Toddla T has a new show on Radio One

Recently Toddla T announced his own weekly show on BBC Radio 1, which is a massive step up for the young DJ and producer in 2012. His latest studio album, Watch Me Dance got some appreciation from us and contained some killer collaborations with Roots Manuva and Róisín Murphy.

Recently you’ve got your own show at Radio 1. What are your objectives there?
In this moment I’m on Radio 1 once a month for an hour, so it’s a monthly rotation, which is obviously brilliant. I’ve got an hour of time to play brand new music. From April I’m gonna have a weekly show. I’ve got two hours a week so I can really support records, play them more than once. It is an amazing opportunity, because I have more time to play on a more regular basis to support records, sounds. Also, with the two hours there is more time to invite people along and do features and guests. Even though it’s weekly I’m still gonna keep pushing new music, like in the monthly show. That’s the main goal to be progressive with the radio show. So yeah, I really look forward to it.

What about your “TV Show” series? What do you want to do with that?
I wouldn’t call it a TV show..

You know what I mean..
Yeah, it’s some records I’ve done on the road. There are a lot of fun or weird situations which we captured and shared. I’m collecting all the time, and when I feel that there’s a lot together I put them online. It’s just a fun way to show what’s going on.

That is more personal than your tweets, what do you think?
Yes, I guess because it’s more visual.

Is Ninja Tune open for this kind of extroverted attitude?
Yes, absolutely. I mean I’ve been doing it a lot before I signed to this label, they were really into the elements what I was up to, and they encouraged that. I have to thank the label that they just let it go. There was no force. They were always just suggesting what I should do.

There’re some exciting collaborations on your last album. Did the label work on it or was it your job?
No, it’s mine. I mean I started making the record by myself. I found locals, I was just working on the record in London, and Sheffield and inviting rappers to the studio. Like with my first record I was in Sheffield and no one really knew where I was. And then with my second album in London people were more keen to collaborate and everyone was just a taxi ride away. So I did the record all by myself.

Are you looking at the whole grime, hip-hop scene in a different way after your personal experiences with icons like Roots Manuva?
Yeah, hip-hop, rap and grime…I think grime is the UK version of rap, in my opinion. And still rap and hip-hop are some kind of one thing but the way that we do it we call it grime. Hip-hop is the first kind of music I got into and the one I check most regularly and the one I feel I understand the most. When I go to parties, hip-hop parties, so grime, whoever made it, Roots Manuva, Wiley or Cameo or whoever I’m really comfortable with, I’m a big fan. So grime, rap or hip-hop, whatever you wanna call them are passions of what I do.

Tell us something about the Girls Music label and about your plans for the near future!
That’s one of the big things for this year, because it has jumped up a level. Girls Music is run by myself and a guy called Raf Rundells (aka Raf Daddy), who is part of the group called The 2 Bears. We put the label together and I’ve just signed a lot of names for this year with some pretty exciting releases. Along with that and the radio show and the new semi-live shows, these are my priorities for this year. So the Girls Music is on the go with some really good releases coming. Now our job is to get them sound good and get the videos and visuals. I’m very passionate about it and the people I work with. So again I appreciate Ninja that they put their belief in what I do and let me go with it, which is fantastic.

How close is the connection with Ninja Tune, as Girls Music’s parent label?
When I signed to Ninja one of the things that I wanted to cooperate with them was to distribute my record label. So they just distributed all the promos and everything like that.

Could you mention a top tune from 2011? Which worked well in your DJ sets?
I would say Redlight – Source 16. That was a massive club record. It was kind of hard but incorporated with dubstep and grime and garage.

Published January 19, 2012.