B.A.U.R caught up with Mr. Major, who is taking the world hip-hop scene by storm. The young and talented, east-London-born rapper is tipped to go number one this month with his hit single “Headache”. Although his recognition on the music scene has been rather fast-paced, he is keeping very humble and level headed about it all. “Of course I’m happy with the way things have developed. Growing up where I came from, this would be considered a dream, but at the same time I’m keeping it real with everything. I must admit, I didn’t expect this sort of hype but I’m glad people have adapted to my style so quickly and easily.” Despite this quick rise to fame, it has not been an easy ride for the rapper. With his mother fighting manic depression for the majority of his life, He has had to learn about adult life and the responsibilities at such a young age- being the oldest of his siblings. He said, “It’s been really difficult. When I think about the times when I’ll lay in bed at night in a one bedroom flat with my mum and two brothers; My mother struggling to pay bills, I now laugh ‘cause those times have just made me stronger as a person. There is no way I can look down on someone because of their situation, because I’ve been there. It’s hard. All I can do is offer support that one day the good Lord can bless them with good fortune, like he did with my family. I’ve learnt a lot about my past; like who my real friends are and who to and who not to trust. Fame and recognition can change people for the worst. I just see it as a way to see who would say hello to me all of a sudden when maybe they didn’t at first!”
The 17 year old, real name Marcus Stanley is also working towards putting an end to “Broken Britain” and believes that music has a massive influence in today’s society. “There’s a feeling that there isn’t much being done to actually stop the violence in this country. All the time we get empty promises mainly from the government about ‘influence’, which I feel doesn’t help at all. Not much responsibility is taken mainly from society such as social groups relating to sport and music and other stuff; I don’t think we have many which try hard to appeal to the youth or make the effort within the community. That’s where the boredom stems from and they turn to gang culture.” The rapper said. The strong words said here gives us an idea of where his inspiration stems from when making his music, quite clearly. “With my music, I aim to get the message across that the roads are not the answer especially in this corrupt world. We need more successes in this life and potential needs to be noticed, so it’s time we prove society wrong about the portrayal the youth today and show that we aren’t just thugs and hoodlums.”
During our time spent with him, we followed the hot prospect to the studio where he had what we call in the industry a “barring session”. What’s that you ask? Well basically, for those who have been living under a rock, it’s when the artist goes into the studio and freestyles and gathers new ideas. But anyway back to the matter at hand, we spent the better part of an hour listening to him freestyle with absolutely no flaws in his complicated choice of style and flow. It’s clear all he speaks about is coming from his heart and what he holds dear in his life. He also showed his generous side by letting B.A.U.R hear a preview of one of the tracks from his album to be released on, July 15th 2010, called “Shout my Name” It talks about the complications he had to endure, during his journey to the mainstream side of Hip Hop. “Boy, what can I say about this track. It’s probably the one that matters most to me in the whole album and probably the one track that I’ll always look back on and say ‘Damn! I went in!’ it’s mainly cause of the words and subtext and what it means as a whole. It wasn’t an easy ride to this stage I can tell you that and while the album tells a story, this one tune probably has 76 per cent of my journey explained. That’s how deep it is *laughs* No joke sir.” Although we didn’t get to hear the whole of the five minute long track, the two minutes we did hear had us watering at the mouths in anticipation toward the end product of the album. It certainly has become an early favourite here at B.A.U.R. Well, closely followed by “Headache”. The album also has features from some of Hip-Hops more established stars such as Eminem, Drake, Lupe Fiasco and T-Pain. When we asked him about doing work with such high profile American artists, he gave a far from convincing answer as to how it even happened! He said, “Look, this is something I’m trying to come to terms with myself! I keep saying this journey has been a funny one. A year ago I think if I had said I would be doing a track with someone like Eminem, it would have most likely been a product of severe amount of alcohol in my system. It just doesn’t sound like something you can throw around in everyday conversation. But when you walk in the studio and you look up and Eminem is there fiddling with his blackberry, getting himself psyched up, then it hits you with how far you’ve come. You’ve got to realise that you need to keep anxiety under wraps and get on with it. But boy the thing about Eminem is that you have to bring your A game. He is a lyrical Genius. I know this will sound cheesy, but if in the next ten years I can say that I’ve achieved even half of what Eminem has in terms of establishment, honours and ability then I can safely say, I’ve lived the dream.”
Sadly, that was all the time we had with the artist as he had to get back to working out kinks regarding his album, but he left us with this “Trust me folks, the album is going to be crazy! Make sure you get your copy as soon as it drops. This Summer will be like no other.”
Mr. Major’s debut album will be released in stores on July 15th 2010. For more information regarding the album log onto www.baurmag.com
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