Sittin' here

Why Lout?'s Marvin The Martian steps out on his own for the first time in 2 years on Thursday November 10th to support Art-Rock's up and coming VHS or Beta and The Research at The Elbow Rooms in Islington North London.

Should be a good one. Previously unheard tracks will be peformed in a new and exciting format.

WHY LOUT? – IT’S BEEN TIME!!
(Official Mixtape)
RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 7TH
Why Lout? Records.

‘It’s Been Time!!’ is Why Lout?’s second full length mixtape. The first ‘ ‘Cause It’s Time!’ ran the pirate airwaves and car stereos of South London last summer, it was so well received that it was ranked one of the ‘Top 10 Street Disciples’ (a top 10 of artist mixtapes) in Hip-Hop Connection Magazine the list including 50 Cent, Kanye West, DJ Premier, Saigon and Jadakiss. The core element of Why Lout? (Marvin The Martian, Jack Nimble and Pixel) took the brand on to create a more complete and focussed mixtape and enrolled long time collaborator, Producer Dego brown (who handled the majority of the C.D’s production) to complete the four man line-up. So in January 2005 Why Lout? started writing, producing and recording the C.D that they had always intended on filling.

Four months into the mixtape Jack Nimble came across a sample that would achieve mainstream radio play across the world, see coverage in Artrocker and the NME (it was included “In the NME Stereo”) and would also see Why Lout? Perform to a packed KoKo (the Old Camden Palace). The sample was Art-Rock band Art Brut’s then single, a tribute to lead singer Eddie Argos’ first girlfriend ‘Emily Kane’. Why Lout? Jack produced a sharp, grimy and altogether confusing instrumental, to which Marvin The Martian wrote a follow-up to Eddie Argos’ twisted love story. Marvin’s a tale of a man obsessed with Emily Kane to the point of stalking. The song was made available as a free download on Artrocker.com and has since been hosted on several MP3 websites, it has to this date, been downloaded 30,000+ times. It was played on Phil Jupitus’ BBC 6Music show, John Kennedy’s XFM show and on radio shows as far as New Zealand, Canada, Australia and Germany.

Why Lout?’s goal for ‘It’s Been Time!!’ was to portray a more politically aware, more soulful and more focussed independent sound then British Hip-Hop/ Grime Music has come to be known for. Whether it came from sampling Nouvelle Vague’s remake of the famous Clash song ‘Guns Of Brixton’ to make the ‘Guns Of Brixton Why Lout? Mix’ (Marvin The Martian has a solo ‘Guns Of Brixton’ to be released through a pioneering deal with Universal in 2006) and cover the rising gun crime in their home-town of Brixton. Or ‘Road Circles’ which features the tape’s only outside contributor Scarecrow (Also featured on ‘Cause It’s Time!’ hailing from Wilesden North London) who goes back to back with Pixel trying to explain (without justifying) the mentality of today’s common criminal. Why Lout? Attempt to be a mouthpiece of a generation, discussing and digesting the ills and positives of London life. Jack Nimble steps up to the mic for the first time in his career (having produced the whole of Why Lout?’s first mixtape) to tell the story of his friend Steve, the 19 year old self-destructive cocaine addict on ‘Steve’s At it Again’. It encompasses something that has been very important to Why Lout? In the production of this C.D; LONDON. Best exemplified by Pixel’s self-produced ‘Fire Of London’, in which Pixel attempts to define himself and his nature through his city’s buildings, people, pace and history.

FOR MORE DETAILS CHECK ON WHY LOUT? (itsbeentime.blogspirit.com) AND (whylout.com). To interview or cover Why Lout? Please email info@whylout.com or phone Thomas on -0772 998 3679


WHY LOUT? – IT’S BEEN TIME!!
(Official Mixtape)
RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 7TH
Why Lout? Records.

