SO SOLID CREW
Interview by Rick Thorne
From Murder Dog Vol 9 #2 (2002)
What kind of environment is your shit coming out of?
Megaman: The environment is just street. There's ghettos in every fuckin'
country, and in most countries it could be worse, but in the U.K. our
ghetto is our ghetto and our street is our street y'know. And our fuckin'
hometown is our hometown. And that's what we speak about, experiences
from back in the day up to this day. We'll always be talkin' about that.
Break down what So Solid is all about.
Megaman: We're about music, black music man. Music that we used to listen
to when we grew up man, that's what it's about, and just fuckin' tellin'
people how it is on the street. Whatever we wanna tell them we sayin',
whatever comes up in our head, whether it's bad or good. However you
wanna take it, take it.
Describe your music for people who've never heard it.
Megaman: It's not about the music man, it's about the vocals, it's about
the lyrics man. That's what you've really gotta concentrate on with So
Solid. Forget about what type of music, it could be R n' B, rap or garage.
We don't want to be stereotyped under any type of music, we just wanna
be recognised for what we're sayin' in our music.
Where are you all from in London?
Megaman: South. Clapham Junction.
Swiss: Battersea.
What are your roots as black British people?
Megaman: We're African-English, Jamaican. The way England's been promoted,
all the fuckin' real shit, all the problems when people like us from
the streets get fuckin' exposed in the media to a certain degree, is
that they kinda hold it down to their own premises, they don't exploit
it all over the world. So what you're hearin' in different countries
is like the queen's side of things, the watered-down side of shit. And
that's how it's really controlled. It's like the music that they exploit
from America, we're hearing most of the east coast shit. We don't get
to hear the grimy stuff because the real grimy shit is kept in America.
So the real grimy shit in the U.K. is really controlled and unless we
get a bit more independent as black artists, as black youts growin' up,
the world won't really get to see the real side of it. It's down to the
media 'coz they're just controllin' and they exploit it and promote it
in that sort of way. It's no different to the other side of the world.
It's just that they ain't seen it man, it's not been exposed to them.
If they really use their common sense properly as street niggas, they'll
understand that it's everywhere man, black people are everywhere.
Would you say your music is garage?
Megaman: We broke through garage. The music that we wanted to do, R n'
B and rap, in the U.K. they weren't supporting that 100 percent. So we
had to choose the next channel to actually spit. We were actually rappin'
on garage tunes, singin' soul songs on fuckin' garage tunes, to a faster
tempo. And as we broke through which is now and establish our own companies
and businesses, we can actually do what we want. Actually put out rap
and put out R n' B and do that type of shit.
Face: They thought it was garage yeah, and then they found out that it's
not. What is your music? It's our music and that's all we say, we don't
know, it's our music. We broke through calling it garage to get out there,
so now we're in the position of showin' them what the fuck we can do
innit. We can fuckin' rap, we can sing, we can spit. That's how far it's
goin' and what they're producing, we're producing but I think better.
You can call it garage because it's got a piece of garage, it's got a
piece of rap, it's got a piece of music you don't even understand, foreign
language you see what I'm sayin'? We're in the element of everything.
We've tooken in, now we're lettin' out. The dictionary's all I take in
now and reading.
Swiss: Call it street music man.
How did you hook-up with your record label Relentless?
Swiss: They knew that we was bangin' in the streets. They knew we had
the shit locked. They knew that there was something big on the underground
innit, so they're just bringin' us to the commercial side of shit. Their
ear was to the streets blood.
Face: And we wanna get out of the streets so we give them us, but not
too much of us though. They've only got like two man's tune from the
crew and remember we're 30 strong. That's why the crew's so big, so we
can have a part of everything. Puff Daddy, he only comes out certain
times innit, we come out every day. I bought five newspapers today, we're
in all of them.
What have you got lined up next?
Megaman: Seven to ten albums this year ready to blow. We got seven acts
already signed, so it's like three more acts we're heading for the jackpot
this year man. Takin' over everything. We've already done the So Solid
Crew album, released it went platinum in two-and-a-half weeks, so directly
it's like the individuals are goin' out there now. Couple of them are
on different labels but the rest of the crew's signed to us. Everyone
that gets any dough outside of So Solid or with their next record label
is signed through So Solid Crew Productions. So it will be fully produced
by So Solid, fully vocalled by So Solid, unless that individual artist
wants to collaborate with any other artist.
