20MusicWeek 23.08.13 PROFILE RIZZLE KICKS
‘MOST HIP-HOP IS STILL PRETTY MISOGYNISTIC’
After a platinum-selling debut album, Rizzle Kicks are back with their second LP, Roaring 20s - still happily rooted in their unique, infectiously positive style
www.musicweek.com
TALENT n BY RHIAN JONES
T
hey might not have much time for bitches and bling, but Rizzle Kicks are arguably the UK’s biggest hip-hop act today.
Exploding onto the mainstream music scene
with second single Down With The Trumpets in 2011, duo Jordan ‘Rizzle’ Stephens and Harley ‘Sylvester’ Alexander-Sule have crafted a niche as a rap act with its tongue firmly in cheek. In doing so, they are charmingly redolent of
Native Tongues-era hip-hop, when quick-witted wordplay and infectious larking briefly elbowed out the depressing scene cornerstones of aggression, misogyny and braggadocios preening. The Rizzles enjoyed two Top 10 singles from
their debut album Stereo Typical - When I Was A Youngster and Mama Do The Hump.
ABOVE Rizzle Kicks 2013: Jordan Stephens [left] with Harley Alexander-Sule
“I really don’t understand that ‘bad bitch’ style of hip-hop at all. It’s so egotistical and money-orientated. Hip- hop at the minute fucks me up” JORDAN STEPHENS, RIZZLE KICKS
They’ve since toured North America with Ed
Sheeran, played countless well-received festival spots and very much made a name for themselves as a pop/rap act with a defining sense of humour. Both BRIT School graduates, Stephens and
Alexander-Sule signed to Island in 2010 after gaining a YouTube following with their covers of tracks by Lily Allen, White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys and M.I.A. Their debut album, released in October 2011, was the second most illegally downloaded album in the UK last year – beaten only by
Sheeran’s +. It’s since been certified platinum and sold over 350,000 copies. Now back with a second more ‘grown-up album’,
Roaring 20s - out on September 2 - We talk to the duo about credibility, hip-hop’s hang-ups and why the Mercury Prize judges could have listened to their debut a little more closely…
So, Roaring 20s – explain the concept… Jordan Stephens: It’s based on a thesis which is that the 1900s correlates to the human age, so if you were to say that 1914-1918 was WW1 and you put that into human age its 14-18 when you’re about to come of age - experimenting with drugs for the first time and starting to have sex and your GCSEs are happening and all that. Then the 1920s came where it seems that the cultural epicentre of the world was Berlin, Paris, New York, London and everything suddenly blew into colour, they’d broken out of
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60