1. GUNS OF BRIXTON “WHY LOUT? MIX” – (MARVIN THE MARTIAN, JACK NIMBLE & PIXEL)
2. HUNGRY & POOR – (JACK NIMBLE & PIXEL)
3. I.N.S.O – (MARVIN THE MATIAN)
4. ROAD CIRCLES – (PIXEL FEAT. SCARECROW)
5. HEY YOU GUYS 1
6. STEVE’S AT IT AGAIN – (JACK NIMBLE)
7. PERFECT PUZZLE AKA. OOMPA LOOMPA - (MARVIN THE MARTIAN)
8. PROCESS – (PIXEL)
9. HOME OF THE HOOLIGANS – (MARVIN THE MARTIAN)
10. FIRE OF LONDON – (PIXEL)
11. 10,000 MISHAPS – (MARVIN THE MARTIAN, PIXEL & JACK NIMBLE)
12. HEY YOU GUYS 2
13. GATHER ‘ROUND – (PIXEL & MARVIN THE MARTIAN)
14. MY OH MY – (MARVIN THE MARTIAN)
15. EMILY KANE SKIT
16. STAY OFF THE KANE AKA. EMILY KANE REMIX (MARVIN THE MARTIAN)
17. PRIME NUMBER – (PIXEL)
18. WALKING IN THE RAIN – (JACK NIMBLE)
19. IT’S IN YOU NATURE! – (PIXEL, JACK NIMBLE AND MARVIN THE MARTIAN)
20. THEY LOVE THE WAY – (MARVIN THE MARTIAN)
21. LITTLE LIGHT – (JACK NIMBLE & MARVIN THE MARTIAN)
22. THE BEST THINGS – (MARVIN THE MARTIAN, PIXEL & JACK NIMBLE)
23. IT’S BEEN TIME! (OUTRO)

DEGO BROWN PRODUCED… 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 17, 18, 20, 23
JACK NIMBLE PRODUCED… 2 (WITH PIXEL), 3, 14, 16, 21
PIXEL PRODUCED… 1, 2 (WITH JACK NIMBLE), 10, 13, 22
WHY LOUT? PRODUCED… 5, 12, 15, 19
MAGZ PRODUCED… 4

ALL TRACKS ENGINEERED BY METIN BALLI AT SECOND HOME STUDIOS

It’s Been Time!! Will be made available from Deal Real (dealreal.co.uk), HQ (hqlondon.co.uk) and various other retailers. It is also available online from Suspect-Packages (suspect-packages.com) as of November 7th. The stockist list is subject to grow. Radio support includes, Itch FM, Genesis FM, Bassline FM, 1Xtra, Xfm, 6Music, Choice FM and many more pirates throughout London.

Yeeeaahhhhh, Why Lout? Have joined The Darkness, Jin, DJ Quik and Cage by setting up their very own MySpace site. MySpace.Com/WhyLoutCrew has 3 streamed and downloadable songs from the new mixtape 'It's Been Time!!'

Happy Birthday Artrocker.com!!! It's Artrocker magazine's 1st Birthday in 2 weeks too! An issue that is set to feature contributions from The Mitchell Brothers and Sway Dasafo.

I think we need to get an interview or a skit on the next mixtape or something from this guy! He's brilliant!

Coming soon to Suspect-Packages.com.

Why Lout?'s "Underground" feature in Artrocker Issue 21 (The one with The Mitchell Brothers on the cover)

Why Lout? - Telling it like it is

What's a hip-hop crew doing in a rock paper? Well, pretty much by definition Artrocker is about highlighting musical innovators or original new voices, and the hip-hop pages have always had a passionate group of correspondents digging up great new music and sparking heated debates - "It's all about community, baby". Affiliations between Artrocker's regular hip-hop contributors and the Brixton-based Why Lout? crew meant this paper picked up on them early; luckily, any suspicions of insider nepotism can be safely dismissed once you hear the quality of Why Lout's songs.

That's right, songs. Why Lout? may make hip-hop, with stripped-back tracks of beats and raps harking back to the golden age of the Wu-Tang - but their beats have hooks, and their raps have choruses. The results encompass the joyous synth-led "capers and shenanigans" of 10,000 Mishaps; the lambent, lazy beauty of Little Light ("blinking on and off like West End at Christmas"); the Oompa-Loompa-sampling Perfect Puzzle; the skitteringly paranoid Road Circles; or the irresistibly catchy computerised-rock-guitar riffage of I.N.S.O. Lead MC Marvin the Martian is happy to confirm that they've paid particular attention to making each track "ear-grabbingly" different; but together, the songs come across as distinctive products of a very focused creative vision.

