REAL HIP HOP SHOW INTERVIEW

TRAINSPOTTERS

"Georges Kaplan & Rewindable"

1 / WHO ARE THE TRAINSPOTTERS ? let's introduce your group

Trainspotters are George Kaplan (MC, 19 years) and Rewindable (MC, 21 years). We’re from northern Sweden but have done live shows in Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and New York etc. We love to work late nights in the lab, put out dope vinyls, tour new places and meet new people. Any promoters reading this, book us to your city this summer!
 

2/ What is RANDOM BASTARDS ?

For Trainspotters, Random Bastards is the label. All our releases are dropped through it, and except for working with different distributors we do everything ourselves. It’s also the name of our crew that consists of other MCs, graffiti artists, DJs, graphic designers, filmmakers, and skateboard-/snowboard riders. Random Bastards is, in a few words, the complete package.
 

3/ The concept of your logo looks like Heineken and all your designs, sounds & videos are very original....how could you describe your universe ?

“Catch our logo on the vinyl plate / And honestly, I couldn’t care less what Heineken say”. That’s from our new vinyl EP (TBA fall 2007). The Heineken logo was actually at first just a mixtape cover, but since it was so appreciated we started using it on t-shirts, hoodies, posters and such. Most of our graphic works are made by Marc Stromberg (www.marcstromberg.se) from the Random Bastards crew.
 

4/ You are very young but your music is already very good, could you explain to the people how did you do to success and improve your style.

We listen to a lot of music (not only rap) but the most important thing for improvement is that we rap a lot. We make sessions in the studio, we often freestyle with our friends, we do live shows almost every week and we drop verses on radio shows. While other rappers act, nag and chat – we rap. It’s that simple.

5 /¨Please let's talk about your new releases with Random bastards, describe your Duck tape Cd and the new vinyl.

The Duck Tape is out new mixtape, with remixes by European producers, unreleased tracks, freestyles and some twists and interpretations of classic rap tracks. It’s hosted by our good friend Allyawan (watch out for his album) and we’ve made 1000 copies of it so far. We also have a new limited 12 inch vinyl out that features lyrical legend Kashal-Tee and underground Stockholm rapper Sci-Fi. The a-side “Breakthrough” is a cocky punchline track with scratch hook and the b-side is a laid back after party type of song. Only 250 copies, get it at hhv.de and ughh.com.
 

6/ your flows & beats sounds like some East Coast NY Hip Hop.. what' are your influences ?

We really like EPMD, Rakim, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, DITC, The Roots, Biggie, Nas, Mobb Deep, Pete Rock, Jeru and all those cats… but we also listen to west coast stuff like Hieroglyphics/Souls Of Mischief and southern stuff like Scarface/Ghetto Boys. You may notice that a lot of names on the list above are about 30-40 years old, but that’s the stuff we started to listen to and still do.
 

7/ i know that you went in NY the Kingdom of Hip Hop to do the pomotion of your music...were the feedbacks postives ?

NYC was awesome; it was really mind-blowing to walk the streets where it all started back in the days. We did a show on the Lower East Side, recorded some sessions in the Bronx with our man DJ Silent, and hung out a lot in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn with our extended fam Maya, who helped us out a lot on the trip with bookings and hook-ups. To the NYC cats reading this – get our mixtape for free and cop the vinyl at Fatbeats!
 

8/ what could you say about the Hip Hop scene in sweden ?

I could go on for hours about it, but I rather just say that it’s great that a lot of Swedish producers are making it on an international level. You can hear beats from Masse on Sean Prices new album, Ken Ring is producing the new Boot Camp Clik single. On the rap side, besides from us, Supersci, Speech Defect, Form One, Chords, Lazee and Prop Dylan are all making moves in Europe, Japan and the US.

 
9/ what are your futures projects with Random Bastards & Trainspotters ?

More mixtapes, more vax, more tours. Stay tuned!

 
10 / Free words to close the interview (Special shouts, promotion of your music....)
 
Hit us up at www.myspace.com/trainspotters . Don’t hesitate to contact us about bookings, beats, interviews, remixes, collaborations or whatever - we answer everything! Peace to DJ Modesty for hooking us up with this interview and everybody else out there doing their thing and supporting quality music.

www.randombastards.com ..................... to buy the 12" FEEL THE VIBE, let's click on the picture

DJMODESTY