INTERVIEW : RAGGASONIC
Interview by : Sébastien Jobart
Pictures by : FX Rougeot
on Wednesday, October 10th 2012 - 23 866 views
Fifteen years on, Raggasonic is well and truly back. After more than two years on the road, Big Red and Mory are releasing a third album under the R-Sonic banner, in the direct line of the first two. Probably the most awaited record this year... Out on 15 October, "Raggasonic 3" will be followed by a long tour of "the small backwaters", just like in the old days. "People still remember it," Big Red breathes, "we were the only ones who had come through their town." And also "an army of remixes", he warns us.
When we meet them to talk about this new album, it is as if they had never been apart. Fifteen years on, Big Red and Daddy Mory haven't changed much: sharp tongues and proud looks… In a word: raggamuffin!
Reggaefrance / When setting off again for this third album, 15 years on, what did you have in mind?
Raggasonic / Big Red: A bitter taste, of something unfinished, you see... Because we left a bit, not like thieves, but without any warning, without telling anyone. Even we were the first to be surprised. That's how it was, we split up naturally and spontaneously. And we tried to get back together as spontaneously and naturally as we parted, you see? NTM gave us a little spark. Getting back a certain standing as a duo, because we know that as two, it's a group. It's not the same as when we were solo, where something was missing for us. I was fine solo, Mory too. We did what we had to do, we tasted the underground, we kept in touch with the scene. But we're still better as two, it's easier to share the stage, to showcase my partner and watch him bust a gut to do the same.
There's a bit of emulation...
Big Red: It's an old combination, it works... But I really enjoyed 10 years solo. Mory too. We did exactly what we wanted. There wasn't a single month when we didn't have work, thank God.
You've been sharing stages again for a while now. Artistically speaking, for the album, what did you want to do?
Big Red: We wanted to reconnect with the hard core of Raggasonic, with the essential vibe, that is classic raggamuffin culture. The people who loved us for that had to find themselves in it. Because that's what we put forward the most, the classic riddims side and a slightly fresh Parisian flow. People had to find themselves in it, rather than play the 100% new card, which we really wanted to do at first, but we put the brakes on a little. In fact, we are going to play that new card, but in an evolving way. That is, we put on two little tracks that step a bit outside the frame, but there's a whole army of remixes coming. With crazy guys, who are going to remix crazy stuff, like we always had back in the day, when there were remixes before: on Raggasonic's first album, there was Ainsi va la vie in ragga jungle and Bleu blanc rouge. It came out in ragga jungle first, because we were living in London, we were doing jungle nights. Afterwards we did jungle nights in Paris with Loïc and Gilbert from Radio Nova. We had a sound called Expensive... We've always straddled digital culture. But our base is strictly raggamuffin. You know how it is, right?
 Maintenant, les fachos, c'est banalisé, ça passe sur Canal+, ça s'la raconte... 
So working with Frenchie again was a no-brainer?
Daddy Mory: Frenchie brought his colour to Raggasonic. We wanted to get that side back, even if we didn't want to redo the Raggasonic of '96 either. Today it's 2012, we wanted a fairly fresh colour. But our own colour.
Big Red: There are still some riddims that sound very much '98. We wanted riddims that followed on a bit from before without being too clichéd. We just wanted the Raggasonic guy to find himself in it.
The album is both ''old school'', with a more modern ending...
Big Red: A little, because there are just two tracks that step a little outside the thing...
The dancehall part is still very much of the moment...
Daddy Mory: That was a bit deliberate too, we didn't want to put out an album for old men either, you know what I mean?
Big Red: Or for conservatives.
Daddy Mory: Exactly. We really didn't want to fall into that.
Big Red: The thing is going to live. Already, right now, it's alive. Then it's going to live on stage, because we want to give them a slap on stage. And then it will live again with crazy remixes. We already have tracks that are strictly ragga that we remixed as dnb step, as anything you want, something aggressive. That will give something else. And then for those who liked that cosy comfort of classic raggamuffin culture at Raggasonic, it's there, and that's that. Now I'm not going to tell you it's our best album or the album of the century. We don't know. We're just proud of what we've done. We wanted to reconnect with Raggasonic, and that's done.
You can feel that 15 years have passed. You have experience...
