IG Culture

BENJI B

What do we call that?

IG Culture

London bruk boogie.

BENJI B

IG, welcome. Thanks so much for getting on the plane. IG’s just been here for an hour, just touched down an hour ago. Thanks a lot for making the effort to join us this evening.

IG Culture

Thanks for having me. I actually found out about it Sunday and they said, “Can you make it Monday?” I said, “It’s too early, too soon.” So they got me on on Tuesday. So this is straight off the cuff. I haven’t got anything prepared, just raw.

BENJI B

Do you want to introduce yourself - name and where you’re from for those who don’t know?

IG Culture

My name’s IG. I’m from London, I’ve been involved in many movements in London over the past 15 years: hip-hop, soul, funk, rare groove, the broken beat movement. I’ve been involved in sound systems as a youth. I’m also involved in New Sector Movements, Son of Scientist, Likwid Biskit, Quango, I’m a part of the Co-Op club and the Co-Op label. The list goes on. That’s some of the few things I do.

BENJI B

And whereabouts are you from originally?

IG Culture

I’m from West London, Acton. Pretty much grew up in Acton. Now I reside in Ladbroke Grove.

BENJI B

Musically speaking, you just listed so many pseudonyms people might be familiar with, but what was the first thing that got you interested and why?

IG Culture

The first thing that got me started was writing lyrics, and that was through reggae, listening to the DJs from Jamaica, I was into the sound system thing, got involved in sound systems. That’s basically where I got the name IG Culture. The youths I grew up with called me IG, so that name kind of stuck with me. Now I’m a big old man, and they still call me IG Culture.

BENJI B

It’s fair to say a lot of contemporary music from London the last 25 years is influenced by sound system culture. Can you tell us when you got involved in sound systems and how it shaped your musical journey?

IG Culture

Living in London is basically like this: so much music comes into London, it’s like a testing ground for so many sounds worldwide, and we absorb all of it. As well as being into sound systems, I was also into electro and soul music and even pop music at the time. We listened to all of it. As a youth, I used to go a place called Hammersmith Palais and dance to a DJ called Steve Walsh and Tim Westwood, who used to play soul music at the time. So, even Tim Westwood’s roots stem back to soul and reggae, though you wouldn’t know it now because it was Tim Westwood who brought through a London MC named General Levy. It doesn’t seem like it now, but he has got some roots.

BENJI B

Talk to me about the early days of the British hip-hop scene because obviously, that had a big influence on your first group, Dodge City.

IG Culture

There was a lot of good things at the time. There was Gunshot, IQP, which ended up being Roots Manuva, I think that’s correct. We had so many groups. Americans probably don’t know it, but way back, t was on a par with what they were doing. If you weigh it up, cheesy rap for cheesy rap at the time, it was the same. It’s just that America had the backing and it’s history now, it just went sky high. I guess, we kept it more real.

[laughter / applause]

BENJI B

So tell me about Dodge City.

IG Culture

Dodge City happened by accident. I was doing parties with a guy. At the time we had a thing called the warehouse party where we’d go to a warehouse, kick off the door, jack some electricity from somewhere. And he used to rap some verses that he knew from records and I used to do the same. We’d take the piss out of each other. I hadn’t seen him for a while and we met up again. He was doing a studio course and I’d just bought a W30, which was a really old sampler, which had about ten seconds sampling time. We decided to get together and see what we could come up with and within six months we had a record deal with Island Records. So it really happened by accident because I wasn’t going to be in a group with him. I just said, “I’ll make some beats for you.” It just happened really quick, next thing you know we’re doing shit.

BENJI B

What period was this?

IG Culture

This was 1990.

BENJI B

Have you got anything on your computer you want to play from that?

IG Culture

No, no.

[laughter]

BENJI B

Come on, I know you have.

IG Culture

No, I haven’t actually. [looks through computer]

BENJI B

How was the experience of being thrown into the major record label thing at that age at that time?

