Wednesday 27 February 2008

'At First They Were Doubting The Name But We Spat Fire They Weren't Outing Our Flame'


North London’s Calibar has joined up with SK Vibemakers for a new, free download mixtape, ‘The Name Explains It All’. Free downloads are definitely a good look, as well as being much appreciated by grime fans, so its good to see an impressive amount of tracks on this effort despite it being done in a relatively short space of time.

The production is especially good with the beats, despite a few of them having been heard before, still providing hype and impact, which come coutesy of producers such as Maniac, Terra Danjah, and Lewi White. Furthermore, with beats that sound familiar to grime fans, it is easier to concentrate on Calibar’s rhyming and style on the mixtape’s numerous freestyles, as well as his ever improving lyrical skill on the microphone.

Calibar calls upon other respected artists in the scene, including Ghetto, Wretch 32, and Cel22, meaning that good quality features, in addition to large production and direct bars, makes Calibar's latest efforts a straight download.



How does the new mixtape compare to 'Not In My Calibar'? Can you compare them?

You can’t really compare them, simply because they both had different purposes. ‘Not In My Calibar’ was my intro into the game and it was also more experimental, so it came across as more on an album vibe. ‘The Name Explains It All’ was more of a straight mixtape, with a host and that (F.X from SK Vibemakers). The idea behind this mixtape was to showcase big bars and flows. True, I don’t go radio as much as I used to, unless its for an interview or something. Generally I just want to show how much harder I’m spitting since my last mixtape.

There are some good features on the mixtape, including GH and Cell double. How did that come about? Are you gonna be on 'Slang Wid Grammar'?

They’re both my dargs still, and we respect each other’s music, just like most spitters and singers that feature on my tracks. And I think I’m on ‘Slang Wid Grammar’ as far as I know.

The mixtape is diverse, with real grime tracks but also hip hop as well, which is sometimes criticised by grime fans. What do you say to that?

If you noticed the new ting has more grime than rap. I’m often asked like am I a grime MC, or a rapper, or how come I’m always spitting on rap. Why don’t I do more grime? So I did, but that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna stop doing rap. I’ll never stop rapping, that’s part of who I am, its what I grew up on and its what influenced me to start spitting.

What are your plans for this year?

Well this year I’ve got a second retail mixtape dropping, I’m half way through it and its sounding like a work of art so far. I might have a video landing on your TV screens soon as well, but I’m just waiting until the mixtape is complete, so I can use that as a tool to promote my mixtape and the single.

What's going on with Combination Camp?

Combination Camp are back in full effect. Nearo came out the bing this year and we’re now putting in the work as a collective to bang out a fire mixtape. I had a track on ‘The Name Explains It All’ called ‘The Team Is Back’, which was a little taster of the new Combination Camp mixtape.

Lastly you haven’t been spittting seriously for that long, so are you pleased with the progress you’re making?

I am quite pleased with how far I’ve taken it, but there is still a long way to go and I haven’t reached half way where I wanna be. So I guess I’ll keep putting in the work as always… *laughs*

C.A.L.I.B.A 2 DA R

Thanks to Calibar, check out the myspace - myspace.com/calibars

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