Queens of Jungle: An Interview With MC Tali

Queens of Jungle: An Interview With MC Tali

5 September, 2008 | 3.07PM

• Written by: Caleb Rakes
• Filed under: Music News: full cycle, mc tali, rogue nouveau

Following on in our ‘Queens of Jungle’ series Beatportal catches up with MC Tali. Having recently won Best Female MC at this year’s Drum & Bass Awards, Tali and has been at the forefront of drum & bass ever since she joined the Full Cycle collective in 2001.

Leaving New Zealand for Bristol after meeting Roni Size in Melbourne Tali, aka Natalia Scott has never looked back. “I had bigger ideas for where I wanted to be anyway”, she states in our interview.

With massive hits under her belt such as ‘Blazin’ and ‘Lyic On My Lip’, Tali was brought to the spotlight of the general public during a period when drum & bass was receiving national media coverage.

As times change though, so do tastes and musical preferences; Roni Size may be back on the road with Reprazent, but Tali’s been venturing into further fields, including a live jazz and cabaret band called ‘Rogue Nouveau’, as well as providing vocals for house producer Martijn Ten Velden. “We’ve made a wicked tune that is getting some great reactions from his peers,” states Tali.

Not to state her foot isn’t still firmly stuck in the drum & bass door. Having recently formed a US drum & bass collective called ‘Queens of Jungle’ with Reid Speed and DJ Shortee, collaborating with EZ Rollers, and providing vocals for the new DJ SS and Influx UK album, ‘Deep Sound LP’, amongst other things.

From a New Zealand dairy farm to drum & bass’s first lady, we caught up with Tali to get the low down on her current projects, her rise to fame and her thoughts on the lack of female DJs within the scene.

I’ve always seen New Zealand as a hotbed of drum & bass talent, so how come you moved over to the UK?

At the time of my deciding to move, New Zealand WASN’T a hot bed for DnB. We’re talking over ten years ago now.

There were only about two other MCs in the D&B scene and to be honest they were kinda rubbish. These people saw MCing as a way of getting street cred and helping hustle them money, but I wanted more for myself than what my scene could provide.

I had physically done all I could do in terms of playing at various nights around the country, and though I was getting better and my reputation was growing, a lot of nights and promoters weren’t that supportive of the idea of nurturing a wannabe female MC.

I looked to the UK as the source of tunes and inspiration, and I felt if I was to really fulfill my dreams and take my love for MCing and D&B internationally then I had no choice but to go to the place where it all began.

Contemporary drum & bass producers has been making tunes for over a decade and in comparison your rise to fame seemed quite fast. How has that affected you?

My rise to fame?! I still find that word hilarious in terms of a scene as small D&B, when you compare it to other genres of music out there!

But, I guess when you’re singing in front of thousands of people at a huge rave in some foreign country and people are singing the words back to you, it can be rather overwhelming and exciting, yes.

I constantly remind myself that I should be grateful I do what I do and get to go where I go, and that despite this, I am still a very small fish in a huge pond of musical potential and talent.

What else are you working on outside of drum & bass currently and are you planning another solo outing?

One is a live band project called Rogue Nouveau, which is a fusion of my love of Big Band, Jazz and Cabaret styles and Hip Hop and more ‘urban’ beats.

It is also quite fashion focused, as I love it when music and fashion collide and you witness something really unique and eye catching.

My band and I are a currently rehearsing on a regular basis as I want it to be really tight, I’m a bit of a perfectionist!

I have also just recently recorded vocals with Martijn ten Velden who is a big house producer from Holland, so it will be interesting to see where that goes.

I recently lent my vocals to the Breaks producers Cntrl-Z and Screwface for their album as well. It’s nice to do other stuff now and then as I appreciate all types of music.

In terms of a another solo outing, yes, obviously I would love to do another album, but at the moment I am working on an EP with some of the Playaz crew.

It’s a slow process having to rely on other producers which is why it’s good to have lots of other musical projects on the go.

Do you still keep in touch with the Full Cycle crew?

