Interview with another UK legend Si Phili – ex Phi Life Cypher member now smashing things up with his partner in crime Dotz. All of Phi Life’s work along with his recent album with Dotz are essential listening. There’s a lot any aspiring emcee could learn from this man in terms of professionalism and showing respect to the Hip-Hop culture. Make sure you check the links at the bottom.
Enjoy the interview.
Rockfresh:
Q1: Tell us more about yourself and how you got into Hip-Hop?
Si Phili:
I got into Hip Hop from a young age when my older brother introduced me to electro, the first song I had on my walkman was Newcleus – Jam On Revenge (The Wiki Wiki song) and from that I was hooked. Got into body popping, breakdancing and graff and didn’t decide to rap until we a few months before I joined Life MC and Nappa to form PLC at around 22.
Rockfresh:
Q2: Do you still do any body popping or breaking?
Si Phili:
Hahaha. Hell no. If I’d did that now is probably pop a ligament.
Rockfresh:
Q3: So does that mean the BMX career is over too?!
Si Phili:
Lol. Nah. I’m actually planning on getting a new bike to do a few old skool tricks on. I wanna get my daughter in to it too.
Rockfresh:
Q4: So BMXing is also a big passion of yours?
Si Phili:
Yeah. I got into bmx freestyle from I was about 10. Me and my brother were part of a freestyle team that did shows in the area and I was pretty good at it too. Ground and ramp wise. It was also a good way to show off as a kid as I was crap at football. I still watch a lot of bmx freestyle now.
Rockfresh:
Q5: So you have dropped Phil N’ The Dotz this year, it’s gone down very well in the Rockfresh office, has it been well received everywhere else?
Si Phili:
Yah. The response has been pretty overwhelming. We knew it was a good album just by the sound of it. But you have that bias opinion everyone gets towards they own music. So it’s good for everyone else to be hearing what we were.
Rockfresh:
Q6: How did you and Dotz get together?
Si Phili:
We met on the train back from a random Jump Off event I went to Sept 2012. He won the battle that night and I was pretty impressed. Then as he’s from Bedford and I’m from Luton it’s on the same train line. So we bucked up at the train station and started freestyling on the train for about an hour. During this time he heard me say Si Phili: and realised who I was. Then we just kept in touch after that. Then after the PLC split I was thinking of giving it all up an Dotz reached out to me and we started from there. It was originally meant to be an ep. But soon developed into the album it is.
Big up my Bredrin Sizza Handz too. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have gone to that Jump Off. Especially on a school night.
Rockfresh:
Q7: How does the age difference work for you guys? Do you think having a young gun and an elderly gentlemen working together help you reach a wider audience?
Si Phili:
Yeah. I Deffo think that helps a bit. And age difference is cool. Apart from when I buss a joke n it goes straight over his head. But aside from that it’s working out well. My experience along with his youth seems to be a perfect match up.
Rockfresh:
Q8: So what’s next for you guys?
Si Phili:
We’re gonna be touring with the album throughout the rest of the year. We both have solo albums coming out soon. Dotz is doing a project with Richy Spitz and also has a project with Flo. I’ll also be releasing the Sneakerttack Campaign with IronBraydz as this was put on a back burner for a while as other projects were finished up. Keep a look out for all of it.
Rockfresh:
Q9: Talking of a solo album, releasing music by yourself is something you haven’t done a great deal of. Do you just prefer working with others?
Si Phili:
As far as solo, I’ve got a lot of solo material it’s just not complied into an album. As I’ve always worked full time as well as do this music thing it’s hard for me to juggle that between family life and kids too. But I’m taking the time out to get at least one solo album out before I hang up the mic.
Rockfresh:
Q10: When to you plan to hang up the mic?
Si Phili:
Either when people get sick of hearing my voice or I do. Whichever comes first. But after my solo at least.
Rockfresh:
Q11: Do you think there should be a time when all emcees stop or should age not really matter?
Si Phili:
Nah. As long as they have an audience there’s no reason to stop. Nobody says that about other musicians. It’s just as Hip Hop is generally younger than your regular genre of music that’s been going on for time. Nobody’s telling Sting not to sing anymore. So why should KRS1 stop rhyming?
Rockfresh:
Q12: What do you think of the UK scene these days?
Si Phili:
The UK scene is the best it’s been for a long while. There’s a lot of quality music consistently coming out. And with festivals like BoomBap being able to show case these acts it’s making it exactly how it needs to be to progress. People are making better videos and music all round. So it’s good to be in it right now.
Rockfresh:
Q13: Do you feel like you had a hand to play in its rebirth with Millennium Metaphors? Between London Posse’s Gangster Chronicle & Millennium Metaphors, credible UK Hip-Hop was rarely heard.
Si Phili:
To a degree. PLC were certainly responsible for a bit of the rebirth, and things were a lot more London orientated back then too. There were only a few groups from outta London that were really doing anything. Us, ESI Asylum, Out Da Ville and a few others. And to come from somewhere other than London and bring out MM really did something for UK hip hop as a whole I think.
Rockfresh:
Q14: Who were your influences back then?
Si Phili:
Back then I used to listen to a lot of Canibus, Eminem, Wu tang and stuff like that. I was also into A Tribe Called Quest and Leaders Of The New School. So it was mainly US hip hop I was into. It wasn’t really until we started PLC that I really got into UK hip hop.
Rockfresh:
Q15: Do you prefer US or UK Hip-Hop these days?
Si Phili:
Deffo UK. It’s a lot realer and I can identify with what the people are saying. The problem I used to have with it before were the beats and some of the rhymes. Both of those have got a lot better in the UK now. Of course I still like US hip hop. People like Masta Ace, EMC and Torae. All the underground stuff.
Rockfresh:
Q16: What was performing on The Brits like?
Si Phili:
Kinda surreal. It was weird being an underground UK hip hop act amongst all those commercial celebrity types. I remember bumping into people like Sting and thinking damn. That’s The Police. But we held our own and put on a good performance. It was good to be able to get seen by a much wider audience too.
Rockfresh:
Q17: Would it be something you’d like to do again?
Si Phili:
For sure. But only under my own group. Not as feature like last time.
Rockfresh:
Q18: So what we going to see from you in 2015?
Si Phili:
Quite a bit. With the launch of Phoenix Recordings. It’ll see the release of the first solo album from me and also a solo album from Dotz. I have a mixtape with Richy Spitz due out mid 2015 and there will be another Phili N Dotz album out before the end of the year. I’m also involved in a community project known as L Town Development. So keep a look out for that.
Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SiPhili
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhiliNDotz
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVclRuEPkpCwm3w0f9a29Xw