a cura di  Vito Camarretta  03/11/2004

Abbiamo recapitato qualche domanda a Mr.Riz aka Eastborn, abile mc scozzese tra i più apprezzati del Regno Unito e punto di riferiemnto per la scena hip hop scozzese, da qualche tempo impegnato a portare avanti l'etichetta Drop Zone e lo show radiofonico su Radio Magnetic, Riz raccoglie consensi in varie parti del mondo -recentissimo il suo happening in Cina-. Membro del Woodchoppas Dojo e del collettivo 141 Allstars di Glasgow, ha di recente dato alle stampe l'acclamato World Perfect, release numero 1 su DropZone, che ha catalizzato l'interesse di chi segue costantemente la scena hip hop d'Oltremanica. "World Perfect Ep" (Drop Zone Records) 01.Intro - Club 111 02.Terror Mind Glide 03.Ruthless 04.Red 6 05.Inner City Lullaby 06.Para Skit 07.1 Lumbajack, 2 LumbaJack 3 08.Itchy Sketch 09.Way Of Life 10.Return Of The Olmec 11.Box Fresh 12.Cross Country 13.Outro Hi Riz. How are you? Im well thanks. You've a long experience in the Uk hip hop. But you're scottish... what about this scene? Do you think it's suffering from media visibility of english brothers? Yeh Enlands bigger and Scotland still need to get its self together a bit, but dont like to think of it being Scottish Hip Hop and English Hip Hop and Welsh Hip Hop and so on. Its all just Hip Hop. We get more ignored in Scotland than we do in England by the media, so I dont think we can complain to England. What are the main differences between scottish and english hip hop scenes? There more money in the English scene, thats really it, more money and more exposure and people are more inclined to listen to home based music in England. Why did u decided to create Drop Zone Records? I was signed to UK Rap Records with Killa Instinct and the Dark Craftsmen, I always knew I could do it myself, so one day I thought why not try, that way I have more control over me and I know exactly whats happeneing to me and my music. What are your future plans? Apart from World domonation!? ha ha ha, yeh I am just keeping my head down, getting the Eastborn Presents series out with DJ Vadim, Pitman, Wu Tang, Skinnyman, Loki and more and I am just working away at making sure my other artists get the sunlight too! If you stand in it too long you get burnt, you know? Let's speak about your issue as Eastborn. World Perfect with that "detachment" between East and West. There are some hearable allusion to actual political situation. Any allusions to stylistical traditional division between east side and west side of Us hip hop? Na its nothing to do with US Hip Hop, I am from the East of Scotland and I live in the West of Scotland, there is a great rivarly here. I embrace both. I am also the Mayan SunGod, the first born Sun of the family of flames. Raised in the blaze I was born in the Sun! I cover all areas and my light breaks through the dark. You recently did a concert in China. Tell us some nice episodes related to Bejing issue? ha ha, all of it, going on Television to 60 Million people with DJ Switch saying quietly in my ear "Remember we are out here on tourist visas!!" ha ha, all the love and support we got over there was great, lot of real friendly people! I didnt like the smell in some places and thier diet is a bit odd to me! I think I would starve if I was there too long! What about Ruthless lyrics? ha ha, you like them, yeh thats just some space age, hover over my terrain and dont try to break down my army type lyrics. Im glad you like it. The track itself was actually done by Roger Hughes of Ultra Sonic and the cuts by the amazing DJ Krash Slaughta! What did you refer to while writing Return of the Olmec? Now your getting deep! Return of the Olmec is basically me taking apart the Koran, the Bible, the Tora, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and many other books ancient Egypt and Mexico. I wanted to put togehter my own story about where all the ancient knowledge of the stars and planets came from. I am deep into my UFO books and Graham Hancock, the Nine, 111, all that stuff and that track was really there for those that would notice it and actually mean something to you, so well done for seeing that! Some people never visited "peripherical" Scotland could imagine scottish young people world as depicted by Danny Boyle's Trainspotting. What's the true image of Scottish youth? It was Irvine Welsh that wrote Trainspotting, but yeh you know your stuff! Scotland aint all haggis and hills, men in Kilts and long beards! Its like Italy aint all Pasta and Pizza and people living in houses up the hills with wine cellars! My mum lives in Italy and I love Italy, I know quite a bit about Italy now. As for Scotland, it rains too much. Where I live three people were killed with hammers and Machetes last week and two 16 children have been taken into questioning. People were leaving floors at the front of the flat in memory but they had to move them because other people were stealing the flowers to sell around the neighbourhood! That where I am from, I cant say what its like everywhere, but I live in the concrete and aint seen the mountains of Scotland for a long time! What is youth fighting for? Anything really, sometimes you think they would fight because they have nothing to fight for. Children today are better off then when I was a child, but still there isnt much for them to do in my area, thats why they stand in the street, setting things on fire, I guess they are fighting against boredom! Do you think there are any overestimated musicians in actual hip hop scene? I think the majority of US acts are over estimated and some in the UK too, a big budget doesnt mean a big talent! But it will cover the eyes of alot of people and fool thousands of others, put a shit tune on twenty times a day and you might start liking it!!!!??? Hell, you might even go and buy it then! What's your repertoire during your djsets? Its just me and my DJ, some times the hypeman too, but its al about having fun, expressing yourself and going with the crowd. I am doing the for the crowd, they paid thier money and want to see a show so thats what I try and do, give them a show! What do you know about Italian scene? I get CD's sent over to me from Italy as it helps me learn my Italian, I know there must be more also, I have been checking La Famiglia, Melma & Merda and some other stuff, but I want to hear more! Peace and love