My Article

To create a successful double page article I will need to carefully and thoroughly plan the detail – this ranges from the types of images used to the style of article; so I will use this post to do so.

1. Decide upon your style of article; interview / review / biographic feature?

• With my double page article I have decided to go for a more biographic feature – this is because my featuring artist has only recently become the limelight in the media, and previous to this he ran a normal life of a London student. However with such a story I feel my readers will also want a review of the most recent track he made which was such a success, and perhaps quotes from the interview which will take place, after all to create my biographic feature I will be wanting to publish the story from his words and point of view.

2. Look at some existing examples in that particular style; what are the key features? how could you adopt/develop these features and conventions in your work.

• After looking into existing examples in biographical features, I have managed to see that the key features are often story like but at the same time quite descriptive, also I noticed that biographical features are either pro-artist or not, evidently in my case my biographical feature will support my artists story. To adopt these forms and conventions I will be interviewing the feature artist but not in a Q & A format, following our interview I will then write it in a biographical manner, explaining his experience and the drastic changes he has recently had implemented in his life.

3. Get it in context! You’ve already designed a cover and a contents page; how does your article follow on from these?

• From the design of my magazine you can see from the start that it is a niche music publication, probably the most obvious things are the artists faces aren’t always recognized, which is good as it allows me to instantly attract the attention of those who are interested in the music genre – however I need to follow this through with my feature article and make sure it is in context and relevant. Fortunately from the start my feature is already extremely relevant to my music magazine – a successful artist making the spotlight – however the other ways I am going to make this feature in context is by using quotes from our interview, but when done so I will use the exact terminology which the feature artist used, a grime terminology – often words are replaced for example good in a grime/street terminology is ’sick’ or ‘heavy.’

4. How will the article fit into your magazine?  Think about the house style – colour, fonts, layouts / audience – mode of address?

• As mentioned previously my article should instantly fit into my magazine with it being a biographical feature based on an artist who has just successfully managed to enter the music spotlight. However to ensure the best possible article I need to consider other things, beyond the actual article itself I need to make sure it is catchy and something that looks reading, after all when you flick to the page of an article you don’t instantly look at what the small text says, you look at the big bold words which summarise what it’s about. With that in mind I will need a careful selection of fonts, it will need to be layed out in a formal but house manner and directed straight to my target audience.

5. What will your angle be?  Why have you featured this particular artist or band? Is there a bias or point of view to the article?

• With my magazine being a grime music scene publication, I will be very favourable towards the artist in the review, the reason I have featured this artist is because every Grime artist are looking to achieve which ‘Leon Surrain’ (My feature artist) has. With this I have decided to publicise it even more and maximise it’s attention to a full potential. So with this there is a bias point of view to the article, but on the other hand it is a biographical feature, so it’s not possible for me to be so bias, a lot of my feature will be an experience that’s inspirational to achieve rather than a song which is being portrayed to be the best thats ever existed.

6. Think about your headline. What does it need to do? What will it tell the reader?

• For my headline I am going to ensure that it instantly smacks the reader in the throat so they know this is the featured double page article. To achieve this I will use a small title maybe 6-10 words, one of the conventions I have often seen from articles is a quote in bold at the beginning which instantly takes the reader into the story, almost like they’ve read half of it, I will be looking for a quote from my interview to use this.

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It’s a bright Wednesday morning in London’s Tottenham, and Leon Surrain, perhaps Grime’s most successful recent artist, is approaching casually to our prearranged meeting point looking somewhat blank. Dressed as you’d imagine a Grime artists to be, black & white Nike hi-tops, black baggy jeans, a tight shirt with a Lion on the front of it and a dark New Era cap. He openly took a seat next to me outside of the cafe and asked in his cockney accent, “Whats good, we ready to get popping fam?” – GIFFT is certainly ready to get popping, we wouldn’t be outside a cafe at 09:45 in the morning sat around for nothing! GIFFT were prepared to nail the questions hard into Leon, with his recent success and huge transition in life we knew he had a lot to talk about and what it felt like, but first let’s take a look into the history of this iconic figure.

Character Profile -

Artist: Leon Jack Surrain

Stage Name: ‘Lion’

Recent Successful Mixtape: ‘Out of my cage’

D/O/B: 08/08/1991

Misson Statement: ‘Believe in yourself with all of your heart and anything you perceive is possible.’

Leon Surrain started as an MC at the age of 13, as we all know not long into your entrance of secondary school music then takes it’s part in developing different social groups whether it be Punk, Rock, Rap, or Grime – somebody goes somewhere, not necessarily to perform, as myself the editor I went into listen but clearly Leon went to perform. Ever since the age of 13 Leon explained to us how he would often listen to major artists to him who were making movements, he expressed that he had a deep respect for Kano’s flow, “The fire that he could spit made other mans biscuits look tiny!” he exclaimed. Leon had a deprived child hood, with his dad leaving at an early stage of his life male guidance was never really there for him, he expressed how “it kinda was there sometimes from other men, but none of them stayed around for long enough, although i’m kinda glad – learning on my own could of just been one of the best things that ever happened to me.” Unlike most of the boys at that age of 13 who were often playing XBOX or PS2, Leon spent most of his time writing lyrics, listening to other artists and performing every week at a local youth club, where they had a footie area, decks, pool and other things designed to keep the kids of London going the wrong way on the streets. He remembered how “most of the kids that were older at the youth club laughed at me because of my inexperience, but it was going to take more than that to stop the lion in me.”

