INTERVIEW : MAD KILLAH
Interview by : Romain Nicod et Benoît Collin
Pictures by : Benoit Collin
on Wednesday, June 07th 2006 - 18 830 views
A well-known artist of the Paris underground, Mad Killah is releasing his first street CD, ‘‘Madness’‘, alongside the Demolisha team. If his name is familiar to many French-language dancehall fans through his many appearances on compilations, Madness should extend his reputation even further. All the more so as all the players on ‘‘Madness’‘ will get together this summer to work out his first solo album.
Reggaefrance / You’ve been in the reggae-dancehall world for quite some time. What made you start a career as an artist?
Mad Killah / Indeed, I’ve been immersed in this world for 12 years now. At the start I was just a listener. I was given cassettes of Jamaican sound systems featuring deejays such as Charlie Chaplin and Admiral Bailey, among others. As time went by I became more and more interested in the scene. I spent all my time listening to new releases and I tried to get hold of videos. I particularly remember Sunsplash and Shabba Ranks. It was during that period that I knew I wanted to do dancehall. Then I discovered French deejays like Saï Saï, Pablo Master and Tonton David, through the freestyles broadcast on Radio Aligre. It was only after listening to all these artists from the French-speaking scene that it clicked and I started writing my first lyrics with Leevayah B. Since then I’ve persevered because I love it. Whether I break through or not, I’ll always keep on voicing.
How did you choose your name?
It’s all about madness, even if in the end I’m not that mad. And besides, a madman will never say he’s mad! Quite simply, I’ve always liked the word Mad, and the word Killah maybe also thanks to deejays like Mad Cobra and Bounty Killer. I blended their respective names to create Mad Killah.
What are your musical influences?
First of all dancehall. I also listen to a lot of reggae, although I mainly voice on dancehall. Shabba Ranks, then Beenie Man, Mad Cobra and Bounty Killer are the artists who influenced me most. I also remember the arrival of Scare Dem and its videos. It was really a big era.
What are you listening to at the moment?
At the moment I’m listening to Mad Killah on the Purple Thing riddim. It’s a roots riddim produced by Back to Zion, and I’ve had it on repeat for a week.
Which projects have you taken part in over your 12 years of career?
I was doing dancehall, but I first voiced small hip hop mixtapes produced by a guy from Sarcelles, called ‘‘Freestyle King’‘. At the time we had a crew called Sixième Sens. It was made up of two toasters, Leevayah and myself, and two rappers, namely Debel and Dob. The latter two ran into difficulties that didn’t allow them to carry on. Leevayah and I were spared those problems, which let us carry on by ourselves. Then there was the Crazy Ragga Mix, produced by Rodger de Maffee, followed closely by a period when I was very active in the sound system scene and took part in various compilation projects.
As for 7-inch singles, I remember my first release: Je n'attendrai pas la venue du Messie, produced by Soweedo. The various projects I took part in then followed one after another, notably the compilation ‘‘Bakchich’‘ in 2003, which included big Jamaican riddims like the Star Wars, the Judgment, the Glue… The compilations ‘‘Universal Dancehall’‘ 1 and 2, released in 2004 and 2005 respectively, Demolisha’s various mixtapes, which were also widely circulated, and here I am in 2006 with my street CD ‘‘Madness’‘!
What details motivate you to take part in a new project?
I voice with a lot of people I know; the personal side is predominant in choosing what I take part in. A moment ago I was telling you about Back To Zion; they happen to be one of the first sounds to have recorded me, already six or seven years ago now, after a night at the Divan du Monde where my performance had gone well. They called me recently to voice the Purple Thing riddim, and I accepted without the slightest hesitation. Besides that, there are lots of youngsters from Sarcelles who only know me by name and who contact me to voice. I accept in order to give them strength, even though they don't have a big budget. However, it all depends on the vibe the person gives me; if I don't know the person and I like the riddim, I voice it, provided I get a good vibe. You can pitch me a big project, but I won't voice on it if I don't know who's behind it and the chemistry is poor.
You toast a lot in French, whereas the current trend is the opposite, voicing in Creole. Is that to stand out or to reach a wider audience?
