Scratching The
Surface: Hip Hop Remoteness and Everyday Life
By
Adam De
Paor-Evans
If you could take a defining era in your life and write a
detailed memoir of all the important life events and people that shaped you, I
wonder what that would look like?
In Scratching The Surface Adam De Paor-Evans; aka
Project Cee (Def Defiance), aka Rare Grills, has done exactly that. He has
taken the era of 1983 – 1986, a defining period for him, and brought it all to
life. Not just that but, the book also has a foreword from Cultural Historian
and writer James McNally, who most of us will remember from the infamous UK
monthly publication Hip Hop Connection.
Before I delve into the book, I wanted to give a brief bit
of background on Adam along with some insights into my own Hip Hop History,
which will also feature during the book review.
During the period of 1989-1992 he was a member of the
pioneering Devon based Hip Hop crew Def Defiance and took the name of Project
Cee. The group released a number of sought-after tape releases and, more
recently, have had some posthumous vinyl releases on B-Line Recordings and
Britcore Rawmance. I myself only had a vague awareness of a crew called Def
Defiance and would only become more associated with their work in recent years following
meeting Adam at the B-Line Recordings Rope-A-Dope events in Bristol. Adam would
continue to record as Project Cee teaming with Specifik in 1999 and also
forming the conceptual crew The Projections in 2007 (The album Project The
Future makes for some perfect background music to write to I might add). In
2009 he would also feature as part of The Konfectionists (alongside G Swift and
Rola) on their album No Artificial
Flavours.
Having been active in the UK’s Hip Hop culture sine 1987
means that rap is not the only feather in his cap. Adam also performs DJ sets
under the pseudonym of Rare Grills. His sets are composed of 45s only (7”
singles). More recently he has become a Reader of Ethnomusicology at the
University of Central Lancashire and has formed the scholarly research project
Rhythm Obscura and Scratching The Surface is the first publication from the new
Rhythm Obscura/Headz projects series which is looking to uncover some of the
hidden histories of Britain’s music cultures. Scratching The Surface is
also the second book from Adam, the first being Provincial Headz: British Hip
Hop and Critical Regionalism.
All that being said, it’s now time to immerse myself in
Scratching the Surface…
The book comprises four chapters, each of which is made up
of seven stories. These individual stories are a highly readable length and
footnotes after each broaden and deepen the information within the stories,
they also detail the wealth of knowledge that Adam has accumulated over the
years.
What I found to be most compelling is the fact that for many
of us, at a certain age, this book could easily be referencing out own
experiences of growing up and discovering this new movement of Hip Hop and how
our own experiences shaped up, just as Adam’s shaped him into who he is. The
easiest way I can show this is to pick out some of the areas that struck a
chord with me.
1983
When the book opens to a dark wet Devon morning, nothing new
for the British weather here, Adam is eleven years old, just a year younger
than my good self. Adam talks about the era of BMX and in second story in this
chapter, Television #2, details how he first saw the video for Buffalo
Gals on Top of the Pops and the impact that had. I may well have even watched
the same broadcast of that show as Top of the Pops was one of those shows
everyone watched back when we only had 3 TV channels. The video for Buffalo
Gals had a huge impact on us there was something fresh about it as it came from
the streets it also introduced so many of us to Hip Hop. In Record Shop #1,
we look at Adam’s first trip to Exeter to look for the latest music releases.
This visit was to W.H.Smith, one of those high street retailers who sold a bit
of everything and my experience was the same in Southampton. We lived on the
fringes of Southampton and often took a trip to the city centre on a Saturday
morning. Although my first vinyl would be brought from the Virgin store and,
unlike Adam, I was lucky enough not to have to hide the price as my parents
were of the opinion that if it’s your money you can buy it but, don’t ask for
more. But that excitement he describes of having that cassette of Duck Rock in
his hand and running up stairs to play it that first time is something I and
countless other can associate with, even now.
1984
This was the year that I fully embraced Hip Hop. Following
an argument between myself and my older brother over my choice of listening to
the Ghostbusters Soundtrack, I said to him to do me a cassette of some good
stuff. I still have that cassette and never looked back. Here Adam was also
introduced to the term Hip Hop via movies like Breakdance: The Movie and Beat Street
or documentaries such as Beat This! A Hip Hop History, all these were hugely
influential. Reading Adam’s story, Record Shop #2, of how he bought a
copy of Jam On Revenge by Newcleus, brought back more memories. The search for
records in HMV, the excitement of the bus ride home and the minute examination
of the record cover. Then, once home, rubbing the record sleeve on your leg to
heat the cellophane wrapping so that you could remove the record and not damage
the wrap. Slipping the record on the turntable and drinking in every second.