IG Culture

I was a ghetto youth at that time. I didn’t have any experience, came into it with all my ghetto-isms, was a little naïve, done things in a very naïve way, made a lot of mistakes, fell out with a lot of people and learned a lot. It was that learning curve at that period that’s taken me here. A lot of groups from the time - and in London at the time, there were so many black groups signed on major labels - when you check the groups and follow their careers, none of them has lasted. It’s tough to keep going, reinventing yourself and feeding the public. It was a tough lesson to learn. After Dodge City got dropped I had to decide what I wanted to do. Do I want to carry on the way I’m going or do I want to be serious about it? The Dodge City situation wasn’t really about us doing great music. We were really naïve. In hindsight, it was about learning.

BENJI B

And then in 2003, your New Sector Movements got signed to Virgin. That was coming full circle back to the majors again, you could apply that learning curve to that experience.

IG Culture

Well, I was ready. Between Dodge City parting company from Island to getting signed to Virgin, that’s a good eight years. I spent the whole time in the studio reinventing myself, basically. I was originally a rapper, an MC, and by the time I got signed to Virgin, I was a producer. OK, I’m going to have kick some ass as a producer now.

Benji B

What’s the One Drop thing in the middle, talk to me about One Drop.

IG Culture

When I parted company from Island Records, actually it was a subsidiary of Island Records, it was 4th & B’Way, after I parted company I was vexed, and I was vexed about a lot of stuff. I don’t want nothing to do with the industry at all, I just want to do it myself. Just like, I got cold-hearted and ignorant about it. And that’s another learning curve cos you can’t do it on your own. So I started this label called One Drop and the whole point was to hook up with young MCs and give ‘em a opportunity to rhyme on better quality productions, that’s what I thought at the time, and basically give them a outlet through the One Drop label and I ended up doing four albums with that label before Virgin started paying attention to what I was doing.

BENJI B

And you were doing remixes all the way through.

IG Culture

I was doing remixes from Dodge City right through to the start of New Sector Movements. I was remixing Gang Starr, The Luniz, Heavy D, Digital Underground, that kind of thing.

BENJI B

How did you end up with New Sector Movements and what is it?

IG Culture

The positive that thing I got out of saying, “I don’t give a shit about what’s going on out there, I’m just going to do my thing,” was the fact that I got into music. I really got into buying… going to record fairs, checking out stuff I never heard before. Got into fusion deeply, jazz, even more reggae, even more soul, even more hip-hop and I started paying attention to artists on the records. I started paying attention to what they were actually playing, so I ended up buying a Rhodes, buying some Arp’s, a Hammond, Wurlitzer, I bought the lot. I bought an SP-1200, I just got all the tools that I needed to say, “OK, I’m going to be a producer.”

BENJI B

When we have discussions, it always comes back to jazz and reggae. Are there any artists from those periods you still like to play now?

IG Culture

This is just totally random, I’m drawing tunes from my iTunes. This tune blew me away when I first heard it, I found it at a record fair.

(music: The Heath Brothers – “Smilin’ Billy Suite”)

That’s the Heath Brothers.

BENJI B

Any particular artists - I know there are so many - any artists we should run down that are major, major influences, turning points?

IG Culture

Yeah, one of the main influences for fusion is George Duke. There’s a few albums, Feel, I Love The Blues, She Heard Me Cry, then there’s another one, I can’t remember the name of it, I think it’s the first album on MPS. But yeah, George Duke is a big influence. [looks through computer]

BENJI B

Anyone else?

IG Culture

Herbie Hancock. I’m into Norman Connors, Horace Tapscott, the list goes on, Chick Corea. I could just reel off names and their albums deep. That’s the good thing about those artists. They didn’t just do one or two albums and fizzle, they’re 20, 30 albums deep. They’re not temporary.

BENJI B

What’s this a loose cover of?

IG Culture

This is a group I’m involved with called Likwid Biskit, which is me and a character called Kaidi Tatham, and this is a tune called “Herbs and Spice” and it’s basically, yeah, licking a shot to Herbie Hancock.

(music: Likwid Biskit – “Herbs And Spice” / applause)

Thanks.

