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N-Dubz
N-Dubz: interview
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By Eddy Lawrence
Updated: Thu Nov 20 2008 -
After turning their backs on a major label, N-Dubz are making hits and selling out shows. So why is post-grime not being exploited? We also look back to what they had to say this time last year
Read what N-Dubz had to say in 2007
Those wacky capitalists are a funny bunch. On the one hand, they’re moaning about not having enough money. Yet on the other, they’re baldly refusing to raid the piggy banks of the nation’s youth. After all, what else are the kids of today supposed to spend their pocket money on now it’s illegal to target them with ads for junk food, fizzy drinks and fags? The UK music industry’s failure to capitalise on an existing scene is ably demonstrated by N-Dubz, who finally release their debut album this week after nine years of doing it for themselves.
Older readers may remember the last time we featured Dappy, Tulisa and Fazer, aka N-Dubz, back in October 2007, just after they won the Mobo for Best Newcomer without the aid of a record company. Following this fame injection, the band were picked up by major label Polydor, home of 50 Cent and Girls Aloud. So far, so not surprising – after all, nobody took any notice of unsigned trance-metal teens Enter Shikari until they sold out the Astoria. What is surprising is that the label failed to profit from this position. A re-release of fan favourite ‘You Better Not Waste My Time’ charted at a respectable-ish Number 22 (around the same as Dizzee Rascal’s last three pre-‘Dance Wiv Me’ releases), but failed to set the zeitgeist alight because most people, as Dappy points out, had already downloaded the track a year earlier. Feature continuesAdvertisement‘It’s very important to build up your own underground fanbase,’ says Tulisa, ‘because they will be the ones that buy your records. I think re-releasing “Better Not Waste My Time” was a mistake Polydor made because they weren’t aiming at our main fanbase, they were reaching out for a new fanbase. It did gain us new fans, but at the same time, we missed out on how many thousands of fans we already had, because we didn’t bring out a fresh track.’
‘We’re talking about thousands and thousands of imitations,’ says Dappy. ‘Young ladies doing the “walking up the stairs” dance routine… You will laugh your head off.’
Ultimately, the band asked to be released from their contract and went back to doing things the old-fashioned way: over the internet. Still in their early twenties, the group put their own money into self-produced internet sensation, ‘Ouch’, a kind of dwarf-free ‘Trapped In The Closet’ which introduced the phrase ‘My name’s Shaniqua and what?’ to a startled public. The video has had around ten million views in the past five months and spawned a surf-worthy surfeit of tribute videos.
The group’s new video, ‘Papa (Can You Hear Me)’ looks set to beat even that, having run up more than two million views in the past three weeks. At one point, the video ranked just below Barack Obama’s presidential acceptance speech on YouTube’s most-viewed rankings – and above it, in the top spot, on the ‘most discussed’ chart. Although the UK’s well established club scene means dancier strands of urban music, from drum ’n’ bass to bassline via dubstep, are more easily disseminated into the mainstream, the potentially poppier, radio-friendly end of British urban music is a viral culture, something shared between peers via word of mouth and Bluetooth. Although Channel U, Kiss and the pirates all play their part, the intensely localised support networks of labels, clubs and radio stations which nurture urban music in the US just doesn’t exist over here. This is perhaps one of the reasons that British urban artists are often teamed up with American counterparts to ‘legitimise’ them. The belated success of Estelle, who has struggled to cross over despite her all-round brilliance, is held up as a prime example of the British industry just not knowing what to do with British artists.
‘Estelle’s amazing,’ says Dappy. ‘She went to America to do what she had to do. But we wanna do that from where we live. We want 50 Cent, Lil Wanye, Black Eyed Peas to say, “Man, N-Dubz, they’re the dogs.” I don’t wanna have to collaborate with anyone else to get big.’
The current wave of post-grime urban music must be the first youth cult not to be ruthlessly exploited since the 1950s. This week the band headline the 2,300-capacity IndigO2, with support from Bashy, whose ‘Black Boys’ was one of the best tracks of 2007, and Chipmunk, already a rising star despite the fact he’s only just released his first proper single. In a parallel universe, the news that Chipmunk will be joining the band on stage to perform their joint non-hit ‘I Will Destroy You’ is like Rihanna and Kanye West duetting at the Super Bowl. In this one, however, it will likely mean nothing to anyone outside the building.‘Records labels right now,’ explains Fazer,‘they’re a bit scared to invest in urban music because they think the main crowd of people who listen to it are downloaders. Actually, the people that listen to urban music like to see artwork, they will go out and buy CDs.’
‘They’re probably more album buyers,’ says Tulisa.
‘Kids at high school, from 13-16, they’re the downloaders,’ continues Fazer, ‘and then they pass it between their friends on the phone. But there’s a big market out there for urban music and it still hasn’t been opened 100 per cent, and that’s what we’re trying to do.’
‘Uncle B’ by N-Dubz, is out now on All Around The World.
N-Dubz, Bashy and Chipmunk play the IndigO2 on Nov 22.
Read what N-Dubz had to say in 2007- Add your comment to this feature
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164 comments
N-dubz Are Minted :P
D.A.P.P.Y iis smexxii famm
R.I.P 3 BUBBA BEE
i want to meet and can i have a sighned pic of u pleasssssss
pleass wrght bk i like the music u make tb x from ryan and jordan taylor xxx
n-dubzz doo u hav an album i really reall realllyyyy wna buy it i love yooohhhhhhh soooo soooo much u dnt knwwwww :P lovee yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa x x x
keep it up love all ya songs day r great i think u r da no1 band in da hole of brian
i think that fazer is HOT
and i have met them before they are really
good and i will support there new album
Hey N-dubz ur the best band ever made love all ur songs n meet u 2 ty ms i am the luckiest gal alive lol x fnx naylor 4 lettin me meet n-dubz xx PLZZZZZZZZZZZ CUM 2 MY BIG 13TH PLZ XXX LUV YA UR THE BEST N-DUBZ !!! XXX
Ahh n dubz r the shit i fuckin love em
best song has to be work work.. ;)
keep it up x
n-dubz i really like u but i cant meet u so that fuckd
wag1.yh n dubz r big stil,aint gnna lie all ur sngz r shawa.i fink dat you sud do a alburm wit work work n wer im frm nt do singles cuz datz br lng 2 buy.....n wat do u mean ur in ma endz east lik da shark ????datz it really hope u tak ma advice.dappy i fink ur cute bt faze/fazer ur sexi tulisa ur pretty
i think that who ever think that n dubz are nt nice jst like 2pac are has no taste coz n dubz are the best the no.1
omg n dubz are one of the best bands in britain but the songs im heaing are hurting myt ears after hearing them so often release a new single or album asap please
N Dubz is wht society needs 2day. They're fresh talent, wit tru messages in their lyrics. Spitin music from tha heart, I hope they'd go far. bless nuff luv xx
i want to meet n-dubz let that happen plzzzzzzzzzzz