Just B Grime Artist Connects his North East Mining Heritage to Grime Music with peep
Just B Grime Artist, the ‘Northumbrian’ discusses with peep magazine how the ‘Geordie’ dialect is the oldest dialect in England, dating back to 410AD to 1066AD. In fact, the last Anglo Saxon king was Harold Godwinson, who was later replaced by the Norman King William the Conqueror. Before we got into it, we have a little word play with the Geordie accent, Grime music rapper – Just B explained that he’s NOT actually a Geordie ! He further explains, that he is actually a ‘Northumbrian’ with a ‘Pitmatic’ accent from Ashington.
From his mining community roots of Ashington, Northumberland – Just B Grime artist has carved out a unique space in the UK Grime scene by staying fiercely true to his Northumbrian roots. This conversation developed in a back room of ‘Slack’s Radio’ within the underground venue of The Lubber Fiend situated on 81 Blandford St., Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 3PZ. Just B, revealed the journey of an artist that is dedicated to preserving what might be surprising to many – the oldest dialect in England – through his rapid-fire delivery and metaphor-rich lyrics.
Just B started his rapid-fire delivery of poetry interlinked with Makina music influences. The wordsmith opens up about his musical evolution, starting in bedroom sessions and youth clubs and centres where Makina – a Spanish-derived techno that found an unlikely home in Northeast England. This musical style provided his first platform. Rather than abandoning these roots as his style developed toward more introspective storytelling, Just B has deliberately maintained elements of that high-tempo delivery while deepening his lyrical approach.
Just B hooked up with Fellow Geordie Grime Artist – H-Man
The interview also touches on his seminal collaboration with fellow Northeast artist H-Man – a partnership spawning over 50 tracks that began with a chance encounter at the Sage Gateshead (now the Glass House) when both were teenagers. This “match made in heaven” demonstrates the creative power that emerges when artists with complementary styles find each other.
As Just B Grime artist continues developing his craft with new collaborations on the horizon, he maintains the delicate balance between DIY independence and growth. Follow his journey as he continues to create music that honours his heritage while pushing creative boundaries in contemporary UK hip-hop and Grime music
peep. This is an interview for peep magazine, where I’m joined with a very special, talented, multi-talented MC rapper, Just B. Hello there, how are you doing, Mate? We’ve been trying to do this for how long? Maybe about three years. Maybe two or three years at least. Can you maybe describe why we’re here tonight?
Just B – I’ve got a headline show at the Lubber fiend in Newcastle, um. I got a few good support acts on, got Two-Common, Ap3, H-Man, Fletchy. Um, looking forward to it. It’s been booked for a while. Um, should be a good night, but Sam Fenders on the same night at Newcastle St, James Park. But it is what it is.
peep – You rep for the kids of the northeast. That’s your passion, your artform. But what I, where I want to go with this is would it be right in seeing you a wordsmith – a poet yeah, I’d like to think so.
Just B I would like to think that my lyrics are a bit more well-thought-out and metaphorically good, so to speak, and a bit more what’s the word? Introspective, possibly.
peep So, because you’re a bit of a wordsmith and you like to play around with words, we’re going to play around with words, where we’re going to do like a little game where your lyrics, your dialect is from from the, from the outset, broad ‘Geordie’ I would say, so I’m going read something that I’ve kind of wrote out rough and then hopefully for the viewers won’t really know what I’m talking about outside of Newcastle, but you’re going to understand every word. So when I say the sentence, could you maybe just explain to the viewers what I’ve just said? I mean, people might be able to get it but some people will not.
Traditional Anglo Saxon Geordie Dialect in Newcastle upon Tyne
“ Ah woz in this bar reet, and this lass was givin is the hackies? She woz hoyin drink doon a gob and it was gannin straight to ah heed, she woz mortal. She come owa and she gans, have you got a snout? Ah gans I’ve got nowt, just one for me sell, she gans, I’m ganna see the bairns fatha to lend some coin to buy a few snouts. I gans nowt tu de with me, So divvent be gannin on like that and all that, shooting and ballin like that, the drinks gone straight to ya heed, get yasell away hyem. I seen a gan doon the road and I sparked up and I had a little laugh to mesel “
Just B Grime artist From what I got from that, was some girl was looking at you. She asked for a cigarette. You said that you didn’t have any. She was going to ask her partner for one. Then she left. But she went the long way around and then you left and lit up a cigerette. Is that right? Did I get that?
