Growing up with my brothers, I was like an accompanying mascot to them. The whole heritage and culture of soundsystems is all in my blood y'know? Then obviously from DJing, I just went onto building my own sound and producing my own music.
Jazzie BWhile we travel as much as we do; this city is still really unique to us in terms of how eclectic it is. There's the variation of pockets when you're travelling around London that you don't necessarily find in the centre, but I'm talking about the city as a whole. For us, the inseparable links to the arts, being innovative and creative in an area like this is very transient as well.
Jazzie BI just think giving back is in tandem with the way in which I was raised, with the, 'It takes a village to raise a child' mentality. Sometimes with the knowledge you have, you just don't know how powerful it is. I think I'm in a reasonably interesting position to recognise that. Plus we're now living in a completely different time to the one in which I grew up in. Because of my peers as well, it's the whole reason I'm doing what I'm doing. In terms of putting things back into the community, it's almost like running my sound system again.
Jazzie BWe, black British, were searching - as the first generation that was born and raised here - for our own identity. We already knew what the Caribbean thing was about. We grew up with the racial tension and unrest. They were either touching your head for good luck or kicking you down the stairs for being too dark. But that was part and parcel of how we grew up in London. But in terms of our identity, it was more about us claiming it y'know?
Jazzie B