Music: Dizraeli

Jeff Hemmings chats with the frontman

As frontman for Dizraeli & The Small Gods, who now feature Female Beatbox Champion Bellatrix, Dizraeli set up the band in order to tour his debut solo album, Engurland (Seaside Shanties), in 2009.

Nestled alongside various other projects Dizraeli is involved with, The Small Gods released the Moving In The Dark album in 2013 and have an extensive summer and autumn of activity lined up, including a UK tour, and the release of two EPs.

Bristol raised, he moved to Brighton to go to university where he did English Literature and French, whilst continuing his passion for DJing, rapping, and music in general. “The Brighton scene then was wicked; we had a strong collective of bands, all at a similar kind of level: the Resonators, King Porter Stomp, Samsara, and Bad Science, which was my band. We used to pool our resources together, put on nights (such as the infamous Comm:Unity nights), do a radio show on Radio Reverb, there was a really strong sense of musical community. I really hope that still exists in Brighton.”

As a rapper and lyricist, Dizraeli is one of the very best. And it’s about as far away from Gangsta Rap as you could get; intelligent, witty and satirical, there’s a strong leaning towards social justice within his work. “The first rap I ever wrote was about the greenhouse effect, the ozone layer specifically. My dad was an environmental activist, and when I was growing up I used to go to to a lot of demonstrations, reclaim the streets rallies, things like that. I remember my first rap because I found my Dennis The Menace notebook, when I was nine years old, just the other day… ‘If you want to be a rocking’ and a rollin’ you got take care of the ozone/you don’t’ treat the earth like a compost pit, you do that man, get out of it.’

“Will Smith, believe it or not, when he was the Fresh Prince with Jazzy Jeff, was big for me. I guess like any kid I wanted to be cool. I always loved poetry from a really young age, I hoovered up books. Rap just seems to be an extension of that storytelling.

He became so good at it that he won the inaugural BBC Radio Four Slam Poetry Award in 2007. Where did the name Dizraeli come from? “I was flicking through a history book, looking for a name to call myself when I was 15, saw the word Dizraeli and chose it, and it stuck. 17 years later! It has become me.” Benjamin Disraeli (with an ‘s’ and not a ‘z’)is perhaps one of the most famous Prime Ministers in British history, and is best known as the father of the modern Conservative Party. “Most people don’t know that,” says Dizraeli of his (almost) namesake. “You’d be surprised… and I’m kind of glad for that, because it’s nothing to do with me at all. He was a tory, an imperialist…”

For this gig, under the name Ghost Lights, Dizraeli will be performing solo as well as live collaborations with Bellatrix, Reeps One and Rex Domino.
The Old Market, Tues 14 April, 8.30pm, £12