HHK: Thanks again for agreeing to speak to us. The album “United Colours of Beggattron” is now available to fans worldwide. How long did it take to complete the project from the start, and individually what were your favourite tracks?
Megatron: We started recording the album not long after finishing ‘Stray point agenda’. We’d just moved into our first ‘proper’ studio, so we were eager to get to working on something new. Some of the tracks date back to late 2006!
NoNames: Lately ‘Move Higher’ is the track from the album I probably listen to the the most – Ghosttown KILLED the production on that one. Infact they smashed it with every beat on the album.
Orifice: Dunno, got a couple still would have to say “No More”, “Higher”, “Don’t Dhoow It” and “No Holds Barred” are up there.
HHK: The singles “Contact” / “Shake It” were well supported across radio to online publications. What qualities did the singles have to warrant the single release? And do you plan to release any further singles to promote the album?
Megatron: We’d been working on a separate project with Noisia, which is where all the Noisia joints came from, and initially we hadn’t intended on including ’Contact’ on the album, but after listening to the whole thing a few times we felt we needed a real big sounding single, so we decided to add it. I guess it worked that Shake It, which was the more radio style track, was the B-side. They’re both really well produced and have a vibe that we felt could work on the radio. Contact in particular works really well in our live set, and its been great to see more and more people screaming for it at the beginning of our set!
HHK: The album in my opinion is the most polished project you’ve released so far. How do you feel you’ve grown both personally, and musically since the likes of Slow Broiled Ilk and Stray Point Agenda?
Megatron: Well the whole thing has been a growing process for us. I joined pretty much at the tail end of 2003, when Asylum Speakers was almost finished, so with Stray Point we were still kinda finding our feet as a rap duo. By the time this album came about were a good few hundred shows, parties and life experiences deep, so everything kinda came together. But I definitely agree that this is our most polished project to date, and we still think there’s a lot we need to improve on, to put music out to the standards that we expect from ourselves.
HHK: During the promotional campaign there were a series of v-logs released. How has the marketing and promotion changed for an album release over the past couple of years? And how much creativity and control do you have in the promotion?
NoNames: Nowadays as much as you gotta be creative musically, you have to be creative with how you get your message across. It’s a job to keep up with the tonnes of different platforms/ websites and ways of getting your stuff out there because there’s so many cropping up all the time. The Internet has helped us on so many levels in reaching out to supporters all over the world. Saying this the content remains the critical thing, and it goes without saying the music has to be on point as well as your hustle. We’ve always taken a hands-on approach out of necessity to get our music out there, from production, artwork, pressing, distributing, marketing, the shows. In every area (except pressing actual records!) the size of operation has grown and over the years more people we trust have become involved in helping us in promoting and expanding, but we remain in complete control of creative aspects.
HHK: You teamed up with Detroit rapper Guilty Simpson for the track “Prove It”. How did the collaboration initially happen? And if you could work with any artist, who would it be?
Megatron: Guilty was an artist we all really admired and being big fans of the whole Detroit scene, we were really eager to get him on the album. We’d already worked with Oh No and Wildchild from Stones Throw on the previous release, so we felt getting in touch wouldn’t be such a problem. He was due to play his first show in London at Cargo, we made a few calls and managed to organise to get him in the studio after the show as he was flying out the next day, we watched him rip that show to shreds, then headed back with him to our old studio in Whitechapel. Played him a Ghosttown beat tape, he picked the joint, wrote and had the whole thing recorded inside an hour. Took us the longest while to record our verses coz he’s one of the hardest rappers to follow on a track.. in the end I think it came out pretty G though.
HHK: You were a major act on the Leeds Urban Festival recently. How receptive were the crowd to the new music? And previously where has been your favourite city/venue to perform?
Megatron: Well, we’ve always got a lotta love in Leeds, and have performed there a few times already this year. Shit went down pretty well. The line up was a mishmash of D’N’B, Grime, and Dubstep so I think we fit pretty well into the bill with all our new shit. Highlight of the night was definitely watching Skepta do his thing. First time I’ve seen him live and he did not disappoint. “We need some more girls in here…”. Indeed we did.
HHK: I wrote an article last year called “The Dying Art of the Live Performance” critising promoters, artists and Hip-Hop fans for their lack of support for local and national acts. Are there any other plans to tour for the remainder of 2009? And is it still financially viable to tour?
Megatron: We’re always on a perpetual tour, and our live show is a very important part of our output as a group and also our income. I think in the modern era it’s become more important for artists not only to tour but to tour good shows, because fans can download your shit, but a show is an experience and each one is unique. I do believe a lot of acts, particularly in the Hip-Hop scene feel it’s enough to rock up and perform your tracks without necessarily focusing on entertaining the crowd. We have a lot of tracks we could perform but don’t feel they would really work in the live set up just because they’re too slow, introspective and wouldn’t really be entertaining in a show, so we don’t. But then again, what works for us doesn’t necessarily work for other people. Best Hip-Hop show I ever saw was Jaylib at the Jazz Café. They ROCKED it, and not a dubstep track in sight. But I really think the onus is on the artists to come with entertaining music and an entertaining show, that the fans will want to come and see and promoters will want to book.
HHK: Which outlets is “United Colours of Beggattron” available? And for fans who are thinking of buying the album, how would you describe the sound and style of the Foreign Beggars?
Megatron: Beggattron is available at all your major retailers, on Amazon, ITunes the whole shebang. I would say this album is a genre crossing, schizophrenic
Modern and edge take on Hip Hop music, featuring some great artists from all over the globe and some seriously interesting production as well. Go buy it. Even your grandma’s bumping it, bustin’ a migraine skank, cruising in an all black Escalade.
HHK: Where is the best places fans can check for updates? And is there anything further you’d like to add to the interview?
Megatron: Well, truesay our internet game is big right now. You can catch us at www.myspace.com/foreignbeggars, www.twitter.com/foreignbeggars, www.foreignbeggars.com, www.youtube.com/foreignbeggarsuk for the video treats and also our blog foreignbeggars.blogspot.com. Were also leaving nasty stains all over Facebook and Reverbnation. Keep an eye out for the all new website dropping late Jan and PLEASE come support us as WE support The Prodigy on their UK tour next month, and watch out for the Beggattron Remix album and more hype tracks dropping in the new year!!
HHK:Thanks again for speaking to Hip-Hop Kings. Best of luck for 2009 and keep in touch!
Interview by Ryan Maxwell
Hip-Hop Kings Interview with Foreign Beggars
HHK: Thanks again for agreeing to speak to us. The album “United Colours of Beggattron” is now available to fans worldwide. How long did it take to complete the project from the start, and individually what were your favourite tracks?
Metropolis: We started recording the album not long after finishing ‘Stray point agenda’. We’d just moved into our first ‘proper’ studio, so we were eager to get to working on something new. Some of the tracks date back to late 2006!
NoNames: Lately ‘Move Higher’ is the track from the album I probably listen to the the most – Ghosttown KILLED the production on that one. Infact they smashed it with every beat on the album.
Orifice: Dunno, got a couple still would have to say “No More”, “Higher”, “Don’t Dhoow It” and “No Holds Barred” are up there.
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