Queens English

Queens English Interview
By Max On May 17, 2011 ·

This episode speaks word of the formidable Queens English, a five person crew bringing their own sound to Uk Hip Hop. With DJ/Producer Something Else blessing the decks, and Lyricists Leon Rhymes & Sherlock on mic duties with the vital assistance of MC Source, they’re also teamed with the UK Beatbox 2006 & 2010 finalist Pikey Esquire.
Since their debut EP entitled Mind The Rap, nothing seems to be holding them back. Hosting an impressive array of festivals which include, Outlook, Secret Garden Party, Beach Break Live, and Wytchwood. Not to mention their debut Album EQ, which really is something special, a 17 track compilation thats an absolute treat to relax to, our favorite’s ‘Just’ and the summer anthem that is ‘Sally’s House’ makes this album a must.
Oh and when we met them at Beach Break (Big up Revelation Djs vs QE football match) they were as sound as you could ever hope anyone to be. They kindly dropped in on Broken Culture and were all too happy to fire the questions.


To get the ball rolling, can you tell us how you all met and what goes down outside of music?
Well, we all met at Bretton Hall, which was part of Leeds Uni. We all went to the same clubs, listened to the same music and hung out with the same folk and were equally disgusted by the crap coming out of the local scene. We started performing at a mate’s night, and we were like, “Hey, this aint so bad this,” and seven years later and after a couple of line up tweaks, here we are.
Outside of music exists fairly little – promoting the band takes up most of our time. However, everything does take a backseat to football. Soundchecks, connecting bus services and even shows have been missed at the behest of a derby or a Champions League final.

Am I right in saying you’re all based in London now? How do you think that’s influencing and progressed your sound?
Yep, we’ve been London-based for a while. Being in London, we’ve become friends with a whole group of artists, producers and other such folk outside of our normal circle, who’ve really broadened our horizons. We’re mates with Dark Sky/Boogaloo Crew (rising stars on Ninja Tunes/Black Acre), the guys from Trouble Vision and a whole load of other people who have introduced us to some amazing sounds.
One of the biggest progressions is the fact that we’ve finally assembled an amazing new group of live musicians as our backing band. We met them over the course of the last few years – Agga and Will (saxophonist and drummer) work on one of our side projects called ‘The Tea Committee’, and Fabrizio, our bassist plays with Babar Luck.


Source really adds something special into the mix, what inspired bringing female vocals to your tunes? Had Source featured on Hip Hop tunes before Queens English?
It was pretty organic how we came across Source. Again, we all just hung out together and she jammed over a few tracks that we’d made with a couple local producers. We played one of the Leavers Balls, and it just felt right, having some female vocals adding a bit of texture to the sound.

What other genres, outside of Hip Hop, would you say strongly influence your sound?
Most of our music is based on samples from really obscure, foreign records. We pour through hundreds of old charity shop vinyl’s – the more shocking cover artwork, the better – and we search for hooks to build up around. You could say that all music influences us. Even the really terrible old stuff still has charm.

Days of Golden Glow – Tea Committee ft. Babar Luck & Pikey Esq. by Queens English

What do you think of the Hip Hop scene at the minute, and what, if anything, would you change?
The UK Hip Hop scene is choked with really, really bad music and lyricism. Fair enough people got an axe to grind, but we rarely hear anything as poetic as Immortal Technique, as musical as I.AM or Looptroop coming out of the hoods. We don’t even watch AKA anymore, it’s gotten so bad.
Back in the days of Channel U, we still had amazing tracks from Ghost, Klashnekov, Black Twang, Baby J and others doing the rounds. In a few short years it’s really not the station it used to be. This has also translated into the live scene – promoters aren’t taking risks on new Hip Hop acts, simply because most of it is crap. On the local circuits you won’t see the ‘chart names’, which are looked after by big labels and nepotism.
We’d like to see Hip Hop artists being cleverer with their music, lyricism and flows – more Jurassic 5, less Jurassic Park. We also would have a breathalyser fitted to every copy of Logic Pro.

Following your debut album EQ, (which by the way we strongly approve of), what’s round the corner, especially considering the hectic festival period is almost upon us?
Thanks guys! Well, we’ve got the next single on the burner – ‘Our Love’ which you can listen to on our website at qe-hq.com. We’re recording a Live Lounge session, a new promo video and getting together another ki - broken-culture.co.uk

Who is Queens Englsih?!?

