Nick Otter shares one of his inspirations after a recent work experience placement at Folded Wing...
During my time at Folded Wing one thing I was asked to do was to write up a KRS One biography for a Red Bull Music Academy Radio Fireside Chat show with the rapper. With an incredibly sporadic knowledge of hip hop which jumps between J Dilla, Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest and not much else, KRS One I knew little about.
Thanks to the power of Google I found a wealth of facts about the man behind the voice of 'Sound of Da Police' as well as this - a recording of when he came on Tim Westwood's BBC Radio 1 show in 1997.
As well as being eloquent enough to lecture at universities, charismatic enough to create hip hop's first ever religion, KRS One is also highly opinionated. What plays out in the seven parts of audio could be deemed as a producer's worst nightmare as he derails the show turning on Westwood and remonstrating him over his lack of radio play in the UK, as well as declaring Westwood's show governed by commercial values, unpopular and redundant in the progression of hip hop.
In the face of KRS One's tirade during the course of the show, Westwood tries to protect the reputation of BBC Radio 1 as a station as well as protecting the credibility of his show and reputation as a DJ all whilst still trying to carry on with the show and its features! All in all it makes for interesting listening in which the only thing that's missing (but certainly not needed) is a hip hop Jeremy Kyle to mediate.
