Radar Radio Is Mentoring The Next Generation Of Music Producers With Nike In London

Since its launch two years ago, Radar Radio has become the new champion for the breakout sounds of London’s next generation. With an ethos that’s all about breaking new culture and harnessing young talent, its Islington HQ has become just as familiar for its free production and DJ workshops as it has for being the epicenter of London's newest sounds in grime, Afrobeats, house and techno.

It's this attitude towards innovation that led Radar Radio and Nike to team up and provide a week's worth of workshops at London: ON AIR's The Studio—a collaborative space in the heart of London—aimed to inspire and foster young creative talent throughout Air Max Week. We spoke with Radar Radio mainstay Scratcha DVA, who is just one of the week's guest mentors, on the spirit of innovation and energy in UK music in 2017.

Talk to us about your work here at London: ON AIR. What have you been working on with these aspiring producers?

I've been running a beginners session today, built for people who are interested in making music but are not exactly sure what they want to do. I've been feeling people out and seeing what they can do with music software, and discovering what their tastes are. Because it's a beginners session, I thought I'd give them a little kick—I know that when I've hit a creative wall, I like to work with vocals—so I gave them all an acapella to work with, so they made beats to an MC rapping or a vocalist singing. It was very cool.

How quickly did people pick up the skills?

People were working on a few different levels. There was one girl, Jamilla, who produced a whole track and showed some real ability. Others were playing with loops and experimenting with music for the very first time, which was cool to see.

Does working with young people, who might be on a different creative wave, inspire you to look at what you do with a new energy?

Absolutely! It has to. In my lifetime of making music, I've always been interested to know what the next generation is doing. If you ever listen to my DJ sets on Radar Radio, I've been playing people like Her Records who have come through after people like myself. I'm always interested in working with young people in this type of environment, because that's how you discover what’s popping—they know!

And how much does it mean to you on a personal level to be asked by Nike to act as a mentor and role model to the next generation of creators?

It means a lot. I've been making music for a bit and whatever, but I can still come into a space like this and people might not know who I am—everyone knows who Radar Radio is, or Rinse FM, or Hyperdub; the places and people I've worked with—but they might not necessarily know me. After doing a class like this today, 15 people might be inspired by my journey and that's special. Anyone of these 15 people can next year make an absolute banger! You never know what this might lead to.

It seems like these workshops are all about giving people the opportunity to find a creative spark that could grow into a lot more. Do you remember having a similar moment at the start of your career?

I would hear music on the radio, I listened to a lot of radio, and I always wanted to change what I was listening to. I'd be thinking, "Why is that harmony not there?" or "Why didn't the beat drop here?" It's the same as watching a movie and thinking about why it ended the way it did, or why a certain character did what they did. I started going to studios and doing what I wanted to do, what I wanted to hear.

And did you have a mentor who helped to give you a platform, or provided a spark, in the way that you might have done for someone today?

The predominant one in my career was probably Wiley, when I was doing grime. He's a great mentor because he's done so much. Him and Terror Danjah.

Where do you see innovation happening in music right now?

This is why I'm here, because you need to go out and find it. In my eyes, the main problem right now is that everyone is listening to people they already know... I used to only listen to grime, so when I made something, it was obviously going to sound like five artists I spent a lot of time around. Innovation is what happens when everyone gets bored. Look at UK rap right now, we're really feeling ourselves and that's because five years ago we didn't want to hear a British voice on a rap track! That led us to this point because we knew we had to improve, to innovate. America has always had a healthy hip-hop scene—it's cultural, bigger than just music—and this is the start of our hip-hop. The gap between the US and UK is closing and that is what's inspiring me right now.

I remember Skepta—back in the Meridian days—told me: "I'll be better than Dizzee Rascal one day." I didn't know who this kid was and at that time; Dizzee had just dropped Boy In Da Corner and having the type of success we hadn't seen before. But now look at what Skepta's done—he's hit those heights. That’s inspiring because success breeds success.

Listen to one of the tracks created in Scratcha DVA's workshop, "Snoopcat" by Cat Edmondson, below.