BENJI B

You’ve got another one lined up there that you wanted to play.

IG Culture

Yeah, I was talking about George Duke earlier, and I did a cover of a tune he did called “That’s What She Said.” I tried to do a bruk version of it.

(music: Likwid Biskit - That’s What She Said / applause)

BENJI B

Is that one coming out?

IG Culture

That’s been out. That was about ‘94, ‘95, I think.

BENJI B

All drums programmed, yeah?

IG Culture

Yeah.

BENJI B

You mentioned that pretty much everything you do, the drums are programmed.

IG Culture

Yeah. I’ve actually had drum lessons, so I’ve got an idea of jazz or something. But yeah, if you can say it, you can play it.

BENJI B

You mentioned Kaidi playing on that piece. You’ve had the good fortune to work with some amazing musicians. Why don’t you tell us about some of them?

IG Culture

I worked with Kaidi Tatham on that. He’s not widely known, but he’s a genius, I think. I also do a project with a cat named Pino Palladino, who I’ve been working with lately on some stuff and he’s dangerous. Sometimes you’ll just sit watching him. Yeah, I’ve been working with Pino. On another project, there’s a cat named Eric Appapoulay, another cat out of London who’s equally as deadly. There’s a lot of unknown cats who can really throw it down. So that’s three names; Pino Palladino, Kaida Tatham and Eric Appapoulay.

BENJI B

Is Eric on the album?

IG Culture

Yeah.

BENJI B

Shall we play that?

IG Culture

Benji’s getting into his DJ mode.

BENJI B

I think we should bring it up to the New Sector Movements era, then we can take it into the broken thing. Do you want to talk to us about the first New Sector Movements album? What was the idea behind that whole collective?

IG Culture

New Sector Movements started with me and a singer Bembe Segue and it later developed into Eska Mtungwazi, Kaida Tatham, Chix With Stix, Julie Dexter. These are all people from London. Virgin said, “You’re getting a lot of press at the moment, so we’ll take anything, any project.” The A&R man was going to the boss with stuff a lot, but they weren’t really feeling it until we were in The Face magazine; that’s when the boss said, “OK, let’s do an album.” They didn’t actually understand what I was doing, but they said, “Just do an Album. Don’t worry about doing anything commercial, just do what you feel.” So that’s exactly what I did. I mixed New Sector Movements up with Likwid Biskit, just some left-of-center madness. I called the album Download This, and it came out in 2001, according to Benji.

BENJI B

I think. What’s this tune?

IG Culture

This tune’s off an EP, which was released at the same time on Virgin. We got totally arty about it, we got Doze Green to do the artwork; we just wanted to do a great piece of work with great artwork, throw it out there and see what happens. This is off the No Tricks EP, and this is called “Para.”

(music: New Sector Movements – “Para” / applause)

IG CULTURE

The last lyric of that bit was supposed to be, “I’m fucking paranoid,” but I said, “No, Eric, let’s tone it down a little.” But that’s just London slang - “para” means you’re paranoid.

BENJI B

I think it’s fair to say the focus, the rhythmic focus is always the central focus.

IG Culture

Well, yeah. This thing called broken beat…

BENJI B

That’s where I’m going. Who came up with that?

IG Culture

I was doing this stuff. Phil Asher, who’s Phil Asher from Restless Soul, for those who don’t know, and Orin Walters, who’s also known as Afronaught from Bugz In the Attic, another London group, they started to call this kind of groove, “that broken stuff.” And there’s a paper called Echoes who asked me what this stuff was called, and I said, “It’s going to be called broken beat.” Next minute, in another magazine, it said, “Phil Asher and IG Culture: the inventors of broken beat.” So that’s how the term came about. Further down the line, some people disassociated themselves with it. It just became a thing to do like house, just do a broken groove which is a standard pattern now. But at the time broken was anything you wanted it to be. It wasn’t meant to be [makes broken beat with his mouth]. So that’s basically the story of broken.

BENJI B

A lot of people going to your club are now expecting to hear exactly that beat. How do you feel about that term and has it boxed you in?

