| THE VOICE JUNE 28 - JULY 4, 2012 23

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POSTER BATTLEAMBER ROSE & ROCHELLE HUMES

Movers & shakersStars who shone last year

Our favourite interviews of 2012

YV Charts

A divine start to the New YearA divine start to the New YearA divine start to the New YearMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic RighteousMic Righteous

24 � THE VOICE JANUARY 3 - 9, 2013

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FOLLOWING HIS performance atartist Chris Ofili’s exhibition, which pro-pelled him to become the youngestperson ever to perform poetry at theHouses of Parliament, Louis Antwi wasinvited to read his piece Paradise byNight at the opening of the new LouisVuitton store.

The event was attended by designerMarc Jacobs, luxury goods billionaireBernard Arnault and actress GwynethPaltrow. Antwi described the experi-ence as “exciting but supremely sur-real.”

Louis was also targeted for an inter-view and photoshoot opportunity bysportswear giant Nike. With fellowmembers of the Run Dem Crew, a“creative minds running collective,”Louis was seen in Nike's 2010 adcampaign.

In the meantime, Louis - who hascompleted his second year of univer-sity and is preparing to specialisein Engineering and Process – isadding the finishing touches to abook featuring twenty of his dis-tinctly evocative poems.

LOUIS ANTWI

THE YV CHART

* www.rarerecruitment.co.uk

WRETCH32:C o m i n gin atnumberone isour favouritenorth Londoner.Wretch, who coveredour first issue, wasfunny, down-to-earth and honest

JOSHOSHO:Joshtakessecondplace.YV’s Akilahchristened him‘Johnny Shogun’ during her inter-view. He laterannounced on Twitterthat it would becomehis official alias

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JAMMER:Jammer hadYV’s Akilah institches duringtheir Novemberinterview. Hespoke candidly andhumorously abouthis beef with fellowrapper Snakeyman

ANGEL:Angelmakes ourtop 17 forremaininghumbledespite suc-cess. His coy-ness when asked about themasses of female fansgives him extrabrownie points

MISHA B:The formerX Factor staris a far cryfrom thetainted picture some in posi-tions of power tried topaint. Softly-spo-ken, likeable andcandid

VIS:TheRadio1xtra DJmakes top10 becausehe and YV’sBen got on likea house on fire. Good conver-sation equals a greatinterview. He is alsohas a lot in thepipeline for 2013

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MIKELAMEEN:As theyoungerbrotherofHollywoodstar Aml Ameen, itwould be easy for Mikelto shy away fromquestions abouthis famous sib-ling. Not so. Greatfun!

11 1312

The London 2012 hurdlerhad our Ben singingher praises. Hedescribed her asmature, bubbly anddown-to-earth

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CHIP:Chip isanothernorth Londonfavourite. He made ourlist because he gave us one ofthe first interviews sinceleaving for the USand signing to T.I’sGrand Hustle label

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SWAY:The UKrapper,who weinterviewedat BBCRadio 1’sHackneyWeekend in June, wasfunny as always. Heeven told his pressteam to give usmore time to talk

ASHLEYWALTERS:Although itwas an earlymorning interview, the formerSo Solid star was surprisinglychipper and upbeat.Another great inter-view

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BIGZ:The UKrappersurprisedYV’s Akilah whenhe announced that hewas a secret R‘n’B lover. Hewas really happy withhis interview andtold the world

1 2 3 4FAZER:The N-Dubz starwas sur-prisinglyhonest,openand frank duringhis interview with YV’s Akilah.He talked about areunion with thegroup andanswered toughquestions

POPCAAN:Despite hisb r a v a d oin songsl i k eOnly ManShe Want, theJamaican dancehallstar is surprisingly softly-spo-ken. YV’s Dionne foundout some interestingfacts and laughedher way through theinterview

LABRINTH:This interviewwas so good,Labrinth man-aged to walkaway with ourDionne’s much-loved ‘Ilove Hackney’badge. Anotherdown-to-earth andfunny star

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OMARION:In another life,we’re surethe USs i n g e rcould bea comic.He made the roomfull of press laugh non-stopduring the St Kitts festi-val in July. He alsogave his one andonly picture to YV’sDionne

PERRISHAKES-DRAYTON:

TREYSONGZ:Beautifulon theinsideandout.Trey proved thatyou can be both. He con-gratulated YV’s Dionne on herinterview skills,posed for pics andgave greatanswers

Great chats and laughs. Here’s our top 17 interviews from 2012

Dear Kat,

I think that I am in love with a boy and I don’t know how to tellhim. He is an amazing person and we get along, but I feel scaredabout getting rejected. I think he might feel the same way but thereis a possibility that he could find out and run off.

We have only known each other for three months, so it mightseem a bit early, but from the moment we met, we had an amaz-ing connection.

I feel like I need to get it off my chest.

What should I do?Natalie, 17

Hi Silvia,

The best thing to do in any relationship is to have patience. Ifyou tell him that you love him and you feel it’s not the right time,you may not get the outcome you hope for. It’s best to wait untilyou believe the feeling might be reciprocal.

If it is as real as you say it is, waiting it out for a while won’t doany harm. Let your bond get stronger and you might even findthat he says it first.

It is easy to rush into things but true love will always prevail.

Hope this helps!

