Ghostpoet Interview February 2011
By: Charlie Hearn
Rockfeedback: Your debut album Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam came out this week, are you happy with the recpetion so far?
Ghostpoet: It’s been really surprising to be honest with you, I just kinda hoped that people would enjoy it, like in a gentlemanly type of way (laughs) but people have really gone mad for it, the reviews have been amazing, it’s much more than I ever expected so I can’t complain.
RFB: You’ve had a lot of critical acclaim - Zane Lowe named the single ‘Cash And Carry Me Home’ as his hottest record in the world recently... are these things that you take in your stride now or does it all still seem a little bit surreal?
GP: I do find it surreal but all I can do is take it in my stride. I have to remind myself that I’ve got to this point because of what I’ve done previously, so I’ve just got to keep doing what I’ve always done.
RFB: Mike Skinner is one of the more high profile names to pledge his allegiance to the Ghostpoet cause, the pair of you seem to share a lot of musical principles, are you a fan of the Streets’ work?
GP: Oh yeah definitely, I’m an admirer of Mike’s music and especially his way with words, right from Original Pirate Material. I think we share a similar kind of outlook on the world, obviously not identical but we’re in a similar kind of vein.
RFB: On the ‘About’ section of your Facebook page you describe yourself as ‘a lad with a lisp and some stories to tell’, do you think that stripping your music down like that helps people to engage with it?
GP: It’s wasn’t something that I purposefully put in there, it’s just how I’ve always gone about things, you know. I’m not trying to be a character, it’s just who I am. First and foremost I’m making music for myself, music that I would like to listen to. So I’m just trying to be me in a world where there’s hundreds of artists like myself doing their thing, I just want to put my own little stamp on it.
RFB: People often complain that rappers tend to fantasize too much in their lyrics which makes their work difficult to relate to, do you think that your music is more accessible to the average person?
GP: That’s probably the only thing that I purposefully try and do, is to make it accessible for everyone, as many different people as possible. That’s the only thing if there was anything that I would say is planned, so that no matter what kind of walk of life you’re from or what you’re going through, anyone can get into it. I think that it’s important not to limit yourself by trying to bat away particular audiences because music is open to everyone.
RFB: It seems that the public tend to warm to UK Hip Hop’s unconventional stars, Roots Manuva is the first example that springs to mind, would you put yourself in this bracket too?
GP: I’m afraid of the word bracket but I guess that I’m in a similar vein to what Roots does. I think that as well as him, you can name people like Skinny Man, Blak Twang, Jamie T, because we all have a similar kind of ethos but we all have our own way of doing things.
RFB: On the flipside the newest wave of UK Hip Hop and Grime has been doing very well commercially and that’s something that looks likely to continue with the Brits etc. Even though you have a distinctly different angle and sound, do you see the likes of Tinie Tempah and Tinchy Stryder as your peers?
GP: I think I can relate to them because they’re from the UK but musically they’re just doing a different thing to me. I got into Tinie Tempah when he was more Grime and I still like his stuff now but it’s just got more of a commercial swing to it. That’s fine, I respect them highly, they’ve opened the door for people like me and its changed people’s perception of urban music, so I take my hat off to them for that.
RFB: You’ve cited your time in Coventry as a big influence on your music, do you think that having a different perspective gives you an edge over the surplus of rappers born and bred in the capital?
GP: It’s like living anywhere, if you’re living in south London and you move to north London then you’re going to get a different perspective on things. I don’t think that I’ve got an edge on anyone but I’ve definitely got a different perspective, a different flavor of things.
RFB: You recently did a gig for us at the Hoxton Bar & Kitchen supporting Saul Williams and now you’ve got some bigger shows of your own lined up to support the release, how do you find supporting compared to headlining?
GP: I find it more of a challenge being the support act, but it depends on the circumstances. As a support act you might get the gig late on and the audience might have no idea who you are. So you’re playing to new people which is exciting and there’s this idea that you’ve got to try and win them over because they don’t know anything about you. It’s a battle, because if a gig’s not going too well at the beginning then you’ve got to try and change it up and win them back by the end.
RFB: You’ve also got some European dates coming up in the next couple of months, how do you think your music will be received by a foreign audience?
GP: I’m always on blogs and reading things on the internet and people seem open to it. Whether they’re from Russia, Poland or Singapore, people have been like ‘I really like what you do man, I get it’ and at the end of the day I can’t start speaking another language or changing my tracks to suit that market or whatever. I do what I do and I’ll keep doing it, so fingers crossed they’ll like it! (smiles).
Artists in this article: Ghostpoet