As the interview gets underway, Professor Green’s PR are talking to him about how he should attend an upcoming premier;
“We can get you a limo?”
“Limo sounds good!” We chip in.
He gives an amused look. “Sounds like cheese to me.” Turning back to the PR people, he asks “Can I get out of it in my dressing gown?”
Maxim: Enough! Although that would be pretty good. Anyway, talk us through some of the tracks on your new album, Alive Till I’m Dead, if you please?
Professor Green: Sure thing. We’re still working on the track listing, but we’ve got certain points of it down. The first track is called 'Kids That Love To Dance', produced by Naughty Boy and featuring Emeli Sande… it came about by me and Naughty Boy getting absolutely fucked in the studio – really, really fucked. I didn’t end up using any paper for it, I just walked in the booth and my opening lines were ‘I can’t handle my drugs, so blame Sha and his hand for the buds, before these vocals I was tee total till the AK, now I’m back and I’m buzzed’, the song just carried suit from there. It seemed like a great way to open the album.
Maxim: Something about being shut away in a studio always seems to inspire some crazy behaviour. Not that we’d ever indulge in such things, you understand…
PG: Of course not. The closing track has actually been around for quite a while. It’s the most personal track on the album, in that it talks about the death of my great grandmother, who helped to bring me up and about my father, and some of the struggles I’ve been through since that time… it gives closure to a lot of it. So it starts and ends in a very different place.
Maxim: So you’re telling a story with your album?
PG: Yeah pretty much! In the middle there’s a whole heap of different stuff. There’s a track called ‘Where Do We Go?’, exposing my sensitive side, which doesn’t exist for the most part.
Maxim: Come on now, we’ve been doing our homework on you. You’re not fronting an image, you can be a softie if you want.
PG: Haha, no I’m not into bravado at all! ‘Where Do We Go?’ is about a real relationship. I’m not able to sit down and just write soppy records, like ‘would you be my baby’ or whatever…
Maxim: Well, if you ask us nicely enough.
PG: [Laughing] You gonna be getting out the limo with me then are ya? But yeah, the track’s about a relationship I had with an ex-girlfriend… we went through an awful lot together. A lot of drugs, which I do my best to avoid nowadays, an abortion, which came about from fear… on both sides pretty much, it ended up being a decision that’s hung over us ever since, all culminating in a pretty bad ending with no real resolve.
Maxim: Some heavy subject matter then?
PG: Well, it’s a pretty meaningful track, but on the flipside of that there’s a song called ‘Oh My God’ I did with Labyrinth. It’s a proper dirty track, but not in a sexual sense, more like after a really fucked up night ‘just woke up with my clothes still on’ sort of thing.
Maxim: Oh yes, we’re with you on that one. Waking up with one shoe on sort of thing?
PG: Exactly that. I’ve also got a track that only just came about last week. I was in the studio working on some stuff and ended up coming out with this tune I’ve called 'Monster'. It’s not finished yet, so it's still open to some changes, but it’s very much about being.. well… a monster. It starts off like this: ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Saw a chick walking with a big behind, Now I’m stalking my victim mine, Unrecognisable ‘cos I’m in disguise’ I want it to be quite tongue in cheek, so it's gonna take that kind of route.
Maxim: So you’re pleased with how things are turning out?
PG: Very much so. Overall I feel the album is highly varied, I’ve put some of the elements of what I learned from all the battle rapping into the tracks, the humour and the spontaneity, like the moments with Naughty Boy where we were just a bit mashed and would just put something down, simply because it felt right at the time. But, as we were saying earlier, I’ve also learnt to story tell a little bit… first example of that would be a track called ‘All To Myself’ produced by Future Cut. It’s quite demonic, very dubstep in its influence. I definitely had to take on a role to play it, like 'Monster' it has bits about stalking in it, but it’s completely different at the same time. It’s much more in-depth… about a guy that becomes overly obsessive with a girl, can’t tell you much more than that though, otherwise I’d be giving it all away!
