On July 30th Unit137 will be releasing the Anansi Riddim, which sees the Hylu and Jago-produced track coming out on a five track vinyl, CD and digital package. The track features vocalists Nanci Correria and David Boomah. Jago took us through the background to 'Anansi', and more about the release and the label. 

 

You have a big release coming out on Unit 137. First of all, can you tell us about the release and the tracks on it?

The track originally came about due to hanging out with Nanci and a load of other good friends and having a wicked time together at Outlook Festival in 2010. That was the first year I went out to play there with Hylu and the vibes were high! When back in London we were all hanging about a lot and I had said when we were at Outlook to Nanci that I would love to write a song with her. I got a real basic down of what the song eventually became real soon after getting back to the city. It’s always a bit of a depressing time at the end of festival seasons. The sun had vanished and I was moping around feeling pretty down in the dumps. Me and Nanci linked up at our studio over in Lewisham, which was a bedroom studio still back then. The day was such a beautiful day though. Fresh snow had fallen and I walked down to meet Nanci and I felt a really good vibe on my way down to the station. I started thinking to myself why have I let myself feel so down the past few weeks, cos the world is so beautiful and there is love all around. There’s a lot of bad minded business flying around too but I was concentrating on the good. We went back and spoke and Nanci was on a very similar tip to me that day. So we both had a lot of good energy together for writing the vocals that day. You can hear it if you listen to the words of Anansi.

 

How did you get hooked up with David Boomah?

David’s involvement came about for this project due to the fact that Hylu and I had both been working building riddims for a while before the Anansi track. We had been recording a load of different vocalists on our riddims. David is one of these vocalists who we respect a lot and were just lucky enough to stumble some links with. He came around and told me I looked like a Mexican bandit and then gave us some options for what sort of vocal we would like for his version. So you can hear what we picked and what we didn't might turn up somewhere else.

 

Our work with David Boomah is still going and not just in a sense of studio work, we also are involved in teaching through the London Urban Arts. Going into schools, youth clubs anywhere to bless up the youth and try and give some good guidance. That’s an important part of the Hylu & Jago project. We have been working teaching music production and song writing for the last 5 years.

 

Who have you got to remix the riddim for the release?

You can expect remixes from Kahn, Run Tingz and Sleepy Time Ghost. Watch out for all of them but I'm telling you bredda! Sleepy Time Ghost is one of Londons best kept secrets!

 

Let us know a little more about Unit 137, and what's next for the label and your artists?

Unit 137 is a label, studio, soundsystem and a collective of close friends who love music and hanging out with each other having fun essentially. There is so much more coming from Unit 137. This would get too long and I can’t stop running my mouth if I start, so let’s just say watch this space.

 

Big up to all of the guys at Kmag, everyone involved in the release and especially Nanci for being the muse and co-writer for the project.

 

Related Links:

• Podcast 29
• Planet V Halloween Party At Cable
• Laser 3.14 at Unit 44
• Podcast 20
• David Walker Paris Exhibition

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