ukfunky Dubbage - Tippa Interview

[Guest faze .]

Recently you might have heard the term ‘Dubbage’ being bandied about on London pirate radio station Rinse FM, mainly stemming from the shows of the Circle camp, Gumbo and others. In March 09 the term seems to be gaining considerable momentum and is being referenced on forums, mainly in the form of the question ‘what is Dubbage?’ Ever curious about genre mutations, I was keen to find out more about it. I got in touch with Circle over MySpace and a few messages back and forth turned into this interview with Tippa.Dubbage?This is actually funny because all of a sudden everyone is asking us! We only started saying Dubbage because we felt the type of House we played was different from the other new rising stars of the scene. Now everyone has just started calling that style Dubbage and is referring to it as a new scene, or a new thing but it ain’t. It’s just a name we call it to separate us from the funky scene.So what is Dubbage?If I could sum up a Dubbage track in words it would be a Deep House track that has sounds which could make it borderline tech, or has sounds and depth as a Dubstep track would have but sounds like House. It’s more beats… simple beats but with intelligent sounds. I was having this conversation with Geeneus the other night as well. He was playing me tracks off his new album and was asking me what genre I reckon it would fall under. They weren’t funky cause they were well produced and production was on point, and it wasn’t typical soulful House as it was too techy and dubby. Then we both looked at each other and said 'Dubbage'! It’s long winded, and I confuse myself at times when trying to explain this to anyone but in a nutshell, I believe this is it.So who’s making Dubbage right now?Producers making music which could be classed as 'Dubbage' from London, who are closely linked to Circle are: Geeneus, W Beeza and IC. If a scene were to progress from this name or term, then these guys would be the front runners. IC is a part of Circle and his stuff will be pushed more on the shows. WBeeza gives us all his tracks before anyone else and his stuff is proper on point, as is Geeneus’. Gee will produce stuff across the board though but his Gypsy Woman refix would definitely be classed as Dubbage.Geeneus - Gypsy Woman RemixIs the name necessary? Some people would say it’s all just House.It’s not necessary at all but if something’s said, people are tickled, innit? They hear something they like or hate as a phase and will run with it. It then spreads like wildfire and all of a sudden everything is placed in a genre or a new one is created. It’s f*cked really…it’s like gossip: you plant a seed, whether it be intentionally or not and it spreads. At the end of the day people will say it’s all House but funky is something different which is why people’s ears are standing up to it. It’s something fresher, more exciting... it spins away from House, its meaning, its beliefs, what it stands for. See that’s someone from Circle giving funky props but it’s not for us.Is Funky something you want to distance yourself from?We have said that we won’t be playing any of the current new stuff that is poorly produced and sounds like grime. We have also said that we won’t be associating with events that solely push that side 100%, yeah our names do appear on flyers and events that play funky, but do we turn up and play funky, that’s the question. The funky scene is good for the youngers. but they have to control it somehow to go in the direction they want. When we all first started playing there was more of a mix with House and the tracks that were classed as funky was not as grimey as they are now. It was poorly produced but not as bad as it is now which is why we have concentrated on playing more House than anything else and within that we have concentrated on more of the beats side of things than the soulful stuff. Now the olders of the House scene will play soulful, but when you go to their events they’re dead out… stiff. What about Circle events? What’s