Interviews

Published on December 15th, 2018 | by Dr. Jerry Doby

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Who Is the UK’s Hip Hop Firebrand Dirty Dike?

High Focus Records artist Dirty Dike who rose to prominence in 2008 with his acclaimed debut solo album ‘Bogies and Alcohol’, the hip-hop wordsmith Dirty Dike is back with the announcement of his new album ‘Acrylic Snail’ in which released December 14th.

Raw, engaging and intelligent as ever, Dirty Dike continues to show growth in his collection of material beginning with his first single. Full of brutally honest truths that his fanbase have always loved him for and found compelling to listen to, ‘Acrylic Snail’ is no different.

Released on High Focus Records, the label responsible for spearheading talent from across the UK, including Ocean Wisdom, Fliptrix, Coops, and Rag ‘N’’ Bone Man; Dirty Dike’s honest and raw talent adds to this labels impressive roster. The 14-track album ‘Acrylic Snail’  sees Dirty Dike join forces with renowned grime artist Killa P, UK hip hop linchpins Foreign Beggars, Inja, Jam Baxter and  Brit award winner and former label mate Rag ‘N’ Bone Man. Compiling an album that is his most exciting, filthy and prominent to date, Dirty Dike is here to continue his legacy as one of the most important talents in the UK hip-hop scene.

The Hype Magazine got him to weigh in on a few things

Dirty Dike

From the outside looking in, who is Dirty Dike? 

Probably an obnoxious rude bastard with an annoyingly self-assured attitude.

What brought you to the entertainment industry, music specifically?

I’ve always been a musical person, I grew up on music. My Mum would play a lot of The Supremes, James Brown, Four Tops, Barry White etc… My auntie was also a keys/sax player and vocalist in a few bands throughout the ’80s. She had a studio in her house and I’d play with the synths and drum kit. My first taste was probably playing the one drum beat I knew at 8 or 9 years old for her band at one of their practices. Years later I found Jungle & Drum and Bass, got addicted to vinyl and became a DJ. I started going to mad raves all over the place in my teens, ecstasy went hand in hand with the rave back then so a lot of that was happening. I got caught up in some bullshit and ended up serving 18 months out of a 3-year sentence when I was 19 and there ain’t no decks and mixer in a Y.O.I. So I started writing. I always loved hip-hop since a kid, and I knew about UK hip hop by then so it just clicked. I started going to studios, laying down my bars and hitting open mics and freestyle battles when I got out of prison, and the shit just sort of grew.

Tell us about your current project‘Acrylic Snail’.

 The music’s there, take from it what you will. I don’t want to tell people what to expect or how to perceive it, or even what it is musically. Everyone has their own personal unique relationship with an album, don’t they?

What do you want people to get from your music?

Entertainment. Release. Some kind of “aaah he gets me” thing perhaps. I mean I’ve always used it as therapy, given the nature in which I first picked up the pen, so if it can offer that to others in any capacity at all that’s cool, but people forget this shit is entertainment primarily. I don’t look to rappers for my moral compass, so I’m not trying to do that I’m more enlightened than you conscious thing. I find that patronizing in music.

For those just getting up on Grime, how does it fit in the scheme of the global Hip Hop community?

I think grime is its own thing. I don’t think grime was ever trying to fit in with a hip-hop community really.

Tell us a bit about your work and passions OUTSIDE of music…

I like to take photos. ‘Acrylic Snail’ (my current album) comes with a 16-page book containing a bunch of my flicks. I also paint a lot, I’m often slithering about the railway lines looking for things to decorate.

Last but not least, HYPE wants to know…What’s your CRAZIEST “Where they do that at?!” aka WTF?! moment…

I wish I could tell you…

Bonus


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About the Author

Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.


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