self-titled - no. 2 - (Page 30) Knowle West Boy is very autobiographical. Why follow that path now? This is the first page of the second chapter. I feel like this is my first album again. Sometimes you need to go backwards to go forward. The album title references the area of Bristol in which you grew up. How does Knowle West compare to parts of the United States? It’s quite like Boston, the Irish areas. It’s filled with generation after generation of families. It’s a ghetto but in a good way. My grandmother’s white, and my mother’s half white and half black. I grew up with my grandmother. So I knew that life. Have you seen the area change? There are a lot of areas in Britain that are still hardcore. There is no culture. No proper music. No education. One of the big problems in England is that no one really cares about the youth. When I was a kid, there used to be youth clubs. The first time I got turntables, it was in the youth clubs. There’s nothing like that now. You have to only hang out on the streets. You had a difficult upbringing. How did those struggles influence you as a musician? If my mother didn’t commit suicide, if my father was there, I wouldn’t sound the same. I would be a totally different person. I accept that I was a problem child. I thought I was going crazy because I didn’t understand what I was. Now everything makes sense. I know who I am. I finally understand my personality. A girl complains to me about not loving because I’m numb. And now I understand why I’m numb. Since my mother killed herself, and since my dad left me, I know [that] I’m numb. I wouldn’t change it for the world. Nothing would be different if you could change the past? I would love to have met my mother. I would have loved to see what she was like. Not really knowing her affects everything I do—my relationships, my friends, my lovers. So your grandmother raised you? Yeah. She never spoke about my mother. I think she missed her too much. When I was three or four, she was smoking a cigarette and saying things like, “You look like your mom.” It was almost like I was my mom’s ghost. I know from my aunt that she wrote poetry as well. Everyone in my family was devastated by her loss, even up until today. Is your grandmother still alive? She’s still kicking. The women in my family, they live. Unless when they don’t. What kind of music were you introduced to as a child? Billie Holiday was the first music I ever heard from my grandmother. I grew up also with my auntie who was white and had white kids. They would listen to Funkadelic one minute, Marc Bolan the other minute, David Bowie. When did you start making music? When I listened to the Specials and wished I was in that band. But I wrote lyrics first, not music. I heard vocals and lyrics. 30 What is your reaction to your own voice when you hear it on recordings? I wish I could sing. I have tried to sing, but I haven’t tried enough. You were diagnosed with a odd health condition. Can you talk about it? I have this disorder called Candida. It takes the good bacteria and causes depression. I got help only when I felt so horrible that I wanted to hurt somebody and understood that there was a risk of going to jail. Now I know I have it, so I know how to deal with it. How do you deal with a condition like this on tour? Eating correct. Training. Exercising. If I eat McDonald’s, then I feel sick. Now, I crave asparagus with soy sauce. Although, I’m not a vegetarian. One of Knowle West Boy’s standouts is a song called “Coalition.” It’s uncharacteristically political. It’s 2008, and we’re still fucking moving backwards. The stuff we do, it’s kind of ridiculous. It makes me exhausted. We’re so devious as people, so devious.
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