We featured Young Dot in Woofah issue 1’s feature on upcoming Grime MCs, but we missed something then which fits so nicely into the Woofah worldview that I’m kicking myself now.
Young Dot subsequently mutated into Dot Rotten, and killed off his former incarnation with the excellent “RIP Young Dot” mixtape. It’s one of my favourite grime releases of the year so far, resolutely sinister, downbeat and almost veering into the gothic territory of Wu-Tang.
After I’d played the CD a few times I checked the sleevenotes, and there it was:
“Special Thanks To Dennis Rowe”
I froze. And smiled. WIDE.
Dennis Rowe… fuck. Dennis Rowe is the don – manager of Saxon Studio International, UK soundsystem legend. The man who oversaw the first serious outbreak of the UK MC virus.
Was it the same one? How did that happen? So many questions.
Fortunately the man like Blackdown has answers – in this extenisive interview with Dot Rotten.
I’m not gonna post the juicy bits here, check out the whole thing…
Plus there’s a little scan of the Saxon logo of “Coughing Up Fire” on the back of the CD. I would never have missed than in the pre-mp3 days…