Edinburgh producers release Haiti charity EP

The tragedy of the Haitian earthquake in January has inspired Edinburgh music production duo Capitol 1212 to put together an EP in aid of the crisis. The Scottish pair have joined forces with both British and American MCs to record the four-track ensemble, which is described as ‘a fusion of hip hop and dancehall’.

“It really was just seeing the disaster on live news, watching it as it happened, which made me feel like I had to do something.” said Fly T, one half of Capitol 1212, who have toured and performed with acts such as Gangstarr and Snow Patrol.

“I also saw how slow the politicians were at donating money. At the time, we were working out our next step. Things were getting a bit stressful and it made us step back and think about what is really important. There is too much nonsense in music.”

The main track ‘Fiyah’ from the EP, which features Basement Jaxx and Toddla T collaborator Serocee, Big Dada’s latest signing Mr Bang On, US hip hop legend Edo G and Cloak x Dagger’s Profisee, has had a good response so far.

“It’s been played on Radio One, DJ Yoda and DJ Format have got their hands on it and it has also been played by The Rub DJ’s in New York.”

So what does the 31 year old expect from the EP?

“Ideally, we expect to make money for the Haiti victims and of course, for people to like it. I’m not a fan of throwaway charity singles; this is our original EP with the difference being that the money is now going to a worthy cause. I like to believe that it can stand alone without the charity concept and that people would want to listen to it in ten years time.”

The record was called ‘A History of Silence’ before the Haiti disaster happened.

“One of the tracks ‘No More Deceit’ was also written before, yet the lyrics actually overlap. Strangely, we got a graffiti artist in to do the artwork and he created an image of Nelson Mandela, with his mouth stitched. We live in a political age whether fortunately, or unfortunately, it all fits.”

Fly T, chose international medical and humanitarian organisation Medicins Sans Frontieres to donate the money to.

“We did some background research and chose this charity as they stick around longer than most after disasters, as well as donating 100 percent of their profits to the cause.”

The EP will be released on Capitol 1212’s own label, 1212 records, which gets its name from the former 1212 studios in New York.

“We decided to do the record label ourselves for a number of reasons, mainly time and money, and we are happy that everything is now under our control. This is our first release but we have two more planned for 2010, including one with the Jungle Brothers.”

“We all said the same thing this year,” said Fly T, who also does music workshops at The Royal Edinburgh Hospital, “That we want to produce good quality music with the people that we choose to work with. It can sometimes become more about the business so you could say that we have gone back to our grass-roots. If you make good songs, the offers start pouring in.”

‘Fiyah’ is available for download from itunes, Amazon, Juno and 7digital from 8 March.