Interview with Benny Diction – Nottingham-born rapper speaks on album sales, lyrical content and individuality within Hip-Hop.
Meet Benny Diction: “When you cut through the layers of the homogenised crap that has blighted rap’s name, it’s actually the most varied form of music going…”
| Artist Name: Benny Diction | Country: UK |
| Artist Type: rapper, spoken word, musician, producer | City/State: London |
| Genre: hiphop, rap, jazz, electronic, folk | Age: 29 |
| Alias: – |
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| Description: | |
| Benny Diction is a Nottingham-born, South Wales/East Midlands-raised and Merseyside-honed MC/musician with over a decade of writing lyrics behind him. Ben learned several instruments growing up and although he penned his first verse back in 1997 (a “Christmas rap” he and a friend wrote in Year 9 music class), he didn’t start writing properly until 1999, inspired by greats such as the Beasties, De La Soul, Rakim & Wu-Tang.In 2000, he formed a group with schoolmates DJ Simon B and MC D-Fine which would go on to be called ThinkTank. The first time he rhymed before a “proper” hip-hop audience was as a 17 year-old at Rodney P’s Sheffield gig in 2001, an intimidating experience at the time but ultimately enough of a buzz to motivate him to carry on.After moving to Liverpool to study in 2001, Benny started to rip open mics and perform solo sets under the name “Funktion” and became involved in Sunday Service, one of the longest-running hip-hop nights in the city. From tight friendships formed with DJ Sketchy Bwoy and MCs Oscillate and Ro Jista, the Punning Clan was established in 2005, later recruiting MCs Louis Cypher, Tony Skank and 2woToes along with the DMC UK Battle For Supremacy 2009/IDA 2009 champ DJ Rasp. Now residing in East London, Benny promotes and co-hosts monthly night Fat Gold Chain alongside Solocypher and continues to collaborate with heads from across Britain and beyond. Last year, Benny released the “Excuse Me” EP for free download, featuring vocal talent from across the UK and instrumental contributions from spots as far away as Bavaria and Brooklyn. | |
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