[quote]
Blackdown: So when did you start DJing?
Marcus NASTY: It was about 2000, because I was playing garage, 2step garage.
B: Obviously youגre pretty well known as the head of N.A.S.T.Y. Crew, but in those times what were you playing as a DJ personally?
MN: The 4x4 stuff, Sticky, Jameson and then it kinda evolved into grime because Jammer stepped in with his tunes.
B: So when did you start getting interested in house?
MN: Well basically, when the grime scene died there was nothing for no one to do, everyone started playing old school garage and stuff. People were playing house but it was taking ages for everyone to get into it. I thought, גhang on, this ainגt us, this aint our music,ג because we came from grime, jungle, garage. So to go to house it was like גwhoah, this is a bit too, erm, soft.ג
MN: So I started asking all the UK producers, גhave you started to make house?ג and they said, גwe have but it donגt sound like house.ג So I said גjust send it to me, let me see what it sounds like and Iגll see where youגre going wrong.ג So they sent me all their stuff and bit by bit I started playing it all and I ainגt looked back since. I just took everyoneגs stuff and started playing it on radio and Iגm taking from Donaeגo, to Crazy Cousins, Naughty: everyone. Even down to that Apple tune גMr Beanג: originally that was made as a grime tune.
B: Yeah גMr Beanג and גSeigeliserג were a bit a head of itגs time yגknow?
MN: Yeah yeah, definitely and itגs still one of the top tunes right now. Thereגs a vocal of it about this year, גAre You Gonna Bang Doeג by Funky D.
B: Are you playing that tune at the moment?
MN: I do but thatגs because thereגs a little hype for it in Napa but to be quite honest I donגt rate it because itגs like, itגs so simple itגs going to encourage other MCs who ainגt got no talent to talk shit on good tunes. Screaming גOi you/are you gonna bang?ג isnגt really saying anything. And I think itגs quite rude as well. But because thereגs a hype around it, I will play it.
B: Yeah, I much prefer the original instrumental. So, when you said גthe grime scene diedג what year did you mean?
MN: Well I wouldnגt say it died but the MCs involved werenגt getting much help from certain DJs. In a grime rave youגll find the artists arguing on stage. Itגs not the ravers. Nine times out of ten theyגll be up on stage warring each other, thatגs what killed the grime scene. Added to that it turned from a dance music into a hip hop sound. That is what killed it. So it turned into more about the MCs than the music. Youגll go to a grime rave and thereגll be 20 minutes of jumping about and telling each other to גsuck their mumsג and that will be it. And then the rest of the rave will be bashment and r&b.
B: Or it will get locked off hahaג¦
MN: And everyone has a part to play from Wiley to Lethal B ג all those little wars just fucked everything up. No one wants to see big arsed men arguing on stage. That is what killed it, nothing else. Thereגs no one else to blame for it. Itגs not the industry: it was all our fault.
B: Itגs weird because a lot of those artists think thatגs exactly what grime should be. And a lot of grime fans think thatגs grime at its best.
MN: Yeah but thatגs because thatגs what theyגve grown into. But what it was before was we could go down raves, hear a couple of lyrics, couple of bars. But then it just changed.
B: How do you see MCs in funky?
MN: Some of the grime MCs can not make the crossover. Like Ghetto does not sit right on funky. But at the same time Skepta, JME and Frisco do. So I dunno, thatגs a tricky one. I think the way everyoneגs jumped on this electro thing and tried to crossover, that is going to be the nail in the coffin.
B: Funny you say that because I much prefer grime MCs on funky than when they do electro. Most electro with grime vocals, with the exception of Wiley גWearing My Rolex,ג just feels wrong.
MN: It is. I think it is wrong. I think they should stick with it and get on with it. You see like with the bassline scene, all the MCs fucked up the scene, but now theyגve gone backwards, made it more vocal and now itגs coming back up and thatגs what grime should have done but they didnגt. They chose to jump ship instead.
Who didnגt help the most, was Cameo. He was classed as one of the top guys in the grime scene and he just jumped ship straight away. Westwood is now the number one grime DJ, imagine that?
B: Not Logan?
MN: No, Logan donגt even come close. Westwoodגs doing more for the grime scene than Logan all day long.
B: Haha. Westwood is pretty big but I rate Logan more for grime.
MN: Everyone rates Westwood because he doesnגt jump from scene to scene. He hasnגt done what Cameoגs done, going from scene to scene. Westwoodגs tried to help every scene. Heגs even tried to help the funky scene. He done a Westwood TV and he made me bring all the funky, grime, dubstep and bassline MCs in one room (part 1).
B: So how do you look back on the early N.A.S.T.Y. Crew era?
