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South London is a hotbed of talent. Just like Brooklyn is to New York rap, Brixton is to London. But, just as in BK, not every rapper gets the opportunity to shine, and half the talent is lost in the struggle to the top. Be grateful then, for Genesis Elijah, UK hip hop’s saving grace; for he’s about to take over the show and he’s not afraid to let everyone know it. Born and bred in SW9, the rapper born Nathaniel Bygrave has been working the underground for quite a while, establishing himself as somewhat of a ‘conscious’ emcee, and is what some would call a veteran to the UK underground scene. However, with his Jamaican father a pastor, Bygrave’s still got his roots in the church, and his rap name is evidence of that. “My dad’s very religious and all that, so I changed my name from ‘Nemesis’ when I was about 14, when I got deeper into church,” he told, explaining the reasoning behind his alias. “When I moved on, I kept ‘Genesis’ and added the ‘Elijah’ to distinguish me. Adding the second name made it sound more real too, ‘cos a lot of people ask me if that’s actually my real name! When I chose Elijah, it was just ‘cos in the Bible, he’s a powerful prophet, and I liked the name!”
Having been on the UK scene for close to a decade now, it has taken the 24-year-old a while to get his break, as he only signed to Broken Souls Productions in early 2004. “It just wasn’t worth doing it man,” he despaired. “At the end of the day, I love music, and I’m gonna do it regardless. I’m gonna do the open mics, the live shows and everything, it’s all good. But I couldn’t do it full time ‘cos it weren’t viable; I got rent to pay, and other commitments that need to be taken care of. Money’s always top of the list, and it didn’t seem to me that there was money to be made from it. It weren’t until like, last year, or last couple of years that I’ve been thinking, ‘Yeah, I wanna do this properly’. So last year was the pusher, and 2005 was me saying to myself, ‘Ok, this is it, we’re gonna do this properly. There’s no plan B, this is it.’ Then boy, whatever man, if it don’t work out, back to McDonald’s, or Burger King, to be real!” His current release, ‘Deh Pon Road’, hit the streets over the summer, and has sold well up and down the country. Yet, instead of being an official debut, the album is more of a compilation CD. “What happened,” began Genesis, “when I signed to the label as a rapper, I didn’t really have much material; I mean, I’ve had a few things out, but nothing really that big, and I didn’t have anything ready to sell. So we thought, ok, what we’ll do is get a little promo CD together to give to promoters to get shows and make a bit of money. So we made about eight songs and we thought, well since we got it, we might as well see if we can sell it. Then we just added a couple more tracks to it, so then it just became a kinda album, just all the songs I’d done up to that point. It was never supposed to be an album, but that’s the way it’s come out,” he explained. “I kinda see it as an album as well, but it was never really meant to be like that!” So is an official release on its way then? “Well, we’re not sure; that’s what the meeting was about before, just to see if we do a proper debut album, or just keep doing mix CDs for like, another year. But hopefully, [Broken Souls] will be distributing my first proper, proper album at the end of next year.” Although Genesis is still pushing ‘Deh Pon Road’, he has decided to treat his existing fans with some new material, and made his latest EP, ‘The Pimp Principle’, available to download for free from his official website. But where does he stand on the whole music downloading issue? “It’s not good for the artist, ‘cos they lose a lot of money,” he said. “I mean, I wouldn’t even want to think about how much money they’re losing! That’s crazy, ‘cos I know for a fact that I download bare people’s albums!” he laughed. “And that’s just me! Not only that, but people buy albums, and then burn it off and bring it right back in anyway, so if people are gon’ do it, they’ll do it. I think it’s wrong to download music, but it works both ways obviously; people download for free, and it’s just promotion, isn’t it? Like, ‘Pimp Principle’s not even been on there that long, and we got nearly 3,000 downloads. It’s things that people might not go out and buy in the shops, they hear it first, and then they can decide if they wanna buy it or not. But as for illegal downloads, my official line is no, don’t do it,” said Genesis in a stern voice. “Bare in mind though, that if you’re an artist, I’ll download you for free, just don’t do it to me!!” Since getting involved in the underground scene at the age of 15, Genesis has worked with some of the best in the UK, including the likes of Terra Firma, (Klashnekoff, Kyza and Skriblah), Wordsmith, and Skinnyman, and has performed alongside UK heavyweights such as Rodney P and Blak Twang. After witnessing the comings and goings of so many emcees over the years, Genesis is sure to have an inkling of who the next “stars” of the underground will be. However, there’s only one rapper that he thinks has the ability to crossover into the mainstream and blow up like Dizzee Rascal did. “Double Edge is the one I think will do really well, crossover-wise. I think he can do Sway levels, man. Kano’s another one that’s gonna be real big; I mean, he’s already doing his thing, but he’s gonna be big,” he told knowingly, before adding one other name to the list. “Oh yeah, let me big up Amos as well!” Genesis’ manager and chauffeur for the day, ImZ, chipped in too: “Look out for ‘Street Philosopher’, ‘cos I’m [Amos’] manager as well!” With the mention of Sway, the subject of the Music Of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards arises, and the surprise of the Londoner beating established American rappers like 50 Cent and The Game to the Best Hip Hop award becomes the main topic of conversation. “First, it’s a good thing that Sway wins some sort of MOBO award, but maybe not that one,” thought Genesis. “It would be good if he’d got Best Newcomer, but I don’t know. People say he hasn’t had an album out, but those two mixtapes are as good as an album. I think it was more the MOBOs just trying to make news for themselves though, getting themselves a bit of credibility back, ‘cos the MOBOs need to be saved; the MOBOs are sh*t! I mean, I probably wouldn’t have watched it if Sway wasn’t on it. He deserves whatever award he gets, ‘cos he’s opening a lot of doors for me and other artists, so it’s good; he deserves it.” For an artist with so much experience in the music industry, Genesis is the ideal person to give advice to new and upcoming talent. “Have patience,” he warned. “You might think that you have what it takes, but you’ve got to build up the groundwork, do all that and then think about what’s next.” He continued, “I think what a lot of artists get wrong is that they’re in a rush to get their product out there, and you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. So if I see another Christian Blaizer single, I’m gonna bin it; if I see another Blazin’ Squad single, that’s going in the bin straight away. They might be really good, but they’re talking some sh*t, and I ain’t gonna listen to that. Like, my album got eight out of 10 in a lot of reviews. If I sat back and thought about which tracks I could have left off, I could have got a 10. That’s the only regret I have, so my advice would be to have patience.” Finally, what does 2006 hold for the future of Genesis Elijah? “Everything! World domination!” he laughed. “I hear a lot of other acts talking bout how they gonna take over the world, but we gonna take over the world for sure! I’ve done a little introduction, and I’m just gonna try and keep my name out there, just always have something out there or something coming. I’m just trying to build my status now, be a legitimate force to be reckoned with! So when you ask, ‘Who’s reppin’ the UK?’ They be like, ‘Klashnekoff, Skinnyman, Genesis…’ I’m just trying to get on the level; I’m gonna be there one day. 2006, I ain’t sleeping! Standard!” he exclaimed. “We got a mix CD coming out called ‘Discipline and Dedication’ which should be out before May; got a 12” coming out, not sure what track yet, but we got that and a video coming out, so in a couple of years you should be seeing my ugly face everywhere, on TV, radio, magazine…!”
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