Exclusive Interview with One of Birmingham’s finest... Mo’Makki

Mo’Makki Is from the Hand-sworth district of Birmingham, an area well known for its high gun and knife crime. When he was only 13 he was inspired to start produc-ing music(specifically grime beats) by top london mc’s such as Wiley, Kano and Ghetto. Coming from a high crime area Mo had his fair share of problems growing up. People would see him and instantly associate him with the HTC, a gang local to the handsworth area. We are here with Mo to hear his side of the story and set the record straight.

Anything you’d like to say before we start leaking info out of you?M: “Ha ha, yea yea, It’s Mo’Makki comin at ya from Birmingham, Mix tape is soon to come go and cop that!.”Team GD: haha alright then, I’ve heard alot of rumours about this mix tape, some say its not coming, some say it’s already out...what exactly is the situation with that?M: Yea i’ve heard alot of Storys about that, but since its grime daily im gonna show you a quick pre-view to quash the rumours(Makki reaches into his pouch and pulls out a CD).

Team GD: Is this the official mix tape?M: Yeah the REAL thing here, so **** what you heard haha.Team GD: I see alot of featuring artists, was this the original plan?M: Nah yano at first it was just gonna be me and my bedrin from way back but due to the rumours circulatin about my work rate, alot of Mc’s approached askin to do a ting so i jus said yea cool init haa.Like we said Mo has just quashed all the rumours,regarding his mix-tape and proved to us that there is a production in the process. What can i say? other then he killed 2 birds with one stone!

“Kids need to realise there is more to life then the postcode your parents buy a house in”

Team GD: On a more serious note though i’d like to ask you about your background and what it was like growing up in such a rough area, as you know the grime scene seems to influence the young and politicians like to blame the art form for the increase in anti social behaviour, what are your views on this.M: To be honest with you I think people are just being ignorant, no grime artist straps headphones to kids ears and forces them to listen, they listen to it purely because they want to and in most cases can re-late to it. But on the other side, kids need to realise there is more to life then the postcode your parents by a

Team GD: I definatly hear that,before we head off is there anything you wanna say to the fans? or supporters?M: Yea ma i just wanna say keep showing the love cus thats what music is about, ap-preciation, just know you can achieve no matter what your background is, mix tape is out soon in Tempest records go and buy that, staaanderd!.Team GD: Thanks for your time M.M: No problem man.There you have it people mo set the record straight and told it straight,anymore quesitons you have are just gonna have to wait til the mix “No one straps head-

phones to kids and forces them to listen!”

Interviewer: James Mills Team GD

Grim

eDai

ly Interviewer: James Mills Team GD

44 45