Big Red: And maturity, perspective.
It starts from the very first track: ''I remember back then, at the parties...'' Straight away, you can feel you have a long history...
Big Red: I thought you were going to say ''you can feel the nostalgia''. We have a bit of perspective because we've been doing the same job for 25 years. I'm 40, Mory's about to be. So looking back over 25-30 years, that's no small thing. It calms you down, it tempers you. Me, I'm still full of rage, the older I get, the less tolerant I become, that's for sure. But on the other hand I have more perspective, so for the writing it can be nice sometimes.
Once again, this album takes stock of a society, and it's not very cheering. The single ''Ca va clasher'' is about a police state, cut off from its young people.
Daddy Mory: It's already clashing, you know.
Big Red: We called it ''Ça va clasher'' so as not to be too dark.
Daddy Mory: To calm things down.
Were you inspired by the events in Clichy-sous-Bois?
Big Red: Clichy-sous-Bois, the Indignados, London... Loads of things like that. It's already clashing. The track is cool, I like it. It tempers things a bit. We just say what we see, basta cosi.
Daddy Mory: The colour of that track makes me think a bit of Bleu blanc rouge.
Big Red: We found ourselves in it, like a calling card for Raggasonic. Bleu blanc rouge was a track that wasn't made to sell singles, just to land a little punch, a little conscious message in people's heads. This one is a bit less sharp than Bleu blanc rouge, admittedly, but in the message, we find ourselves in it.
In your lyrics, you talk about national identity, racism, what is eating away at society in France. It's not an album made for partying...
Big Red: No. Before, we liked to party with a flavour of rebellion and consciousness.
Daddy Mory: That's been lost, a little. People have lost that side.
You get the feeling that militancy in reggae is getting a bit lost...
Big Red: You can feel it, the guys who say ''me no eat pussy'' are the first ones to eat it. And when you make albums about battymen, it means that somewhere, you dream about it a little at night... In psychology, that says a lot. But it's true, reggae has taken a beating in 10 years. With their bloody new-roots. With their stupid dancehall, it's taken a real beating. But luckily, there was Junior Gong and things like that, which came along and gave hope back to raggamuffin MCs like us.
Vybz Kartel, does he inspire you at all, for example?
Daddy Mory: He can write conscious lyrics. He has some, like Bad Reputation... But he's a businessman. When you're too much business, you lose the artistic magic.
Big Red: Talk to us about Shabba Ranks's comeback! Talk to us about Ninjaman getting out of prison, talk to us about real things. Talk to us about Buju! But not about Kartel... I don't know what to tell you... Junior Gong! Don't give a damn about the rest! For me, he's the only one who represents the vibe I like. They showed that in the 21st century, it wasn't dead. And that's a real pleasure. The album with Nas (''Distant Relatives'', editor's note) is a good combination, because what they put first in that combination is authenticity, really. Nas is also a great lyricist, one of the best for some pro-New York rappers. It's bad.
It's also a fine example of a crossover album...
Big Red: It's not crossover, actually, it's downright foundation. Because ragga hip-hop, since BDP and KRS-One with Jamalski, is an old concept. Mad Lion, all that... It's more polished, but very simple, minimalist, and super real, actually.
On the album, you didn't only work with Frenchie. There are also other producers, like Marc Animalson... There, we get into more modern sounds. Was it a choice not to address only the thirty-somethings who followed you back then...
Big Red... (cutting in): What do you mean by that? Does that mean it's aimed at a younger audience?
The people who followed you 15 years ago are now 30 to 40. Moving towards more modern productions is a way of not addressing only those people who knew you in raggamuffin mode?
Big Red: Or else of addressing those people, but not only in old-school mode. But I admit this production will speak to a younger audience. That wasn't necessarily the aim, but that's how it is.
So that gives the album some variety.
Big Red: It's not an old-timers' thing?
It's not the last chapter of Raggasonic 2, it's a new chapter...
Big Red: Yeah, you could say that. Good, it's nice that you see it that way.
Daddy Mory: It's a compliment.
There's also Youthman, Central Massive... Big Red, that's more your universe...
