Lethal
remembers when he was a mad little kid, discovering the magic of
‘Grandmaster Flash’ and his legendary record ‘The Message’. This led to
a remarkable childhood, collecting a fantastic box of ‘old school
vinyl’. It soon became apparent that he had a natural ability to master
the art of the MC. This fueled his interest in a more intense fashion
as he journeyed through his school years.
Looking
back Lethal reminisces “I sold my toys to buy Hip Hop albums when I was
six! He Man and Star Wars toys were soon replaced with albums on the
Def Jam label.
‘In my late primary school years Hip Hop was beginning its growth in
popularity. I was watching TV one Saturday morning when suddenly it was
announced that they were running a Rap slot for my age group. I eagerly
started writing a short rhyme and drew some pictures and sent them to
the show. I received quite quickly the invitation to appear live on
‘The 8.15 From Manchester”.
“It was also around this period that I received a birthday present.
This was a 4-track studio mixer. Four Mics and four channels that gave
me the ability to start recording some of my early ideas”. “By the time
I reached secondary school at the age of 11, I had hooked up with a
heavy street crew in London. They were impressed by my vocal delivery
and allowed me to sit in with them as they built tracks in their home
studio.” ‘Meanwhile, back at my new school it was wicked to find that
there was a school radio station in operation. Due to my knowledge of
the music I was able to get involved in my first year. Weekends and
school holidays were often spent traveling up to London to the home
studio. I was only about 12 when my first professional track was
released on the Red Ninja EP’.
Destruction’s
childhood is one of the same passions. However, it was the movie, ‘Wild
Style’ that fired his imagination. His favorite scene was that of
‘Grandmaster Flash’ displaying his incredible skills ‘cutting up
records on three turntables’. Within a short time a pair of budget
priced record decks and a mixer were the focus point in his bedroom,
thus saving his parents Hi-Fi from further damage. Every spare moment
was used learning the art of scratch mixing. Within a few years he
entered his first DMC mixing championship, reaching the UK finals. As
often happens in stories such as this, there is often a chance meeting
which sets off a long-term musical journey. A generation ago two kids
in their teens got real excited about each other’s record collection.
This is the famous anecdote of the very young Mick Jagger and Keith
Richards. Such was the twist as a teenage Lethal walked into a local
record shop and spied a mix tape produced by DJ Destruction. This set
off a phone call and the die was cast.
Lethal
having had the luxury of using the Red Ninja studio was very keen for
Destruction to start making beats. Destruction was of the same opinion,
by now he owned a massive record collection that would certainly get
him on his way to digging in the crates and start making tracks. This
led to getting the basic equipment and calling on his friends who
already had studios in the local area. Their natural flair saw them
speed along. Their chemistry and understanding resulted in some brand
new tunes. With great things on the horizon, another chance meeting
opened the doors for bigger things. Drum N Bass producer Adam-F had
sold the idea to EMI Records of producing a big concept album featuring
some of the best Hip Hop artists in America. Through a mutual friend,
he listened to the recent Lethal and Destruction stuff and loved it so
much that he invited Destruction to do all the additional production on
the entire album.
Whilst
the ‘Kaos’ album was in its planning and production stages, Lethal
whizzed through a three-year degree in Commercial Music at Westminster
University. All the young years immersed in making music gave Lethal
the opportunity to be picked out of literally hundreds of hopefuls. The
‘Kaos’ album was a fantastic project that took forever to complete. As
explained, Lethal used the time to good effect obtaining his degree.
During this time a close colleague of Lethal’s was brought in to
investigate the opportunity to run DJ/MC workshops whereby skills
learnt could be shown to the Urban youth around the local region. This
has been a tremendous success, gaining support and funding from The
Princes Trust, The National Lottery and other schemes. This continues
to grow as we speak
At
this time Lethal was also looking to expand his horizons. Through a
connection, he hooked up a meeting with award winning Drum N Bass MC
Skibadee. This was a pivotal moment, as Skibadee was very busy at that
time recording Hip Hop tracks that showcased his writing ability. Down
the line, this has led to the critically acclaimed ‘Ringleaders’
Project spearheaded by Lethal and Skibadee. Lethal and Destruction have
always been personally motivated to raise the bar of their individual
skills. Destruction is almost unique in this country, in that he has
had the opportunity to work in some of the top New York Studios with
the likes of Redman, De La Soul, LL Cool J, MOP and many more. His
finest moment was sitting in an L.A studio with the legendary Bernie
Grundman (of Dr Dre fame) for the mastering of the ‘Kaos’ album.
Meanwhile, Lethal had been honing his rhyming skills by working with
Skibadee, Durrty Goodz and Canibus up at the PP Studios, which were
always seeing hot talent passing through.
With
a lot of industry A&R boys buzzing around at the time, Lethal &
Destruction signed a short-term contract with Mercury Records and were
offered a publishing deal from Universal. However, the duo decided to
pave the way to future success by forming their own independent music
company. Immediate success came their way with their debut promo ‘So
What’ which hit the number one spot on the BBC 1xtra Station chart.
This was followed by two further promo singles. All three campaigns
were run by Soul 2 Streets hitting 200 DJ’s nationwide in successive
mail outs. Having created a strong profile with these tunes they were
deliberately held back to create demand for the release of their album.
It was then decided to release their hugely successful Mix CD ‘Weapons
Of Mass Destruction’ first. The heavy line up included Skibadee, Tor,
Skeme, Estelle, Baby Blue and 14-year-old vocalist Paris. The street
campaign was supported by hitting specialist radio DJ’s with
personalized dub plates. The amazing versatility and dexterity
displayed on these dubs was showcased as Lethal added the ‘Harry
Shotta’ alias to his name. Amongst the DJ’s blessed, were Rodney P and
Skitz (1xtra), Ras Kwame (Radio One/1xtra), Jenny Francis (Choice) and
Dynamite MC and MK (Kiss).
With the digital age changing things by the day,
an official web site was designed and launched followed by a strong
presence on My Space. Lethal and Destruction have also uploaded three
radio podcasts onto these sites and I Tunes. Keeping their love affair
of radio alive, you can check out Lethal alongside his co-hort DJ
Mentat every week on Force FM. On alternate weeks you can also hear the
highly charged Destruction show. The Journey album, which includes some
of those big promos, also holds surprises and the very special track
‘The Performance’ which brings together Lethal, Skibadee and Tor. To
quote Lethal, “This album is for all the supporters of Lethal and
Destruction. 14 tracks that reflect the diversity of my boy
Destruction’s production allowing me to display a variety of lyrics,
styles and moods on the Mic. Be warned though, there is no let up now.
The Ringleaders album, the Harry Shotta album and Destruction’s
‘Breaking Point’ Compilation are all in production”.
