Res One of Split Prophets Touches on Group Chemistry, Gaining Exposure and Future Projects in Exclusive OLS Interview

by Joe Read

One Lion Sound brought together its roster once more to celebrate the release of the One Lion Tape Vol. 2, before presenting the renowned Split Prophets, who’ve long anchored Bristol and the UK’s Hip Hop scene through years of grit and unyielding growth. 

Cellar Door, or Move, emanates its consistent and socially-warm atmosphere amongst Hip Hop heads from the smoking section cyphers to the booming underground live-sets. Throwing the coal in early are the OLS crew as a number from the label’s line-up keeps it swaying with tracks from the collective’s latest project. Sour Grapez (Moraless & Cletus) leave an aftertaste with an energetic and vibrant 40-minute set of mic antics and engaging chemistry. In the early hours the eight-man crew shuffle about the cosy stage amply, having said they’ve performed on even smaller in the past. Different members take their lead and pair up on the brink of the stage throughout, going bar for bar and sweating out beastly verses line for line as they lyrically bounce off each other and into a roaring crowd. 

Upfront praises our energy whilst Datkid helps Res One to heave the boys and girls sprawled across the fallen barrier gates off the stage and upright again. A sweat bath of Cellar-dwellers have their heads almost clipped by the roof as they jump like athletes to the Weed Masons Anthem finale, and afterwards, I caught up with Res One to talk about writing, Split Prophets and a little advice for aspiring emcees.

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OLS - What’s brought Split Prophets from where they once were to where they’re at now?

Res: I reckon the main thing about it is the crew vibe we have. It’s hard for us ‘cause we’ve all known each other for so long, so we have little fallouts and all that but the main thing that keeps the crew so tight is that we all grew up together, we’re bredrins. It’s a real crew, not a group that’s been put together. 

OLS - How does the writing process work for group projects?

Res: With Delta Bravo Kilo we basically rented a studio to record the whole album in. Some of us wrote verses there, some of us wrote verses before and brought them. But the whole album was done in one studio.

OLS -What kind of conscious decisions do you make as emcees towards your lyrical topics?

Res: It all comes natural. No one here tries to rhyme like nothing. When I started writing bars, I didn’t know what a bar was. We jumped in at the deep end.

OLS - What mindset and zone do you like to be in when penning bars?

Res: Mornings, man, mornings are good for writing bars, or when your stressed.

OLS - What’s important to you about live performance and what would you say to people who want to up their own?

Res: I’d say the more energy you give to the crowd, the more the crowd will give back, so that’s how you get it going.

OLS - What advice would you give to emcees who wanna get themselves out there?

Res: The main thing that I did personally was just connected with people. So right now what I’m doing is connecting with people from the Netherlands, France, Germany, Greece, all over Europe, New York as well. Branch out and don’t try and be like no-one else. That’s the main thing I say to every fuckin’ emcee. Don’t try and be like Fliptrix, don’t try and be like Jehst, don’t try and be like me, or anyone, do your own thing. And if you do your own thing and you do it good, people will like it— and even if you do your own thing and people don’t like it at first, cool, keep doing your own thing and say fuck them people and eventually you’ll get good and they’ll like it.

OLS - What’s next for Split Prophets?

Res: We’ve got a lot of shit coming up, we’ve got a project coming out where everyone’s got a solo track on the album. So it’ll be like an eight-track EP, showcasing everyone’s versatility and whatever.

Huge thanks to Split Prophets for coming through and tearing it down and to Res for taking five to chat. The love for Exeter’s Hip Hop crowd is echoed by every artist that visits our stages- and if you don’t know what I mean then it’s a shame that you ain’t amused.