Maxim: Sounds like a lot of work went into everything…
PG: You have no idea. There’s a very varied sound going on with the album, it all comes together because I’m the common denominator I suppose, but it definitely crosses a lot of different ground. One of the curveballs, because I’m not sure people have heard enough of me to know what to expect just yet, was a track I did with Fink, bit of a ninja tune, called ‘Closing The Door’, it’s a bit dub, blues and folky… definitely different to everything else on the album. That one’s about the turmoil that comes from a music career taking off and all the doors it opens for you, and being careful which ones you close behind you.
Maxim: Remembering your roots?
PG: Yeah, trying to find that middle ground between between selfless and selfish. Always trying to do the right thing by that particular person. It’s a battle I’ve had to go through recently, it’s kinda hard to handle. A lot of things have changed, my time isn’t my own anymore so I don’t get to spend the time that I used to with the person that I was and am still with. Luckily we’ve managed to work things out… a lot happens behind closed doors per se.
Maxim: Indeed it does! Let’s talk about some of the comparisons you’ve drawn. Obviously, being a white English rapper, you’re getting the obvious ones like Mike Skinner and Plan B. Any more comparisons you get? Are they actual influences on you? Who did you used to draw influence from?
PG: Obviously it’s a huge compliment to be compared to people who’ve been doing this a lot longer than me, but I tend to get the Eminem thing a lot. To be honest I think that’s just lazy journalism, when people just draw comparisons rather than talking about me in my own right. Eminem is absolutely amazing, but past skin tone and pitch of voice, are we similar? No. We both draw on our own experiences and I’ve led a completely different life. My influences, I do listen to a lot of different music, but Biggie first and foremost. He was who I listened to when I first started listening to rap music and he’s still my favourite today, him and Jay-Z are my two favourite rappers. I’d hope that if people were gonna comment on where they think I draw influence from they’d hear that in my music, not that I’m trying to put myself on that same level or anything!
Maxim: Those two get lots of plays in the Maxim offices, we’re looking forward to the finished product!
PG: As am I! But like I said, I do listen to a lot of different music, I wouldn’t say my album is a stereotypical hip-hop album or anything. I’m not trying to delve into the electro sound or anything like that, but musically I feel it's really different. I don’t think anyone's really come out with an album recently that’s covered the ground that this one has.
Maxim: You’ve worked with many different people in the past few years, any favourites that you’d like to give a quick mention about?
PG: Lily Allen has been amazing, from just working in the studio to really getting to know each other on tour. We’ve really built up a vibe together and that carries across now in everything we do. Every time we perform ‘Just Be Good To Green’, it just comes as second nature now, doing the video was a laugh aswell. The experiences have been fantastic, going to Australia for The Big Day Out tour, Dizzee Rascal, Muse and Kasabian were all there… we even went out on a yacht in the Sydney Harbour with Muse. I found myself thinking how crazy it is that some little kid from Hackney is standing there getting to experience something like that…
Maxim: Sounds like a bit of alright to us!
PG: It was very humbling as well you know, to meet people on that level with their level of success who are still very normal and down to earth. It was really nice, as you do tend to meet a lot of pricks. I’m not a fan of egos, especially in music. We’re not saving lives you know, doctors and nurses do a lot more than we do for the world and they don’t walk around with the bravado that some people do.
Maxim: We’re sure your album will save a life or two. When’s it out?
PG: It’s out in July, we don’t have a definite date for it yet because the single ‘Just Be Good To Green’ with Lily was meant to come out June 27th, but because ‘I Need You Tonight’ is doing so well, we’ve decided to push it back to July 5th or possibly another week after that, but the album is definitely coming out in July!
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The following images were taken at the Maxim local, the King & Queen pub on Foley Street in London.
They were taken by Lee Vincent Grubb and are available from www.leevincentgrubb.co.uk
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