Tracking Back: Res One
Photo by Anis Ali
When considering true stalwart supporters of the U.K hip hop scene, you need not look any further than Res One. Member of Split Prophets, owner of Green Brick Records, host of The Brick Sofa Podcast and running Fattylou with his partner! We’re amazed he had time to fill this in but let’s find out what built Res One.
1. What is your earliest memory of music as a child? We’re talking nursery rhyme early.
I think it was maybe yellow submarine by the Beatles. I remember singing it in play school with my class for some sort of play type thing.
2. What music were your parents/guardians into? What was played around the house growing up?
My Ma played a lot of Acid Rock and all sorts, things like Frank Zappa, the Doors, Lou Reed. Also, a lot of David Bowie and The Beatles got heavy rotation. My old man was more into Jazz and Blues and would play a lot of Slim Gaylard, Thilonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, Fats Whaller etc. To be honest they had a crazy tape collection, a huge box with everything in it. I got a pretty dope musical upbringing.
3. Did you have any tapes or records bought for you?
I used to record all my tapes from the radio and make mixtapes etc. But the first CDs I remember being given was Tribe Called Quest -Midnight Marauders, An Offspring album and Jurassic 5 Quality Control. Shouts to Percy Dean, my old mate Joe’s stepdad for the hookup. He also gave me my first skateboard!
4. What is the first music video you can remember?
Shit I don’t know, I didn’t have a TV or computer as kid so I don’t really remember the early ones. I remember an Offspring video where the guy jumps off a pylon in a field haha. Who knows. Old Bustah videos always stick out in my memory.
5. What was the first record/tape/CD you bought for yourself? It can be a single or album.
The Slim Shady LP was the first CD I bought. My Mum and Dad took that shit straight off me though so I had to find alternative ways to get the good good haha. I think the first record I bought was ‘Where’s my money’ by Caspa.
6. What music were you into in the early days at school? Were your friends into the same thing?
A bit of US rap, the obvious heads like Wu-Tang and Gangstarr. Also some of the West Coast heads, Dr Dre shit and Nate Dogg etc. Mainly what I heard in skate videos though. I was always pretty into what was around and being played alongside the skate videos I was watching or in Fifty-Fifty skate store when I was skipping school sitting on their sofa. I think as mates we all came together through skating and the music kind of followed.
7. As a teenager did this change?
I think when I got into my teens I got more fixed to one genre and more specifically U.K. Hip hop and Grime. I remember mainly U.K. Hip Hop though and a bit of early Grime was pretty much all I listened to throughout school. A lot of grime, in fact, all Dizzee’s albums and anything from Roll Deep, Ghetts, etc. As far as the Hip Hop I’d say Taskforce, Skinnyman, Muddfam, Poisonous Poets, Blak Twang, Mystro (Now Mysdiggi), Jehst, etc. The list could go on for ages, to be honest, but mainly U.K. stuff.
Don’t get it twisted though I’d still slap on some Iron Maiden and mosh it up with Bil Next!
8. Did you play an instrument at school and can you still play it?
Naa I fucked up on that. Wish I had learned something but life got in the way
9. Give us a fond memory of one track at high school/college. Any house parties, road trips, holidays...
‘No Diggety’ by Dr. Dre, Blackstreet and Queen Pen. That was the team’s anthem for years! Every time we went camping with gang that got played heavy!
10. What was your first experience of Rap music? How did it make you feel?
I think it crept in pretty quick but I don’t have a definitive moment where I was like, oh shit this is my life. That kind of happened naturally. But it always spoke to me. I connect way more to Hip Hop/ Rap/ Grime than anything else and I feel at home in the sound.
11. What’s the earliest Rap music video you remember?
Probably something like Busta Rhymes ‘Get out’ to The Real Slim Shady. Shit was wild back then they had mad budgets for videos and everything was shiny haha.
12. After discovering Rap, which artists did you listen to the most?
Around 11/12 years old it was all about the chill US vibe, like Tribe Called Quest, J5 etc, mixed with the West Coast heavyweights Dr. Dre, Nate Dogg and Xzibit. As I started to find more and more US artists like the WU and loads of East Coast stuff I started finding Grime etc. The maddest thing is that I had a copy of Countryman and just didn’t understand what U.K. Hip Hop was. It wasn’t until I found Grime, which at first I thought was the U.K’s version. I didn’t know shit, to be honest, I’m self-taught In the game.
13. What made you pick up a pen and start writing bars, or what gave you the confidence to start to compose music yourself?
I had downloaded this track from a certain site and it was titled Bristol hip hop. This was at the point I was actively looking for it and trying to find new artists etc.
Anyway, I was skating with some of my boys and was spitting the bars from this track and my friend Liam turned to me and was like “that’s my brother’s track, how the fuck you know that”.
I proceeded to tell him he’s full of shit etc and he told me his bro was In a Bristol hip hop crew called Se Fire and the track I was listening to was called peace. The shit blew my mind! Then him and my other friend Pickles both told me they rap.
Yeah that was the real turning point for me, seeing my closest friends doing it and Liam’s bro already being an established artist, I was like fuck this I’m going in.
14. Would you say your sound today carries influences from your childhood?
Yeah most definitely. I had a pretty crazy childhood and a few things got really suppressed, that only in the past few years have started to show face but always subconsciously played a part in who I am and what I make. Also I had such a varied musical upbringing it definitely played a part in my flavour.
15. Do you have any idols in music? Have you met any?
All of my Idols are dead..... Naa I’m joking there is too many to name though and we’re all human. Redman was a G and he’s always been in my top 5. All my idols from the U.K. are now my associates etc and we talk. It’s amazing to grow up listening to heads and then gain their respect by putting in work they inspired you to do. I love the respect from my idols it pushes me to be better. Also, I’ve got the illest crews of family around me, split prophets/ green brick fam, they all inspire me more than my “idols”.
16. Finally, let’s end on an embarrassing question. What is your guilty pleasure today in modern music?
Cardi B..... ‘I like it’ there are a few little guilty pleasures though. It’s all good.
Çeri (Res One) Choron
