Mercury Prize ’09 winner SPEECH DEBELLE on Black British Music

“Black music in this country at the moment that’s doing well is pop music.”

Mercury Prize 2009 winner Speech Debelle talks to SoulCulture about the ‘urban’ music scene in the UK and the importance of building a structure similar to that of successful independent hip hop labels in America.

Watch as Debelle, who won the Mercury Prize last month for her debut alternative Hip Hop album Speech Therapy, observes that most of the British black music that charts and sells well is now pop music (“A Tinchy Stryder song now sounds the same as a Sugababes song”) and, although such acts are paving the way, proposes that mainstream outlets “like Jools Holland and primetime shows” should do more to support British black music as a whole.

Interviewed by Marsha Gosho Oakes, Filmed and Edited by Rize Of The Robotz.