played?When you come to Circle events (Yellow / Format) we play beats - House - but beats. Most of these wankers in funky think we play strictly US. Where they f*ck*ng got that idea from is bullshit. All they need to ask us is where the music comes from and we will tell them. Bugs in the Attic, Restless Soul, Aphrodisiax, Freerange, Wbeeza, Geeneus, IC etc - loads of UK and European stuff. In fact the majority is UK and European but they think it’s US. Why?...because they haven’t educated themselves on the music they play or where it originated from. We have never ever said that we hate, we won’t play or that funky is completely sh*t.Remember, if it weren’t for DJs like Supa D, Angie B, Footloose, Kismet there would be no funky scene. When the first funky tunes started being played 3-4 years ago these were the DJs that first played them on a certain station. When producers like Invasion Records, Tadow, Lightfinger/Fingerprint, Dubplate Wonder and Apple first started making that new sound, they were the DJs that got it out there for them.Do you like much Funky then?Funky tracks have crept into our sets. One or two tracks still get played. We love Hardhouse Banton’s Sirens, Crazy Cousins’ Do you Mind, Geeneus's As I etc. There’s a small percentage that is well produced and sounds really good but there’s more sh*t than good and that percentage after 3 years ain’t got any better. If anything the sound has changed again and maturing into some next grime ting with 10,000 MCs all chatting nonsense. You’re seeing it now, failed grime DJs and MCs jumping on the bandwagon.Another ‘genre’ that’s been mentioned in relation to House recently is Wonky (Not to be confused with the post-Dilla hip hop sound). Circle made ‘Say no to Wonky’ t-shirts – is that to do with the grimey House thing?Ha ha ha! Ok, this is the god’s honest truth: we/Circle were all on radio, someone messaged us or something, or we were talking between ourselves on the mic and someone was saying ‘what do you call Grime Funky?’ and someone said ‘Wonky’. Again, something unintentional that people heard, took on board and started crying about it. So much so that it got back to us and made us laugh. It was a joke but they took it serious and had a cry, certain producers acting like pussies, ringing certain DJs and crying to them, which got back to us hence the t-shirts we printed up. It was our way of saying 'f*ck off you cry babies.' We don’t even wear those t-shirts. There’s no need, it was a joke; the kids got upset, big deal, deal with it, innit? As far as I’m concerned, it’s done with but people still refer to Grime/Funky as Wonky. We never told them to. They heard it and ran with it… another seed… go figure!Where do you think the current UK House thing will go?There are two roads this generation can go down in terms of the new House sounds. The non funky road which is slowly developing into something new, or the ever changing funky road, which is now seeing a change with the MCs jumping on board. Whichever road you take or prefer it’s exciting. People from the funky side will say that the road we defected to is boring. That’s their opinion, and I personally won’t bite anyone’s head off for that. We expressed our opinion on where Funky’s going, so it’s only fair everyone has an opinion but don’t start crying about it – that’s long.How far can Dubbage go?The thing is I actually do think it will lead into a sub genre. For some reason over the last couple of years a lot of people follow and listen to a lot of our opinions and take it as gold, when sometimes it's just our personal opinion… it means nothing really, but people see it as 'well if Circle say so, then it must be so' and it ain’t always, or should be like that. But it’s good I suppose. It shows we’re actually influencing a lot of the younger heads which is why I think this Dubbage thing will lead into something big. Imagine that, something we were just messing with as in a different name actually turns into something.You can catch Circle on Rinse Fm every Monday at 9pm

