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As part of a new series of interviews “Introducing” people you probably may have heard of already. I caught up with a rising Hip Hop star, by the name of Skandal. His CD Hunger Pains(mixed by Kiss100’s DJ MK) is out in stores now, and has been garnering praise from all angles. With a whole heap of stuff in the pipeline, now seemed like the perfect time to catch up with the South London based rapper.

For those who dont already know, Who is Skandal?

Skandal is me.

And why the name Skandal?

Umm to be honest bruv I tried a whole heap of other names, used to mc to dnb with some next tag name and then wen I tried hiphop it was on a fan thing and I was beggin the name of my fave artists but with a lil twist on it – it was too bait, but I come into the game as a fan, still am. But yeh anyway Skandal was the first half decent name I thought of and it kinda suits my personality in a mad way.

Your CD Hunger Pains is out in stores now, how long was that in the making?

I think over the course of 2 years really. I made about 50 tracks in 2 years and gave DJ MK about 20-25 of the best ones and he chose 16… Recording didn’t take long at all. Money is the only thing that slows me down.

I really enjoyed it, and also ive noticed its been getting really good reviews, whats the other feedback been like so far?

Safe bruv, I’m glad u liked it! Yeh we had some good press off it. Hand to hand sales have been good and ukrecordshop sold a lot too… People still aren’t latching on to my music tho, so that’s the next thing, building a fanbase.

How do you go through the creative process?

Normally I’ll get a bunch of beats from a producer I’m feelin and write to what ever one gives the most energy. Other times I’ll sit through 1000’s of beats and chose 50 then do the same thing til I got that one beat. Recording is down to wether I got enuff money to do it. Most times I havnt. But I invested p in a lil home set up so I can do ruffs in my yard.

In the studio tho I listen to my engineer a lot, he’s got a good ear and has helped me grow as an artist – shouts out to chemo, those who know, know.

What are your main influences?

Mmm main influences would be, grime, hip hop – mostly U.S shit. That’s pretty much it… As for artists, boi there’s a whole heap that do – joe budden motivates me to put a lot of “me” in my music.

Who are you feeling in the UK right now?

UK? Umm OGz, black the ripper, ramson badbonez, devlin, teeza (sick grime producer) beat butcha, chemo, last skeptik (sick uk rap producers). Like rinse aswell – someone tell him to put out a cd ffs!

Who would you like to work with/reach out to?

Booooy I got a wish list aslong as my arm bruv(laughs). Errrm, most of the grime lot, but I’m not good at making grime – tho I’ve never tried I’d rather just admire it from far and leave it to the real heads, so I’d probably try get them on a hip hop tip which is what I’m doing with OGz, they can all rap hard anyway. Umm the streets, I’d like to work with mike skinner, purely for the reason that I don’t know what it would sound like so for me its an experimental thing. Couple U.S artists but its long to reel them off… Hopefully I’ll work with a load of heads I rate. Oh shit, klashnekoff! Have to work with this guy, I’ll pay him if I have to (laughs)

What else have you got in the pipeline?

Got a bag of mixtapes coming, Hunger Pains 2 this year, two singles, one feb 22nd, one wen hp2 comes out. Gotta mixtape with sarah love (1xtra) and ramson badbonez coming, one with dj gone, one with shortee blitz and I’ve spoke with black the ripper about us doing one to, he’s down, so we just need to get some beats and its a bet.

Any events we can catch you at in the near future?

I luv live on the 18th of january, gotta couple shows out of london coming up too. One in norwich, one in bristol supporting ra the rugged man (big underground rap artist who’s was cosigned by Biggie) and a few more hopefully, you should see my ugly mug in a few spots!

Any shouts?

Yeh shout out to all those supporting and all those not, I still love you, its just business ey, and big up urself for the interview bruv.

www.myspace.com/skumbagskandal
www.twitter.com/inmykitchen
For press contact charlee @ charlee@visionmusic.co.uk
For shows contact tom @ 1stepmusic@gmail.com