MN: I think I made a lot of mistakes. I went away for a little while and then came back. Instead of dealing with things diplomatically and listening to each individual member and their problems, I listened to the original members who were in fact jealous of the new members, who were in fact doing better. I acted on what they said and I shouldnגt have. Me kicking Jammer out of N.A.S.T.Y. Crew was a big mistake, and I will say that happily. Everyone who was in N.A.S.T.Y., Iגm now friends with. Weגve all sat down and spoke about it. For the break up of N.A.S.T.Y. I still blame Sharkey because of jealousy. But in any crew you can only have two top merkers who get bookings ג and that causes the rest of the crew to have bad feelings.
B: So everyone who was in N.A.S.T.Y. youגre cool with? D Double, Footsie, Ghetto, Kanoג¦
MN: D Double was at my birthday bash but the one I havenגt seen in a couple of years is Kano.
B: But heגs on a different path these daysג¦
MN: I think he tried to be a diva and I think it worked against him because now heגs not really doing much, at all.
B: But itגs cool that you get on with the rest of themג¦
MN: Yeah Iגve been with them all in Napa, well Jammerגs gone back now, but we can talk to each other and where we went wrong. All the grime lot do work together, apart from the ones who kinda blew upג¦ Wiley, Lethal kinda keep themselves to themselves now. Dizzee.. but Dizzee does come back and try help everyone.
B: Thatגs good because one of the problems with the grime גsceneג is the members often donגt help each other.
MN: Everyone was against each other. גLetגs clash.ג And even I went along with that and that is not the way, that is what killed grime. All the גletגs go and merkג shut down the scene. But I always say this: we are to blame. Thereגs no one else to blame. Itגs no one elseגs fault: itגs our fault. Entertainers who were doing shit raves: the last big Eskimo dance in SE1 ended in total mahem because we were all fighting on stage. Wiley threw bottles at the bouncers, the bouncers tried to beat up Kano, we were fighting SLK: it was just pandemonium. The crowd got involved, they started throwing bottles at the bouncers, they rushed the bar, they rushed the cloakroom. It was just out-and-out war, I swear there were three different rooms full of fights.*
B: Yeah, Eskimo dance was pretty legendary.
MN: It was the biggest and the last one. That was the end of the grime scene right there.
B: I think it would be unfair to only talk about grime with you as youגve done a lot in funky recently. So how do you feel about all the attention funky is getting right now?
MN: I think itגs good. Personally I think we need to differentiate between the vocal funky stuff and this new MCing on funky stuff, because that is what is kinda putting people off funky at the minute. The גMigrane Skank,ג גOi You Are You Gonna Bang,ג גHead Shoulders Knees and Toesג ג all that stuff itגs just rubbish. Itגs people trying it: thereגs no future in what theyגre doing. Peope like Versatile and Donaeגo, theyגre the future in what theyגre doing, theyגre actually making tunes theyגre not just making up nursery rhymes and sticking them on tunes, so I rate them guys.
B: I agree with you on the nursery rhyme thing but also just making UK funky sound like US house is a really hard route to go down as well, because itגs really hard to compete with them boys as theyגre already established.
MN: What I think is we need to keep it to ourselves which is a house base but itגs got influences from grime, jungle and garage. All the influences that were there before and thatגs what makes our sound, our sound. Thatגs why it will grow and weגll be able to play our music in other countries. All those other DJs who think theyגre gonna get somewhere playing house or minimal-tech, theyגre not going to get no where. Theyגll only ever be big in England, because theyגll never book us to play US or German music, theyגll just book their top guys. And that is now even more obvious because me as the first person who just played strictly UK funky ג I play all over the world whereas the others donגt and they were the so-called top boys before.
B: Yeah I agree 100%: it would be hard to be bigger in US house than Masters At Work or someoneג¦
MN: Exactly. Youגve got a lot to compete against, and as I said, itגs not our music. I think everyone should stick together andג¦ you see Cameo, heגs a major problem. Heגs the guy that will take your tune, play it no matter of the quality, and wont even try to tell you גyou should do better.ג When that גOi Youג¦ג tune came out, because it had a little hype he jumped straight on it, bringing the geezer in. Fair enough, heגs improved a bit now but that is not the way forward because it encourages people to not bother, so just come up with any random crap. I got a tune in the post the other day called גLipsing,ג about kissing girls and people who deny kissing girls, and itגs quite fun, I think itגs better than גMigrane Skank.ג
B: Is that the Scorcher thing?
MN: Is that Scorcher? Ahhahaג¦ that is actually quite funny. People will go mad. But I dunno, all the nursery rhyme stuff needs to stop. All the MCs just talking about themselves and their cars on tunes needs to stop. Just need to make. Proper. Tunes. And then this ting will go on and weגll have our own worldwide scene. There are people in the US. People send me tunes from Toronto. Spainג¦ all over the place. So people are getting involved with the funky scene. Itגs a big movement we just need to keep it constructive.
B: Obviously you were on D
