This local donny of an emcee has been smashing it recently; touring with his bassline night Krudd, and smashing it in the iTunes charts with his EP Affiliation. We grabbed Bru-C on the phone to ask him a few questions, including what to expect from his appearance at Outlook Festival in Pula, Croatia this year...
Your tunes have changed quite significantly from you early days; from grime to bassline. Can you talk to us a bit about the revolution within your music?
I would say that it's come from a mixture of change within lifestyle and company, along with what just seems right and working with the right people, it’s all just led to where I am. I started doing events and it's something I've been passionate about for years. I kind of saw a gap in the market in a sense that there wasn't any other emcees doing the genre. I grew up listening to bassline from a young age when there was a lot of emcees involved. So yeah, I thought "Let me see how this goes" and it all went from there.
How has the Nottingham music scene grown in your opinion compared to from when you first started?
I would say the music scene has grown in some ways and gotten smaller in others, but I think that's just down to social media; in a way, the whole music scene in the UK has changed. It’s definitely grown though; there are more eyes on Nottingham, there are more genres breaking through, and bigger artists from other genres breaking through too, rather than them being local acts.
When I see an artist developing a fanbase all over the UK it's great, but I would just like to see more younger emcees coming through, definitely. Because when I was doing grime, about four or five years ago, I could name about thirty guys from the top of my head. I don't think it's as easy for people to find a platform now because there's so much going on, but for people that are doing it, and doing it properly, it's great. Like I said, there are so many eyes on our city at the moment. So yeah, it's wicked.
As the Nottingham music scene is getting more recognition, is there anyone in the city that you rate?
I really like Young T and Bugzy Malone. Yazmin Lacey. Window Kid; he's another emcee. Lowry!
The other day you filmed a music video with grime artist P Money at your hometown in Long Eaton Market, how did that come about? How did it go, and why there?
It came about when I booked him for one of my events, we got into the studio and made the tune. Then I was talking to one of my friends and as a joke he said to P Money: "Wouldn't it be jokes if I filmed this on Long Eaton Market?" because that's where I'm from, born and bred. I was actually like, do you know what? The more I listen to the chorus, I thought it just kind of worked and it made sense.
I kind of ran the idea past him thinking that he wasn't going to be up for it but the whole idea just kind of explains how there's not a lot that comes out of where I grew up and I wanted to show people about how it's not where you're from. So P was up for it and it went really well, it was sick.
You’re an Outlook Festival regular and this year you’re performing with Crucast. Can you tell us a bit about what people can expect from the show?
The whole gang. This show is different from what I've done before, it's always different. It's in Croatia so you've got to make sure it's up to standard. Some of the greatest artists around the world play that place, I've been going to Outlook for years since 2011 so it's been full of household names through urban dance music for the past ten years.
I don't want to give too much away but it's going to be a showcase about the UK bass sounds. That's about as much as I'm allowed to say. Every opportunity we get to showcase to new people that might not have heard it before, we make sure we can put on the best show we can so that's definitely what I'm excited for. Baseline and grime is so unique, it stems from the house and speed-garage, it's definitely got a blend up of other genres which is what I think has made it a lot more universal. It's definitely got a vast audience and a bigger fan base now than it ever has, it comes down to reference from a lot of other subgenres and stuff like that so I'm excited to see how far it all goes.
What have you enjoyed most about Outlook in the past?
Probably the boat parties, you know. Yeah, the boat parties are mad. You just completely enjoy it because it's so hot. If you come back in the middle of the day then your day is gone but you somehow keep going. Like last time we came off in the middle of the day and it was like four or five, then we had another show that night and it was just like… What is happening? We were ready to go to bed. But yeah, the boat parties are definitely the best and the energy is mad because everyone is out at the middle of the sea having the best time of their lives.
How does performing at a festival abroad compare to UK venues, what are the crowds like?
I do enjoy playing at Outlook because everyone's there to have a good time so sometimes you're at a UK event and not everyone's always in the best mood because of whatever. But you can't not be in a good mood when you're on holiday. The crowd is there to party, they're there to have a good time so that's definitely a big difference between a UK show and a festival out of the country.
What other artists are you most looking forward to seeing at the festival?
Bonobo, definitely. J Hus, MIST, David Rodigan, always. You can never get bored of seeing Rodigan. I couldn't even tell you how many times I've seen him, so many times. I've been seeing him since around 2007 so I've seen him play a lot of times. Those lot are my main ones really, definitely. Oh wait, and Digital Mystikz!
Is there anything else you want our readers to know?
My birthday bash is on Friday 29 June; the day after my birthday. It’ll be in a Nottingham venue, still to be announced, and there’s a secret line-up.
Outlook Festival takes place from Wednesday 5 - Sunday 9 September 2018.
Outlook Festival website
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