„Welcome to the fat, naked version of a great attempt„, so der eröffnende Satz auf Dirty Dike‘s letztem Album „Sucking On Prawns In The Moonlight„. Bekannt für harte, provokante und grobe Punchlines, gibt er sich darauf besonnener, reifer und nachdenklicher. Auch als Produzent hat sich der Brite einen Namen gemacht und ist unter anderem dem aufgehenden High-Focus-Stern Ocean Wisdom bei der Produktion seiner Debüt-Scheibe zur Seite gestanden. Kennt man Dirty Dike jedoch von seinen älteren Platten, würde man ein chaotisches Gespräch erwarten. Doch ganz im Gegenteil: Uns sitzt wenige Stunden vor der Show ein gut gelaunter, freundlicher und redseliger Musiker gegenüber – kaum zu glauben, dass er später zu einer betrunkenen, pöbelnden Rampensau mutieren wird. Nachdem er uns erklärt hatte, warum Michael Jackson einer seiner ersten musikalischen Einflüsse war, spricht er mit uns über den derzeitigen Grime-Hype, Brexit und „schlechten“ Feminismus.
Fotos: Niko Havranek
Interview: Jérémy Machto & Nadine Niederhausen
The Message: What’s your musical background?
Dirty Dike: Michael Jackson. That was the first singer I felt passionate about. He taught me to love music.
And what about your musical education?
I played the drums when I was a kid. And then I was a DJ for a bit. But the first time that I heard music where I was like „Wooow“, was Michael Jackson.
But you wouldn’t sample Michael Jackson?
Maybe the Jackson 5.
You worked with a lot of different producers on your new album. How hard was it to still get a conclusive sound?
I wasn’t trying to get a conclusive, coherent sound. I wanted it to sound different, in different parts of the album. I always thought that it’s best to have only one producer for one rapper, to give it a „package feel“. But I decided that it doesn’t have to be like that. My first album was made by different producers. It’s a little more difficult to settle when it all sounds different. But that’s cool.
Is that why you wanted to guide Ocean Wisdom a bit, by being the only producer on his album?
No. The way he raps made me make beats differently, because he raps differently. So when I worked with him, I made beats that I don’t normally make. He inspired me and that’s why I made the album with him.
His album sounds a bit more grimy than the classic High Focus albums. How do you see the grime hype that is taking place with artists like Skepta or Stormzy?
It’s cool, but I’m not trying to do that. I don’t think that Ocean’s album really sounds like that. There’s a couple songs with double-time, 140 BPM instead of 80 or 90. But there’s also a lot of 90-BPM-beats. I see what you mean, but I wasn’t really trying to do that. I still make beats the same way, it was just a different tempo. Only difference was that it was slower or faster.
Is the grime hype also something that is affecting the perception of classical British HipHop internationally?
I think it can only do good things. Whether it’s 140 or 90 BPM, grime or whatever you want to call it – it’s still British people rapping. And this exposure is cool; it’s wicked to see that. As well you have to remember that we’ve been listening to grime for a long time. It’s not something new. For me it’s not like it made „Puff“ and suddenly there was grime. I was listening to Dizzee Rascal when „Boy In The Corner“ came out. It doesn’t feel any bigger than it always was for me. Maybe that’s because I’m older and grew up listening to grime. But I’m not really down with what’s going on in the commercial media world so much. So I don’t really know, because I don’t watch it. I don’t see this like the „big grime movement“. It’s just „grime“, they’re doing it, over there, that’s cool. Dizzee Rascal was doing it in America way before Skepta, the only difference is: We didn’t have Twitter and Instagram, so nobody knew. But he was doing the exact same thing on a bigger scale.
Isn’t this also true for other things than music?
Well, just everything in life. You meet a girl, you want to know what she looks like in a bikini? Go to her fucking Instagram. (laughs) You don’t even have to know her.
„I find it fucking cheesy!“
You also have battle MCs like Chester P or Verb T on your album and Lunar C is on Ocean Wisdom’s album. What do you think about leagues like Don’t Flop?
