MattY at 1Xtra, Telling Us How It Is.
Today, everybody who was listening to Radio 1Xtra had a shock. Young rap icon MattY, who has recently had quite a rough time - through things he admits he should not have done, has been into Radio 1Xtra to see Trevor Nelson. He sat down and talked Trevor through some of the realities of his life right now.
"So, MattY, it is nice to see you again. How are you?"
MattY shakes his head, "I'm not great if i'm honest, rough few months; you get me?"
Trevor nods his head, "Yes, we have all seen; but things are getting better right?"
MattY shrugs, "I like to think so, but really it changes from moment to moment. I could be in a good way but then something could happen and then i'll be like BAM, sh.. back in a bad way again."
Trevor puts his hand on MattY's shoulder, "It's okay man; now you are hear today to talk about your problems right?"
MattY looks up and nods again, "Yeah; i don't want anybody going through all of the bullsh... all of the problems that I had. 'Cause in the long run it just isn't worth it."
"Definitely man; I get you. So we will start right from the beginning, yeah? If that's good with you."
"Mate, where better to start than the start?" MattY simply responds.
Trevor chuckles, "True, true. So what happened to you to make you take the root of drugs and alcohol etc; you are only 16 and you have experienced so much already, that for teenagers around the country you could be a real inspiration for a lot of the ones that have done the same as you to get back onto the right path."
MattY sighs; "I hope so. Right, basically I was out and about with a couple of mates at the age of 13; and one of them had an older mate who did a bit of weed. So naturally the guy offered some around, y'know, because it's the sound thing to do. So I tried a bit, I mean it's only weed; what can it do to you?"
Trevor nods and then gestures for MattY to continue; "Well, to start with it doesn't do anything. It just helps to make that night a bit more fun; but one thing that weed does do is that it leads onto the heavier stuff. And that is what happened to me. At about the age of 14, maybe 15, I started doing something a bit heavier and it kicked in a bit quicker. So naturally, it made the night better more quickly. So i got into that, and i started noticing side effects, like hearing things, and blurry vision; and so i kept taking that until my music took off. That is when i moved down to London. At that point i didn't have any suppliers 'cause i didn't know where to go. So i made my first record -
Fresh Face - which in my opinion was an awful album, with me just trying to find a sound that worked for me. But yeah, back to my problems, not my awful albums."
He takes a sip of a drink that somebody has brought over to him and continues; "I eventually stumbled across a dealer again after having been clean for about 3 months; and i made up for lost time so badly that i just went into a state of full on addiction. I was high almost all of the time, a lot of the tracks on
Growth i do not remember writing... Only the singles and that track with Harry $naff; so i was completley off my head for the best part of 3 months; then the crazy news came around."
Trevor cuts in here, "Cherise getting pregnant?"
MattY nods his head, "Yeah, Cherise is gonna have my baby." He smiles now; it is a thought that seems to have softened MattY's ever hardning and darkening personality, a light in the dark. "Cherise telling me she was pregnant was the best thing that could've happened to me, because it has cleaned me up - i mean after i went and got completley fuc... completely mashed that night and ended up in hospital -"
Trevor intercepts MattY's story to ask another question, "So what was it like ending up in hospital?"
MattY didn't quite know how to answer to start with but then continued, "It was eye opening, I nearly died. I did something stupid and nearly ended up dead. Since then, i have gradually weaned myself off anything. That week in rehab properly sorted me i think."
Trevor nods in appreciation, "So back onto the topic of seeing clearly again, how would you recommend people try to clean themselves out?"
"Well i needed something to open my eyes; first of all C telling me that she was pregnant, and then realising a couple of days later that i had nearly died that night. So you need to see the problem first and foremost, and then going to a rehab clinic like i did can really sort you."
"Which one did you go to, MattY?" he says before MattY can continue.
MattY sharply responds; "They asked me not to say, they didn't want publicity from me; they would rather be known for being good at what they do than sorting out famous musicians... Anyway, that all helped and everything - so now i have been clean for the best part of a month, but that doesn't mean i haven't had low points. Yesterday for example was a low point when," MattY breathes in, "Queen Alexis decided that she would mess with Me and Cherise. I almost went back down that route, but instead a wrote something. And i was hoping that you would let me have a minute or two in the booth to broadcast my feelings on yesterday? I always feel better when i talk about something."
Trevor nods and responds; "Yeah i suppose so.. Go and get yourself ready then MattY" and then he starts talking to the listeners at home, "And in a couple of minutes we will have a live - and rather unexpected freestyle from MattY. But until then we have a track from the late
Miss Vanity, may her soul rest in peace, it's called
Conversations with Myself and it is a real classic Vanity song - ENJOY"
A couple of minutes later, Trevor welcomes the audience back and then hands over to MattY; "Yo, M A T's to they Y here; this is something i put together yesterday rather than slipping back into that cycle. You ready Trev?"
Trevor nods his head and then MattY lets it go.
“Listen, when I hear shit about me, I smile,
It makes for good listening, at least for a while,
I don’t give a fuck if you don’t like me,
But getting at C is low, just to spite me,
Dissing my girl is pretty fucked in the head,
Just ‘cause we had a little accident in the bed,
We know we are young, and we know it wasn’t planned,
But that doesn’t make her a slut, and for you to make offhand
- comments like you are the better person,
‘Cause we all know that your bitchiness only makes you a worse one,
I know that my time hasn’t been well spent over the past few months,
But that doesn’t give you the reason to bitch and be a cunt,
You think that you are the Queen, Alexis,
Well your Shuffle really shows us who the best it,
And it sure ent you, ‘cause all we see is anger and frustration,
As the words you portray rattle around our sweet nation,
And they fill the heads of all the people that can hear them,
So that everyone understands – but everyone listening on the FM
knows that what I spit right here is true,
And that is you have a problem, and your problem is you.”
MattY stops rapping, takes his headset off and walks out of the boothe, he gives Trevor a quick embrace and then leaves the studio without sayin a thing.
