Jack Flash interview
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Bringing a sunny, soulful sound out of the sleepy Northern town of Huddersfield, 22 year old champion battle rapper Jack Flash is making a firm impression on the scene with his debut The Union Jack Album.
HUCK: Could you tell us a bit about your new album?
Jack Flash: The album took four years in the making, it's called The Union Jack Album obviously as it's a pun on my name but more because it bought together all the work I have been doing in the last few years. I think it's doing well; I have hardly received any negativity from it.
HUCK: Are you happy with it?
JF: To an extent. There's always got to be a cut off point when you just have to finish the project. If not, you're going to continually going to try and twist up your music. You just got to say ‘Right, it's done now'. I'm happy with it as a concept though.
HUCK: You seem to have a very soulful sound. Was that a conscious decision or did you naturally drift towards that?
JF: I try to keep a balance in my sound; I'm not into all those grungy, hardcore RZA-type beats. There is harder stuff there but it keeps that soulful edge. Soul is a big ingredient, a big element, in my sound. It just naturally appeals to me.
HUCK: How did you get into rhyming?
JF: The Score by The Fugees was the first album that really got me. I thought it was wicked that you had three MCs that were so different in style. Some people just see rhyming as rhyming, but I always liked to hear the diversity between different people. It was the late 1990s and hip hop had taken over the world, but I'd always been into words and poetry from a very young age so it was a natural evolution I suppose.
HUCK: You are the current ‘End of the Weak' UK Champion. Is battle rapping something you are really into?
JF: Although I did win, battling isn't really me. The whole thing with EOW is that it has different disciplines and you have different rounds to show off your diversity and range of skills. That interests me the most. Being an MC is about covering all bases; freestyling, battling, lyricism. You should be able to do all that on stage any day of the week. That's why I did the competition but I don't see myself jumping into any many other battles in the future.
HUCK: Do you find it difficult not being from London when the scene is so centred on the capital?
JF: It helps to be an unknown rapper from Huddersfield, people tend to have low expectations of you. Then you can blow their minds! But people tend to differentiate too much between people and places. There are only two types of music; good music and bad music. And good music is a universal language, it need not matter where you are from. I like London, I come down pretty much every week to keep on top of things. A lot of people up north are snobby about London, they don't want to have anything to do with it. But it's a necessary step, it's only a few hour drive and can be done for the greater good! I've not suffered because I'm not from London, and I refuse to. I do want to welcome every link up in the world; whether it be from London, Czech Republic, Afghanistan or wherever!
HUCK: In this day and age, can people still make a living from being a musician?
JF: I wouldn't be sat here if I didn't think I could. I can be done but you've got to open your mind a bit more to it. You're not just going to make it through sales. If you are smart about it, you can do it through merchandise, live shows, featuring on other people's records. I also know people who write music columns and stuff. You've just got to take each opportunity that comes.
The Union Jack Album
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Jack Flash interview (text) by Ed Andrews is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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