UK hip-hop is as good as The Nextmen.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” says Brad Ellis. “The bed is a life-size Ferrari and you flip up the hood with remote control, and there’s a plasma screen. In the boot there are hundreds of pairs of customised trainers.” This is not, however, the room in which Brad rests his weary head after a day in the studio with his Nextmen partner, Dom Betmead. Rather, he’s recalling the TV show he watched recently about Missy Elliott’s abode. “Then I looked around my room,” he continues. “And there are just thousands of records and two really shit sofas.”

Which pretty much fits the public perception of UK hip-hop as America’s poor relation. That might be the case when it comes to the bling but, musically, the Nextmen’s second album, Get Over It, should help close the gap. Featuring not just Brit-rap veterans like Rodney P, but also junglist MCs like Dynamite and reggae toaster Cutty Ranks, the diversity of the guests is reflected in the breadth of the beats. “We’ve never made just one type of music, but in future it will be even harder to pigeonhole us,” claims Brad.

Legend has it that Brad met Dom when he tried to sell his future production partner a bag of magic mushrooms at college in Cambridge. “He said the price was outrageous,” laughs Brad. “But we discovered a shared love of hip-hop and music.” The pair delivered Amongst The Madness in 1999, just as people were finally beginning to pay attention to the UK’s indigenous rap scene.

“There are lots of interesting people in the UK but they need to take a leaf out of Roots Manuva’s book, because he’s come closest to crossover success with Run Come Save Me. People shouldn’t be afraid of being experimental.”

These two middle-class, college-educated white kids certainly stick out in a rap scene still hung up on race. “We’ve never pretended to be anything other than what we are,” Brad points out. “There’s an issue with race in the UK but we’ve never entirely felt part of the hip-hop scene anyway.” As such, they’re wary of proclaiming a full-scale rap renaissance on these shores.

“I just want to see an amazing hip-hop album done by an artist. And that hasn’t quite happened here yet,” Brad opines. “If something’s going to get big it’s going to be an artist, not producers. You need someone with an image that people can buy into. Garage has managed that. Even though kids making hip-hop are better MCs, it’s still not different enough from American hip-hop to really excite.”

UK hip-hop might have an inferiority complex but, come on guys, Get Over It. Paul Clarke 18 July 03

The Nextmen - Get Over It, released 28 July 03 on Scenario Records.

useful links: www.scenariorecords.com