Big Red: Yeah, Central Massive has done drum, dubstep, UK garage. I worked with him in 2007 on the FTW album. I did loads of parties with him, he's my mate, you know. Then there's DJ Science who did a remix of ''Monkey Star''. It's a bit of dnb step. And there are plenty of other people, like Birdy Nam Nam, who are remixing for us right now, doing crazy stuff.
In the end, how long did the recording of the album take you?
Daddy Mory: Actually, since we were on tour when we worked on the album, it was always in little three-day slices. We never did fifteen whole days of studio.
Big Red: Hence the repeated announcements of the album's release: ''It's in three months! September! In August!''
As soon as you went back on tour, did you immediately start on the album?
Daddy Mory: It was our first project. When we saw each other, we said: ''right, we're going straight into the studio, we'll knock out an album.'' But we were told to do a tour first, that it would be better to cover the ground beforehand.
Big Red: Well, now, we've been on the comeback set for two years, it's starting to wear a bit thin. People are still there, but, well, let's not push it. So now, when the album comes out, we'll move on to a new set.
As for your lyrics, isn't it a bit depressing, at some point, to keep denouncing the same things?
Big Red: It depends on the intonation you take. If you go ''yeah, the cops, your mother's a w*ore, my crew and me, blah blah'', you're committing suicide. If you add a bit of melody and respect the riddim, there's no problem. You can say whatever you want. That's the advantage of reggae music: a soft melody with harsh words.
Granted, but morally, 15 years ago you were singing against the FN. And 15 years later, you still have to sing against the FN...
Big Red: 15 years later, it's not even against the FN, it's against Nazism. Because now they've gone looking for parents without papers at the school gates, mate. This is Pétain, this is 39-45. It's worse than Giscard, it's crazy. And now the fascists are normalised, they're on Canal+, they hold forth... It's crazy. And the Zemmours, the Copés who dare say that the ones who commit robberies are all Blacks and Arabs; that a boss has the right not to accept a Black or an Arab. That's normalising fascism... But we will always be intolerant of this bloody rubbish.
Are you still full of rage?
Big Red: We are victims of fascism, every day. Damn it, we've been paying our taxes since 1996! Those bastards, we're funding them. We're taxpayers. We denounce, we're activists in our own way, because we're lucky enough to be on the mic and denounce. It's passive activism, in our own way. But on the other hand, we contribute to the economy of this bloody country that doesn't take us for French. It's infuriating. And at the same time, the communitarian mindset, the widening gulf, the lack of culture in the estates, all that, there... The gulf is monstrous.
In 15 years, is that something you've seen change?
Big Red: Yes, especially in the last five years, we've taken an insane boost. It's got worse in five years, terribly. That's how it is, what do you want me to say? We're lucky enough to be able to say it by talking on the mic, that's all. Thankfully, otherwise I'd be planting bombs. Well yes, because once you know what's going on in the news, what do you do? Me, I can't sleep, you know. I don't understand how we can know what's going on and do nothing. It's crazy. Some manage to do it, who are in a kind of generalised hypnotic hypocrisy. Me, once I know all that, once I watch the news, decode it, I'm full of rage. Thank God I have the microphone, because otherwise... That, and also the fact that you work, that you're French, that you've been paying your taxes for 20 years, and they still don't take you for French... On the tax form they call you ''Monsieur'', and in the street, you get asked if you're French, it's pathetic. Those cops who work for my security and take me for I-don't-know-what. All of that is intolerable, unbearable... And I think I'm not the only one. It affects everyone. Illegal capitalism, too, which means that soon it won't be Black or White, but taxpayer or not. Three million unemployed... When we started, there were 1.2 million... It's depressing. And we have kids... So it's normal, man, we react. And thank God we have the mic to talk about it. While having a blast. It's still beautiful.
Daddy Mory: Super luxury. It's a luxury. For raggamuffin DJs, it's the ultimate luxury.
How do you split up the themes of the songs between you?
Daddy Mory: Spontaneity. We listen to the instrumental. If it speaks to us, we can more or less see what kind of subject we could put on it. It comes naturally, we don’t overthink it.
Big Red: We’re past the age of filling notebooks in our bedrooms.
Daddy Mory: Now it’s in the studio.
