Lawless - Interview !

Lawless is an impressive young artist from the East End of London who some may recognise as the younger cousin to Grime veteran Kano. I caught up with him to talk about his year so far, the year ahead, Rinse Fm and much more...

Me: Right good to finally talk to you mate, how are things things at the moment ? Hows music going ?

Lawless: Yeah every thing's going good at the moment you know. It's coming up to the end of the year so I'm just taking a little well deserved break. Nice to be finally interviewed !

Me: Like you said it's the end of the year, how would you summarise the year for you as an artist ?

Lawless: Well this year I'd say would have to be my best so far. I'm going to have to highlight appearing on Rinse Fm as my biggest achievement of this semester.


Me: What was it like spitting there ? Did you some sense of recognition ?

Lawless: Ermmmm... In a way I did. You might have not been able to tell but there were a bit of nerves there still. Nothing worse than flopping on live radio. There's no delete button (Laughs).

Me: Understandably. So this year you've had I think.. two promo downloads out, take us through the vocal one, Heir To The Throne..

Lawless: Well Heir to the Throne was more of a statement promo. I felt that I was underrated and needed to be taken more seriously but half way through I decided to give up a little bit, as I'd improved. So now I look forward to starting the next project which will be Bars of Gold Vol.1.


Me: Sound interesting..and of course the brand new instrumental promo as well, what sounds can the listeners hear on there ?

Lawless: Well.. I've been producing for about 9 years. But what makes me different is I love to make Hype, Hype dubs I'd say. They're not really beats. They're stuff you would play in a clash just to add that little extra hype. The reason it's called Yardie Beats, by the way, is because most of the outstanding grime producers are from African origins. So I'm just showing that us Jamaicans have got talent on the buttons too (Laughs).

Me: Fair play. Why did you decide to take on both the roles of MC and Producer ?

Lawless: Well from young it just came naturally. I was also a DJ too, back when vinyl's were in. But I MC'd as a little joke when I was around 8 years old. I had relatives who were and still are in the music buisness so that influenced me in a way. But I don't look up to them, its more of a competition thing.

Me: And can you see yourself surpassing them ?

Lawless: Hopefully. I'm tryna surpass everybody, that is my main aim for 2010. Even though I'm an underdog, I love to surprise people and prove people wrong. I get a great feeling when I achieve something I'm told I won't be able to.

Me: Why are you the underdog ? What do you think borders yourself from the MC's at the top of the scene ?

Lawless: Fan base..A fanbase makes an artist what it is. The stronger your fan base is the more likely you are to succeed. And my aim in 2010 is to gain as big as a fan base as possible. Without the fans, there's no listeners or hype around your name.


Me: I see. Something I do want to discuss is two of your GSI TV freestyles. At the end of one of them you had a bit to say about Marvell MC Shocka, what brought this on ?

Lawless: Well... (Laughs). Basically I just got fed up really. Of all this unnecessary intervention. Shocka tried to play the bully, getting involved in something that had nothing to do with him. So I had to give him a taste of his own medicine. I've received mixed responses from my actions but that's what I expected. Most have been positive though.

Me: I see. Now the second video touches on what you mentioned earlier - Rinse FM. You went there with Dogzilla and Devlin, what was that like, spitting with two of the scenes most recognised and admired figures ?

Lawless: Yeah and what a great experience it was. Everybody thinks most MC's are stubborn and walk around like they're bosses and above everybody else. But they're wrong. Only Chipmunk does that (Laughs). Nah but on a serious note, they're very laid back characters and half the time you forget who they are yourselves because they treat you like someone they've known from school days.

Me: Great. So, two promo's for this year done, you spoke about Bars Of Gold Vol.1..what's next for you as an artist ?

Lawless: For me as an artist it's to get myself sorted out with my label. Umm to bring out a Yardie Beats Volume 2 mid-next year hopefully and start getting stuck into Bars of Gold Vol.1 which should be a good release assuming everything goes to plan with features.

Me: What features are you looking for ? Which MC's are doing a lot in your eyes at the moment ?

Lawless: Maxsta is definitely one of my favourites. I spoke to him yesterday and he should be hopping on after he finishes the Maxtape. Everybody go out and cop that by the way. That's real music. Ermm Rockz should be on there. For those of you who don't know about Rockz you need to get yourself on GSi Tv and find out. He's a definite feature. Clipson who you may remember formerly as Clipper from Fire Camp, I look up to him as a mentor, he's helped me get through a lot so he's another must. And you know what.. I want O.T on my release too you know. As I live around the area and that it would be a nice collaboration I think. And there should be a few more big surprise features on the Disc.

Me: And..maybe an instrumental CD ?

Lawless: Like I said, Yardie Beats Vol.2 probably mid this year coming. I don't think I have a right to start selling my beats yet. That would be cheeky. But my beats are welcome to anybody to vocal. If you want one specially made don't be araid to hit me up and talk to me, I'll see what I can do !

Me: Ok that's fair enough, is there anything else you wanna say ? Any shout outs ?

Lawless: Big up to everyone really. Big up House Of Grime and Frankstah. Big up Hij an the Grime Forum crew as they play a major part in the grime scene right about now. Big up GSi Tv for filming me. Dj DLK, Rockz, Clixx, R.E.C, K dot Grimey, Komenz, Optic, Rampage and my little brother Vivid a.k.a Mils. Also Big up S.W.A.T Team thats my family tree. Another group coming out of Barking and Dagenham as well as O.T. Watch out for them. God Bless everyone.

See more of Lawless @ Myspace / Grime Pedia / lawlessmc@live.co.uk / FaceBook 

Watch Lawless sending for Shocka in this video and his session with O,T in this video.