Britishness is a key element of this vision. Hip-hop as a genre may have conquered the world, but it's so closely linked to urban America that actually making it poses huge problems for anyone else. Why Lout? know their hip-hop inside out, with influences like Jay-Z, Kanye West and DJ Muggs coming through loud and clear; but they've taken care to stay true to their own background - South London, not South Central. Rapper-producers Jack Nimble and Pixel say this means everything from lyrics referencing current events (Blair and Bush, creeping Home Office totalitarianism), to just talking about the daily detail of life; off-licences, late night chicken shops, getting around by bus, the grind of trying to make a career in music amid the egos and backbiting of the London rap scene. It's not a million miles from what Mike Skinner's been doing with The Streets, but more purebloodedly hip-hop, with a flavour all its own. For instance, Jack likes to play with vocabulary and throw in underappreciated anglicisms like "whizza" or "bully", while Marvin has a particular thing for updating old nursery rhymes.

One thing Why Lout? aren't into is the tired lyrical nexus of drugs, crime and violence; topics they reckon too many UK rappers stick with from basic unwillingness to take risks or push boundaries. When they do deal with those themes, it's no gangsta braggadocio tip, but a reflection of how they see their surroundings. "We don't live in Somalia" comments Marvin; "the government will feed us". Explaining Why Lout's elegaic take on The Clash's "Guns of Brixton", Jack argues that "Firearms are just a part of life in South London, you don't have a choice about being exposed to them". The track makes a softly-spoken but powerful case - audaciously stealing the entire Nouvelle Vague cover version, sticking a beat under it, and letting the song run for well over a minute before they even start rapping.

The other key element of the Why Lout? equation is that they're not afraid to have fun. For producer Dego Brown (quiet man of the four-piece core group), it's all about "good beats and uplifting tunes". Jack and Marvin add that "when you're rapping, it should be the smiling time!". Plenty of the songs have a straight-up catchy/commercial edge that they've got no problem calling pop music; amongst other things, they'd been using pitchshifted vocal samples way before Akon and the Crazy Frog gave them a bad name. There are darker tracks too, but the sparse RZA-style atmospheres maintain an emotional depth (often with smart use of soul samples) that stop them becoming wall-to-wall dungeon music.

Pixel emphasises how much they all love playing live - "to perform what you've been doing to an audience is the best thing in the world" - and Why Lout? shows involve everything from massed waving of Union Jack flags to Marvin wandering the stage with a Paddington Bear umbrella. It's a clear cut above the kind of unrehearsed nine-guys-shouting-over-a-backing-track shit you get with most aspiring crews. The band reckon that, honourable exceptions like Big Daddy Kane and Kanye West apart, contemporary hip-hop generally sucks live. Their typically practical solution is to pay more attention to rock band -type dynamics when developing their live performance.

In person, Why Lout? definitely come across as a band. There are no competing egos; Marvin, Jack, Pixel and Dego practically finish each other's sentences. They've all been involved in other groups and lineups, but this is the one ("like a little family") where it feels right. I'm reminded of the A-team; there's the charismatic leader, the big guy, the little guy, the ladies man - all different but on the same wavelength. In their own words, they're "black and white, short and tall, big and small", sharing the same dream of making it in UK hip-hop - and beyond that, of taking UK hip-hop out of its specialist pigeonhole and into the heart of the mainstream.

Why Lout? certainly talk a good fight; but they've been walking it too. Producing and releasing their own mixtapes, they've garnered radio play including XFM, 6Music, 1Xtra and loads of London pirate stations; plus press coverage in everything from Undercover and Don Diva to NME. When Hip-Hop Connection magazine put together a list of ten key releases representing the new mixtape scene, Why Lout? made it in alongside the likes of Kanye West and 50 Cent. Their remix of Art Brut's "Emily Kane" (and subsequent support slots) made a lot of people sit up and take notice. To top it all, Marvin has just inked a solo deal with Universal Digital that will see him releasing an EP in the next six months - but he'll be taking the others with him.

In the meantime, the new and definitive mixtape "Why Lout?- It's Been Time!" is out from September 12th in selected independent record stores like Deal Real, Scenario, HQ and Rough Trade. Check out Artrocker.com for an exclusive MP3, or catch them live at The Garage on September 19th with The Mitchell Brothers and Plan-B. Anyone who's ever wondered whether it's possible to produce credible hip-hop with a British accent needs to check these guys out.

- Ruaidhri Donnelly