CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO SKEME'S INTERVIEW ON GUN CRIME ON BBC RADIO 5LIVE.
Born with a mic in his hand, Skeme's unique lyrics educate as much as entertain, adding a degree of social commentary to Britain's hearty Hip Hop movement. Notorious for his outstanding performances (he could sell snow to Eskimoes), Skeme has become an integral part of this bitch we call UK Rap.
Hailing from Deptford, South East London, Skeme had a hunger for the mic from an early age. With sound systems like Saxon and Spectra holding jams at the bottom of his road every Sunday getting on the mic was soon became second nature to the ghetto star. Whilst still at primary school the big players allowed him to ride the riddim, which was highly unusual for someone of his young years and MCing became a natural progression, which eventually lead into rap.
Skeme hooked up with three fellow local rappers and became part of an outfit aptly named The Money Programme. The crew approached lifelong Saxon member D.Rowe for musical support and guidance and began using Saxons studio to record their hard-hitting material. As always Skeme shone out with his distinctive vocal style and made the wise decision to go solo. Again D.Rowe played part in the young MCs career path and introduced him to Choice FMs DJ X-Ray and top underground producer, Luchi. The pair soon recognized Skemes talent and in 1996 X-Ray and Luchi co-produced Herbman Hustlin with the critically acclaimed Roots Manuva. Word soon spread and peers were clambering to collaborate with South Londons finest. PR guru Simba hooked Skeme up with Blak Twang and Seanie T. They made the hip-hop track Shoosh together along with Fallacy, which featured on Twangs album and the crew performed many live gigs together.
Skeme's collaboration with Fallacy was to be repeated with the club anthem remix of Fusions Groundbreaker. Skeme went on to make a mixtape with veteran artist Rodney P and the pair spat together on the infamous track UK Bubblers.
Skeme soon founded the prestigious Sterling Collat his crew featuring top artists and producers including Big P, Laurie Sterling, Dirt T, Mickle, Sevon and is affiliated with Estelles label - Stellarents. Since then Skeme has completed a national sell out tour of England (The Rapp Revolution Tour) with Titan Sounds and has also performed in France as part of the national skateboard championships with Greensleeves, Canada with Mind promotions, Scotland with Estelle and Big Ted, Wales with 1xtras DJ Digs and Germany with the nations favourite - DJ Dynamite. Skeme has also supported a diverse spectrum of artists including: Ludacris, Big Daddy Kane, Ja Rule, John Legend, Badly Drawn Boy, The Libertines, The Music and Mobb Deep and is featured on the highly acclaimed Roots Manuvas album Run Come Save Me and is also on Rodney Ps forthcoming LP.
Skeme is currently working with popular garage outfit K2 family, Lethal and Destruction, Passing Trade and award-winning Estelle. Estelle and Skemes track Just Because received major airplay on BBCs 1xtra. Other tunes playlisted on the airwaves of Radio 1, Kiss 100 and Choice are 'Bling Bling', 'Herbman Hustling', 'Turning' and 'UK Bubblers'. The video for Turning was hand picked for rotation on MTV Base.
Recently Skeme featured on one of the hottest tracks of the year Fusions The Greatest Show. Jungle and hip hop heavyweights, MC Det, Skibadee, Shabba D and MCD also lent the talents to the tune that stole the number one spot on the Channel U chart for three weeks and went on to with 'Best Video' at the 2005 Urban Music Awards (UMAs). Laurie Sterling and Skemes carnival track Sterling Fiesta features on Wale Adeyemis compilation All Sewn Up.
Skeme runs a workshop in partnership with NDC providing the opportunities for the young people in his area to hone their skills as an MC and to improve their lyrical content in the form of a weekly Lyric Writing and MCing session. The workshop is for 14-25 year olds from a deprived area of South London. He also works in close proximity with and is a regular speaker for Love Music Hate Racism (organized by the Anti-Nazi League) using the positive energy of the music scene to fight back against the racism being pushed by Nazi organisations such as the British National Party, National Front and Combat 18. www.lmhr.org.uk
With his own radio show, bi-monthly night, workshop and merchandise line (and not forgetting his music) Skeme and Sterling are going from strength to strength. Skeme aka Tugsy Malone is the UKs realest and hottest star - and hes taking no prisoners on his rapid rise to the top.
Visit Kitchen (hosted by Skeme) bi-monthly at Kitchen @ Rhythm Factory, Whitechapel, London, E1. www.kitchen-uk.com
Catch Skeme and Laurie Sterling on their weekly UK Hip-Hop show, Monday night 10pm-12am on Real FM 104.2 FM
For all media/press/booking enquiries call: 07950 579632 email: [email protected]
www.sterlingcollat.com
Check out Skeme's group Sterling Collat on myspace at: http://www.myspace.com/sterlingcollat
