Insane Macbeth is a UK producer from Brixton who has been producing for a number of years and has had great success in the UK and Europe. Reality Game caught up with him to find out what he’s been up to lately.
First of all can you tell us where you are from and what was it like growing up there?
Hello, Jai-Boo. Well, my moniker is Insane Macbeth. I am essentially a producer and beatmaker, who also gets involved in the song writing process. I am originally from Stoke Newington, Hackney in the northside of London. I moved down to Brixton Hill, south London in the early 1980s. I represent Brixton to the fullest. Brixton was cool growing up. Of course, Brixton is world famous. Particularly, due to the two riots, in the 1980s. Is that a good thing? I don't know. But those incidents defo contribute to the 'fabric', of what Brixton's about.
There were gangs in Brixton, as well as neighbouring Peckham. There were the 28s in Brixton; and the Untouchables in Peckham the Untouchables extended all the way to Hoxton, east London. I was never in a gang, but had beef with one of the 28s, when I was growing up. This was normal, in the 1980s. Hip-hopwas vibrant in Brixton, and particularly at the school I attended which was Tulse Hill Boys. Although Brixton was predominantly musically a dancehall reggae area due to Coxsone Sound System, hip-hop defo existed in SW9 and SW2.
You’ve been producing for years; can you tell us how you got in the game?
Well, I was very fortunate to meet and get to know numerous of the London hip-hop fraternity, in the mid-1980s. I met Crazy Noddy, an underground emcee, who was making music and doing jams with DJ Fingers (who later became The Sindecut, a well-respected London hip-hop crew).
I was hanging with those guys quite a bit, from 1986-90. During this period, I also met a person called Mo' Rock, who used to deejay for another respected underground emcee, called Freshki. Mo' Rock used to invite me to his house, and play me loads of breaks. Mo' was definitely the FIRST cratedigger I knew of...before the term 'cratedigger' existed.
A young rapper called Shaka Shazzam, who was down with Hijack, was living in my local area of Brixton Hill, and we knew each other. He introduced me to members of his crew, The HQ - which included personnel such as Katch 22 who went on to record three albums, and The Icepick. So I was around all of this energy. Also, a school friend of mine, Apollo Belladona phoned me one day, we had left school at this time, in 1987, and told me that he was about to go into a record studio, to make a track, so he invited me down. That was a great experience for me, even though I'd been in studios before. All of these instances encouraged me, to get in the 'game'. It was just a matter of, what would I do? Or rather, what would I be GOOD at, lol.
Why did you decide that wanted to become a producer?
I tried the deejay ting, as I loved the way the scratch deejays could manipulate two of the same break beats. But somehow, I just couldn't get the sense of timing right lol. I didn’t even TRY to write lyrics. I knew I didn't have the dexterity of a Rakim...someone who I was listening to heavily, at that time! I always had knowledge of music though, and was always interested in SOUND. Getting into music production seemed right to me, and hopefully I haven't done too bad. I hope I have contributed to UK Rap creatively, and sonically!
I always had an understanding of sound. I grew up in the 1980s, in which analogue synthesizers dominated the pop sound. I loved records by Depeché Mode, The Human League, and Duran Duran, when I was growing up. Hip-hop was new and fresh, and something different. As it was obviously expressing the New York experience. Producing records was just a natural progression for me.
However, creating wasn't easy for me, at the beginning. It took me numerous years of really finding myself, so that I could create a 'sound' which reflected my personality, as well as my VISION, of how I want my records to sound. Also, once I started getting into cratedigging, I really got to appreciate the sounds of James Brown, Weather Report, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Curtis Mayfield, Idris Muhammad, and other funk and jazz artists. This is how producing developed, for me.
It was a slow process, but not necessarily a painful one.
What was the first track that you produced?
Well, the first record I produced was "Borderin' Insanity", by Kinetic Effect, in 1991. He's the person that brought me into the 'game' as a producer; and I helped him with better produced beats than his previous 'situation', and released him on my own imprint. K.E. is my brother, in this music ting, and we definitely made our mark in London and the European hip-hop scene in Germany, Switzerland and Austria with our early releases. We did music together from 1991 up until 2000. We are still close, right up to today. "Borderin'" was also the first UK rap record to be release by the artist, on coloured green vinyl.
