9 Lives - Black Cat

In your own words, how would you describe Stone Circle? Stone Circle, to me, is the end result of drive and dedication. I have worked with a lot of people in a range of groups, and it is rare to find so many people that you can connect with on the same level. Stone Circle is a friendship and a mutual respect for one another’s works

Please tell us Tell as about yourself and what attributes you personally bring to the crew? I am 9 Lives aka Black Cat, otherwise known as D. Gayle. I’m 22 now and I have been writing just under 10 years. I founded what is now commonly referred to as S.C.

I feel that I bring my distinct taste in music to what I do. I also feel that I bring a technical side into the work that we do. In addition to the lyrical element   I  am also responsible for production on a few tracks featured on our debut album, Infrastructure.

What is the significance of your emcee name, your alias name, the name of the group and the album’s title? The name 9 Lives came about from a transition we went through long before S.C. was S.C. The significance? Get ready for the science. I am 9 Lives because I feel that I always land on my feet. I’m blessed like that. At the same time I am Hades and that is because when I moved home I felt like I didn’t know anyone. So I dubbed my area of residence the Undaworld.

The Undaworld is full of lost souls, those are the people doing grime. I am the keeper of the Undaworld and Pique, he is up in the Watch Tower. The Watch Tower watches over the Undaworld. You got that?

This all takes on a little more significance. Peep: we all took on a planet at a time when there was 9 of us in the group. Remember that the planets were named after Roman Gods. We also took on a number in correspondence with the position of our planet within the solar system. Are you with me? I am number 9, but am also 9 lives. My planet is Pluto. Pluto is the Roman name for the Greek God Hades! I had the name 9 Lives and Hades long before I even worked this out. It was just meant to be!

The name of the group was honestly short listed, but things stick. The meaning was undeniable and so the name grew on us. Let me break this one down. A Circle is a perfect shape, no beginning, no middle and no end. In effect it is eternal like our friendship and hopefully our music. We all have an equal perspective into its centre and thus we are all equal. The Stone is a symbol of strength and solidity. It is also another symbol of permanence, you know, when something is cast in stone… Too deep for some and baby food to others.

Infrastructure is like all the component parts that work inside something to make a whole. We were all rappers before we met one another. In other words, we didn’t learn to rap together like some groups. We all brought our own flavour… component parts and all that. I mean we have grown a lot together, but the infrastructure for Stone Circle was made long before we met.

What are your hopes for the album? Double platinum baby!!! Nah, I’m playing. Look, just that it receives the respect it deserves and more. I want it to act as a platform for all of its contributors. May it bring prosperity in the form of more successful future projects. I hope that people run to buy it. I hope that the word of mouth it receives is good. And hope that people e-mail us with their views and opinions as a might have more of a producer’s role on S.C-2 - working title for our next my pet name for the second project

Tell us about the solo cut you provided on Infrastructure? What is there to say… ‘I’m 9 lives, of Stone Circle, from Social Misfits, know the name in full!’ I just felt like heads needed to know that. I feel that the talent is undeniable and I will appeal to many, but I don’t expect to be everyone’s favourite. "Whats In a Name" is an out and out show of battle rhyme skills and wit.

OK, outside Stone Circle, what other activities are you also involved in? In my spare time I am either making beats or music videos. I recently finished Uni so trying to get my future sorted.  My other past times include learning a little about computer art and a love for computer games.

What are your thoughts on the current climate of hip-hop and what do you think Stone Circle is bringing to the game? To be honest, I feel very much out of touch with the whole scene right now. I am a fan of the music and like artists from both sides of the Atlantic. What I do know is that that the majority of people are more interested the negative materialistic shit that plenty of rappers are talking about. People idolize these things and I just wondered if the music is doing more harm than good right now. I just feel sorry for all the real emcees that will never taste the full sweetness of the fruits of their labour.

I feel that in the current climate all that Stone Circle are bringing to the table is another quality British joint from another small independent. But hey, I’ve been saying that this could be the most important album to come out of our industry yet, or maybe even not very important at all. Who knows? I don’t.

What is currently your fondest memory as a member of Stone Circle? Everything is a fuzzy blur. This is like the achievement of a life long ambition and beneath my permanent grimace this has been very rewarding for me. I really enjoyed performing at the UK hip-hop awards. I also think that being on Misfits Theme was a real buzz even if only for 4 bars. I’m finding it almost impossible to boil down my time with S.C. so far into one most fond memory.

Tell us something about Pique, one of the few featured artists on the album. Pique is also like the 5^th member of Stone Circle.I think that Pique is amazing and I really respect his work. He has a great appeal and very intense on every track that he does. You could put him in a room full of excellent rappers and you would still see him shine out. Being that he is a gifted talent, a former member of SC and Social Misfits he had to be on this project. Look out for future releases from him on his own imprint, Heavy Handed Recordings.

If you could only recommend one song on the album which one would it be and why? It would have to be Schematics. It is a tight joint that features the whole team showing off lyrical skills with that extra depth. I am confident people will be feeling this one hard.