on Stevie Wonder. I just love good music. I’m just a true believer that when you get good music it’ll do its own work. You do have to work on top of it, but I think of it like a Chinese whisper. It will find its way of getting around to people. There have been some great artists who’ve made great music but haven’t really fulfilled their potential. It does break my heart sometimes. Gil Scott, the Wu Tangs…

I listen to anyone who makes real music. I know you can’t really say what is or isn’t real music because it’s so personal. If you don’t like it then don’t listen to it. But at the same time, the media isn’t balanced. They’re not playing five urban acts alongside five pop acts. We’re gonna hear Britney Spears twenty times a day seven days a week. We’re gonna hear whatever they want us to hear. But then, with technology there’s a million ways to get out there.

ILM: I suppose the list is endless really, ultimately it’s just a subjective thing.

K-Lash: I can talk about people who’ve done it because they’ve done it in a certain way. People like Peter Tosh, Bob Marley’s right-hand man. He didn’t want to do it the way Bob did it. I still love Bob as well, but he commercialised to a certain point. So what, it’s cool. I don’t mind people who do commercial stuff, but if you can’t look at yourself in the mirror when you’re playing those songs then you’ve got a problem. But at the same time, I’ve got children. Being cool and being respectable pays me up to a point, but not like some others get paid. On another level, there’s going to come a time when a rapper starts saying to himself “how the fuck am I meant to survive on this? I want a mortgage!” That’s when people give up.

ILM: And some stick with it through passion...where does your passion for music come from?

K-Lash: I was such a depressed little child. I had such a fucked up childhood and I just gravitated to music as a way of expressing myself. It used to be motown and Stevie. My granddad used to work in a record pressing plant, and every now and then he’d bring us back loads of records. I was privileged in that sense. I had the latest records that other people didn’t have. I grew up in sound systems as well. Everyone in my family was connected to a sound system. There was reggae in the house all day. It’s a mood thing. I’m an emotional person and the music is an outlet. When I used to feel down I’d play a song and the song would make me cry, or make me feel a certain way. I was just a very passionate child. I was one of them kids who used to say “I’m gonna change the world. I can’t stand people dying in earthquakes” or whatever. It’s that mixture of passion, distress, that cry for help, trying to reach out and find something. I found that in music. I think I was made for it. When man write lyrics there’s times I finish it and go back and look at it and I’m like “did man just write that?” Or I’ll record a song a listen to it after and be like “how the fuck did I do those flows?”

ILM: Channelling your subconscious?

K-Lash: Yeah, they call it spelling. When you’re writing you’re creating spells and channelling energy, opening up your mind on certain levels.

ILM: So you’re constantly being inspired, rather than drawing on certain artists at specific times?

K-Lash: Yeah, I’m not one of those artists who’ll write about ‘what happened today’. I’ll have an experience and I’ll probably talk about it in a month’s time.

ILM: Do you find as you’re writing that the subject matter takes you in directions you didn’t initially expect?

K-Lash: That’s how I like to work. I know where it’s going in the sense that the beat is telling me something. It’s making me feel like a certain way and I react to that. If you’ve got a beat and you don’t know where it’s taking you then you’re not even gonna write to it. It’s gotta be like “I’m angry,” or whatever, and then the journey begins. But then I think I’m lazy sometimes. I write in concepts and I find myself jarring, sticking to one concept.

ILM: Do you find it restrictive to pin yourself down like that?

K-Lash: It’s not nice. But you know what, it always feels great afterwards to have achieved a whole conceptual tune from beginning to end. People are simple-minded. They need a concept. I might have a rap that’s three verses that’s about lots of different things, and I’ve got to tie it in with one chorus. Like Parrowdice. People will think I’m rapping about that certain thing, and I am, but in my lyrics I’m saying a lot of other stuff.

ILM: Anyone you want to mention? Anything else we should check?

K-Lash: There’s a producer called Beat Butcha who’s really good. He’s done a lot of work with me in the past for Terra Firma. Smasher is my DJ and one of my producers. He’s got so much energy. He’s a DJ, emcee, producer, rapper, and he does his own little videos. He’s so inspirational. He’s such a hard worker. And he can do anything; garage, grime, hip hop. I wanna give a lot of love to Smasher. We went through a lot on this album and people will never know. I went to hell and back. I don’t know why Smasher isn’t signed. He can do commercial stuff and everything. There’s also a guy called Jetsun.

ILM: Can we find out about them on your website?

K-Lash: Yeah, I’m on Twitter. All day long chatting shit on Twitter.

ILM: You mention that it was difficult making the album, is there anything else people should know when they’re listening to it?

K-Lash: Know that the album was stolen! Man, there are so many sagas I’d be here all day, but the main one was that the studio got robbed! They took all of the equipment and my album was part of that equipment. I knew the guys who’d stolen it, so I tried to get it back but it ended up being long, so Smasher had to remake the whole album from beginning to end. There are a few demos on there that I kept because the essence just couldn’t be recaptured. When you listen to it just bear that in mind.

ILM: How did you and Smasher get through that?

K-Lash: We smoked the best weed, we had the best vibes and there was sunshine. Me and Smasher made that album quickly in two weeks. It was just good vibes. Then a lot of stuff happened afterwards that made it take one and a half or two years to come out. Loads of stuff has happened in that time. Just know that it’s deeper than music. I’ve never had my own studio, or a lot of things that people will think I’ve had over my career. Even though my name’s big I still borrow studios, I still beg favours. The story ain’t over yet.

ILM: What comes next for you?

K-Lash: I’m doing a thing called soundclash. It’s a reggae hip hop album. Damien Marley and Nas have just done a reggae hip hop album. They’ve effectively taken my idea. Not in that way, but I don’t want people to think I’m jumping on their bandwagon. More work. I want to get the right team around me. I wanna try and get more success. I’ve paid my dues. But I’ll never ever ever compromise my heart or my soul to get that money. I do acting, I do comedy, I do songwriting. I’m talking R&B indie. Stuff like N.E.R.D. I do voices. I could do a cartoon or something like that....I dunno. Just keep working.