Raw Roots - Rap News, Interviews & Reviews

OC Jigga

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Written by Lee Wellman

When did you release your first song ?
My first ever released tune was a garage tune in 2002 named "Trouble on the Road Again" when I was in a group called Khemistry Crew - it got a little love on pirate stations and that led to appearances on Taste FM and Upfront 99.9 in South London. My first hip-hop tune that saw light of day was a track called "Dream Body" which came out on Mykal Millions' "Hell to Pay" mixtape in 2006. Since then I released my first mixtape proper "True Stories" at the end of March on DowntownSoul Records.

What's your biggest track so far to date ?
"Dream Body" was my first hip-hop track so that's probably my best known track right now but otherwise the tunes gettin the most love off the mixtape are "Grimetime" which is a straight anthem featuring L.Man, then "Take Dem Dere" and "Give it to me" has become a bit of a ladies tune lol!

Who produces your music ?
For True Stories I worked with quite a few producers - Haka, Julio Shanakee, X-Ray, Dixie and my boy Tyrone but right now I'm kinda sticking to Haka and Julio for my new stuff cuz those boys got straight fire plus now they on DowntownSoul as well its all family.

What record label are you on ?
DowntownSoul Records, which is a South London indie, and has got some real talented guys working on it so watch out for dem !

Have you released any music videos ?
Well we been in discussions with a few people to do a video for "What's Ya Life Like?" but to be honest I'm not tryna rush something out there just to say I gotta video on Channel U tho ! I'd rather get something done I'm 100% happy with even if it means I gotta wait. Best believe I'll have something out by summer tho.

What has the response to your music been like in your hometown ?
I'm from Brixton so there's a lot of brothers doing their thing in the music game around the way. In fact the whole local scene has been poppin off over the last couple of years - I mean we got the whole PDC click who really blown it on road, taking it back to proper street hip-hop, then Speaker's Corner has really helped local emcees get their name out as well. People like Genesis Elijah also been reppin hard for Brixton so I really feel like this is a good time to be coming outta there on a Hip-Hop tip. Even with all the other acts round the way I had nothing but love to be honest, whether its from established artists who encouraged me to do my thing, local shops who've all really supported the mixtape, or even fans on road... It's all love man.

Being independent can be a grind ! How are you finding it ?
To be honest it ain't really no thing to me - I gotta get my name out there so I'm tryna work harder than anyone to do that - meeting promoters, linkin producers, sellin cds, doin open-mics, you name it - alladat stuff - paying my dues basically ! Plus now I'm moving as a team with the whole DowntownSoul thing has helped spread all the work among a few people lol!

What are your thoughts on digital distribution ?
Its the future for artists like myself - simple as that. Selling my music online to anyone in the world via media like iTunes and Snocap is clearly gonna get me greater exposure (and sales!) than selling my mixtape on the endz - there's no comparison.

Do you have an agent for bookings/tours ?
Right now DowntownSoul Records are handling everything for me so if you got any enquiries just holla at them on myspace.

Have you much DJ support? Radio Play? Mixtape features?
We been tryna link radio stations UK-wide to be honest - this week we got a few on-board so listen out ! that's Lady Jay UK on Unity FM up in Manchester, Lock n Load, DJ Xtra on Invincible FM, Sir Funki on RawFlex.com 103.6 FM, and those are all London station. Terms of mixtape features, my first track "Dream Body" was on Mykal Million's "Hell to Pay" mixtape late 2006, then in February this year "What's Ya Life Like" was on the GoFish Records mixtape which had nationwide distribution in Germany, and since then "Grimetime" been on DJ Ames' "UK-US Takeover Vol 3" and he liked it so much he stuck "Big Business" with Ethnico on his latest mixtape "UK-US Takeover Vol 6", which came out last week - there's some big names on there like Klashnekoff, Styles P, NDubz and Bronz n Blak still tho so its nice to be involved...

What subject matters do you cover in your lyrics ?
Well I try to make universal music man so the subject matters I touch are generally things people can relate to. I can only be myself, talk about the things I'm going through, otherwise I'm gonna come across as fake - its like "Feeling Great" (1st song on my mixtape) starts "I woke up this morning, and I'm feeling kinda great, recognize real quick this ain't my place" - everybody can relate to that, a good night out, waking up at some chick's place the next day, cooking breakfast and sh*t - y'know I ain't gon lie - its a good feeling for real ! so that's what my music's about - real life experiences, stuff that everyone goes through - I ain't gonna lie of course I got harder tracks too but overall I'm talking bout everyday things you might see around ya endz !

Tell us a bit about your style
I call it "laylow" man - its like a chill vibe - why rush things ? That's my attitue and that best describes my emceeing style - so relaxed I guess...

Outside of music how do you relax ?
I like gettin out there promotin myself so I'm nearly always on a music tip to be honest but otherwise playing footy, chillin with a chick, loosing up my muscles y'know, holler at the man dem - straight keep it movin.

What can people expect from you in the near future ?
I just finished a couple of tracks with Haka which are gonna be on his forthcoming "Underground Journeyz" mixtape this summer, those are straight fire man I'm tellin ya - Haka linked this indie kid to do the hooks and it sounds sooo different, like nothing you heard believe - I'm excited about them for real but better leave it there for now ! Also just finished a track with a producer named Wizard from Brighton, then as well as that there's an EP I'm working on with a US crew from Compton called Drunksiders; and I also recently linked Shootin Star from Extremists and we gonna try and get a track done this month so just staying busy on the recording front really. Other stuff coming I'll feature on is a DowntownSoul compilation later this year, as well as Haka's Enzym Productions project.

Do you have a website or MySpace page ?
sure check me at: www.myspace.com/ocjigga1
and my label at: www.myspace.com/downtownsoul

thanks for the interview fellas !