Feeds
Can you tell us a little bit about your new track 'Hot Stuff' and explain why you chose it as your first single?
"I released it because I wanted a track that represented my interpretation of the club scene and culture right now. Using David Bowie's 'Let's Dance' kind of came about from Frazer T Smith, who is one of the producers on the record. I asked him to pull out some '80s soul records and he ended up pulling out a load of '80s pop records. He played me this one track and I heard this kind of [singing] 'Let's Dance', and I thought 'this has got a good vibe about it'. I wasn't familiar with the original, I think the time it came out was 1983. I was only born in 1981 so I wasn't really privy to the whole David Bowie empire. So I just thought 'that's great, let's use a little bit of that and build a track and I'll put my own little twist on it'. I think it came out really well. It had an instant, hooky, infectious... everything I'm trying to say is a verb. It was an instant, one listen, you get this, or you don't. It has a love/hate relationship, rather than one you fall in love with.
"It was a beautiful moment because I was using a track from the '80s and reintroducing people to David Bowie and that sound. And myself, I only knew David Bowie as the guy from Labyrinth, the wizard man. It was definitely an interesting experience. The fact that he said I could use the sample, as well, was kind of gratification in itself because if he'd said no, we'd have to have respected it because it's such a big hit and you don't want to mess around with such a classic. But the fact that he felt what I'd done to it was an extension of it in some way, rather than me messing around with what he had, it was cool."
Were you worried at all about the reaction you'd get from the die-hard Bowie fans?
"I'm not, to be honest with you, I'm not that bothered. You know what, there is that thing, where people have something they've grown up with and they don't want anyone messing around with it at all. And I'm like 'Really? This is what I'm trying to do and bring to the table'. And the fact that David Bowie was cool is what's cool. There's going to be people who don't like it and dislike it because they love the original so much. But hopefully there'll be other people that don't even know about David Bowie's music, who will just be like, 'Oh ok then'. Because Kanye West, his whole album is based around things that I didn't even know. And Puff Daddy as well."
The video for the single appears to have been influenced by MC Hammer's 'U Can't Touch This'. Is that right or are we going mad?
"You know what, it was one of these ideas that got thrown into the mix through one of the girls at the label who was helping me make the video. And she was like, 'Yeah, it would be cool to have some kind of MC Hammer style', and I was like, 'No, no, no, no, no, no, that's not cool'. And then she kind of sold me on the 'Buffalo Stance', Neneh Cherry, kind of thing. She wanted me to get dancers who were more old school, feisty, rather than the ultra-sexy normal routine. And it's been interesting because some people have come and said, 'Oh it's from Nenah Cherry's 'Buffalo Stance'', while other people have said MC Hammer. So it's a kind of cross between the two. Whenever anyone says MC Hammer, I'm like, 'Yeah, obviously we went into it trying to make this little ditty, ode to MC Hammer and those days when everyone was going crazy'. Obviously, because I would say I want MC Hammer dancing on my video, hahaha. And when the other people say Neneh Cherry, I say, 'Yeah, Neneh Cherry, cool. That's the vibe we had going on'. You know how it goes."
You worked with Kano earlier this year on 'This Is The Girl'. What do you think of the state of the UK urban scene at the moment?
"I think it's looking on the up. I mean Kano won the BT Award, so he's definitely putting the UK hip-hop scene on the map. And the Dizzee Rascals, the Wileys, the Sways, they are all coming through. You can stay underground for as long as you want. Repping your corner or repping your hood, whatever. That's a good thing, that's fine. But you have to recognise that in a country that is so multicultural and multi-styled, with all different types of listeners, to be very one-minded and think that because you are representing a certain clique and your area, that the rest of the nation will like you the same is wrong. You have to recognise that outside of London, there are people who aren't necessarily 'on' what's actually happening with the musical scene. A lot of people will pick up The Sun and go, 'Alright that's what's happening, I guess that's the gospel'.
"The music has to be at the forefront and it's not necessarily about the scene that it comes from. I think that certain things are put under a banner and are associated with being really cool, and it's about understanding that you can be an artist with real integrity and you can open up and have the world see how talented you are. You don't have to feel like you have to keep all your crew and all your people happy. I think people would like it to be like it is in America, where you can be like that and still sell records, because they have that whole thing where there's bravado and a 'this is my crew' thing. From the Wu-Tang, to G-Unit, to D-12, it's just like, 'Yeah, this is how we get down'. Over here, I think it's like, 'Who are these guys running around with their hats on tilt, with the stickers still on and tags on their jeans?', and not quite getting it. I think you should still rock all that. You don't have to change yourself, you just have to recognise the place that you're in. You can be clever about it and still get you're point across.
"And that's where I think Kano was clever, by being very open to allowing me to work with him. And vice-versa, it was really cool for me. But in terms of the single, I think that in hip-hop, across the board - in the UK and the US - if someone isn't given a hook or a chorus in a track, it's like where's the pay-off. You kind of get to the verse and it's great, but then it gets to the chorus and you're like, 'Well it sounds like you're still doing your verse'. You never get that bang. The fact that I was kind of able to do that melodic thing, that [singing] 'This is the girl that I want', and then it goes back into his verse - I think it was a good balance. 50 Cent's very clever at that. And Kanye West is very good at that, and you can see why these people go on to bigger and better things, because they have a lot of melodic stuff in their choruses. We need to be a bit more aware of what works."
More from Craig David on page 2!
