Loukia catches up with the Butterz Djs…

When life gets you down, if you’re anything like me there’s nothing that a bit of grime and a couple of rudeboys can’t fix. And speaking of grime and rudeboys I recently caught up with Elijah and Skilliam – two rudeboys disguised as DJ’s who play nothing apart from grime music. They work under the alias Butterz but contrary to this title, what they do is very UN-Butterz. Only a year in the game, they already have a weekly show on Rinse FM, they’ve played across the UK and Europe and have an impressive collection of mixtapes to their name. We chatted about the important things in life – Grime, Fried Chicken and Jazzy Jeff.

Let’s start with Butterz. Why are you called “Butterz”? Is it because you can only pull Butterz girls?

E: I’ll leave that one to Skilliam he gets more girls than me.
S: Butterz girls are the way forward, they need love too.
E: And obviously they would’ve had less action so get me, they appreciate it more.

So that IS the reason! At least you’re honest…

E: Butterz = ugly = grimy = grime maybe? There isn’t an official explanation.

Well we’re not fussy so we’ll take that explanation. So why grime then? I swear it died not long ago…

E: I like it more than any other music.
S: It’s never fully dead.
E: It was never fully live!
S: We grew up on it init.
E: I think there’s avenues people haven’t gone down in it yet and that’s the gap we’re filling.

What avenues are those then?

E: There are a lot of people playing music that’s not that different from ours that do shows all over, high profile CD’s mainstream radio etc. There’s a lot out there to get and as none of them play Grime there’s an opportunity.
We will see, we only a year in so far.

So there’s room for grime in the mainstream then yeah?

S: There’s always opportunity in everything.
E: Yeah man people don’t release grime as their singles though. They try and do the bait thing, flop that and then bred the scene after! You might as well just do what you do best, push it, and carry on. But fuck that anyway, there’s opportunities in the underground people don’t exploit. Let’s talk about something fun!

Hmmm…. Okay so you two are friends and colleagues that’s so cute but let’s get to the point – who’s the better DJ?

E: Skilliam init. I’m still trying to get up there.
S: I’ve been DJing for longer.

So Elijah is Skilliam your favorite DJ?

E: Nah man… Jazzy Jeff is.
S: I’m a bit hurt but Jazzy does a madness for real.
E: EZ as well. Skilliam and me stood there at the front at The End just watching – it was a next ting! But like real people right now - Chef init. You know what I mean, like current dudes. There’s no point in me naming characters from Fresh Prince when there’s people we saw last night doing this. I’m going to grab some fried chicken give me 5 minutes.
*Loukia’s heart melts at fried chicken comment*
S: I like what Youngsta does.

And how about grime acts?

E: Newham Generals are my favorite act by far.
S: Straight - in a rave and on radio. It’s because of the longevity I think. I grew up listening to Dee and Foots.
E: Yeh and they can do any beat - jungle, dubstep, grime – IT’S ONNNNNN!

See I like grime but I don’t really understand it. That might be grime blasphemy but I don’t care. I also get a bit angry when Chipmunk does a song with Elton john - that’s like eating chocolate with tomato ketchup.
Allow it!

S: Have you tried that though?! I’ll do it for you. But yeh people want to make money. Business-wise, they see it as the potential market they can sell to.

See but that’s not grime is it?! It must be hard for grime DJ’s to make a living because lets be honest you aren’t going to play Tinchy Stryder and Sugababes at your next rave are you?

S: Exactly which is why they should still try to cater to everybody. Some people jump ship completely, don’t cater to their original fans and then try and make comebacks.

So do you two cater for the “original fans” when you play out then?

E: Not even original fans. If u started listening this year it’s not a par. Come ride with us init. But yeh, it’s not for everyone is it - nothing is. That’s where people go wrong trying to satisfy everyone.

So you lot have a weekly show on Rinse FM and play at raves as well. Tell me a bit about each…

E: On radio we try keep it varied presentation wise, so one week we may have a guest DJ, another a guest producer sometimes there’s a lot of chatting sometimes its just beats. At raves you’ve just got to balance between fresh ones and great tunes nobody else plays for whatever reasons. There’s no point playing forward riddim or Oi.
S: That’s just manufacturing hype!
E: Yeh man. It would be better to do a nang mix of two not as played tunes and get the hype that way – POW!

And how about your mixes?

E: Well obviously with mixes has to be new music, otherwise there would be no point in people downloading it.

So in between being rudeboys, DJ’s and entrepreneurs are you two going to take over the world at some point then?

E: It’s worth a try to be honest. Obviously we’re smart dudes so not everything we contribute will be from behind the decks. Hopefully we can get some beats out that we like, help support producers we play and enjoy, like how Logan Sama and DJ Magic are doing at the moment. We’re nang. Oh and I’m an amazing cook too.

So these are the DJ’s to look out for in grime – like I needed an excuse anyway. *Sigh* To be honest I hope they do take over the world. I’d take orders from rudeboys that play grime music any day.

Catch Elijah and Skilliam playing at Chockablock this Friday and visit www.butterz.co.uk for your daily grime fix, exclusive downloads and all the news on the Butterz crew.

Words: Loukia Constantinou

Tags: Butterz, Chockablock, Rinse FM