JANUARY 3 - 9, 2013 THE VOICE � 25

THEY SAY youshould startthings as youmean to go onand judging by

the amazing things British rapperMic Righteous has managed toachieve in 2012, this simple mottoshould really become his mantra. Having already featured onremixes for Grammy nominees,Emeli Sandé and Ed Sheeran, forstunning tracks Give Me Loveand Wonder, the 22-year-old -who hails from Margate - has setthe stage for an epic takeover ofthe rap scene this year.

However, you cannot accusethe self-confessed "consciousbut not cocky" star of riding any-one else's coattail's to success.His last mixtape Kam-Pain

gained over 10,000 downloads ina week, one of his freestyles forveteran DJ Charlie Sloth has overone million views and his workhas made fans out of TinieTempah, Ms Dynamite and ‘TheGodfather of Grime’ Wiley.

If that's not enough to con-vince you that Mic will be theface of British rap this year, TheGuardian has already tipped himas their ‘One to Watch,’ andRadio 1xtra's DJ Semtex declaredthat the rapper "can do nowrong".

As respected as he is, Micsays a saint he is not. In fact,behind the bars that are sure toget your mind thinking beforeyour head starts bopping, lies astory that is much deeper thanmost realise.

While explaining his journey

into music he reveals that lifewas not so grand growing up inthe famous seaside town in Kent.

"I think people hear 'Righteous'in my name and automaticallyassume that I am some angel,saint or Buddhist Monk," helaughs.

"There has always been a con-flict in my mind of who I really amand that's what I try to fight off inmy lyrics and songs. That iswhere my name comes from.Mic Righteous simply means thatI am being true to myself when Iam rapping. When I make music,that's when I can truly be honestwith myself.

He adds: "It's like some peopleexpect me to be perfect, but thetruth is I am a guy who grew upin Margate and from a veryyoung age, grew up in a pre-

dominantly white communityalthough I am from an ethnicbackground. That troubled me,especially because at times myfamily wasn't around at all."

Mic’s parents, who had fledIran during the 1979 revolutionand moved to England, quicklyfell into a cycle of poverty. Hismother left the family home andMic watched as his brothers bat-tled drug addiction.

To add insult to injury, theMC’s father was sentenced to“considerable time” in prison,leaving Mic at home with his 13-year-old sister. The family housewas deemed unsafe to live in bythe local council and Mic and hissister, who both faced theprospect of foster care, went tolive with his brother, the formerlight-middleweight boxerMehrdud Takaloo. Following hisdad’s release from prison, Micand his sister returned to thefamily home.

"When I was very young andstaying in this four-bedroomhouse alone, certain members ofthe community took notice of mysituation. They wanted to knowwho I was and they turned out tobe good people - one of them isactually my manager now.

“He came to my home, sawthe condition I was living in andhe put me on my feet. From thatpoint I started working in a smalllow budget studio, but that wasall we needed at the time andthat's how it all started. It wasn'tuntil I filmed my first warm upsession with [youth online broa-caster] SBTV and it got such agood response that I realisedthat people want to hear me."

The demand for his music isnot slowing down either. Everyfreestyle he has on YouTube arelaced is with thousands of com-ments from fans who believe inthe rapper's "truth", and it's theirsupport that he says keeps himgoing. However, Mic has one littlefan that he loves more than anyother.

"My greatest achievement inmy life so far is definitely my son,he makes me so proud. To knowthat I have come from someonewho has no social skills to havinga two-year-old child who I love,look after and care for is handsdown the best thing I have everdone."

As I resist the urge to literallycuddle him after his beautifulspeech about fatherhood, Ichange the subject back to musicand begin my probe into how tohe hooked up his collaborationwith UK singer Emeli Sandé.

"I've know her [Emeli] for a very

long time, she's a good friend ofmine. We are signed to the samepublishing company and beforeshe came out with [smash hit sin-gle] Heaven, we spent a lot oftime in the studio working on thatsong and other tracks too. So Iwas around her whole journeyand we always said that she wasgoing to be massive and now sheis."

News that the MC is set torelease of his first EP Open Micon Feburary 11 has already settongues wagging.

"I don't just want my fans toenjoy my music, it is there foreveryone. I want everybody to feellike they can come along for thejourney and nobody needs to feelexcluded. If you make music forpeople, the people will alwaysrespond."

Open Mic is out on Feburary 11 viaNaughty Words/Sony AVTTo find out more about Mic Righteousvisit: http://www.micrighteous.com

Rihanna confirmed that she hadreunited with fellow singer ChrisBrown after tweeting a picture of

herself sitting on his lap. She wrote:

"I dont wanna leave!!! Killedit tonight baby!!!"

BOBBI KRISTINA: The 19-year-old had to mourn the

loss of her mother and icon,Whitney Houston, following her

tragic death in February.

ALEXANDRA BURKE: Following poor sales of herlatest album, the star wasallegedly dropped from her

record label. Her footballer ex-boyfriend Jermaine Defoe

also cheated on her.

CHRIS BROWN:

The young talent scored hisfirst Grammy at the start of

the year before rekindling hisromance with pop star

Rihanna.

EMELI SANDÉ:

She knocked Adele off the topof the charts with her debut

album Our Version of Eventsand dominated the festival

scene. She also got engaged.

Effortless, slick,stunning

KELLY ROWLAND:Understated,

elegant, pretty

CIARA:

TWEET OF THE YEAR

Rihanna

UK rapper Mic Righteous talks toYV’s AkilahRussell about collaborating with Emeli Sandé,fatherhood and why he’s anything but a saint

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26 � THE VOICE JANUARY 3 - 9, 2013

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