Alexis Ong shoots the breeze with drum 'n' bass hotshots Lynx and Kemo at Home club.

AO [to Kemo]: How did you get into MCing?
K: When I was in elementary school I listened to hip hop, and not many other kids listened to it apart from high-school kids. And I stayed around after school and the high-school kids would play basketball and sometimes form little freestyle groups, and I was just really blown away by their creativity, just how they were so in the moment with the flow of things, and the wordplay…it all just grabbed my attention. So at first I tried to beatbox a little bit and that didn’t go very well. And then I copied other people’s lyrics and that was lame. Then I started writing poetry and songs for a rock group I was in in high school, and my own rap lyrics at the same time. So it all fused into one.

AO: Yeah, your lyrics are quite poetic.
K: They’re influenced by many different things.

AO: You guys are putting out an album soon. How’s that coming along?
L: Yeah. It’s pretty much finished. It should be out in September, on Soul:R (label).

AO: Any surprises in store?
K: All of it, I would think!

AO: True, true. So what have you heard about our local drum ’n’ bass scene so far?
K: I’ve heard it’s quality over quantity. Before I came over here, I was on the internet and read about Home Club. And it said that this is the club you want to go to where it’s all about the music. It’s not about the scene, politics and bullsh*t. It’s just the music that matters. And I remember thinking at the time, that’s exactly the kind of club I want to play in. I don’t need to play in front of fifteen hundred rave kids sweating and rolling. I need to be playing in front of people who appreciate music.

AO [to Lynx]: So, as a producer and a DJ, do you think it’s hard to juggle those roles sometimes? Which do you find more satisfying?
L: It can be. I think for me, the production comes first in terms of the process, because you write the music and then you go out and DJ. I produce and DJ mainly my own music. Production has to come first as the spark that sets it all off, but the DJing part is great. Because you enjoy writing the music and then it’s a chance to produce the tracks in front of everyone and when you do it, it’s brilliant.

AO: Yeah, in the beginning you didn’t have to be a producer and a DJ, and now it seems kind of like, if you’re a DJ you have to dabble in production too.
L: Yeah, we were chatting about it earlier. If you want to become a DJ, it’s certainly an easier route to write music – well, certainly not easier, but it makes it more clear to the public that you’re out there. I think it’s a lot harder for a DJ who doesn’t produce.

AO [to Kemo]: Do you think there are changing perceptions of the MC now, where you get equal or more recognition than the DJ?
K: I think DJs are more recognised. They’re paid better. [All laugh] Wait, I think this trip I actually cost more than you.
L: The thing is, I think what’s difficult from an MC’s point of view is that when the flyer is printed up for the event – it doesn’t matter really what style of music it is – but say it’s drum ’n’ bass, people tend to look more at the DJs. And I think that’s what’s going to sell the bill rather than the MC. It’s a shame in that respect, you know?

AO: There aren’t too many prominent MCs. Like, there’s Skibadee and MC Navigator…but not many.
K: Oh, really? I think there’s a lot of MCs. I think there’s too many MCs. [Laughs] I’m just kidding.
L: It’s a case of the same names cropping up.

AO: Who’s your favourite MC, hands down?
K: At the moment, I would have to say…my top three drum ’n’ bass MCs are DRS, Lowqui and Stamina. Hip hop, oh god, there are so many good ones.
L: Busta Rhymes!
AO: Nooo!
K: Not my favourite.

AO: Big Pun, or MF Doom?
K: Big Pun – I love his flow, lyrical content is…okay. His wordplay is amazing though, and just the sound of him breathing in between.

AO: What about Aesop Rock?
K: Love Aesop Rock, love the whole New York thing. Cage – I love Cage. I could name a hundred and fifty good rappers out there now, there are so many of them. I also have a bunch of mixtapes with Skibadee and Hyper D that I enjoy thoroughly. Dynamite MC is one of the dopest lyricists out there. Fusing genres – I like that. Hip hop-wise I am really into KRS-One, Common, Method Man, Nine…and many others.

