Interview with Natty
"My ideal date would be in a car park somewhere…" August 14, 2008, 12:09 AM  You started working in the music industry as an engineer. What were the most unexpected differences about being on different sides of the booth?
Not much. Now it’s different, in the way that people treat me I guess.
When you first started doing music with the intention of it being a career, what was your benchmark of having ‘made it’?
Never. I never do it for the fame. I know it sounds like a cliché but…there will be no benchmark. It’s like with my songs – Coloured Souls was a benchmark, after that I was more in touch with myself.
‘Coming outta London’ on your mixtape seems to really showcase your love and respect for London and the UK, and its music scene. What are your thoughts on the tendency of British artists to sing/rap with a US accent?
It’s just fake. And who wants fake music?
Your debut album, Man Like I, is released in a week’s time. On a scale of 1 to excited, how excited are you?
Really excited. More excited than Christmas-excited. I’m trying to hold it down though.
Over the next 5 – 10 years, how do you think the production, marketing and sales of records will change?
In some of the production I’ve got an idea. I think it will turn full cycle. In the last few years, a lot of the stuff in the pop charts is getting better, I think it will get a lot better. A lot of people are still trying to make hits – you know, that formulaic songwriting. I think that the real artists, the realer artists, are gonna come through.
If you had to listen to music by only one artist for the rest of your life, who would it be?
Fela (Fela Kuti)
Do you still get to go to gigs without too much recognition?
I can’t really go out in London. The problem is that not very many people look like me, I don’t really blend in.
Rumour has it that you like a good breakfast – what’s your ultimate breakfast?
Probably an English fry up – but a vegetarian one. I don’t do pork, I don’t do meat. You can get protein from other things.
You claim that you ‘never have bad dates’. Is that because of you, or the girls you choose to date? What makes a great date for you?
Usually I’m really bad at paying attention. I’m just always real so it’s never bad. You know when you try something and it doesn’t happen the way you thought – don’t try. Then you either get what’s coming to you or you don’t. and then you move forward because you’re not upset. My ideal date would be in a car park somewhere…. (looks around, then back at me with a cheeky grin and smiles)
There’s a song on your mixtape that I love, telling the story of you getting up, linking up with the mandem and going to a club. Shooting breaks out, you’re arrested, and you’re supposed to be linking a girl afterwards. I’m intrigued to know – did you ever actually get to link up?
Nope. You can hear what happens at the end on the B-side of July….
Tell us something about Natty that we wouldn’t expect to hear.
I’m a good footballer. I play left-mid.
Bedroom Eyes is my favourite song of yours. So, when she looks at you with her bedroom eyes, what exactly is your ‘come here smile’?
I just did it……(smiles lazily).
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Say No More interview 18/4/08
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