hiphoplifeandtimes

Supar Novar is one of the UK’s most respected MC’s. He was an original member of Skinnyman’s Mud Family crew, came out as a solo artist on Kemet Entertainment the label that put Klashnekoff on, as well as winning awards and supporting some of Hip-Hop’s biggest names. Its no secret that Supar Novar is indeed one of Tricksta’s favourite rappers of all time, so we got him to interview his boy. Check out this exclusive interview…

You’ve just dropped you new album ‘No Favours’ that is produced entirely by yourself. What was the reason for this and you explain why the album is called ‘No Favours’?

I got a few reasons but mainly it’s about me doing a project by myself without the need of relying of anyone else’s help. In the past I was always waiting on other people to mix stuff down for me or free up studio time for me to record. So I started uni a couple years back and completed a foundation degree in music production and business, which I got a first in. This gave me the skills I needed to be self-sufficient. Also I felt like I been in the game so long and I done so many favours for people, like featuring on projects for free, some that have even been really successful and I rarely seen anything back for it. On a couple occasions I’ve even hollered them same artists to return the favours and they been on a long ting. I done this album as well to say, cool, man don’t need you anyway.

So what was the main reason for doing the whole album all by yourself, was this something you’ve wanted to do for a long time or a new concept?

I been making beats for years and I always wanted to do a project that I’d fully produced myself and I think certain times when producers had took ages to mix stuff and even given me beats that they’d given to other people and I didn’t end up getting to use I came up with the title ‘No Favours’. As soon as I felt ready to produce a whole project I hooked up with Ragz Sweet Jones and produced his album ‘Music 4 Miss Peaches’. After that I thought it was about time I got ‘No Favours’ done so I started picking out tracks I already had, then recording new ones and I made it happen.

What would you say are the stand out tracks on the album and what are your personal favourites?

The whole project is really personal to me, it’s like my baby and I’m proud of it through and through, but I’d say ‘Ghetto Man’ is a favourite. I got much more into making emotional music over the last few years and that one stands out for me. Also ‘My Little Girl’ which is probably one of the most emotional tracks for me as a father getting to express my feelings for my child through music. Then I’d say ‘Penny For My Thoughts’ which actually features my daughter so I kinda lied about the no features part. Haha. But she is me at the end of the day so it doesn’t really count. I was tryna make a beat one day when she was really fighting to get my attention so I thought rather than either stopping the beat or leaving her to feel left out I could just get her involved. I told her to go get this little wooden percussion set that my dad bought her and she actually played a load of sounds on that track as well as performing the chorus at 3 years old.

Your production sounds nice on this album, have you been producing for any other artists lately?

Thanks man, yeah I haven’t really had the time to get on the beats as much as I’d like recently. I did the Ragz Sweet Jones album that I mentioned, plus a few tracks with my boy Armaniarno and I been producing stuff for the forthcoming F.L.I.P project, but apart from that I need to get back to work. I really wanna produce for a lot of people at some point.

You’ve been making music no for ten years, or possibly longer. What do you the secret is to longevity in Hip-Hop?

It’s a difficult one cos I think there’s two ways of doing it. Either you gotta stick to what you know and hold onto a core fan base that love you for your original sound or you gotta move with the times. I don’t mean copy what’s going on either, still make sure you do your own thing but you gotta find a way to stay relevant in the current scheme of things. It’s not an easy task as you get older either cos it’s a young mans game in a lot of ways. You gotta let the youngens do their thing cos you can’t ever beat them at that but you gotta find a way to fit in at the same time and school them to what your about.

So how are you viewing Hip-Hop at the moment? Do you like much new music at the moment, if so what have you been bumping?

Yeah I always love Hip-Hop in all of it’s many forms, I never been a guy that only listened to just conscious rappers, or just gangster rap or any specific sub-genre. I’m into underground stuff and commercial stuff as well and other types of music. Right now what I’m bumping is the new Ragz and Tony Mahoney album ‘A Zombie Cannot Live By Flesh Alone’, that shits a certified classic right there and on a non-Hip-Hop ting I been bumping that Frank Ocean ‘Nostalgia’ album.

You’re a main force in the crew F.L.I.P. so can you tell us exactly who all the members are and what makes F.L.I.P different to any other crews out there?

Well there’s loads of people who are down with the fam but the main members we focused on with the projects coming right now are myself, Big Ben, Ragz, Danny Bones, King Response and Wordsmith. I’d say the first thing that makes us different than other crews is that we so much better than them. Haha. And most importantly we’re all real friends. The core members who been here from the start all went primary school together and anyone who joined along the way got involved because of friendships not cos we recruited anyone. I think that connection makes us work much better together and creates an energy that a lot of groups don’t have. It’s funny cos the underground rap scene in the UK hate the mainstream so much but half of the groups are as manufactures as the spice girls. Haha.

Tell us more about F.L.I.P TV and the thinking behind the whole TV Channel. 

I just copped a camera so we could make our own videos and on a ‘No Favours’ tip again didn’t need to holla other youtube channels to do that for us. Me and Bones started shooting and editing the videos and I’ve got really into it as an art form. The channel is not just about us either; we do videos for other artists, plus interviews, freestyles and other stuff. We got Dead Prez on there, AZ, Termanology, Jaja Soze, Skinnyman, Stylah and the list goes on.

Your next release is an EP right? Can you tell us more about that please?

Yeah the next one is an EP all produced by Show N Prove called ‘Forever’. Its kind of an album really with I think 13 tracks but the last few are remixes and are listed as bonus tracks. The project is absolutely huge. I wanted to follow up ‘No Favours’ with this cos I done the full solo ting and now it’s time to drop a load of collabs. Aside from myself Show N Prove is my favourite producer to work with and I got a load of big features on this one as well. So far we got Dappy from N-Dubz, Neon Hitch, Big Ben, Barry Knight, Stylah, Genesis Elijah, MCD, Dash Gambino and I’m waiting on verses from Logic, Pesci and Terra Slim. I shouldn’t really put them names out till it’s done but fuck it. Once them tracks are finished it’s a wrap and we gonna be dropping it as a FREE download for Christmas. Haha.

And finally, can you give us an update on the Supar Novar & MCD album? When will that be dropping?

Yeah that’s basically done, we just need to get a verse from Danny Bones that he should actually be recording that tonight and then I’m gonna link D to start mixing it tomorrow. The album is 14 tracks long with me and MCD producing 7 each. We got features from Big Ben, Mr Ti2bs, Pesci, Steelo One, Poni, Paris 1, Paradise (57th Dynasty), Nocturnal (Bury Crew), Ragz Sweet Jones plus a few others. It’s a massive project that it’s just been an honour to be able to make. Once we finished it in the next week or so we gonna work out how we gonna put it out. Honestly it really deserves a proper release so we probably gonna be looking for someone to release it for us and get it the right distribution, so labels holla. Haha.

Interview by Tricksta