Interview

Speech Debelle

by Lizz 19 April 2017

Speech Debelle burst onto the scene in 2009, scooping the Mercury Music Prize for British Album Of The Year with her raw and vulnerable debut Speech Therapy. Since then she’s curated an exhibition of art by prisoners, run a Caribbean food truck, and was a semi-finalist on Celebrity Masterchef. She’s got a third album out this year which is absolute joy from start to finish, and she’s supporting The Mouse Outfit at NAC this month, so I spoke to her about Michael Jackson, winning the Mercury Prize and her go-to feel-good recipe.

You started writing poetry aged nine – what were your poems about then?

I know for definite the first poem I wrote which was about Father Christmas. I remember the teacher reading it and kind of looking at me strangely because we weren’t asked to write a poem. It was something I just took upon myself to do and I don’t think I really knew what it was necessarily. It’s hard to say..I was writing poetry and writing out song and rap lyrics, things that had cadence and rhymes.

How come you decided to be a rapper rather than a singer?

I think I’m in a place that I’m comfortable with, and I think that after so many years if I was going to be a singer I should have been training to be one in the same way that I trained to be a rapper. I haven’t worked those muscles so it’s not for me.

I understand Michael Jackson is one of your musical heroes?

I don’t know that he’s one of my heroes but I do think he’s important to pretty much all of us in some way. I was about 13 and in the kitchen when I heard his song Human Nature and I had this big emotional reaction to it and started crying because I could hear every element of the track – the bass, the drums – it was the first time I listened to a song and heard all the separate instruments. It just unlocked for me.

You spent a few years living in homeless hostels or with friends in your early 20’s. Did you write much during that time?

At that time life was to be lived more so than when I was at home where I could just take the time out to write. There were more pressing things to do during that period. I think I definitely wrote a lot less.

You won the Mercury prize in 2009 which I was delighted about. You were the first woman in seven years to win - were you surprised to win? I know you had a vision about it.

You know what’s interesting is that it was the first hip hop album to win the Mercury, and that doesn’t get spoken about. I understand why people want to talk about me being the first woman in seven years to win but it’s interesting that it’s the first hip hop album to win apart from Dizzee Rascal in 2003, which was a grime album and Miss Dynamite in 2003, although she mostly sang on her album. Whilst I was in Australia working on the record I had a very clear vision of myself winning the award, I told my producer who said “oh that’s cute!”. We were making a £3,000, no doubt the cheapest-made album in the room on that awards night. Before I won there were things happening that made me think it could win, really small things that only you would understand that things are familiar or evidential in the lead up to the night. There were only a couple seconds before they said my name that I doubted it.

UK hip hop seems to be getting more popular as a genre of late alongside grime – would you describe what you do as hip hop? It seems more dense than that.

Yeah definitely. I worked with a guy called Mike Lindsey on two tracks from the first album and two on the new album as well. We basically just go into a room and play around with instruments and sounds – the way I work is to just throw everything in and record everything, and after a while start piecing it together. After a while, by working in this way, you start having a mixture of genres and different types of sounds.

Are you a fan of your peers Kate Tempest and Loyle Carner?

Yeah, I’ve known Kate since 2001/2, and she’s always been an exceptional writer – I mean she’s gone on to write novels. I really like Loyle too, and can see the similarities between me and him more than between Kate and I – the way he delivers in a sensitive way, and the things that he speaks about.

You’re from South London – to what extent does your urban environment inform your songwriting? Would you be talking about the same things if you lived in, say, the Lake District?

I just went to the Lake District for the first time actually! I wrote Strange Ways from the new album in Iceland and it has an innocence and childlike sense to it that I can hear the tracks written in London don’t really have in terms of the lilt and the feel of it.

Why is your new album called tantil before I breathe?

It means to be still and to breathe. Actually it was originally called breathe, and I did an EP in 2016 called breathe. I spoke to a really good advisor called Daddy Dark who’s a DJ and a hip hop label owner, and he mentors a lot of artists. I told him about calling the album breathe, but he said you know if you type that into Google you’ll be there forever! Also he said you’re a poet so make sure you don’t shy away from that. So I came up with tantic before I breathe.

You use a sample in the new track Fish Tea from Ring The Alarm by Tenor Saw – you don’t usually use recorded samples, how come you chose to use this one?

I’ve not been asked that question – I love it when that happens! That sample came about because I said the line and we decided to just add it in there, his voice, to give it more authority.

It’s very positive and warm music, and yet some of your lyrics are pretty frustrated and angry – what’s your songwriting process..is it words first? How do you go about working out what sort of tone or pace to give the music according to the lyrics?

The words for the first album was 80% written before we put music to it, but when I’m writing the words I can also feel and hear the music. I’d know what tempo it should be so we’d set the speed, I’d record all the lyrics I had and then we’d start building the music around it. The second album I didn’t have the lyrics in advance due to other stuff that was going on so we worked on the lyrics and the music at the same time. I tend to jump at a certain sounds, and build it up and then at a certain point start freestyling and then there’s the song.

What would you like people to take away from hearing this new album or seeing you play live?

I think the theme of the new album is the title, to be still and to breathe. My fist album came out the day before I quit my day job and then a month later is was nominated for the Mercury and it was full steam ahead. I went through my mid 20’s outside of myself, I would say, so by about 2013 after the second album I had to pull the brakes on everything and spend a lot of time just being still. I had to work out my own thoughts and feelings and heal, and that’s definitely what this album is about.

You’re known for being politically and socially active with charities and movements that mean a lot to you. What are you working on at the moment in this area?

I did a panel yesterday with Sadiq Khan for Cosmopolitan Magazine, and it was about whether the hosing crisis in London is killing creativity. I think most of the things I do are to do with housing. I’ve worked with a lot of big charities over the years but I feel I could be of more help in smaller, grassroots places. I’d like to work with young people to be able to share what I’ve learnt directly. My dream would be to be in hostels and do cooking lessons with young people who are financially not well off but who need to be nourished.

You’re into cooking – you were on Celebrity Masterchef, run a podcast about musicians and food, ran a Caribbean food truck and this new EP has a digital cookbook and memoir that goes along with it. What does cooking and food mean to you spiritually speaking?

I think spiritually they have the same effect as music, as healing and inspiration. If one of my friends called me and said they were having a bad time, I’d invite them round, and we’d definitely eat…on the way home she might listen to music. There are different times when they are both needed.

What is your go-to recipe for feeling better?

I’m a big fan of making jerk chicken. In the UK we don’t get much of a summer, but if I’m making that is means it’s summer and we’re getting the BBQ out and we’re going to have a great time!

You’re playing with The Mouse Outfit at the Arts Centre – will you have a full band with you?

Yes we are. I’ve been doing smaller shows on purpose supporting people like Talib Kweli, really just to test out a new way of bringing a live show. I’ve done seven piece bands before and I’ve done just me and a drummer, so I wanted to work it out. I’ve got a really cool band of four now including a saxophonist, so we can deliver tracks like Sun Will Rise and lot that have trumpet and sax in there which will be cool!

Head over to our website outlineonline.co.uk to enter our competition to win a pair of tickets to see Speech Debelle at the Arts Centre!

Speech Debelle supports The Mouse Outfit at Norwich Arts Centre on 25th May. Tickets available from norwichartscentre.co.uk