I caught up with Birmingham talent, Dapz to find out what his been up to recently and where he disappeared to all those months ago! Check out the interview to find out more.
Mo-Mo; Who Is Dapz and what are you about?
Dapz; I’m a Grime artist from Birmingham, just trying to do my thing in the music scene. I’ve been doing music since I was 12 years old, but it’s only last year or the year before that I’ve been taking it seriously. Dapz is trying for the top.
Mo-Mo; Who or what inspired you to do music?
Dapz; Who inspired me to do music?!...The old Birmingham artists inspired me; the likes of Brasco, Devilman, GT, the Midlands Mafia, all those types of artists inspired me. I used to listen to them on radio before I started taking it seriously, so you could say I copied what they were doing and then from there I just found my own feet and it took off.
Mo-Mo; What genres of music?
Dapz; I’ve done a few live band performances and a few acoustic performances but Grime is the forefront, that’s the main genre for me. However, I can rap and I can kind of sing, (laughs), a little bit of melody here and there. On my new CD, there is a variety of tempos, all of it is Grime but not all of it is 140BPM, some tracks are 130BPM, 135BPM or 134BPM. Those tempos are the tempos that live bands work off, I’m very into that. For my future project ‘A to Z’ I might do that.
Mo-Mo; What artists do you listen to?
Dapz; I listen to Tempa, Livewire, Movez, Sox and StayFresh, I’m in tune with the Midlands movement right now. From London I listen to Krypt & Konan, Scorcher, Skepta, artists like that. I listen to the usual suspects from the U.S; Lil Wayne, Drake, Trey Songz – I really like Trey Songz, his hard! I don’t care what anybody says, (laughs), Rick Ross – His official!
Mo-Mo; At the start of your career there was a lot of controversy around Dapz. What are your thoughts and feelings?
Dapz; The whole mission was to get Dapz out there and known but when the controversy was going on I had a CD coming out. It wouldn’t have happened if certain things weren’t said. I had no intention of sending for anyone on the pretence of ‘Yeh, I need to get big so I’m going to send for him’, I had no intention of doing that, it was not in the plan. The plan was to do loads of tracks, put them on my Facebook, put them on Youtube and then try to get my name known. I was sent for, I replied back, that is what caused the controversy, it wasn’t in the plan but it’s a good thing that it happened. It gave me a kick in the right direction, in the sense that it helped give me a name in Birmingham. Controversy is good, well it’s not good but it helps to a certain extent, it spreads fast. But, it only lasts so long, that’s why even though I was doing what I was doing, I had a CD to back myself. I wasn’t just about the controversy but my new CD, ‘Bob & Weave’ explains all of this.
Mo-Mo; What makes Dapz different to other artists?
Dapz; What makes me different to other artists is that I’m strict with my wordplay and flow, they have to be a certain way. For example, say I’m writing a 32 bar, I’ll write 12bars and then put it down and wait for more inspiration to come. I could be waiting minutes, hours, days, weeks, it doesn’t matter to me, I’ll just wait for the inspiration and then I’ll finish off the bar, the bar has to sound polished. I also sing on chorus’, that’s another thing that makes me different to other artists, because I don’t know anybody else from the Midlands that does that, well, not like me anyway.
Mo-Mo; You just mentioned that you wait for inspiration, you recently took a bit of time out from the scene, why?
Dapz; (laughs), I disappeared…batman style! When I was doing my thing in the music, my money was right and then the money dried up so I had to stop what I was doing to get the money back up. I’m back now and I’m fully on music, I’m not looking back. A lot of people were disappointed in me and a lot of people were upset with me, but I had to disappear because you can’t do music without money. You have to have a bit of money in your pocket to do music, but I’m not going to disappear again, but that was the reason, financial difficulties. Bob & Weave is my new CD that’s coming out, it will explain situations that I was in and why I did what I did. I’m here now, that is the past, and we can’t dwell on the past.
Mo-Mo; What can we expect from Dapz for the rest of 2010?
Dapz; I’m back now! Bob & Weave – you can expect that in December, there isn’t a set date yet but it will be in December. When Bob & Weave is finished I’m going to give you a few things, ‘Don’t Gas Me Up’ which will be similar to Tempo Talented, and then I’m going to give you ‘A to Z’. In the meantime, I’m going to be doing videos, lots of videos, so the public will be seeing a lot of my face, interviews and shows. I’m fully focused now.
Mo-Mo; What can we expect from Bob & Weave?
Dapz; Expect a lot from Bob & Weave! So far, there are three really good features and it’s 95% finished. I have a feature from Ruth, she’s a really good singer, Stunna Kai and Tempa, that is the features so far. There isn’t going to be more than five artists on Bob & Weave, as I don’t feel that it needs to be bombarded with features. Tempo Talented had an abundance of features; there were ten artists on one track! I want the supporters to get to know Dapz, I don’t need to showcase everybody else. Only important people to me or those that I think are really good and I really wanted to work with them are on Bob & Weave.
Mo-Mo; What is your opinion on the music scene at the moment?
Dapz; The Grime scene at the moment is good! Skepta has done a track with Priya called ‘Cross My Heart’, that is a Grime track and it gets regular play on Radio 1. That shows that Grime is doing well, it’s doing something, give it a few years and it will be established, to the point where, you will be going to work in the morning and you will be hearing Grime. The scene is moving fast, especially in the Midlands. In 2009, there was only a few artists that were doing well, the same few are doing it this year but there are more artists now, more artists involved that are on doing the music and working hard. So, 2011 there should be more artists expanding the scene. It is definitely a good look!
Thank you for taking the time out to do this interview.
Returning from his break away from the scene, It seems that Dapz is definitely not off the map, with his mindset right and his aspirations in check, we are sure to be shown a lot from the Birmingham artist. I patiently anticipate the release of his new CD, Bob & Weave which is to be released next month. I will definitely be blogging about that.
