Feature

Ms Dynamite: Don't call it a comeback!

“I am aware of the success I have had and I am confident but I am not presuming I do not make assumptions but this is a new chapter and it is exciting.”

“And den we shout Booo inna you head/Lyrical shot, get up I sed.” The famous lyrics from the defining track by Ms Dynamite 'Booo!' (2001). It was indeed a ground breaking track that brought to the commercial world the gritty urban sound of London even before luminaries like Dizzie dropped the still absolutely brilliant 'Boy In Da Corner' (2003). Furthermore in the testosterone fuelled world of the London emcee, here was a “girl” spitting on the mic and leaving many a man to lick their wounds from the severe lyrical beating at the tongue of Ms Dynamite.

It was in a sense strange that at that time such a track was successful with lyrics that to middle England must have been like some other language apart from words like “shot” which would have had them shaking their heads in disdain and disgust immediately followed by a swift call to some regulatory body. But as Ms Dynamite and I sit in a room at Sony HQ after she has just finished a quick photo-shoot, she states in still a surprised manner that Booo! was the defining moment for her. “One of the ladies called Sarah, who is the founder of Rinse FM, was the lady who initially found me when I was eighteen in Trends Hackney and she wanted me - she said I was wicked. She made things happen, no one can get there completely on their own! You need other people to do stuff so you can get involved. I remember she drove me to some studious in Birmingham and things just started to happen from there, that is how I met Sticky." (producer of 'Booo!')

Ms Dynamite’s surge to success was swift and all consuming. Maybe in a time where people were pushing bands to the commercial world talking of girl power here was a lady that embodied real girl power, none of that fake s#*t! Multiple awards, two album's ('A Little Deeper' in 2002 went platinum in the UK) and the ignominy of a comparison to some lady called Lauryn Hill from the States and it was all good but after a whirl wind of success Ms Dynamite states she decided to take time out.

“I had my son and that is the most important thing on Earth and I did not feel it was possible to give what I wanted to give my son, and indeed what is my duty and go into an industry as demanding as music in terms of what I wanted to give as an artist.” With her son now eight and “supportive” of his mum, Ms Dynamite is ready to give the music scene a taste of what it has been missing. I actually remember seeing Dynamite at the UMA Awards about two years ago. I actually asked her on the red carpet what her plans were and she told me she could not say anything but to watch out? “Well basically at that stage, which was about two years ago, there was no massive master plan - I just knew that I wanted to approach music in a more hands on way. I felt like my initial point of call was in the clubs and I wanted to reconnect with the underground specialist type listener. I wanted to go back to the beginning, emceeing and just be hot in the clubs again.”

So does she feel it is a new beginning?
“Yes and no. Yes in the sense that this time round feels like a new beginning for me, it’s not like I feel that I went away because music has always been there for me, but it feels like I am starting from the beginning again. I am aware of the success I have had and I am confident, but I am not presuming, I do not make assumptions but this is a new chapter and it is exciting."

Dynamite you should be excited. Since making her comeback, of sorts, Dynamite has worked with the hottest acts of the moment - all achieved with not a hint of a 'has-been' trying to rekindle some lost success. The Katy B collaboration on 'Lights On' (2010) has some 600,000 hits and counting on You Tube; her collaboration with Magnetic Man, 'Fire' (2010) is a storming bass driven cut that is enhanced by Dynamite’s killer bashy lyrics; Now presently she is pushing her new single 'Neva Soft' after working with the man of the moment Labrinth, “Basically I had wanted to work with Lab from before. There was a tune he did with Tinchy and in the last bit there is this kind of Reggae part and I loved that. I wanted to do that before, which is bring a Reggae vibe with something that was really contemporary. Originally I had created something like that with Sticky called 'Bad Girl.' I wanted something like Boo in terms of that yard vibe and energy but what I Ioved with Lab’s version is that he pushed the boundaries even further than I had imagined.” 'Neva Soft' flits into different genre's of dancehall, with Dynamite’s vocals, and does a bit of Drum n' Bass as well to create something that will appeal once again to the masses but still on Dynamite’s terms. As I probe a bit further regarding what we can expect from her album, which she is working on, she laughs with a twinkle in her eye. “I am only gonna give you the pot bottom for now but I have been working with Lab, Naughty Boy (also producer) and basically I have found the sound that I really like. It is a combination of sounds that I have put together to create something new” she adds, “I will wait and see what happens in terms of the album name, this is like a really random thought but it is like my son I did not feel I could name my son until I had seen him so I need to live and feel the album until I can name it.”

After a brief chat where Dynamite, Jenna (her PR) and I have a chat about cliptomania (the irrational believe that holding a clipboard at the doors of a club gives you demigod status) I take my leave.

Dynamite has not aged in the slightest really in terms of her look and indeed her music. I was not expecting that suddenly she would want to drop Vera Lynn’s 'We’ll Meet Again' as her comeback single but I do think it is hard to make a comeback and try and take on a new refreshed musical market. I think Dynamite has a bit of the Madonna about her, able to morph and redefine herself for a particular era and that’s all good...

“Booo inna you head/Lyrical shot, get up I sed”

Ms Dynamite's excellent new tune 'Neva Soft' drops August 28th

Ms Dynamite also plays the Underage Festival at East London's Victoria Park on Friday August 5.
Words Semper Azeez-Harris