Mc Manic

I started chatting when I was 17, I remember because I was getting asked for ID every week even though I worked there. Before that I had been living in London where other MC’s heavily influenced me, different raves we went to, and the whole jungle culture. At that time (1995 –1997) Garage didn’t seem as dominant, perhaps that’s why Jungle played a bigger part in my life not that I’m a big Garage fan anyway but I did sometimes chat over new school, breakbeat and Garage, I get the odd booking.

The club I started working in when I was seventeen was called The Opera House. At the time it was the biggest club on the South Coast, playing House (Slinky) Jungle (CocoSheBeen). I don’t go out in Bournemouth much, unless I’ve got a booking, or am going to listen to some Hip Hop / Reggae / RNB,I love going out to a club flexing, getting back to the club it was ram every Friday night, Jungle was a new ting in Bournemouth so it took a little while for CocoSheBeen to take off but when it did it was quality. I was showing up the already resident MC’s they were nearly twice my age.

DJ Keaten now with ‘usual suspects’ was a resident at CocoSheBeen. At the time we were good friends, we used to get quite a few bookings off our own backs, then he started getting bigger. Dave Wallace and Kieron Bailey from Aquasky were also residents at the Club for years while I worked there, they are real good friends of mine and Brent, who have helped me so much, they’ve got me some wicked bookings abroad and all over the UK and have helped me with my Studio production and vocals. Forgot to mention I have achieved City & Guilds 1, 2 & 3 in Sound Engineering which helped me in the studio.

As well as the guys I’ve already mentioned I have met loads of people over the last 7-8 years who have helped me gain more recognition am getting bigger and better bookings thanks to all a dem!

I used to do a Radio show in Bournemouth on at the time ‘ENERGY’ now called FIRE 107.6 FM. It was well cheesy in the day but we used to do a specialist show from 12-2pm Sunday mornings, I did it with a guy called DJ Element, a good mate, at the time he was working for S R D distributors, he got the latest releases every week and we would rinse them out. It all fell apart though when they told us that the show was getting the best rating out of all the specialist shows we told them we wanted paying or some money for tunes they told us we could use their headed paper of the internet not suprisingly we told them to Fuck Off!

I cant say that I have got one big influence, I am into all genres of music from Ragga, Dub, to rock but anything breakbeat and Jungle is my love, I love Hip Hop Roots Manouver, Black Twang, Rodney P, Phi-Life Cypher and stuff from the States not so much commercial stuff. Ive always loved writing rhymes, if it comes off well in the club over a nice break it’s the best buzz. I also think that’s what drives me in the studio. Maybe in the future ill get to perform the stuff I have written, definitely heading that way.

Check out this list of places I have played….
Germany, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Antwerp, Rome, Prague, Romania, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Cambridge, Oxford, ‘One Nation’ at the Wrex, Jersey (resident), Opera House (Resident), Slinky (at the Bournemouth International Centre) Soho. Southampton, Basingstoke, Bristol, Taunton (Resident) and Destiny (resident).