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Issue 111

Monthly newspaper and online publication targeting 18 to 35 year olds. The ultimate guide to the hottest parties, going out and having fun. Music, fashion, film, travel, festivals, technology, comedy, and parties! London, Barcelona, Miami and Ibiza.

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So Fliptrix, High Focus Records CEO and celebrated UK spitter, how's life treating you? Really good thanks man, busy times! I just dropped my 7th solo album 'Inexhale' so have been focused on that and working hard on the label. I can imagine you are with the new record just out! Describe yourself in 3 words.. Positive, energetic, real If you were not making music for a living what do you think you'd be doing? I'd either be making videos or something wild....like landscape gardening haha! You into that yeah? That's cool man, I'm a bit of a gardener too...For real? Veggie vibes! I'm all for GYO and PYO.... Special gardening innit haha! Well, tomatoes plants in summer, big old potatoes in winter... at least you know it's all natural and exactly where it's come from! Anyways moving on, for those of our readers who don't know much about you and your career, could you tell how you got into rapping and hip hop culture? When I was about 12 years old I started to listen to hip hop, US hip hop like Biggy and Big Pun, those sort of guys. Then when was sixteen I found UK Hip Hop so guys like Jehst Skinnyman, Taskforce. When I heard those guys that's what inspired me to pick up the pen and start writing lyrics. Basically as soon as I heard people from our country rapping, I related to it so much more and then in my mind I was like "Shit, I can actu- ally do this". Whereas before, you know, it was from another country and they were talking about stuff I couldn't necessarily relate to, so it seemed like a bit of a fantasy. That's it, I love listening to Wu and Hiero but with some tracks the lyrical content and slang is stuff which even the local US listeners have difficulty understanding. In that respect I'm much the same as you, I grew up going to Jehst, Klashnekoff, Phi Life Cypher, and nights like Kung Fu, so I know how you feel in terms of relating better to UK lyrics. So, you started spitting after becoming inspired in the late 90s / early 2000s. How was it that High Focus Records came about to be established? I started High Focus back in 2010 as I was releasing my second album 'Theory of Rhyme', and at that point Lowlife Records had crumbled and the only real platform in the UK was Jehst's label, YNR. But at that time I would have had to have waited a while to get my record out on YNR, so Jehst advised me to start my own label. In the beginning I did it just to put out my own music, then I became surrounded by a lot of talented people who were all great artists and musicians, but weren't really into the business & admin side of things. That's when I put out Jam Baxter's 'Rinse Out Friday / Spack Out Monday' record then Leaf Dog said he had a record and asked if I'd like to put it out. So that's just how it happened. Once I had put out 3 or 4 albums 40 ISSUE 111 / 2018 HIP HOP & RNB Guestlist grabbed a few minutes with the forever on the move Fliptrix at the Jazz Cafe launch party of his eagerly anticipated 7th studio produced LP, 'Inexhale'. Phil | Guestlist INTERVIEW FLIPTRIX

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