Queens English, a high-octane live Hip Hop crew from South-East London and Winners of the Peoples Music Awards 2010, are a self confessed banana bunch of trouble, remaking the world of Hip Hop in their own image

Drawing their influences from stars of the world stage such as Saian Supa Crew, Eminem, Jay-Z, Non-Phixion and I.AM, Queens English fuse samples with raps, claps and hi-hats, showcasing to hungry audiences the best of what Hip Hop is capable of.

QE is a five-strong group of writers, producers and artists – Lyricists Sherlock and Leon Rhymes, blend with the soulful tones of vocalist MC Source and the beatbox genius of Pikey Esquire (UK Beatbox 2006, 2010 & 2011 finalist), a package tied together by the stone-cold hands of disc-jockey-come-producer, Something Else.

Touring and gig veterans, QE have proved time and again that compromise is not an option, breaking out with their unparalleled live shows that have fans and promoters, the country over clamouring for more.

Don't take our word for it, here's what 'The Man' has been saying about QE:

“Genre-straddling excellence” - Time Out.

“If the Streets are the streets, then Queens English are the Royal Mile” - 4Music.

“Wonderful, Epic Tracks” - Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6.

“Queens English have burst onto the scene like a breath of fresh air” - Knowledge Magazine.

The last 6 years have seen QE progress to the international level, collaborating with Looptroop's Embee on the delightfully poppy 'Full Limit', to performing across the UK and Europe, at events as diverse as Secret Garden Party, Wychwood Festival, Cloud9, Beach Break Live, the inaugural Outlook festival in Croatia and Kosovo’s Freedom Festival as well as many regional circuits and a tour of Sweden.

Recently, Queens English launched their latest single, ‘New Balance’ to an over-capacity house at Shoreditch’s Favela Chic – the group filmed the promotional video in the sun-baked region of Spain’s Valencia, and various incarnations of its viral campaign have attracted hundreds of views in under a few short months.

You can also keep up to date with current events surrounding Queens English at -
http://www.twitter.com/QueensEnglish
http://www.facebook.com/Band.QueensEnglish - missjuicyjones.com

"Good vibe, female vox are great." - SONY BMG

"Nice smooth female soul vocal choruses, reminds me of the act Spooks that were on Sony a few years back. Also good production sounds too" - MTV

"If People can see past the stereotype, the mainstream will begin to take hip hop seriously and it will thrive in the charts as well as being underground" - M8 magazine (now Tillllate Magazine)

“Swimming with well chosen samples, catchy refrains and thoughtful lyrics…the album certainly showcases a refreshing alternative side to UK hip-hop” - South London Press

" There are two schools of hip hop in London: the worthy introspective stuff that isn't very interesting; and the grime side, which is less polished but has a lot more spunk. They straddle it." - TIMEOUT

"The MCs don’t sound as though they are straining at all and come off well within their limits with some great flows which are tight enough to trouble many more well known mic controllers who pride themselves on their lyrical dexterity." - britishhiphop.co.uk

"Queens English played a great set at the Jamm on Monday" - pecknam.com

"I’m sure that long-term hip-hop and urban fans will very much appreciate this contribution to the UK hip-hop scene." - rockonwebzine.com

"Sit-hop crew Queens English have released their album, ‘EQ‘, go get it!" - pecknam.com

"After their successful Mind The Rap EP Queens "English have just released their debut LP ‘EQ’ and have been mad busy gigging having just had the official launch party in the Vibe bar. Find out what they are about as they spoke to Certified Banger."" - britishhiphop.co.uk

"Queens English can easily be approached with disdain, but two minutes in, and it's you who'll be embarrassed by your prejudices, your scepticism and your out-of-date cliches." - Londoners

"A not-your-average rap group on a mission to reformat the status quo" - certifiedbanger.co.uk

"Closely missing out: Queens English 'EQ'" - UK Hip-Hop Forum

"Queen's English are a band whose EP "Mind the Rap" was one that appealed a lot to me, the lyrics in particular were pretty cool" "Personally my favourite track would have to be the mellow and infectious "Just", that's not to say that the other tracks aren't a little bit different" - dooyoo.co.uk

An award winning, jet-setting, hiphop act - The Leicester Mercury (online & physical publication)

"I heard about Queens English’s progress and listened to their music, I felt it was my duty to bring it to anyone’s and everyone’s attention." - Button Me UP

"Queens English are bringing back old school UK HipHop with a modern twist" - Yet Another Blogspot

"Queen’s English are solid and polished in terms of their live performances, which often include live drummers and guitarists to generate a bigger, and stronger sound." - myvillage.com

"This album can take you where you wanna be. It is a must for anyone who's serious about collecting good English Rap/Hip Hop." - APPLY THE BREAKS

love hip-hop. Real, gritty hip-hop with the baddest beats and the deepest lyrics.What I also love about the genre though,is that sometimes, its just really frickin funny.Queens English are a hip-hop collective that can do humour, while getting your head nodding to the beat.For anyone who missed them at the last ‘Turn Off your Radio’ they were sick,so I caught up them to chat shit and basically nothing about hip-hop…

So why are you called Queens English?

