J Beatz was one of the first producers I came across on Grime Forum in early 2008. First of all I was shocked at the work rate, then I was shocked at his age. He was sending me a beat a week before I had even joined Rinse FM. Persistence is the key in this game, now he is gone on to get big vocals in 2009 from the likes of Big H and Skepta, 2010 should see him cement his name as producer in his own right with a release on No Hats No Hoods.

SRC hailing from Birmingham is the first of many 2010 ones to watch im going to do over the next few weeks. He reached out to me in May this year with about 10 beats and has been giving me about 10 every month since.



So give us a little introduction to the world of SRC, as I still dont know much about you!

Im a producer/aspring DJ from birmingham. Been makin beats for a few years now since about 03, Ive put out a few free downloads Organised grime, the srcd series and one called four one one.

So has it been an on and off thing or have you been consistently been making beats since 2003?

On and off I would say, I had months without making anything and sometimes its a few in a day. It depends on whats going on at the time.



You mentioned before you had a vocal tune out with a crew, shed a bit more light on that, and are you going to work with any other MCs?

It was a tune called "I Know what U Did" Came out in 2005 maybe. It did quite well with a video on channel U and plays on 1xtra. That was what got me involved in the scene in Birmingham as a lot of DJs & MCs got in touch after hearing it. I've had quite a lot of vocals altogether, from Birmingham MCs.

As for working with MCs I probably will do occasionally but I'm more concerned with beats at the moment. Saying that I'm involved with Vader's "Invasion" Movement so I will definitely have some beats in any projects coming from there.



Do you think not being in London where you could of networked with the bigger MCs has made you focus more on beats?

Not even that you know, it would have probably have been a help if I was in London to get vocals that might get me known, but what it was really was that I found a lot of MCs took long when I wanted a vocal for one of my projects, but when they wanted one it seemed to get done almost instantly. That left me a bit bitter and from then I cut down who I worked with to a minimum. Now though I just like beats more, I only really listen to instrumental tunes in any genre.

So what else are you listening to at the moment?

I listen to a lot of J Dilla, Flying lotus, Afta-1 Madlib, That kinda instrumental hip-hop stuff.

And Grime wise what are you into, and what keeps you motivated to make the music?

Grime wise I try to listen to most of what's out. I like a lot of the Swindle I Terror Danjah stuff you've been playing lately as well as some of the older grime tunes like J-sweet & Virgo. My motivation is just good response I guess. Its always nice when someone says they like a beat you've spent time on. Especially recently having more people approach me about tunes they like motivates me to carry on making beats.


Your a DJ as well? When you start playing out, what kind of set would you do? I assume you would play a lot of your own stuff?

I only really got into it this past year. Bought some decks, but I have played out couple times already alongside my mates B9a & Skeme. I don't play that much of my own stuff yet but I've been slowly working them into my sets. I want to do a mix full of my beats soon though.



What's the plans for next year?

This years gone pretty quick! I'm looking forward to releasing something on vinyl soon, and then follow it up with more both vinyl and digital. Hopefully I get to DJ out some more and just carry on making music and see how it goes. 'Gold Coins' is coming out on Numbers and hopefully others will come throughout the year.

Any last words?

Just big up to you and Skilliam for playing the tunes and helping me out. Oneman & Jackmaster and all the other DJs and people enjoying the music!

Download: SRCD Volume Four

Hit SRC up Myspace / Twitter / Youtube

Terror Danjah guested showcasing his forthcoming material on Hyperdub & Butterz labels in 2010. More on those soon. If you want to download the audio click here.

Download the audio here

If you haven't been involved in the Twitter phenomena you have been missing out on U Stream. People broadcasting live, from wherever they may be. They come in different styles, so you could get Griminal and his mates spitting live from college, Mz Bratt taking questions from her followers and 50 Cent interacting with his fans. Skilliam and I have taken the route that our Rinse FM colleague DJ Oneman has, broadcasting a radio show live from the house. We are normally on Rinse FM late, and not everyone can check us out live, so it was fun to interact with a different bunch of people.

The show features new music from Starkey, SRC, Maniac and Terror Danjah, along with some Barry White for good measure.

I am not sure how often we are going to do this, but we want to get really creative with it, so watch this space.


Next month we are back in The Netherlands playing alongside Distance for Dub Infusions. Dutch crew you can buy tickets here, and we will be floating about the whole Saturday so if you want to link up, give me a shout.

What's up you lot? It's been so so long since I have spoken to you. Recently I have been trying to sort out my real life, and its resulted in Butterz, Rinse and anything else taking a bit of a hiatus. Now I seem to be over the trials and tribulations, I am back, and I will try not to let Twitter steal my random bursts of thought on Grime.

Since I have been away, Chipmunk has achieved a number 1 in the charts, which has had mixed reactions from the Grime scene. People ask me all the time why the Grime Forum have nothing bad to say about Tinchy Stryder yet when it comes to Chip they are all over him. It is just one thing: EGO. Statements like "Dj's that play just grime play 2 many wack ambitionless artist that I don't want my music played amongst! Explanation for my elevation!" are totally unnecessary. It reminds me of what Kano was doing when 'London Town' came out. Then after the mainstream attention is gone, you have to make double the effort to be accepted by the fans that made you in the first place. How about while your doing well in the mainstream pay homage to where you came from, and never alienate yourself from your core fan base.

For extra thought on this check Blackdowns latest Pitchfork column and Julie's point of view.
So while Chipmunk has been shouting Grimes dead of the rooftops, Wiley made an appearance on Rinse FM for the first time in over a year. It was the first time I have seen twitter light up with everyone locked in across all the scenes to see what he was saying. It's a shame big MCs dont turn up to radio more often, they seem more focused on getting on Grimedaily.

It's at that point of the year when Grime characters start talking about next year. You know, the guys that have done fuck all in 2009, claiming 2010 to be theirs. I wish you lot the best of luck with that.

Ill be back in bit, until then, check:

Sparked up by this debate on the Grime Forum we decided to have a little mix up with some of the producers that have been sending us some quality tunes for a while. It is likely that I will feature them here in the near future, when they have releases planned. But for now, check out their music, let me know what you think, and if you would like to send tracks in, please do by emailing me - Elijah@grimeforum.com

Click the flyers for more information. If you reach, say hi!

For bookings contact Elijah@Grimeforum.com - And Download the latest Rinse Podcast Here.