As far as I’m concerned Red Master is on top of his game. Repping for himself and Same Brain Entertainment he has just launched his album “I’m right you’re wrong” and his entertaining website.

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I’ve just finished checking the album. First up, you’ve smacked it. It’s tidy, nice rhymes and the beats are ill. What was the inspiration behind it?

Safe bro! The beautiful glory of ignorance inspired this album man. This album is dedicated to all things ignorant, all things dumb and all things unpleasant. Mans that push weight and earn thousands off the books, yet still go and pick up their job seekers allowance every two weeks – this is album was inspired by you. Pricks that are holding guns despite the fact that no one is out to get them, they’ve got no intention of harming anyone and they’re not involved in anything remotely far from the middle of the road – this album was inspired by you. When David Icke tells cats that the world is run by an alien race of lizard men, and cats not only think ‘Shit, he might be right’, but actually start hailing him as a prophet – this album was inspired by you. This album is ignorance in its purest and most aggressive form.

For you which track stands out on the album?

“The Truth”, really. It’s a very ambitious song man. Musically it’s fucking sick because we got Jiff from Paragon singing on it, plus my boy Sayeem laced the track with freestyle guitar licks throughout the verse in addition to a disgustingly ill guitar composition for the outro. Plus, lyrically, it’s me performing syllable endurance at my absolute peak. I got a 50 bar verse on there using the same rhyme combo throughout and the lyrics are both topic specific and introspective. Cats can forget about trying to match that verse lyrically. They’re not going to come close.

You are happy to be referred to as “Britains most arrogant MC” on the Suspect Packages website. Are you as confident in your beatmaking ability?

I don’t like to see myself as a rapper slash producer. I’m first and foremost a rapper and that’s all I really consider myself to be. Having said that though, I do have a repertoire of very serious beats, mainly because I’ve come across quite an untapped sampling base which is very rich musically. So yeah, I am confident with my beat making ability and I’m holding down a full production set for Crucifix’s masterpiece debut album “Magnum Opus” coming out next year…

I’ll be looking to check that shit out definitely. So, Red Master’s first album and we don’t get a sniff of your beats, why not?

The beats I make are either very raw or musically very grand. I don’t think either of the sounds suit the Red Master character. Red needed a worldwide five star production sound and Butcha got the platinum head-bangers for days and days. In addition, I see this album very much as a meeting of the elite. I personally consider Butcha to be the best producer in this country, and I feel that rhyme-wise I’m also one of the nicest in this country. So this album was really about bringing those two extremes together.

Cool, yeah I’m really feeling Beat Butcha on this, some his beats remind me of producer Jon Dutch. Speaking of which, I’m aware there is a little Oxford link going on – I see on the album inlay you pass your acknowledgements onto GTA. Have you known them for long?

Man, I knew GTA before they were GTA. Me and Chima was on an arms thing from way back. Like, since Chima was 15 and I must have been 17 or 18 or something. You see mans threatening to kill each other, stab each other, beat each other up on the internet? Mad arguments that are ridiculous and stupid? Me and Chima INVENTED that shit. So yeah, we go way back. It all popped off though when we bumped into each other at a show a few years back. We went at it and Chima ended up stabbing me in the ribs, not before I popped a cap in his leg though! And yeah, we ended up in hospital in the same ward and shit. That’s when I got chatting to Chima and we discovered that we both liked collecting toys from Kinder Surprise. When I discovered he had the whole collection of them hand painted turtles, man, that’s when I realised he was hardcore and we been cool ever since.

Haha, damn that shit is ghetto! Now there will be a few people reading this who know all about GTA, when they check your album I’m sure they’ll notice your style is quite similar to Ineffable, question is who bites who?

Haha wow, what a loaded question! Hahahaha, nah, I’m sure Ineff wouldn’t have a problem with me saying that I fathered the style that I use. I don’t know if I directly influenced his style but I know he respects my shit and I blatantly have respect for his shit too. So it’s all love. Ineff got that ill haircut too man. He’s pioneering his own brand of what I call fashion-rap. Ineff runs that shit!

Ineff’s reputation as one of the best-dressed freestylers with the straightest hair in the game makes him a lad to be reckoned with. What other Hip Hop acts do you look up to?

I dunno man. Truthfully, the people I look up to are the people considered legends in rap. The Big Pun’s and Big L’s. Those are the people I strive to be like and the ultimate dream would be to leave a legacy like theirs. On a more local level, my own crew keep me focused and provide me with influence. V.E.X. to me, is the greatest artist this scene has to offer and you can learn so much from the dude. In addition, Crucifix is prolly my favourite rapper full stop. So every time he drops a new shit it pushes me to elevate my own style.

And I take it Crucifix’s Magnum Opus is gonna give us all an insight into what your saying. Now as far as PR goes, especially in the pop-saturated music industry, it seems that its getting harder to do something original and attention-grabbing. However, judging by your website you have done just that!

Safe bro. My site is the result of no one being willing to design me a site for free! Had someone hooked me up I woulda had the standard boring flash site. It prolly would have had some flash pages with a gay intro or some other shit. But yeah, the original idea was a joke between me and my brother of me pulling a page off a random Japanese site he was looking at and just put a Paypal button in the middle of it with NO explanation at all. That developed into the site that got published and I’m actually happy with how it all worked out because it’s generated a very good response!

I’m not surprised! The link for the site is listed at the end of the interview so if you haven’t already, go peep that.

Quickfire questions – Redmasters favourites

Favourite lady?

Naturally, my girl Ghaya. She got that hot sauce for me.

Favourite film?

Jesus Christ Superstar.

Favourite venue?

Speakers Corner.

Favourite country?

I ain’t even been to enough countries to answer that!

Favourite item of clothing?

My motherfucking Phat Farm coat that you see me rocking on the album artwork. It’s a fucking tank of a coat. I’ve been rocking that shit for two years though, so if you see me rocking that shit come next year, for the love of god buy an album off me because I’ll really be in need of a new coat!

Right, I think anyone reading this has been hooked so where can they get their fix of Redmaster next?

I’m launching my debut book this month entitled “The Value of Life” and will be signing copies in Waterstone’s on Oxford Street on 23rd December so come check me out there. The book is a post modern look on neo-existentialist theories rooted in urban collective culture. Also, I’m doing cat walk for Calvin Klein during the Paris fashion week and yes, my rib cage will be on full display so check that shit out. As far as rap goes, me and Butcha got a new song coming soon on a free download tip on myspace so keep an eye on myspace.com/thisisred for that, and I’ve got a collab with Arch:Co on his forthcoming album which is disgusting to peep that too!

Lastly, have you got any Fam you wanna give a shout out to?

Shouts to everyone at Blunted Presents because you mans have been on my shit and I appreciate it naa’mean? My Same Brain family – V.E.X., Crucifix and Slinga – they my peoples from day one. Beat Butcha. Everyone that has supported the album so far and everyone that plans to support that shit, and everyone that got involved with it to help me out. I’m eternally grateful for that shit. Seriously.

For more information on Redmaster and Same Brain hit the following links:

thisisred.co.uk
myspace.com/thisisred
myspace.com/samebrain

Questions: Tyranny