Feature Spread Text Draft

Feature Spread – Interview with Goldman (Draft text)

Rave: So, it’s great to see you again Goldman. I just want to say from the start, what a year it must have been for you. I mean, going from recording raps in your room and performing at your friends’ parties, to going on tour with Wretch 32. How did that happen?

Goldman: Well, I started while I was round a friend’s house. There were four of us there, and we were bored, so we started playing Def Jam Rapstar on the Xbox. Each of us had a go at doing a freestyle, and when I rapped they were all really impressed and told me I was really good. So I started to actually record my music and sent out demos to all of the A&R’s at the record labels. Eventually, I got a message on Facebook from the record label Ministry of Sound, the same one Wretch 32 and Example are on. Apparently, Wretch had been in the studio recording for a mix tape and he saw some demos on the desk. He picked one up at random, and it was mine. He gave it a play, loved it and told someone to go and sign me. After this, I dashed up to London to record in their studio.

Rave: So what happened next then?

Goldman: Well, I asked Wretch to record a song with me on the album, I also got Example to go on one song as well; those became the first two singles from the album. When my first single, Blame (with Example), reached number three in the charts I was so surprised. Straight after this, Wretch and I reached number one with Deal with the Devil, and that was probably the proudest moment of my life. The album, Welcome to the Madhouse, was released a few weeks later and shot up to five in the charts.

Rave: You’ve clearly done a lot of gigs this year. Tell us, apart from the tour with Wretch, what was your favourite show?

Goldman: Probably the Not For the A-List party with Kano and Mikey J. That was one of the craziest nights of my life.

Rave: Remind us, why were you on that guest list again?

Goldman: Well, I’d stopped by during the shooting of Top Boy to be an extra, in one of the club scenes, and Kano and I got to talking. It wasn’t long before he invited me into the studio, because of course he’d heard me on YouTube and stuff. After that, we just got to rhyming and it turned into Freedom, the fifth track from the mix tape. I came along to perform Freedom, as well as some of my other tracks, on stage. The best part of the night, though, has to be when all of us; me, Kano, Ghetts, Wretch and Rapid, all went on stage together and dropped freestyles to Kano’s classic single: P’s and Q’s.

Rave: So, when is the follow-up album coming out?

Goldman: I actually have written about half of the tracks already and recorded a few of them as well. In fact, at the Not For the A-List party, I lined up a collaboration with Ghetts. He’s a guy I’ve always respected, I’ve been listening to him for years, and it’s been a long-time goal to record with him. It was awesome when we recorded it the other week, because I had no idea that Ghetts was bringing with him the rest of the Movement, his classic grime crew who were only just reuniting. So I was there, waiting on Ghetts, then he shows up with Scorcher, Mercston, Devlin and Wretch 32 as well. I was so surprised it was unbelievable and I ended up getting the whole crew on one track with me.

Rave: What do you say to the people saying that grime is a dying genre?

Goldman: They are wrong. They have not a clue what they are talking about. Look at the artists coming through, and look at the mix tapes and free download songs people are releasing. Recently, you’ve had several free grime mix tapes from Kano, Ghetts gave away one at Christmas, you’ve got Bashy’s one, and people like Sway are now charting too. With the likes of Tinie Tempah, Chipmunk, Wretch 32, Tinchy Stryder, Devlin and Skepta in the charts, grime is far from dead. I think this year, grime will make a major comeback, and these people will be in for a surprise.