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Having marveled at what could once only be seen sprayed on subway trains and shop grills, beat master DJ Skitz sits at the bar of a graffiti exhibition organized by London's Hip Hop festival. Taking place in a former church now turned gallery, the exhibition featured the work of various youngsters attempting to gain recognition as respected artists.

A modest crowd of Hip Hop traditionalists wonder in and out of each room admiring the various pieces of work on display.

Having marveled at what could once only be be seen sprayed on subway trains and shop grills, beat master DJ Skitz sits at the bar of a graffiti exhibition organized by London's Hip Hop festival. Taking place in a former church now turned gallery, the exhibition featured the work of various youngsters attempting to gain recognition as respected artists.

A modest crowd of Hip Hop traditionalists wonder in and out of each room admiring the various pieces of work on display.

"I've always been into graffiti. I used to go school in the day and going bombing [graffitying] at night. My friends always used to say I was a mad kid, behaving one minute and getting into trouble the next, so they called me Skitz, as in Schizophrenic, saying I was unpredictable, you never knew what I was gonna do next. That's how I got my name, and I guess it just stuck. So Skitz was a graffiti artist before he was a producer."

At the age of 31, Skitz is now known across London for his Hip Hop production skills. He reminisces over the times when he first found an interest in producing.

"I first started appreciating music at the age of 15. I used to listen to mix tapes from New York and radio tapes from London radio shows that my friends would send me. I used to make pause button mix tapes wiring up two tape decks into one. I liked playing around with music so I bought two record decks for £25 each. They didn't have any bottoms and my mixer didn't have a cross fader, but it was a start. When I bought my Casio sampler around ten years ago, that's when I really got into producing. I started making beats for this soul singer in Brixton. I also dabbled with other things as well, but Hip Hop became my passion. When the Roots Manuva track 'Skitz Alongside Roots Manuva' came out in 96 that's when I would say my career really started. It's when I began to look at production as a career.."

Having produced tracks for some of London's most well known Hip Hop MC's, such as MC D, Black Twang and Rodney P, Skitz has a strong portfolio behind him. But whilst many producers find their names on the back of record sleeves in size ten font, Skitz has taken a different route.

"I usually release my own material which features different UK artists. It wasn't intentional, just the way things turned out. At first my tracks were going to be just instrumental DJ tracks with no vocals, but then I began to feel that a track without an MC was incomplete. Ever since I've had that perspective, every track I've released has had an MC on it. It became more like Skitz the artist rather then Skitz the producer in the background with the MC on top. It's a conceptual thing. I mean it's the same as when DJ Hi-tec comes out with an album and it has various MC's on it or when DJ Premier brings out an album doing the same thing, that kind of vibe. I guess it comes down to recognition."

Skitz's previous single 'Domestic Science' gained a fair bit of air play on 'Yo MTV Raps' and featured three British female MC's, from London, Nottingham, and Bristol. The ladies rapped about the Joys of parenthood, domestic violence and the struggles of being an independent women.

"I met Estelle, Tempa and Wild Flower on different occasions, and I thought to myself here's three wicked female MC's, why don't I bring them together and put them on one track. I spoke to all of them and the vibe was good, so I was like let's do it. I made the track and they all loved it so with a bit of organization, the idea just became a reality. To tell the truth the concept behind it was to make a 2000 version of 'Ladies First', that track which featured Queen Latifah and Monnie Love. You know that whole independent women thing. I thought to myself no one's done that for a long time, so let's see what we can do. They wrote their lyrics, I gave them the beat and we just made it happen. You see, I like to work with people that I know and that I can vibes with. Like the girls, people that I've met along the way. That way we have a kinda relationship together, we're all comfortable and can vibes off each other. Its a vibe thing."

So how did you go about making the video?

"I mean I pulled in mad flavors to get that video done. We done it on a budget of three grand which is nothing when you look at the cost of music videos, plus we done it on the proper 16mm format. I mean I used to be a carpenter on film sets, till about two years ago. I just called on people that I've met along the way in the film industry. I rang up people to lend me lights and other people for cameras. When I got to the editing suite, it was the same thing, people that I knew who did it for free, for the love. To me a video kind of steps up your game, takes you to that next level, gives you longevity. It allows people to put faces to the voices or in my case the beats."

So How would you describe your beats?

"I would say the foundation is reggae music, from the bass line. I've always loved ragga from an early age. I was a little punk rocker. I was into The Clash, Aswad, Lee Perry, Agustus Pablo, so that's really my foundation there. That's the Bass line. The drums come from Hip Hop and then I just sample whatever on top, whether its rock music, folk music, rare grooves. I try not to use too many samples, just little snatches here and there. When I do, I try and f*** with the samples so you can't really recognize them. That's basically it. Reggae base line, Hip Hop drums and whatever to make it gel."

Having worked with various artists who have you found the easiest to work with and why?

"First and foremost, Rodney P. He's the easiest to work with, plus me and him just gel. He rides my little bass line like a tiger. I guess me and him just fuse well. To me he's like the veteran, there's a whole lot of up and coming people that I'm definitely feeling but to me he's just the easiest to work with. But in saying that, when I met him, I was kinda overwhelmed. He was like one of my heroes of UK rap, From when I was 16, I was watching London Posse [Rodney P's former group] on telly and liked the way he flow. When I did the Roots manuva track and that kind of blew up, I put out word on the street that I wanted to work with Rodney P. I gave certain people my number, he called me, we linked up and I played him some beats. From there we just started working together. It's a simple thing you know, you just have to approach people, because people are approachable."

Your album is called Country Man, why is this?

"Because I grew up in the country, I grew up in the middle of no where, in a farm house in Devon. I was a little traveling kid always on the move. My parents were hippies, they even took me around Africa in a VW bus when I was 8. I saw different cultures, different ways of life, so my mind was kind of open. I use to listen to Punk Rock, then Clash, then Raggae. Then I moved to the city and started hangin' out with Kids who used to listen to Hip Hop, watched 'Wild Style' and that was it. From that point on Hip Hop was my life and I'm still married to it now."

Country Man is a very ambitious project for an album, which features 25 different rap artists, how did you go about putting it together?

"Like I said before, it's made up of people that I've met and vibed with along the way. I met Dynamite and Repp when I used to live in Bristol. All the London people are people that I've met hangin out at Jams and doing little things. This album took 4 years because I was relying on people for studio time. If I had my own studio I would probably be on my Fifth album. But because I'm relying on others, I can't get into the studio when I want to, or get an engineer when I want to. So it's taken time. Hopefully one day I'll have my own studio. That's an ambition of mine, a goal for the future. But I haven't made the money yet. I'm still selling a couple of thousand, walking around selling tracks out the back of my car. But it's a love thing and I'm gonna keep doing it whatever, because I'm passionate about what I do."

Buy 'THE KILLING- Feat. Rodney P -' Out Now In all good record Stores.

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