From Grime Wikipedia
SKETCHMAN BIOGRAPHY
In 2006, after a short time experimenting with home recordings and tinkering in his high school music suite, Charles Hazell and a group of emcees with whom he had been musically affiliated made their first professionally recorded CD. A free promo aptly entitled ‘And So It Begins’ saw Charles’ attempt at a variety of different song concepts through the mediums of Hip Hop and UK Grime. Under the alias ‘Sketchman’ (a name which had stuck with him since his graffiti era) he was able to distribute hard copies of the Promo, as well as enable a free download of the 20 tracks, and in turn he achieved widespread approval and acclaim in his surrounding area.
Amongst the group was also a talented singer called Rebecca Sutton, who stood out with her infectious vocals providing a perfect contrast to the often harsh, subversive lyrics and subject matter in Sketchman’s songs.
Reviews of the CD and Sketchman’s hard work alone allowed him to gain a weekly slot on a local underground radio station Edge FM, on which he would mix hip hop and occasionally perform live with other guest emcees.
In 2007, Charles began work on his debut mix CD, which would become the first of a two part series entitled The Workz Of Art. With the help of his current engineer at this stage, Ev James, he learnt how to produce his own instrumentals, preparing them to be recorded on the new CD.
Taking a predominantly UK Grime direction, Sketchman thrived where others found difficulty in entering such a close community. Most of the artists/ musicians he felt came from areas closer to the birthplace of the genre, or areas where a clean cut route into the scene had been previously paved. However, from Sutton (a place barely recognized as a London borough), Sketchman was able to make 5 collaborative tracks with established producer Swindle Productions[1] and earn pride of place in some of London’s biggest independent record shops under the sale or return policy (including Uptown Records who dubbed Sketchman as a talented youngster destined to go places).
FREE DOWNLOAD LINK TO THE POISONED PALETTE HERE: [2]
After the release of ‘Volume 1: The Poisoned Palette’ in November, one of the 20 tracks ‘Get You Down’ was selected by BBC Radio 1xtra’s Ras Kwame to feature on that week’s Homegrown Cuts unsigned pod cast. The song had been rewarded for its positive message.
Soon after this first taste of legal radio play, 3 other tracks from The Poisoned Palette (‘Wake Up’ Ft. Vocalz; ‘Incorrect’ Ft. Ampkid; and ‘She’) received regular rotation on Kiss 100’s Dangerous Minds show.
In 2008, upon independently dispensing a large number of units, Sketchman started work on the second volume of the Workz Of Art series: ‘The Bigger Picture’. It was around this time he also started to make more of an effort to get involved with the scene, thickening the relationship with his local record shop Mixing Records and its proprietor J Sweet[3].
The dubstep scene in Croydon grew dramatically, and Sketchman’s Friday nights on J Sweet’s Mixing Radio lead two more high profile collaboration with dubstep producer Cotti[4].
Sketchman released The Bigger Picture to a similar reception as its predecessor, with 4 more tracks receiving rotation on the Dangerous Minds show (St Helier Symphony; Call me Charlie; Wake Up Remix Ft. Becky; and Find Out) and many more on other underground stations in and around London.
FREE DOWNLOAD LINK TO THE BIGGER PICTURE HERE: PICTURE.zip
THE FINAL DRAFT
The end of 2008 saw a turning point in Charles’ musical venture. It was at this point he realized the formula was working. With 2 mix CDs both selling well and while he was still progressing courtesy of himself (no management/label/distribution etc), he decided to take a more professional approach by moving to Danny C’s Aim Studio; an environment in which every successful UK artist has recorded vocals at some time in their career.
With a new reduced line-up under his roster of artists, Sketchman was able to focus on capturing everyone’s best assets. This together with his new attitude of professionalism helped to birth the new name of the group (Sketchman, Vocalz, K-Debt, Denies and Beckie Sutton) and the new CD; both of which would now be called THE FINAL DRAFT:
“I can honestly say that everything about the project seems right so far, from recording artists to producers and engineers alike. Everyone involved has given their best effort and as a result I am halfway through an album of my best material to date, both creatively and technically. There really is something on there for everyone. The Final Draft is on course to be released in all good record shops in the latter part of 2009, and with the right promotion it should receive the praise it deserves.”
ARTISTS WORKED WITH SO FAR
Swindle[5]
Cotti[6]
Ripperman
Deverlish[7]
Iron Soul
Cinematic
P Money[8]
Killa P[9]
Purple[10]
Loudmouth[11]
Lee Brasco [12]
ZDot [13]
Dogzilla [14]
LINKS
Interview with Frankstah [15]
Myspace [16]
Youtube Channel [17]
Facebook [18]
Twitter [19]