How many copies has your album sold in the U.K.?
Megaman: 400,000 the last time I heard.
Are there plans to take it outside this country?
Megaman: Yeah most definitely, but most of the majors in America are
a bit ignorant man. They're a bit ignorant and biased and selfish. That's
why I rate the fuckin' street niggas for doin' their own independent
shit in America. That's how they've got through and that's how they done
their shit. And it's like we have to get the same link. And unless those
niggas, when they come over here link up with real niggas like us or
we link up with them over there, they ain't gonna make a big impact here
and we ain't gonna make a big impact over there. So we just gotta link
the two ghettos from different countries, and just say 'yo, there's the
shout here blood, well if you can get me that link across there blood
and make my shit blow no doubt.' We got our shit on lock over here, we'll
make your shit blow. Y'get me? And we can like just make money.
Did you look at what people like Master P were doing in the U.S.?
Megaman: I looked on niggas like that and I understood if they can do
it why the fuck can't we do it over here? See how I view So Solid as
well, like how their situation, the mainstream market ain't ready to
take on their shit? The world mainstream market ain't ready to take on
So Solid's shit. It's like they can't handle it, they don't really understand
how powerful it is. Until it's in your pocket or until it's sittin' right
next to you, you don't understand the power of So Solid. It's kinda like
hit them smack in the face because if they saw this comin' I'm tellin'
ya we woulda had problems from day dot.
Are you surprised by your success?
Megaman: My dreams are deja vus blood, all of 'em. Everything we've done
here has been predicted y'get me. I've spoken it from my lips and the
man dem have seen it and it's happened.
Why do you think you're catching so much shit from the media over here?
Megaman: It's normal, it's the U.K. man. Everyone criticizes everyone
blood. Everyone's got too much pride, nah don't do this don't do that,
don't say this don't say that. What we done we stepped out of it and
said 'fuck you, we gonna do what we wanna do' and they've jumped on it.
Ya see what it is, I don't really give a fuck what they say in the media
because publicity's publicity.
How do you feel when prominent black figures over here are also coming
down on you?
Megaman: A lot of black people get up there and get brainwashed and start
goin’ on with different things. There’s a representative for the mayor
of London yeah, a black guy, back in the day he knows how it goes. But
he knows if he goes up on the screens and starts blamin’ certain yardies
and certain real niggas of what’s really happenin’ on the street and
the police bring heat on them, they’re knockin’ on his door. They think
we’re kids, they think we don’t really know people on a deep level so
they’re targetin’ us, thinkin’ ‘ah, these guys are a bunch of jokers’.
It’s like you know who shot the brother down the road, you know who killed
him, you can find that out. Certain people from the government and police
are sending informers over from different countries, sendin’ these yardies
over here and certain other people to deal with certain tings. But when
it happens it’s like ‘who can we blame now, how can we cover this up?
Fuck it, blame it on So Solid’. You know how it is, it happens in all
countries man. People come over to lick down a nigga and just dust back.
Swiss: Bad publicity’s good publicity. We don’t give a fuck.
How did you start in pirate radio?
Swiss: The pirate radio started from the streets. Like we got money from
wherever, sellin' drugs, and we got on the first radio station and we
got to see the pirate game innit. And we learnt from that and made our
own shit innit. From there it just kicked off, our friends came with
us to that radio station, our own one and it just grew bigger. The first
one was Supreme FM, then we made our own one Delight FM. From there it's
still goin' on now, goin' strong. 103 FM.
When did So Solid start to get a buzz?
Swiss: It started on the first radio station. There was a buzz 'coz we
brought something new to that station. Through knowin' we had that buzz,
made our own shit y'get me. We brang somethin' new straight away. Then
we got our other radio station and that's when the tunes started comin'.
What are your gigs like?
Swiss: Off the heezy, off the hook blood. You really need to be there
to feel the vibe. It's not really a clash ting, we're just there to perform.
We're playin' garage and we're playin' our music. We play hip-hop, little
bit of ragga in there y'get me?
Do you rhyme over instrumentals?
Swiss: Yeah and the emcee just rips it up. At the start of your set you
play a couple of vocals innit and then you go into the instrumentals.
