Flavour catches up with Charlie Sloth at Small Green Shoots Access All Areas music seminar in London, where he is on the panel educating young people about the UK’s music industry. The event is about creating more opportunities for young people to get involved in music, and as Charlie came up through London’s pirate radio scene, surprising and impressing many with his lyrical genius, dedication and ambition, he is a perfect candidate for the panel.
Born and raised in vibrant Camden Town, Charlie’s bio describes him as a ‘walking, talking, one man’s depiction of the British underground music scene’ – and we wouldn’t disagree with this assessment, as he is a man of many talents: DJ, MC, video editor, actor, presenter, producer, entrepreneur… the list goes on. To showcase his talents he created his own show called Being Charlie Sloth about the grind of a rising UK hip-hop star. Once this was posted online it took on a life of its own, amassing millions of views, and he hasn’t looked back since. Charlie Sloth has managed to take the UK by storm. Next stop Hollywood.
So what have you been up to?
Well, I’ve got the Friday Hip Hop M1X on the BBC’s 1Xtra; I also do the Saturday morning show on 1xtra; am doing Radio1 every couple of weeks; and also working on things stateside. Got a strong team around me and we’re all just pushing towards this Hollywood dream, you could say. Got a lot of things happening that I don’t like talking about too much.
Yeah, we know you’ve been keeping real quiet on the stateside of things, but you gotta give Flavour a little exclusive?
[Laughs] You know what it is? I just like to see results. So many people do the whole ‘Yeah, am doing this, and am doing that’, where as I feel like it’s so much more powerful if I just keep quiet and then everyone sees the results. Let my work show itself, basically, rather then me saying this is what’s gonna happen. Also, that way, if something doesn’t work out I won’t get people saying to me, ‘What was you talking about, Charlie?’ You know what I mean? But definitely some crazy stuff happening for me right now.
What can we expect from the show that we hear you just got signed for with a big Hollywood production company?
[Laughs] Aah, that show. Basically, anyone that’s watched Being Charlie Sloth, if you can just think of that and then magnify it by a million times… It’s gonna be bigger and badder, am just fully going in. I’ve been preparing for this for a hot minute and yeah, I’m really looking forward to things.
Any UK artists exciting you right now? Tell us what it is about them that appeals to you?
Obviously everyone knows my relationship with K Koke and how much I support Koke and how much I have supported him – so he’s always in my list. Black the Ripper aka Samson, gotta watch out for him this year – crazy artist, been around for a hot minute. I’ve listened to his album and it’s just hard. Then you got Mic Righteous, incredible artist, like, mind-blowing. The stuff I’ve heard from him, it’s goosebumps material. English Frank as well, the guy’s mad different, and I respect anything that’s different, so for me he’s someone to watch as well. I can be here for a hot minute anyway, because there’s so many artists coming through right now that I really believe in. It’s a beautiful time right now musically in the UK scene and am just really privileged to be a part of it.
Follow Charlie Sloth on Twitter @CharlieSloth or visit www.charliesloth.com
www.smallgreenshoots.co.uk
Interview by Natalie Joseph