IG Culture

We probably created a monster, because when we started the Co-Op club in London, there would only be a few people in there. People were like, “What are they playing?” and just staring at us.

BENJI B

When did it start?

IG Culture

Co-Op started early 2000, so we’re in our seventh year now. Nowadays, you play anything else and people won’t dance. They come expecting to hear broken beat and it’s developed in such a short period of time. It’s pigeon-holed itself. It got to the point where it was only being influenced by itself.

BENJI B

How do you get around that?

IG Culture

By going back to the beginning and saying, “Fuck it! Let’s make some music again.” Because it’s not about just being standard so a DJ can have 16 bars to mix in a record. It’s that side, but it’s also about keeping music out there to give people ideas, keep them inspired.

BENJI B

Those first two years when it was at Velvet Rooms was some of the most inspiring times musically. What was your vision for taking it into the future with the DJs you set it up with? And who did you set the club up with?

IG Culture

I set it up with Dego from 4Hero and a guy named Demus from a band called Two Banks of Four. I knew Demus from the ‘90s, he was the producer behind Young Disciples, and he came round my flat and played me 4Hero. We sat down and we were talking, and he was interested in what I was doing and this new sound. I said, “We’d do something,” so one of the things I did was I got him an advance to do the Numbers album, which I released on Main Squeeze, the label I was running at the time. And we also talked about setting up a club because at the time all these records are appearing; you’ve got Dego with his 2000 Black thing, Bugz in The Attic with Neon Phusion, me with New Sector Movements and Likwid Biskit, Domu, Seiji, G-Force, a lot of these cats were starting to do this music, but there was nowhere you could go to hear it. So we decided to set up a club, and when we set it up, there was just a few people in there in the tumbleweed. But it kind of just grew and went from strength to strength. We got a couple of awards out of it, though that’s not the important thing. But yeah, it really grew.

BENJI B:

What was the musical ethos as a club?

IG Culture:

At the time, Dego was involved and he wanted nothing earlier than, like, ‘95 or something. We wanted to play all our music, but we wanted to play everything we thought that was good; we didn’t want to play just one thing. On the flyer, we put broken beat and future jazz, whatever that is. So at the early Co-Op you could expect to hear all kinds of stuff. You wouldn’t know what to expect because it was all fresh at the time.

Benji B

There’s definitely a strong open-mic thing at the club as well right?

IG Culture

Yeah. I think I brought that reggae element in it where I would let off reggae soundsystem sound effects, and I would chat on the mic yard style. We had the whole mix, we had the dubplate thing where it got to a point where every track was a dubplate. It’s just like the same thing kind of happening again. It’s happening in so many different scenes. It’s happened in the drum % bass thing, and it started to happen in the broken beat scene. It got to a point all you’re hearing is dubplates. If it’s not a Domu dubplate, it’s a Dego dubplate. If it’s not a Dego dubplate, it’s a Kaidi and Bugz In The Attic dubplate. Half the audience loved it, half the audience was frustrated because they would come back to the club to hear that tune they heard a few weeks ago and they’re hearing something fresh. We just kept moving so far ahead. At times, certain DJs left the club and went to the studio and made tunes because they heard something on the night and it blew their mind, so they just went to the studio and made music, and that was a regular occurrence. It got so intense. Some DJs would come to the club like a guest and panic just because, you know, the crowd was intense as well. It was a crazy thing.

Benji B

Still is.

IG Culture

Yeah, still is.

Benji B

Even more packed. And where is the club now?

IG Culture

It’s at a place called Plastic People in London, certain mans know. [laughs]

BENJI B:

And how have you seen the crowd change over the years?

IG Culture

This is real, right? When it started, it was just us. Then, the crowd was trendy and white. Then, it was trendy white and Japanese with some sprinklings of black. Then, it was more blacks. Then, it was black, white and Japanese. Now, it’s black with some whites and a sprinkling of Japanese. [laughs] No, it’s just a mix, everyone comes to the club and mixes with each other, which is a good thing.

