Straight from South West London, User boy spits tight lyrics and mixes, always one-upping his previous masterpieces of rhyme.
From the days of spitting in the playground, User Boy has grown into a fine lyricist these days, spitting his rhymes on stages and videos.
Growing up on straight-edge Hardcore and street/political Punk, I never gave Hip Hop a chance. I'd like to give a big up to User Boy for introducing me to his music and the UK Hip Hop music scene as a whole.
I got a chance to interview User boy and chat about his sound, lyrics, and recent projects.
How did you get the name ‘User Boy?’
User Boy: *laughs* well before the ladies think I’m some player, let me say I’m not. The name comes from my younger days. Back then, I admit I used to have girls spoiling me--like buying credit and nonsense, and my peeps use to say I’m a user. I won’t lie, I liked the name User, so I kept it *laughs.* It attracts attention--maybe not the right kind, but hey. I just wanna add, I never played with a girl’s heart, I promise ;-)
Was ‘this brother needs love’ based on a personal journey for you?
User Boy: ‘this brother needs love’ was based on a personal journey--but not entirely. Certain aspects of the tune were true, but the unfortunate ending did not happen, thank God. I decided to follow that ending to show how easy love could come and go!
Tell us about your new mix ‘Shit on You’.
User Boy: the freestyle I did 'Shit on you' was directed to all the little people that decide to use their time to try and put down me and my team (SHAGALANG). But even though these people are not worth my time, I felt I should address it by shittin on them *laughs.* I refer to these little people as haters. As I said at the beginning of the tune, haters hurt my stomach; therefore, I feel it’s my duty to shit on them, metaphorically *laughs,*by me improving and moving forward.
Please tell us a little more about your song ‘Safe Sex,’ other than the obvious title.
User Boy: *laughs* well, basically it’s obvious that a lot of people of various ages are having sex in the world, but not enough are practicing safe sex. This is mostly due to them not really knowing the risk of having unprotected sex. I did ‘Safe Sex’ to try and educate people in a funny but powerful way. I came at it from my own point of view, and what I saw around me, from girls persisting to have unprotected sex to the consequences of having a disease: “I don’t want my dick to drop off, don’t wanna be sick don’t want *cough cough*.” I wanna add, I’m not saying don’t have sex, just be sensible about it.
Tell us what your crew, Shagalang Entertainment, means to you:
User Boy: the world; my life; my family. We only consist of 4 members, myself User, Foxx, Aggro, and Mems. Individually, I think we have our own style and I feel we are very versatile artists, as we create tunes in most genres. Together, I really feel, there’s no limit to our potential. I don’t really classify us as a crew, but more as brothers with the same goal in life. I see serious things for us in the future, and hopefully our music will speak for itself.
What inspired you to be a lyricist?
User Boy: the power that music has, the way beats and lyrics could get a person out of their seat and dance—or, conversely, make a person wanna sit back and relax. I loved music from a child--from the days I use to try memorize Biggie lyrics *laughs.* Music is also a way for me to vent my emotions or get a point across for example ‘Shit on You’ and ‘Safe Sex’
Who are your major Influences in Music?
User Boy: first of all Shagalang: Aggro, Mems and Foxx. I couldn’t count how many times I’ve listened to one of their songs and been inspired to write another tune. Apart from that, the other influence would be the rest of the scene; because I do take time to listen to other MCs, artists, producers and DJs.
What are your musical aspirations?
User Boy: I hope to be heard; I enjoy doing my music, and I hope people enjoy listening to it. Also, I hope I sway more people into our scene, like I did to you *laughs.*
Your tunes are catchy, what is it that helps you create such a fun but fierce sound.
User Boy: I don’t even know, I’m just being myself when I write and when I’m on the Mic; so I guess I’m a fun but fierce person *laughs.*
What have you got in store for 2008?
User Boy: My mixtape, ‘The Name Say It All’ is coming out soon. A joint mixtape with my crew member Foxx ‘Find the Metaphors’ is also coming out soon. I’m also working on a mixtape with Mems, and another mixtape with Krayzie one of my boys from Birmingham. And there are plans for me and Aggro to do a mixtape. I’m also planning to do a couple videos this year, so keep your eye out for me!!
Last words? Any Big Ups? And where can people go to hear more about you?
User Boy : yeah I wanna say thank you for the interview, big up Shagalang, big up my hometown Clapham, and big up all my real peeps--you know who you are (too many names), oh yeh big up my main squeeze. And yeah, if you wanna hear more and see more visit my myspace page www.myspace.com/userboy, which is updated regularly.
Interview by Roya Butler
0 comments:
Post a Comment