You could say that.

Blackmail is currently scoping out unsigned artists from East Lancashire to elevate the roster and get more promotion across the UK.  Do you live in East Lancs?  Do you ghostwrite, rap, sing, produce, DJ?  Contact BlackmailRecords@Representative.com and put ‘Unsigned Hype’ as the subject with a link to some of your OWN material and you could be the next star on Blackmail.  You will recieve free instrumentals for any tracks for your own use once you’re signed.  You can get custom instrumentals made with any samples you would like on them.  Blackmail Records helps it’s artists with writing, producing, etc.  They will do chorus’s and verses for you if needed too.

Leave a comment here with your e-mail address and a link to your material and we’ll get back to you!

In short.. A star.

Kava-T is his name and I didn’t have to hear him perform to know that much. Which was just as well, because hearing him perform was a mixed blessing. There was a glow to him that cancelled out all failings. As soon as Kava hit the mic, other emcee’s deflated. Carried out on his shield? Stopped on a TKO, let’s say.
With such underground success he has been signed to JaeSwift’s new label, Blackmail Records. He has had recent guest appearances on such albums as Jae’s “Authors Conspiracy LP” and on the Blackmail 2nd mix tape “Not Your Average”. Kava-T’s 1st album will be dropping in the summer of 2008, being produced by VTZ, JaeSwift, Effektiv, Heavyweight Beatz, and Shadowville.
Welcome To Blackmail!

Here’s Shadow getting hit by JaeSwift in his car all for your enjoyment!

Blackmail Records Mixtape is now underway. ‘My Confession’ should be completed soon. Effektiv has been dropping new tracks, Shadows been dropping new tracks, Jae’s been dropping new tracks. All coming along nicely so far. Should be getting some videos up on the weekend, freestyle sessions, general babblin bullshit, etc.

Here’s a wordpress promo created by Shadow

http://www.youtube.com/user/BlackmailTV/

Subscribe, comment, do what you do.

Soon to be a BlackmailRecords website too.

Http://JaeSwift.FreeHostia.com

.. Shame those 200 e-mails were sent by only 40 people.

We can’t reply to every e-mail in one day, we try our best to get round to everyone and we will.  So here, now, I will tell you how long it could take us to reply back to your e-mail.  When you send us an e-mail, you aren’t the only one.  We will reply to your e-mail as fast as we can, within 5-7 working days.

People are e-mailing us asking to purchase beats, then by the time we have got to their e-mail they have sent another saying they aren’t interested anymore.  Please stop e-mailing us expecting a reply within 1-2 days, this is not possible unless we aren’t busy.  If you e-mail us asking to purchase a beat then change your mind after 2 days then you obviously haven’t thought about whether you really want the beat or not.  In future, please think it through whether you want a beat making.  We need to know for sure.

Instead of creating instrumentals for artists and DJ’s for free, we are now charging a £10 deposit incase you decide to change your mind half way through.  If you carry on through the purchasing and you do not change your mind you will get your £10 back.  Of course this doesn’t count for Blackmail artists, all our artists are supplied for free!

Keep your e-mails coming.

BlackmailRecords@Representative.com

Matt Baker (aka JaeSwift) is the first to admit that a quick follow-up to his 2004 debut ‘Breaking The Silence’ would have been the easy option. For not only did the aforementioned opus place the east Lancashire rapper firmly in the centre of the up and coming UK rap firmament, but it also brought him close to the kind of commercial success which has evaded so many of his peers and predecessors. But instead of capitalising on his newfound profile, Baker felt the need to batten down his hatches and craft a second album of which he could be truly proud.

The result is ‘Authors Conspiracy LP’ – a tight, focused collection that finds Baker not only celebrating his home city but also musing on the pitfalls of fame. And while the latter may be an established source of inspiration for musical sophomores throughout the ages, Jae’s characteristic versatility, skill and freshness ensure he’s still some way ahead of the chasing pack. Add to that the album’s numerous collaborations (including a contribution from a pre-hype Effektiv) and the extended period away from the spotlight looks thoroughly justified.

What were your aims with the new record?