BENJI B

Talk to me about that “heads thing,” because I know that does your head in. The heads that come down and wants to hear certain tunes, certain types of tunes, and wants to put you in your box.

IG Culture

Well, last Co-Op, Sunday, there’s a crew called the Laser Crew, the infamous Laser Crew. I call them that because they always came and fired the lasers. Back in the day, I used to say, “laser,” and they’d fire their lasers off. It was crazy in there. One of the guys, his name is Cartel, and he’s got this thing he spins round that sends messages in laser light. So he’d go, “Peven Everett, Peven Everett.” And I just ignored him, and said, “This is for the Peven Everett.” There’s a lot of heads in there. There’s a term, they call it “man beat.” Man beat is tunes only men listen to in the dance, like [yanks hoodie over his head].

[laughter]

But actually, the girls do like it, though. The women do like the man beat. [laughs]

BENJI B

What’s man beat?

IG Culture

Man beat is… [Benji looks into his computer] Yeah, play man beat.

(music: Bugz In The Attic - Future Rage / applause)

That’s a big Bugz In The Attic tune.

BENJI B

It’s great when you can create an environment so inspiring that people are making tunes especially for the club, with that dancefloor in mind. But how do you take it beyond that and make it bigger than that, transcending the boundaries of a club in London and taking it around the world, making it into something larger?

IG Culture

The Bugz have definitely been flying the flag for that sound. They’ve been DJing everywhere. Last year, the year before, they’ve really been flying the flag of the broken beat thing. Me, for instance, I feel that broken beat was just an accident. I was never really trying to make a genre called broken beat, I was just trying to make some music. When I got signed to Virgin, I was in the process of making a hip-hop album. I had to stop doing that to do this. Seven years later, I resumed what I was doing before, but it took me down a whole different path.

Benji B

Around the same time you set up the Co-Op Club, you’re also were involved in People Records and setting up a different type of co-op, a co-op amongst various label heads and musicians and producers and conveniently based in one premises as well. Can you talk to us about that and the strength that gave you as a collective?

IG Culture

Well, we were all under the same roof, basically. Alex Attias, The Bugz, me, all our music was coming up through a company named Goya Music. At the time Goya Music was really backing what we was doing and we decided we were going to do the Co-Op label, which originally was not linked to the club but it was just a way of us to kind of be under one umbrella and push our music together.

Benji B

Can you explain the ethos actually behind the term Co-Op and how that, you know, how that translates into the label thing and how you cooperate to make that happen?

IG Culture

There you go, it’s a cooperative. You know, hopefully the idea is we just cooperate together, help each other out, and when we can’t afford to pay, well, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. Things like that.

Benji B

You’ve been involved in People Records, Main Squeeze Records, what are the other independents you’ve done?

IG Culture

The One Drop Label. People, Main Squeeze, Co-Op. I did a label called D Below, which came out with two singles and that was it.

Benji B

You’re still releasing records now. Tell us about the independent record game and how that’s changed over the last few years.

Ig Culture

It’s completely different. From... I linked with Goya to now, the whole internet things has taken off. People ain’t even buying records any more. Things are completely changed. I was saying to my mate, “You gotta be a label, a producer, a DJ, and a band.”

Benji B

If we’re thinking about starting record labels or wanting to put out our own music tomorrow, you know, is there any one thing that you’d say?

IG Culture

It all depends on what you want to achieve, really. If you want to make records just to make money or you want to make records to make some statements musically.

Benji B

Do you find... Earlier on, you were saying you’ve recorded under Son of Sciencist, New Sector Movements, Dub Basement, Liquid Biscuit, Kwango, Age of Selfishness, Zuzu, various others. Do you find that that’s, over the years, is that just been a bit of a hindrance, the fact that no one’s really known it’s you. You’ve done so many different projects that people find it hard to keep up?

IG Culture

No, I don’t think so. I think you’ve just got to be, you’ve got to be a mini industry. That’s the same way labels operate. They throw loads of stuff up and whatever sticks, so I think I just use that same kind of thing. I throw loads of stuff up, and maybe New Sector Movements is sticking. Yeah, or something like Liquid Biscuit. Mainly it’s New sector, but it’s just not carrying all your eggs in one basket.

