JON PHONICS – BONAFIDE EXCLUSIVE

Bonafide caught up with YNR Beat monster Jon Phonics immediately after the release of his brand new LP  Half Past Calm 2 on YNR – who happen to be giving the album away to co-incide with the launch of their dope new website: ynr-productions.co.uk. You can also head over to their shop and grab 1 of 300 Limited Edition CD’s with hand-printed 4-ply booklet and inlay/poster courtesy of Brixton Basement Press.

Jon Phonics is one of the most promising producers in the UK hip-hop scene right now and the quality of the beats speak for themselves. If you don’t believe us, you can download most of them yourself for the ridiculously low price of bugger all. It’s almost criminal.

So, Mr. Phonics

WHUTUP!

The first I heard of you was the Half Past Calm lp. This was released as a free download but I thought the quality was far above your standard free download which tend to be rather throw-away. What was the motivation behind the release and what prompted you to give it away.

JP: around the time of dropping Half Past Calm, I was pretty unknown and the music industry was in a pretty crazy place, and still is, I was just a guy with a myspace page and some tunes I thought were dope so I figured… give the people something free so they actually hear it – instead of losing my will to live tryna sell it to them.

The album was laced with some top quality MCs – how did those links come about?

JP: I would say, again, at the time we were making those tracks a lot of the MC’s involved with the project were pretty unknown. I had previously connected with Verb T whilst working on his Verbs with a Vengeance LP who was probably the most ‘known’  rapper on that project and he came through on those tracks and introduced me to Fliptrix I had met M9 just after he had released High Fidelity through a friend & got to know the rest of Triple Darkness from there, M9 also introduced me to 9 planets & Chemo.

When you’re working with MCs, what’s your process? do you build a beat around the vocals or do they build their rhymes around your beats?

JP: Sometimes it can be like, you make a beat, someone picks it a month or 2 later – you go back an hear it an think ‘ahh I aint really tryna mess with this beat no more…’ so I might try an make another beat, on the sneaky. In those instances it can work out dope because you have to sort of, blow the rapper away with the track, so they think “ahh hell yeah this is the shit, I dont even wanna think about that other one..” you know?

Because of this though – a lot of the new record was made on the spot, in the lab with the artist, and whatever we would make, was it – fuck it, it had to run. So the beat and the vocals have a natural marriage they were born together from the same womb. You can’t birth a baby from two different hospitals in two diff cities, yanahmean!?

How would you describe your sound and how do you see it evolving?

JP: I calls it acousticspacefunkdustyelectroboombapwiggahop and it gonna end up like a chopped n’ screwed dreamscape cassete playing outta radio Raheem’s boombox.

Kilamanjaro Studio – Is this your own spot? Did you put it together yourself?

JP: Kilamanjaro is infact Chemo’s spot, which is co-inhabited by the manimal known as Jehst. I started engineering there in 2008 and live opposite, so me with a set of keys = lots of late night sessions on my own shit.

You have an upcoming record coming out on YNR right? Can you give us the lowdown on that?

Half Past Calm 2 is out on YNR Productions now, my homies Brixton Basement Press screen printed some dope artwork and it’s crazy. I wanted to do something different with the packaging so heads feel like they get their monies worth, you know? So I did some research on the packaging an’ found these joints that are as close to getting a gatefold vinyl cover as you’re gonna get on a CD. Haha.

It features YNR artists Jehst, Kashmere, Verb T & Micall Parknsun, also guys like Sonnyjim, Kosyne, Obba Supa, Ramson Badbonez, T-Bear, Fliptrix, 9 planets…tons more too.

How do you go about constructing a beat? What set up do you have?
Can you play any instruments and do you ever integrate them with your beats.

JP: I use an MPC 1000, Cubase, and a few synths & sound modules. So I play the keys a little, I go through phases of dedicating myself to studying them further, just when I think i’m getting better, Jeekay comes round an blows me out the water. Haha.

I also play the guitar & zee drums and on queen’s day in amsterdam I like to take acid an dress up as a pixie an play the flute to the fairy children.

What do you look for when digging for samples?

JP: Something with my sound.

Are there any records you won’t touch, that have been over-used or whatever?

JP: nah, I think if you use a known break creatively it can be more interesting to the listener as they have something to reference it with and see how actually sick in the brain, or not as the case may be, a producer really is.

Do you work with artists in any genre or is it strictly hip-hop?

JP: Definitely NOT strictly hip-hop. Stay tuned.

Are you gonna vote in the election or do you stay away from that shit?

JP: Yeah. I think it’s important to use your vote. I have opinions on politics but i’m not gonna go there. Haha.

What are your plans for the future, career wise?

JP: Jeeez, plans? Who knows, hopefully music will start to pay off one day so I don’t have to have a career in McDonald’s. Haha

What was the first record you bought?

JP: The first record I bought for myself was a Parliament record when I was about 14. The first record I had as a kid though was ‘Bad’ by Michael Jackson and I still wear white socks everyday for that guy.

What was the last record you bought?

The last record I bought was ‘People’s Potential’ by Floating Points

What’s the next record you’re going to buy?

JP: Who knows…the search continues…

Jon Phonics, ta very much… Now go peep the album

Filed under: Bonafide Exclusives, Free Downloads, UK hip-hop by P.A.