Interview with MC Asher D for BBC Radio1.
How did it feel to sign your album deal?
Asher-D: Signing the album deal... that's like a blessing cos it's given everyone else in the clique a chance to prove themselves on that level. It's not a thing where there's like four men and Lisa, there's a big collective. I think it's the right time for people to start noticing that. It's time for people to bust and shine now cos everyone's talented in the clique... everybody.
Can you tell us a little bit about the tune '21 Seconds'?
It's messy. The video's something different and new. But as for the tune itself, in the beginning it was just a way to try and get the whole massive on one track. We were thinking that there's 30 guys and how long it would take to get every guy out there. So we just sped the process up. And we came up with that concept, me, G Man who runs the record label and is the director of So Solid and Matt. We were just chillin', blazin', high, whatever. It just came out... How could we get every man on one track, a 5 minute track or 4 minute track? We just divided the time in the track and eventually after the process it came out at 21 seconds each. I'm second.
What's the video like?
All I can say is it's new and you ain't never seen anything like it before. If I give you a clue I'll get rushed when you go. I'll keep my mouth shut... but it's messy.
Are you going out to Ayia Napa at all?
I was meant to, but with the single out there's a lot of things to do here. Certain men are gonna be out in Napa and others are gonna be here dealing with the business of the record.
Have you been out there before?
No. I've never been to Napa. I'm quite disappointed that I didn't get to go but that's life. There's always next year.
Aren't you supporting Lil' Kim?
Yeah. Course I wanna meet Lil' Kim but at the same time it's a chance for us to show the Americans and the rappers that this new garage thing that we're bringing is different and it's quite similar to what they're doing as well. I hope they can relate to that... hope they can feel that as well.
You did Eminem last year and now Lil' Kim this year...
Yeah, yeah. That's big teams? for us now. We're stepping up now, Destiny's Child... It's messy... It's a dream.
Did you think that this time last year?
Nah! This time last year I was sitting in a room scribbling on paper, struggling. Cos there's so many men it's hard for you to get yourself up there. It's a lot of hard work and you have to always be on your toes. There's so many MCs and they're all writing lyrics all day everyday, and they're all good.
How come you made think you all made it through?
Because we're raw, we're a unit and we're raw. We're not manufactured, we all know each other, we can all roll with each other and we've just got our own code. Our own code to follow and no one else can get into that... unless they buy the music. So buy it!! 'Oh No' was boom, 'Oh No' was boom. What it was, was that it was our first single and it was different. It was garage, but it was different garage. So obviously people have to get used to it. At the end when 'Oh No' was coming out, everyone started to click on to what we were about. All the tunes that followed that are bust!! It's a long process. You can't just push out a new music and expect everyone to like it straight away. They have to get used to it.