It was the name of a dictionary in Leon’s room at University. It just worked. It says everything you need to know about the music and its a talking point, it makes people think.

How was performing at TOTR?

A good laugh. We’ve always liked the idea of going back to basics, just a guitar and some voices…We call it Sit-Hop…One day we’re gonna play Ronnie Scott’s with Jamie Cullum on the tamborine.

Whats on your iPod right now?

My Ipod cable and some keys, music wise – Dave Matthews Band – Two Step


Ok, now to see how Boxfresh you are.Brace yourself…


How many times a week do you have a shower?

Bad question, at times it could be every day, however, I have gone 3 weeks without one (I was in a desert in Kazakhstan, so I’ll forgive myself for this).

How many pairs of creps do you have?

Well, personally I’ve always enjoyed savoury crepes, with my favourite probably being, Comte cheese, Serrano Ham and button mushrooms.

Your picture is in a launderette,is that where fresh hip-hoppers hang out?

Fresh Hi- Hoppers hang out at the following places; Battersea Car boot, St Johns (Farringdon), my Mum’s house (Dorking) and our studio (Camberwell)

Is there anything forbidden from your wardrobe?

Only my friend Guy as he tends to mistake wardrobes for toilets most nights.

What’s the freshest hip-hop you’ve heard this week?

Chinese Man – Architaut

What are you guys doing right now?(music wise!)

Re-recording new tunes, bickering about compression types and enjoying the new flex tool in Logic 9.

What does the future hold for you guys?

Three children, a house in the country, wood burning stove, a substantial amount of Eames inspired furniture, a large vegetable patch and a pipe, but not together.

Check out Queens English on www.myspace.com/queensenglish

Kieran Yates

@kieran_yates

- Box Fresh

Doing an interview in a pub is a fairly win/win situation in anyone’s mind; if conversation dries up, you can always resort to pub banter or whatever ramblings come out of your mouth after a few Shandies! There’s a jukebox you can argue over (in this case, it was “Who’s better - Jurassic 5 or Method Man?”), a sticky menu and microwavable grub served with salad from a bag you can snack on.


The pub is also a place when some of the most thought-provoking, intellectual conversations can be found. This occasion was an example of one of them; London-bred Queens English were sat spread across the leather sofas chowing down on some hearty pub grub when I turned my Blackberry on to interview them. Whilst I try and make most interviews not time relevant, the UK elections were held the day before (May 5) and I saw this as a chance to get the opinions of true spokespeople for the youth of today, talisman of their time perhaps… Surely they were swimming in a sea of thoughts and musings?

Perhaps not.

“I drew a dick on my ballot paper” proclaimed a rather proud Hass looking up from his chickpeas and rice.

“He checked to see if he was breaking the law first though, so not as rock and roll as it sounds” adds Jess, shooting her band mate down with a crushing blow to his ‘middle finger to the man’ attitude.

Jess and Hass were joined on the sofa by band mates Tom and Leon. Formed in 2004 whilst at university in Leeds, the hip hop four-piece have attracted some rave reviews from all over the shop; BBC 6 music have described them as ‘wonderfully epic’ and rightly so, they have just walked away with the award for ‘Best Hip Hop Group’ at the 2010 UK People’s Music Awards.

I’m not going to lie, hip hop isn’t my stomping ground, but politics was on the agenda, so thankfully, I was treading in familiar waters… Here are the pure, honest, brutal and beautiful words of Queen’s English, and a bit of great pre-perspective before Mr Cameron won our government’s hot seat:

Why did you draw a dick on your ballot paper? Bold political statement perhaps?
Hass: It had to be done; I wanted to spoil my ballot because I don’t believe in media influenced reactionary democracy, so I thought - what is the most childish thing I could draw? Hence the wang. I was a bit worried that I was wasting my vote and that I’d get a bit of stick, but it went through and no one said much, even when I put the picture on Facebook… Got a few ‘Likes’ though.
Leon: More people seemed to be surprised that it was actually legal take a photo of your ballot.
Hass: It wasn’t about the cock anyway, it was more about the fact that I wanted to ruin my ballot.
Jess: It’s never about the cock.