peep Absolutely spot on
peep I’ve done that quite fast. I know I was pretty fast, to be fair, not as fast as just B, but you know I’m trying, it was kind of fast. What I failed to mention as well was Just-B (Robert Story) is not actually a Geordie, and he recognised every word. He’s actually a Northumbrian, that’s right, which is for the people who don’t know, is about 20-30 mile outside of Newcastle upon Tyne. His dialect is called ‘Pitmatic’ and Pitmatic comes from the miners of Ashington, but it’s a string from the Geordie accent of Newcastle. And, I may add, the Geordie dialect is the oldest dialect in England, dating from 410AD to 1066AD. As mentioned earlier, the accent has been preserved to this day. So we’re just giving homage to the dialect of the Geordie language. Have you been inspired by the coal mining of Ashington and, in particular – the ‘Pit Painters’ of Ashington?
Just B yeah, I mean I would say, in a way, I’ve definitely been inspired by the Mining culture, because I have little bits in my lyrics about, like you know, people’s grandparents being miners in the area. But I’m aware of the pitman painters because I’ve been to the collieries of Ashington and witnessed actual paintings and read bits and pieces and seen articles and different like news pieces on them like that. So, I would definitely say there’s little bits of inspiration there for sure,
peep That’s good to hear because when you think of the mining community, and especially the dialect, it’s starting to die out, starting to go away, but maybe in your music, you’re keeping that alive, you know.
Just B yeah definitely, even older or newer fans of mine will, for one of the first things that we say is you’re literally rapping in your Ashington accent, which I think’s good, because it’s different. You know what I mean, so that’s always a comment I get.
Just B Has Strong Ties To Local Identity With Grime Music
peep – Your music has strong ties to local identity. How, how has your style developed?
Just B I would say like started from rave. As a young lad and in my youth, like in the local youth centre, stuff like house parties, people’s bedrooms and stuff like that, and then I was introduced to the local rap scene. I would listen to UK Hip-Hop and grime anyway. I then just sort of transcended from the rave to more slower, storytelling-type tracks and more grime and rap rather than rave. So pretty much just moved scenes to be fair, and just stuck with that since, but still having elements and samples from the roots where I began. So incorporating that, but still using my accent and stuff as well, because you find a lot of people wanting to sound like someone else, if you get what I mean, whereas I just sound the same as I did then, just over different music and tempos.
peep It was it basically DIY back bedroom, your mam and dad’s house kind of vibe, having your mates around, a few few drinks and practicing basically?
Just B pretty much at the start, like just going around, like you said – different people’s bedroom sessions and then people’s got a set of ‘Technics’ or something in their room, a couple of vinyls, a mic and just you know, just like you said, just writing lyrics from there. Obviously, they’re a bit basic at the start, but I suppose a lot of people in the North East went on doing that same route, but some stayed with raves, some moved on to different paths, I suppose.
peep – Makina is hardcore techno. That’s, I think, is a Spanish underground music. Is that right?
Just B Makina’s from Spain yeah, from the rave over there, and obviously it’s been brought across to here, and then obviously it was played in the likes of the New Monkey, and it’s still going on this day.
peep Yeah, can I ask about the ‘New monkey’? Is New Monkey music a term for a style of music or is ‘new monkey’ a club from Sunderland?
Just B yeah, it’s a club in Sunderland. Obviously, it’s shut now. I was never old enough to go as it was closed by the time I was old enough to go. But, people still call like, “Oh Get The Monkey On”, get the monkey on. But obviously a lot of people used to listen to the sets from the new monkey on the tapes or the CDs. But I saw all the rave and stuff in this region. People just see a monkey. It comes from the club.
peep Would it be fair to say that your style has developed from Makina?
Just B – I would say it has. Yeah, Like I said, that’s what I first started doing in local youth centres. I’ve done raves now and then as a teenager coming up and that, but then I obviously moved across to grime and rap, but that’s definitely where it began for me.
peep What is the differences between Rave and Makina? Is it much the same thing?