From vinyl we move to the main thing any aspiring B-Boy needed the Stereo
Radio Cassette Player and Adam’s description of every millimetre, light,
button and function of his Sharp GF-7400E, brings to mind my own first
experience of owning one and awe at being able to play your own cassettes of
your favourite tracks anywhere was wicked and the louder it was the better.
1985
Here Adam details something which was huge in the mid to
late 80’s, the Pause Button mix. Creating your own megamix simply using
the pause button on your tape deck was an art everyone wanted to master. Adam
gives us the story of how he and his friend Calm discovered the Pause Button
mix and how he, in his excitement, said he had produced one himself, even
though the truth was somewhat different. How he describes his production of the
said mix using the pause button and records reminds me of the hours spent making
a mix that lasted just a few minutes as you listened, listened and relistened
just find that right spot to release and then pause the tape but, your elation
at the finished product was just like the time you held that first record in
your hand. I don’t think I ever shared any of mine except with my bothers
maybe. However, the art of using the pause button to great effect would be
something that came in especially useful. In Radio Show #1, Adam relates
the story of first listening to the John Peel show. This was something I did on
many occasions huddled up in bed with a new tape in the deck, headphones on and
finger on the pause button, I told you pause button mixes came in handy, as you
listened to see what new Hip Hop he would play and this might mean only one or
two tracks but, often it was worth it and where I first heard some great
tracks, just as Adam did.
1986
Moving into the final chapter of the book again there are so
many things that trigger my own memories such as being out with you friends and
being chased by someone for something you may or may not have done in Bench
or a look at that fresh fashion accessory, a pair of Farah slacks in Trousers,
in fact I’m not even sure it I owned a pair or not now! The one huge thing here
for me was Adam talking about his trip to London in Radio Show #2. Here he
tells the tale of listen to Mike Allen and recoding the broadcast of UK Fresh
86 and visiting Groove Records. This reminded me of many trips to London on the
train with a day pass from Southampton or later in life driving up. The
excitement of hitting Oxford street, Carnaby Street and 4 Star General or
popping into Mr Bongo’s.
These are just a few examples of how the book brought back
great memories, some of which I thought I had forgotten But, Adam’s quick-witted
style here makes it so easy to fully picture each story as he relates it from hitting
up his first Tag to each trip to and from Exeter you are with him every
step of the way. Yes, this might be about Hip Hop and one young man’s desire to
become fully immersed in this new culture but, that aside, this is a fun, informative
and detailed look into what is almost a right of passage. We walk with him as
he transforms into his teenage years and walks the path of the rebellious
teenager. Keen to be with the in crowd and one of the crew all the while
learning more and more about life and having the experiences that will
ultimately chisel him into the man he will become. It might take a bit of
reading between the lines to see some of this but, then that is the art of a
good writer, opening you up to things not said, simply by the power of his
word. Something that I am sure has been strengthened by his rap skill and
bringing that talent for wordplay to bear in his writing.
Scratching The Surface might be Adam’s story but, it
could quite also be a written narrative of anyone of us who grew up at this
time and experienced the early days of Hip Hop as it came to the British
shores. I absolutely loved reading this book as it took me back to a time that
was exciting and when a new form a music opened up a whole new way of life and
brought people together just as it still does today.
Now regardless of if you’ve been a Hip Hop head for forty
years or four years, this is one of those for the bookshelf. This is what it
was like as Hip Hop grew on these shores and how it filtered through to those
from the big cites to the small rural towns and what it was like for those who
lived it.
Cover Photo comes from the awesome Paul Taylor.
Huge Thanks to Adam De Paor-Evans for sending me this
cracking book.
On that note, it’s time for me to be out,
See Ya,
Steve
LINKS
Buy Scratching The Surface on Amazon Here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scratching-Surface-remoteness-everyday-life/dp/1527266583/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=Scratching+the+surface&qid=1618310104&sr=8-4
Buy Provincial Headz on Amazon Here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Provincial-Headz-Critical-Regionalism-Transcultural/dp/1781796459/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Provincial+headz&qid=1618310423&sr=8-1
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