Clash / Adidas Print Project – Rowdy Superstar / Greenwich
Author: Miguel Cullen
Submitted on: 29 Jun 11
Category: Soundboys
The Greenwich scene is a lot more global than its Mean Time. The UK empire that used to set its watch to the GMT is well represented in Greenwich’s music, and if you walk the streets and speak to its stars you find influences from K-pop to Dancehall, from Krump to Funky.
Rowdy Superstar, Matthew Herbert’s new roster boy, cut his teeth dressed as a clown at the floats at the Notting Hill Carnival. He loves the Spice Girls, Garage Nation tape packs and Nirvana, and writes his songs drinking gin surrounded by welding machines, duct-taped TV sets and thrift shop keyboards in his flat in South East.
“I left school at 15 and went straight onto styling music videos. I had bleached blond hair – my lip was pierced and my eyebrow was pierced. I looked like Dennis Rodman – I dyed my pubes when I was at school and I used to walk around school showing the teachers.”
Rowdy was part of the Antisocial Shoreditch electro scene more than strictly grime, but would still MC at grime raves – he remembers chatting at a Bigga Fish night that rubbed people up the wrong way. But “Grime is bedroom and it’s honest.”
Tu, 18, was sitting in the sun watching his mates play football in Greenwich Park. He’s Vietnamese but listens to K-pop, Korean pop which he doesn’t understand but likes anyway even though his mates take the piss. His favourite bands are 2AM and Big Bang.
Kara, 16, dances Krump, the Compton rap dance: “you have to use your anger for that. I’m into Geeneus, Katy B – I love Nero too. Right now I prefer UK hip hop – cos we’re coming out with a more electronic, hard bass, funky sound.”
Watch for SE10, stitched with more scenes than there are hours in the day.
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