Like we work together like that so the emcee knows when you're gonna
throw on the instrumental and he knows it's his time y'get me?
Face: It's big shit, we're doin' what big people do. The clubs are rammed,
we're doin' that over here.
What kind of audience are you attracting?
Face: It depends. We might make a hatin' tune innit, and that bad man
that don't like the group might start a thing and come to the raves and
gwarn with bad vibes in the raves. But we've got everybody, we've got
every race you can think of down for So Solid, fuck it.
Do you listen to U.S. rap?
Face: Rap, I listen to everything. I listen to rock n' roll, heavy metal,
everything. So when I spit music you can't tell me nothin'. It's inspiration
really innit, everything's inspiration, music's inspiration.
Are there a lot of different characters in the group?
Face: Different characters, it's the same as the music innit, it's every
element. The name So Solid says it. It's solid--we don't break, we take.
So we got Oxide, he's a white guy, we got Neutrino, half-white half-black,
Sniper and Trigger, they're Cypriots, they're from Ayia Napa. We're a
mix of everything man but we started off black ghetto hustlin' strugglers
from the same estates and we just adopted other people from different
places. We're all good and we're gettin' better. It's like when we went
to America the other day innit, we didn't think we were gonna adapt there
but we took the rave by surprise and they was cheerin' for our shit.
They went mad for our shit. We were in New York.
Had they heard your stuff before?
Swiss: I don't know, their cousin from England might've brought certain
shits over there innit. They heard it and they was singin' along to our
shit.
Face: There was man lickin' down walls and all of that stuff, y'know
that party thing, pop, pop, pop! So it's like that, we're comin' like
a storm.
You seem flexible as far as the emceeing and production is concerned.
Face: What it is, is we're not all emcees. It's cut into three. We got
emcees in that part, producers in that part and singers in that group
yeah. And now some singers are becoming emcees versatile, producers are
becoming emcees versatile, some emcees are becoming singers y'see what
I'm sayin'? I'm trying to learn the producing thing now. We're lookin'
to just fuck it up man, we're greedy now, we want the big cake now, with
three cakes on top and one high up.
Do you think people are trying to make scapegoats out of you due to
the rise in street crime that’s reported in the papers over here?
Megaman: If you listen to any of our tunes yeah, we ain’t never sayin’
‘you niggas out on the road, go get a gat, kill somebody!’ We’re not
sayin’ that in none of our lyrics. What we’re tellin’ the ghetto and
certain street niggas, certain haters is that at the end of the day we’re
comin’ from the same place as you’re comin’ from. Don’t fuck around.
Because what you’re goin’ on with, I would still do the same ting, y’get
what I’m sayin’. But I’m a bit more legal now, I wanna behave myself.
But because we’re in the ghetto so we’re hearin’ all the bullshit daily,
we’re seeing the tension. So it’s like it’s a stand-off point. We’re
not talkin’ about gats, we’ll lick down a brother boom, boom, boom. We’re
tellin’ niggas to back off because that’s what we’re capable of doin’
and we will do it if you push us to that point. Now they’re blaming us
for exploitin’ it but we’re tellin’ people what we grew up around and
what we would have to do if that same type of tension came to us. So
that’s all it is,
Question
Megaman: They’re twistin’ our words sayin’ ‘So Solid glamorise violence’.
We don’t glamorise violence, we just speak about it, and there’s a difference.
You don’t see me in my video walkin’ around with a gun. You don’t see
me up on the fuckin’ Brits or on the streets walkin’ round with a gun,
that’s glamorising a gat. That’s glamorising violence. I speak about
it ‘coz it’s around me every day and ‘til I’m out of it I won’t stop
speakin’ about it. And that’s how every fuckin’ street nigga is whether
they’re down there or they’re up here they’re gonna speak about reality.
Do you think people have ignored what’s going on for too long?
Megaman: The government and certain people that’s controllin’ tings yeah,
they’ve spoke about it and it’s like speakin’ about it they’re tryna
get it outta their home, off their doorstep. They got it off their doorstep
for a certain period of time but they’ll never deal with the actual situation.
It’s like they pushed it all over the other side of the waters. On the
other side of the waters it’s like West End upper-class livin’ people,
on this side of the waters it’s ghetto. It irritates me sometimes but
that’s how life is, that’s how the U.K., the system, the mainstream market,
that’s how it is.