The pre-production for the beat was engineered by Marga, who was the producer of Katch 22. That single was recorded and mixed on an S.S.L. G-series console with the 'flying faders', and I'm very proud of that record. In fact, I'm proud of my whole discography.
When you were starting out what equipment did you use and what do you use now?
To be real with you Jai, I have NEVER owned music equipment. I did most of my early soundscapes at my engineer 'No-sleep' Nigel's spot. He had an Akai S950, like a lot of people making hip-hop in the late 1980s-early 1990s, and an Atari computer and monitor, with Creator sequencer. I made a lot of gems on the aforementioned gear. Right now, I'm using Logic 7 as a sequencer, and a bunch of sound sources, including theJV-1080, the Proteus 2000, plus some other sources, that I cannot mention though.
Can you tell us what artists have you produced for?
I have produced for a few emcees and artists, still. The bulk of my discography is with Kinetic Effect. However, I have also produced tracks for Huntkillbury Finn, formally of Katch 22 who made three albums; I have worked with Crazy Noddy of The Sindecut - who had a £700,000 deal with Virgin Records, back in the day; I have worked with The Icepick, who was down with Hijack, as well as Shaka Shazzam. I also worked with and introduced the world to an underground emcee called The Ripper. Let's see? I've worked with Malarchi, who has worked with Canibus and has had two top-40 singles; I produced a track for Cardiff-based Ruffstylz, who's the world record holder for the longest freestyle.
In 2012 alone, I've worked with Reveal, a founder member of Poisonous Poets. Plus, I have just worked with Karl Hinds, who is the head honcho of Ill Flava records, and is an artist, who has released three albums. So I’ve done a few bits-and-bobs.
Who were/are your musical influences?
I wouldn't say I have musical influences, per se. But there are a bunch of artists, producers, emcees and vocalists that I have great respect for their craft. When I was coming up, producers such as DJ Fingers from The Sindecut, DJ Devastate from Demon Boyz and Twilight Firm, Sparkii Ski who used to produce for MC. Mell'o', Mo' Rock Freshki's beatmaker, DJ Supreme who was a part of Hijack, Marga of Katch 22, and my friend Apollo Belladona were people I greatly admired, in London. In the USA, I loved what Marley Marl, The Juice Crew's in-house producer was doing, particularly with drums. DJ Mark The 45 King was a cratedigger I rated. Ced-Gee, of Ultramagnetic MCs was someone I rated too, particularly in the way he was flipping samples.
For me however, the producer I have always felt most akin to is Dr. Dre. Both of us are into that big-boy sound, pianos and weird analogue sounds. Dre has made a lot of records I love, so yes, I have a lot of regard for him. Then again, I also love what Timbaland, and The Neptunes have done. A producer that no one seems to mention, Focus…is very creative to me, too. Focus... is defo someone I try to check out, every chance I can.
How do you go about producing a beat? Do you have a bank of beats or do you work alongside the artist?
This is a good question. Well, when I was working solely with Kinetic effect, I would make soundscapes purely for him. We had such a synergy, that I knew what he liked musically, so there were no problems in the creative process. As time went by, I started making more and more miscellaneous beats and soundscapes. And yes, this is how I work today. So-much-so, that I now have a beat cd, that I'd give to perspective clients and emcees I plan to work with. I have never been the most prolific of beatmakers or producers. There are periods when I am attending to the business side of music, in which case I often don't have the time to create.
Recently you released a track with Reveal called ‘Strongest Ends’ can you tell us about that track and how the collaboration came around?
Yes, I dropped "The Strongest Endz" to the world, as a free digital download earlier, this year. The record features Reveal. Reveal I have known each other for more than 10 years. We spoke about collaborating, back then. What essentially happened was, there were numerous London emcees who wanted to work with me, because of the impact of a record I produced and released called "True Heart", which featured The Icepick.