Benji B

The last New Sector album was called, you changed the name, right, to NSN?

IG Culture

Yeah. I wish I didn’t, because I started getting messages from another NSN, was like a Nazi party. They’re coming up on MySpace saying, “You nigga, you nigga.” It’s kind of blending back into New Sector Movements.

Benji B

Should we play something from that last record?

IG Culture

Yeah, this is a tune featuring a vocalist I worked with, Eskimo Tungwazi, and this is me with my downtempo head on. It’s a tune called “Don’t Say,” off the last New Sector Movements album.

(music: New Sector Movements - “Don’t Say” / applause)

BENJI B

So I know you’re a man of tunes with a serious record collection, ridiculous record collection. What kind of stuff was influencing you at that time, things that went into the melting pot?

IG Culture

Well, clearly, you know what I was listening to at the time. I was influenced by Dilla.

[applause]

He was just a massive influence. And before Dilla, Pete Rock. I learned everything about hip-hop from Pete Rock, basically. It took me ages to just work out how he did those filtered basslines. I didn’t know he was filtering out the tune just to leave a rumble. When I realized, I was, “Yeah, right.” So, Pete Rock, Dilla, Tribe Called Quest.

BENJI B

Talking of filtering out, what are your weapons of choice in the studio?

IG Culture

At that time, I was using S5000, Logic 4.7, MPC, SP-1200. They were my main things, and around that time I was using a Hammond organ, Rhodes, Wurlitzer and all kinds of vintage drum machines, like Sequential Circuits and even an old Hammond Bontempi box. There’s a lot of other things I used. On one track on the first New Sector Movements album I used one of those old RMI electrapianos, like Fela [Kuti] used to use. That kind of equipment.

BENJI B

Generally using Logic as the main sequencer for all this stuff?

IG Culture:

Now, I’m using Logic 5.

BENJI B

Logic 5?

IG Culture

Yeah, that’s all I’m using.

BENJI B:

They just installed Logic 8 outside.

IG Culture

They upgrade so often, but we never really get deep into what we got. I think I want to stick with 5 for the time being. My mate Venom says he’s going to install 8 on my system, but I like 5, it’s taken me a year to get my head ‘round it.

Benji B

What’s changed for you? You were saying that you’ve changed your process, your working process.

IG Culture

Well, I used to turn up to a studio with a car full of equipment and it’s just long, turning up to a studio with a computer, all kinds of equipment, and now I’m turning up with my iPod with the track on it. It’s crazy. There’s a danger of someone’s sound suffering because of how easy it is to make music, and I’ve really had to keep my eye on that and watch that.

Benji B

How have you dealt with that?

IG Culture

By not depending on kick and snare off of EXS because the waveforms are that thin. It’s just like a snapshot of a kick. You hear the kick but you don’t feel the kick. It’s the same with the snares and the hi hats. You’ve got to find ways to beef it up.

BENJI B

Has your music changed as it’s gone completely digital? Have you had other people telling you your stuff sounds different now?

IG Culture

I’m getting more work since I’ve gone digital. [laughs] I’m here, aren’t I? I’m getting more work, but I’m still being real with it, I’m still doing my thing and I’m still, as far as I’m concerned, not compromising. I’ve got this far by not compromising, so why change now?

BENJI B:

So musically, you’re starting everything inside the box and you’re mixing inside the box too? You’re not going through any boards?

IG Culture

Well, I mix through ProTools. I do all my mixing through ProTools. There will be some projects I will mix on a board. I’ll use a Neve Desk, but I still find a way to make it sound warm through ProTools.

BENJI B

Any tips for us?

IG Culture

Don’t use reverbs.

BENJI B

So everything’s still dry when you’re using digital as if it was in analog. You’re not tempted by all those space designer plug-ins and stuff?

