Skits9 - Skitsophenia Vol 1

In 2005 he featured on the notorious underground anthem Real-ion in alongside artists such as JME, Lethal B and Shizzle. This exposure open doors, giving him an array of platforms to perform across such as Deja Vu FM and Heat FM as well as stage shows across the country. Since then he has released 'G Rap A G Is Born', 'A Few Good Men', 'You Can't Handle The Truth', and on the 21st August he released his début EP 'Skitsophenia Vol 1'. Zeph formally known as Skits9 is a musician from Tottenham, North London who is also a model and event organiser for Streamline Entertainment.

I thought I'd catch up with Skits himself to find out more about Skitsophenia Vol 1 and his views on the current music scene. 

‘From as far back as can remember I’ve been doing music’ Skits replies when I ask him how and when he got into music, he continues, ‘I used to freestyle with Professor Green in primary school. Then in secondary school I gained mores exposure featuring on underground radio stations’. He highlights Heat FM and De Ja Vu as some of his early platforms where he showcased his musical talents. ‘I got my first feature on a track called Real-ion, which also featured the likes of JME, Flirta D, Napper, Neeko and many more. 

From there ‘I went on to feature on DVDs like Risky Roads, L.B.T.V, and loads more. 

I dropped a CD entitled ‘Skits9 G Rap A G Is Born’, featuring Shizzle, Mike GLC, Dj Ironik, and  many more. I try to merge grime - which is the scene of music I came from - with rap - which is the music I express myself in today - to create a g-rap’. I then dropped my promo CD ‘A Few Good Men’ followed by ‘You Can’t Handle The Truth’ featuring Corey Johnson, Chipmunk, Fresh and Ryder. Now I'm releasing my first free EP entitled ‘Skitsophenia Vol 1’ featuring Chocks the rapper which is now available via digital download. 

‘My poetry is real to me and I choose not to glamorise my music in the hope that it will sell. I believe i speak from my heart. If I speak about general issues and my life, as well as create good music, it will place me in a position where  I am different from the rest. I am motivated by the things I see around me, other artists that work with me - Random Impulse being one of them - and basically the drive to do better than those ahead of me in the game. I mainly feel my videos are doing it at the moment for me but I guess it can all change'.

‘I took some years out to sort out my attitude towards my music and to educate and re evaluate my surroundings’ he replies when I ask are there any sacrifices. He continues ‘ I don’t regret it. I’m wiser, smarter and a better person than I once was. Hopefully it can be seen through my music’.

Three songs that he really likes are  ‘Otis Reading - One More Day’ he explains ‘it’s like he spoke from his soul on the track. There’s so much pain and so much concentration in one song. Real music carries real emotion. The next is 'Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up’, he explains, 'it’s an inspiring song which always possesses the power to uplift me. Lastly ‘Max B - Tryna Go Home’, he explains ‘I think his life experience can be heard through his music. I really related to the vibe of the song so I decided to get Random Impulse to refix it and create my version.

'I believe that the UK industry has a lot of good musicians, good music, character, class and charisma. The UK industry will continue to strive and push the boundaries of music. The UK has come along way from just listening to rappers to becoming rappers.Three artists that I admire right now are Wretch 32, his poetry is outstanding to say the least and his music and swag are on point. Ed Sheeran, his talent and song composition is incredible, he’s truly inspiring. Lastly, a band called The Milk. They’re absolutely fabulous and I had the privilege of being invited to a few of their gigs'.

Skitz promotes himself via variety of different mediums that include Twitter, Facebook, blogs, videos, and shows. In the future you can expect ‘Skitsophenia Vol 2’, new vids , especially ‘Tryna Go Home’ filmed by UKoverstood as well as his new track entitled ‘Ready To Go’. 

Keep your ears and eyes peeled for more Skits ! 

Stefan Paul - Sketch Designs

Stefan Paul is an artist from East London, mostly known for his portraits designs and most recently as tattooist and interior designer. You could say his talent runs in the family, as his brother Shawn Paul, who is also his business partner, started the Sketch Designs company back in 2005, which is now a company they both own and have been running ever since . Their work has caught the eye of many mainstream musicians, such as Ironik, Dizzee Rascal and Skepta.

I thought I'd catch up with Stefan Paul himself to find out where it all started. 

'The ability to draw can be used for various things. That's why I've gone into tattooing and designing' says Stefan. 'Sketch Designs was introduced to me by my older brother and partner who is as skilled as I am, but with more experience. He brought me into Sketch Designs when he realised my skill level really improved.

He's noticed that 'a lot of portrait artist in particular just stick to portraits' so by expanding his craft to include tattooing and interior design he feels this is what makes him different. He says 'my audience is everyone, literally everyone. Young and old, poor and rich, Black, White or Asian. You name it. By drawing anything on their request, I appeal to them.

'So far he has managed to catch the eyes of musicians within the UK music scene such as that Skepta, JME, Frisco, Ironik, Dizzee Rascal, Double S and many more. But one day he would ultimately love to design ‘for the queen’. He says ‘If my passion was not art, it would have definitely been football. I was pretty good before I was diagnosed with asthma. But everything happens for a reason I guess.’

Right now we are working on our gallery; we have had it for a while but were just waiting to launch the website first before we begin to invite people over. So look out for your invite later this year. I am on Facebook, Twitter and Myspace non stop networking as much as I can, I also give out business cards every day and as I said our website is currently in its finishing stages, so you can definitely expect a lot more from us.

