As one fourth of French DJ band Birdy Nam Nam, Lil’ Mike has been making his mark on the tablist and DJ scene for the last three years firstly through the battles (culminating in their 2002 win at the DMC team champs) and then through musical self expression (culminating in the release of the BNN album, in early 05). But Mike’s involvement with tablism stretches beyond his role in BNN and has since taken some interesting twists and turns, including one which has seen him tour with the winner of the French equivalent of Fame Academy. So it’s only right that we find out some more about Mike's history, the history behind BNN and about Mike himself, one of the most talented scratch DJs in France today (as are most of his crewmates) and by far one of the most interesting persons in the scene, especially when it comes down to things like dressing up sense. You’ve been warned.

In addition to this interview you can check our interview with Birdy Nam Nam (minus Pone) conducted at DMC 2004, and our two-part interview with DJ Need of BNN.

So for those that don’t know you yet can you introduce yourself?

Lil’ Mike: Hello, Lil’ Mike born 13th October 1983 at Villeneuve St George, I’ve been fucking around with decks for about 6 years. I think that’s ok as an introduction, no?

In 2001 you were part of the Franco-Belgium team ‘Atomic Fader’ with Hitch and Magi Cut… Was this group only put together for your participation in the world finals? Or did you have other projects planned outside of battling?

LM: Not really, it was actually Wilfrid De Baise (ed note: who runs DMC France) who put us three in contact, it was a way to get us to London basically. Two weeks prior they held the Belgium Championships, with two teams going through, and as there were only two teams there we got picked. And really I did the show with MagiCut only, and it was CLASSIC! Yeah it must really be fucking classic this showcase, I wouldn’t really like to see it again I think (laughs)! In the end, we made it to the worlds and we practiced two days before with Hitch and MagiCut.

Ok, I thought you’d got together outside of the DMC…

LM: Oh yeah not at all… Well we don’t actually speak to each other anymore since then! (laughs) Not I’m only joking really…

You’ve also been a member of Scratch Action Hiro, of which Mouss (ed note: from Morroco) was also a part. You were from the same part of town, and he’s now totally given up on the whole scratch thing, competition etc… What do you think of his decision?

LM: Well… I feel a bit sad personally… Originally I was a big fan of Mouss around 98-99. The French championships in 99 with his accapella routine were off the hook! There was a time where he was one of the sickest scratchers with his own style and then… Well… To see him only doing RnB nights and mixes I find that a bit stupid, and on top of that I hate RnB so I’m sad. He was really on top of his shit when it came to scratching.

And how did the move from Scratch Action Hiro to Birdy Nam Nam happen?

LM: Well there were still some demos under the SAH name, and as Mouss went off to do his own thing, there was a break there. After that, the demos were generally done with Need, Crazy B, Pone and either Moth or me. At the end we didn’t continue working with Moth because he wasn’t tight enough or something like that, I can’t really remember… I think he wasn’t serious enough about rehearsals or something along those lines… But that dated from before as well, there had been some sort of beef, basically he was a bit suspect! (laugh) But without taking anything away from him or putting him down he’s still my mate. And that’s how we ended with the four of us, we were even saying we’d do the DMC worlds with only three of us if that was the case. We needed a name, we did some brainstorming out of which nothing came out and Crazy B proposed “Birdy Nam Nam”, we thought “yeah that could be good”. We put the name aside and in the end it seemed like the best idea. It’s a comeback from the movie “The Party” with Peter Sellers that Crazy B introduced to us. The comeback was ace, the name had a nice ring to it… So that’s how we got to BNN!

You’ve also worked with Jeremy Chatelain, your mate… (ed note: winner of the French version of Fame Academy)

LM: Errrr… yeah my ex-mate.

Oh! How come? Can you explain?

LM: First of all you need to understand we’ve know each other for a long time, well before we got into all this. We worked together on his live stuff, we did a tour… And at the end of May, we were meant to do a second leg to the tour but at the same time I had a gig with BNN. He added three days of rehearsals and I arranged to go play with BNN while a friend of mine covered his tour in my absence. So he added three days of rehearsals, but I had to go rehearse with BNN too, so I had to not come in one day. He took it badly and since then we’re not really talking to each other. That’s it.

