REWD ADAMS & THE LAST SKEPTIK - EVERYTHING'S OK (Music Video)

OUT MAY 7th on iTUNES, AMAZON, HMV.COM

FILMED, ANIMATED & EDITED BY SONNY MALHOTRA

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Rewd Adams Interview

In the week of the ‘Rewd Awakening’ release we caught up with Rewd Adams to talk about everything from the history to the future, Radio 1 to religion and Prison to Plan B……….

For people who don’t know your history can you please tell us where it all started for you in terms of first putting the pen to pad?

I tried a little bit of drum and bass mcing when I was about 20 under the name Creeper. It kind of got semi serious to the stage where I was performing at some up and coming jams in London. I went away for a bit ‘on a holiday’ then when I came back I was less into the drum and bass and more into UK hip hop. Some guys that I was running with put me onto guys like Jehst and Taskforce. From then I thought yeah I want to be doing this. It was about 2004 when it all started.


Im not a fan of labelling MCs into categories. I much prefer to hear where they came up from and let people build their own assumptions. Please tell us your background in music in general?

I don’t really come from a musical background at all. I grew up listening to DnB, jungle UK music and my Dad was banging out a lot of rock and roll like Cream and people like that. I grew up on UK stuff. Right now I listen to a lot of soul and old RnB. Things like Marvin Gaye, The Isley Brothers and Earth Wind And Fire.

Going back ‘Project A' was your first official release and saw you putting your vocals to beats by the already well established producer Chemo. How did this connection come about?

I met Chemo through Manage who was my next door neighbour back in the day. Chemo was engineering for Manage and Wordsmith. From there we started recording....

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE

Rewd Adams - Rewd Awakening (Free Download)

Rewd Adams drops his new album today as free download, via his bandcamp page: http://www.rewdadams.com

As it's free, you really have no excuse, especially as it is a solid project that would have been well worth spending money on anyway...

If you haven't checked out the review I did a couple days ago, check it here: Rewd Adams - Rewd Awakening (Review)

Rewd Adams - Rewd Awakening (Review)

If I was ever asked by a big label, let's say Def Jam, to name an artist who I thought had a realistic chance of blowing up with the right backing (haha), I might be tempted to suggest the artist formerly known as Skandal. Not because he is a personal favourite, but because he is that relatively rare thing; an MC who makes polished sounding, reasonably accessible music, whilst actually possessing some talent. What I mean by this is that he doesn't make the sort of music that you have to be a hip-hop nerd to appreciate. You're not going to find too many dusty jazz samples here, for example. I also remember him stating in an interview that he studied the art of writing catchy hooks from 50 Cent records. This shows, even stretching to using autotune on 'Go', which may well attract some criticism. However, the bottom line is that guy can spit, and his passionate delivery is demonstrated pretty much throughout Rewd Awakening.

The album kicks off in style. The title track features the same sample as the Jay-Z classic 'Where I'm From', and Adams gets straight into it:

"Sometimes I see angels,

Sometimes I see devils wearing halos,

I see horn-tipped wings and a fake smile.

Trust me, I aint known trust in a while, I put trust in my style.

Not my brothers or my sisters,

The priests or the sisters,

The doctors or the sisters,

Your clocks or your systems.

Because where were you when I was in jail?

Writing letters, and you didn't write back

Little snake, little rat.

This is a letter for all my guardian angels I never had,

In this sin city, I'll probably never have them."

The intensity of this track is not a one-off either. On 'Wish Myself Away' he discusses previous suicidal feelings, and how he's turned his life around. The emotion poured into this track is helped by an appearance from the ever-impressive Graziella, and the piano line, courtesy of Beat Butcha. However, all of these are topped by the extremely raw 'Promise'. Adams really bares his soul on this, as he addresses a friend whose father has died. The self-analysis, and aching delivery are reminiscent of Joe Budden at his most introspective. The beat is also outstanding, as Sivey serves up some haunting keys for Adams to open up over. As that piano line fades out, this would have been the absolutely ideal finish to the album. Sadly the vibe is interrupted by the slightly pointless inclusion the Kill Em With The Flow remix, basically as a bonus track. Whilst obviously this isn't a bad tune, it was everywhere last year, and doesn't seem to be necessary here.

The production line-up is filled with heavyweights, and not just from the UK, as Australia's M-Phazes is also featured. The highly rated producer, who has worked with the likes of Masta Ace, provides an absolute banger with 'This'. Jon Phonics' drums are as crunchy as ever on 'Everyday', and Jetsun's laid-back head-nodder is perfect backdrop for Adams to get philosophical over on Questions. The only real criticism of the production is that in what is clearly a deliberate attempt to have a modern, polished, accessible sound, the synths are perhaps overdone. It works wonderfully well when combined with good samples, such as on the title track, and 'Promise', but can lend the album as slightly samey vibe musically, and leaves some tracks, such as 'Rookie' sounding a little bland. A couple of more soulful, sample-driven beats may have brought out the best in Rewd Adams' engaging delivery.

One lyrical theme that keeps coming up is Adams' attempts to prove himself to/put down any haters or naysayers. On 'Go' and 'I Know' the whole tracks are dedicated to the character assassination of individuals who have pissed him off. Generally though, the lyrical content is fairly well rounded, as many different subjects are touched on, and every track seems to have a specific focus and concept. This is just as well, as his bars are occasionally some way short of razor sharp ("Pass the remote/You're not remotely near me" & "I'm Head & Shoulders above you/My shampoo's on the top shelf"). This potential weakness is never really exposed though, as at only 13 tracks in length, the project is never left to drift, and only 'Rookie' and the 'Kill Em With The Flow' remix feel anything like filler. This is a release that should appeal to any fan of British rap music, regardless of which little niche area they prefer.

Best news of all for any hard up punters is that this album is available for free. It will be available to download from Rew Adams' bandcamp page (www.rewdadams.com) on the 5th of February, which is this Saturday. Don't be thinking that this is yet another throwaway release as so many free downloads are, this is a proper album, you just don't have to pay for it. Although, I guess this means that it probably won't be getting a physical release, which is a bit of a shame.

7.5/10

If you haven't checked them out, here are videos for a couple of the tracks on the album. Firstly the Jetsun produced Questions:

And also the Jon Phonics produced, Black The Ripper featuring Everyday:

Rewd Adams - Spaceship (Video)

New video for this track which was on Rewd Adams' mixtape Hunger Pains (back when he was called Skandal...).

Aaaand, a reminder that his latest project, Rewd Awakening, will drop on the 5th of Feb as a free download.

Rewd Adams, coming soon

The artist formerly known as Skandal will return on the 5th of Feb with his first release under the new moniker, Rewd Adams.

Check out the 'official leak' (them again) from Rewd Awakening below:

You can also check out the, admittedly rather pointless, album promo vid as well: