Intro

Early Doors: 1979-1985

False Dawn: 1985-1990

Underground Years: 1990-1995

The Renaissance: 1995- 2000

The Future: 2000 & Beyond

Artists & Discographies

So you work here in the Dark Joint studio in East London. What sort of equipment are you using both to make beats and to record? How would you say having your own studio helps in the recording process? Can you let off some of your production techniques?

Well I use a Mac to do all my vocals, mixed with some outboards and compressors. I use the EMU ESI 32 Sampler for all my beats and samples with the EMU Proteus 2000 sound module for keys. Most of my equipment's old so I tend to do pre-production at home and mix my tracks at MO studios in Edmonton, home to MO Entertainment. He is my mate and he has some decent equipment in there. Having a studio or at least a pre-production studio helps because you can spend as much time tweaking your beats till it sounds right without having to worry about time. This helps us to make as much beats as we can and then screened the ones we like from the ones we don't. We are our biggest critic when it comes to what beats we let out of the studio so all the consumer gets is quality banging Darkjoint after Darkjoint. About production tips ..hmmm let me think for a second...ok ..right. The recipe to make a dark banging joint is as follows:

A: Firstly, you will need a big cooking pot, preferably a Dutch pot with the big handles and strings to hold it. If your misses will not provide you one then try a sampler with a large enough memory to hold your unique sound library.

B: Find your self a solid drum kit which you can get from any decent hip hop instrumental or break beat. Drum machine's are usually raw sample sounds without processing so you will need to tweak them heavy.

C: Dig deep in the crate to find your unique sample to give the track an identity so it can stand on its own. Perfect example would be any classic hip hop track. Then drop a rugged kick drum rhythm as the beat canvas to build on.

D: Add 2 pounds of snare and 1 ounce of hi hat mixed with cubasa and some shakers. Add 10 pounds of bass to provide a mashed up driving groove, sizzled with some deep guitar low down over drive. Sprinkle some piano and horns to get the melody happening. By now the pot. Sorry the sampler should be hot waiting for the right vocals to bless it. One of my trade secret is to cool the beat down with some strings if its to hot.

E: Run down to the nearest Her Majesty Pleasure to seek an inmate who has been locked up for at least 10 years (Trust me mate he can deliver one of the most depressing track ever recorded). If the guards refuse, then get the right MC with an explosive energy of 100 mega ton yield of nuclear blast to do justice to your wonderful creation.

F: Finally stir or tweak and mixed 'til golden brown. Serve to your local DJ for his immediate attention which hopefully should get the hype bubbling. Tell all your mates and all the skets. Sorry girls you know to request the track from your local stations. I tell you my friends, you have a bright future behind you in the world of UK Hip Hop production. Don't give up the day job until you have a number 1 hit. Mail me at [email protected] with your royalty cheque or credit card details for more tips).

PS. In order to cook up a Darkjoint, follow the steps above and add the mind of a mad frustrated nuclear physicist whose actions will determine the fate of mankind with his next creation. Add to this his stubborn attitude towards any form of authority is intolerable. Mixed this with the genius of any of the great Austrian Classical Music composers. Then and only then will you be able to create a Darkjoint.

Do you like to make beats first and then get rappers to spit on them, or do you prefer creating a beat for a rhyme an MC has already written and why?

It all depends on who you're working with. For instance, when I was working on Malarchi's album, we would have normal conversation on a deep subject like "Why am I always so broke" or "Why here in the UK we are so dislocated from society. In such a way that we don't feel like we are playing our roles as citizens because of what we do, since no one want to listen to what we have to say". This will lead on to reasons as to why that is and what can be done to change that, not just for us but also for people just like us. We would debate this for hours until Malarchi comes up with an idea like "No Survival" (Track 15 on the Forgotten World LP). This kind of topic is very passionate and emotional as it reflects a certain part of modern urban culture which affects so many people's lives. As a producer, I would like to simulate that anger but yet calm kind of moody track or soundscape. Malarchi then goes of to do the lyrics while I would dig in the crate to find the right type of sounds to go with it. Hopefully, when it all comes together the listener will capture those frustration we are trying to let out. On the other hand while working with D-lyte-1, he already had his album written. He would lay the vocals down around an empty drum loop with the right tempo. When am on my own I would then go to work to provide my musical interpretation of what he is trying to say. I personally prefer to be involve with the whole idea of a track since it conception. Because I would like to see how passionate the MC is about the subject matter which becomes a challenge for me to interpret musically.

Do you get involved in the 'Train spotting' and 'one upmanship' of the trendy beat diggers?

No, No, hell bloody no. I am very passionate about what I do and this is simple because I make the kind of music I would like to listen to. Secondly producers now tend to have their time of shine and then they fade to the background. If your whole sound is based on who ever is the "man of the moment", what happens to your sound when he fades out. People make music for all sorts of reasons, and if imitation is your reason then why not. Go for it mate and see how long you last out there. I personally prefer to create my own sound and style which can be an interpretation from what ever vibe am in. That way if my sound blows up then other producers can only give you a cheap imitation of it. Ask Timberland and Teddy Riley they know how it feels to have someone bite your style.

Are you signed to Gemtoy then, or is it your own label? It appears quite affluent, making videos etc. Is that the RnB side supporting the Hip Hop side?

