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WIZE

Creating hip-hop with a difference, Huddersfield-based WiZe, 21, shows the purveyors of bland bling and gangsta culture how to do it with wit and wisdom.

Commercial hip-hop doesn't have such a good reputation these days. Not only due to the perception of violence which has floated across the ocean from the US with the continually popular rap exports, but because so much of modern hip-hop is - quite simply - not very good.

Despite dubious quality control, American hip-hop does far more than simply overshadow UK production. Artists such as 50 Cent or Kanye West have eclipsed British talent through the sheer force and weight of major label influence, shunting aside not only the talent of their UK contemporaries, but the intentions also.

Huddersfield-based MC WiZe is a shining example of the difference between UK and US hip-hop. Inspired by artists such as Wu Tang, Gangstarr and Common, WiZe has been writing and reciting his lyrics since 2000 and is a solo powerhouse of music production and performance, but also a man with a deep sense of social responsibility.

As a performer, WiZe allows his audience to see more of his personality than they would taking the man at face value. "WiZe touches all subjects of life in his music, from education to spirituality," he says on his personal MySpace profile. "Once you listen and understand his music you begin to understand him as an human being."

WiZe's own music is a clear example of the alternative approach taken by emerging urban talent in the UK. The force behind three separate but united music projects, he draws on a range of musical influences, taking into account the growing popularity of electro-pop in Britain on his track Futuristic B-Boy, while pursuing a vintage-sounding hip-hop groove reminiscent of Roots Manuva's finest work on Make Way. Both avoid the hip-hop cliché of the pursuit of material gain, both bursting with a creativity and energy lacking in the hollow and soulless tracks which flood the UK airwaves.

As well as working as an MC in his own right, one of the most important strings to WiZe's bow is his work through spin-off project Rhyme & Rhythm. A community-based music scheme based on reading, writing, performing and recording, he works with teens in his local area, promoting positive attitudes through hip-hop and proving that as a genre, it has more to offer than the constant struggle to achieve money, women and weapons.

Rhyme & Rhythm has produced tracks such as Lil Mysteries. Produced by WiZe and performed by young members of the community, it demonstrates WiZe's creativity and positivity and is both testament to and reminder of the deeper, uplifting qualities of hip-hop for the youths involved. There's an innocence to the track which will never be found in the music of those who use their bullet wounds and jail sentences to promote their music and impress their young fans.

WiZe also works as a commercial producer, recording with fellow up-and-coming artists in the hip-hop community. Dark, original and soulful, the tracks found on his MySpace page shout experience beyond his years and set him up for a bright future in UK hip-hop and its long overdue regeneration.

CONTACTS

www.myspace.com/wize7
dcox_7@hotmail.co.uk

Judge: Michael Baggs, editor, channel4.com/4unsigned
Photography: James Lightbown
Illustration: Neil Duerden

WiZe was one of 20 4Talent Award winners in 2007, our hotly tipped young creatives to watch, to hire and to collaborate with. To meet the other 19 click here