Who are you?
My name is B.E.Z
Where you from?
From Bristol baby.
Is there a team you're repping?
I rep my team, Furious Dreams. But obviously, tonight, with my music, Crudely Cut Records, Wordlife. Tonight, you know what time it is.
What made you get into Hip-hop?
Personally my dad was a DJ so I've always had access to Hip-Hop music from a young age. And obviously there's always been a lot of local talent, like Krazy was the first one to record me when I was 15. Met a guy called Trigga Don when I was 17, and since then I've just been doing my Hip-Hop. Standard.
Are there any current projects out there now or any future ones in the pipeline?
So my album is out now called 'The Renegade Movement', thats out online and across all digital medias, Amazon, ITunes, you can stream it on Spotify. I'm working on my second album now, not going to give you the name yet, but just know it's on the way to you.
Do you have any musical influences?
Wow, well I'll just say them. Tupac, B.I.G you can't not mention them. In terms of actual music you've got to say Dr Dre, although I don't personally agree with all of his moves, but I love his music. His music is his music and his music is hard. I'm a have to say Jay-Z. LL Cool J is one of my favourite solo artists though, that's one of the first solo artists that went Platinum. Method Man big influence, Redman big influence. There's so many, Ludacriss, Fabolos, Styles P, Jadakiss. So many, too many to name.
Who do you owe the most to in your musical career so far?
I owe the most, it's split actually, between Krazy and Trigga Don. It's split. I owe them both in different ways.
What are your thoughts on the state of Hip-Hop today?
I just think in general it's not necessarily Hip-Hop anymore. Now it's maybe Hip-Pop. The underground what I consider Hip-Hop is maybe not even considered to be Hip-Hop by the mainstream anymore, it's been swallowed up into popular culture. I guess the state of it is that it's part of the system now, not how it was when it first started when it was about being a rebel, and being against the system and speaking out whereas now it's easy to make money and you don't even necessarily need to even love Hip-Hop anymore.
What needs to be done for UK Hip-Hop to get the international recognition it deserves?
It's just unity, that's what it needs. We need more togetherness. For awhile in the UK it's been like everybody wants to be the star, but of course that's not how things are made. You have to have many stars like in a constellation. There's 12 signs of the Zodiac, not just one. It takes work from everyone, because not everyone can work themselves into the ground at 100mph 100% of the time. When there's more than just one person there's strength in that, all working together.
Who are your favourite Hip-Hop artists and why?
LL Cool J because of what he did.
Are there any artists you'd like to work with?
Yeah there's a lot of artists I 'd like to work with. In the UK I'd like to work with Kano. I'd like to work with Skepta, Wiley. In the States there's obviously the guys I mentioned earlier. In particular Method Man, I'd love to work with him, Jadakiss, Fab. There's a few truth be told.
Any future projects coming in the next few years?
I've been involved in a few films as well as music, there's a film called 'Grade' that's coming out (at the time of interview, it's out now- ed) so a lot of writing and doing the music for film. Diversify, reach a wider audience and then I can can also bring my music to them. Another platform.
Any shout outs?
Ok shout out to the Williams family, shout out to the Downers. Shout out to all the Bristol artists that inspired me when I was young. MTG, all of the MTG guys, Suge, Uz, Arty, Ceez. King Aggi obviously. Trigga Don, Krazo, Yung UK I'll shout out too. There's a lot, I could talk all day really! IAM Entertainment, those guys were doing their thing before anybody really had a movement, those guys inspired me too. Anybody who does something that's real I'm inspired by.
Where can we find your music?
You can find my music on Soundcloud, B.E.Z 87. You can find it on reverb nation, B-E-Z. I've a Twitter account which is bez87rep. Bandcamp /bez87. I got it all you can just look online.