That’s a bit stupid really…

LM: Well I don’t know… I’m also not really totally in tune with his musical vision. But it was really good touring with him, I liked the stage work, touring with real musicians etc…

What were doing then? What were you limited to?

LM: I wasn’t limited to anything, which was good. I did drums, including a track where everything centered around my parts and the others would follow. There was another track with some piano/vocals duo on which I had some arranging notes, which gave a really nice result. Really it was a great experience, what came out of it musically was interesting, there was only him and me and it was dope. I had a good spot and he let me express myself.

If you see him again can you tell him my girl likes his style of clothes! (laughs)

Where did you get the idea for ‘Remix Boy’? (Lil’ Mike has a side project where he remixes tracks by using solely the original vinyl and scratching different parts of it. He progresses the remix along with the track, making it more complex along the way as the record’s arrangements change).

LM: Well ‘Remix Boy’ (smiles)… Well it’s not actually me, it’s a person that takes over my body and… It’s REMIX BOY! It’s like Batman and Robin, with Remix Boy being a bit like Robin… And so he gets hold of me, takes records that are spinning and fucks them around!

Really?

LM: Really! And the person who’s like Batman is ‘Cd’Man’, who takes over the body of Pone turning him into a CD spindle (like the ones where you get a 100 CDs) and he comes and distributes music. Thus it’s Remix Boy and Cd’Man!

I’ll be honest, you’ve lost me a bit there…

LM: Don’t worry, it’s a bit complicated.

DJ wise, have you got any particular inspirations?

LM: I don’t really see any DJs. I see Need, Pone and Crazy B when we do freestyles every once in a while, but I don’t watch videos, or just old ones that are out of date. Personally DJ wise at the moment I’m not really following anything and it doesn’t bother me either.

And what about ‘musical’ DJs?

LM: Well it’s quickly looked at as it’s quite limited. There’s D-Styles, whom I’m really eager to see what he will do next, as his first LP was dope, but it’s possible he might be a bit behind in some ways by now… Well actually no. There’s also Nicks (Ricci Rucker) who does some nice things.

You heard any of what he’s been doing recently?

LM: Err… Recently? No. I listened to the whole of that album he did with Mike Boo… What’s the name again?

Scetchbook?

LM: Yeah that’s it… And I didn’t find it amazing. But on the other hand I loved ‘Dirty Soap’. But otherwise I don’t really know that much of what’s going on, especially if it isn’t released properly as I haven’t got a net connection. So it isn’t easy to keep abreast of all that is going on.

And of what’s been released, you must have heard the ‘D-Compoz’ by Mr.Aul? (Available on Bloom Records)

LM: I only heard the single.

Pump up the Bass? (laughs all around at the name, must be the tiredness)

LM: Well you see just the name along isn’t all that already. I really didn’t like the single, I found it… boring. Nothing caught my attention, the sounds he used have all been over used, and there are clashing notes… Basically I didn’t feel it at all.

Amongst all that’s been released scratch music wise, which track will you remember?

LM: Well I haven't heard a lot… But the first one that comes to mind is “Razorblade Alcohol Slide” by D-Styles, obviously!

At the last DMC world finals in London you looked a bit unimpressed, do you think it’s DMC that has changed or people’s expectations of it?

LM: It’s obvious that we expect of DMC has perhaps changed, but what really has changed is the competitors! There was an energy that has got lost. Even a few years back, you could feel there was something, the winners were still sick DJs, behind them were always strong contenders, and it was a big competition! Now, I haven’t even got any memories from it, not Rafik’s set, or I-Emerge’s, and they were two meters from me! Personally I don’t think it holds what it used to anymore, not since Kentaro won it. At the 6mins competition this year nothing happened as far as I’m concerned!

You’ve said in Radikal (ed note: quality French Hip Hop mag) that if you could have entered you would have brought something more to it?

LM: Not necessarily something more but definitely something different.