[Sinister]

Good Read.C/S everything said about Funky, Wonky, Grime and poorly produced tracks.

[Guest faze .]

yeah, im actully hating all these swag mc tunes.... dont mind an 8 bar here or there but full mc tracks can f*ck off.... will eventully kill the scene......

[Gordon Gekko]

This is one thing i dont like about the UK, always pigeonhole musicTbf this whole 'dubbage' sound just seems like soulful/deep house, why the new name? I like the Circle and there shows are good but i just dont see the need for the new name, its just a different aspect of an already exisiting and worldwide known sound plus with the whole 'funky' sound theres still people like ma1 who make the music but dont the circle play that?I just dont see the need for it, as i said, i enjoy the sounds that the circle play so this isnt hate or in anyway an attack but i just cant see why the name is neededI actually like the whole deep/soulful side of house music aswell so if this whole 'dubbage' sound took off i wouldnt complain, i just like the more proffesional soundin side of the 'funky' scene aswell

[zeke]

yeah, im actully hating all these swag mc tunes.... dont mind an 8 bar here or there but full mc tracks can f*ck off.... will eventully kill the scene......

C/S to a certain degree.

This is one thing i dont like about the UK, always pigeonhole musicTbf this whole 'dubbage' sound just seems like soulful/deep house, why the new name? I like the Circle and there shows are good but i just dont see the need for the new name, its just a different aspect of an already exisiting and worldwide known sound plus with the whole 'funky' sound theres still people like ma1 who make the music but dont the circle play that?I just dont see the need for it, as i said, i enjoy the sounds that the circle play so this isnt hate or in anyway an attack but i just cant see why the name is neededI actually like the whole deep/soulful side of house music better so if this whole 'dubbage' sound took off i wouldnt complain, i just like the more proffesional soundin side of the 'funky' scene aswell

I see this as man dem just bein snobby, basically, "oh look at us we play this type of house n have been on it for 12 months longer than you, so we dont like your style, we're so sophisticated, reh reh reh"Same sh*t happened with Garage back in the day :arrow:but onthe other handC/S to the fullest. couldnt have said it better myself.

[Guest faze .]

yeah, deep + soulful house >>>> ______still rinse my january mix more thn any of my funky mixes....IC & Tippa - Education HQ Vol 1 >>>> _______

[zeke]

yeah, deep + soulful house >>>> ______

without doubt :!:

[Nola D]

Tippa speaks the truths still, sick to death with the funky scene atm, taken a big step back from it. Only listen to selective things/touch selective raves.

[Sleepz]

The interview was a very good read seems like these lot have the same views as me and my boys, it did come across as abit snobbish but on a real...who cares.

yeah, deep + soulful house >>>> ______

without doubt :!:

Couldn't agree more, although i find it mad hard to keep up with the releases, its a good thing!

[JOHN DOE]

yeah, deep + soulful house >>>> ______

said this from day dot.but havin said that funky is good for ravin , having a mad time skanking out soulful is more for chillin , relaxin in a bar.all dem skanking tunes will soon phase out tho- i can see it happening - was a good read still

[Gordon Gekko]

yeah, deep + soulful house >>>> ______

said this from day dot.but havin said that funky is good for ravin , having a mad time skanking out soulful is more for chillin , relaxin in a bar.all dem skanking tunes will soon phase out tho- i can see it happening - was a good read still

c/s this wholelyneed a very very good selection for soulful to hold weight on a night, one of the reasons you dont see it about much in clubs

[Guest faze .]

yeah, deep + soulful house >>>> ______

said this from day dot.but havin said that funky is good for ravin , having a mad time skanking out soulful is more for chillin , relaxin in a bar.all dem skanking tunes will soon phase out tho- i can see it happening - was a good read still

c/s this wholelyneed a very very good selection for soulful to hold weight on a night, one of the reasons you dont see it about much in clubs

i realy hope so...good quality, well produced vocal uk funky could easily drop in a deep set..... this is the kinda sh*t producers should be aiming for....seems like to me all crazy couzinz are concerned with at the moment is making cash any means....need to llow handing out all there beats to mcs and doing remixes of rnb hits and make more sh*t like inflation.....

[Nola D]

yeah, deep + soulful house >>>> ______

said this from day dot.but havin said that funky is good for ravin , having a mad time skanking out soulful is more for chillin , relaxin in a bar.all dem skanking tunes will soon phase out tho- i can see it happening - was a good read still

c/s this wholelyneed a very very good selection for soulful to hold weight on a night, one of the reasons you dont see it about much in clubs

i realy hope so...good quality, well produced vocal uk funky could easily drop in a deep set..... this is the kinda sh*t producers should be aiming for....seems like to me all crazy couzinz are concerned with at the moment is making cash any means....need to llow handing out all there beats to mcs and doing remixes of rnb hits and make more sh*t like inflation.....

i agree with this, but the problem is that the vocalists these producers are using are POOR! thus making the tune sound sh*t. f*ck*ng hate crazy cousins as well all their sh*t sounds the same and from time they made a tune with versatile u know they aint in this for the love.

[JOHN DOE]

yeah, deep + soulful house >>>> ______

said this from day dot.but havin said that funky is good for ravin , having a mad time skanking out soulful is more for chillin , relaxin in a bar.all dem skanking tunes will soon phase out tho- i can see it happening - was a good read still

c/s this wholelyneed a very very good selection for soulful to hold weight on a night, one of the reasons you dont see it about much in clubs

i realy hope so...good quality, well produced vocal uk funky could easily drop in a deep set..... this is the kinda sh*t producers should be aiming for....seems like to me all crazy couzinz are concerned with at the moment is making cash any means....need to llow handing out all there beats to mcs and doing remixes of rnb hits and make more sh*t like inflation.....

