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Ringolero

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Written by Stu

Alright, first up thanks for taking the time out with us for the int, now let the people know who you are and where your representin'
Its me, ringolero the 1st, repping doujaman, risc army, m.f.n, s.w.9, Brixton, london and the u.k.

You intially started rapping in 1989, what got you started down that path?
in about 89 I went to a Saturday school, where I met an older yout named leon, he introduced me to hip hop originally, (not counting my dad playing eric b and rakim records a couple years before). he gave me a big daddy kane tape and my love of hip hop, and more importantly lyricism, grew from there. kane was a lyrical genius, even now his lyrics from that time would stand up to the best today. I was lucky enough to have been exposed to him first so in essence I feel ive learnt from the best.

Now you stepped in to Drum n Bass and early 2000's you moved back to Hip Hop, why did you do this and what was the transition for yourself like?
My love of drum and bass came from what I was going through at the time. It was a soundtrack to my life at that age. It was a London ting as far as we were concerned, it was ours! u.s. had hip hop, j.a. had dancehall and now we had jungle/drum and bass. I love d&b cause of the way it makes me feel when I hear it. Them warping basslines, rolling amens, triple times kicks and snares, when I hear them I just feel the vibe to start emceeing, even now. I moved back to hip hop because my lyrical ability outgrew the music. Drum and bass was too constrictive after a while, the bars were not long enough to chain together the kind of story I wanted and also the way you use rhymes is completely different in both, drum and bass is a collection of short and long lyrics used to compliment the music, whereas in hip hop the emcee writes songs where the whole focus is on what is said and how it is said. The music supports what is being said. "well its supposed to anyway”. The transition was easy cause I used to apply hip hop writing principles to drum and bass anyway, and I had built up an enormous vocab which became donor lyrics and phrases for my raps.

Where did the name Ringolero come from?
The name ringolero is an addition or extension if you like, of ringo or jon ringo, a name I got in year 7 from the year 11’s at school. Ringo was a character from a Jamaican film called smile orange, who like me, was darked skinned with a slim face and high cheekbones. After a couple of years my man dem (particularly metric and flego), started calling me ringolero. at the time pinchers was known as bondelero and I became the ringolero . also i kept the ringolero name going, due to the carbon-copy mcs, there are other ringos out there but i am the only ringolero in the world!

Coming from doing your thing in DnB to Rap how did you go about building a reputation for yourself and forging contacts in the genre?
Well, where contacts are concerned, Im surrounded by people in the music industry in one way or another. I went to school with members of certain big u.k. acts, promoters and entrepreneur, grew up with others and done business with some. You do what you can but me personally that’s about as far as it goes as im not big on the real-life 'friend requests’, its not a beg friend ting or run up under no one ting either. So you get you foot in where you can and try and let your music speak for itself as much as you can. Also my reputation as a lyrical giant carried over from d&b, a lot of people already knew me and others around me also made the same transition from d&b back to hip hop so I just built on the rep I had built from d&b.

Being two different genres which do you prefer and why?
I appreciate them both in different ways completely. d&b was a vibsing ting where man will just bust a sweat skanking all night, whilst rhyming off the head in between time and in hip hop you don’t really dance but your neck-works like a machine and you kinda focus on trying to hear what is being said. but nowadays if I feel like dancing (or driving) very fast then its d&b all other times its hip hop.

Before hooking up with Scamer you had a few releases, can you tell us a little about them and why you kept solo rather than working as part of Amen Voyager?
My previous releases were not done to make any kind of money in itself. The first, ‘hammer verse of horrors’ was just the first real collection of the works I had got down at the time. I put it on disc, pressed up a few and gave them to people I knew. i knew i had to do this before doing a big release, so wanted to get a rough draft out there. The amen voyager ting was a crew with me, jon bizz and some other dudes, one I never met. I made one track with them as I was working with jon bizz anyway on production, he also kinda taught me the basic of music production, hence me doing the project. Amen voyager as the name suggests was a group with a deep, conscious kinda message. The track we made was called master minds of deception and I spat a hard verse and bounced. Due to certain other incidents the group never recorded another track. ashes to ashes!

You dropped a diss disc to 50 Cent titled "After the Massacre" as part of Risc, though I know your sick of answering this and it's explained on 'I Just don't like him' for those who are clueless to it what led to the CD and where's the beef stem from?
The ‘after the massacre disc’ was done because scamer and I used to listen to the mixtapes and realized 50 cent was a prick. as we both wrote bars anyway we started writing bars about it instead of just talking and decided to form the risc. 50 chats so much ‘S’, that he should have toilet paper hanging from his bottom lip. All he talks about is chicks and violence, theres no balance, no intelligence. straight knuckle-head rap! thats why i dont like him, also i wanted to use the canibus-tactic that he used when he first bust, which is dissing already established artists.

