HipHopUG.com interviews Conspiracy Worldwide Radio's Mista Montana and Menace.

Conspiracy Worldwide Radio is an uncensored 24/7 non-profit live internet radio station located in Nottingham, UK broadcasting worldwide specializing in Hip Hop, most notably underground hip hop music.  With worldwide audience ranging from 124 countries and counting, this show has snowballed to phenomenal ratings over recent years and has seen his voice jump to the forefront of modern underground hip hop media. It transmits live online globally with core audiences in the Europe, Australia, Africa, Brazil, South East Asia and the United States. The internet radio also broadcast to a worldwide internet audience via several radio stations and also a direct feed into the nightclubs/cities of Secondlife.com. Additionally, it radio relays on the FM band in the UK alongside Pattaya in Thailand.
Mista Montana is the founder, CEO and main host (along with co-manager Menace) of the most popular show - "The Friday Night Live" show - which features every Friday different Hip Hop artists.

HHUG: How did Conspiracy Worldwide [CWR] emerge? And being as a success and an important radio platform for underground artists globally, why do you think it has achieve that?

Montana: Conspiracy Worldwide Radio (http://www.conspiracyblog.net) started life as a stand alone, live-only internet broadcast, which occurred sporadically with weekly broadcasts being caught by a handful of dedicated listeners. I had been promoting music and hosting radio shows on various FM radio stations since the 90s, so this was the next, albeit slightly ambitious, step in pushing quality music to the masses. Like any good idea, it took time, patience and most of all a die-hard belief in what we were doing, to help evolve a normal, "catch it while it's on air" web stream into a massive, iTunes chart-topping radio force that can compete with all of the urban specialist shows on commercial radio, in terms of notoriety and listenership. Our podcast has dedicated listeners in 183 countries and we are amassing over 100k unique streams and downloads every 30 days - statistics that truly show that hip hop in its purest, most dangerous form, is here to stay.  I think we have achieved a lot of all of this success to date because we don't offer a conventional, clean-cut, perfect experience for the listener. It still has that unpredictable, raw, pirate radio edge and of course an uncompromising stance with regards to the quality of our output and the music we believe in. We are also unique - there is not one radio show who is doing what we are doing because they daren't.


HHUG: You are the current CEO and founder of CWR, can you tell about yourself prior to establishing CWR?

Montana: I was a homeless man living in a dreamy chasm of heroin abuse and gutter-swill. No, I grew up with a need to play music to people who had never heard that music. From school day tapes, to FM pirate radio - one of my biggest passions in life is to broadcast. I will be honest though, if you had told me as a youth in the 90s, as I broadcast from a dirty council estate flat in Sheffield to about 200 local homes, that one day I would be broadcasting to almost every country in the world, I would have never believed you. The internet just gave me exactly what I had been searching for. A way to not only reach people but to also then interact with that audience and receive constant feedback and encouragement for what you are doing - all we had back in the day on FM was a cellphone and people's text messages. Now we have multiple social network accounts, filled to the brim with brilliant people that listen to every show we podcast. This is definitely a dream come true and I'm very grateful for what we have been blessed with thus far. But this is only the beginning.      


HHUG: Menace, you are the current co-manager of CWR, how did you acquire that position? 

Menace: I’ll give you the shorter story. I first heard about Conspiracy Radio in October 2006 on a message board (famously known for its pretentious douche bag users) through reading a post about a now infamous broadcast that featured an interview with a Brooklyn based emcee. The post would later manifest into pages and pages of replies, causing somewhat of a controversy. However with no links to listen posted, it would remain a myth to me until later. Prior to reading Montana’s MySpace profile, the only information I was finding out about Conspiracy Radio was solely through this post. Needless to say I was intrigued as to who this guy was and why this interview was causing such a fuss. I finally listen to the show and right there and then a void had been filled. I became a believer and knew that somehow, someway I had to be a part of it. Believing in Montana and his vision, I reach out on Widows Live Messenger with the intentions to build what he had into something bigger, offering to assist with promotion of the show and station. I’m welcomed aboard the mother ship and after a few months of promoting, Montana would invite me to co-host the show with him. Soon after, we would become a two man team and handle everything concerning the radio show and station together. My life would forever change as would everybody else’s. The rest as they say is history! (During this point of our interview, Montana and Menace pull out Cuban cigars and light up suggesting success)


HHUG: Can you tell us more about what your participation with CWR?

Menace: In a nutshell, my role entails everything from scheduling content which is broadcast to shaping the nature of that content, determining what kind of content we want to broadcast to scheduling interviews, issue assignments to cover topics, stories and assignments of interest to market research, promotion and marketing etc. In addition to this, I’m also responsible for various technical issues such as ensuring that broadcasts run smoothly and that issues such as dead air don’t occur during broadcast periods. I’m also the weed carrier! Yup (Menace rushes for a Louis Vuitton duffle bag exposing its inside contents to us)


HHUG: CWR is non-profit driven radio station.  How do you continue with its success without showcasing PSAs and/or commercials during your shows?