Do you see that things are changing the U.K.?
Megaman: Until black people in the U.K. get a bit more independent
and until brothers like us start to bring up more artists ‘coz this is
what our business is about. Y’get me, publishing company, distribution,
label, so what. This is what it’s all about, bringin’ the niggas from
our ends up and feeding them the money which we are bleedin’ from their
pockets y’get me. It’s more than music man. When you’re hustlin’ on the
road everyone knows your goal is to get a big yard. Get a big yard, live
nice, jewellery, big car. You get a big car in the ghetto it’s problems.
You get a big yard in the ghetto it’s problems. So we know that the aim
is to sell whatever we’re doin’, hustle whatever we’re doin’ and get
out of the ghetto. Now, when we’ve got into the music a lot of street
niggas been like ‘So Solid ain’t real, So Solid ain’t street’, we ain’t
tryna be street. We’re past that street level, we’ve done that. We’re
on the legal side of tings now y’get me, and we’re takin’ street niggas
as soldiers to the other side, y’get what I’m sayin’?
What do you think you would you be doing now if it weren’t for the music?
At the end of the day if we weren’t in the music thing we’d be doin’
the same thing. And directly, if they flop us now we’re gonna go back
to doin’ the same thing but we’re gonna have a bit more money. The way
I see it, if I go back there’s gonna be a bigger problem than there was
before y’get what I’m sayin’? Because there’s gonna be a lot of niggas
in the crew that ain’t gonna be happy and they’re gonna start World War
III out on the road. So it’s either you help us or you don’t help us,
it’s your choice. We can make it worse for you or easier for you. No
matter how big you are, you’re the government rah rah rah, we can make
it as worse for you as anyone else on this earth. Make it easier for
us man ‘coz we’re the guys that have no sense of fear, no sense of fuckin’
concern. We’re not concerned about nuttin’ in Britain. We’re concerned
about our own shit, nuttin’ else. Y’get me, as far as I’m concerned you
never know me, you weren’t concerning me, you weren’t concerned with
what my parents did, what my grandparents did, you weren’t concerned
since we land in this country, so don’t be concerned now. The tension
in me is risen from day. And the reason why I'm kinda more angry is because
certain times, when I was comin' up in the ghetto around my ends blood,
there weren't no family or cousins blood that I could look up to. So
I was on my own with my niggas, y'get me? But when you get older you
understand that tension, it was a spur of the moment and it's somethin'
that can't really play your mind for too long. Otherwise you'll get caught
up in a position where someone is actually balancing your life on their
little finger. If they wanna take you out they can take you out, you're
gone. But let me show you somethin'. Whether it's the FBI, whether it's
the army, whether it's the fuckin' special services or they get ninjas
blood, if we lock down the ghetto blood, no one ain't comin' in there
blood. No one.
How did So Solid get people out of that daily grind?
Megaman: We linked and we created something. You've just got
to look over the past shit and understand to get what you're gettin'
before it's too late, and if I can knock heads with you and squash
it genuinely, make that move. There's a bigger picture and every nigga
in this organisation has seen the bigger picture. That is why we've
come together, knocked everything out of the way what's ever happened
in the past or the grudges or the stupid shit, and we've come together
and we're just doin' business. We've all got the same goals, we just
ain't got the same opportunities, y'get me. And until we get the same
opportunities then our minds will change and we'll do something constructive.
So it's about creating the opportunities for our fellow brothers, instead
of fuckin' havin' to suck up to someone that don't know your lifestyle,
that don't know where you're comin' from. People don't understand
that life is free, life is so fuckin' free and as long as you take
that mentality and turn it into somethin' constructive, you're never
really gonna understand that life is free. Don't ever tell yourself
you can't do it. Don't ever tell yourself you ain't got enough to buy
that. Otherwise you're never ever ever goin' to do it. You can put
it like this, our parents were always tellin' us to go to school and
do this and do that. Directly when you turn it into the opposite you're
changin' your idea. You can actually be better off by not using the
system. By making and creating your own law, your own frame of mind,
your own rules. You decide what's right, what's good for yourself.
See us, we be true to this. If we lose this we know what we're goin'
back to, oh my god it's messy. So we understand we are not goin' back
down that road again, seriously blood.
Contact: empire@sosolident.com
Web site: www.sosolid.com
