Hailing from Scotland’s notorious ‘Calders’ aka ‘C-Block’, BAFTA Nominated NorthernXposure are Scotland’s longest running and original rap group representing Scottish rap music both in the UK and Worldwide. Though unsigned, the brother and sister hip hop act have toured in the USA with such groups as ‘Naughty By Nature’, ‘Dead Prez’, and ‘The Roots’, as well as in the UK and Europe with ‘Sugar Minott’, ’The Skatelites’,'The Mighty Diamonds’, ‘Tony Tuff’, ‘John Holt’, ‘MC Solaar’, ’Talib Kweli’, ‘Busta Rhymes’, ‘Wu-Tang’, ‘Coolio’, ‘Amy Winehouse’, ’Estelle’, ‘Roots Manuva’ and ‘N-Dubz’, to mention but a few.
NorthernXposure pride themselves on representing to the youth, both in their locality and beyond, that anything in life is possible and obtainable. Despite having no management or label, this year alone NorthernXposure have secured slots on John Bishops primetime BBC1 show as well as live music tours in Spain, USA, the UK and Paris as well as appearing at London 02 Arena, Lovebox, Glastonbury and T-in the Park.
NorthernXposure ‘Sign Posts’ Produced by Mungo’s Hi Fi
Furthermore, the group scooped the title of ‘Best Scottish Arts and Entertainment’ this year at a prestigious event organised by the Scottish Goverment and Council. Other nominees included, Madjid Bougherra – central defender of Rangers FC and Algeria, Aamer Anwar – one of Scotland’s most famous solicitors and human rights campaigners, Imran Alam – General Secretary of Glasgow. The event was hosted by Rush Hour 2′s Omar Regan. The rap group also raised over £2000 for LMHR as well as the Haiti crisis.
As the only unsigned Scottish urban act to feature at the MOBO Awards NorthernXposure were described as ’The main reason they will be in Scotland’, and by Lauren Laverne on BBC2′s The Culture Show as ‘Poised for great things’.
The crew have been running for over a decade and their current album ’The Last Peice of The Puzzle’ out now (worldwide from HMV and iTunes), is an amalgam of dubstep, reggae, philosophical hip hop and conscious world beats; resulting in a captivating and original hybrid sound. This is an album that is integral to your CD collection.
Hailing from our side of ‘The Burgh’ we though it would be great to get a nice wee interview with them.
First of all, define your style and tell us a bit about yourself.
NRNXPO’s music is an amalgum of world music, reggae, dubstep and concious hip hop.
How did you get into Music? Take us right back to the beginning from the days of “NorthernXposure”.
NorthernXposure was started by Revalations & Recital while they were in high school. The band was later joined by Premonitions, Revalations younger sister and their DJ Tok2much.
To date the band has been running for over a decade.
How does it all begin when you start writing a track?
Revalations is know as a genious in the industry. As one of the founding fathers of Scottish hip hop he never writes anything down, choosing instead to write all of his music in his head.
He is the sole inspiration the the rest of the band. Generally speaking our topics always concentrate on the same thing: social, environmental and political issues within society.
What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune?
Our ultimate aim is to save the world one millimeter at a time!
Do you like to work alone or with other people?
We are happy to collaborate with like-minded individuals, with similar ideologies and goals.
Who is your dream artist to work with?
Lauryn Hill for Premonitions and damien Marley and Nas for Revalations.
What do you like the most about performing your music to fans?
We get the opportunity to offer an alternative to mainstream popular music which tends to distract people from reality.
What has been your biggest challenge as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
Our biggest challenge is to do with the British audience. In the UK we have a tendancey to be very unsupportive unless advised to do so by major co-operations.It tends to be the case that people do not take you seriously unless they see you on TV which is shame.
If we look at the industy in the USA or Europe it is everyday people who have support especially rap artists and often catapult them to startdom. So success is not only decided by major lables.
We can see this clearly in the case of fellow urban artists Estelle. She was making music for 15 years in the UK before she got her break, which in the end did not come from the UK but the USA.
What’s your Best/Worst gig?
Our best gig would have to be one that we have not played yet: our upcoming tour with Damien Marley and Nas!
We have to admit we’ve never had a bad gig, keep your fingers crossed!
What’s your dream gig?
Lauryn Hill.
What music do you listen to and enjoy?
Big L, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Bust Rhyms, Lauryn Hill, Damien Marley, Nas, African, reggae and world music.
What’s your all-time favourite song?
And what is your guilty pleasure track!
How can fans-to-be gain access to your music?
The album is also out Nationwide at HMV and Worldwide on iTunes. NorthernXposure ‘The Last Piece of The Puzzle’.
Do you have any tips for other young artists who want to succeed?
Don’ think that things happen overnight. The music industry is very very hard work unless you are happy to do pop music, are signed by a label or appear on a show such as Britian’s got Talent or X-Factor.
‘The main reason they will be in Scotland’, and by Lauren Laverne on BBC2′s The Culture Show as ‘Poised for great things’.
