Fr3e

Rhiannon Jones talks to JMC

From Battle to Brothers


Shaun White and Big Ven met as rivals in the heat of a rap battle. They still disagree over who won in their first MC encounter, but that clash has led to a fusion of music styles which they call Fr3e. Now they’re hoping that you’ll join them, as they push the boundaries of UK Hip Hop. Blending their different influences and personalities, Fr3e are aiming to bring something fresh to the UK Hip Hop scene, with ‘no boundaries’.

I wonder why they chose to be a duo…

BV ‘Our families were getting bigger and bigger and we ended up clashing with each other.’

SW ‘That’s how we met, we went against each other, we respected each other, we realised each other’s talent. We thought rather than compete, and go against each other, why not join forces, we’d be a lot stronger to try and make it.’

We’ve all seen 8 Mile, so I wonder what it’s like to actually experience a rap battle for real; what if your mind goes blank?!

BV ‘Its adrenaline, when you’re comfortable, you just feel you’re confident.’

SW ‘It’s hard to keep control of your emotions and your skills at the same time.’

BV ‘You get angry.’

Is that because they say horrible things about your mum?!

SW ‘We don’t take it that far, it’s a bit of fun at the end of the day and it’s a chance as an artist to mess around with your skills, to practise basically. If we hadn’t done that I don’t think we’d be at the stage that we are.’

Their competitive attitude at the beginning means they continue to inspire each other.

SW ‘We motivate each other, I’ll do my verse, we compete, he does his verse. Away from the music side it’s like family, a true friend.’

Fr3e hope to become ‘legends in the music industry’ I ask them what will be the moment they realise they’ve made it.

BV ‘People screaming Fr3e, when we’ve got the respect, when another aspiring artist can say who inspired me was Fr3e, then I will feel like I made it. If someone can say I was on the wrong path and they can say to themselves and I listened to Fr3e and if they can do anything.’

SW ‘Or seeing yourself in Madame Taussauds. To get that recognition to inspire up and coming, that’s a big achievement. There’s no limit I don’t think we can ever say we’ve made it, we can go further.’

BV ‘But a phantom would be nice.’ (laughs)

I put to them what is necessary to make it in the music industry.

SW ‘Consistency.’

BV ‘Have something different to bring to the table don’t try and be a carbon copy of someone else. It usually goes very very wrong (laughs) that’s why the best thing to do is to be yourself.’

SW ‘You have to think out of the box.’

BV ‘ You can hit or miss, you never know, Kanye West started to come onto the stage wearing rucksacks…’

SW ‘You gotta get their attention, obviously there are boundaries (laughs…)’

SW ‘People come into the industry at different angles, and that’s not how they gonna end, for instance when Pink first came in with an RnB sort of style and she’s doing Rock. It’s whatever you need to do to get people’s attention.’

And what’s their message for young people hoping to make it?

SW ‘Have a plan, know what you want to get out of it, what you want to achieve.’

BV ‘It’s hard work, but that doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t do it.’

Above all they want you to know that…

BV sings ‘No one has a swagger like ours’

SW ‘We’re actually gonna bring a different edge to the scene, we’re not your average artist or MC that’s gonna be coming out, we’re actually very different.’

In Fr3e’s music you can hear their many influences: the ubiquitous Michael Jackson, alongside Bob Marley and Jay Z, but also some you may not expect such as Nickelback, Madonna and Roxette. This is a unique mix and their sound will hopefully take Fr3e, well, wherever they wish to go… ‘no boundaries’…