You don't normally associate grime MCs with protesting, but Tinchy Stryder is one mic man fully behind the Ctrl.Alt.Shift cause, as Kieran Yates found out...

Who or what inspired you growing up?
In terms of me making music, it would be everything, but hip-hop especially. I had elder brothers, listening to Busta Rhymes and Biggie Smalls, so even if I didn’t want to, it was in my ears! I heard a couple of Oasis tracks, and I was, like yes, I like this, it was different to what I was used to... Experiences in my life, what i'm going through, what other people are going through is what it’s about now.
 
Do you think there are enough black role models in the black community?
I think there are black models, but maybe not as many as people think there should be. It depends though, because when you look at the situation deeper, you see that there are a lot of role models there. Like, the smallest thing someone could do might make them a role model to somebody else. A lot of people are doing positive things in the black community. You know, some people haven’t got the chance to be role models and that has to change.

You were recently involved in a HIV march with Ctrl.Alt.Shift, tell me a bit about that…
When they first spoke to me about it, I was interested straightaway. You know that people aren’t allowed to get into some countries if they have HIV? I was thinking about it, and I thought it was wrong, so I got involved in that. It was a good thing to be a part of, and anything I can do to make my age group aware of what’s going on in the world is positive.

Do you appreciate your position as a celebrity as a forum to reach out to people?
Yeh, before, people would say, "do you know that people look up to you?" and I would think, ‘What, I’m just an MC…’ but people do! So, I do what I can, and if I can help people to see things in a different light, I will. A lot of the time people just focus on the negative things, there are lot more positive things going on, especially where I'm from, and in my community, people helping out... I want people to know about those things.

Did you ever realise grime would be as big as it is now when you started?
I always thought good music would be successful, so as long as people are making good music that’s success. I think grime isn’t even fully understood yet, but its getting there, its going the right way anyway!

Do you think artists like Dizzee Rascal paved the way for up and coming grime artists?
Dizzee definitely helped paved the way, he was the first one from the grime scene bought his own sound and helped everyone understand where he was coming from, and he’s someone I’ve got to give props to... He’s definitely an inspiration.

Tell us a bit about working with Taio Cruz...
The new single is called, ‘Take Me Back’ which we did together... He is a really humble person, we just had this opportunity then because we’re on the same record label, we made it happen. We got a beat down and he came with ideas, and ‘Take Me Back’ came off of that.

Who would be your dream person to collaborate with?
Right now I think it would have to be Akon. I'm listening to him a lot, I bought his album the other day and I think he’s a good songwriter, so focused on what he’s doing.

Have you got any New Year Resolutions?
You know what, I’m going to stop being late! That’s my resolution for the New Year.

What are your plans for 2009?
I’m just going to make the best music I can make, I’ve got an album coming out, and the single with Taio, and expanding the ‘Star in the Hood’ t-shirts range.

It was the ‘Star in the Hood’ t-shirts that financed your production wasn’t it?
Yeh, I was an independent musician so I started off selling the t-shirts on myspace to generate some income. The money from that really helped out with music production and the tours, and it played a big role in the videos and things like that. The t-shirts were important, I think people need to understand that you don’t always just sit back and wait, not everything just comes for you, and you have to work for it.

What would you say to young people aspiring make it in the music industry?
I don’t want to sound like everyone that says ‘be yourself’ but that is actually the realness of it. You really have to do what you believe in, don’t try and be like anyone else, and it’s as simple as that.

Words: Kieran Yates

Tinchy’s second album which features club favourite, ‘Stryderman’, is due for release Autumn 2009, and will be preceeded by the release in February of single ‘Take me Back’ feat. Taio Cruz.