For more of Sketch Design, you can now contact them via Facebook , Twitter and Myspace and as mentioned above keep your eyes peeled for the opening of their fourth coming website and gallery later this year. 

Paul Daniel Bourn - PBD Productions

Paul Daniel Bourn is a highly multi-talented individual within the music industry. Firstly as a self taught producer and more importantly as an war veteran turned business man Paul aims to provide services for those looking to build a career in music. His epiphany of changing career came whilst in battle as he narrowly missed stepping on a landmine. From that moment, he decided to forward his interest into the likes of making music instead of the likelihood of him ending up in the papers under the headline 'British Soldier Dead'. His company PDB which took flight in early 2008 aims to provide budding musicians with transferable skills in mixing, music production as well as video handling and photography. I thought I'd catch up with Mr Bourn himself to find out a little more about his company and where it all started.

So Paul, what do you do ?

Primarily I am a music producer, however I run a record label "PDB Productions & Entice Records" and run my own production company PDB Productions. The production company provides many services involving the music industry such as, Recording Studio Hire, Music Production Training, Mixing, Mastering, Instrumental leasing and Exclusive Rights Purchasing, CD-DVD Duplication, Web Design Services, Full Printing Services, Garment Printing, Video Production and Photography.

When and where did your career start?

PDB started in January 2008 in Beckenham, although its roots go back to 2004 when I was an infantry soldier in the British Armed Forces. It was in 2004 where I introduced myself to the digital music world by learning some PC sampling software called Magix Music Maker. Over the course of that year I ended up owning and mastering all 4 versions that were out at that time. Although I had already 80% of my mind made up to leave the British Armed Forces the actual 100% change of heart came in 2005, when I was in Iraq for the second time, and came close to stepping on a landmine “I thought to myself what would have happened if I had? I would have died or lost a limb, got a rubbish payout of a few grand, A medal which I already have from the Gulf War II and the story would have been published on page 30 odd of the sun as another British soldier dead or blown up, be the talk of the battalion for a few weeks and then forgotten! Let’s just say that I found a new appreciation for life. With the Introduction to the music Industry I quickly found it to be very expensive and so I devised a business plan to enable me to provide myself the services that my new found producers career needed to develop and progress, not long after that was accomplished I began to offer these same services out to the general public, there came the birth of PDB Productions.

Who have been your inspirations and why?

Dr. Dre, Eminem, Cypress Hill, Enya, MT Eden, JME and Enigma to name a few, there are many more but these I believe have been the strongest referenced, all of their music in one way or another has influenced physical emotions and I think that when you can say your music has accomplished that then you are on the path to success. Since the launch of PDB Productions the business entity I find inspiration from programs such as Dragons Den, Secret Millionaire, The Business Inspector and Undercover Boss, the information, suggestions and general guidance of these programs amongst other resources have helped build the foundation of PDB Productions.

What or who are you competition and what makes you different?

>I guess anybody that offers the services I do are my competition, because I specialize across a wide range of fields I could list over a hundred competitors, however I can generally split my competitors into two categories, the first is corporate (high-end companies) With that comes prices that reflect overly on that basis and so what makes PDB Productions different is the fact we operate the same service at a fraction of the cost! We can do this because we don’t pay for flash company cars or Sauvé London offices and the savings go to our customers. The second category I would describe as startup companies, generally I assumed that this would be a huge threat to PDB Productions, however over time this has not proven to be the case what so ever, and I put that all down to professionalism. I run my business by the same methods and principles that the co-operate businesses do, with that in mind PDB Productions customers/clients entrust not only in the reliability but also in the integrity of a business providing services at amazingly affordable prices.


Who have you worked with in the past?

There are lots of people I have worked with over the years being that many have been customers or affiliates through organizations of some kind, however here are some to name a few: Esstar, Entice, MadSabre, Itch, Repertoire Recordings, CM, Class School of Dance, SDI, Music Space, Trooper, Messy Dangerous, Combo, Klone, NRS, Youngsta, Dubz, Cream Cartel, Buster Manston (Filthy Herbet), MC Kropz, DJ Mista, DJ Itchy, INK, Flox, Typah, Supar Novar (Flip Records), Lorena Upton, Silhouette, Fraya (B4 Dark), Darques, Waivee Wides, Mitchell, Carnage, Mark Dixon, Dymz, Fia, Marcel, Fusegotbox, Lush . . . . . the list seriously is quite endless, apologies in advance to anyone who I may of not mentioned.

What is your most memorable moment and why?

My most memorable moment . . . . . Well there are so many and all very amusing but if we’re going to keep this music related then it’s got to be the time when I had an artist who was hiring the studio and he stood the wrong side of the microphone (bare in mind that on the other side is an SE Reflexion filter)!!! Very amusing, there isn’t much I haven’t seen in the studio trust me.

What can we expect from you in the future?

Well I have just released PDB Productions first Annual Compilation CD “PDB Productions The Annual 2010” available now at the Official PDB Productions Reverbnation Store, iTunes and across all major online retailers. We have Esstar’s second EP “lights Out” release for the second week in January 2011, and other releases that are in early production stages from Entice and MadSabre. PDB Productions (business) the Production House has some amazing things scheduled for 2011, competitions, huge savings and some highly secretive entertainment soon to be released!



To get in touch with Mr Bourn for any of his service you can contact him via his Website or Facebook.