Interview: Stereoboard Talks With Hip Hop Artist, N'FA
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Written by Adam Simpson
N’FA (No Fixed Abode) is a London born rapper, who grew up in Australia. The rapper hit the headlines at the end of 2009, after it emerged that Heath Ledger had produced the music video for N’FA’s track, Cause An Effect, which was released on June 28th.
The video was shot in Heath’s garage and was made, just before The Dark Knight. The film which captured Heath at his acting best, just before the Hollywood star sadly died.
N’FA worked with Darren White on the track, Cause An Effect. Ex Bad Company star Darren aka dBridge, produced the track, for N’FA, who was the front man of Australian ARIA winning Hip Hop group 1200 Techniques, before his solo venture.
He has supported reknowned acts such as De La Soul, LL Cool J, Linkin Park and Arrested Development on their respective worldwide tours and has been working with the likes of Nick Thayer, Planet Of The Napes, Son Of Kick, Sticky and Roots Manuva whilst re-mixing Cause An Effect.
I interviewed the rapper to find out a little more.
What led you to originally want to become a rapper?
“I guess my older brother to be honest. Where we grew up it was so far out in the sticks and there wasn’t much black culture where we lived. Then we started seeing records by people like LL Cool J and bands like Public Enemy and we were intrigued. I was already into listening to groups like Musical Youth but I started to hear these records and I just wanted to do it myself. I used to just copy different MCs I liked and write songs when I was about 10 years old. By the time I was 17/18 I was playing in all kind of bands and rapping. I just loved music and hip hop, it was just something I was into."
Which rappers inspired you?
“De La Soul, It did take me a while to get into some of it though. Busta Rhymes inspired me. Public Enemy were pretty mind blowing to my young ears.”
How did you become friends with Heath Ledger?
“Growing up in the same place. We were interested in the same things and we just connected, we were close from when we were really young. He had quite a few friends from our school.”
How surprised were you to hear of Heaths death?
“I thought it was a joke, I didn’t believe it was real. I phoned his phone and of course it rangout. I was sitting on a tram and all these texts started coming in and then all these phone calls. I was on my way to do a workshop with a juvenile prison and I was just by myself. I had been meaning to call him. It was really upsetting."
Looking back now, how does it feel to have worked with him on the music video?
“Amazing. When we first did the video I thought it was really, really cool and the whole process of making it. Looking backing at it after a little bit of time I can see how cool the video is and how Avant Garde it is. We discussed different ways of editing it to make it TV friendly but he was adamant about making it more like art. It was amazing to be part of it. Heath was a friend so he didn’t have to do anything for me but he loved the song. It was incredible and I love the video.”
What are your expectations for ‘Cause An Effect’ and how well has it done so far?
“I don’t really know. To me really a lot of people wanted to see Heath’s work and he wanted people to hear the song. That is the reason he did the video, he wanted people to hear the song and enjoy it and I wanted people to see his work. I guess I just want to reach as many people as possible with it. I have emails coming from people thanking me for putting it up there and not keeping it to myself. I want to just keep building and let his legacy grow.”
How was it to work with Darren White?
“Cool! He is really cool, really calm. He was chilled out, he talks gently and then he puts on this monster beat! It was scary, like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He was open to ideas. It always amazes me when I get to work with people with great track records and have their ears open to what I’m doing. I always expect people to have closed minds and be like 'no your wrong I’m right' but he was like 'yeah that’s great let’s try that'. It was really easy, it was the first time we worked together but it felt like we had been working together for a long time.”
Having supported some fantastic Hip Hop acts so far, which act particularly stood out for you?
“They have all been pretty good! Most memorable night was with Cody Chesnutt. He had a gig and then afterwards he asked me to be part of a jam session he was doing. So I got up and MC’d and Cody ended up playing drums. That was really cool. I supported Roots Manuva he was fantastic live. De La Soul was probably the best though.”
Where and when can we expect to see you touring in the UK and have you any plans to tour overseas?
“We are working on that, there are enough people downloading the music and requesting it at radio to know that the demand is there. We are concentrating on London at the moment and it is great to be smashing up London; in fact I am playing the Notting Hill Arts Club on Thursday night (15th July). If we could get out on the road today we would!”
As well as the single, when can we expect some more material from you?
“We are just working on the next release at the moment; hopefully it will be around by September.”
For anybody unfamiliar with your musical style, how would you describe your sound?
“I had one guy say you are like a funkier version of NERD with less guitars. Other people have seen a comparison with Roots Manuva. We just make banging, bouncy, electronic, dubby, Hip Hop music. I guess a couple of those descriptions might come close?”
The single Cause An Effect is out now.
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