N-Dubz, the man behind the music
Prologue
When the boy's a teenager it's hard to see the kid in the kid, you see the kid in the kid's dad.
I'm no expert but I think the boys first musical inspiration came from the records he grew up with. Such as Fingertips, The Clash, and The Breeders. N-Dubz would be the first of the group to reveal his man-to-man, "I'm not a fan, so don't worry," personality. To the world, he wore a mask of stupidity and then at 4 in the morning, he would prepare himself and his dad would take him to play to hundreds of people. With his dad acting as a facilitator, the boy would impersonate an ex girlfriend from the start to the end. An end that would not be an end.
When they were together, it would be the boy who would perform; the mum would just be mum. N-Dubz would be the most persistent member of the group; even when he was in "Flood" mode, he could not let go. Having left home and moved in with his family when he was 14, I remember N-Dubz telling me that he had to quit the group because he was the only one to stay in the group for longer than a year. In his mind, he was doing what he believed he should do and not giving up when things got tough, unlike his fellow group members. The hardship is that he found out after being asked by his mum if he should quit, he was not going to be able to quit because he needed to be "able to give his mum a proper house", his mum would not let him quit if he did not have a place to live. He was to be a sacrificial lamb to pay for the education of his siblings and the education of his siblings.
I could not be like him.
Flesh-and-blood, hip hop artists generally do not make a living from their art, in N-Dubz's case, he made a living from music.
Sometime in 2002, while working at the Bank of Scotland's branch on the Old Haymarket in Edinburgh, I came across a slim paperback titled 'Music, Money and Marketing' by Henry Shapiro. If you happen to know Henry, you will know that he has a way with words and probably knows more about marketing than you could ever imagine
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