This modus operandi is certainly evident in his new album Love Drive Commission, which features a number of guest appearances from a number of contemporaries whom Robertson knows and admires including Rainman, Tommy Illfigga and Dialectrix amongst others. “It’s a real connection with the places I’ve been and had contact with during the last five to seven years of making hip hop music,” he says of his debut long player. “I had a real strong idea about what I wanted to do lyrically for the emcees to touch on but I think sometimes having a really strong idea and this vision for something can stand in the way of the natural progression that music can take. It’s not something that you should try to tame or hold onto. I think music’s one of these things that you just let happen and let it do its own thing. So I let go of the reins a fair bit and each song sort of has its own feel and its own style.”
Although appearing himself on a few of the tracks on the album, Robertson is under no illusions that his main talent lies in ability as a producer. Even from an early age, it’s clear that making beats rather than spitting over them has always been the goal. “The first memory I’ve got of hearing a hip hop record was when I was at a mate’s house, my neighbour, and he’d just bought Tougher Than Leather by Run DMC. He played the opening track Run’s House and I was just totally bugged out! Sitting there listening to it in his bedroom, I think I listened to the whole tape back to front! After about an hour or something he came back in and was like, ‘What are you doing?’ and I said, ‘Ah, just listening.’ I think I was about eight or nine years old.”
It’s not just the music that holds appeal for Robertson, who looks to consume anything linked to the ‘way of life’ of hip hop that was talked about so much during the genre’s golden years. “All the elements of hip hop have really interested me,” he says. “I’ve always been involved with people who are part of the artistic side of it, whether it’s writing, graffiti or rap or DJing and making beats. It’s kind of always been around me and in the last kind of seven years or something I just stuck to it and thought, ‘Yeah this is what’s always been here and this is what’s always pushed my buttons so I’m going to make a hip hop record’.” Pushing buttons is certainly an apt expression given Robertson’s choice of tools. For those that don’t know, Akai’s MPC (Music Production Centre) is an electronic musical instrument, similar to a drum machine but with the ability for enhanced sampling, storage, interfacing and sound manipulation. Incredibly versatile, the kit has revolutionised the way producers execute their trade. “It makes me able to perform the beats that I love man,” Robertson says of the machine he first started using back in 2004. “I’ve never really taken to the turntables anymore than just being able to mix a few beats and pull off some basic scratches, but being a guitar player and also playing some keys, I can sample them, I can sample the records and, for me, being able to knock out beats live and have them sound the way they do coming out the MPC, having that with me – it definitely took my performance to another stage. I love it. For me it’s still the piece of equipment that, if you’re going to write beats, I think whether you use it or not, you should at least have one in your studio.”
Those keen to check out Robertson’s ability on the MPC will be able to catch him live over the next few months on tour around the country with rappers Diafrix and Joelistics. Hitting most of the major touch points in the country, this tour as well as his own planned for later in the year will no doubt increase his exposure and help with the promotion of the album. However, for Robertson, success for Love Drive Commission isn’t all about sales. “I’m not too fussed about he whole commercial side of things,’ he admits. “Money’s not a big deal to me, especially not with music, it never really has been. I’m all about working with contemporaries and the people I really admire, and if this album gets my name into people’s heads and they enjoy it and I can hook up with other like-minded heads and make some good music on their albums, or my albums or wherever it’s at, that’s really where I’m aiming for this one.”
BY RICHIE MELDRUM
