Grime Culture catches up with J Fresh as he released his latest single “Oh My”, featuring Madders Tiff. The Bournemouth DJ and producer has been on a roll lately, with prior releases such as “Die Young” featuring Swiss and “Dem Man” featuring Ayo Beatz and Six4.
Grime Culture: Why was Madders Tiff chosen in particular for the single?
J Fresh: So Madders Tiff… I actually found her on instagram. She did a freestyle for the Jamakabi Wickedest Ting challenge, which is a sick record. I heard the name but I just scrolled down and saw her and was like “you’re sick!”. I made this record quite a while ago and was waiting for the right person to go on it. We connected and started talking online and she done a Bl@ckbox as well and I was like “look, I got this tune I think you’ll sound dope on it”. So I sent it through to her and she was like “yes Fresh! Gassed! Love it!” So she wrote to it and that’s how, sonically, the record came together.
GC: What made you decide “Oh My” was the track to release?
JF: I released the album “Juice” at the end of April this year so there were four singles releases from that album but I always wanted to do one more record within autumn/winter of this year and I made quite a few instrumentals for quite a few records that I’m always working on but this particular one? When I was putting it together I was already feeling it and it sat there for a while because I never liked to just make a record and then give it to a million people. I specifically like to work with an artist and I think about making a record that I would wanna hear them on. But this one, I sat on it for ages but it needs to be the right time and person. Like how I connected with Madders and the kind of stuff she was doing, I thought she could lend a real energy to it as well. For me, with Grime and Hip Hop, I love hearing the raw, the rough lyrics over dark beats. Also, sometimes a softer voice against dark beats. I think that sounds really sick! A little while ago people asked me what my favourite Chris Brown record was and it was features he’s done on like tracks with David Banner, so the whole tune sonically is really dark cause I think him on that sounds sick! But a lot went into why this was the record but yeah we’re happy with it and hopefully you are too!
GC: How was it like transitioning from DJ to producer?
JF: First and foremost I’ve always been a DJ first. The days of vinyl and going to raves, as we spoke about before when we’ve hooked up. I’ve always listened to records or found certain parts of records that I really liked and I would make little edits and rearrange that or take out a really cool bit but I wouldn’t rest the record so I’ll get that, loop it up and my my own little bits and pieces from there so making records is something that I love doing and it’s a really cool, creative outlet for what you do because you know a lot of artists from when you work in the club and it’s the natural progression. I always say that I’m a DJ that also produces as opposed to like “producer”. Cause there are incredible producers out there, who’s music I could only dream of ever making and they are straight up producers. I’m a DJ that also produces. Hopefully that clears it up!
GC: Do you ever see yourself making Drill music?
JF: That’s an interesting question! The thing about Drill is that I was around when dark Garage and Grime first came around and the weight of opposition against that from people who didn’t get the music or the stories behind it or the authorities not liking it because it was different and not quite sure how to handle it. I know that a lot of people involved in that Drill world are dealing with similar kind of things. So for me and music I never say never cause if I say Hip Hop is quite a broad spectrum. So from there I say boom bap stuff in the 90s like Nas, Biggie and that kind of era and Craig Mack and stuff all the way through to like Grime and Drill and everything else, that’s the music I play as a DJ. So I wouldn’t say I would never go into a particular area of the world that I’m part of and I’m passionate about but I think it’s got to be the right time, it has to be the right thing and I think there’s some dope artists out there on Drill that sound really good that have real musicality about them that people just can’t see yet cause they think Drill is all the same tempo, same flow, same delivery, same tone, everything. That’s not the case but you’ll never know bro, you’ll be the first to find out!
GC: What’s coming next? Are you dropping another album?
JF: Two albums in a year why not?! Haha! Well it has been a mad 12 months, the first album I dropped was in October last year so we’ve almost come full circle, that’s two albums, eight singles and this one with Madders Tiff is a stand-alone single. So obviously I’ll tell you as much as I’m allowed to tell you! But I think a lot of people didn’t know that I made music, they knew me from clubs or radio or whatever so they now know that and the foundation is there. I think maybe just focusing on singles is the way ahead but we’re already working on records and projects for like the whole of the next year and beyond. It’s just find tuning and getting everything finished because the first time you make a record you just want this particular DJ or this station or this platform to support it. And with anything, as time goes by your objectives and goals grow and, in the right way, you want more and to achieve more so there’s a lot more strategy behind when we’re releasing records and how it’s all put together but first and foremost the record’s always got to be stuff I’m really excited about.
You can listen to “Oh My” featuring Madders Tiff below
Download Oh My on iTunes
Download on Amazon Music