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Emerging From The Shadows - Darkjoint |
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Written by Crate Digger (Edited by Aimée)
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Saturday, 30 June 2001 |
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Page 1 of 2 In an age when hip hop producers can gain as much of a celebrity status
as the top emcees in the scene, Roy 'The Dark Disciple' is determined
to establish himself as one of the UK's finest beat makers. Born
and
raised in South London, but now residing in Canning Town, East London,
Roy is the lead member of the Darkjoint production team and is
responsible for crafting
all of the beats on Malarchi's thunderous 'Forgotten World' LP.
 Chatting with
him in his flat (which also doubles as the Darkjoint music studio), I
discover that his musical influences are not what many would expect for
a
rap producer. While most headz were growing up on Stevie Wonder and
Marvin
Gaye, Roy was brought up in the pop era of the 1980s.
"For me, it was Duran Duran, Bros, Pet Shop Boys and all that shit.
That's what I was brought up with,” he says. My parents were very
strict so most of
the tunes that I listened to was what my dad was listening to - from
Beatles to Bee Gees and Rod Stewart. My only outlet for music was Top
of the
Pops." Roy was eventually introduced to hip hop through his best mate
Leo 'LMG' Gilbert, the other producer in the Darkjoint team. "Leo was
heavily
into hip hop. So he started forcing me to listen to [groups like]
Public Enemy. He played me Eric B and Rakim's 'Paid in Full' and EPMD's
'You Gots
to Chill' - bad tunes! My early hip hop influences were Marley Marl,
Ice Cube and NWA's stuff. But it was Adamski's 'Killer' in '89/90 that
was the
track that created Darkjoint."
"Me and Leo used to work in McDonalds," he continues. "One time, in the
middle of summer, we finished work and came out and there was a traffic
jam
on the road. Every car was tuned into the same radio station and
everyone who was in a car - from dread-locked yardie men to white boys
- was nodding
their head to the tune. I was like - 'fucking hell, this tune is
heavy'. When I got home I started thinking of doing production
seriously.
"When I started off, I didn't have an idea about production. Leo taught
me everything I know. He had a friend who had a drum machine and he
used to go
round there and start programming beats. Listening to him made me start
thinking – 'OK I could do something here. What can I do?’ So I started
rapping and Leo was my producer and my DJ. It was just a fun thing to
do when we first started. We started doing shows in Kennington Park and
we
did a couple of tracks."
Roy, Leo and a few of their friends formed a collective called GHC
Entertainment and were signed to Polydor Records as an R&B act
called
Adejo. Two years later, with their album not yet released, they were
dropped from
the label. Following this setback, Leo decided that the crew should get
their own equipment, record some material and then put it out
themselves.
"This was in '92/'93, " Roy recalls. "Kruez had just released their
Motown album and MC Mello had just had a deal with Jazzy B's Motown
label. Blade
and Hijack had just come out with their album and then Gunshot came out
with 'Patriot Games'. So there were many people at the time that really
inspired
us to go that extra distance." The pair got summer jobs, earned some
money and started saving up. "We ended up buying a drum machine, a pair
of
Technics turntables, a little mixer and the keyboard that I still use,”
Roy says proudly.
While Leo began scratching and programming beats, Roy started rapping.
However, he soon became that he had serious work to do on his rhyming
style. After listening to albums like LL Cool J's 'Mama Said Knock You
Out', Eric
B & Rakim's 'Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em' and Ice Cube's 'Death
Certificate', Roy
decided that he would never be able to compete with the expert rapping
they displayed. So he stopped rapping and started helping out Leo with
the beats
he was making. "Leo taught me everything I know. He inspired me to do
everything," Roy declares. "I started playing keys over [his] beats -
hence
we created a [unique] sound. That's when Darkjoint was born - '93/'94."
The Dark Disciple developed his skills and began producing tracks for
local rappers like Femi X, RBX and D-Lyte-1. As time went on, Leo
became
disillusioned with the music industry and lost interest in making
beats, leaving Roy to continue on and claim the Darkjoint moniker as
his own.
For Roy, the personal satisfaction that he has got from creating great
tracks has been the only motivation he has needed to keep him going. "I
just wanna
make music that I wanna listen to. If you wanna check for it - that's
cool." He adds, "I'm just trying to get my shit to sound good and
audible.
I'm influenced from a UK perspective by what every other guy brought up
in the '80s was influenced by. So, from the reggae ting, hanging out
with my
mates and checking raves where the bass had to be heavy; and the Soul
II Soul era - the heavy drum pattern - that's what appealed to me. So
my sound
was definitely influenced by those things."
Probably Darkjoint's most notable work has been with the conscious
rhymer
Malarchi. The two have known each other since Malarchi was a child and
their close friendship has clearly made it easy for them to collaborate
on
tracks. "We've got like a natural vibe 'cos he only lives across the
road and we've known each other for time," Darkjoint explains. "In
doing
Malarchi's album, we spent so much time together vibing that we got to
a point where we chatted about anything, about the video we're
watching, or
whatever, and that threw up an idea for a tune. We've got a chemistry
there. With Malarchi, he's usually got something serious and
interesting to
say. So he'll come up to me and rhyme me something and I'll tell him
what I think. Then I have the idea of what he's on about and I try to
recreate
that musically.
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