Being a rapper compared to being in DnB is probably more lyrically challenging, where do you draw inspiration from when writing and if someone was to ask, how would you describe your style of rapping?
oooh, i know a lot of drum and bass heads who'd be pissed to hear that, but i do know what you mean. when writing for both genres i use everything and anything for inspiration. im a artist/graphic designer by trade (as you can probably tell from my myspace page), and i am used to being creative and drawing on all resources for inspiration. my imagination is a resource tool i use, though factual events are the basis for the words i speak, i just explore many different ways to get my point across. there is an actual formula to the way i write lyrics and this was also applied in a simpler form to d&b lyrics, study anyone of my lyrics and you will see the pattern i created.
my style of rapping has been described as wordy yet highly digestible. growing up where i am and going through what i have you cant help but come hard, which i do, but there is a deep intelligence to my style. everyline i spit has meaning, for me there are no such things as throw away lines. there is a gem in every sentence i spit. take anyone of my verses/tracks and analyse every single line and there is something there to show that im not just your average rhyme-sayer. my bars are a mixture of immediate punchlines and time released gems, which you get the meaning of over time. everytime you listen to my rhymes, you'll hear something you never heard before or get a new meaning you didnt appreciate before.
(editors note: I have not listened to much DnB at all so apologies don't take offence)

Right now you have your solo album "How to be an Emcee" out, who is involved in that, whats the theme and how long has it taken to put together?
How to be an emcee the album is my solo joint, others involved include; magic of renegade hardware records, synista hustla and synagee of hustla enterprise, corey johnson of defenders l.o.s, my doujamen, scamer and risc recordings, but the mojority of it was down to me & jonringo enterprises. the artwork, the manufacturing of the cd's, the arrangement and concepts of the tunes. i am highly motivated person, so a lot of things i think of, i just make happen!
the theme is my take on all the shit that is flooding the market, i feel people need a guide to show what an emcee is supposed to be like, amongst all the nonsense out here. it took one year to produce from start to finish, including writing the lyrics.

What is your definition on "How to be an Emcee"?
I am the definition of how to be an emcee! ask what it is to be an emcee, then look to me for an answer. im the morgan freeman of this rap shit, in the elite, not based on status but purely on quailty of the product. my take on how to be an emcee or what an emcee should be; is someone who steps up to the plate everytime, someone whom you never hear a shit verse from, no matter what. someone who is versatile enough to be able to do nearly any type of track, without sounding corny or selling out. like me you need variety, and as i do you need a range of different styles and a collection of various types of tracks. someone who moves mountains with a verse, one who uses words and forms understanding in an ellaborate & intelligent way.

With this release and others you have gained some recognition from certain radio stations and few labels like Sony and BMG, are there any plans in the pipeline with a major
At the moment there are lots of talks going on, but to be honest im cool with the current situation where labels are concerned, everything that is going in or coming out is through me, i like it that way for now. sure i could do with the security of having a label behind me, financing my projects and managing issues for me. but until the right deal comes my way, im happy navigating my own ship.

What are your feelings on UK based rap music and rap music in general?
UK hip hop (which i prefer to the term rap) is potentially in a good position but we as a nation are not grabbing the opportunity as we should be. we dont support/buy enough of our own music. still this many years on we still look to the u.s. for guidance on what we should sound like. we need to embrace our own experiences and all that we know and push this forward. if you notice whenever im asked which artists i like, i rarely say anyone who isnt from the u.k. if we dont support it why should anyone else. we have a dunce mentality when it comes to anything to do with u.k. we are the first to snub our own acts, then expect everyone else to embrace us. u.s. acts come over here and makes mills from a show, but u.k acts put on shows which are comparable to karaoke nights in terms of ticket sales and attendance. our record sales are exactly the same. you notice u.s. acts pop up and they seem to be balling before weve ever heard of them, the reason for this is that they had local support, they sell millions to their state alone initially, by the time we see them theyve already blown up in their home state. Im looking to sell a million in the u.k. alone, you may have heard me say before. but im dead serious. the u.k. market is geographically big enough for me to sell a million on our shores without trying to break america! REMEMBER THAT AND SUPPORT YOUR OWN!!

As an artist or entrepreneur what does the future hold for you?
As an artist i will always be writing, for the last 18 years no matter what has been going on in my life i have always been writing so this will always continue. Even if i didnt sell, id still do it for the love. (tho i know everyone says that) besides that I am the kinda dude who is working on 8 to 10 projects at any one time, so no matter what i will be a success. whether it is as an artist, a designer, a producer or even a manager i will succeed at whatever i choose to dedicate myself to. you need to truly believe that you'll be a success or you'll fail.

Dont get it twisted though i still do a 9-5 to guarantee my bills are paid
Music side of things what is your biggest ambition and do you think you can achieve it
my biggest ambition is to sell a million records and for jonringo enterprises to be the success i plan for it to be, also for me to take my rightful place as one of (if not) the best emcee in the country.
I know i can achieve this, if i didnt think i could i wouldnt even try.

We are at the beginning of 2007 what does the year ahead hold for yourself, Jon Ringo Enterprises and Risc recordings?
2007 potentially holds a lot for ringolero and jonringo enterprises. this year it is about the whole world getting to know ringolero and absorbing my album how to be an emcee. im doing 3 videos for my solo joints and an official launch party for my album is happening before spring, other projects in the pipeline are the RiSc album which I will be doing with scamer for RiSc recordings, the doujamen mixtape with the doujaman movement, singles and a video with corey johnson and defenders l.o.s. a joint project with synagee, where i alone will be rapping and he will be producing the whole thing. also features on releases from synista hustla, shells & bones. i'll be doing other guest appearances and dubplates on a regular basis, also jonringo enterprises will be doing a lot more graphics work, with album/mixtape covers, logos and also myspace page designs all kicking off for this year.

Is there anything you want to add that we havent touched on or any shout outs?
Only that its been a pleasure.
Big up to yourself and the whole of rawroots.com, all my mandem, south london represent, doujaman movement and the risc army, also shout out to everyone appreciating what im doing, drop into my myspace, vote for a track, leave a comment whatever, feedback is the key!

wack emcees keep doing what your doing, it only makes me stronger!

Ringolero.
wun!

Thanks for taking the time with rawroots.com

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