Are you planning on competing again?

LM: I’m getting ready for ITF, which should be cool. It’s also an excuse to move around for a bit, show what I can do, if it goes down well that’s even better, if it doesn’t, I won’t lose any sleep over it! But I’m not going thinking “yeah I’m gonna reinvent the competitions etc…!”, because when you compete you’ve get into a frame of mind where you’re telling yourself “ok I’m there, I’m competing, I’m waiting for the next date, I practice, practice, practice…” and in the end you end up in this vicious circle which is boring and brings you nothing!

Do you think battles are dead today?

LM: I don’t know. As long as some people find it interesting there will be an interest to it. But I get the feeling there are moulds these days, and people aren’t willing to really go off on one and do something different!

What do you think needs to be done to bring them back to what they were?

LM: I don’t know…

If you had to enter the next DMC, what you do differently?

LM: I don’t really know… First of all ban the use of break records and do something different. Because break records… Arghhhhh! Everyone’s got the same! You’ve got to use singles etc… Already it changes things. After that musically speaking there isn’t much going on really, because people want to go at it on the technical tip, juggle and fit three kicks in one second… No sense of rhythm, it’s just heavy for the sake of it, no fine approach to it, nothing! That’s why it’s breaking my balls these days, and that’s also why I understand the lack of people coming to these things. Because watching guys go at it like crazy, looking uneasy behind the decks, not being original, not bringing anything to the table… After a while it’s boring! When you check old battles, the guys at the time might not have been on the same technical levels, but they would compensate by doing something else, there was something going on, they could get crowds going like nothing you see today. Because these guys had energy to what they did, they had ‘something’ and that’s what made the difference I believe! Now, it’s become something for guys to study, watching video tapes, and reproducing what they see, not thinking about it enough, and most probably because of a lack of maturity… In the end maturity is an important factor, having 2 years experience behind the decks isn’t the same as 4, isn’t the same as 5 and so on… You evolve as well, if you’re open minded, like music and want to continue with music you’re bound to evolve and open other ways for you to do things. You understand some things better as well, but it’s obvious that it’s not by watching video tapes, listening to some LPs and practicing in your room that you’ll be able to take part in a competition. In fact that’s where the problem is. But it’s not like we can do anything about it. It’s also easy for me to say this because I’m not competing anymore. It’s easy to understand my point isn’t it?

Oh yeah. Let’s talk about the Birdy Nam Nam LP… Where is it?

LM: It’s finished, since early 04. It should be out around early 05, there’ll be 15 tracks, maybe more, but we don’t know yet…

Does it not bother you the late release?

LM: Yes in a way… But to put it out earlier would have been difficult, you can’t just release an album overnight. And we are going independently as well, which I think is the best way to release something quickly, if we had been with a major it would have taken longer. So it’s a bit annoying but in the end it’s good because it allows us to get everything in place, bring it to people slowly with live shows for example.

Now that it’s finished, what do you think of it?

LM: I like it (laughs). But at the same time my opinion is a bit easy… We did it in such a way, without asking ourselves many questions, freely, doing tracks like that without really thinking of anyone direction for them. In the end the tracks might not necessarily be similar and even when it’s not really on a musical vibe I like I can say that there is something going on! And I believe we are making music, we didn’t sit down and think hard about doing something scratched for the sake of it, even if in the end it is all scratched and also not just us releasing sounds in harmony… There are also things on it not very technical but vicious with certain arrangements you might not necessarily hear… But yeah overall I like it!

Does the album represent you fully?

LM: Not fully, because there are tracks that did not inspire me as such… There are some on which I didn’t work at all because I was touring with Jeremy… So it represents me, but not fully… but still it represents me. Also it’s obvious that working as part of a group of 4 different people, where each of us brings something different to the mix, it’s hard to find yourself fully in the work you do.

Have you got a story about this LP, like a funny thing that happened or some problem?