“The aims were on more of a musical level, as an artist – what I want to achieve. To make an album that progressed on from the last one, just put my name on the map on a worldwide level. To tell people I’m serious, and to show that the last one wasn’t a fluke. To make an album that people can listen to in five years’ time.”

And do you think you have improved upon the first album?

“I’ve got older – I haven’t stopped making music since I was 13, and I’ve improved every year. I’ve got better lyrically; I’ve got more knowledge of song structure. I’ve also got more skill as a producer – I’ve progressed in every aspect.”

You said you wanted this album to be an honest representation of who you are – how important is that to you?

“Very important. With every song, man. I can’t do something that’s just not me. It’s those artists that I respect that speak about their lives, their experiences. When you feel like you’re getting to know a bit more about that person, after every album. I like them artists, and them artists tend to stay around for the longest time anyway. I just want to be a real person.”

Was that why you spent over a year on the album – you wanted to get it absolutely right and get yourself across?

“Yeah – I wanted to get it right. I could have put out the album six months ago, but I wouldn’t have had certain songs that I think the album needs. When I listen to it I think how could I not have spent that extra little while to make it perfect.”

Do you think there’s too much bragging in hip-hop?

“I think it makes people take it less seriously, but there’s artists out there that are real. A person is complex – everybody’s complex, but some people shut off sides to them and just portray one side. Maybe every part of you ain’t for sale, but why not speak about stuff you know about? In tracks where people are vulnerable, they make the best music. Even 50 Cent, he’s probably the fakest artist out there right now, but his best song to me is ‘Many Men’, where he’s speaking about being scared of dying, and I love that.”

Your new track ‘Nobodys Lookin’ deals with the negative aspect of being known – what’s the most difficult aspect, do you think?

“People think you’ve changed. You think you’re the same person, and that everyone else has changed! It’s difficult keeping friends, but still moving on in your life. Sometimes it’s not as simple as moving on in your life and everyone just being happy for you, and I speak about that in that track. That’s been a thing I’ve had to deal with.”

And there’s the title track ‘Authors Conspiracy’, when you talk about just making music in your bedroom and not having to worry about all the extra stuff that you’ve got to worry about now. How do you think being better known affects your approach?

“I like to just get in there and lose myself, and not think about all that. Sometimes when I have thought about that, the track hasn’t turned out right. All the tracks on my album are ones where I’ve just completely focused on the music. Before, I was just making tracks and not expecting anyone to hear them. Now I’m making tracks that are for this album that will come out one day!”

You went to a studio in Manchester to spit with Rickaine – what made you decide to do that?

“He’s my favourite engineer of the last few years. I really respect him as an MC, producer, and engineer. The track that we did – ‘Tell Me’ – he would have never done that kind of track before, but I knew that he would approach it in a certain way. I knew that he could spit fast, on 140 or whatever. When I played the beat he started writing so quickly, and we made the track in about 15 minutes. It was nuts.”

You worked with Effektiv on the ‘Better Than Me’ single. Were you worried about the reaction this would get from certain people?

“I knew him well before I worked with him. We spoke about working with each other and never really got around to it. But we eventually made a track, didn’t really let anyone know for a while. But I didn’t really think about how people would perceive it; it wasn’t really on my mind.”

And then there’s also TockSick…

“The track he’s on is one of my favourite ones from the album. He’s all for the music, no ego, no nothing. He’s talented, he’s versatile… he’ll play a classical piece on the piano and then do something on some shit 10p keyboard that’s broken, and put that on the track as well. A lot of the sounds on there come from little things he had lying around in his studio.”

What made you decide to make a track about Lancashire?

“I just wanted to show people the Lancs that I know about, not the one all these dickheads rhyme about! I’m also inspired by performing, and I wanted a song that people can sing, that can send the crowd mental. There’s all these directions on the song and then the live drums kick in and it shows the whole progression – starting off hard and programmed and ends live, with me freestyling over the drums. A crazy, exciting track.”

And how would you like to be remembered?

“I don’t know… just as a great lyricist, fresh, inspirational… someone that put the Lancs style of MCing on the world map.”