IG Culture

No. OK, I might use a little slap here and there, slap reverb, just to give an illusion of space, but I pretty much want to my stuff to hit hard but dry. For instance, this is just my personal opinion, I hate when a vocal is slicked up and prettied up and the meat of the vocal is hidden behind reverbs. I want to hear the real artist. That’s why when I worked with people like Eska Mtungwazi and Les Nubians, I did it bone dry, not a reverb in sight.

BENJI B

Have you got anything new from the new IG era, a dubplate to play us, something brand new?

IG Culture

I’m doing a project for a brand new label in Japan. Their name is Freedom School. They approached me to do a concept album, they wanted me to do a piece that’s 20 minutes long that goes through all the eras of spiritual black music. Let’s say, how you would hear some jazz on a label like Strata East? I don’t know if you know the label, but the music was very conceptual, it wasn’t too concerned with hooks and stuff. OK, there were hooks, but it was more about just the feeling than the chorus. So I’ve just done another mad excursion. This project I’ve called Zen Badizm. That was one of the other things they Wanted. They wanted it to be very black.

[laughter]

[imitates Japanese accent] “The Japanese-oh, very black-oh.” So I went very black, this is a piece featuring Pino Palladino on bass. [starts track then quickly stops it] In fact, I won’t play that one. I’ll go further in. The next section of this is influenced by bebop and Sun Ra, then it goes into one of my all-time classics, “Girl You Need a Change of Mind” by Eddie Kendricks.

(music: IG Culture – “B Free,””Girl You Need a Change of Mind” / applause)

Thanks. Cheers. The vocalist featured on that is a cat named Bilal Salaam from DC, so he’s a name to look out for.

BENJI B

When’s that coming out?

IG Culture

It was supposed to have been this year, but I took my time with it so I think it will be early next year.

BENJI B

So IG Culture, the end of 2007 and beyond, what have you got coming up?

IG Culture

Well, next month I’m off to the motherland. I’m off to Senegal and Uganda to continue a project I started to commemorate the abolishment of slavery. It was a project started by the British Council. They invited visual and musical artists from all over Africa, and they brought them all together, put me in the Roundhouse in North London over a period of two weeks. We’d never met each other before and we had to create a show. After a nightmare two weeks, we had a show in place and we’re taking it to Africa. So that’s one of the things coming up.

BENJI B

Is it going to be online or in a video?

IG Culture

No, the information is online. We’ll see.

BENJI B

Album-wise, project-wise, label-wise?

IG Culture

The Zen Badizm project is imminent and I’m doing an album for a label in Chicago, Deeper Soul, and I’m doing an album under my Quango moniker as well. I went to Chicago for five weeks and recorded the album, working with a lot of musicians there like Tortoise, Corey Wilkes and a lot of jazz musicians. That’s the tale of my travels.

BENJI B

What does IG stand for?

IG Culture

“Instant Graphics.”

BENJI B

Where did that one come from?

IG Culture

There was a young MC I was working with called Kid Co who sadly passed away, and he used to call me Instant Graphics. So I kept it in memory of Kid Co.

BENJI B

At this point, it’s time to open up the floor. If there’s any questions you want to ask IG, don’t be shy. I know we’re all going to want to know the answer. Brandon’s got the mic.

Audience Member

Hey, man.

IG CUlture

Yo.

Audience Member

Have you always played keys on your tracks or is it you playing drums?

IG Culture

It was something I just picked up along the way. I started off by just playing one chord, and then another chord, and then I bought some books to learn a couple of scales and stuff. That’s how I picked it up.

Audience Member

Was that you playing keys on the earlier tracks, the Herbie Hancock?

IG Culture

Some synths, but the main guy on those tracks is Kaidi Tatham.

Audience Member

Yeah, I was thinking about the broken beat scene. I was really into that a few years ago, and I haven’t really gotten much of a clue what’s going on, but I was thinking about, you talked earlier about that the sound has gotten a bit standardized. There’s a basic groove and a lot of people use it. In the beginning, there was always just about the beat being broke. Is there still any upcoming producers or producers that you prefer that are still really trying to progress the sound of broken beat?

