Rebel Frenzee

I am a concious rapper from Finsbury Park, North London, whose style ranges across many genres. I also am a community activist, involved in many projects like Tottenham Chances, Tottenham Carnival, Find Your Voice, Restore the Rec, Bun Da Gun Vibes Not Knives, Stop The War, Unite Against Facism and The Socialist Workers Party. I have a radio station online at http://www.striktrealitygroup.com/ I own my own business Strikt Reality Group, which includes Striktly Real Rekordz, Strikt Eventuality (Events Company) and I'm starting a magazine called 'Striktly Real!'.

I have been spitting since I was around 12 and have been writing lyrics since I was about four. When I was 13 me (under the alias Razza), Shifty and Silo setup the Lil Big Kru (LBK). We recruited JK, DJ Star, Bombay, Haze and Sativa. We were spitting over Old Skool Garage, even though I wasn't a big fan myself and was more into Hip Hop, R&B, Reggae and Ragga. Things got out of hand when certain members broke of and joined another gang (Green Lanes Man Dem) and tensions arose. What started as simple tagging wars, turned into violence and I almost killed someone with an incident involving a knife. When we left school we went our seperate ways and the gang split. When I was about 20 Shifty came to me and said he wanted to start it up again as a Grime and Hip Hop Crew. Me and Shifty set it back up under the name 'Strikt Reality Crew'. Shifty disapeared for a while and then got 4 years for armed robbery, so I recruited Locker G an old friend from football. From there my friend April pushed me to fix up my life, which mainly consisted of blazing and drinking and hanging on road. So I decided to get deep into the music and setup businesses. I started setting up events and a radio station and am now on my way to success!

I have played in many shows, mainly in Tottenham and Hackney. I have performed at alot of open mics and used to perform monthly at the 'Steve Clarke Show', were although me and my friend were the only rappers, we were often told we were the best. Also during a Love Music, Hate Racism gig I helped organize with the Hackney Cultural Association within the Tottenham Chances Club, I gave a speach before my performance, about how my father had been exiled from Greece under a facist dictatorship and was put on a BNP hitlist when he came here, for being the chair of the Haringey Anti Racist Alliance, which went down well. My favourite performances were on TheBasstrap, which was a fortnightly event, which I helped organize at The Tottenham Chances Club.

Bob Marley is my main influence, I used to listen to him all the time. Michael Jackson as well. Mikis Theodorakis influenced me to make the revolutionary music that I make, my dad also influenced me as a marxist. The love songs were mainly influenced by Gregory Isaacs and sadly enough the song most influenced by him (Sing For Me) was recorded in the same week as he died, which was almost like a sign. When I was ashamed to be the son of a refugee, Fugees came along and hit me like a whirlwind, with the 'Blunted on Reality' album. That is when I first started getting into Hip Hop, from there I became a huge Wu Tang Fan, listening to them all the time and for years trying to buy as many of their albums as possible. When I heard Skinnyman though, that was the first time I heard UK Hip Hop and that helped me decide there was something out there other than Garage in the UK.