Roots Manuva

Regarded as a founding father of UK hip-hop by the overwhelming majority on the scene, British-Jamaican Roots Manuva has been MCing, recording, working with and fostering the top UK Grime and Bass talent for the last 18 years in a career that’s seen him work with most of the major names in the industry and release 8 albums. Music-News caught up with him minutes after his set on the Nokia Lumia Live main stage at Tramlines Festival, Sheffield.


>You’ve just finished your first Tramlines set - how’d it go?

Yeah good. Earlier today it was a bit nerve wracking - you always want it to be perfect and there were a few changes to set times so all day was a constant feeling of of “how long are we playing, when do we go on” backstage which was hard but once I was up it was great. I like Sheffield. I have family here...well... mother in-law’s that are not really mother in-law’s anymore, as a technicality...but we still have relationships! So I’m about town.


>You’re seen as one of the founders of the UK hip-hop scene. As the UK hip-hop scene in general has evolved from grime to bass- heavy what changes have you witnessed in the culture?

For me it’s wonderful just watching any kind of acceptance of MC culture as a whole, because the whole culture of MCing initially wasn’t intended to be put onto records, it was something that just kind of happened - if you had some speakers and a couple of drums and some megaphones then you’d just do it then and there and that would be it, you just did it on the floor, on the street. The whole idea of a sound being on record is very different. I can remember as a kid hearing things live and then a few years later hearing the same thing on record and always thinking that the record didn’t sound as great as it sounded live because live you’d get the distortion, and that kind of sound-experience. But now, being a fan and an enthusiast for however many years I feel live and recorded MCing has kind of levelled, the live experience is now imprinted onto a record in so many ways, the whole application of things like dubstep and drum and bass just capture so much of the live model - the exaggerated bass lines, using harmonic distortions in drum and bass - it’s like ‘wow! I remember being a 9 year old and this is how it sounded!’ Back in the days when we used to tape things onto cassette there was a way you could tape things in a manner to make them slightly distorted that I would love, (and a lot of people couldn't stand it!) and now, that same style of distorting things has become a motive within different genres of music. You hear so much on the electronic scene - with the likes of upcoming underground names like Long, Bullion, and Actress and they’re using techniques like ‘hiss’ to get that taped sound back into their music.

>Will you move into more straight-up dubstep, or will you experiment with the ‘live sound’ then?

I’m up for doing anything - I’m that original philosophy: ‘If you call me, and it’s the right time, and you’ve got the right vintage of whisky then I’ll turn up’. If you look at the list of collaborations I’ve done, from Leftfield to Toddla T to Freq Nasty, if it works, or if there’s a vibe, then, it sticks.

>What do you think the future holds for the MC and rap scene in general for the UK?

I don’t really know. I’m just a really proud parent! It’s amazing to be here as a soon-to-be 40 year-old and to know there’s places like Sheffield nurturing the next wave of MCs and there’s people at home making stuff, uploading it and looking to make a living out of MCing full time.

>Whilst a lot of genres are increasingly international, the British rap scene seems to be very different to the US rap scene - why do you think that is?

It’s to do with geography and influences. I think the UK will catch up, there will come a time when you can’t distinguish between the two. I think if you look at the American hip hop scene - when it started out everyone just wanted to sound like they were from New York, then, after that faded everyone wanted to sound like they were from the West Coast, and now everyone wants to sound like they’re from the Deep South and you just can’t tell anymore, so you know I think eventually the whole ‘in-theme’ of hip hop will decentralise and move freely from country to country and sound to sound and countries or regions won’t be favouritised anymore

>The American hip-hop scene seems to have more mainstream label support-

Yeah - It’s a very deep subject! There’s a lot to it. The application of the business model and the type of listener, the social backgrounds of the audience in the UK or Europe will all become a lot wider; a lot more similar within the next ten years to the width of US listener and that’ll help. You know I’ve got kids who have grown up and their dad is an MC but they don’t listen to my kind of music specifically - that’s dad’s music! Now you’ve got a situation where you’ve got compilations between up to 4 different generations of MCs, from 5 different decades. Music in general is becoming less listener-background specific. Look at the advancement of dubstep: 15 years ago would not have happened - the ‘Simon Cowell’s’ would not have agreed with it, it wouldn’t make sense to the mainstream. But because of people like Labrinth, you’ve now got bass-heavy, distorted music being increasingly taken under the wing of commercial labels.

>Where do you see yourself going?

Same old same old. I’m at heart a studio owner, a sound system owner. I’d like to remain in that area - try and find an old building, try and set up some kind of party or festival. I’d like to try and get into film as well, do some theatre. I’ve done a few little acting parts. Well not really acting, sort of just posturing. Me in front of the camera. (pulls a face) For the rest of this year I’m doing festivals - doing the Beacons festival, Shambhala, Strummer of Love. I like the off-the-beaten-track festivals at the moment. Last week I did Larmer Tree festival, and it was the first time they’d ever had an MC act. It was great. It was a lot bigger than i thought.

>What artists do you listen to at the moment?

In the car at the moment, I’m listening to -Gang Colours, Ghost Poet, there’s some grime mixtapes - I don’t know where the hell from, there’s a lot of American crunk - that slow, messed up stuff - some ASAP Mob and a few mixtapes from Odd Future.

>What advice would you give to aspiring MCs?

You’ve got to make your own rules. Now there literally are books you can buy that tell you how to be an MC and how to make a living. i think today it’s too easy to fall into the trap of being a corporate name. Don’t listen to the major labels. Sign to them - but don’t listen to them!