"It’s only the chatter of your mind..."
We may as well get this out the way first: at one point in my life, I was a complete Benga fan boy.
The first dubstep DJ I ever encountered in the flesh – not just via a modem – his approach, his attitude was infectious. You can also throw in the fact that when he wanted to, Benga could change the rules of the game with a single release. Even now, I would still defend the best of that 2004 – 2008 output to the death: anyone who doubts the power and veracity of ‘Diary Of An Afro Warrior’ is in for a serious (b)ass whuppin’.
But then I took part in some unwitting regicide. Clash published a story which used a remark Benga had made during an NME interview. Somewhat innocently, the producer had argued that he didn’t make dubstep anymore.
Several thousand Facebook likes later the story had gone viral and I found myself on the phone to the Croydon producer attempting to assess what had happened. “The reason why that kicked off is because there is a lot of speculation around what dubstep’s doing and what individual artists are doing” he states, with a noticeable edge to his voice. “I mean, that statement is kind of true because I’ve brought it up a few times in other interviews and it’s like, it’s not to say that I’ve now completely stopped working on dubstep - I’ve just moved into other areas. I’ve just decided that for me to remain creative, I’ve kinda not got to call my music dubstep and for me to keep pushing boundaries and moving around and making songs I can’t call myself dubstep”.
Which is fair enough. Dubstep was always a broad church, extending far beyond the hilariously small parameters (140, bit of wobble) some would ascribe to it. Playing devil’s advocate, I ask Benga if he would follow Skream’s route and release some underground material – perhaps even anonymously. “I ain’t scared. I ain’t scared to put anything out under my name” he bites. “You do aliases because you think people won’t like what you do under your name. I’m just like – whatever. I’m not scared. I mean, I’ve got loads of different kinds of cuts, and not to say that every single cut that I make in my studio is like is in a particular vein. It would be very very very naive of people to think that the tracks that they hear from my album is the direction that I’m going in completely, because like I say – I change every day. Whether it’s vocal or it’s not, whether it’s dark or it’s not – just keep it moving”.
As the success of Magnetic Man proves, the divide between underground bass sounds and the mainstream is collapsing. Gaps are opening up, which can provide the right producer with an enormous platform to work from. Is that what Benga wants, I wonder? “100%. Who doesn’t? People are lying if they say they don’t, no matter what music they make” the producer argues. “I don’t care what anyone wants to call it – if it’s commercial success, or just being popular. I just want to make sure that my music is heard by everyone who can possibly hear it. I want to push boundaries because that’s how you’re remembered. You don’t get remembered by making the same shit every day”.
It’s funny. The underground has a dismissive attitude towards the mainstream, something which runs particularly deep in bass culture. Hell, even Bob Marley took flack for using session musicians on ‘Catch A Fire’ with Benga proving to be the latest in a long line of bass warriors to come under attack for his success. As a reference point, though, the Croydon producer looks towards recent Stateside figures. “People like Timbaland and Dre” he says. “The way they smashed the charts but they had such a different sound, a different take on pop music - that’s me! That is completely me. All of the big tunes I’ve had, those hits sound so different to what’s on the radio at the time. It’s like bringing the Benga sound to pop music and doing it well!”
Realistically, Benga is absolutely on the money when he claims that he isn’t making dubstep anymore. Very few of those original pioneers are: Ramadanman has morphed into Pearson Sound while Headhunter has segued into Addison Groove. Change, it seems, is inevitable. “I’ve always done that, like from the very beginning. Maybe not so much when I was fifteen. As time went on obviously I listen to stuff and keep it – I mean, that’s always been something I’ve listened to. Songs. Michael Jackson didn’t make the same song every time did he? The only thing that links Michael Jackson’s music together is his voice. Whereas I’m a producer-artist it’s not my voice that links it together. Every track should just sound really different”.
The commercial appeal of recent Benga cuts is something which has bothered fans. Yet it takes a peculiar type of genius to lay waste to the charts – after all, if it was easy we’d all be getting Top Ten hits, rolling in greenbacks and laughing all the way to FWD. Dominated by ambition, there’s no doubt that Benga has hit sights set on taking this as far as it can go. “The biggest surprise for me in the last two years has got to be the Grammys that Skrillex won. I mean, we’ve always been very ambitious people but one thing that I’ve always – or should I say, that I’ve come to realise – is that me and Skream have always had these massive goals and we’ve always achieved them due to our determination and how hard we actually work” he explains. “It just kind of dawned on me, what were my new goals? What did I want to achieve? Skrillex come about, he knew what wanted to get – he went out and got Grammies. I had to think again: hold on a minute, I do want to get Grammies. I do want to do these things so let’s go! Let’s go again.. Benga album: chapter two. See what we get with that”.
The first time I saw Benga, he stood behind the decks tearing up a Scottish crowd with reload after reload. Head bobbing above the mixer, his fusion of bravado and infectious energy seemed to stem from an enormous sense of self belief – something he’s been drawing on a lot, of late. “It’s only like the chatter of your mind, you know what I mean? It’s the way you think” he says. “You may think at one point that you want to do this but so many things enter your head before you can even take the first step. As soon as you start to think: I want to do this, I want to achieve this. They then think: ah, but people will hate me. It’s going to be hard to do this. All these thoughts. When you associate these things with them being hard, that’s when you start.. your brain reacts to it. It starts to think: oh, I can’t do this. It comes about in everybody’s life, it just takes that person that kinda has the guts and kinda has that determination to just go: think all them thoughts, but still do it. Those are the people that succeed. Other people just never even take a step to do it”.
