When the e-mail came through about a possible interview with Jumpoff legend Professor Green, naturally my journalistic mind came into play, ok what can I ask him? What do the people want to know? Despite the fact that he was busy promoting his new single ‘A Hard Night Out’, what are Professor Green’s plans for 2009 after a hiatus from the game due to label issues with Mike Skinners’ The Beats.
After we managed to schedule a date, a couple days later I get another e-mail on my Blackberry saying that Green had been stabbed in the neck at Cargo over the weekend and that the interview was in fact cancelled.
Echoes of a PR stunt were in the back of my mind but something told me that this was no joke, this was real, and just like Dizzee Rascal back in 2003 when he was stabbed in Ayia Napa yet another British artist that hails from the underground scene was involved in a near death experience.
Just as I was getting over the fact that I wouldn’t be catching up with Green the Blackberry beeps again, informing me that Green was recuperating from surgery and that he wanted the people out there to know the truth as to what happened that night.
As east London provided the backdrop I met with what looked like a fit and well Professor Green, certainly not the image I conjured up of someone that had just been stabbed in the neck. It was only when I looked closer that I saw the stitched up stab wound on his neck next to his tattoo which ironically spells out ‘Lucky’ that I realised the severity of the situation.
And Lucky he was admits Green. ‘It’s made me appreciate how lucky I am to be here, when the doctor tells you that you should pretty much be dead and asides from that I could have lost the use of my face and my arms because of all the nerves you have there and also the fact that I pretty much got stabbed in the perfect place, it makes me appreciate life a hell of a lot more’.
Green Is no stranger to controversy, with a past that saw run-ins with the law in a kidnapping case which was dropped and not followed up, the seven-time Jump Off winner knew it was time to focus solely on his music.
‘When I was younger I got into a lot of stuff before I signed my deal with Mike Skinner. I was arrested for kidnapping and I got very lucky, it was settled as a no further action, I took that as a blessing and try to keep my nose as clean as possible’.
Despite legal proceedings Green laid it down straight as he could as to what exactly happened that night.
‘I can’t go into it too much because of all the ongoing chaos but yeah, it was madness, I try to keep my nose clean, It was a random one, I ended up at Cargo because Rinse was performing. I had words with someone, it wasn’t even an altercation, I just had words with someone, and that was that I thought it was done with and the next thing I know I get a broken bottle in my neck’.
‘What can we say, we live among cowards, and I’m still here to tell my story so he obviously didn’t succeed in what he intended to do’.
And like most other artists that draw their inspiration through everyday life experiences Green says that when everything is cleared up we can soon expect a track.
‘As soon as I’m allowed to talk about it you definitely can expect a track, it’s definitely going to affect my music’.
Make no mistake Green has seen it all, after label issues, run in’s with the law, and now a stabbing that could have nearly cost him his life Green still stays optimistic about the future.
‘Hopefully there will be no more upsets for a little while; it would make everything run smoothly. But I’m staying on top of everything; I’m building up the consistency I didn’t have before’.
‘I’ve got a single out in August called ‘Just be good to me’ and another in September called ‘I need you tonight, I’m also working on an album with a guy named Quincy Tones, he has worked with Ghostface Killah, Busta Rhymes and Talib Kweli”.
With promising future projects in the pipeline it’s clear that Green’s road was not set to end here, and that ‘Hard Night Out’ that he had was just another episode in Greens life that will make him stronger.
Words by Richard Ashie