RePPiN4U The Show
The international Underground Rap & Hip Hop Connexion went to meet up with Michael Grant and RePPiN4U The Show in the UK. The show features some “Specials” where the listeners themselves select the tracks for instance and so! Good discovery…
Isa Nahila S – How and when was the show born?
Michael Grant – It goes back to 2011 and I have Rashad Unique Allah to thank for it all. What happened was Chef Raekwon released the album ‘Shaolin Vs Wu-Tang’. Like a lot of people who knew me well, Rashad knew of my Wu-Tang fandom. He approached me and asked me to write a review for the album for his Unique Heat website.
I accepted the offer, wrote the review and got it published. I received great feedback from it and then it was at that point I found my true calling in Journalism. So I went out and pursued it and began studying in that field. Through that journey we had to create a website of our own and then I came with the name ‘RePPiN4U’ which is an online hip hop magazine which launched at the end of 2011. Then I learned it wasn’t just about writing articles, it was television & radio as well.
The good students I worked with recognized each other’s talent and helped each other reach those potentials. One of which, his name was Karl Hughes, launched a radio station in 2013 and wanted me on board as one of the DJ/Presenters, and so the RePPiN4U Radio Show was born. It was short lived as the radio station unexpectedly folded, and so I continued my wrestling talk shows on BDSIR NETWORK (The Best Damn Show In Radio) (Blog Talk Radio). Their founder, Michael Pearman loved the show and wanted the show on his platform.
At the same time, KicFM, a local radio station were seeking new presenters so I pitched the show to them and they liked it. So the show was reborn through KicFM & BDSIR NETWORK. Eventually KicFM was going in a different direction so we parted ways but on good terms, and then the story coincides with Duce from New Zealand respectfully turning down an offer to work for Wild1 Radio. Duce put Wild1 Radio’s boss DJ Swift on to PC The Producer (founder of FATP) who put him on to me. Now RePPiN4U Radio Show is broadcast on Wild1 Radio & BDSIR NETWORK simultaneously.
RePPiN4U Ghost
Isa Nahila S – Talk to us about the concept
Michael Grant – The concept is a result of people on social media throwing up memes stating ‘Hip Hop is Dead’ or ‘Rap was better in the 90s’ or ‘Hip Hop is not on the Radio’ Everyone has an opinion, and while the memes are aimed at mainstream radio, I saw it as a form of ignorance, and that’s my opinion. The show is aimed at such people who want Hip Hop to be on the radio. Most mainstream radio now support ‘trap music’, which appeals more to the younger generation.
This show brings Hip Hop in its purest form which is aimed at primarily the older audience, but it doesn’t mean the younger generation cannot tune in – THEY CAN. The idea is to let the audience know of the latest and hottest hip hop in the streets, US AND UK, plus hip hop news and information on the latest shows which will be UK based. Not only that, artists can submit their music but what we won’t play is what the mainstream radio is already playing i.e. trap music. The idea is to present the show of near ‘mainstream like quality’ to help defeat those myths people throw up on social media.
The name ‘RePPiN4U’ is named after the Black Milk track ‘RePPiN For U’ from the album Tronic. In that track, he states:
“This dude asked me, “What’s the answer to this hip hop cancer?”
I’m so hungry for real sh!t it feels like I’m fasting
They told me, stop living in the past, get past it
The Golden Era it would never come back
Told him, I hear what he’s saying and I’m tryin’ to be a crutch to hold it up
But I know what I contribute is not enough so…”
Those words are true and most likely be underrated in the annuls of Hip Hop History. I know that I alone cannot bring the true essence back, it needs a combined effort from fans to DJs to everyone in the industry.
Isa Nahila S – What are the upcoming “Special”?
Michael Grant – Once every month the show hosts a special themed show where it is dedicated to an artist or a producer or certain genre within hip hop with a striking difference: Every track is requested by the listeners which brings out the whole essence of ‘RePPiN4U’, Representing Real Hip Hop for the people. The people create the playlist and it becomes an extra incentive for people to listen in. We have done past specials such as 90s Hip Hop, Sean Price, Soul and R&B, some specials may be revisited in the future, but the upcoming special shows include KRS-One, Distant Relatives (Hip Hop & Reggae Dancehall fusion) and Nas… We encourage our listeners to get their requests in otherwise they are responsible in case their favourite track doesn’t get played!
Isa Nahila S – Who is hosting the show?
Michael Grant – I host the show under the name ‘Grant Body-P!’ Named after Sean Price who had a track called ‘P-Body’ and in that track Sean ends his verse by saying “P-Body” then Rock from Heltah Skeltah says “P!” straight afterwards so it sounds like “P-Body-P!”
So my name is pronounced like that. Occasionally I might be joined by my co-host DJ Miss C Brown who has hosted her own radio shows in the past but is now making it big worldwide re-introducing the world to UK Hip Hop and has become the UK’S #1 female VJ mixing music videos on turntables.
Isa Nahila S – Where and when can we listen to the show?
Michael Grant – RePPiN4U HIP HOP SHOW is broadcast every Tuesday on Wild1 Radio, three times a day 11pm at three different time zones – Hong Kong, London and LA. That’s three hours apart. To break it down for people who don’t quite understand time zones, I call them the ‘early bird show’, ‘official show’ and ‘late show’. Since I am based in the UK, DJ Swift put me on the 11pm time slot so 11pm UK (7am HONG KONG & 3PM LA) is the official show.
Wild 1 Radio can be listened via their website www.wild1radio.com or via TuneIn, Windows Media Radio, iTunes, Radio.net, and radioshaker.com. Encore presentation is on BDSIR NETWORK Wednesday nights at 8pm EST 1am UK www.blogtalkradio.com/thagameV1 with download links after the show, then the show is uploaded to mixcloud by the weekend.
Isa Nahila S – Who is producing the show and as a conclusion do you have anything else we shall know of about it?
Michael Grant – I ultimately produce the show, but it is co-produced by KD a.k.a. Spock from the Beats A Bar Project in Wolverhampton UK. He is absolutely brilliant and cool-headed to work with. The Beats A Bar project was formerly known as Sam Sharpe studios, where the late great Dread Lester has helped a lot of young people pursue their music careers and became an iconic figure for the local community. Big respect to Dread Lester, KD and John Paul who has continued the good work for the people in Wolverhampton. Occasionally the show may be produced in Leicester too, home of ‘distant relatives’ FATP (From Across The Pond UK HIP HOP SHOW). I have mad love and respect for them as they spawned their show from RePPiN4U and I am so overwhelmed of where they have progressed and what they have achieved in such a short space of time.
People can find us on Facebook www.facebook.com/RePPiN4U where they can meet the administration – James Henson who brings the latest news to the page. DJ Miss C Brown who produces our mixtapes, Andy Nicholls who is a specialist in independent Hip Hop, Shadfather who is a specialist in Westcoast Hip Hop, Lynne Geddes who helps promote our brand, J-Law who keeps her eyes on the gig scene in the UK, and of course PC The Producer and UK Big Pun of the FATP who had my back from the start. I am absolutely grateful for the team I have developed. People can find me on the twitter @MZATheInfamous, artists can either DM me their submissions to either social media or hit me up on the email mikedogg36@gmail.com. They can also contact me for interviews to be showcased on the show as well. More often than not they are conducted through skype. Local artists can also arrange to set up the interview at Beats A Bar studios.