LM: Er… There are a few. At the start I erased ‘Jazz it at Home’ (laughs) (ed note: the first single released last year) after we’d done loads of work on it, it was our first track, solos had been put down on it, things that were difficult to do again… But we found it again! Otherwise there was also Need’s hard drive, which crashed with the LP inside it, but luckily he’d saved it somewhere else… Oh Denis is mighty! But problem wise I don’t think there were any as such. I don’t know, maybe my memory is a bit short. There are problems getting the LP out, not making it.

The first single, Body Mind Spirit/Too Much Skunk Tonight/Jazz it at home, was put out last May. What were the feedback and returns like?

LM: I don’t really know, I don’t pay much attention to it but I know there was some good feedback in the end… Gilles Peterson play listed us, which was nice and created a little buzz… Apart from that I don’t really know, I know we sold a few units abroad, Japan apparently really liked it the guy from DMC told Crazy B, so that’s nice.

Which track on the LP is the most important to you? Your favourite?

LM: For me it’s ‘Abesses’ (link to the video)

Why?

LM: I don’t know, I just like it loads. The track kinda started from me and as soon as I did the bass I got hooked on the melody. I got attached to the track and I worked on it a fair bit.

And live which one do you enjoy performing the most?

LM: Same again. I like the live version too, which is slightly different from the album’s version and which I find even better.

Was your first official live gig at Montpellier (ed note: this gig was conducted in May 04 following the release of the first single)? What do you remember from it?

LM: It was good, but it’s obvious we could have been better then we were. In the end it was good, for a first date I wasn’t disappointed. It went well, and I think the public liked it too!

Talking about live stuff, how did you find Gunkhole’s performance?

LM: Honestly, I thought it was boring! At one point I got hooked on what they were doing for two minutes… But it had too many effects on the music, too abstract, too improvised…

Takes the piss a bit?

LM: for sure

Do you think scratch music can appeal to the masses?

LM: I can’t speak on all that exists out there, but for me, and my vision with regards to BNN, I think that in the end someone open minded will like our album. I think it’s listenable because it’s music first and foremost. But at the same time it’s not necessarily obvious, and to know that it was made solely using turntables adds to it. I think that the music is better in a live environment where people can discover it and understand it better, and with the live shows we’ve done so far that’s what seems to have happened. When people can understand easily that it’s four guys doing all this on turntables in front of them, it’s really something else!

Have you found someone to take you on tour?

LM: Yes recently, through Pone, we met the guy who is in charge of touring “Les Svinkels” (ed note: French rap group) so we’re gonna try and work together, he’s gonna try and make us tour, which is nice! I think it would be interesting because the music is really something to see live in the end. Be it at festivals or other we can always place ourselves on stage along other people, we opened for Axel Bauer (ed note: famous French musician) and it was really well received, so we know we can fit into any context, be it Jazz, Hip Hop, Electro, Rock… We’ve got the means to do lots of things and it’s sad that in the end we don’t play live that much, it forces us to things on the site which is a bit of a shame.

When are your next shows?

LM: we’ve got stuff planned for March next year. There should be some other dates too before here and there, we’ll be at Bobigny in December for the Vestax event.

Have you got solo projects?

LM: Not right now. We’ve already started a new project with BNN, something really dope, well it’s starting quite dope anyway. We’ve had musicians come down and lay some stuff for us and with the music we’ve done I think it sounds dope. I feel like it represents us even better then the LP. But solo wise I don’t really see myself doing music on my own, I don’t feel mature enough and it requires a certain knowledge of making music on your own, a certain ear. On the other hand, I’d really like doing nights, it bores me a bit to have gone fully into the whole turntablism thing, because in a way you miss out on nights and things like that. A one point it was cool, because I listened to a lot of rap, I listened to a lot of music but I didn’t feel the need to play records. Now, I’ve opened myself and I listen to a lot more stuff and that’s when I tell myself it’d be nice to share it with other people.

And record shopping wise do you dig, go to shops or just not bother?

LM: Not bother! (laughs) I’ve got phases where I want to go and buy a record, I tell myself “today I’m gonna dig around and find some old record that kills it”, but now I’ve not got much money so I’m not thinking about it. But it does suck a little. I’m not an addict when it comes to records, but it’s nice to dig, it’s funny when you find stuff that’s dope out of luck. But the main worry is money after all!

