by Rebel Corner » Fri Feb 22, 2008 1:53 pm
sorry if previous my rant seems like going off topic but from my perspective mix cd's / bootleg biz/ promotion of music/ future of the roots scene is connected like the ankle bone is connected to the knee bone and the knee to the thigh bone , and so , and so on.
hip hop, grime, drum and bass has survived by the use of mix tapes, spit tapes and with d n'b and garage/grime more so session cd's.any advertising is good advertising they say and i'm inclined to agree.just beacause involved parties ain't making the money they ideally would like to from the music game ,don't knock formats that have been proven to keep interest, hype, attendance for events and sadly, bottom of the chain record sales alive in so many other succsessfull underground scenes.
roots and dub is sadly not a successfull undergound music scene in the uk as ten people turning up to see king earthquake and another sound in walsall recently. and continuing poor sales of vinyl and cd releases proves.two monthly dances pulling up to a thousand people in a city of ten million does not denote succcess in my eyes.
i see and am glad that some of the bigger names/ veterans like vibronics, dougie concious, russ d , iration steppers etc. play all over europe but few play regular in the uk (positively more so recently) and also european roots crews are now seeing that all their support for uk peeps works has not got much exposure or works in the uk.can't be a one way street , it's not fair, right or correct.
maybe the problem is with the product, the stale way and corrupt way alot of the reggae biz continues to operate on a hustling tip and on an insular flex and lack of exposure or sadly universal/popular appeal of the current muisc coming out?????
personally would love to see some roots and culture 'spit' tapes come out(live mix cd's with mc's /singers doing their thing over but with studio quality rather than session quality).big up reality shock camp for their shockumentaries, closet thing i've seen to a spit tape in the roots scene.
also artists like deadly hunta have proved you can bust roots tunes and bust hip hop tunes and this is a more likely road to success than just staying in the seemingly, one way road , slow lane that roots is stuck in.
respect due to everyone involved in the roots and dub 'world a' music' for thir works but if this scenes gets any more undergound it will be dead and buried.
personally i've just retired for a bit from dj'ing/ sound runnings as rewards (vibes rewards rather than financial) are currerently not there to be had.that's after starting with my own crew and then with others help, building a regional roots scene in the far east of england over ten years plus. bringing a world of uk and young j.a. artists to peoples exposure and giving the artits/selectors a meal ticket and a much needed oppurtunity to flex live over a sound... mikes kinda quiet at many big dances espc. so when nuff artists in attendance.
we done this , playing / running things so whilst still staying true to thre livity and tradition of roots and rasta music i have played beats and styles of roots in all shapes that appeal to all types of people. also as dougie once advised in step forward mag,-for the survival of any music scene, we aimed for reaching out to a young audience who as they grow become the crowd and as i have personally witnessed , start their own sounds , productions, labels and become the musical torch carriers themselves.
nowadays i'm finding peep's musical attention span is too short, smoking bans means peeps are more likely to be pissed and it's alot harder to get peeps out for a night, modern culture means there alot of people on all sorts of chemicals , some younger heads show little love, respect or support for their musical elders. certain artist's diss long established up-right and ' financial just' runnings saying that the best money we can offer aint enough for a nights work when europeans who idolise them will pay them twice as much.then complain that there ain't no work in the uk or wonder why the scene is tired.
i don't want to bitter and sad about a scene and music i care and love about , but reality is just that and all of we roots people have to face that.
hope us all ina one can take the roots back to the roots.this scene needs some moulding!!!
ps.nice to see some life in this board on this and certain other 'sticky' topics if nowhere else... maybe it's self reflects the roots scene which seems to more about peoples wants lists and identification of such wants, shape , size and loudness of speakers, various ism's and skisms rather than anything else nowadays.nuff elements in roots but things seems 2D , spiritually flat and singled sense all over.
"every day Blair & Bush scare me more, and more"
