Return of the Drifter: Jehst Interview

As one of UK Hip Hop’s leading artists, Jehst has built a reputation over the last 10 years as the MC’s MC. With classics such as ‘Return of the Drifter’, ‘People Under The Weather’ and ‘Cosmic Gypsies’ he has raised the bar with distinctly lucid and intelligent lyrical musings. Also an accomplished producer and label head (YNR Productions), he represents the independence, creativity and struggle that are too often forgotten in today’s multi-million pound Hip Hop industry. I caught up with him to wax lyrical about his relationship with the music, the business and his blazing new Mengi Bus mixtape.

When did you realise that MCing was your chosen path?

I don’t think there was a certain point. You decide early on when your rhyming that it might not be your job but its what you want to do. Further down the line I started investing in studio time and getting projects recorded. I came into it totally blind at 19 years old, pressing it up myself and getting it out there. The experience of putting the record out made me start to take it a lot more seriously. But at that point I still wasn’t necessarily feeling it as something I’d be doing to earn a living.

From setting up YNR to Arkham Asylum studio’s, it seems that your success is about hard graft as much as ability. How much success do you attribute to your skills and hustle?

When it comes to skills over hustle, or hustle over skills, it’s a hard one to call. You can have all the hustle in the world but if your music’s wack no-one will buy it. You can have the dopest music but without hustle it will never leave your bedroom. It’s a 50/50 situation. The things that I’ve done to build my reputation - none of that fell into my lap. People might want to work with me because of my talent, but they wouldn’t have been aware of me without putting in the work.

As an MC myself, I am fascinated by your unique style of writing. How do you feel your style has evolved as a reflection of your experience in the industry?
To be honest I think it’s detrimental to writing. If your mind is on handling business you’re not necessarily going to be in a creative state of mind. 9 times out of 10 dealing with business will kill an artist’s creativity. What you got to do is manipulate that to your advantage. In terms of how my writing evolves, it’s whatever is influencing me; the artist I’m working with, the music I’m listening to, the books I’m reading. That affects my writing more than anything. It’s definitely separated from the business. It has to be or you’ll just start writing raps about rapping.

How much influence did studying Illustration and English Literature have?
I studied illustration at university and English at A-Level. I would love to have more time to read and study. It’s real important – if you’re not exercising your mind or expanding your vocabulary, your limiting yourself as an MC. Studying English definitely had an influence on my writing. Studying techniques of poets and writers allowed me to draw parallels between MC’s. It gave me a new appreciation of the talents of the rappers that I was feeling. It allowed me to understand how they built that metaphor, or used that alliteration. At the same time you can expand your vocabulary by spending time on the street, picking up slang and mixing with different people.

So what is your ideal environment for writing?
I write better on a train or in a strange situation as I’m detached from other issues in day to day life. Just sitting in my own space isn’t the best place as I’ll be thinking about other things I need to do like other sessions or a load of unfinished tracks on the hard-drive. Or if I’m home, my washing!
My ideal environment is in someone else’s studio, making the beats from scratch. I find that inspiring. Going into a studio with a producer - having a chill, smoke some trees, chat some shit, listen to some breaks, catch ideas. Then go into creative mode. I was doing that with Lewis parker who would just build beats every day. He’d be engrossed in a beat and I could just sit there and write. So any producers out there - Premier, Pete rock, Madlib - if you’re reading this… holla! Book me a flight!

You are also a quality producer, which some people don’t realise…

It’s something I’ve always been doing – I’ve probably produced 75-90% of all material I’ve released. I enjoy doing remix work at the moment. It drums into people; stop ringing me up for 16 bars! Rapping on demand kills your love of rapping. With production I can do it in my own time and space. The attraction of production is separating yourself from celebrity bullshit. Rappers are figureheads. Hip Hop clichés are based around the modern day perception of rappers based on your 50’s and Jay Z’s. A producer can avoid categories. Somebody like Kanye can do a beat for Jay Z then a beat for a pop group, so people won’t categorise him as gangster or as a backpacker. As an artist you’re limited by your image or rhymes, which are open to scrutiny and therefore have a limited shelf-life. If you love making music you don’t want to quit because you’re not earning money from it.

Since setting the standard for many MC’s, do you feel any pressure to keep raising the levels?

I try to separate the business from the personal and the writing. If music just becomes about business then you might as well just start making pop music. I’ve never felt under pressure creatively but I have felt under pressure in terms of time. The pressure comes from maintaining the balance, so you’re not letting the fans down in terms of quality of material, or the material being available and visible.

Honest truth, people ask me ‘do you have a day job?’. This is what I do. But the reality is I get to make music about 1 day a week, probably no different to someone with a 9-5. The majority of time is taken by having the pieces in place for the business to run.

Hip Hop in the UK has very little business infrastructure, labels, management or booking agents. That’s why with a lot of these artists that we love and respect, we don’t get to hear as much material as we’d like, or they don’t get the coverage in the media. As a fan there are lot of artists who should be doing more and held in higher regard than they are.

What do you say to the younger and up’n’coming artists?

What do you want to do with the music? If you’re making music for yourself but then start to make it commercially available, it affects your relationship with the music. It’s not just yours anymore – once you put it out there your open to other people’s interpretations of what you’re about. Inevitably that will affect how you look at your own stuff. Where do u want to go and how do you want to do it?

I’m always asking myself, probably monthly, where am I going with this project? The more experience I gain the more I’m drawn back towards doing things in-house and maintaining as much independence as possible. You have to be prepared to do a lot of dirty work that other artists do not want to do. It’s a business - that’s the bottom line.

The new Mengi Bus is gathering a lot of heat on road. What is the concept behind that?

To take people on a journey with the crazy characters I’m riding with and gain an insight into what we’re doing. The Mengi Bus is a van full of dudes on tour, so I wanted the mixtape to draw the listener into the world of the artist and everyone involved – such as DJ IQ, Sir Smurf Lil’, Micall Parkinsun and Asaviour. You can also see new people like Jack Flash and Jyager on there, who is a young cat coming out on YNR. It’s about jumping on board to see where the ride takes you!

You do have a strong reputation for promoting other people…

Well there’s strength in numbers. Any one artist can only be as big as the scene is, without having to step outside of that. I’m trying to build a stronger independent infrastructure so we don’t have to worry about tapping into the majors or global corporations for handouts. Build a fanbase independently and cater to them, so you don’t have to bend your creativity.

Finally, you’ve made significant moves over the last 10 years. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Either sleeping in the street - eating out of dustbins - or sitting on my yacht laughing! In an ideal world I would be retired. No more hustling. If it all goes wrong, then I’ll be retired to the cardboard box outside Sainsburys.

Myspace.com/MengiBus

The Mengi Bus is on road!
21^st Sept @Detonate at The Plug (Sheffield)
21^st Sept @New Bohemia at the Faversham (Leeds)
30^th Sept @Nottingham Uni SU (Nottingham)
2^nd Oct @Ocean Rooms (Brighton)
25^th Oct @TBC (Liverpool)
3^rd Nov @The Other Room (part of Digital) (Newcastle)
8^th Nov @TBC (Southampton)
9^th Nov @Shoestring at Thekla (Bristol)
10^th Nove @TBC (Exeter)
24^th Nov @Falmouth Uni (Falmouth)

(more dates still to be added)