Last weekend I was at a wedding in Wales partying with Die, Krust and Clipz.

It was great to see them as I obviously don’t get to see them as often as I used to or would like.

Next weekend I am going on holiday to Ibiza and Roni is playing there, so we are going to link up properly then, as we usually just have a catch up over the phone, and Dyna I see out and about round London which is always a pleasure.

These guys were like my family, my foundation, for around four years. They nurtured my talent and taught me many things about life and the scene. I was quite heartbroken when we all started going our separate ways just as families do, but in saying that there will always be a tremendous amount of love and respect for those mentioned.

Do you think the D&B scene is a boy’s only club? Do you find that attitudes within the scene are more favourable towards guys?

Well, of course it’s male dominated, but it’s not a boys only club else I wouldn’t be where I am, would I?

I don’t think its necessarily that females aren’t welcome in D&B, I just think there is either only a very small amount of woman who actually want to break into the scene, or maybe those that have an initial interest end up thinking that there is no point in trying, and give up before they’ve begun.

But if you are good enough and have the right attitude people will want to hear you and support you regardless of your gender.

If you look at DJs like Storm, Flight, Shortee, Reid Speed and Shy FX’s recent signing B Traits, all are different, and all very talented, but all are still competing for that DJ slot with hundreds of other male DJs.

Lets face it, some people just sound better with different DJs and on different nights. The defining factor is choice, taste and of course if you have the talent to get you noticed.. at the end of the day gender becomes irrelevant.

However, in regards to other music genres there are relatively far less females DJs?

Again, I can’t specify why I think this is.

What I would like to know is, if there are females out there like me who love to sing and MC, and there are those that love to mix, then there must be women out there like me who love the studio and are as geeky as the next guy.

Where are all the female producers? I would love to hear the next female Hazard, or Commix or a duo like Chase ‘n Status come smash it…

This year you won best female MC at the Drum & Bass Awards; what does it feel like to gain this recognition?

It felt good, yes. There had been some recent bitchiness towards me as well by certain individuals also in the scene who were obviously jealous of my achievements and didn’t think I deserved the recognition I have gained over the years.

So when I won it and was then told the vote was won practically by a land slide I felt happy that this reflected my hard work over the years. I think humility and character goes a long way too.

I was just so excited to win an award and be on stage with Goldie, Biggie and Fabio giving it to me.

How has it been working with the talented Shortee and Reid Speed in Queens of Jungle?

These two women are such a joy to work with and tour alongside.

Not only are both incredibly grounded, good fun and very open, honest individuals, they are also both very talented at what they do, total professionals and know how to put on a good show.

We would really like to see our Queens of the Jungle Collective go round the world, as we know we could rock almost any night with what we do.

There is nothing else out there like it, and when we have played together the responses have been awesome. This is something we are hoping to invest a lot more time and energy into in the forthcoming months.

Finally; you’ve been touring with DJ SS recently. Any funny or interesting tour stories you can share with us?

SS and I recently went to Mexico which was amazing.

We had two days off chilling on the coast by the Caribbean and our promoter and his friends decided to take us swimming in these beautiful natural springs in the middle of the jungle.

There was a zip line that went out right over the water and you threw yourself off a platform holding on to this thing before dropping several feet into the water. I am fearless when it comes to things like this, so I was straight in there.

SS however can’t swim very well and was torn between wanting to experience something amazing, and dropping himself into what was effectively a huge water-filled hole in the middle of the jungle.

After much encouragement SS decided he wanted to do it, but then was tossing up with the idea of wearing a life jacket or not.

I was waiting in the water for him with the others, but we gave up yelling at him to do it when we saw him walk away from the edge and take off the lifejacket.

Then suddenly, there he was - holding onto the zipline, no life jacket, zinging out over the water at top speed!

His face when he came up from under the water was a picture… the sheer delight of seeing someone conquer their fear was almost as if I had done it myself. Go on, SS!!

Thanks Tali!

• (0) Comments
• (345) Views
• Check out Tali on Beatport