 Ben Drew aka guitar toting rapper,
Plan B is one artist who refuses to shut the f*ck up. As someone who has plenty
to say for himself, he is undoubtedly a dream interviewee. His lyrics are a no holds barred look at life
in Britain
today through the eyes of some unsavoury characters using some pretty unsavoury
language. It’s not surprising then that Plan B’s intent is constantly
misunderstood.
“It’s the
fact that I say the words c*nt and f*ck in my song is enough of a problem for
people,”
fumes Ben. “It doesn’t matter that my method of teaching actually works. It’s
because they’re ignorant themselves.
It’s just a circle of ignorance. All people like me can do is carry on
doing what I’m doing and just hope that I can get through to as many people as
I can”.
Very much a hip hop artist Plan B
acknowledges that as an artist he’s always going to be prejudged. “We all are. I’m judged on what So Solid done
in the past. We’re all judged on what happened with So Solid and we always will
be. I’m trying to change that by not glamorising stuff, by showing the reality
of it. That’s why my stuff’s
misconceived”.
Music, reckons Ben, is a platform
that should be used by artists to teach young impressionable teenagers about
the realities of life, which for the Forest Gate native means talking about
issues such as drug abuse, underage sex, street violence etc. “Problem is with music is that a lot of
people who are in the position to get through to kids write sh*t lyrics and
f*cking Peter Andre gets to number one, Bob The Builder gets to number
one. Kids learn, or are taught, that
music is something that has no meaning and is just something that you can come
along to. They forget that after having great artists like Bob Dylan, who’s a
political singer that music should actually be about that as well. In fact, it
should be about that more than just a nice little f*cking hook”.
In a country that has seen a surge
in gun violence amongst the young and was recently found to be the worse
country to bring up kids, there’s certainly something that’s not quite
right. So what should politicians be
doing to reach out to more kids?
“If the politicians want to connect with the youth, if they really want
to get their f*cking hands dirty, they should be supporting my music, and they
should be supporting Noel Clarke’s film Kidadulthood,” advises Ben. “Politicians can use them to teach kids about
the realities of drug abuse, underage sex and crime. Instead they shove it and
criticise, they use it as something that is actually inciting all of those
things, when it’s not. It’s portraying the reality of them, it’s educational.
It’s should be f*cking showed in school, not shunned”.
As someone who’s witnessed the
devastating effects of drug abuse, Plan B is not impressed with the way rocker
Pete Doherty’s heroin addict has been portrayed in the media.
“He’s had more press than anyone in this country. He’s been the most
talked about, had his picture taken more than anyone else in this country and
he’s a heroin addict. What does that do? That makes him look cool in front of
kids. That tells you that if you do heroin you’ll be cool like Pete Doherty.
Now, Pete Doherty’s not doing that, it’s the tabloids. He’s just someone with a
drug problem. It’s the tabloids that are
highlighting that sh*t,” says Ben. “They’re
not highlighting the reality of drugs. They’re highlighting a rock star who
does drugs. Any normal person on the street who does drugs doesn’t have the
kind of glamorous f*cking lifestyle that Pete Doherty has. The reality of
heroin, you wanna know about that? Then come speak to Plan B ‘cause I’ll be
able to tell you that in great detail cause two of my best friends have become
f*cking heroin addicts. You want the reality of heroin, don’t look at Pete
Doherty, but it’s a bit hard not to when he’s in the papers every f*cking week”.
As well as music Ben also has a
passion for films and is currently working on a script. Citing Pulp Fiction,
City Of God,
Sexy Beast etc as his favourite films He says: “I’m writing a film at the moment. I’m writing a treatment for a film. I
don’t know when it will be made, don’t when I’ll time to make it. I might have
to let someone else direct it”.
He’s also released a new mixtape,
Paint It Blacker, which is available to fans at his live shows. It features
reworked songs by artists such as Rolling Stones, Willy Mason, Leonard Cohen
and Jose Gonzalez. “It’s all the
unreleased sh*t, all the sh*t I wasn’t allowed to put on the album,” explains
Ben. “It’s arguably better than my album!”
As for the follow up to his debut
album Who Needs Words When You Got Actions, Plan B has just been too busy.
“I’m thinking about it man, but I’m working at the moment. I’m touring I haven’t had any time,” he
says. ”We’re always coming up with new
ideas, little licks, but when will we get down to writing? Boy that may be some
time during the summer because I’ve got to go to America in March”.
One things for sure though B
won’t run out of ideas to write about: “I
find people inspirational, and I’ve got some good musicians around me that
inspire me a lot all the time, musically so I’m just counting on that basically”.
His single No Good is out on 19th
February
For more info: www.time4planb.co.uk
Words: Helen Duong
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