i agree with this, but the problem is that the vocalists these producers are using are POOR! thus making the tune sound sh*t. f*ck*ng hate crazy cousins as well all their sh*t sounds the same and from time they made a tune with versatile u know they aint in this for the love.

was hating the guys too until they came back with inflation. that 'funky anthem' tune pisses me off proper especially versatile's intro - his voice " yeah baby yeah baby yeah" - just wanna punch him real talkand i f*ck*ng hate the term ' time to get funky' perempay & dee are the one of the few reppin it for the UK scene at the mo - their stuff is seriously good

[Nola D]

definately agree perempay & dee are reppin very hard, Versatile is one guy i dont even want get started on he's like the no.1 guy i want to shoot, the same recycled bars over and over in the f*ckin rave, killin off everyones vibe

[darkman]

This is one thing i dont like about the UK, always pigeonhole musicTbf this whole 'dubbage' sound just seems like soulful/deep house, why the new name? I like the Circle and there shows are good but i just dont see the need for the new name, its just a different aspect of an already exisiting and worldwide known sound plus with the whole 'funky' sound theres still people like ma1 who make the music but dont the circle play that?I just dont see the need for it, as i said, i enjoy the sounds that the circle play so this isnt hate or in anyway an attack but i just cant see why the name is neededI actually like the whole deep/soulful side of house music aswell so if this whole 'dubbage' sound took off i wouldnt complain, i just like the more proffesional soundin side of the 'funky' scene aswell

C/S

[The Somalian]

This is one thing i dont like about the UK, always pigeonhole music

wtf why cant everything be classed as one thing like 'garage' where u use to have the dark sound/2 step sound/ 4x4 sound/ break beat sound all garage but was not piegioned hole into sh*t and then you would get the cross over tracks what every dj would play in the scene like 138 trek, dooms night etc one track that I think did do the cross over ting well recently was Benga's night I had people telling me its bassline/grime/dubstep/funky to me it is a dubstep track but also a great crossover garage tracklow pigeonhole biznessdont really follow funky but read little things here and there and from what ive read and heard tippa, geenus and marcus nasty are going on like the dreem teem of the 2000's being very snobby I know u see that effect tippa its long soon u will do raves where only 'mature ravers who appreciate the sound can come' so over 25's only etcthen telling people they dont know their roots is usually the next step so you will get people having these back to 2003 funky raves etc <<all that sh*t helped stagnate garage dont let it happen to ur ting because if we was to pull up a united grooves collective or dreem teem interview from 8 to 10 years ago bet their words emulate exactly what kinda stuff u are saying now but I do agree these grime mc's and dj's need to jump over back to grime because we still have unfinished business grime aint in the top 10 every week low the bandwagon ting stillits usually producers who get the vocalist but I have been away from music a long time things change so i may be wrong cd decks are the preffred choice of a mixer now!!!

[Uncle Larry]

Is the name necessary? Some people would say it’s all just House.It’s not necessary at all but if something’s said, people are tickled, innit? They hear something they like or hate as a phase and will run with it. It then spreads like wildfire and all of a sudden everything is placed in a genre or a new one is created. It’s f*cked really…it’s like gossip: you plant a seed, whether it be intentionally or not and it spreads. At the end of the day people will say it’s all House but funky is something different which is why people’s ears are standing up to it. It’s something fresher, more exciting... it spins away from House, its meaning, its beliefs, what it stands for. See that’s someone from Circle giving funky props but it’s not for us.

Big up init...Theres no need for it, but if bandwagon djs wanna hang off our nuts and copy and do everything we seam to do, who am i or the rest to argue.Also..Snobish... LmfaoMan has told funky to lock down there scene from day oneNoone listened, we told them keep the mcs out and turn the mics off, noone listened.. now its going tits up.If thats snobbish for telling the truth then big up init.Everyone including faze who has non me from day 1 will no ive always said this.. lock it down, keep the mcs out, they didnt listen...Yeah babu yeah baby yeah.. head shoulders knees and toes... great f*ck*ng music!

[Gordon Gekko]

Doctor, i think you misread (or maybe i did) i meant that we always pigeonhole music when we dont need toTippa, do the circle ever put out any download cd's/you got any? Dont really like the rinse podcast so not up for downloadin the shows like cause it takes me ages..any links to any mixcds from you lot?