Do you play an instrument?

LM: No

Would like to?

LM: Oh yeah for sure, especially just to learn about music. It helps to understand and visualise what music is, it becomes something solid, and there are grids with notes. It clarifies music in a way, so it’s less headaches then what we do now when we make music! And playing an instrument is dope! For me I’d like to play the guitar or the drums, especially because they are instruments where you can really let go. You can go crazy on the drums, you’ll sweat, you’re hot, you can feel the intensity, things which can be difficult to achieve on turntables.

Do you consider having an instrument between your hands though?

LM: In a way yes. Even if it’s easy to say it’s an instrument. I think it’s something else, it’s something that allows me to have another sensation and give out another energy while making music. You see that’s the idea. It's straight forward, no?

Oh yeah! It’s funny you’re sponsored by Numark but you haven’t mentioned them once?

LM: Well it’s good. They make the best decks on the market right now, even CD wise. That’s it, done my bit for the promotional push. But otherwise I’m really happy to be sponsored by them, it’s really lucky. When you start, it’s always hard getting good equipment, and now we get given it for free, they lend it to us, they fix it for us, and the equipment is quality. It’s also what has allowed us to make our LP and our live shows in good conditions, because with Technics it would just be impossible to do what we do.

What do you think of Hand Control?

LM: When I geek out it’s the only thing I really check, I don’t know much about the net so I go there. And also 90bpm.com. After that when I’m bored I google Birdy Nam Nam (laughs). Seriously though I don’t really spend any time online, I find it shit a bit too, I’ve got other things to do then sit in front of my computer (laughs). My mom’s traumatised me with the internet anyway, she’s worst then all you lot put together my mom! Don’t even go there! It’s sick!

Ok stupid question: blonde or brunette?

LM: Brunette really…

Bad memories of blondes?

LM: No, not really. In fact it’s not even really brunette, it’s more like red heads with a strong smell!

Favourite alcohol?

LM: Vodka! And beer as well.

Favourite drug?

LM: Weed is what I indulge in most often. Let’s say that. After that I like a bit of everything! I like to try things out. Let’s say I like drugs in general… I’m open while staying reasonable.

A word or sentence that describes each member of BNN?

LM: Pone: le Jiou. Need: Fuckkkkkkk!!! Fuckkkkkk!!! Crazy B: I’m in crisis! He says that all the time! Generally late at night, and then he ends up with a cup of hot chocolate in his hands! (laughs) And me: Fucker… but a good fucker.

What do you call your style of clothes? By the way nice Mickey Mouse t-shirt!

LM: Thanks. And no, seriously no. Right now I’m a bit all over the place in my life, so I’m in the “no clothes style” style. Always wearing the same jeans, I only change my underwear and t-shirts. I don’t really think about my clothes, when I like stuff I don’t really think about it.

The track that makes you get up and shake it on the floor?

LM: RATM ‘Killing in the name of’, it’s still the ultimate! At a night club it’s the shit!

A good memory?

LM: The night we’ve just been to

Thanks. And a bad one?

LM: (laughs) Atomic Fader! But at the same time it’s funny. There’s also the French 2001 championships, even if now I just laugh about it. There was also a night where Need, Crazy B and I played on our own, in Mureaux. It was the DJ from ‘La Rumeur’ who put us on and there was no one, we played first with no one to introduce us, it was shit, loads of rude boys, sound was crap! After that we did a freestyle on the shitty system, I got angry and just sat at the back of the stage and didn’t do shit because I was pissed off! But on the other hand we got paid a nice amount for it! (laughs)

Last words to finish this off?

LM: finish it off!

Many thanks to Mike for his time. More info on BNN can be found over at hand-control and you can check out tracks from the forthcoming LP and live performances by both BNN and Lil’ Mike on Turntable Radio.

Many thanks to Style and KS who conducted this interview for Hand-Control. Translated by Laurent Fintoni for Spinscience.