Marvin Sparks

Stumbled across this interview Grime Daily . Obviously I'd seen it before but here's an interview I did with UK rapper Akala. He speaks on grime being an extension of hip hop, rejecting the "positive rapper" title, lyrics versus flow and as it's black History month, an inspirational black british icon. Did this interview about 2 hours after I'd woken up to a text confirming it (late night). Never did a press day before in my life. Well not one like this. Everyone sitting in the same room waiting their turn. Hearing what everyone else has asked can throw you off 'cos you don't want to be the sucker to get a regurgitated/generic answer worse than the dude/dudette before you. Oh and it is the first interview I've released done on video so don't watch the wobbly camera at the beginning. Forgot I had to actually focus the camera on the person. Oh and I don't sound like that in real life. Well my voice doesn't sound like that in real life (i...

Did two interviews outside of the dancehall/reggae genre; one with UK rappers SAS and Grime's Devlin for Flavour magazine. I call the SAS one a radio edit. That side of the story had to be told and needs to be heard; the other is the mad real talk. Both very necessary. A 40-minute interview with word limit of 900 words doesn't work too well. I hope to release it at some point, but it is explosive. No hype Check page 50 for SAS interview Me and Devlin spoke about a lot like writing lyrics at 13, what people liked about his debut mixtape Tales of the Crypt, inspiration behind Community Outcast, whether he felt like an outcast in the grime scene, not liking the Mike Skinner comparison and trials and tribulations on his journey in the game. That interview is on page 35 Check: http://www.flavourmag.co.uk/ Oh yeah, the cover story with Scorcher is sick! For the sex edition he shares embarrassing sex stories. Hilarious

Sup people dem! I was away on holiday-e-a-e-a a-e-a-e-a (pronounce the letter as you would in the alphabet) as Chevaugn sung, so haven't done a FlashBack Friday (click for previous episodes) for a hot minute. Before that I was probably too busy to do it (or so I'm telling you muahahahaha). Anyway, I'M/ITS BACK! Today, for some random reason a song came into my head. I have them word association moments from the smallest things, so it could have been anything. Anyway, I heard searched it in YouTube, listened to it, and yes it was still as cheesy and crap as it was over 10 years ago. This inspired me to post about the 3 cheesiest knock-off's of UK homegrown sounds. Disclaimer: Well, sounds that to my knowledge are UK homegrown (go easy you keyboard warriors, mistakes happen). 1st up, the song that inspired this all. According to ever-reliable online encyclopedia, this group formed in Finland. That's right Finland. ( This is the reason for the above disclaimer because...

Flavour cover stars 23-year-old DaVinChe – who produced Kano’s smash hit Brown Eyes – and songstress Cleo Sol, 19, met through MySpace when DaVinChe heard her sing an unmastered song. Their new single Addicted is a funky tune guaranteed to be on your summer playlists. We caught up with the duo to talk music, school days, and lessons learned http://www.flavourmag.co.uk/davinche-and-cleo-soul/ You can head over to http://www.flavourmag.co.uk/ and read the whole magazine with feautures from Trey Songz, Big Boi and much more For more interviews that I've done in reggae (Morgan Heritage, Busy Signal, Tarrus Riley, Beres Hammond...), UK Funky, artists from grime (Chipmunk, Tinchy, Skepta, Bashy...), US hip hop and r&b (TI, John Legend, Trey Songz, Akon...) click here

Fame Academy’s real winner Lemar has already sold in excess of 2 million records and returns with his 4th studio entitled The Reason, which is lead by SoulShock and Karlin produced ‘If She Knew’. Marvin Sparks caught up with the 2-time MOBO and 2-time Brit Awards winner to discuss fatherhood, plans to conquer USA, the motivation behind The Reason and more... Marvin Sparks : Welcome back, what have you been up to since your last album? Lemar: What have I been up to between albums? Wow, I’ve been doing a lot of things. I ended the last album with a tour, which was pretty cool. I went to Europe for a bit, toured with Beyoncé which was cool. Then I started the album - the album recording process has taken about 9 months, I did 78 songs and shortened that down to the 10 songs, which are on the album, ‘The Reason‘ which comes out in November. That’s it really, I’ve been working hard and living life really and life doing its thing. Marvin Sparks : You forgot one important event; congratula...

Marvin Sparks caught up with 20 year-old DJ/MC/Producer DJ Ironik to ask about the forthcoming album, his views on the crime amongst teens, Internet success, the smash-hit single ‘Stay With Me’ and more. Marvin Sparks: How’s life been treating you now that you’re on TV, and face is getting popular? Ironik: I can’t really walk down the street much [laughs]. Just being recognised on the streets loads. People asking for pictures and autographs. It has been more hectic. People that didn’t wanna know before wanna know now, but that’s all good though. It’s just the way it is.” Marvin Sparks: How did you first get into the music game? Ironik: I started out when I was about 13 as a DJ. My uncle owns ‘Twice As Nice,’ they’re a big promotional company. The Old Skool Garage and Jungle was always around me ‘cause of ‘Twice As Nice,’ my Mum and Dad were always listening to it, so I guess that’s how I got into and DJ’in. I was DJ’in from about 13 to 15 and that’s when I started producing for loads ...