Chester P never battled on Don’t Flop, he comes from a very different battle background. A much more purist, HipHop, freestyle battle background. What you see on Don’t Flop is pretty much all pre-written. People do that who aren’t even rappers, just kids who are into battles. It’s a different thing; They’re not into making music. Some of them are, but if you’re talking about the whole British battle scene, most of those people aren’t musicians. They only focus on battling, not on making albums or touring. That’s not for me. I find it fucking cheesy. (laughs) I’m too old for that … I was always too old for that.
Is it age-related?
I always say this: Everyone eventually grows up and grows out of battling. I just grew out of it straight away. You never get an old legend battling. You just grow out of it. „You’re a dickhead, I hate you“ … Fucking no, write a song man.
So battle tracks are ok?
What is a battle track?
„Me & You“ is a battle track. And „Feast“ also.
I see your point, but isn’t that just „rap“. Because no one is battling anyone.
But you are battling a fictional person. And in most cases, the person that you address is an actual person.
In that case, when I write a love song it’s also a battle track. I’m creating an imaginary mixture of every girlfriend I ever had and then I write a horrible song about the monster in my brain. You can call anything a battle track if you want to. Everything is directed at some sort of character – imaginary or real – whether you’re insulting them or complimenting them. Rap is just a little bit „battly“, isn’t it? But I think, the minute you’re faking an argument with a stranger based on nothing other than views, it’s not as passionate or as soulful anymore. I need soul and passion and personal meaning and vulnerability. I don’t want to hear someone just insulting someone that they don’t even know. What’s the point? It’s a waste of my energy.
„Politics just doesn’t appeal to me“
Another big topic in the UK is the upcoming referendum about the „Brexit“.
About the what?
About the UK leaving the EU.
All right. Shit. I don’t know anything about that. I’m very ignorant when it comes to politics. (laughs)
But this could have massive effects on both the UK and the EU.
I don’t know, will it?
Especially for you as an artist who is travelling around a lot.
Oh yeah, that would be a bit fucked. But you’ll just have to get a working visa. It’s the same when I go to Australia.
Well yeah.
Dirty Dike: Easy, same way Skepta goes to America, right? You have the visa and the passport.
DJ Sammy B Side: Contemporary twist of the question there. (everybody laughs)
Dirty Dike: It might make things a little bit more complicated for the guy booking me, but he just has to pay some more money. It wouldn’t affect me more than your auntie’s holiday to England; I don’t think that it’s a problem.
Will you go vote anyways?
No, probably not. Politics just don’t appeal to me and I think that’s deliberate. Which is dumb, because now that I’m aware of that I should probably take an interest, but the whole thing makes me angry, so I don’t think about it. I know it’s bad, but that’s the truth.
„I like to be provocative“
You recently posted a video about „a women destroying feminism in three minutes“. What do you criticize about the feminist movement?
I think that there is such a thing as „bad feminism“. But really I just do things like that to generate a reaction. I like to be provocative as you can tell by my music. I just want to see how people react to it, I don’t necessarily agree with everything she says. How could I? I’m not a woman. But I do think, that what she’s saying is relevant. There are unequal measures in both genders. Sometimes I would say something really righteously feminist and feminists will hate me for saying it, because I’m not a woman. „You can’t fucking say that …“ Whatever. You can’t really have an opinion if you’re a man, because … you’re a man. How could you really know?
And what do you think about the video itself?
It’s interesting to consider both opinions and it’s fascinating to see a woman have that opinion. I think that it is really interesting, that there are women out there who feel like that. They feel repressed by feminism. And I think that’s worth considering. Because they’re women too. What’s the difference between their view and the one from a „hippie-dreadlock-smelly-armpit“ girl? (laughs) Sorry I’m getting provocative again.
And what was the reaction that you got?
Surprisingly enough, mostly blokes being like: „Yeeeah“. But there were a few women, who agreed with it and many who said: „Shit, I never thought about it like that“. It’s just worth acknowledging, that there is also that argument. And it causes a nice debate on my Facebook wall.
What happened to the Contact Play crew by the way?
Ronnie Bosh raped everyone while they were asleep and then we didn’t rap anymore. No one speaks about it; it’s just over ever since the rape.
