Scroobius Pip: Thou Shalt Always... Read

Poet, rapper and now book-scribe, Scroobius Pip has led a versatile life since he, alongside co-hort dan le sac, blazed a trail with electro-spoken word track, Thou Shalt Always...

He has helped to raise awareness of live literature and performance poetry, bringing a spotlight to fellow poets Kate Tempest, Polarbear and Inua Ellams. Now, with a second album out and an illustrated book of poems released through Titan books, he has invigorated a generation's interest in spoken rhyming couplets. We talked to him about the book, his lyrical influences and who to look out for in the current stream of performance poets out there at the moment.

> Hello Scroobius, how are you?

I'm alright thanks. Having a bit of a 'post-tour sick-day' but im getting through it.

> What came first for you- the poet or the rapper?

I'm not sure really. I guess i got into poetry and spoken word via hip hop. But I was doing spoken word before I was doing hip hop. So it's a bit of a paradox really. They both influenced one another.

> Did one influence a love in the other?

Well what do you know! I kind of answered that in the last question! I think listening to people like Sage Francis, Saul Williams and Gil Scott Heron- my love for both was able to grow and expand.

> Who is your favourite poet and who is your favourite rapper?

Most of my favourite poets rap too. I'm a big fan of current artists. In the UK I would say my favourite three would be Polarbear, Kate Tempest and Musa Okwonga. All off whom rap too. People in the USA like Sage Francis, B Dolan and KRS One fall into both catagories too. I guess, if we are looking at straight 'rappers' I would currently pick out POS and Lil' Wayne. Both of whom are very different!

> You've just put out a book of poetry. Were you worried that your words work better in performance than on page?

I guess that went some way to helping me decide the format in which I put the book together. Getting artists from all over the world to interpret a poem each gives them a completely new style (to when i perform them).

> Did you rework the poems for the page?

I didn't, no. Each artist of course was free to interpret them in any way they wanted, as long as the words were all in the original order.

> How important for you was it to represent your words on page?

It was never really about that- the quest to get represented in print. It was a project I started out of curiosity. The act of working with all these different artists and seeing how they approached each piece was the main drive. To then get it published was a huge bonus!

> How did you go about putting together the images for the book?

It was all done over myspace. I put out numerous bulletins for artists and illustrators to get in touch if they were interested in the project. The response was amazing. Hundereds of people got in touch and, over the next few years, i had waves of submissions to go through. I ended up getting the shortlist down to about 15 different submissions then handed it over to Titan Books to put together the final collection.

> Tell us about the new album and the themes that influenced your lyrics?

There's a lot of themes on there I guess. As ever! Ranging from politics, domestic violence, Broken Britain and much, much more. Spending a lot of time touring round the country (and world for that matter) THEN coming back to my small town in Essex was a big influence. It served to highlight certain things (both good and bad).

> What were you reading when you were writing for it?

At that time I was reading a Jimmy Stewart biography and a Groucho Marx biography. Both of which I never got round to finishing. Such is the way when you have work to do.

> Was there any particular poet or author who influenced you?

I wouldn't say so no. When writing I don't really consciously think of influences in that way. Everything I have read or heard (in a literary and poetry sense) will hopefully have influenced my way of thinking in some way so it must all seep in.

> Who is your favourite author of all time and why?

I like the way Jon Ronson writes. He tends to really take you along with him. You tend to get the feeling that he is learning as you are rather than him teaching or informing.

> If you could exist in any book, what would it be and why?

I'm currently reading the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle so I think I will choose that. It's a world that drifts from benile boredom to surreal fantasy throughout, while managing to make both appealing and uncomfortable at the same time.

> What is your guiltiest pleasure book?

Not sure really. The Howard Marks books? The teenage stoner in me was always intrigued by his astounding tales.

Scroobius Pip

Poetry in [e]Motion by Scroobius Pip

A topical football poem from Scroobius