Tuesday 19 November 2013

Double Page Article

For years the grime music genre has been hidden from the mainstream music industry and has stayed primarily underground in East and North London where it originated rarely making an appearance in the music world but still producing grime artists that literally blow out the mind of those who are lucky enough to listen to their tracks. One of the best artists that the grime genre has produced and is making the grime genre known and famous is Hackney born, co-owner of the record label The Base and all around phenomenal artist Spectre.

Benny Flakes is 19 years old grime artist who was born in hackney and raised in Tottenham in a council flat with his two parents and his brother Joseph Flakes AKA Ghost. Spectre graduated from the University of Greenwich smashing graphic design. After the sensation had finished university he went on to work for many different companies that wanted his graphic design skills incorporated into their own creations. Spectre worked for a variety of graphic design companies such as Mario paint, fruity loops and Gameboy camera where he did awesome graphic design work which made some of these companies what they  are today. After Spectre was finished working for graphic design companies he then went on to further his music career by co-owning uptown records which allowed him to create his own designed and printed grime t shirts to be sold and purchased in turn giving Spectre the funds and underground fame he needed to continue his music career.

After getting the word out about himself he and his brother Ghost then created the ultimate music group and record label known in the underground of East and North London as The Base. So now Spectre had a record label and a clothing chain all before the age of 20 which is an amazing achievement for anyone in the music game especially for a person who was born in Hackney who is immediately judged by society as to be a person who does little or nothing with their life. Now that Spectre had all the pieces in place to start a music career he began by featuring at a range of concerts as a follow up act and Djing at various raves and clubs in order to get his name known around the different ends.

Spectre soon then released his first single known as “More Then Noise” this was the start of the king of grimes success’s in his career. Spectre’s songs got fame everywhere in East and North London and soon him and the new members of The Base were getting hired for concerts and raves everywhere and rapidly becoming the music group to hire for any occasion. However Spectre may be a musical sensation in the East and the North but his refusal to burst into mainstream media with his tracks had led to him falling short of the number 1 spots in the UK charts. Spectre’s reply to not going main stream is that he has no need for the fame that it brings to go mainstream and he would rather keep his music with the fans of the North and East than change his style of music. If Spectre  appeared in mainstream media he would have to change the style of his music in order to accommodate the mainstreams quota of blurring out what they believe are inappropriate lyrics. So Spectre staying true to himself has stayed known as a grime artist loved by the east and the north of London who love his music and everything he stands for.

Despite this set back Spectre has managed to release a ton of tracks varying in beat and lyrics never repeating the same bars in any of his songs and always giving the audience something knew to listen to and what he does give the audience to listen to is nothing less than utterly phenomenal. Spectre does not talk about drugs, gangs, knives, guns, girls or even being better than other rappers all he raps about is his passion for music which is different from the common rapper.

 Spectre also made sure that his record label did not include any rappers that rapped about guns, sex or gangs which he did very successfully keeping to his own record label style of not conforming to the black rapper stereotype.

Spectre has allowed quite a lot of rappers to join his and his brothers record label The Base the current artists and beat makers that reside under the record label music group The Base are… Spectre, Disco, Ghost, Scammer, Horty, E_gritz, Solo41, Friskey (on and off), DJJ maximum, D3EKO (occasional work). Spectre and The Base also create tons of songs feauturing all of the members of The Base  within the songs which turn out to be the most spectacular tracks you will ever hear in your life. The Base have played in a wide range of areas around the entire country and anyone who sees them and hears their tracks are automatically mesmorised by the style, pace and beats that this group/record label produce.


Spectre has not been involved in any type of beef or problems with any rapper throughout the rap scene he has kept his nose clean of drugs and his finger prints off straps he is really a perfect example of a clean rapper who still produces great music. Although Spectre and The Base may not want to burst into mainstream media I’m sure they will get their through sheer determination and still have their epic style of rapping when they finally do go mainstream. Spectre is a great rapper who destroys stereotypes and has worked his way up to the top through sheer hard work and sick lyrics we believe one day he will be known by the whole of the United Kingdom rather than just two areas of London because his music is GHOSTLY BLUD.

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