DEREK B

Rip It Up, Issue 136, 1 November 1988, Page 14

DEREK B

car's been scratched. Go down to the pub and people say, 7ou flash bastard' and you haven't changed or anything... All of a sudden you've got people attacking you for something you say on a record, all of a sudden you're a philosopher not a record maker, or you're a bloody sexist for stuff like 'Get Down'." Indeed, stardom brings the dangers of being public property, but being in the limelight does elevate your status to that of 'philosopher'. And rap, more than any other genre, can be used in instructive and political ways. "I see rap as a definitely pro-working class medium, through which you can express yourself without getting into too many legal battles. Most forms of music don't really deal with reality, apart from folk, they deal mostly with love. You listen to 95 percent of records in the chart and everybody is in love with everybody else. Rap's dealing with boastful things, which comes from the fact that you're working class, you gotta be the best at whatever you do, even when it's down to marbles, you gotta have the biggest marbles, etcetera. On top of that comes the gaudy American mentality, the best and biggest. Now after that comes the social comment, which has become the foremost thing." The most militant rap, the biggest kick in the arse to the white running dogs of imperialism comes from Chuck D, Professor Griff and the Public Enemy boyees, whose new album Derek B finds: "Brilliant, I think it's better than Rattle And Hum. Even as musical expression, to do what they do with other people's music is very hard. It's as hard as The Edge looking for another infinity sound. The music industry is taking Public Enemy a lot more seriously, not treating rap as a

second cousin, but I think it might always be treated that way." Public Enemy talk some wild shit, but it's almost time it hit the fan. . There's a lot of listeners out there, Derek Bis one of them. . "This separatism thing [the concept of a separate black nation] is very deep-rooted. Until I actually had read this Farrakhan shit I thought everything was just crazy, looking for trouble, a lot of it makes sense but crazy sense. There's a lot of things on this planetthatain'tfair—but there are things that just exist now, and you can't make a wrong with another wrong." Derek B is a moderate man, more concerned with humanitarian than just those of a racial nature, but \ inequality for black people is a disturbing thing. "Like treat me equally, don't treat me like an alien or alienate me from certain jobs or situations because of my colour. The Black population got to work through the runnings or whatever. Butif the chance isn't there to get on the escalator of normality, that's when I get pissed off. Put you in this Alpha-Beta situation, put you all together where education is sub-standard so you never attain the level you need... things keep going in a circle—that's bollocks! Police state, future shock, Alpha-Beta shit." Being an articulate guy, Derek B is seen as a role model for Black Britons. - "I try to do that, then I see myself falling into the Maggie Thatcher pat on the back posse, like upwardly mobile young businessmen. I've played with the System, broken the rules, but I haven't thrown a spanner in the works, it gets chopped in two, this system is so strong, it ain't going nowhere. It's like trying to stop a bus by yelling "stop!" That bus is still going to kill you — bang! You got to work out how to slow it down and jump on. "Rap is very much a question of identity, of who ami, what are my choices in life? It's political and .*.•

metaphysical, but it's also about having a hell of a good time pondering these questions." And Derek B's style of rap is a whole heap of fun. There's a new album around April nextyearwhich Derek B said, quoting EPMD, "there'll be no mistakes allowed." And of course, a chance to see Mr B and Run DMC live cutting and rapping up a storm. Only suckers will miss it. See ya there, Mr B. KERRY BUCHANAN