About Me
You dont know who the Colony are? Well your about to find out.
2 months ago Big Smoke met up with the Colony at the Museum In Docklands on West India Quay to talk about all things Colony related. Where better to meet with this diverse and talented group than at a brand new showcase of one of the regions most influential industries and communities. It certainly reflects the crews make-up and work ethic, with each member contributing a unique talent and style to the make-up of the Colony sound. To introduce the Colony as a crew; words perhaps do not do justice, their recorded output both as a collective and individuals, and their live performances are the only real introduction to them, but as words are all we have we will persevere. The Colony first began to build back in 1999, with Sir Smurf Little and Willo Wispa meeting in College, and connecting with Grimlok and Conspicuous the Coroner through Homegrown internet radio show, down at Brick Lane. Although this didnt all happen straight away, and the Colony took a while to emerge, not unsurprising when you consider the amount of talent that was passing through the studio in those days. Conspicuous recalls that it was around this time that he and Willow met Grimlok (who youll know as a champion and veteran of the battle circuit) although it wasnt until slightly later that they all connected. With this much variety of talent in one crew itd be easy to expect them to be insular or isolate themselves from other artists, but that simply isnt the case, with and extended family including future names Off Key the Black Hand, Kiff & Propaganda, Ophkea, T Bear, Bleu Cobane, and known talent like Shameless. With a very definite British sound (and by British we mean a sound that reflects the diversity and creativity within the nation) the Colony produce music that remains true to foundations of hiphop whilst bringing their own individual take on it, embodying the serious, humourous, conscious, battle and just about every other angle including the kitchen sink. Smurf is quick to espouse the groups conviction that between them they provide a very rounded team where everyone should be able to identify with different aspects of each group members personality, Grimlok being the often aggressive punchline oriented rapper, Willow the crowds champion, Conspicuous the well balanced spitter, and Smurf the story teller. At times its possible to suggest that Cons and Smurf share a likeness in approach, and Grimlok and Willow, at times Willow and Conspicuous, and so on, so the possibilities that these mcs provide in different combinations is pretty exciting, and for once its easy to see just how much respect each mc has for one another because their verses generally coalesce well rather than compete on a track; check Branded on Evil Eds lp for evidence of this. Certainly, all four mcs are keen to remind us that they constantly learn from one another, improving with every verse dropped, and rather than being competitive see each others verses as inspiration as much as challenge. The Colony are certainly far removed from groups that drop tracks where all the verses sound like there were recorded in ignorance of one another, as much as from tracks where all verses sounds distinctly similar. Having suffered the positive and negatives of the uk hiphop industry, they believe that how you get back up after being knocked down counts just as much as how you handle your successes, Conspicuous citing Mike Tyson, and how hes never been the same since the time he was knocked out as an example of how sometimes peoples confidence and self-belief doesnt recover following a major setback. So far in this article Ive describes the colony as a crew, a group and a team, but as I said at the beginning its the Colony who can best introduce themselves, and so Ill close with the last comment from their interview that best explains the mechanics of the colony The Colony, we dont see ourselves as a group, we are a foundation. When we work together we work together, and we enjoy working together, but we are also individuals, thats our strength and much like the citizens and employees of the old docklands of London, its the individual talents of each member as an individual, and their ability to work together to the best possible end that takes that foundation and builds upon it to create a lasting impact.