I see, not a fan of British politics then?
Hass: No, and I haven’t been for a while. We claim we live in a democracy but I feel that the media just has so much sway in what the outcome is; which kind of defeats the point in my eyes. We are being led by tabloids, and in some cases, tradition; some just vote for who their parents choose. And some politicians are so corrupt - the country should be run more like a company; if you’re bad at your job or you do wrong, you're fired!
Leon: Things need to change I feel. There needs to be more unity within the major parties because it seems that they all build their principle policies as reactions to the mistakes of the others.
Hass: I nearly didn’t vote, but a friend talked me round.

Do you think voting is important?
Jess: Yeah definitely; although this is the first election I’ve voted in, I just haven’t been bothered before.

What changed?
Jess: If I’m truthful, some of it is to do with just how I felt on the day. But another big part of it is that I think that more is done now to tackle voter apathy; there’s a kind of greater insistence on people to talk about it, so politics is more accessible.
Leon: So many people were getting turned away because they didn’t expect so many people to turn out. I think that’s crazy; granted they didn’t realise there was going to be such a high voter turnout, which is great, but they shouldn’t have just assumed that no one would bother.
Tom (sarcastically): Maybe they were trying to save money on ballot paper; it’s ridiculous.
Hass: Why didn’t they just say, at like 9pm or whatever, that “everyone beyond this point won’t be able to get in”? - instead of leaving people to wait around like lemons, some of which were probably trying to work out when the deadline was…

Okay. But before we get into a war or words with people from polling stations, let’s focus on the music. Educate me!
Hass: With pleasure. Our new album ‘QE’ is out now, produced by ‘The Lost Boys’ and ‘Aries’ who together made us produce two very different pieces of music; one very deep and thought-provoking, and the other is more party, lets-get-wrecked-and-feel-good kind of thing. We originally had the concept of having the album in two parts…
Jess: There was a lot of planning involved, and it was a ver - Ctrl.Alt.Shift

"Queens English have burst onto the UK hip hop scene like a breath of fresh air...an
accomplished debut." - KNOWLEDGE MAGAZINE

"I F!*KIN LOVE QUEENS ENGLISH. They are on constant repeat in my winamp. The people I've put
them on to love Queens English... regular ol' friends that have heard them rip in my car love Queens
English. YOU should love Queens English." - NINJA VIDEO (ONLINE)

"If The Streets are the streets, Queens English are The Royal Mile." - 4 MUSIC

"Stone the crows - Queens English have only gone and made a good UK hip hop album...they have
managed to produce an album that is original sounding, consistently entertaining, and in places really
special... A UK rap renaissance anyone?" - KRUGER MAGAZINE

“I thought Focus was pretty good when we played that last time around, but Just - and
Sally’s House especially - are in a whole new league. Wonderful epic tracks"

"The thing that really strikes me about Queens English is the emotional content of the music...its beautiful to feel the moistening of the eye" - ROM ROBINSON

> Queens English are a solid UK hip hop act that are set to that the scene by storm. Hailing from south east London they have that gritty underground sound. With 6 in the group 3 emcees one female vocalist (who is amazing) and a beatboxer plus of course a DJ.
Originally they come from Leeds and have since they formed really shown they have the skillz live. The album produced by themselves as well as DnB man Nu Balance is really pushing the walls of the scene with very well structured lyrics and tight arrangements.
They have already been nominated for the NME New Music award as well as Indy Music Award. I suggest that if you like hip hop in any form you check this lot out live or on this release. 10/10
- PDF magazine

Queens English have a mission, to bring UK Hip Hop to the fore with their own brand of un blinged up, and intelligent delivery, consisting of 3 emcees, beatboxer, DJ and a seriously talented female vocalist, the soulful diva that is Source. (Check her on the sublime 'U.F.O' reprise).

Always refreshing to NOT hear a US rapper, for a change, though at the same time it may catch you unaware to begin with, and musically this is very accomplished; the beats are fat and the samples are inventive, atmospheric and humorous. Yes it's conscious but it's also got balls and delivers the funk and depth that the UK underground music scene is so adept at delivering. An accomplished debut.
- ATM