Estelle is the UK's most talented and successful hip ho artist as well as running her own record label and being a producer.Hailing from West London Estelle released her debut album 18th day in 2004 which produced the singles 1980, Free and Gone.With the help of some of music's to artists including will.i.am and John Legend she has just put the finishing touches to her follow up record Shine.I caught up with her to talk about her new album and working with such big names.

How did you first get into hip hop I read that your parents didn't let you listen to it?

My parents didn't let me listen to it but I used to sneak a listen to it with my uncle he used to come in the house and break dance, with us in the passage way. When we were growing up the passage way used to look so huge but now it looks like the size of a foot cube I don't know how he used to break dance in it, it was great we had fun. But I kind of stayed on it since then and every single job I got turned into something music related, and it was hip hop because that was the music we had grown up on. Obviously trying to get signed as an artist I started my own label, they didn't know what to do with me, I put out my own album and they were like 'Oh that's how you do it', it was fun. And then we got signed to a bigger label and put out the singles 1980 and the album the 18th Day and went to work on the second album.

That was going really well until the label decided that they wanted me to go completely off the schedule and start writing some completely silly things with some silly writers so I decided to leave, and I did and here we are today.

So what kind of music were you interested in?

I listen to almost everything from Queen to Aerosmith from Basement to Jungle just really good music, stuff that sticks in your mind, stuff that was a landmark in me growing up I always go back to it. I'm into almost everything.

And what do they think of your rapping now?

They love it! I've been doing a lot in the States and the fact that I won't change my accent and am just me they love it they are like 'Yeah it's different and you are not ashamed and not apologising', so it's that mentality. My mum loves my rapping, she's always loved it, I think she thinks she is a rapper she like 'Yeah kill it' (laughs). She said murk it to me the other day I wanted to cry, my mum told me to murk a tune, I was like no stop it.

Your new album is called Shine what can we expect from it?

You can expect all different styles of hip hop, pop, reggae, rap, soul, dance. We were just having a good time, anything we thought we should be doing we did it, we didn't think too hard about the music.

I explored every single genre and went in every direction and just brought me to it. I have this song called Shine, which is a power song off the album, and it just sounds like a pin ball machine to me, the way the beat goes it sounds like a pin ball machine, and all I could think of was Madonna Ray of Light and that is the approach that I went with.

The producers looked at me as if I was on crack we had a straight hip hop beat, a rhymey hip hop beat and I brought Madonna to it how does that work? But you only get that if you are brought up in a certain environment, and that is what we are so lucky to have here it's a good mix up.

It features a collaboration with John Legend how did that come about?

I wrote that song three years ago and it was his favourite song out of all my demos, he heard it last out out of twenty songs that I had given him, he was like 'I'm sick of hearing your voice at this point and then I heard this song and was like oh' and I was like really, and he was like 'yeah'. So that was his song he would walk around singing it.

So when we were talking about doing a collaboration he said 'I want to do You Are' and I was like are you sure? Basically the song is a about being in love and I was like you know there are rumours right? He was like 'It's a really good song I'm not interested whatever.'

He was cool with it, it's his favourite song. I watched him sing it and thought yeah this is the right song to do a duet on and all the girls in the room fell off their seats when he sang it, it was like ok this is having an affect on the chicks, women buy albums, sing away!

We are definitely both on the same page with regards to music, we are both about making great music rather than throwing out songs and collaborations for the sake of it we don't want to be like yeah this is hot because it's got whoever on it.

Is it a song you want to hear five years from now? That was the mentality of making this whole album and we want to make songs that we want to listen too in five years time, and I think we have done that.

The first single form the new album is 'Wait A Minute' why this particular song as the first release?

The first song is produced by Will.I.Am, that's what he is on it, he did the wait wait wait a minute pause, that whole moment, so we kept him on it.

Working with will.i.am is like working with a mad genius he just jumps around the place, he's like a leprechaun, he's amazing. and he turns the music up loud, I love that, when producers are producing and they have the beat going and they are in the music you can feel it. That's what he brings to the whole process he's magic, and he makes you step your game up because he is not accepting anything that half way thought of, he will come and check you, it's like being at school.

How did the recording process differ this time around from when you recorded 18th Day?

The recording process, this time around,I was completely free I just wrote what I felt. And the producers were pushing me and John were pushing me going 'nah you can do better than that', 'you've done better than that', 'that song's better than that', 'this beat is wack' and they were real about it, they were treating me like one of the guys. We were straight out battles in there, it was like a hip hop concert it was a straight down hip hop moment, they weren't letting be no R&B shit they pushed me hard.

I didn't have anyone around first time around telling me to try something different, except my sister, who helped me write 1980 on the 18th Day, she was the only person in there pushing me everything else I wrote on my own. It really let me be complacent I needed that extra kick in the arse to come up with some better shit. So this time it was full throttle push and you had to be at the top of your game because you are not working with no halfway people you are working with the top of the top.

How important is it to be in complete control of your career?

It's definitely important to be in control of your career, as far as knowing what the hell you want to do, and it's just common sense it doesn't take anything too deep and meaningful it's just common sense. You have to know who you are as a person and go with that first and foremost, start there and go from there, anything else is just too much effort if you sit there and try to be extra smart about shit you end up fucking up because the business is the business and if you don't know it don't pretend that you do.

At the very basic somebody in the industry or someone in your management should pick up on you and be able to translate what you are trying to say just out of common sense, to your label. But just use your head don't be stupid if you see somebody messing up don't just sit there and be like oh I'm powerless at least try to stop it, and it's as simple as saying this doesn't feel right I'm not going to do that and your management can pick it apart why doesn't it feel right? and if you have good management they will do that. And that's important that's very important.

You have spent a lot of time in America have you found it hard to be away from home for so long?

I haven't found it hard to be away from home for so long because I have travelled back and forth between America and the rest of the world for the past five, actually the past seven years. So I have been travelling so much it doesn't seem as hard this time. The only thing I miss is my family and Topshop and I'm good, it's like London with a different accent living in New York anything can happen at any given time on any day. That's the exciting part the downside is their humour is different and they don't get certain things and I will just go into Little Britain mode and say things like 'Yeah I want that one' just on my own walking down the street and they are like 'what?' and it's like oh yeah shift you don't get it.

Why do you think that female rappers have a negative image and get a tough ride?

I don't think female rappers have a negative image or a tough ride it's as hard as they make it. You have to realise that it's a business and if you are going to be different be cookie cart different be yourself different, be the template for the rest of the cookies don't be the person who is following who else doing whatever follow yourself and your own situation. A lot of girls don't have that mentality to do that and lot of girls are like 'ok what do you want me to do? Ok I'll be this person'. If you are going to be that artist that stands up period, man, woman or whatever you just have to be different and you have to be in your own lane, that's how I feel about it.

What's next for you?

My album early next year, we are going to be touring consistently, I'm going to win a couple of Grammys and couple of Brit Awards, just going to crazy and lose my mind and have a good time (laughs). No I'm not going to lose my mind I', gonna take all that back I'm just going to have a great time and be out there and just make sure that really get this album and I hope they love it.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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