Soundtrack To My Life: Ghetts

G H E double T and O looks back on the tracks that left a mark on him from childhood to now.

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Justin Clarke is one of the grime scene's most intriguing characters.

With an unparalleled, natural talent and a Jekyll and Hyde-style split personality in the bars he spits, it's been a long and winding road for the MC known to most as Ghetts. But as he explains himself, "the turtle always wins the race," and his is a race worth taking his time with. From the prison cells to his recent energy-filled performance at the MOBOs—for which he was nominated for three awards—Clarke's evolution from Ghetto to Ghetts is both catalogued and evident in his recently released album Rebel With A Cause. "With this new album, I just wanted everyone to know me for me," says the East Londoner, who recently gave back to his grime core with the release of Momentum 2. "I wanted everyone to know that this is who I am and these are the things I like."

Over the course of his decade-long career—full of reload bars and catchy one-liners—Ghetts has consistently shown genuine songwriting skill, a skill that he continues to work on daily. For the latest edition of Soundtrack To My Life, Complex finds out the tracks that have resonated with the revered rhymer from childhood to now. Expect the unexpected.


 

Jamiroquai – "Virtual Insanity"

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"My dad was a Jamiroquai man. I don't think I appreciated it at the time, but I find myself listening to Jamiroquai albums now and enjoying it very much. He's the man! We're in a day and age where artists are almost the same, and it's just the same thing over, and over, and over again; the same subject matter, the same look, the same person. But then you have someone like Jamiroquai who just always stood out." 

R. Kelly – "I Believe I Can Fly"

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"I remember walking into a record shop in Stratford, when record shops were still about, and I bought 'I Believe I Can Fly' for £1.99 on tapethat's the first thing I ever bought. I didn't realise the double entendre back then... I thought he actually believed he could fly [laughs]."

2Pac – "Changes"

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"2Pac is definitely one of my favourite artists, and the song that connected to me the most was 'Changes'. I come from a household of jazz influences, gospel influences and commercial influencesthere was no underground stuffso hearing Pac with 'Changes', it stood out from everything else that was on my TV at the time.”

SWV – "Weak"

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"As soon as I heard SWV's 'Weak', I fell in love with it. I still listen to SWV now, almost every day actually. They brought out SWV's Greatest Hits, and it's one of the very few things I don't have to skipI can listen to it from beginning to end. It's only now that I'm older and more comfortable, as an artist, that I'm able to say all of this to you."

2Pac – "When I Get Free"

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"This 2Pac song helped me get through jail. I always used to write in jail, just to pass the time, and I used to read a lot of books so I ended up sounding a bit different from the average MC on the outside because I was in a place where gimmicks weren't going to work, and only what was the substance of being true to our situation was going to make people in my surroundings feel me. Everyone used to tell me, 'When you get out, you've got to pursue the music.' And I did." 

Ghetts – "Fatherhood"

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"Becoming a father was the defining moment in my life that made me review situations a bit differently, and made me care more about stuff that I didn't care about before. I care about living and my health now, and things like that. And this track details all of that."

Wretch 32 – "6 Words"

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"I've always felt like I'm in a weird place because, being the age that I am, I was a fully blown adult when grime came about so I've always been interested in different things. A lot of people talk about conforming to the mainstream, but you can conform to the underground, too, which can be a worse thing at times because you're not being true to yourself. I feel like with my new album, I knew it was going to take me to a new place. I would meet people in the street and they'd try to act tough to impress me and I realised it's my fault; they've seen me in negative moments, and never the positive. Because the positive moments are never really caught on camera. This Wretch track just gives me a lot of positive vibes."

Clement Marfo & The Frontline f/ Ghetts – "Overtime"

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"Me and Clem worked well together because we both like our songs to have substance, and 'Overtime' was right up my street."

Wiley – "Wot Do U Call It?"

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"With Wiley, it's more based on character and drive. If you look at his career, he hasn't always had the greatest of years, but he's still here when a lot of people would've given up. Wiley is the only person from his generation to have survived, and that's not an accident. It's like me waking up today and, suddenly, Wretch, Skepta, this person and that person have all gone and I'm just here. The average human being doesn't have that motivation. And then, you're always competing with people who are younger than you, and they have the upper hand. So, for Will to push through all of that is very inspiring for me to watch."

Cher Lloyd f/ Mic Righteous, Dot Rotten & Ghetts – "Dub On The Track"

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"At this point in my career, I'm very careful about the decisions I make. No disrespect to Cher Lloyd, but, maybe that wasn't a good collab for me to be involved with. Maybe I shouldn't have done that because my music's authentic and hers maybe not so, and that could have potentially injured my brand. At the time, £4,500 for 16 bars was a lot. But then that's bad 'cos I've done a 16 based on money. I was thinking to myself, 'I write 16s all day long, for free! I'm getting £4,500 for this, so why not just do it?' I'm not the richest person so it all made sense. But hindsight is 20/20 and, in hindsight, I look at it like that could've totally destroyed my brand in one move. Thank God above that it didn't."

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