.. ed..ted my prof..le w..th Thomas' Myspace Ed..tor V4.1
"The Man Behind This/ Two Gold teeth/ And A Bally Flush Touch/ With A Mindstate Such That............!!!" (KINETIC EFFECT, 'BORDERIN' INSANITY', circa 1993); these words are the introduction of KEITH RODGERS into the UK RAP music industry, aka. the NOTORIOUS, INCOMPARABLE, MOST CREDIBLE, MOST AUTHENTICATED, LEGENDARY INSANE MACBETH, UK RAP SUPER-PRODUCER/ WRITER/ ARRANGER!!!
After rolling with two respectable cliques, THE SINDECUT [DJ. FINGERS, CRAZY NODDY, LYN-E-LYN, and DON'T RAMP] and HIJACK (or rather THE HUNTED QUARTERS [I knew SHAKA SHAZZAM very well, and later met THE ICEPICK, AGENT SCROLL aka. BRIXTON BROWN aka. RED-EYE BROWN, TOMSTA, ROUGHNECK SCOUT, KAMANCHI SLY, HUNTKILLBURY FINN, MARGA, KILL-A-MAN TWICE, and years later, DJ. SUPREME]), INSANE MACBETH later wished to enter the music industry. Being a 'real' bad-boy from BRIXTON (I knew, and was respected by members of HANGMAN, and SMALL-AXE....plus I knew someone who was well-respected, from the COXSONE SOUND SYSTEM), INSANE MACBETH wished to use his street smarts that he learnt 'from road' and from HASLER, and HOLLESLEY BAY Detention Centres (I. M. went to two lockdowns in 1987); plus the essence of NEW YORK hip-hop, to start his own independent imprint INSANE RECORDINGS!
Putting together a business plan in 1991 (it took a year & a half to complete), INSANE MACBETH successfully obtaIned £4000 in grants and loans in 1993. Hence, INSANE RECORDINGS and my production company, VICIOUS PRODUCTIONS were born! Having witnessing first-hand, the errors of other UK RAP labels, such as MUSIC OF LIFE, Kid-Gee's CONSCIOUS MUSIC, ISLAND/ MANGA STREET RECORDS, GEE STREET, KOLD SWEAT, Blade's 691 INFLUENTIAL, plus others, INSANE MACBETH learnt a number of things. He noticed that the packaging of UK RAP records were not very entertaining, in which the sleeves were either housebags, or very poor quality photographs and/ or sub-standard graphic design was being used. Secondly, INSANE MACBETH notIced that most artists were using poor quality studios, thus their records sounded like demos (this is still the case in 2008, UK RAP DICKHEADS!!!). INSANE MACBETH wished to change this, when recording with his pilot artist KINETIC EFFECT, a young emcee (his aliases included THE PHENOMENAL PHYSICIST EMCEE and THE VENOMOUS NEMESIS) who was studying a B.A. Honours degree in PHYSICS at the time.
Henceforth, INSANE MACBETH was the first UK RAP artist who had an imprint, to record and mix records on an S.S.L. mixing console! INSANE RECORDINGS was the first UK RAP imprint to release a 12" single with limited edition coloured (green) vinyl! INSANE RECORDINGS was the f..rst UK RAP imprint to give their artist an inside sleeve, to print the lyrics (even major record companies do not facilitate these marketing ploys for most of their artists/ product). INSANE RECORDINGS' debut release 'BORDERIN' INSANITY' definitely made its mark, and created a lot of jealousy (which still exists today <[b>f*@k all haterz!!!]). This is because INSANE MACBETH has always depicted real UK RAP and street culture in his product....whether that being in his image (UK RAP artists have NO ..mage, and are very boring!!!), quality of the music, or being a product of his environment! Insane Recordings was perceived somewhat, as something of an anomaly, within the London hip-hop underground, in regards to its marketing strategies; acting as an antecedent for future artist-maintained, underground rap imprints.