I’m Martiniquan but I grew up in Paris. My first lyrics were written in French and even today the vast majority of my words are still written in French. I’m not one to follow trends; just because Creole has become more or less fashionable doesn’t mean I’ll follow it. Likewise, it isn’t a technical choice to reach a wider audience either. Besides, most of Admiral T’s and Krys’s lyrics are in Creole, which doesn’t stop them from having a sizeable audience. The fact is, if I sing more in French, it’s quite simply because it’s the language I’m most comfortable in.
You’ve been accused of being Daddy Mory’s copycat. What do you say to your detractors?
That’s nonsense. Mad Killah has always been Mad Killah; I’ve never taken myself for Daddy Mory. There may be similarities in the voice but not in the lyrics. Like everybody, I listened to a lot of Raggasonic, so it surely influenced me. Mory is Mory, I’m me. We each do our own thing. These comments started after we did a combination on ‘‘Universal Dancehall’‘, because with all the 7-inch singles I had done before and all the riddims I voiced, nobody had ever told me my style was identical to Mory’s. There are even people who didn’t necessarily know me and who thought Mory was alone on the track ‘‘Atomic Dogz’‘, whereas for my part, I notice a real change of voice when my part comes in.
What is your view of the current dancehall scene?
For me it's all good! The scene is evolving, but I don't know whether that carries over into the market. Anyway, I can see more and more people joining the movement. The big West Indian parties that used to play mostly zouk now play 90% dancehall. On top of that, there are also lots of DJs you don't see in the sound systems who mix dancehall at parties. This phenomenon is really positive, because as long as people are there to pass on a message, create a good atmosphere or encourage people to party, it's fine.
The only downside is that when I started, we rehearsed our lyrics much more before going to voice a 45. Nowadays the youngsters get offered chances to voice a tune, but they have neither lyrics nor technique. They rehearse their lyrics very little and go to the studio too rarely. These youngsters lack experience, maturity and professionalism all at once. Sometimes it's their first time in a studio and their tune ends up straight on a compilation. But overall, I have a positive view of the current dancehall scene.
What message are you trying to get across to your audience?
The message is always the same: “More love, fight for your rights because life is hard”. I try to give the audience what it expects: if the crowd wants to dance, I make danceable tunes. For example, when I play outside Paris, I've noticed people are happy when I sing Le monde crie à l'aide, they're really happy, but they're even happier when I go back to a dancehall riddim. I think the audience expects a lot of party vibes from me.
The stage seems to mean a lot to you.
For me the most important thing is the stage. Every time I'm offered a show, I do my best to be there and represent. I hope this street CD will let me do even more shows and widen my audience.
“Madness” is mixed by Demolisha. How did you meet, and what is your relationship with them?
I met them through Azrock, who introduced me to Neasso. I was hosting a show on Générations with the Stand Tall, and Demolisha has a show, the Localize Show, every Monday night. So I also bumped into them several times at the Générations studios. I got hold of the mixtape “Crucial Selection”, Demolisha's “Hot Summer”. At the time I was on holiday in Martinique, and I listened to it for two months in my car! I really enjoyed that mixtape, and I particularly remember the tracks by Siaka, Azrock and Uman. As soon as I got back, I told Azrock I wanted to voice something on the next mixtape. Neasso and Helias agreed. After that they called me back several times because they liked my work, and our collaborations multiplied until our trip to Brazil. For a month we were always together, which inevitably brought us closer.
When we got back, we carried on working on the street CD. Demolisha really supported me on the project. Neasso worked on it every day, and he did the artwork and the juggling. Yass added his touch with the scratching. There is also Siaka, with whom I did two tunes, who got involved in the project, and finally Tarko, who works on it a lot. Maximum respect to the whole team. Today I can say that Demolisha is family. I currently have two crews, Demolisha and the Showsky Family.
Tell us about the featurings.
This street CD is really a team effort. Daddy Mory, with whom I'm used to working, is on it, as is the Showsky Family with Leevayah B and Mister Face. Tanto Nyro, a guy I grew up with and who is a brother to me, voices Clic Clic Bang. There's also Siaka and Gifta, an MC I like a lot, Soha, with whom I had already worked on “Bakchich”, and finally FDS, a brother.
Who made the decisions on the making of the Street CD?
I make the decisions on the project. If I'd been told to do other featurings, I wouldn't have agreed. I chose my riddims and my themes, I did everything from A to Z.
