craveonline

I can't think of any hit songs in the states by a hip-hop artist with a strong British accent, but if there was ever a contender for crossover appeal, it’s "Thou Shalt Always Kill," the first single from the project known as Dan Le Sac VS Scroobius Pip. The song is a mixture of new cultural commandments for the 21st century and witty social satire- clever modern philosophy with tongue planted firmly in cheek, delivered through vocalist David Meads' chopping Brit-tinted flow: "Thou shalt not judge a book by its cover / Thou shalt not judge Lethal Weapon by Danny Glover / Thou shalt not buy Coca-Cola products / Thou shalt not buy Nestle products / Thou shalt not fall in love so easily / Thou shalt not use poetry, art or music to get into girls’ pants / Use it to get into their heads."

The comically accurate new modern testaments are backed by Dan Le Sac’s surgically precise beat-heavy electronic backing. It’s a great track, despite the inevitable sign-of-the-times novelty label. But don’t write them off as one-hitter quitters- after hearing an advance of their upcoming debut Angles, it's clear that these guys have a bright future waiting for them.

I racked up an astronomical international phone bill while talking to the immensely-bearded modern prophet Meads. His passion for the music made talking to the jazz poet/hip-hop Moses an exciting ride, even if it cost me an entire paycheck to do it.

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CraveOnline: You come from a big spoken word background, correct?


Scroobius: I started out doing spoken word, but it was only about two years ago when I started doing it. So it's not like I have some immense depth of background in the field.

CraveOnline: What first inspired you to take up music/poetry/performance?


Scroobius: A lot of old hip-hop acts that I loved, and generally one of the people that made me realize that you didn't have to separate spoken word and hip-hop were Saul Williams and Sage Francis, whose label we're now signed to in America. Our album's coming out on Strange Famous [Records]. That's just really been exciting, that one of the people who most influenced and inspired me is into what we're doing.

CraveOnline: How would you describe your sound to someone who's never heard you?


Scroobius: It's really tough. Dan makes kind of electro/hip-hoppy beats, and I do spoken word with an MC flare over the top of it at times.

CraveOnline: There are so many outlets and avenues to go down, we can barely grasp the opportunities in front of us.

Scroobius: As cheesy as it may sound, it's absolutely true that the world is a smaller place now because of the internet. You can find out about people from all over the world relatively easily.