5/1/2023 0 Comments Rooots manuva dreamy daysOnly 1500 British hip hop fans are gonna hear it anyway." That's the basic sentiment I've tried to tap into with all my records."įrom an initial 3000 records put into the shops "BNSH" has now sold over 60,000 copies in the UK. "It's only now I'm listening to Brand New Second Hand and thinking, "Wow, that's a really beautiful record." It's only now! I wish I coulda understood it at the time! I just thought "I can do what I want. In 1998 he joined the label and the following year released his debut, "Brand New Second Hand." At the time, Rodney couldn't see what he was doing. Roots replied that he was tired of making one-off singles and would only sign to do an album. Ashon had tipped Smith as the "Most Likely To." back in '95 and soon came knocking asking for a single. This was also the year that saw the first releases from Big Dada, a collaboration between Coldcut's Ninja Tune label and hip hop journalist Will Ashon. The release of "Feva" on Tony Vegas's Wayward imprint followed in 1997. 1996 saw the release of his collaborations with Skitz ("Where My Mind Is At"/"Blessed Be the Manner") on 23 Skidoo's Ronin label. He debuted as Roots Manuva the same year on Blak Twang's "Queen's Head" single, before releasing his own single, "Next Type of Motion" the following year through the same label, the hugely influential Sound of Money. Smith made his recorded debut in 1994 as part of IQ Procedure through Suburban Base's short-lived hip hop imprint Bluntly Speaking Vinyl. Hard work - his own kind of hard work - was the only way forward. But opportunities for Black British musicians in the nineties were few and far between. But it was perhaps only when he heard hip hop and, in particular, the incomparable Rakim, that he realised that his voice could be used for more than toasting, that it was an expressive tool limited only by his imagination. I'm the runt of pack." The runt found music.Īn avid but secret collector of the soundsystem tapes which were easy to find in Brixton at the time, Smith studied deejays like Eek-A-Mouse and Asher Senator, nodding to the rhythms, stretching his mouth around their words. ![]() As Rodney sees it now, "my family are such good, decent people. His father was a lay preacher and tailor, a combination which goes some way to explaining the son's preoccupation with the soul and the suit. ![]() As he puts it, his family "were here to make it big time." They worked hard, went to church, tried to live life the right way. His grandfather had come over from Jamacia in the fifties. Rodney Smith was born and grew up in Stockwell, South London. ![]() It's a simple idea but perhaps one that goes to the heart of Rodney Smith's work and creativity, the basic tension that drives him. "Slime & Reason" - the conflict between doing what you want and what you know is right.
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