Even though Leon occupied most of his time with music he strongly expressed how “education was equally important in my life, I knew I had a love for music, but to pursue that and ignore everything else.. that’s just plain ignorant and your asking to fail! I made sure I got my head down and got my grades, I’ve only just left 6th form – excited about my results though. But yeah I knew that if I was to fail as a performer I would still want to work in the music industry, and with that thought I knew I had to pursue with my education.”

So after a bit of in depth review of his history I was eager to really nail into the confidant artist and see how things have really changed for him, but before doing so I asked him to sum up his history in a few words -

“A child with a dream, when your cup is empty, you’ve got a lot left to fill”

This was GIFTT’s first interview with Leon Surrain, but also his first EVER interview – being that we are the specfic Grime magazine he gave us the honour of first review, and the prospect of GIFTT looking into his story and wanting to achieve the same really enlivened him.

What influenced you into music most?

Well we already know I was influenced by other artists such as Kano, Wiley, Dizzee, them kinda man, but still when I was young all I ever saw on the streets around here was violence, gun crime, drugs and gangs. It’s all sad, and I knew I didn’t want to be invovled in any of that, well I didn’t properly until 2006 – a close friend of mine was killed in a stabbing and from that day i’ve looked to never be involved in any of that business. I wanted to occupy myself with other things, try and be independant as possible I really didn’t want to get dragged into it all. That’s when music came along, something that allowed me to be on my own, whether I was listening to it, writing it or composing it, either way I was an independant man you get me? So from that day, that’s probably whats influenced me most, god bless the kid still.

Do you love the grime style as well as the music?

Aww yeah definately cuz, the Grime style is just my thing, flat peaks, funk colours, high-tops, arrogance, attempting to be the worlds best womaniser haha! It’s all my thing, I love it, my friends do to, on a night up the town we’ll just go up in a group and see who gets the most digits from the chicks, although with my face being published around a bit more than it used to be I think it would be unfair if I still wanted to play that game with my friends haha!

So does your move into the spotlight change your relationship with friends and family?

No of course not, and it never will. Part of the reason for me being able to get this far is down to my friends and family, they gave me the inspiration, support and push that I needed to make it, and that’s something i’ll never forget! Of course if I continue to walk down this path I’ll be going on to do tours, events, gigs, and all the rest which could mean that I spend a lot of time away from home, and the local friends, but no matter what I will stay in contact with them all!

What has the change been like from nothing to everything?

Seriously? It’s a lot, a lot I am telling you, it’s hard to get used to, all these offers coming through and it’s not just to appear at gigs and events, it to be on the cover of magazines just like you guys, but I am getting offers left right and centre and they all equal cash at the end of the equation – which is something I am really not used to, actually it was about a year ago from today I was still writing and grinding trying my best to produce something really special, and I remember nights where i’d stay up late writing and producing I’d get hungry. So i’d usually go and make some toast or something and there’s been a few times where there is no bread left and no money to get any more either, and if that wasn’t the case I was most likely scraping from the bottom of the butter! So in a year to go from that to this (he proceeded to raise his arm and show me a rather flashy D&G watch) it’s a lot.

So what plans do you have for the future?

Aww come on man, you must be killing me haha! Asking an 18 year old what plans he has for the future?? Haha only kidding, well with the recent movement I have made all I want to do is pursue my love and chase the dream further, so with that imma be making more songs, producing more, you know just generally improving the quality and moving forward! Even further than I have with my most recent step. What i’d really like to achieve is a tour all over the UK – so I am able to perform my music in large cities all over the UK for example Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Nottingham – all the areas which are filled with youngsters inspired by Grime and appreciates it’s form of music.

Most successful Grime artists turn out to make more commercial music, is this something you see yourself eventually doing?

Well, that’s a good question there actually haha – it’s kinda stumped me. I’m not sure to be honest I mean I really do have a strong love from Grime, and I see what your saying about going commercial – but most artists do it just for the fame you get me? Like take Chipmunk for example – I have maximum respect for Jahmaal (Chipmunks real name) he’s a fantastic writer and artist, but his movement to more commercial music I believe is based on the amount its played. If you look at nightclubs which are open on a friday and saturday they play more commercial music – generally stuff that’s in the charts and if it’s not it’s music which the whole crowd will enjoy, which includes the more commercial Grime which Chipmunk has been producing recently, which is why I have believed he’s moved to that genre. On my part I feel that it’s possible that if my success becomes large enough I will produce more commercial songs just so I get my name out there more, my songs will get more often played on Radio 1 for example, however deep down I will always stick to my love of Grime and keep producing the Grimey tracks and spitting bars on Westwood 1xtra.