This record was getting rotational play for 6 weeks on all the London mainstream hip-hop shows such as Tim Westwood on BBC Radio 1FM; DJ. 279 on Choice FM; and The Chubby Kidz from Kiss 100FM. This was around 2000-1. This record still gets me production work today, and Reveal was always interested in working with me. The feeling was mutual. We just managed to record the track, as now was the right time. The track basically represents strength, and as hip-hop is street music, the song is about reppin' your area, endz, manor/, hood, wherever you are in the world. It's a universal record, and some people gravitated towards it, I guess.
This week you recorded a new track with Karl Hinds called ‘Can’t, Couldn’t, Could Never’ can you tell us about the track?
Yes, "Can't, Couldn't, Could Never" is a typical Insane Macbeth killer track. L.o.l! Big pianos, big drums, killer spittin' by the Don Gramma. I hope people will like it, when it's released.
How did you link up with Karl Hinds?
I reached out to Karl in 2000, after hearing his debut single, "Don Gramma". What struck me about that record was that Karl, who also produces was using analogue sounds. Apart from DJ Supreme a friend of mine called Cavey, and myself, I hadn't heard ANYONE using analogue bass sounds in the UK, at that time. So that was very interesting to me. Again, similar to the Reveal story, Karl Hinds and I had talked about working together, for many years. I guess just life; schedules etc. haven't allowed me to work with great artists such as Reveal, and Karl Hinds, before now. I guess that I'm now in a good space, to consistently make records again!
You’ve got your own label ‘Insane Recordings’ which also has a digital division ‘I.R.D’, will you be releasing an album anytime soon?
Again, a very good question, one that I don't think I can answer at this moment. The model for releasing records has changed, from what I'm used to. I'm from the era of vinyl, and a lot of my catalogue still sells on vinyl. So I am currently working out the new model. This is exactly why I set up I.R.D., and right now, I'm creating 'street singles', which aren't official releases. But still contain cover artwork for fans of Insane Macbeth.
What do you think about the current state of Hip Hop and how it has transformed from vinyl, cd to digital?
I have little idea what the younger batch of artists whether they be in the UK, or the USA are doing. For someone that is greatly interested in sonics in the mixdown, I'm not a great fan of mp3 format. However, I get to promo my records far quicker, because of the capability, mp3 has.
In regards to the first part of the question, I have reached out to Stonebridge's K. Koke via twitter. So that collaboration may happen. I have watched various freestyles on YouTube (Fire In The Booth, SBTV, etc.), just to keep abreast of things. At this point, I'm really about production placements, and getting to a point where I can garner paid placements, and maybe make a hit record with an artist, with the right infrastructure. I'm always interested in working with that new, fresh artist though...if an opportunity presents itself.
What artists are you currently listening to and why?
I'm not really listening to too much hip-hop anymore, Jai. Plus, when I do have the time, I tend to listen to older material. Right now, the only album I tend to play is Dr. Dre: "Chronic 2001". Unless, I go on a site such as HipHopDX, and there something that piques my curiosity. I very rarely listen to new music. However, I did like aspects of Karl Hinds' new "Black Timing" mixtape. Oh, and some tracks off that new DJ Premier and Bumpy Knuckles "Kollexxxion" caught my ear, too.
Where can people find out more about your future projects or releases? Do you have a website etc?
The best place for regular updates on what I.M. is currently doing, is www.twitter.com/insanemacbeth www.soundcloud.com/insanemacbethofficial is where the free downloads can be obtained. For any enquiries, insanerecordings@aol.com is the point of contact.
Do you want to give a shout out?
Yes, I'd like to big up all of my allies, worldwide you know who you are. I would like to big you up, JAI BOO. I have always had a good relationship with your allies, Tricksta and Late, from when they drove down from Wolftown to London in 2000, to interview me. So I am pleased we are now acquainted. I would like to big up any and every one, who took the time to read this interview. I hope you enjoyed it. Plus, I would like to big up everyone all over the world who has enjoyed my music. I thank you. Bless, Insane Macbeth.
Interview by Jai Boo
Photography by: Rossana Mussavi
