The Sub Rosa clan sat down with their pals from Too NICE. Having just recovered from their immense 1st birthday celebrations, Too NICE are teaming up with Sub Rosa tonight and going on a journey through the relics of Rhythm & Blues. Admittedly a different sound to what we’re used to hearing at inside on a Wednesday, but after they witnessed the energy at recent events, Sub Rosa felt they had to invite them down. As well as being great party starters, it turns out the Too NICE boys are actually quite nice as well.
It’s win win, then…
You seem to be breaking the mould a little bit by starting a night with this ethos and music policy. Glasgow is famous for it’s House & Techno, so what inspired you to do something like this?
I think we all just really wanted to be famous rappers and live the whole lifestyle but the bold Glaswegian accent made this dream impossible. So we guessed a great solution was to start organising events and take it from there…
More importantly, there was a severe lack of tasteful and dedicated hiphop/r&b nights in Glasgow (and Scotland). It was a rare occasion we would hear the tracks we wanted to on a night out. The culture of this music is very extensive and open to interpretation. We’ve got loads of exciting ideas cooking up at the moment; everyone involved keeps each other inspired I guess.
What have the highlights been so far & who have you “worked” (partied) with?
Last May we organised a live show with GSM for two rappers from Miami – SpaceGhostPurrp and Yung Simmie out of the ‘Raider Klan’ collective. They’ve both worked with major figures in the game and hearing their inside stories was very interesting. We’re all huge fans so the whole day was unbelievable. Looking out my mate’s back window to Yung Simmie lighting up a massive stinky blunt in his garden was surreal.
On two occasions, we worked with Yung Lean and the Sadboys from Stockholm. They’re all very humble and charismatic guys; partying with them was a very enjoyable experience. After the first visit, we read Glasgow was in their top 3 favourite European cities out of the 20+ they visited during their ‘White Marble Tour’. They’ve since toured the U.S twice so I hope they’ve spread the word of TN and how great a city this is. We also joined forces with FreakyFreaky on ‘Sky’s The Limit’. The level of promotion and production (props to the Art School tech team) we achieved together was a major highlight. It all paid off as nearly 900 people turned up.
My personal favourite night was our valentines special last year ‘The Love Chapter’. Playing with the whole emotional romantic theme was a lot of fun. Our visuals had the famous Jack and Rose ‘flying’ scene from Titanic chopped up with R Kelly videos etc.
We were down at your first birthday and we had so much fun we thought we had to get you along, how did you guys enjoy it?
Perfect, everyone had a great time. We handed out free bubbly to the first 100 guests. All old and new friends were out in full force celebrating!
Just Like Diddy ;)
Although we like to dabble, we’re probably not as clued up as you when it comes to this sound. Can you give us some tips on some of the best hip-hop r n b that’s coming out at the minute?
First of all, listen to PartyNextDoor if you haven’t already! The projects he released last year ‘PARTYNEXTDOOR 2’ and ‘PND COLOURS’ are next level. He’s the capo of an emerging sub-genre called ‘RnBass’.
Other hot tips are: Ty Dolla $ign, Travis $cott, Dej Loaf, Tinashe, Denzel Curry, Majid Jordan, GravityBoys/Sadboys, Robb Bank$, June (Teddy Walton) and the Champagne Papi aka Drake (and his loyal producer “40” ) never fails to release great music. Also, I wouldn’t underestimate the old dogs! D’Angelo is a prime example, his new album ‘Black Messiah’ is a masterpiece. And of course, keep an ear out for the TooNice boys Jon L, Bessa and Heckter. They all produce their own music and currently have projects in the works! For any genre, spending hours exploring Soundcloud will pay off. There’s so many unsung internet artists out there who are amazing. Most notably, DJ Smokey.
I’ll be honest, the depths of my UK hip – hop/R & B knowledge stretches to Dizzee’s Boy in Da Corner. What’s the health of the UK scene at the moment?
I’m not sure about UK ‘HipHop’ but UK Grime is very healthy right now! It went off in the wrong direction for a few years but it’s definitely back on track. Boy Better Know, Newham Generals and platforms like Boiler Room are giving it a massive push. We all witnessed Skepta live at the Art School last November and the atmosphere was incredible. Personally, I think the freestyle aspect of it is untouchable. I can sit for hours watching guys like D Double E, Joe Black, Big Narstie, Devilman or any of Faith SFX’s old videos. Someone needs to make a Grime fighting game, there’s so many good characters.
Guestlist list entry for tonight now open. Click HERE or pay 5 dolla bills on the door.