Did you give more importance to the riddims or to the lyrics?
The riddims played a key role in the making of “Madness”, and they actually inspired the lyrics. It took a long time to make, so some of the riddims have been out for a year, but there are also brand-new riddims that are right up to date.
In Ils pourrissent notre mouvement, you criticise certain players in the reggae-dancehall scene. Can you tell us a bit more?
Originally I wanted to talk about concert promoters, because from experience I know a great many of them do their job badly. I played plenty of dates outside Paris and it was not unusual for them not to pay! So of course they are rotting our movement, because they give venues to artists they don't take seriously. Later I extended the subject to DJs and to a phenomenon we saw a lot in Paris at one point, where guys came to the sound systems to rob others. They came more to cause trouble than to enjoy the sound. We don't need things like what happened recently at the Gibus. You don't go to a party to fight, and if you want to fight, join a boxing club! That's the phenomenon I wanted to point the finger at in this tune.
Elle est belle is about Africa. What is your relationship with that continent?
Africa and I have a long story. I grew up in the suburbs among all sorts of nationalities: French, West Indian, African, North African… I've always had a lot of African friends. My first best friend is Leevayah B and he's African. I'm also very close to his family. Africa has always attracted me a great deal. I know where I come from, I'm West Indian but above all I feel African, because I know my history. I even did some genealogical research that let me find out the country of origin of my great-grandparents: Ivory Coast. My grandfather grew up in Ivory Coast and I have African aunts. I've never been there, but I intend to go.
I did, however, discover Africa on a trip I made with Daddy Mory. Even though the trip only lasted four days, I tried to get out and about as much as possible. With Rudy, we went to the market to meet people while the others stayed at the hotel. And I intend to go back soon. To come back to Elle est belle, I had the riddim with me on the trip, and on the way back, on the plane, I listened to it on my MP3 player and wrote the lyrics.
Tell us about the tune Faut pas déconner
At first I laughed when Mory was writing it, whereas he was really involved. I totally agree with what he says, since he describes situations I see every day at the foot of my building. For example when he says “your daughter is fourteen and your missus is sixteen, you can't be serious”. It deals with serious subjects, which is why I put the track on the street CD.
Which one is your favourite?
Rest in peace, a track in which I send greetings to neighbourhoods back home that are at war with each other, and U.N.I.T.Y with Siaka are my two favourites on “Madness”. When I heard the riddim, I immediately thought of Siaka to sing on it.
“Madness” is your first solo project. It was eagerly awaited. What did you spend that time on?
“Madness” contains 30 previously unreleased tracks. That took a lot of work on the writing side. On top of that, there was also a lot of promotion and distribution work, which Tarko handled. Without Demolisha, I might have been able to make the street CD, but I would have been unable to organise the distribution. You should know that quite a few discs have been placed outside Paris and that it will be distributed in France, Belgium, Switzerland and as far as Réunion.
Is there an album in the works?
I haven't started yet. There are two or three unreleased tunes that I voiced on compilations. One or two of them may go on the album, but right now I haven't really got stuck into that project. I plan to do quite a few of the album's tracks with Demolisha, but they are pretty busy, so I'm taking the opportunity to look after the promotion of the street CD. Then, as soon as Neasso is back, we'll start on the album without rushing. We'll get going with Helias, because Demolisha make bad riddims. I trust them entirely on the production side. We should kick off the work over the summer. For my part, I'm going to appear on several compilations, notably voicing roots riddims. I have already put my voice on six roots projects, it's a field I enjoy enormously and I'm going to appear more and more on that type of riddim.
Do you see downloading as a positive thing?
The internet is a very good promotional tool. As for downloading, I think that if you're going to do it, you might as well go all in. Because if the tune or the album is available to download and the sound still doesn't get played, I don't see the point. I have to admit I'm no internet expert, I have a connection at home but I hardly use it for lack of time. On the other hand, the little time I spend on it lets me communicate well with Jamaica and back home. The internet really does help create connections.
How do you see your future?
In the sound! Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, the day after that, I'll always keep singing. I'm also thinking of branching out, buying an MPC and setting up a studio to produce riddims. I know plenty of youngsters who toast around where I live, and I'd be delighted to have them voice my riddims. That way, we'd come full circle!
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