Juga-Naut

photo: David Wallace
 

You’ve been somewhat busy over the past year or so, crafting a string of critically acclaimed EPs and mixtapes. What is an archetypal productive day?
It starts with a good breakfast and fresh coffee. Then it usually consists of beat-making and tweaking mixes, finding samples and writing. I normally have Logic Pro, Photoshop and YouTube open at all times along with a pad and pen. I always try work in my free time. Also, having proper conversations with friends and family everyday keeps me sane enough to continue making art.

Aside from bringing the streets of Notts alive through rhymes and beats, you’ve developed a cult following as Chef Jugz, a passionate foodie with a penchant for spice…
I have always loved food - it’s my vice. It makes me happy to see other people enjoy my food, and exposing people to different styles of cooking from all over the world. Posting pictures and sharing my food adventures is fun. The transition came naturally and increased the following with my online show, Cooking with Juga-Naut. I’ve been brought up with all types of people from many backgrounds and that comes through in my food. It’s funny because half the time it seems people are more interested in the food than my music.

How do you try to challenge the constant tide of promoting your art and staying ahead of the game?
With marketability, it’s gonna sound cliché but you just have to keep it real and be yourself. People can’t deny what’s genuine. It’s crazy because I have a big following in the States, probably more than in this country. It’s a constant 24/7 job promoting and marketing your music – even if I were signed I would have to do the same. Staying ahead of the game in this era is being internet-savvy and a social media addict. There are a few gatekeepers and tastemakers in this small country so you have to know who’s who to get a good look. I think there is a major problem with UK hip hop – it’s either super-exclusive, white-boy, dirty clothes, pint of Stella rap or hardcore trappin’ music. I’m in between that, I keep my trainers fresh, my ear to the street and my social views sharp.

Over the years, through Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, you’ve managed to meet and perform with some stellar names in hip hop from DJ Premier to Rakim. What’s been your personal highlight?
I’ve got to give the biggest shout to my friend and mentor Joe Buhdha for putting me on these amazing shows and believing in me. He’s a hardworking man with a lot of respect worldwide. Every show I’ve done with our Can’t Stop Won’t Stop crew has been heavy. I think opening for and then sitting down and talking with Rakim getting some gems was a lifetime memory. Spending the day with DJ Premier and hanging with Big Daddy Kane again was all incredible. They all showed so much respect to me as a person as well as an artist.

photo: David Wallace

Nottingham has predominantly been the go-to place away from London for UK hip hop, with your mentor Joe Buhdha making a name for himself since the early nineties, and Scorzayzee gaining mainstream attention for the past decade. Why has the city oscillated so vibrantly with hip hop culture?
One main factor is the accent sits so well on beats, we speak quickly and don’t draw the words out and that’s amazing for multi-syllable rhyming. Hip hop and grime emcees both go in with fast and complicated flows. I think because it is a relatively small city we feel we have something to prove so we ‘go hard’, we go to other cities and show and prove what we got. We’ve got some of the greatest hip hop artists ever to come out of the UK. Our style is different – clothes, slang, and hospitality; from the early eighties this city has embodied all elements of hip hop.

Your most recent project is a collaboration with fellow Notts emcees Cappo and Vandal Savage. Can you explain just what VVV is?
Cappo is one of the UK’s greatest emcees and Vandal Savage is a true talent and basically family. This is an ongoing project and just fun – no one telling us what to do, just making art, man, and letting our personalities out. I don’t think anyone knows what VVV is, but people seem to love it. VigoVenkmanVorhes is just a bunch of obscure film and TV references smashed together into good, hardcore music. Cappo has an album coming, I have an album done, and Vandal has an EP done. We also have the major release coming up which is a project called R.A.F (Rap Army Faction). It’s all of us with Scorzayzee and Joe Buhdha. The R.A.F album is insane.

You write, produce and execute your music all by yourself. Can you talk us through the development of a track, from the songwriting to the finished product…
I usually start with producing the beat, by sampling and using hard drum patterns which I mix together until it’s perfect, then I write to it usually on the same day – verses, which probably involve a few references to food, Ralph Lauren and nineties films. Then record, mix vocals and then master. Almost every piece of music I have ever released I have mixed and mastered myself. Maybe that makes me a control freak but it’s just quicker if I do it, and if something is not right, it’s on me and I don’t have to deal with other individuals’ egos and slack production.

Enlighten us with your plans for the future…
There will be more episodes of Cooking with Juga-Naut very soon. I have videos coming out for tracks on the Stolen Art EP. Loads of random VVV drops, big up MistaJam for playing the tunes on BBC 1Xtra. I have my debut album Time and Place finished and some more stuff with Joe Buhdha. The biggest project will be the R.A.F album, which is needed for UK hip hop. I would like to send out huge appreciation for the support over the years from people in Notts. I would also like to say this is hip hop music, it should be inclusive not exclusive. But before you jump into this, live the culture, do the history, learn where and who it came from and appreciate what people went through for it to be here. Peace.

Stolen Art EP by Juga-Naut is out now.

Juga-Naut website