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Herbal Teeba >> The Herbaliser are Ninja Tune's turntable table-turners by SCOTT C.
M: Do you get frustrated with the steady commercializaton of hip hop? OT: If you're referring to Puff Daddy and all his copycats... M: Well... okay. OT: ...They definitely have their place. Whether it's wack or not is unimportant because wack hip hop has it's place too. It's still hip hop, it's just not good. A lot of people have this mindset like "if I don't like it, it's not hip hop," but it's only a small part of a massive culture that continues to grow in all directions. M: Who is the typical Herbaliser listener? OT: Oh, I don't know. I'm slowly finding more and more and more people are into it. Some people are into all the Ninja Tune stuff, but I'd like to think that if hip hop kids are getting exposed to it, they're getting into it too. M: Hip hop kids in the U.K.? OT: I've certainly found a more open-minded perspective in that respect on your side of the world. In Britain, if you've always been into hip hop, you've always been kind of up against it a bit. I've just found that in North America, you've been bombarded with so much hip hop culture that people are more open to something a little more DJ-based, and that's where we come in. M: How do you feel being called a hip hop "alternative?" Does that make you feel like you're doing something wrong? OT: I think there are rules in hip hop production--and it's important to learn those rules before you decide to break them. The field of what a hip hop record is has narrowed over the years, but it's starting to open up again. Even a few years back people would say that if a record didn't have rapping on it, it wasn't a hip hop record. M: Isn't that how you guys got pigeonholed in the first place? OT: People forget that rap is a part of hip hop but it's not the whole thing. It's an entire culture encompassing graffiti, breaking, rapping and the work of the DJ, scratching and making beats, etc. The "rap industry" has made its mark deeper than any of the other elements, so to most people hip hop equals rap. I guess that's how we end up getting sidelined--the DJ is coming back though, for sure. M: How do you approach the production of a Herbaliser record? OT: The problem with black music has always been white people or whoever getting our fingers into it and making something completely different, rock 'n' roll being the perfect example. But a lot of great music still came out of all that twisting and changing. M: So you're twisting and changing what people are used to? OT: Music has to grow and people have to do what they feel. I can tell when I listen to a record if a person loves hip hop, or if they are "influenced by" hip hop--there's a difference. I just want people to hear our stuff and know we love hip hop music. M: How important is the influence of jazz-funk in the music you create? OT: There's a lot of live instrumentation in what the Herbaliser does and you'll see when we tour that the band plays a large part in what is going on. Hip hop definitely draws heavily from both jazz and funk, but it also samples from all kinds of music-which we've used to create our stuff. It's hip hop because of the disciplines we apply to making the music--manipulating samples to create the bigger picture, with the occasional addition of live instruments--I admire that sort of discipline too. Herbaliser's Ollie Teeba and Jake spin at Ninja Tune's Funkungfusion show at Groove Society, Friday, April 24, 10pm, $15-18. With Chocolate Weasel, Neotropic, and DJs Vadim and Luv
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Somewhere in the hollows of Twickenham, England, two wonder twins of hip hop production are putting the finishing touches on a 12". Ninja Tune labelmates Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba (together, The Herbaliser) have been pushing the boundaries of the genre with startling and moody journeys into instrumental hip hop since their first release The Flawed Hip Hop EP, and the memorable "Blow Your Headphones." While these "hip hop intellectuals" collaborate with a live band and featured lyricists, many still consider them a friendly alternative to most offerings from hip hop's cluttered table. I spoke to Ollie Teeba and quickly learned why these guys are considered oh-so-clever.