No I don't own Gemtoy and I don't speak to their accountant to know weather it's the RnB side supporting the hip hop side with videos. You would need to speak to the MD cause I don't have that information. Darkjoint is an independent production company working in part with Gemtoy. Gemtoy has always supported us and that's why I signed Malarchi to the label. They are one of the few independent labels who has a whole lot of experience in the marketing and promotion of UK hip hop and RnB. For as long as they support what I do they will always have my support and beats. I would work with any label that has their business locked and Gemtoy Records is one of them. 

What does the name of the label mean and is the football in the logo symbolic? Are you football freaks, and if so which teams do you support?

Sorry you will need to speak to the labels press officer as I don't have any of that information. But as football fans go, for me it's the Arsenal. Yes I am a big gunners fan.

Has getting your music out been a struggle as it has been for so many other recording artists? Do you have any advice for aspiring artists about the pitfalls of the music industry?

Getting UK Hip Hop out for anyone is a struggle as the industry is not big enough to make the small pot of money invested go around. So for everyone doing it comes down to the love we have for it. That's why I guess we are so passionate about it. People involved are always trying to come correct better than the last time they released a record. There is always that financial hardship and like Black Twang said "Red Letters". One thing I do appreciate is the fans that support it never give up on us no matter what people say. I guess that's what keeps us as an industry going. The feeling of affecting 500 or 1000 people's lives out of 56 million are the selected ones that get it. For those few 500 gives us the courage to dig deeper and come with the next better release. In terms of advice I would only say you should believe in what you do and persistence would get you through.

Are you at all politically motivated? If you could change something about society, what would it be and why?

I never ever want to be involved with politics. It's a dirty game that leads you to compromise your belief just for political survival. If I can change anything about people, it would be ignorance towards what we do.

Roy, you have your own LP 'Going For D.E.L.F (Death Expectancy Life Forsaken)' out soon, do you have anything you'd want people to know about this? Who have you worked with for this project?

Yeah, the project is almost completed and I will be dropping a single soon. I will have to save the details for another interview when things are completed. So far I have MC D, Malarchi, Slanye from Shadow Cabinet, D-lyte-1, Christynette and 2 Sticky. Am still waiting on confirmation but I have to see how it goes. The album is going to be hip hop with a mixture of other influences. It will have everything you have come to expect from the Darkjoint and more.

What is going to be keeping you busy over the next few months? What is happening with the D-Lyte-1? Is it out now?

I have just completed the remix to "Da Shock" and the re mix to "Gentle Distance" by Christynette. I don't know when D-lyte-1 will drop his album as he is still recording a couple of more tracks. Mail him at [email protected] to find out. I have done a couple of tracks for B-Sharp and a couple for Pee Que's album. I have been commissioned to do other projects by some big name American Artists but we just have to wait and see how that goes. I am a hip hop junky and will always be making beats so let see what the future holds for me and this industry. Only time will tell what happens.

What are your longer term plans and objectives?

My long term plan is take this to the next level. I hate being looked at as a second class beat producer just because am from the UK and I don't push as much units as my American counterparts. This goes for all the UK producers who have stepped up the game in the past couple of years and we refuse to be seen as such. We are just as good as any of them mans across the Atlantic ocean.

Is there anything else you would like to mention?

Yeah, this is what we do and it is real to us. The industry should take more notice of what we do so I can give up my day job to do this full time. Much respect to the ones that took notice. We owe the little we have to the fans who unconditionally support us as an industry. The magazines like Fat Boss, Fatlace, Knowledge, HHC, Rago, Echos, DJ and so many others. And web sites like UKHH.com, The Crate Estate and Ollie, QED with the knowledge and history of UK hip hop, Babs at Homegrown.co.uk, Fusion @ darkerthanblue.com, Crate Digger with British.co.uk, The staff of Gemtoy records, Big Dada, Ronin, Ninja tunes, Low Life Records, Son Records, Titan Sounds, Kemistry, Dapper Dan, Big Trev, Wolf town Recordings, 7 Entertainment, Word Play, Bad Magic, Unforgiving Entertainment, Insane Macbeth, Mo Entertainment, Darkjoint Entertainment, Misfits Entertainment, Fasfwd, and all the people in the struggle. There is a brighter day ahead even when the future seems bleak.

Is there anyone else you would like to mention?

Myself for putting up with this fickle industry..nah that don't sound right. The fans man.they make keep doing this. Malarchi, for trusting me to fucked up his whole album, LMG my partner in crime for putting up with my shit over the years, T-1, D-Lyte-1, B-Sharp and Gem @ Gemtoy for the support, trust me these mans don't know but I do and appreciate your effort, Prestige and the misfit, am still waiting for my application, PQ, Moorish Delta 7, need to post you that track hope you like it, my boys C-Town Inc (Maximillian, Memphis-Da-Don and Mendes Mendosa), Tim Westwood @ R1, Jenny Francis @ Choice, One Step, Big Ted and Shorty Blitz @ Kiss 100, Greenpeace @ XFM, DJ ASH @ first Love radio, P.O.T., Ollie, Crate Digger, QED u the man, PQ, B-Sharp, Out da ville, Lady Zimmer, Lethal and destruction, Ty, Iyare, Fusion and T max, Braintax, Task Force, Rodney P, and everyone that gives us the
support.

Thank you very much Roy for breaking away from your equipment and busy schedule long enough to fill everybody in on what you are on. Check Darkjoint's track by track breakdown of Malarchi's 'Forgotten Worlds' LP at UKHH.com.

Part One

Email: [email protected] :: Visit Gemtoy on the web: www.gemtoy.co.uk