On Da Come Up With Manny Moscow

Posted on Sunday, August 9, 2009
Tags: manny moscow

Staying busy and consistently releasing music is the best way for an independent artist to become noticed. That is exactly the recipe that London emcee Manny Moscow is committed to. In recent months he has released several mixtapes including two in July – he’s about to drop another this month.

Representing Heavy Handed Recordings Moscow’s thick accent only adds to his artistic versatility. The emcee has worked with jazz quartets and electro outfits to broaden his sound. However, nothing has broaden his music and buzz then working with some of Europe’s best DJs like of DJ Ames and Tricksta.

After a succession of solid releases under his belt the future looks bright for Manny Moscow. As he works towards his debut album release in 2010 the artist spoke to Hip Hop Ruckus about his mixtapes, working with Tricksta and live musicians.

HHR: Manny what’s going on?
Manny Moscow: Not much you know, just chillin, trying to maintain my place in the game and push it a bit. Get me?

HHR: I can respect that. How did you get the name Manny Moscow? I mean, you’re from the UK right?
MM: Yeah true. The name Moscow comes from the fact that it’s a cold world in general and I was born in winter. When people think Moscow though, they know it’s cold and rough like my flows. The Manny part is the Christian name my Mom gave me; I got lots of names: Muslim, Christian and African. Used to go by the name Pique/PQ, but I had to separate that from the rap thing and start again.

HHR: You have released several mixtapes with one of the UK’s most highly respected DJs, Tricksta. How has your relationship with Tricksta broaden your music’s reach?
MM: Yeah man, big up Tricksta! I’ve known Tricky and the WolfTown Fam for a good few years now, and it’s always been love. Get me? But yeah, we just got talking one day and from that we just decided to work together. He’s a sick DJ and producer who’s looking to murk the game and I’m a spitter with a similar mind state – makes sense so of course Tricky’s got a heap of links he wanted to show me to and the rest is still moving!

HHR: Sounds like a good combination. Are you trying to tap into the United States market or are you content with seizing UK’s rap scene?
MM: Content? Nah fam, I ain’t content till the world respects Moscow. I want the US market, the French and German markets, and the Japanese market eventually. I want to go as far as I can with this rap thing. Where ever my talent takes me. Straight!

HHR: You are consistently working on dropping new material. In fact you just released two mixtapes in July and will release another this August. Tell us a little bit about those projects and what fans can expect to hear on them.
MM: Yeah, always something new from Moscow. The first one was Live from the Kremlin – this is a UK Runnings mix, big up Tricksta! Toot toot!! It was my first one this year and my best promoted tape at the time. It’s got a few original tracks that were scarcely heard before it dropped and a few freestyles over pre-released beats.

On the next mixtape, I was just hosting Late’s project, Underground Exposure Vol.7 – big up Late for that; that was a huge opportunity. It had me on a few old beats again with new lyrics. It was a smooth move though because it put me on a tape with a heap of Dirty South (US) rappers and various UK lyricists. It was just nice to be on another cover really.

And then like you mentioned, I gave them two in July. First my London to Berlin mixtape with DJ Easy out of Berlin, Germany dropped. This was a good look and kind of surprised me with the response because it had like over 1,000 downloads the first 4 days, much more than my April/May mixtape still. Then, me and the Beat Thief dropped The Russian R3volution, a mixtape with a bunch of my lyrics over all new original production courtesy of DownTownSoul Records – Big up Beat Thief! This ones doing the rounds now, I’m feeling what Beat Thief has done, making an entire mixtape off lyrics and fitting the beats round me. Sounds sick!

In August I got one coming out with SEA winner DJ Ames – sick DJ! He did a mixtape with DJ Drama, which I had a track on, and that’s where it started with Ames. Tricky had shown him a few things I did and he liked them, so boom, here we are. The Ames mixtape will be in a more standard mixtape format: a few original tracks, heaps of blazing freestyles over pre-released beats and heavy mixing from Ames. This is definitely one to get as soon as it drops. Did I say all my mixtapes so far have been free to download?

HHR: No, but we know now. I know you’ve worked with all kinds of artists aside from Hip Hop acts. Can you mention a few live musicians who you have worked with in the past?
MM: Not really any big names to be honest. That part is still to come. Musically though I’ve worked with jazz quartets, singers, electro outfits – a good few on the circuit, but I’m really looking to up my game for the finish of this year and smash it to pieces in 2010.

HHR: How has working with live musicians influenced your music?
MM: The live stuff really helped me to grow as an artist. I don’t think rappers and emcees fully appreciate the sound and feel of live instruments in their compositions. You hear different things in the instruments than you might pick-up on in a produced beat. Also, performance wise, I found I had more space to be creative and/or spontaneous without taking away from the overall flow of things. Yeah.

HHR: That’s a unique concept. Where can fans find you?
MM: Fans can find me on the world wide spider-web. Myspace.com/mannymoscow or Myspace.com/FrostiMoski, and check out my music page at Facebook. Manny Moscow out live you can find me anywhere promoters want to book me to perform. I got a launch party for another project in September in London – the street album drops then, stay awake for that. Apart from that, catch me at any decent open mic on the circuit.

HHR: Any last words?
MM: Yeah, of course shout outs to HipHopRuckus.com for the opportunity to speak to the masses through you. Big up to my ParkSide Prophets; big up Late, Conman and Tricksta for the love – enough respect to the whole WolfTown Recordings foundation! Big up Blazin, Mavric and Spectral G – toot toot!

Big up to Big Cakes and Kid Rad for some sick collabos; big up Beat Thief, DJ Easy, DJ Ames, DJ Drama, Late and UK Runnings.

Big up Lady Jay UK, Groovement, Mr. O and the Manx Emcees. Big up anyone who feels hurt they didn’t get a mention, pissed! [Laughs] done!

Manny Moscow – Heavy-Handed Recordings.

www.myspace.com/mannymoscow

 

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