- - -
‘Chapter 2’ is set to be released on August 27th.
The first dubstep DJ I ever encountered in the flesh – not just via a modem – his approach, his attitude was infectious. You can also throw in the fact that when he wanted to, Benga could change the rules of the game with a single release. Even now, I would still defend the best of that 2004 – 2008 output to the death: anyone who doubts the power and veracity of ‘Diary Of An Afro Warrior’ is in for a serious (b)ass whuppin’.
But then I took part in some unwitting regicide. Clash published a story which used a remark Benga had made during an NME interview. Somewhat innocently, the producer had argued that he didn’t make dubstep anymore.
Several thousand Facebook likes later the story had gone viral and I found myself on the phone to the Croydon producer attempting to assess what had happened. “The reason why that kicked off is because there is a lot of speculation around what dubstep’s doing and what individual artists are doing” he states, with a noticeable edge to his voice. “I mean, that statement is kind of true because I’ve brought it up a few times in other interviews and it’s like, it’s not to say that I’ve now completely stopped working on dubstep - I’ve just moved into other areas. I’ve just decided that for me to remain creative, I’ve kinda not got to call my music dubstep and for me to keep pushing boundaries and moving around and making songs I can’t call myself dubstep”.
Which is fair enough. Dubstep was always a broad church, extending far beyond the hilariously small parameters (140, bit of wobble) some would ascribe to it. Playing devil’s advocate, I ask Benga if he would follow Skream’s route and release some underground material – perhaps even anonymously. “I ain’t scared. I ain’t scared to put anything out under my name” he bites. “You do aliases because you think people won’t like what you do under your name. I’m just like – whatever. I’m not scared. I mean, I’ve got loads of different kinds of cuts, and not to say that every single cut that I make in my studio is like is in a particular vein. It would be very very very naive of people to think that the tracks that they hear from my album is the direction that I’m going in completely, because like I say – I change every day. Whether it’s vocal or it’s not, whether it’s dark or it’s not – just keep it moving”.
As the success of Magnetic Man proves, the divide between underground bass sounds and the mainstream is collapsing. Gaps are opening up, which can provide the right producer with an enormous platform to work from. Is that what Benga wants, I wonder? “100%. Who doesn’t? People are lying if they say they don’t, no matter what music they make” the producer argues. “I don’t care what anyone wants to call it – if it’s commercial success, or just being popular. I just want to make sure that my music is heard by everyone who can possibly hear it. I want to push boundaries because that’s how you’re remembered. You don’t get remembered by making the same shit every day”.
It’s funny. The underground has a dismissive attitude towards the mainstream, something which runs particularly deep in bass culture. Hell, even Bob Marley took flack for using session musicians on ‘Catch A Fire’ with Benga proving to be the latest in a long line of bass warriors to come under attack for his success. As a reference point, though, the Croydon producer looks towards recent Stateside figures. “People like Timbaland and Dre” he says. “The way they smashed the charts but they had such a different sound, a different take on pop music - that’s me! That is completely me. All of the big tunes I’ve had, those hits sound so different to what’s on the radio at the time. It’s like bringing the Benga sound to pop music and doing it well!”
Realistically, Benga is absolutely on the money when he claims that he isn’t making dubstep anymore. Very few of those original pioneers are: Ramadanman has morphed into Pearson Sound while Headhunter has segued into Addison Groove. Change, it seems, is inevitable. “I’ve always done that, like from the very beginning. Maybe not so much when I was fifteen. As time went on obviously I listen to stuff and keep it – I mean, that’s always been something I’ve listened to. Songs. Michael Jackson didn’t make the same song every time did he? The only thing that links Michael Jackson’s music together is his voice. Whereas I’m a producer-artist it’s not my voice that links it together. Every track should just sound really different”.
The commercial appeal of recent Benga cuts is something which has bothered fans. Yet it takes a peculiar type of genius to lay waste to the charts – after all, if it was easy we’d all be getting Top Ten hits, rolling in greenbacks and laughing all the way to FWD. Dominated by ambition, there’s no doubt that Benga has hit sights set on taking this as far as it can go. “The biggest surprise for me in the last two years has got to be the Grammys that Skrillex won. I mean, we’ve always been very ambitious people but one thing that I’ve always – or should I say, that I’ve come to realise – is that me and Skream have always had these massive goals and we’ve always achieved them due to our determination and how hard we actually work” he explains. “It just kind of dawned on me, what were my new goals? What did I want to achieve? Skrillex come about, he knew what wanted to get – he went out and got Grammies. I had to think again: hold on a minute, I do want to get Grammies. I do want to do these things so let’s go! Let’s go again.. Benga album: chapter two. See what we get with that”.
The first time I saw Benga, he stood behind the decks tearing up a Scottish crowd with reload after reload. Head bobbing above the mixer, his fusion of bravado and infectious energy seemed to stem from an enormous sense of self belief – something he’s been drawing on a lot, of late. “It’s only like the chatter of your mind, you know what I mean? It’s the way you think” he says. “You may think at one point that you want to do this but so many things enter your head before you can even take the first step. As soon as you start to think: I want to do this, I want to achieve this. They then think: ah, but people will hate me. It’s going to be hard to do this. All these thoughts. When you associate these things with them being hard, that’s when you start.. your brain reacts to it. It starts to think: oh, I can’t do this. It comes about in everybody’s life, it just takes that person that kinda has the guts and kinda has that determination to just go: think all them thoughts, but still do it. Those are the people that succeed. Other people just never even take a step to do it”.
- - -
‘Chapter 2’ is set to be released on August 27th.
Benga
