Stylo G Talks Sex Tourism and Syria

Gavin Haynes has 100 free minutes but no friends. So each week we're going to make him call a popstar. This week: Stylo G.

Noisey: Hi Stylo G. You are 27 and you’ve yet to release a debut album. By an equivalent stage in his career, Kurt Cobain had shot himself. At the same age, Ian Curtis was already four years dead. All that remained of Ian Curtis was dense bone matter and the more well-varnished bits of his coffin. Does that make you feel sad, or happy?

Oh Kurt Cobain? No, that made me sad man. That’s not good.

But do you personally feel like you’ve wasted the best years of your life?

No I feel like I just weren’t ready. God just put me on the battlefield when I was more prepared. Nothing ever happened before the time. It’s prime time. 25, 26, 27: that’s when you find out what life’s about man.

You have a song called "Call Mi A Yardie". What’s the best way of getting ahold of a yardie if you need one in London?

Go to Brixton or Peckham.

What— and loiter at the top of Electric Avenue going "pssssst"?

Yeah….you know…you been down there already…

Like hang around the Caffe Nero on Brixton High Street?

Maybe.

Do you have "connections"? In the "underworld"?

In the underworld?

Yeah, in the Yardie world.

Yeah. I got crazy connections. The underworld is good because you hear what people likes: different stuff that you don’t hear in the day.

For the uninitiated, are you the sort of dancehall artist who is "bringing positive messages for the youth", or are you the kind of guy who is "dragging them down ever-more into a cycle of violence"?

I would never drag down a youth into a circle of violence in my music. I always try to sing to uplift people. To bring peace. My music is about teaching people. It’s about myself and what I’ve been through in the UK. Anytime I do a song, even if it’s a song for the streets, it’s always from a third-person perspective of "what’s going on". People learn from that and grow themselves. You know, Jamaicans in Britain: believe in yourself, there’s opportunity here.

Many western liberals are annoyed at the violent homophobia of dancehall. What’s your view—do you think we should castrate the gays, or should we merely reach out to them and try and re-educate them with hard pornography and erotic deep tissue massage?

Sorry? Repeat the question, please.

Certainly. Many western liberals are annoyed at the violent homophobia of dancehall. What’s your view— do you think we should castrate the gays, or should we merely reach out to them and try and re-educate them with hard pornography and erotic deep tissue massage?

No. We can’t push hardcore pornography and all dem tings. The kids don’t need that. So…we don’t need that in dancehall. Dancehall’s got a bad rep. What we need to do is clean it up. Sean Paul cleaned it up a bit. Shaggy cleaned it up. I’m trying to clean it up so people can see there’s more to dancehall. Nothing negative with hardcore pornographic.

Jamaica is becoming increasingly famous for its female sex tourists. Do you think it’s cool that society treats female sex tourism as 'all a bit of a giggle"? Or do you see it as a naive double standard? Or do you simply think there’s a great quirky rom com in it all yet to be made? Cool Runnings meets Pretty Woman via Shirley Valentine?

Nah, that’s not cool man. The females in Jamaica, they’re giving away the sex to tourists… is that what you mean?

No. The Jamaican men who sell sex to middle-aged Western women.

Oh! The guys that hang around on the beach in Jamaica and look for the tourists? How do I feel about that.

Yeah.

Yeah. It’s like a laugh. It’s like in the movies. You know. You got the rich woman who come down and she fall in love with this Jamaican rasta guy. She turn into a rasta and stuff like that. If you’re going to Jamaica and you’re not bringing the boyfriend, you’re going for a reason you know. You want to meet the culture, you wanna go into the culture, you know.

Or have the culture go into you…

[Laughs] Yeah. When they come back from Jamaica, they always talking about you know: "Oh this guy, he would do anything for me. I tell him to jump and he jump as high as Michael Jordan…"

You have been supported by Idris Elba. Have you seen The Wire?

I didn’t watch it before I knew he was interested in me. Now I’ve seen it a few times. I’m becoming a fan now.

Do you think it’s something our readers should watch? It’s not been much talked-up in the media, you see, so maybe you could explain it to them.

I’ve not really seen it enough to explain to you if I’m honest. I ain’t got time to watch telly much these days.

Okay. What do you think of the situation in Syria?

The situation in Syria? Bob Marley. Everywhere is war. War in the east. War in the west. War in the north. War in the south. This was all predicted. I try my best to ignore politics and stuff like that. But sometimes this always pops up in interviews. My advice would be you cannot turn on your own people like that. I always preach peace, love and unity.

In a war between Israel and Syria, who do you think would win?

No comment, mate.

In a war between Sweden and Switzerland, who do you think would win?

No comment. I’m not really experienced in war.

War’s not your thing?

Musical war. Put me in the musical war. I know about that.

What would be your weapon in a musical war?

Lyrics.

What if the others have also got lyrics?

I’ve got badder lyrics.

Like BAE Systems lyrics?

You have to come with badder lyrics. After two MCs go at each other, I can tell you who would win out of that. But I ain’t got time for no wars.

You have a song called "Press Up". What’s your personal fitness routine like?

It’s for the girls to dance to. But sometimes when I put it on and I’m playing I will do some push-ups: it’s a very good song to work out to.

How many press-ups can you do?

Forty-five. I’m aiming for fifty at the moment.

Impressive. What about burpees?

About what?

It’s a type of exercise. Maybe you know it under a different name?

Now I ain’t got time for two hour work outs, you know. I do my press ups. My sit-ups. Then I’m in the shower then I’m out.

So you don’t belong to a popular gym chain?

Yeah.

What one?

I’m a member of the Hilton Express gym.

The Hilton? Like the hotel?

There’s a hotel, and then there’s a gym and I’m subscribed to the gym there.

Is it posh?

It’s alright. It’s in Rotherhithe. On the docks, by the water. So I can view the Thames. Which is great.

Very evocative area, Rotherhithe. The Norwegian royal family lived there in exile during World War Two. It has a lot of Norwegian links.

The link’s heavy man. The link’s heavy.

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Illustration by Sam Taylor @SptSam

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