The second release on Insane Recordings, KINETIC EFFECT: "MAN BITES DOG [CONSTRUCTION OF A SOCIOPATH]", b/ w "THE EFFECT OF FEAR", saw K.E. and INSANE MACBETH move away from the battle-fuelled energy of the first release. Both K.E. & I-Mac believed that they proved that they could make high quality records, setting new standards in lyricism...what was required now, was to move away from battling, and make highly conceptual tracks, introducing a new abstract, eclectic innovation in their expresionism. "MAN BITES DOG" contains concepts from the BELGIAN film-noir of the same name. This new approach meant that a new approach to marketing this single had to be undertaken. Firstly, the label, with its 'special' silver colour, was taken from the label colour of CELLULOID RECORDS (for those not in the know, Celluloid Records was the label that HARLEM-based legendary deejay GRANDMIXER D.ST aka. GRANDMIXER DXT recorded with!). The silver label was meant to give the record a kind of 'retro' look about it. Secondly, because of the type of lyricism contained, only 500 records were pressed up. This enabled the second release to obtain 'rare' status, as it was hard to find! Thirdly, the second single was marketed to university students, who may have been aware of the cult film.....in fact, the only project which could compare at the time was KOOL KEITH's "DR. OCTAGYNACOLOGIST" album about a cyber-space medic and his antics. The average UK RAP fan was unable to comprehend this release, but because of K-Effect & I-Mac's academic background (Insane Macbeth was studying a B.A. Honour's degree in PHILOSOPHY & HISTORY at the time), both saw the huge artistic benefits of branching into new fields of creative endeavour!!!
Whilst Insane Macbeth released the "MAN BITES DOG" 12", and recorded & mixed Kinetic Effect's {unreleased} mini-LP "THE 'MORTIS' EXPERIMENTS" [along with his engineer 'NO-SLEEP' NIGEL], he was also studying his degree in Philosophy & History, and becoming well-read in METAPHYSICS & EPISTEMOLOGY. I-Mac read all of the follow..ng metaphysicians: PLATO; ARISTOTLE; DESCARTES; LOCKE; HUME; BERKELEY; LIEBNIZ; KANT; HEGEL; MARX; NIETZSCHE; KIEKERGAARD; as well as existentialists such as HEIDEGGER; SARTRE: and contemporary analytic thinkers such as A.J. AYER; BERTRAND RUSSELL (particularly, his 'mathematical logic'); WITTGENSTEIN; STRAWSON; KRIPKE, among others. Exploring metaphysical concepts also definitely influenced his beat-making process.....for the better, methinks?!?
Insane Macbeth started working on his debut solo album towards the end of completing his degree in 1999. Featuring many of the alumni of UK RAP, including Kinetic Effect, HUNTKILLBURY FINN, THE ICEPICK, SHAKA SHAZZAM, GRIZZLY, CRAZY NODDY <[b>KAMANCHI SLY, from the seminal south London crew HIJACK, wrote & spat lyrics to I.M., for a track called "MASTERS OF THE ART". Unfortunately, this track was never recorded for "The 'Retardation' Project"!], and introducing the world to a new protege, called THE RIPPER, the album...."THE 'RETARDATiON' PROJECT"....wished to move somewhat away from the dark, abstract concepts that I-Mac was associated with. Rather, he wished to recorded a more well-rounded album in regards to his personality...using a lot more references to street life; showing a sense of humour (this is another area where UK RAP lacks dismally!); and bas..cally depicting his own world-view. I-Mac still wished to display beats with that 'dungeon' vibe that he invented, with crescendos, glissandos, and arrangement in his music (like 'real' musical scores).....but the beats were definitely more accessible....and this was a deliberate move! However, due to a UK rapper trying to shut him down (over his dickhead, prick issues that he has within himself), there was a lot of bad energy surrounding that project in 2000. Yes, Insane Macbeth was getting the positive reviews & interviews he had always garnered since his introduction to the scene in 1993. But now, he was also getting regular spins from WESTWOOD {RADIO 1FM} (Westwood had always played product released on Insane Recordings, from when he was at CAPITAL RAD..O, in the early 1990s); CHUBBY KIDZ {KISS 100FM}; and DJ. 279/ NUMBER MAN {CHOICE 96.9FM}, with "TRUE HEART" featuring The Icepick. The hip-hop cognoscenti were really beginning to find out about I.M. Still, for all the positivity that I-Mac was getting, this idiot basically put a dampener on the whole release. After initially pressing up 150 promotional copies for industry heads, Insane Macbeth decided not to release the album. instead of releasing the album, Insane Macbeth started making a real effort to initiate bus..ness contacts, both In NEW YORK, and in JAMAICA. This way, business associates would only be interested in Insane Macbeth's product & marketability...without any so-called 'baggage'!!! From first flying out to New York in 1995, I-Mac has made numerous contacts in The Big Apple, as well as the Caribbean (SPANISH TOWN; KINGSTON & PORTMORE), thus getting his business accomplished in an environment he feels at home with! It was in his visit to New York in 2001 however, where he stayed in BEDFORD-STUYVESANT (where BIGGIE SMALLS, and JAY-Z are from), that enabled I-Mac to really gain contacts with people who seemed to see his vision. I often fly out to Jamaica,.....and have connected with a very serious contact! I am also definitely looking to go back into that NEW YORK STATE OF MIND, after my trip in September 2006, as I really feel comfortable conducting business out there. New York seems to be far more receptive to what I-Mac is about & doing, at present. I.M. is currently looking for management, to get me production work and QUEEN'S HEADS/ DEAD PRESIDENTS!