Just B Yeah, it’s just a different sort of sub-genre. It’s the same it’s electronic dance music.
peep – would you yourself now as a musician, benefit from some kind of marketing manager or some kind of development agency with your career now as it is right now? I’m speaking, not just for you, but for your friends as well as the other guys who you rap with. Would you benefit from that? Or are you of the mindset that it’s not needed and you can probably DIY this yourself.
Just B – I would say to an extent it’s a bit of a mixed answer because obviously some opportunities you do need these links that people have, who are in these agencies, to then get your gigs at certain places. Who have you, what’s the the word, like networking opportunities. Obviously, if you do it yourself, you can’t. Sometimes you can’t have access to these things because you just don’t know about them or who these people are. So I sort of, like you said, promotional or PR agency. It would be beneficial for anyone to be fair in the scene, as there’s a lot of people trying to just do it themselves and sometimes it can be hard. You can be hit with obstacles. Financially, it’s hard because, if you’re putting on your own gigs on it’s coming out of your own pocket. Music videos comes out of your own pocket, recording everything basically. So it would be nice to have some type of funding there.
peep I’ve interviewed a good friend of yours – H-Man and also interviewed a guy called Black Twang and both said different things. Whereas – H-Man said he didn’t want don’t quote us on this, but if you want to have a look back through the interview, he said something along the lines of ( he wouldn’t want anyone coming in and messing around with his artwork (Music), because that’s his and that’s fair enough.
Just B Yeah, I understand that creatively, I wouldn’t want someone to tell me what I can and what I can’t do. I definitely agree with that, but it would be nice for someone to be able to help market you and push you to the right places, where maybe you can’t reach because you don’t have the money, or get you on festival gigs opportunities which you normally wouldn’t be able to do.
peep Black Twang alluded to the fact that maybe it’s all about the money, because the if the money’s not right… Would you kind of agree with that to a certain extent?
Just B Yeah, obviously.
peep moving on, do you think people outside of the North East struggle with what you’re actually saying? Do they ask? Do you hear this often?
Just B Grime Artist Yeah, I’d say people sometimes don’t have a clue what you’re saying outside the region. But it is what it is, you just got to try and be as clear as you can, but still stick to what you’re saying. And uh, it’s one of them things, either they like it or they don’t like. I’ve listened to music where they’re actually rapping in a different language and then you listen and you can feel it. You might not know what they’re saying but you can still be like oh no, this is good, you get what I mean. I’ve listened to Japanese Hip-Hop before and I was like this is fire.
peep – that reminds me of the movie ‘La Haine’ the underground Hip-Hop movie inspired by Graffiti, based around Paris. Yeah, I think that whole soundtrack is French and everyone just jumps straight on that. I kind of get exactly where you come from with that, definitely. What is the process with crafting your – I don’t want to songs, crafting you’re, beats? how would you describe them?
Just B Yeah, I would say songs. Obviously, I’m not a producer, so I have ideas which I pass on to people who, then will make beats for me like samples. I’ve got a good ear for samples. I would like to think, and yeah, so across making the beat and then I’ll just write to it and then if I think someone else would be suited, I would ask for someone to collaboration or whatever, but that’s pretty much it to be fair, but I would call them songs.
peep Ah right. I just want to get that clear. The songs have been developed from Makina, but has this, I would say, speed rap and how fast you rap? How has this developed? Has it been fast from right from the start, or is that something you’ve had to train and develop?
Just B no, I think it’s just coming from faster beats like 170 bpm or whatever. I used to spit on over like Rave and Makina and then transferring to Grime and I just always liked even like growing up I always used to listen like Bone Thugs and Harmony, Twister, Buster Rhymes, people who had a fast flow. I was always like more inclined to be like wow, I want to do that, I love that, and I just like the choppy sort of fast flow, just something I’m into really, so that’s the reason that developed, although I have some songs that are more slow than that, but like that is like sort of my style, to be fair that is, that is your style.
peep It’s a great style, and every time I hear it, I think – have you started really slow and then gradually just speeded up, or have you just went straight in?
Just B No, I just went straight in. I didn’t start off slow. That’s just the way I just happened to be fair.
peep I’ve listened to a few of your songs / tunes. Would you say that the majority of those tracks are autobiographical?
