The Life of a True Disciple of Hip Hop

[...]

Our Prince Across the Water has just unearthed a very important cultural and generational artifact which he has asked me to share with you for comment.

It's an interview with Harry Love of the Scratch Perverts that is bitter, poignant, profound and fucking hilarious. It tells a story of our generation: the children of the 1980s and teenagers of the 1990s and our hopeless, pointless, wasted lives. Harry is an archetype for all of us, but the extraordinary details of his life add to the beauty and drama of his monologue: bunking off school to look for Blak Twang records, hanging out with Rik Mayall, Ruby Wax and Kate Moss at his Dad's Portabello Road Cafe, etc. But he's done his training, he's a true disciple of hip hop, he's been on tour with All Saints. Gorging on a big thick glass of fizzy lager all the way through, because this is the conditioning of the 90s, when life was one big beer garden with a pair of Technics in the corner. Or as Luke put it: "he hasnt adapted to the times, hes still got the 90s attitude to life, be fucked out your nut on all occassions like sara cox. this is better than needham this is the best. i love embittered people they are the only people who are worth listening to."

 

[DannyL]

I actually have another Kila Kela podcast open in another window, believe it or not. An interview with a guy who used to do graffiti under the name Excel. Kela has spotted a gap in the market and is interviewing all the old writers. I like listening to all the old stories about vandalism, thieving, getting nicked and running away from the filth. Halcyon days.

 

[DannyL]

That blurb does make me cringe though I have to say. He can be a godawful interviewer some of the time as well, really rambling and all over the place.

 

[Corpsey]

This is so awkward a set up. Are they sat at his kitchen table?

 

[Corpsey]

I wonder if we'll ever get a history of dissensus podcast shot in Craner's airing cupboard

 

[...]

Have you just started watching it Corpse?

 

[catalog]

I wonder if we'll ever get a history of dissensus podcast shot in Craner's airing cupboard

Where's that video of luke in his white trousers interviewing woops?

 

[Corpsey]

Have you just started watching it Corpse?

I had a look but

I'm busy at work
It's lovely outside
This is 2 hours of Killer Kela talking to Harry Love in a kitchen.

 

[...]

This is 2 hours of Killer Kela talking to Harry Love in a kitchen.

It's a personal epic, a UKHH Odyssey, the story of a generation.

 

[Corpsey]

The 90s just looks more and more uncool with every passing year

 

[...]

It wasn't even cool at the time.

 

[Corpsey]

Does that mean you weren't cool at the time (by their standards) and therefore never liked what was cool?

 

[Corpsey]

It's never static is it

When I was growing up the 80s were seen as the total pits of tastelessness and nowadays 80s stuff is very much in vogue, it seems.

 

[...]

Does that mean you weren't cool at the time (by their standards)

Please don't be ridiculous, this is a serious conversation.

 

[DannyL]

It's never static is it

When I was growing up the 80s were seen as the total pits of tastelessness and nowadays 80s stuff is very much in vogue, it seems.

Reworked 80s stuff though. I watched the Hooligan documentary a while ago and Jesus Christ, they're some shabby fuckers. Compare that to the dayglo Farah madness of any 80s casuals in films.

 

[qwerty south]

What struck me from the Harry Love podcast was his honesty / how it seemed (relative) success hadn't brought happiness for him. I'm guessing he never saw the full financial fruits of his labours from Low Life Records (clue's in the name)

Kela knows a lot of his guests well so they are relaxed and speak freely with him. This is another goodun:

 

[...]

One of the things Luke finds so funny and tragic about these interviews is that the subjects are 'famous without being famous', legends to a few thousand people. They all, for completely honorable and authentic reasons, backed the wrong horse. It takes a special form of commitment to dedicate your life to UK Hip Hop (of all things!) and it has left them, in their 40s, bitter, resentful, flat broke. There is another one he dug out with Chester P of Task Force who spends a large segment of the interview moaning about the distribution of his new record. These interviews are a tragicomic repository of financial gripes and broken dreams.

 

[qwerty south]

Some of these guys rightfully feel that they have been written out of musical history.

Harry Love produced this - widely acknowledged as a UK rap classic

 

[...]

But a large part of the problem is that they were never written in to musical history in the first place.

 

[DannyL]

One of the things Luke finds so funny and tragic about these interviews is that the subjects are 'famous without being famous', legends to a few thousand people. They all, for completely honorable and authentic reasons, backed the wrong horse. It takes a special form of commitment to dedicate your life to UK Hip Hop (of all things!) and it has left them, in their 40s, bitter, resentful, flat broke. There is another one he dug out with Chester P of Task Force who spends a large segment of the interview moaning about the distribution of his new record. These interviews are a tragicomic repository of financial gripes and broken dreams.

The interviewer as well. You can find his pop crossover attempts on Youtube. Obviously being a podcast host is more profitable than doing music.

I do think with the graf stuff it's genuinely worth documenting, though I accept that it doesn't really matter much who was up on the most Met line fronts in '89. At least the writers know the relevance and limits of that small scene. I do find their juxtaposition to Kela funny - "yeah, I took risks, got nicked, nearly died, did time" vs "I made weird farting noises in time to a beat".