IG Culture

Well, it’s difficult when you’re not 100% focused on it, like if you’re doing that plus your day job, then you’re not going to really just make it out of desperation and do something off the hook just because you’re focused on it completely. There’s a few producers who are kind of doing some things. There’s one guy named Johnny Miller. I like his stuff. Simbad’s doing some stuff. I haven’t really heard a standout producer. There was a kid a few years ago, a guy named Hefner, who was doing some crazy shit, and then he disappeared. He could have been up there.

Audience Member

At least I recognized the names, so I can check it out.

IG Culture

OK.

Audience Member

Thanks.

Audience Member

Hey, do you think the interest you have in jazz has helped you to keep pushing what you’re doing and not sort of settling in one style or whatever and keep searching for stuff?

IG CUlture

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, because jazz, you can’t pinpoint it. It’s just always moving all over the place. Yeah. It’s always an influence.

Audience Member

Hi, my question is, coming from London as well, what kind of made you step away from the crime and the kind of down parts of it and kind of move away from the scene, like grime for instance, what made you... I know that’s probably not in your era before, but what made you kind of get away from all the bad stuff and made you turn into the direction that you went into?

IG Culture

Because I’m a good heart yout [applause]. I love music more than shit, you know. Most of my friends were into that, but most of them are in jail or ended up in jail, so I wasn’t really into that. I was more into the music.

Audience Member

My other question is because of the software, basically everyone got access to it, what can you do to kind of stand yourself out from other people and other competitors?

IG Culture

Just do what everyone else ain’t. It’s just like turning away...

Audience Member

How?

IG Culture

By turning away. Everyone’s facing the other direction, you turn and face the other direction.

Audience Member

Hi, you mentioned Freedom School, and it’s interesting because I know Mark de Clive-Lowe who’s also kind of associated with broken beat heavily in London. Do you think now jazz is connecting with broken beats, is it kind of a good sign for the label, the broken beat, is this where it’s going to evolve into, that kind of Strata East, black jazz sound?

IG Culture

No, no, that’s just one of the things that broken beat is involved in. I mean, there’s hip-hop connected to it. There’s drum & bass connected to it from Dego, Seiji, and Mark Force and Domu. There’s reggae connected to it. As I said earlier, London was just like a melting pot, a testing ground for so many styles of music and so many styles of American music as well. We just absorbed everything.

Audience Member

Where do you see broken beat evolving in the future? Do you have an idea of where it’s headed?

IG Culture

As long as producers just want to make... If they don’t expect that it’s going to make them loads of dollars, if you want to do a big tune, just write a pop tune. Don’t do a broken beat tune if you want to do a pop tune.

BENJI B

Any more? No? One more.

Audience Member

Are you thinking about a live show following? Do you have any plans to work with musicians live?

IG CUlture

I’ve done a few live shows and it’s a nightmare. Yeah, I’d like to do a live thing again, but it’s a whole different thing. The new project I’m working with is with a lot of live musicians, so you never know.

BENJI B

Where can we catch you DJing regular?

IG Culture

You can catch me DJ regular at the Co-Op in London.

BENJI B

Bimonthly.

IG Culture

No, twice monthly.

BENJI B

Isn’t that what that means? Twice monthly.

IG Culture

Bi monthly is...

BENJI B

Trying.

IG Culture

Yeah.

BENJI B

Twice a month at Plastic People in London, yeah?

IG Culture

Plastic People.

BENJI B

Worldwide you tour a lot and travel a lot and DJ and all the rest of it. Label is Main Squeeze, People Records.

IG CUlture

Co-Op. Co-Op is a nameless label, and the Co-Operate is up and running now.

BENJI B

Right, right. How long you going to be in town for?

IG Culture

I’m going to be here until Saturday. I’m leaving Saturday.

BENJI B

So you’re up for hanging out, being in the studio, answering any questions people have.

IG Culture

Yeah, sure.

BENJI B

IG will be around for a bit, which is good news. So please say thank you very much to IG Culture. [applause]