Big Red: Yeah, we like to say ''one shot, good shot'', but at the same time, it’s satisfying to lay something down in ''one shot'' and not go back over it too much. It lets you own what you do, and bring out whatever little bit of realism there is in your flow, in your style, if there is any. It’s the best way to show it off. When it doesn’t overflow out of you, the best way to protect that little flame is to be as spontaneous as possible.
Putting yourselves on the line, in other words…
Big Red: Exactly. Trust the first draft that comes out, and so be it. Respect that first draft: don’t transform it, don’t smooth it, don’t correct it, don’t format it. Above all, try not to format it.
Today, are there any artists you feel close to, whose path feels familiar to you?
Big Red: Junior Gong.
Daddy Mory: Because Junior Gong is a bit like us, in the sense that he’s eclectic. He does reggae, he can do dancehall, he sits on ragga-hip-hop.
Big Red: It’s urban.
Daddy Mory: He doesn’t push his Rasta religion in your face at every turn, like some do.
Big Red: He doesn’t put women down, he has no homophobic lyrics… Because when you come from a minority, when you make music for a minority, you don’t go saying ''go and kill another minority''. What kind of madness is that? Gay people are a minority, like us, you understand? Me, I have gay friends, guys or girls, I couldn’t care less. And they accept me as I am, and I talk freely with them, no problem. I’ve always had them around. For us, it’s Paris, with the whole mix of cultures… Were you at the Love Life Parade we did on Sunday? You should have seen the crowd we’re really talking to… It was magnificent, positive, incredibly fresh. Paris is killer.
Is Paris different in your eyes when you tour?
Big Red: Paris is home. We did everything here. Our first steps. At 13, I was bleeding Paris dry. In 1986, I was going to the Rex to see RLP and Dee Nasty. We saw Mantronics there. That was two years before the Globo. We missed nothing at the Globo, we saw Public Enemy there, then we did the Bobineau. We did every party going. And I’m not even talking about the sound systems. Paris is our bloody city. Paris is parties in a little bourgeois flat, with actors, graffiti artists, dancers, with an MC, a DJ. That’s Paris, the mix of cultures. It’s always been that, Paris.
Daddy Mory: In the 90s, we didn’t only hang out with artists who sang. We hung out with painters, actors…
Big Red: Or directors who are super famous today. Culturally speaking, Paris is incredibly rich. It was the second city of hip-hop in the days of hip-hop, the second city of reggae, after Japan. We’ve always been big in reggae and in hip-hop. We carry weight, don’t think otherwise. Because we let the uncultured take control of the sound, that’s what the record industry wanted, but we’re still here. And reggae isn’t new in France, it’s hip-hop that’s new. My big sister saw Bob Marley at the Palace. When I was a kid, my aunt took me to a Sunsplash. I saw Peter Tosh, Dennis Brown...
Where do you see yourselves in 10 to 15 years?
Big Red: In a terracotta pot. Dead. Well, if after death comes life, no problem... We can’t say, it’s incalculable! (Joking) If Twitter still exists, Mory will still be on it!
Daddy Mory: Reggae, reggae. Everybody knows reggae gets better as you get older.
Big Red: So they say. As long as we’ve got a bit of juice, well, go for it! We’re really in tune with our passion. Now everybody has the same line: ''The stage is killer!'' In fact, they have no choice, records are finished. Except that we’ve always done the stage. There was a short period, I won’t lie to you, when we hid behind our royalties, but it didn’t last long. We’ve always toured like mad, it’s all we’ve done, thank God. We’re passionate, so it’s magic. We practise our passion and we live off it. Just having the time to pursue your passion is a luxury not everybody can afford, because the bills have to be paid. You have to set up a rotation. It took us 25 years and today we’re really very proud. Honestly, I could almost die tomorrow and I wouldn’t care, because I’ve got a beautiful life. A raggamuffin MC life, I couldn’t dream of better for myself. And when you see what the supporters give back to us… Life is beautiful!
As Mory sings on the album…
Big Red: Exactly. What I like about this song, La Vie, is that you can feel the distance, the maturity in the lyrics. So Mory, he loves life! And he shares that. I like this track because of the optimism it gives off. It tells you that life made him suffer, but that he loves it anyway, despite everything. I think that’s great.
|
|
© 1999-2026
RSS
