Cultural Life: Jazzie B, Musician and DJ/Producer

Jazzie B

Music

I've been listening to Chancellor [also drummer with Soul II Soul] and Joseph Macwan – an Asian kid out of Leicester. He's doing this whole reggae-led thing with his band Out of Karma. He's very influenced by Bob Marley. I'm really intrigued because there's something quite unusual about him, so I'm championing his music.

Film

I saw Marley. I'm a big fan of Bob Marley. There are so many different movies made about him but I found this one to be a little bit more emotional. It showed another side to him, a human side and I really enjoyed it.

Books

I'm reading Gil Scott Heron's autobigraphy The Last Holiday. I'm a little bit of a fan of old Gil so with the connections with the West Indies and enjoying football, I found lots of things to relate to.

Visual Arts

I went to see Goldie's work at London's Red Bull Studios. It has loads of Afro imagery in it. I remember sending him details from different books to look into for that so that was good. I really like the artist Barry Bish, who recently had an exhibition in London. I like his paintings and I have a lot of his work. They are quite intricate and some of them are quite big, with plenty of colour.

Jazzie B curates the 'Back 2 Life' residency at Electric Brixton, London SW2, which opens on 22 June with a performance by Soul II Soul (featuring Jazzie B and Caron Wheeler) and very special guests Loose Ends