South London’s P Money has definitely earned his stripes as one of the most gifted MC’s of this generation. The early 20-something OGz member is known for his fast, skippy flow and crazy energy he brings to a track and on stage. He’s not one dimensional either, coming from grime you can also hear him spitting on dubstep beats and r&b. Growing up (like most grime MC’s) on pirate radio, he soon became a well-known figure after hits like ‘Ho’, ‘Slang Like This’ and touring with Magnetic Man. The Wrap Up’s Shireen Fenner catches up with him to talk about his forthcoming shows.
TWU: What do you think makes you different from other MC’s?
PM: Being an MC means it’s easy to just write lyrics, but it’s not easy for everyone else to be able to relate to you. Even down to things such as not using the ‘n’ word and things like that, I think that’s what separates me. A lot of people don’t take that into consideration and realise things like that do actually matter. The moment you say certain things you limit yourself – that is something I never wanted to do.
TWU: Do you think your lyrics reflects your personality? When you write or spit is there another persona that comes out?
PM: The only other persona that comes out is the loudness. If you were around me, I’m always quiet and I analyze stuff. I’m fine sitting down with a few friends watching something, I don’t speak – I’m fine just watching the TV. People who know me and hear my music are like “OMG who is this person? Your loud, you’re speaking.” I think that’s the only difference. When you listen to my lyrics its 100% me – the kind of sarcasm, funny jokes I make… everyone knows that’s who I am.
TWU: ‘Sweet Shop’ and ‘Slang Like This’ were tracks that were perhaps the ones that got you noticed. What are your personal favourite tracks?
PM: My personal favourite would probably be ‘Family’ with Ed Sheeran. He is one of the best people I’ve ever worked with. He broke a different side out of me. He brought a whole different flow, a whole different way of creating a song; I’d never done a track like that before. It means a lot to me because it’s a true story about a car crash I had a few years ago and it’s pretty deep. When I released the track I got feedback from people that had accidents before or knew people that had been in accidents, so it was good to know I related to them and touched them.
TWU: We have LOTM5 coming up. What MC’s do you think this year should clash, and what do you think of the ones already in the pipeline?
PM: I think the Maxsta and Lil Nasty clash will be a good one; they’re both from similar backgrounds, been in the game from young, they both have been around the same kind of people. They’re both grime at heart and they both go hard. I definitely think more of the bigger MC’s should get involved and come back and do it just for the fun of it. Even if they’re two friends. It’s got to a point where clashing is starting to become hostile again; it got to a point where it wasn’t, one week you would hear Ghetts and Wiley then Ghetts and Skepta on radio. It was never hostile, it was all entertainment and excitement, but now because no one really knows each other because it’s not just London based, they have no form of friendship so it can turn hostile. If the MC’s that are more established and know each other come back and do something for the fun of it, it will bring back the fun side to it again and it can go further.
TWU: You tweeted Jammer in regards to clashing Big H saying ‘Let’s do it, let’s talk business.’ What happened?
PM: Big H said he will clash anyone and someone said P Money and he can’t back down, because he said anyone. He tweeted ‘yea I’ll do it’ I said ‘cool let’s do it’. He’s been around a long time – you could say he has a legendary status. In terms of it definitely happening I’m not entirely sure, I think it will, it just might not happen on this one… it might happen on the next one.
TWU: Dot Rotten called out Jammer. What’s your take on this? What do you also think of this statement? He said ‘Insects – (the grime scene’s like a flea circus)’
PM: I think that statement is nothing but disrespectful. You can’t diss something that made you, it doesn’t matter if you don’t like the people in it there, it’s a part of what made you. Everybody has your old CD’s, your old mixtapes and vinyl releases of ‘Bazooka’ when you were producing grime tracks that made you. You weren’t Dot Rotten, you started out as Young Dot so it’s disrespectful to do that. If I started doing rap now and went and dissed grime, it’s disrespectful, that’s what made me and got me where I am now. It’s just rude.
In terms of him calling out Jammer I’m not sure, I think they may have a personal thing… I’m not sure. I think he’s trying to say Jammer’s the host but he’s never clashed. I know he had his thing with Snakeyman but that was all fun and games. Snakeyman doesn’t take music as his thing – clashing isn’t his thing. Normally when you look at rap battles the host is not an MC or a rapper, he’s literally a host. So I think what Dot is trying to say is ‘you can’t be just the host because you tried to clash Snakeyman.’
TWU: You’ve also got your headline shows coming up. How are you feeling about these?
PM: You can expect to hear my EP live along with one or two tracks off my album. The first track I start with is the intro off my album. I’m going to be there early, not sitting backstage… I’m going to be out there; if people want to talk to me, they can. I’m giving people free t-shirts, I’m going to have conversations… I like talking to my fans. That’s normal, I think that’s how it should be. I’m not some alien.
You can get P’s ‘Round The Clock’ EP now.
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