Getting To Know You: Eyeballin' the Videos of CAS

With the announcement that Rinse FM, one of underground London’s most high profile of voices, will return Farringdon to takeover the entirety of our club once again on the 28th March, we thought it prudent to draw some attention to the second room. Considering that Rinse has an age old relationship with some of the freshest emcee talent, the bill is actually stuffed to the gills with the cream of the crop of current and up and coming grime artists featuring microphone commanders like Skepta, P Money, Trim and the recently re-energised Ruff Sqwad alongside accomplished DJs Preditah, Royal-T, Elijah & Skilliam, Faze Miyake, JJ and Spyro. It’s pretty much a glowing and informative look at a cross section of the scene as a whole as it stands in 2013, which is why Rinse’ve also asked the 23 year old CAS to perform. The masked rapper has really started to impress even further of late (he’s been involved in the scene for a long time already) with his super stylised and often brutal video clips helping to visualise the rawness and controversial subject matter of his music. With that in mind we used some of his videos as counterpoints to ask him a few introductory questions to see if we could get a little look underneath the mask and inside his head. Drugs Don’t Work What was the thinking behind sampling the Verve, mate? Was it just a case of the message hitting home with the lyrical content? Did you want something to set the scene or was it more the known hook aspect of it you were looking for? It was always a track that stuck in my mind and then recently I found out the truth behind the songs meaning (the writer, Richard Ashcrofts' struggle with losing his father to cancer). It just seemed so fitting so I spoke to MssingNo and asked him what he could do with it, and that's what he came back with. Similarly where did the idea for the video come from? Was it just a reflection of the lyrics? We just tried our best to make it seem as depressing as the song made us feel, hopefully it came across in the video. Baraka JME produced this right? What was it like working with him…? Do you listen to a lot of his music? It was actually an old beat JME made years ago and I'd always had it on my computer, like I used to write to it and stuff. I was really surprised no one had a vocal version to it by now as it’s a classic. I asked JME if I could and he was kind enough to throw it my way. He's always been helpful over the years, supported my music and got me exposure. Most artists have looked the other way when it comes to me. There are a lot of references in your lyrics to the state of grime in general and the lack of commanding emcees out there. Who do you rate at the minute? Who were/are big influences to you? Like, who are your idols? To be honest I don't listen to the sort of music you would expect me to. Grime I think is struggling at the moment because of a lack of creativity and an influx of egos. People seem to be afraid of letting themselves go in order to maintain an image. How did you get started emceeing? Growing up I used to listen to Nasty Crew on Mondays on Deja Vu 92.3FM. That introduced me to grime. We used to tape the sets on Monday and then rinse them all week at school. Dizzee & D Double E were like gods, they didn't seem like real people. In particular I was obsessed with D Double; it was because of him I wrote my first bar, not taking nothing away from Dizzee he was something else too. All Hallows This feels a bit more like classic hip hop in terms of the beat and the delivery, the pronounced punch lines etc. Do you listen to a lot of hip hop too? Do you think that’s rubbed off on the way you write? I see that it got referred to as a horror story in the video description. Do you approach songs as stories do you think? Yeah I listen to hip hop, mostly old stuff though like Mobb Deep, B.I.G., Old school Eminem. Some new stuff too, Skywlkr & Danny Brown are doing a lot at the moment. I just try to have fun when I’m doing it. A lot of the time I’ve pictured a video before I’ve even finished writing the tune. Leon Best There are a lot of similar themes in your lyrics with a real focus on smart rhyming couplets over stark instrumentation but this one is a lot more…synthy but it makes it ominous but in a different way. Do you think you always look for beats like this to help amplify your message? What are you looking for in a beat you use? I don't have a particular genre I’ve always said that I’ll spit on anything if I like it. The way I see it, if I like it and it gets me hype, it's gonna do the same for other likeminded people. I won't jump on something just because the producer is well known. Slags I like how you’re sending up dudes in this, with the throwback aspect amped up in the video... Can you tell us a bit about the guys who make all your videos? Do they come up with concept for each one or is it more your vision? Thanks. We make our videos as a team. We all have individual strengths and that helps us when we get together. I have a vision and I put that to Cyrus of 1iMediaGroup, or Badge & Mason and we sit down and work out what we can actually get done in a particular space of time. We all rotate filming, editing and just generally running around doing the dog work. I wouldn't say I’m in charge I’m just the one that moans the most. Catch CAS performing in Room Two at Rinse’s next fabric takeover on Thursday 28th March.