Author Archives: DJ Kraze One

Mixmaster MSC Interview

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Planned as a new City in the 1960s and developed through the 1970s Milton Keynes was designed to be a “City in the forest” between London and Birmingham. Residents of London began migrating to Milton Keynes in the late 1960s and continued through the 1970s and 1980s. By the mid 1980s the first wave of Hip Hop crews were taking to the streets and by the end of the decade Milton Keynes like many other Towns and Cities had its own fledgling Hip Hop scene that would develop and lead to a handful of local artists and crews taking their talent on to the streets and in to the clubs. Break to the beat recently had the opportunity of catching up with and interviewing one of Milton Keynes pioneering Hip Hop DJs Mixmaster MSC.

Mixmaster MSC – Milton Keynes, 2012.

Mixmaster MSC was one of the first Hip Hop scratch DJ’s to emerge from Milton Keynes. He was also a member of break-dance crew Asiatic Soul, and pioneering Hip Hop crew Double Deff Chillers. In the below interview Mixmaster MSC elaborates on the origins of Hip Hop culture in Milton Keynes and his involvement with the local scene. Continue reading →

Killa Joul Interview

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Break to the beat recently caught up with rapper/producer MC Killa Joul to discuss and document  his early involvement with local Hip Hop culture and his contributions to 90’s Hip Hop crews Justice Element and True Element. 

So to kick off the interview could you advise when you started rapping and how you got involved in the local Hip Hop culture?

I got into the Hip Hop scene when I started 6th form at Buckingham school in 1993, Kraze One was in my form at the time and I think we started speaking due to a shared love of Hip Hop music. He knew a lot more about it then me, was into the British scene that I didn’t even know existed really, and had a massive record collection (still has). I knew about the American stuff but he turned me on to artists like Gunshot, Hijack and The Criminal Minds. We started making demos with one turntable and using break beats from Simon Harris’s break beats and scratches records and a dodgy mic from Curry’s! Continue reading →

Overlord X Interview

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Break to the beat recently had the honer of catching up with and interviewing one of Hip Hop in the UKs godfathers Overlord X. Overlord X along with the X Possee put their home borough of Hackney, London and the entire UK on the Hip Hop map back in the late 80 and early 90s giving us 3 outstanding LPs that were not only an inspiration but for many an introduction to British rap music. Overlord X’s contributions to the UK music scene over the years have been nothing short of outstanding and has provided us with both thought provoking intellectual lessons in life as well as timeless Hip Hop classics. Any readers not familiar with Overlord X & The X Possee’s work should check the Overlord X Discography & Review article posted a few months ago on break to the beat.   

Taking things right back to the beginning. Before you started rapping and producing records please tell the readers how you discovered the Hip Hop culture?

I really started to get into Hip Hop music from Africa Bambaataa and the soul Sonic force, back then Hip Hop was in the style of Electro and they were the ones that grabbed my attention to start even thinking of making music. At that time I was a young break dancer and DJ producer just being a big fan and follower of the movement. I was looking for a rapper to spit over my beats but there were very few MC’s around so I picked up the mic and started creating rough demos at home. Continue reading →