Just B Yeah, I would say most of them are aye, 100%, definitely just about either myself or people I know pretty much, or things I’ve seen locally, what’s inspired us or whatever.
peep There’s a tune you have and it’s called Terrence McKenna. Terrence McKenna, can you maybe talk about that one?
Just B That was just because, I had read the book ‘Food of the Gods’ it was quite a good book, just about psilocybin mushrooms and DMT, it’s quite a deep book, and just inspired me. I Just heard a beat, and it was just like, I went from there pretty much, even though the track’s not fully about that, if you get what I mean. It just has elements of what that was – and then just more personal feelings and stuff.
peep when you’re in your own space, do you practice meditation or positive affirmations or anything
Just B I’ve tried in the past, but no, it’s not something I actively practice meditation or even positive affirmations.
peep I think it’s something that could really help you with your, not that you need help, but help with your mind, you know what I mean.
That’s what I could just hear people outside saying that was definitely one of me. What did you? peep So, what’s the plans for the future for ‘Just Be’? Could you maybe talk about your latest album and what was the process with that, and did you do anything different?
Just B Grime Artist I think the process with this album was, I just wanted a really like full album. I aimed for 10 tracks, but I think it had 9. In the end, a couple got scrapped, because it just didn’t fit the the listing. If you get what I mean. I had been dropping ep’s for years, I never really dropped a feature length album, like me and ‘H-Man’ had collaboratively done a couple but, like in 2015 was the first one we done, it’s a decade ago now. Then we done one in 2018, together, I think, or 2019, which was the second one we done, and we’ve worked on, and third one which isn’t just never been finished. We’ll get there, but we weren’t on that since. Yes, but I just wanted to release like a solo album, self-titled album, and to be fair, and just took a few years, yeah, and then nearly didn’t happen because just whatever. I just stopped for a bit, but then I managed to get that finished. So now, I’m unsure what’s happening next. I’m just doing a couple of collaborative things with other artists, but I’m not really putting any titles on anything. I’m not going to be like, oh, I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that. I’m just kind of just going with the flow at the minute.
peep Just to jump back to ‘H-Man’ for a second. When I interviewed him, he said you both were at a gig pre knowing each other. He did his set and he came off thinking that was brilliant. And then he looked round, and heard you, and he was like, what the fuck, like who the fuck’s that kid?
peep – Could, you elaborate on this.
Just B Grime Artist – I think we both had the opportunity, well, we were probably teenagers. I can’t remember, it was that long ago. I was MC’ing at the Sage in Gateshead, which is now the Glass House, and it was just like different people from different local authorities or whatever, like groups of lads really jumping on, I can’t remember who it was might have been Rock Eye or someone like that, someone who was like a bigger rave MC at the time, and then it was like we just jumped on, and then like, I remember seeing him and being like aye. A couple of years later, we both started doing Hip Hop and all that and I was like, oh, you’re that guy from the thingy, aren’t you? And it was just a mad coincidence, but then again it’s not because it’s a small place, the north east, but you know what I mean. It was still a bit of a coincidence how we met and we’d already met.
peep – well, some people think that there’s there’s no such thing as a coincidence, and that was kind of meant to happen, true well, I probably agree with that.
Just B – true well, I probably agree with that.
peep I really like the style, love the music. The chemistry is there, you know, have you heard that before?
Just B yeah, definitely, but I think I think you’re right, I think obviously, we’ve got different voices, but the styles and the flows and the lyrics, just like it’s there, just match – and it just works. So that’s why we’ve probably done about 50 tunes together over the years.
peep – Mate, thanks for giving peep magazine the opportunity to come down and uh, thanks for asking me to come come down as well. It’s been in the making for a lot of years, but hopefully this is going to be worth it. I’m sure it is.
Just B Grime Artist Nah, just looking for maybe a possible project with another rapper, who I actually really look up to from the North East. I’ll not give it away, but we’ve got that coming hopefully soon.
If you would like to watch the full interview follow the links below
peep interview Just B Grime Artist at the Lubber Fiend Newcastle
OR, if you would prefer to listen on the move follow this link – peep podcast with Just B at the Lubber Fiend