The latest news about Insane Recordings is that Insane Macbeth has a 12" single out right now, called "True Heart", featuring The 'LEGENDARY' Icepick. There are limited edition special red vinyl available, for vinyl junkies & collectors. This release is distributed by SUSPECT PACKAGES {refer to DISORDA}. Insane Macbeth is also recording a lot of music right now . Tracks Include a track with RUFSTYLZ, aptly titled "UNFUCKWITHABLE"; "U DON'T KNO'", ""LAST CALL", and "LAST CALL 'REFIX'" featuring MALARCHI are now recorded; a cut with KARL HINDS called "CAN'T, COULDN'T, COULD NEVER", and tracks with CAPPO, and SEROCEE, and (hopefully) RICOCHET KLASHNEKOFF, are in the pipeline; plus a few other things [all on my main artist page]. We'll see what occurs in the future. The music business has changed immensely in that last 3 years, in which Insane Recordings has to contemplate the mp3 format. This is because legal downloads is 80% of the market share, in regards to how consumers currently purchase music. Insane Recordings is though, going to enter the licensing business, so hence, new product is still being recording. But, it may not be released phys..cally, by Keith Rodgers. What I can say however, to whoever's interested, is check out my webste www.insanemacbeth.com for further updates. There will be new pictures and news information placed, for all those who are interested, at the end of March 2008. Perspective readers can check my artist profile [in my TOP 24], and also e-mail me here for more information. Also, I-Mac wishes to thank all the contacts that he has garnered from myspace.com (especially those 'friendz', who have checked out the main 'artist' page); particularly the deejays who have played "TRUE HEART" on internet radio. VERY MUCH APPRECIATED! BLESS-UP!!!
I.M. & Insane Recordings are also very much interested in expanding to other territories: particularly New York & the United States of America, and Japan. If you were to ask I-Mac who'd he'd like the opportunity to produce, he'd say the following....RAKIM; KOOL G. RAP; KRS-ONE; JAY-Z; BIGGIE SMALLS (post-humously); BIG PUNISHER (post-humously); RAS KASS; CHINO XL; GZA/ GENIUS; EMINEM; FREDDIE FOXXX/ BUMPY KNUCKLES; NAS; CANIBUS; ROYCE 5' 9"; PHAROAHE MONCH; CROOKED I; SAUCE MONEY; JAZ-O; H.I.T.T.M.A.N.; BLAQ POET; SUN N.Y.; HAMMAZ; IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE; PRODIGY; SAIGON; PAPOOSE; BEANIE SIGEL; JADAKISS; CAM'RON; FAT JOE aka. JOEY CRAKK; AZ; RAEKWON THE CHEF; GHOSTFACE KILLER; CASSIDY; 50 CENT; LLOYD BANK$; TONY YAYO; THE GAME; T.I.; FABOLOUS; GRAFH; TERMANOLOGY; JOELL ORTIZ; SKYZOO; BISHOP LAMONT; BLACK MILK; G.A.G.E. MONEY; RHYMEFEST; CLYDE CARSON; STAT QUO; SAM SCARFO; MAINO; SERIUS JONES; TONY STAXX; JOSEF STYLIN; JEAN GRAE; REMY MA; TRINA; RICOCHET KLASHNEKOFF; BIONIC (ex-LONDON POSSE)! Let's make sh*t happen!!!
All in all, Insane Recordings has sold records in the following nations: THE UK; GERMANY; SWITZERLAND; AUSTRIA; AUSTRALIA, THE USA.; JAPAN....as well as had their product receive airplay & write-ups in HUNGARY; NEW ZEALAND and who knows which other countries of the world?!? Respect the pioneers & legends, as LEGENDS NEVER FALL!!! Oh yeah, I.M. still harbours dreams of working with the legendary Argentine composer, pianist & conductor BORIS CLAUDIO "LALO" SCHIFRIN, the P-Funk/ Funkadelic bassist BOOTSY COLLINS, and the guitarist ALLESANDRO ALLESANDRONI, as well as Jewish pianist/ composer BURT BACHARACH. To all you surfers out there, please don't steal my ideas; it's not cool, nor is it original!!! One last thing....I.M. has a new drum library...with drumz that have already been fully 'treated' - my sound is getting even better! I.M. is the avatar of good sonics, in music production.
