Big Dada - Ten Years Deep

Looking back on Big Dada's first ten years, label founder Will Ashon can be justifiably proud. Having showcased the finest artists of not just the British urban underground - from Roots Manuva and Ty to New Flesh - but also championing some of the most innovative leftfield US hip-hop, such as Bigg Jus, Busdriver and cLOUDDEAD. With producers like Part 2 (of New Flesh) and Ebu and Mr Mitchell (of Gamma) being able to justifiably claim a part in the creation and evolution of grime, Big Dada have embraced London's most vibrant, self-created musical style, recently signing Roll Deep's Wiley, and re-releasing Flowdan and The Bug's Jah War EP. But how did it all begin for Will and his loyal crew of beat-miners?

"I was working as a music journalist," says Will. "I used to get loads of tapes and white labels that were way better than most of the stuff getting proper releases – particularly through the majors. It seemed clear that if someone put out all this amazing music they would instantly do really well, and everyone would love them for it. How naïve..."

Anyone working in the independent music industry will tell you that having a commitment to innovation and invention is not always easy. Taken under the wing of one of the UK's most successful independent labels, Ninja Tune, Big Dada became well known for its egalitarian business ethics, splitting all profits with artists straight down the middle: "The model comes from Ninja Tune, who in turn took it from the new wave labels of the early 80s," explains Ashon. "I think the idea of it is to offer a deal that seems transparently fair. It makes the royalties a nightmare to calculate, though, which creates a lot of work for the company."

Big Dada's success story is not one of grubbing around the edges of the industry – far from it. Roots Manuva is perhaps the best-known British rapper in the world, while the label's American signings have often proved uncannily prescient. Some major underground US players are signed to Big Dada: "Mike Ladd of the Infesticons was signed to us before Def Jux had released a record, Diplo was signed to us before he had even started the Hollertronix club night and, although cLOUDDEAD was part of the Anticon movement, Anticon never released a cLOUDDEAD record," Will is quick to point out. "Also, in the cases of Infesticons, Diplo and Spank Rock, we either had or have worldwide deals with those artists, and were or are their label in the USA as well as everywhere else on the planet. cLOUDDEAD we did everywhere in the world except the US. So if any of them are 'major underground US players', as you say, that's partly down to us!"

I ask Will what made these artists fit in with Big Dada's homegrown signings: "It's the same things that would make a British or French or Tobagan or Latvian artist fit – that they are fearlessly, single-mindedly trying to do completely their own thing, that the music we hear gets us excited and hungry for more, and that we think other people will be as energised by it as we are. To put it another way, they have to be mavericks, and preferably maverick geniuses!"

Maverick genius is definitely a term you could apply to the label's most recent non-UK signing, 21-year old Canadian rapper and producer Cadence Weapon, who has just released his debut album, Braking Kayfabe, in the UK. Hailing from Edmonton, he was previously a respected hip-hop journalist for indie-media website Pitchfork. He grew up alternately listening to his DJ father's record collection, while blasting whatever would piss his Dad off in his bedroom: "I think it's a mix of being influenced by all the stuff my Dad brought to the table, but also being influenced by stuff that he completely wouldn't touch at all," explains the 'Weapon. "You know how it is when your Dad likes something, you like the complete opposite. So my Dad would have the Nas record, and I'd be like, 'Yeah yeah... Dad's stuff,' and be like watching my music, jamming Nirvana, you know, harsher stuff. So my music's like an amicable combination of those two aspects."

Breaking Kayfabe is a potent brew of literate, tricked-out rhyming and abrasive, minimal techno sounds, basslines often sounding like they were stripped from old Nintendo games. The classic video for Sharks (link below) has the 'Weapon dressed as Mario, throwing barrels at a monkey-suited opponent, and running through a collection of old-school video game montages. The Canadian hip-hop fraternity hasn't perhaps been as willing to embrace the young producer's experimental approach to beats: "I've had a lot of people, maybe just because of the sound I have, thinking that I'm betraying rap completely. I like to do covers of rock songs at my shows, because I wanna do 'em, and a lot of people aren't necessarily on the same wavelength as me. They might think I'm making fun of rap, or not being respectful. But I definitely am!"

His move to Big Dada is prudent, as he joins a legion of other producers and artists who take a deconstructive approach to genre boundaries: "I actually think that the best response I'll get will be over there, in the UK," says Cadence Weapon. I ask about the opening track of Breaking Kayfabe, Oliver Square, which he: "Visits New City / with the electroclashers..."

"That's kinda funny," laughs Cadence Weapon. "In that song I'm actually referring to a club in Edmonton called New City. They have a Thursday electroclash night. So I'm taking a tour of the city, checking out all the scenes, and having a dance and stuff. I definitely do feel that I have a following among that crowd. I think people in Edmonton, they know what they're in for, you know? They know I'm definitely coming with that electronic edge."

Back to Will Ashon, for a final word on Big Dada's future. How does the future look, ten years from now? "Who knows? Silver suits, meals in pill form, virtual teleconferencing?" And what about Big Dada itself? "Just continuing to be a really traditional, old school record label that puts out music because the staff love it, and think that other people should have a chance to hear it, too." That's the mark of a true maverick genius – he makes something as awesome as Big Dada sound so simple. See you in ten years, Will!


FIVE BIG DADA CLASSICS

OK, so you've got that vinyl copy of Run Come Save Me, and you bought YoYoYoYoYo as soon as it hit the shops, but perhaps these passed you by? Five classic Big Dada LPs that not everybody knows, but everyone should own.

V/A – EXTRA YARD
An early Big Dada sampler, still available on vinyl, this showcases the best of the dub-tinged hip-hop that was being pioneered by the label subsequent to the popularity of Roots Manuva's first LP. Highlights: Gamma's electro-bouncing Killer Apps, an early version of Witness (One Hope), Lotek HiFi's Fire.

INFINITE LIVEZ – BUSHMEAT
Former Gameboy graphics designer, freestyle battle champ, and complete bloody lunatic, Infinite Livez dropped Bushmeat in 2004. It's a classic, from the playful offensiveness of White Wee Wee to the utterly daft Worcestershire Sauce, a rap song about crisps. Essential weirdness.

NEW FLESH – UNIVERSALLY DIRTY
The souped-up, smooth but utterly filthy proto-grime of Part 2 is the perfect place for the marriage of two of the UK's most innovative lyricists, Juice Aleem and legendary ragga spitter Toastie Taylor. Their most recent outing is as fresh and challenging as their classic Understanding. Highlights: the euphoric strings grime of Wherever We Go.

TY – UPWARDS
It was the follow up to this album, Awkward, that garnered Ty so much acclaim in the UK press, and his most recent outing, Closer, was also a splendid work, with collaborators like Speech and De La Soul joining Ty on the mic. However it is Upwards that remains his most consistently engaging work. Observational, insightful lyrics that balance the political and the personal, coupled with addictive pop hooks and some fine hip-hop beats keep you coming back, just like the chorus of Oh U Want More? As big a star as Manuva, Ty is the UK's answer to Guru.

LOTEK HIFI – MIXED BLESSINGS
A groundbreaking soundclash between the tough rhymes and rhythms of UK hip-hop and the bass-heavy, ital sounds of decades of Jamaican soundsytstem culture, Lotek Hifi take Roots Manuva's reggae inflections and use them as a starting point, delving into dub, soca and ragga, while neatly presaging dubstep and grime.

All available from the online shop at www.bigdada.com.