5 Minutes With Benga

8 May 2013

Chapter II.

That's the name of Benga's second album, and we think it's spot on. Yes, he's a626138'pioneer'. I626151's a word that's thrown around a lot when describing either him or his long time collaborator Skream. And it's true, yet he's more.

Over the course of the last decade Benga has been at the very forefront of fresh, upfront and in your face bass music, helping first push a sound that the entire world now recognises as dubstep. Already in his 15th year of making music, Benga made his first track at the age of 9 before taking up DJing at the tender age of 12.

Just 3 years later he walked into Croydon’s legendary Big Apple record store announcing, “I can DJ better than him.” The ‘him’ was Hatcha, who, alongside Artwork and DMZ are widely credited with conceiving dubstep. Artwork and Hatcha were amused and gave the cocky teenager a shot at spinning in the shop. At seeing his talents they signed him on the spot to Big Apple Records.

The rest is history.

His highly anticipated second LP dropped this week and is an absolute monster featuring collaborations with the likes of Sam Frank, P Money, Kano and more. More excitingly, he'll be touring India this weekend with Skream, playing shows in New Delhi and Mumbai at Kitty Su and Sitara Studio respectively. For more information on tickets and line up head over here.

In the run up to these very special shows, we got in touch and got a little personal. Just a little bit:

How’s it going?

Very well. I’m having a very nice time.

Where are you right now?

At home.

What’s in your pockets?

My wallet.

What's the last song you listened to?

Rudimental - More Than Anything Feat. Emili Sande.

Last thing you ate?

Nando’s chicken.

Last good gig you went to?

Jamie Jones at Brixton Academy.

Last bad gig you went to?

I saw these German rappers on Friday who I supported in Berlin and they were bad.

Artist you currently have on repeat?

ASAP Rocky.

If you weren’t making music what do you think you’d be doing?

I’d be playing football.

What’s the thing that you love most about your job?

The women.

What do you hate most about working in this industry?

Sheep. Followers.

If you could teleport yourself to any place and time where would that be and when?

I would teleport myself to 2015 when I’m playing stadiums.

Which colour do you identify with most?

Black.

What's the best gift you've ever received from a fan?

A Benga canvas – a drawing of me on a canvas.

Describe your new album in three words...

Exciting, smooth, diverse.

THE SAME 3 QUESTIONS:

3 most inspirational artists:


The Prodigy
Michael Jackson
Guru

3 favourite albums of all time:

The Prodigy - Their Law
Michael Jackson - Bad
Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, M.A.A.D City

Favourite 3 artists of the moment:

Disclosure
Laxx
Sam Frank

You can stream 'Chapter II' in its entirety here. You can also watch the video for 'Forefather' below:

http://youtu.be/5AztXQjgPk0

**For more info on these shows, and others happening across the country, head over to our events page here**

Tags

Share

Join Our Mailing List