AO: So, you guys have been working together for a long time, what do you think makes you click so well?
L: I think it’s a case of neither of us being into a certain kind of genre. That’s what works, innit? We do drum ’n’ bass but don’t perfectly sit in it.
K: I think we’re kind of like Singapore food. [Lynx gives him a look] No, no, feel this – because here, you’ve got this kind of melting pot, multicultural mix. So you’ve got all these kinds of foods from all over in one place. [Commence full-scale laughing] People don’t try to label it, they just don’t go like, ‘Only go to Thai restaurants’ when they come to Singapore, they try everything. And I feel like the way I write music is like that. It’s taken influence from film, from rock music, from folk music. We have tracks from our album where the beats are rooted from a Lithuanian dubstep band.
K: He’s [sticks his thumb at Lynx] laced up the beats nicely with…whatever it is he does. [More laughs] His genius. And I spit these lyrics on it that certainly aren’t rap. And I think it appeals to a lot of people in this day and age, because as the world is getting so small, people are travelling more and getting all these influences. They also have this non-niche mindset and I think that appeals to them.
L: The thing is for us is that music is so segregated into niches. We try and go against that a little bit even though we do drum ’n’ bass, that’s what we’re going for, innit?
K: We’re just doing us. We’re not trying to do anything else.

AO [to Lynx]: You’ve been in the game now for like, ten years now.
L: Yeah.

AO: Do you think you’ll see yourself changing genres in the future?
L: Yeah, I mean, I’ve been producing all styles of music for like, 15 years, so yeah, definitely. For the last two years I’ve been really focused on drum ’n’ bass and it’s been brilliant, but I’m still always experimenting with different styles of music. A third of our album is not drum ’n’ bass. That’s part of experimenting and finding other flavours, and trying other styles.

AO: That’s cool. Are you guys going to Sun ‘N’ Bass [popular drum ’n’ bass festival in Sardinia] this year?
L: I don’t know, actually, yet. Went last year and loved it, it was amazing.

AO: It was amazing but you don’t know if you want to go back?
L: No, we don’t know if we are going back.

AO: Oh, okay, it’s the powers that be. You should go anyway. [To Kemo] So, I’ve heard you also dabble in photography. How’d you get into that?
L: There’s going to be a rude answer here. [Kemo laughs]
K: Just like with music and other things I’m into – film and stuff – I don’t remember getting into it, it was just kind of always there. I’m very fortunate to be able to travel and I’m happy that I can capture some of the moments that I’m in and share them with people. The pictures that I take are usually the quiet, down-time moments. I don’t really take pictures in clubs or city shots. I had this really nice compliment the other day – someone said that I had a very calming effect on them, which I thought was one of the nicest things anyone could ever say to me, much more than on MySpace, like, ‘Oh you’re so sexy.’ And I think if I can do that with my pictures, and I think maybe I can, then I’m happy to have that gift also.

AO: So, you guys know about [jungle pioneer] Goldie, he’s going to be on a new TV show Maestro. Have you heard about that?
Both: No, we did not!

AO: It’s this BBC reality show where you have eight celebrities and the end prize is to conduct the BBC Concert Orchestra.
L: Wicked!
K: Nice! I’ll be voting for him.
L: Conducting the BBC Orchestra, that would be amazing.

AO: What would you do if you were on a show like that? They sort of coach you with these classical music professionals.
L: It’d be too scary if I did it, because I’d have them all playing the instruments really unconventionally. I’d sort of go up to the cello and start tapping, and be like, ‘Don’t touch the strings! Just tap like that,’ and I’d be doing strange things like that. I think they’d all feel quite confused, because they’d probably all be playing their instruments and not expect it. Kemo’s nodding – he knows what I mean.
K: I have no idea what I’d do.
L: That’s the beauty, though.
K: Probably fail miserably and go home crying and feeling sorry for myself. And then go on MySpace to get some attention. Have I mentioned how much I love MySpace?

AO: I’m a Facebook person. I hate MySpace.
L: I hate them all. Well actually I’ve got Facebook, but I haven’t looked at it in like two months.
K: Yeah, I sent you a friend request.
L: I just don’t like Facebook. It unearths this whole sort of…past thing. I don’t know, it’s just not for me.

