An Interview with The Four Owls

The landscape of hip-hop is changing. More and more in recent years, talent from outside the US has been growing, gaining ground and fueling a rising fanbase. This is particularly true of the UK, with numerous dedicated labels emerging across the country and even a music festival purely geared towards the British brand of beats. Last year it was headlined by Ghostface Killah and this year Earl Sweatshirt and Jeru the Damaja will be making appearances amongst all the homegrown talent.

No label is more prominent in this scene than High Focus, it’s a fascinating specimen. All the signed artists will cross collaborate, play each others’ nights and form double acts and full groups. One group stands wings and talons above the rest though: The Four Owls. Consisting of Verb T, Leaf Dog, BVA and Fliptrix, these masked MCs have been responsible for some of the best nights UK hip-hop has to offer, embracing the wondrous weirdness of their avian alter-egos (Bird T, Deformed Wing, Rusty Take-Off and Big Owl, respectively), as well as putting out one of the most successful albums in the history of the label in 2011.

Now they’re back with another cut. Natural Order is the culmination of more than 3 years of work, in between extensive touring (both together and apart), festival appearances and other projects. All of them have released at least one solo cut since 2011’s Nature’s Greatest Mystery dropped and in many cases released material under other guises as well, Leaf Dog and BVA are also in another super-group called Brothers of the Stone, who released an LP in 2013. Through all that though, they’ve had time to carve out a seriously impressive second album and it’s attracted some pretty serious attention, DJ Premier, for example. Ahead of the album’s release (and tour), Verb T has dropped in to give us his perspective on all this craziness.

 

First things first, hi Verb! How are you?

I’m fine thanks! Great in fact, good times, good times. How are you?

 

I’m very well thanks! Your first album as a group, Nature’s Greatest Mystery was kind of spontaneous, it almost happened by accident. How did it feel producing the new one, by contrast?

This time round we felt like we had a fuck ton of pressure on our shoulders and I think we clashed creatively at times but overall through this process I think we became closer as people and realised the full power that we have as a group. We had a full album finished maybe about 2 years ago but it just wasn’t good enough, from that album only about 3 songs survived. We worked harder this time round and while the first is special to us still this new one is better in every way in my opinion. I hope all the fans like it.

 

The whole High Focus label is kind of like a big family, MCs and producers are forever collaborating, forming different groups and trying out new things, how would you say that’s affected your growth as artists?

I think we inspire each other and also personally it makes me work harder to make my verses better, I don’t wanna be the shit one, it’s prob the same for the other guys I reckon. I would also say it’s just fun to be part of an extended family like that we are all pretty different people in a lot of ways but I think that’s what makes the label what it is everyone has a role and a place.

Since the last album, you’ve all released solo material, toured together and apart and various other things, has it been difficult dividing the time?

I think it was essential that we took time to do our own things, if we had gone on and done another Owl album straight away it wouldn’t have worked, we all needed to express certain things as individual artists. Me and Leaf have both been working on production too, but then we had a series of European shows as the Owls and the four of us just knew it was Owl time so we got together and made some more songs as a group which were different from what we might do solo.

 

UK hip-hop is seemingly entering a new golden era, why do you think the momentum has built up so rapidly recently?

I dunno man, I mean remember I been here for years, I’ve seen ups and downs so the growth to the point things are at now doesn’t feel like a quick thing to me it’s just a peak on a chart that’s been going up and down for a while. I’m enjoying the chance to travel more and reach new fans right now but I’ll still be making songs when the next genre takes over for a little while, I’m looking to produce and develop new artists as well to help the next generation too, that’s what it’s about to me. But yeah I feel like Hip hop over here is getting more shine now because it’s undeniable the amount of fans we have, despite not having much exposure via mainstream media.

Now that you’ve all risen to prominence outside of the group as well as in, do you find that you challenge each other more and make each other work harder?

I think we’ve always had respect for each other, if any of the other guys got super famous without the rest of us somehow I wouldn’t look at them any different, we are closer as friends now but in terms of respect or challenging each other as artists that’s always been there anyway, and we are all hard workers which is good.

What do you think sets the UK scene apart from the rest of the world?

I don’t really know in all honesty, I think some UK artists are still very influenced by the American sounds of past and present but I guess the only thing I really see that sets us apart is the cultural and environmental influences which transfer to music through things like mood and humour, also we are lucky to rap in English, a universal language which makes us more accessible to the rest of the world as well as our own country, which is an advantage a lot of amazing artists elsewhere in Europe and other parts of the world don’t have.

 

You’re the oldest member of the group, does that have any bearing on your relationship with the others?

I think at first the other guys looked up to me, now they just think I’m a proper dick. Nah, I dunno, I think to an extent all the guys respect the years I’ve put in and the fact I juggle family life with music and stuff but really we’re very equal, I’ve learnt a lot from these guys too, we’re mates and that, plus I look and act young (completely juvenile) so shhhhh, dont mention age again.

How did you find working with DJ Premier? Do you think US/UK collaborations like that are a continuing trend?

Working with Premier was a goal I’ve had for a very long time, when I was in the booth laying my verse down for the track I actually felt nervous and I never get like that even in front of massive crowds. When we had done the song over time it sunk in and felt really good. It was hard though, we had a ton of contractual stuff, Premier and his manager had to check our music out to make sure he liked our stuff and we needed to have two mutual friends (Apathy and Rag n bone man, both of whom Leaf has produced for) vouch for us to prove we weren’t some sort of con artists. Once Leaf started talking to premier though it became apparent as well as being a hero to us he is just a really cool guy. The fact Premier liked what we did with the song was a great feeling, I found out he had sent it to DJ Evil Dee too who also rated it, we’re all people and one person’s opinion is just one person’s opinion but it felt good still to have heroes from my childhood liking our song. I hope more big name producers work with UK hop hop artists.

Other than yourselves, are there any artists you would recommend to someone just getting started with UK hip-hop, as an introduction to it?

I don’t really want to mention any names as I will forget people, I’ll just say this there is a wealth of talent in the UK so just seek out and take time to explore the different artists over here, there is not just one UK hip hop sound so I guarantee if you like hip-hop of any type there will be someone you can connect with, we have a great amount of talented lyricists and musicians people should check out.

 

If you could put on a night anywhere in the world (either solo or with the Owls), where would you choose?

That’s a very good question, New York is the hip-hop Mecca and I’ve never been so I’d love to make that happen. Brazil, carnival time, Owls performing live sounds like it HAS to happen really. We haven’t performed in Australia as the Owls at the time of writing this, that needs to happen too. But I would like to play everywhere all over the globe from UK to anywhere, connecting with the fans in a live environment never gets old, even if I’m grumpy before the show and not feeling up for it, once I get on stage I black out and get lost in it all.

 

 

Natural Order will be released on the 12th of February, you can pre-order it here. In the meantime, The Four Owls will be touring up until February 7th, check the dates below: