UK music is definitely experiencing somewhat of a revival and leading the pack is the ‘urban’ scene.
You can’t go anywhere without hearing Tinchy Stryder, N Dubz, Tinie Temper, Chipmunk or Professor Green and it is only set to continue with wave after wave of new and different artists just waiting for their opportunity to break into the spotlight.
One such artist is Elro.
When you think of rap, Chepstow in South Wales doesn’t exactly spring to mind but when you actually hear the quirky lyricist it all makes sense. A history in stand up comedy serves the former University student well as his witty rhymes have seen him explode onto the scene (a video of him freestyling got over 200k views in under 20 days) and with artists like ‘The Streets’ clamouring to work with him it appears he has a bright future.
A throw away comment from him on Twitter about United before the Southampton FA Cup tie showed yet another side to this student/stand up comedian/rapper – he was a huge Manchester United fan!
Eager to learn more about him, I sat down with him and talked all things United.
The Red Knight: What is your earliest memory of Manchester United?
Elro: My earliest memory of United is from when I was about 5-6, when my dad took me to see them play a charity match against Bristol Rovers. Beckham, Scholes and Neville played! I think we won about 3-1.
TRK: Favourite player when younger?
E: Beckham was always my favourite player as a child. Used to try and take free kicks like he did!
TRK: Favourite player now?
E: Its been Vidic, ever since he joined. I used to religiously bet on him to score first for a whole season. Never seen such passion and heading tekkers on any player. He is everything United are about.
TRK: What are your thoughts of the current team, people say it is the worst we’ve had in some time but we are doing ok?
E: It may not be the technically the best team we’ve ever had, but we’re getting results, the team is working well together. A good section of the squad are young too, so I’d imagine they will only improve.
TRK: Neville has retired, Giggs and Scholes are reaching that age too do you think we have the players to replace them or should we look at bringing players in?
E: At the minute, I think we have enough options in defence and as much of a Neville fan as I was, you know he was probably past it now anyway so I think defensively we’re fine, but it will be interesting to see how the younger players like Obertan etc mature, hopefully they will fill the voids.
TRK: Do you think we can go the rest of the season unbeaten?
E: I think its very possible, but knowing us, we’ll probably just lose to some random team from the bottom half of the season at some point.
TRK: What’s been your favourite moment of the season so far?
E: I’d have to say Berby’s latest hat trick, was just so well taken.
TRK: Who would you have replace Sir Alex when he finally decides to step down?
E: Ummm, This is a tough one. I really don’t know to be honest, but I do think it HAS to be someone with an incredible amount of charisma, so I wouldn’t rule out someone like Mourhino, as much as he annoyed me at Chelsea, he almost certainly would be good at the club.
TRK: There was a recent poll that named Ryan Giggs as the greatest United player ever, do you agree and if not who is?
E: All depends on what people perceive ‘greatest’ to mean, I wouldn’t say he’s the most talented player we’ve ever had, but when you look at what he’s done for the club, there’s not many people who can come anywhere near him. I mean most talented would have to be someone like Cantona or Ronaldo.
TRK: You’re entering a 5 a side tournament, you need 4 more players past or present who do you go with?
E: Scholes, Vidic, Van Der Sar, Rooney.
TRK: How did you start off in music?
E: I just started writing raps a couple of years ago, then shoved them on youtube…
TRK: The response to that video was crazy, did you expect anything like that?
E: To be honest, I thought it would go one way or the other, I wasn’t sure if SBTV’s audience would… get me, I suppose, but I thought if they appreciated lyricism, then hopefully it would be popular. I had no idea how quickly it would take off though!
TRK: Your content is quite off the wall, what is the thought process for you when you write?
E: Umm, I basically think of lots of puns, metaphors etc, then I try and piece the rest of the lyrics around these ideas. I usually work out the end of each line first and then look at it as a kind of puzzle trying to find the right words to make it flow and make sense!
TRK: What was it like working with Mike Skinner?,
E: Amazing. I’ve been a massive Streets fan since… well since I first heard them. So for Skinner to say he wanted me on the mixtape, only a few days after the video, was incredible. I was just buzzing.
TRK: He has been heralded as one of the better acts to come out of the UK in recent times but it is thought to be ready to pack it in so how does it feel to know you may be one of the last artists to work with him?
E: Its a an honour, no doubt. I mean in a dream world, he’ll at least keep producing and maybe we can work together again.
Well thanks to Elro for taking time out to speak to us as he was preping for a gig at the Ministry of Sound in London. If you would like to find out more about the on the rise artist he is all over the place.
You can catch him on Twitter: @elroraps
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Elro-Raps/136178726407125
and on Youtube www.youtube.com/comedyilr
so get behind a fellow red and show some support.