AO: You guys aren’t Facebook friends?
L: We are on MySpace!
K: We’re MySpace friends! We’re Top Friends.

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What's in your stacks...deluxe

1) MGMT – Electric Feel (Columbia)
L: That is my favourite song, absolute favourite.
AO: I hate MGMT. Drives me nuts.
L: No, seriously?! I can’t believe you. It’s unbelievable!
AO: If you play it later, I’ll boo you.
K: Ooooh, that’s war! [Laughs]

2) Burial – Archangel (Hyperdub)
L: And funnily enough in Scotland, someone did almost boo me when I played that song. I had a girl do this [makes violent gestures] because it was ‘depressing’. The new Björk album’s good, too.
AO: Have you seen the music video for the song ‘Wanderlust’?
L: No, I haven’t.
AO: It’s a 3-D video, it’s revolutionary. It’s the most amazing video I’ve ever seen. You need to Google it.

3)Björk – The Dull Flame of Desire (featuring Antony Hegarty) (One Little Indian)
L: Is it the one with Antony and the Johnsons? I think it’s track three – that’s my favourite song on the album.
K: Maybe it was her and Goldie (referring to their old relationship in the mid-’90s).
AO: Oooh. Bad time, that.

4) Lynx and MC Sense – For the Rebels
K: I know this is going to sound like a cheap plug, but Lynx just did a track with another MC – it should have been me! But the song is amazing anyway. He sent it to me – like a lot of the other tracks he sends me I had to listen to it like 20 times in a row. I can’t stop listening to that.

5) Utah Jazz – Back in Time
K: I had to buy it on vinyl because I love it. Oh, yes…Matt Flores – who I do some house work with. House…music [Lynx laughs].
AO: Not sweeping the floors?
K: I go over to his house, I undress, I put on an apron and start cleaning his place. Please don’t put that in. Nobody should know. No – Matt Flores is working on a project with Ben Human from Corduroy (aka Ben Addison). They’re doing these Beatles songs with a Latin groove kind of flavour. It’s kind of like Señor Coconut, I don’t know if you know…
AO: I know Señor Coconut.
K: Well it’s kind of on that tip. I’ve got a couple songs from that and it blows my mind. It doesn’t sound like it’s a Beatles remake, without it being cheesy, because you know Latin music can sometimes sound cheesy. What else do I listen to? Hmm… How many brain cells do I have left, man?
L: Probably not five.
K: I can’t remember what I did four days ago.

6) Utah Jazz – Runaway (Nu:Tone remix)
L: I don’t know if it’s out but I think it comes out pretty soon. It’s a really good remix. Been playing it for two or three months.
K: You know what? I’ll give you one. I don’t like the raps on it, and I’m not hating on Kanye West because sometimes he’s good, but…

7) Estelle featuring Kanye West – American Boy
L: It’s wicked.
K: It’s good pop music. They could’ve left Kanye out, but whatever. Sometimes he’s good, sometimes he can be… subtracted from the track. And you know what, I’m going to give one other song. Remember that pop song I was listening to when we were in Portsmouth [England], when we were first working on the album? It blew my mind.
L: Robyn? Robyn!
K: Oh! Scratch ‘American Boy’! I love Robyn.
AO: What, ‘Be Mine’? Or…
K: I just love Robyn. I went to Amsterdam to see her play live and I missed her and I wanted to tell her, Robyn, I love you but I was an idiot and I went back to the hotel instead.
L: [Laughing] ‘Robyn, I’m an idiot, I love you,’ – you’re just a huge embarrassment.

8) Chaka Khan featuring Mary J Blige – Disrespectful (Burgundy Records)
K: Blew my mind. I don’t know what it’s called but it reminded me of the ’80s and early ’90s when people actually still wrote music. I’m not saying that nobody does it these days, but most people just write singles. But then, there were chord changes, there was a bridge, it was magnificent. Gave me goosebumps.
L: Kind of like that Amerie tune. It had that light sort of [starts singing]
K: No, you do it.
L: It was wicked.