Illterviews - AC Interview

AC

Illterviews – AC

AC is an MC from London, active in the Hip Hop scene, and the Drum n Bass scene. We catch up with him to talk about his work with Terra, ways to market yourself, his performance in an Opera and much more!


AC, introduce yourself; How did you get your name, how long have you been rapping?

I'm an mc living in London, I do Hip Hop and Drum n Bass. I got my name as it was my nickname and I couldn't think of another rap name that sounded any good! I have been rapping for a few years now.

What projects have you put out in the past? How have they been received?

I put out my first vinyl in 2003 with Terra called 'In England', we sold pretty much all the copies on the street and at shows, as record shops would take 3 copies, sell them but then say they didn't want anymore or just take them and put them in the back of the shop and not put them on their shelves. The response from magazines and the public was good for the track though, so we didn't care what the snobs in the record shops thought.

Then we put out our mix cd 'Human Trash!!' of which we sold 22,000 on the streets. The magazines that reviewed it gave it good reviews and we got good feedback from people we sold it to on a regular basis.

The cd we put out after that was 'Youthanasia: Escape from the Land of the Wastemen', and sold 20,000 copies of it. We got good responses from people we sold it to and from certain magazines. Other magazines wanted us to pay them for reviews so we did not get reviewed in them (like RWD etc).

I was also on Mentor Kolektiv's album 'Broke' which was a hiphop/indian fusion album. That album did well in the press, and sold well worldwide, while in the UK it was bootlegged the hell out of! We got a top 10 on MTV base with our video 'Broke'

My last release was a street cd called 'Prophecy for Profit' which was a compilation of three EP's i put on online. Those EPs all got good reviews from online magazines like Rago, Hiphop Life and times, and many others.

In Drum n Bass I have put out 3 mix cds: one with DJ Kinzy which have got me residencies at Random Concept's raves and Paradox's raves. Then Random Concept's Mc Presha put me together with DJ Blackley , and we did a mix cd for 2011 which was widely praised, and a recent one for 2012 which i am pushing at the moment.

You were a part of rap duo AC & Terra. How does the solo work compare with the work as a group? Which do you prefer doing?

When you are working in a group you have to collaborate and compromise when writing together, so when you are solo you can express exactly what you wanna do. I think both me and Terra being solo is better for us both so we can write about what we want to and ride the beats we want to.

Working in a group is enjoyable and a fun process in the studio, but working solo is cool too as you can totally concentrate on what you want to say and achieve with your music.

I remember buying your Youthanasia album (with Terra) from an independent Hip Hop store in Ipswich, after I saw some stickers you'd obviously posted up around the town centre. This type of geurilla marketing and advertising isn't seen so much anymore, with the explosion of social media such as Twitter. Which do you think is a better tool for getting quality music out there?

Thanks for buying it! I think that twitter and facebook are very good tools for promoting your music or business and so is youtube. Also they are cheaper than printing stickers or having to deal with tv channels who now want you to pay them large amounts to put your videos on their channels or magazines who want you to do this. For an independent artist these expenses are not always feasible, and now we have the various forms of free internet promotion, magazines and tv channels and radio are becoming redundant. I think this is a good thing as the artist has to deal with less politics and snakes and con-men in order to reach the public, which was the reason we decided to sell cds on the street in the first place: we totally cut out the industry middle men and went straight to the actual consumer. The industry (magazines that wanted artists to pay them for features etc) was definitely angry about this and so did not cover our movement at all, even though we were out-selling artists who were in the charts. I have to big up all the artists who did this like Mr Drastick, Mike GLC, Stylah, D21, D-Raw, Genesis Elijah, Final Element, EC, Darker, any i forgot to name and also distributor's like Daley Grinder who's efforts got alot of these artists in the charts now the initial street following they got around the country. The only PR company i can say that is real and not some con-men is Park Street PR, run by Tricksta from the Villains crew from Wolverhampton. Also Black Budget TV, run by Just P, who does what he say he will and doesn't act like a prick like alot of online tv channel people.

 

Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

In 5 years time i would like to be in a position where i am putting on my own shows that are sold out, acting in stuff on a regular basis and doing lots of drum n bass raves. I would also like to have my clothing company www.aceshighclothing.com running successfully.

What other artists have you worked with in the scene?

I have worked with Genesis Elijah, Mr Drastick and Kinetik, Maxwell Mc from France, Shizzio, Raxstar, Rkz, Swami Baracus, Grammar, Volatile, Shakespear, Premz, SP, Mantis, Ryujin, Ill thought process, Mohammed Yahya, Fonzo, D21, Deadman Walkn, Jabbathakut, Gappy Ranks, Otee the Scoundral, Pinju from Germany, Dr Wayne from France, Oleg Imbert from France.

Who would you like to work with in the future?

Any artist or producer who is making some good music and is not an arrogant prick.

What are you working on at the moment, any mixtapes or EPs etc? When can we expect them to come out?

I have my new album finished it is just getting mastered right now so will be out soon, and i have my new EP coming out with Ryujin, a very talented producer from Manchester, that will be a free download thing. It should be out in about a month.

I just finished rapping in an Opera in paris called Pop'pea, with Libertines star Carl Barat and Soft Cell's frontman Marc Almond. There is a possibility that it will tour other countries so fingers crossed! Also i am acting in a couple of short films this week and i'm looking to act in more stuff !

Any shout outs?

Yeah, a big shout out to you! Also all my supporters and retweeters on twitter and sharers on facebook, my family and friends!

Let us know where to get in touch with you, and any links you want to promote!

Holla at me on www.facebook.com/acthemc or www.twitter.com/acthemc

See my videos on www.youtube.com/acandterra

Also check out my music on acthemc.bandcamp.com and on

www.soundcloud.com/acthemc and www.itunes.com (type in ac & terra)

My clothing company is on www.aceshighclothing.com

Interview By Precinct Phantom

@TheRealPP