[Uncle Larry]

Circle Vol.1 feat Tippa & Kismet is in the process, also features exclusize tracks from Wbeza, IC & Geeneus.. plus some other established uk house dons.Dont vreally do cds as a collective as we try to keep the music exclusive for the events we do.Ie you wanna hear circle you listen to the shows or go to the event.There is also a rinse session coming soon from us.but the free mix cds will be out soonish, sometime within the next couple of weeks

[JOHN DOE]

Circle Vol.1 feat Tippa & Kismet is in the process, also features exclusize tracks from Wbeza, IC & Geeneus.. plus some other established uk house dons.Dont vreally do cds as a collective as we try to keep the music exclusive for the events we do.Ie you wanna hear circle you listen to the shows or go to the event.There is also a rinse session coming soon from us.but the free mix cds will be out soonish, sometime within the next couple of weeks

looking forward

[Gordon Gekko]

Circle Vol.1 feat Tippa & Kismet is in the process, also features exclusize tracks from Wbeza, IC & Geeneus.. plus some other established uk house dons.Dont vreally do cds as a collective as we try to keep the music exclusive for the events we do.Ie you wanna hear circle you listen to the shows or go to the event.There is also a rinse session coming soon from us.but the free mix cds will be out soonish, sometime within the next couple of weeks

looking forward

[Guest faze .]

Is the name necessary? Some people would say it’s all just House.It’s not necessary at all but if something’s said, people are tickled, innit? They hear something they like or hate as a phase and will run with it. It then spreads like wildfire and all of a sudden everything is placed in a genre or a new one is created. It’s f*cked really…it’s like gossip: you plant a seed, whether it be intentionally or not and it spreads. At the end of the day people will say it’s all House but funky is something different which is why people’s ears are standing up to it. It’s something fresher, more exciting... it spins away from House, its meaning, its beliefs, what it stands for. See that’s someone from Circle giving funky props but it’s not for us.

Big up init...Theres no need for it, but if bandwagon djs wanna hang off our nuts and copy and do everything we seam to do, who am i or the rest to argue.Also..Snobish... LmfaoMan has told funky to lock down there scene from day oneNoone listened, we told them keep the mcs out and turn the mics off, noone listened.. now its going tits up.If thats snobbish for telling the truth then big up init.Everyone including faze who has non me from day 1 will no ive always said this.. lock it down, keep the mcs out, they didnt listen...Yeah babu yeah baby yeah.. head shoulders knees and toes... great f*ck*ng music!

its true, when the grime influenced tracks came about the wonky name came about because the producer wernt doing what they should be doing....dont me wrong, if done right some grime influenced tracks could be pushed in the minimal scenes.....but for me mc tracks are a no no..... mainly in part because these guys are FAILED grime artists....should stick to sprayin bars on electro....

[The Somalian]

Seen well the mc's have landed (head, shoulders, knees and toes equivlent to fly bi???)only thing i will say is keep pushing the quality NEW tracks dont go backwards playing old sounds but reading ur interview seems u know thisyeah i also agree funnily enough that mc led tracks r not needed in funky but then again when them funky tunes get dropped in a dance i see everyone going madbtw what happened to Fatal?when urself, marcus nasty, supa d was pushing this thing on deja years back he was one of them man pushing the sound what happened to him?

[DJ Sef]

Everyone has their views on the situation.. personally i'm of the opinion of its a free world, mcs jump on it if you want to, producers produce tracks which of poor quality, or just not good.. the main thing is that i'm not in it...i post mixes and cds of styles of house music i like really and nobody can stop me like it or lump it! circle play what they play as that is what they like i respect that... so many different style of house out there and not every1 will like them all. so as a collective or dj, if its pleasing to your ear and you believe in it.. channel it to the people you believe might like it also!wbeeza's latest stuff was major deep n techy, if that is one example of dubbage then i'm not really on that too tough... need to hear a bit more though, i preferred the heavy stuff ep personally but that is what my ears likes.scene is bit weird at the minute but i say just play what you feel!sessions mix 4 up on http://www.djsef.compeace!