Urban Panda x Risky Roadz #INCONVERSATION – Exclusive Recap

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Urban Panda x Risky Roadz

UK Clothing brand Urban Panda and legendary Grime videographer Risky Roadz hosted an event at the Youtube Space in London on Friday 9th March 2018. The event highlighted the importance and history of Grime alongside a discussion with Radio 1xtra, DJ Target and Executive Editor of Trench Magazine, Hyperfrank.

The night began with DJ Kola Bolaji spinning a few tracks before Daniyal Khan, creator of Urban Panda and Roony, founder of Risky Roadz introduced themselves to an audience of 100 creatives and Grime enthusiasts. Laura Brosnan – also known to many, as Hyperfrank was first to appear on the #INCONVERASTION stage, where Daniyal and Roony asked her a series of questions about the rise of Trench Magazine and how she was one of the first to blog and write posts on grime events in and around London.

Hyperfrank said

“I used to turn up to events and people were shocked that I was a woman, like how could a woman be writing all this stuff… there wasn’t a written platform back then. Yes there were visual platforms, but that took time to create, whereas writing got news out there quick!”

Launched in September 2017, Hyperfrank started up her own magazine called Trench Magazine; with business partner Joseph ‘JP’ Patterson.

“JP had the brains and already came up with the name Trench, I had the knowledge on grime and can write – that’s when Trench started”,

With interviews from Skepta, JME and Sneakbo under her belt – Hyperfrank has been there from the start.

She adds:

“I remember I use to go to shows with this toy owl that I bought from Clinton Cards, I’d give it to the artists and take photos of them with it. They probably use to think ‘who the hell is this woman and why is she giving me a teddy when I’m about to go on stage and spit bars?’ It was just a fun little thing I liked doing, haha… I like photography too, I use to buy all my cameras from charity shops, I know I can’t take photos but I enjoy it – all my images are very raw.”

After an intermission full of energy performances from Grime artists – Cally, Ten Dixon and Madders Tiff. Daniyal and Roony welcomed Radio1/1xtra DJ and producer DJ Target to the stage. The hosts were keen to explore the DJ’s life growing up with Grime and the release of his upcoming book.

DJ Target said:

“I grew up with my nan on the same road as Dizzee Rascal, Tinchy Stryder and many more. There is a history of grime on Devons Road”

Target started out on pirate stations when he was younger until his friends started up Rinse FM in 1994, which is a London-based community radio station for young people. UK Garage was on the rise during this time with the likes of So Solid Crew upcoming.

DJ Target said:

“So Solid Crew were like inspiration. We created a musical group originally called the Ladies Hit Squad because so many girls use to phone in to the show haha! We then changed the name and built Pay as U Go Cartel and that’s when it hit… During the Pay as U Go period we had better aerials and we could broadcast outside of London, next thing you know, we were getting bookings in places like Birmingham and Manchester”

In late 2013, DJ Target set up his own record label called ‘Pitched Up’ where he was bringing through a lot of unsigned acts, such as Shakka and Lotto Boyz. He also wanted to create events for DJs and new acts – Little Simz was the first to headline one of his shows, followed by artists such as Skepta, Stormzy and Section Boyz. In 2014, DJ Target, Charlie Sloth, and MistaJam all were offered radio shows on Saturday nights.

Now the DJ has announced the release of his new book called ‘Grime Kids’ which is available to pre-order here. The Release date is the 14th June 2018.

“I didn’t ever imagine I would be writing a book. If you asked me 10 years ago, I never would have though about it. I had the content and memories, but actually doing the book was something else. The cover is a picture of me and Wiley when we were young and we called it Grime Kids because we were the first generation of grime kids.”

DJ Target explains;

“I tried to go into depth about everything that inspired us and how I met Wiley. I wanted to talk about the whole jungle era, the steer from UK Garage to Grime and about what’s helped Grime get here. There were a lot of late nights creating this book but I didn’t want to do it half-hearted. If you don’t know anything about Grime, you can pick it up and learn a lot of stuff.”

Big up Urban Panda and Risky Roadz for hosting an amazing event with some inspiring people! Here’s to the next.

Words & Photography by Harpreet Dawett ( HDK Media )