Montana: I pay for the station. Every single piece of expenditure is paid for from my own pocket. We could easily take advertising and actually make a lot of profit now from doing so, but I always want to broadcast with the one intention and have no other incentive to do what I am doing - and that includes money. Take money out of the equation and you have purity in music or any other creative art form. It also makes you much more formidable when you are self-funded - everything you do comes form your heart without the trappings of money. I work a dedicated 9 to 5 job so I can pay the country's taxes, my mortgage, contribute in a respectable manner to the world around me,  then come home and get on with Conspiracy Radio. There will come a point in our plan when we will need substantial revenue to take things forward but for now i'd like to think that we are proof that you don't need any budget to make something a success.


HHUG: How has the utilization of internet tools and networks help generate CWR shows and maximize your audience reach? Would you ever consider other medium outlets (such as satellite radio, local FM broadcast, or web video/TV) to showcase your shows?

Montana: It's really been imperative. Both myself and Menace have become our own PR company for the shows and spend just as long promoting each podcast as we do preparing and broadcasting the show. The internet is such a huge vortex of literally billions of people with access to endless amounts of ever-changing media, you have to significantly target your product, almost placing it onto the computers of people. This can be done ignorantly and pointlessly, as demonstrated by the hundreds of "YO CHECK OUT MY VIDEO AND VOTE" myspace and Facebook snarfs on the web, but when done well - your audience builds to the point of them banging down your door wanting new product off you. Its an endless but massively rewarding grind each and every single day. In terms of other mediums, as we turn into 2011 you can expect to hear Conspiracy on most of those mediums you listed - we have been hard at work in securing some excellent opportunities to take things a little further and 2011 will see the onset of Conspiracy Worldwide Radio on mediums that do not require a computer.


HHUG: Interviewing numerous different artists and airing countless of different tracks, what is your perspective on the current underground hip hop scene?


Montana: I think in terms of popularity of an artist, there is no such thing as underground hip hop any more. The internet has made it so you can make a record in your home one day and within the month that youtube video for your song can have had a million views - so a million people know about you. In terms of the financial aspects of hip hop, there are more underground artists than ever before and it shocks me sometimes to see how once "big" artists are now sat on twitter all day telling people they want them to come chat with them whilst they broadcast from their cellphones. The commercial industry has marginalized the entire game and forced out the once powerful, replacing them with pube-less, talentless junkies. Hip hop artists tweet more than their followers and its not all about vanity - a lot of it is because they have no other way to keep from feeling "underground". But they are - only in terms of the financial aspect of their career but its still a sad landscape to fly over.  


HHUG: How about you Menace, your take on the current underground hip hop music?

Menace: I love it. For me it’s as healthy as it’s always been. Of course there’s always going to be artists who aren’t raising the bar and disciplining themselves but on the flip side, growth is something that has to manifest naturally. The moment some of these artists recognize that creative discipline is a progressive discovery of their own ignorance will be the moment the art form reaches higher potentials. That said, both “underground” and mainstream “rap” is fucked up. There shouldn’t be a division between the two and all types of GOOD Hip Hop needs to be heard by everyone. (After answering, Menace slyly pulls out a Plies CD, insisting that we listen to “Becky” on repeat for the remainder of the interview. Needless to say we laugh in his face).


HHUG: Have you ever interviewed mainstream artists or guests not relating to hip hop at all?

Montana: Sure, we have interviewed a whole list of people who have never blessed a microphone in their life. We have spoken to such hip hop legends as Peter North, Paul Daniels,Tim Westwood and many other people not related to hip hop at all.

Menace: Can’t forget about Harry Shearer ( Saturday Night Live, Simpsons, Spinal Tap). That was a favourite of mine. So many more we’re forgetting too.


HHUG: What interviews have been the most memorable for you? The most unfavorable or unorthodox?

Montana: We took a lot of slack for it but one of the most unique interviews had to be with music producer, Stoupe [of Jedi Mind Tricks]. We were really grateful for him actually agreeing to do it - we had heard he NEVER does interviews. When you're interviewing an artist you never really know how they are going to react or behave until they are on the show with you and sometimes at that point it is too late. Having huge respect for Stoupe, we really hadn't preempted such an edgy and unorthodox experience and were slightly flabbergasted and outwitted by the whole adventure. People have been quick to claim it was purely our fault and a wasted opportunity but we learnt a lot about soccer, I think he enjoyed it and we did too -so whats their problem?


HHUG: Are there any guests you’ve liked interviewing the most? The least, if any?

Menace: There’s a lot, man. Interviewing Rakim and The RZA are both up there as pinnacle moments for me. The guests who I have least liked interviewing are probably the ones that you have least enjoyed listening to! This is my favourite interview though! Ha (Menace requests a box of tissues before he gets emotional and breaks down into tears).

HHUG: Interviewed or not, who are your top 5 favorite artists and why? Top 5 music producers?
Montana: I always find such questions difficult but some of my favorite artists's albums this year have included Royce Da 5'9, Diabolic, Canibus, Rasco & DJ Wich and many more that I cant think off top.

Menace: That’s tough. I have favourites but I couldn’t restrict them to a top 5. I can however tell you that I’m super tough into Homeboy Sandman right now. His album’s been getting a lot of rotation of late. Copywrite too! Definitely peep those albums if you haven’t already.


HHUG: If comparing UK and US hip hop in general, what differences would you emphasize that are worth mentioning?

Montana: The UK let hip hop die. The industry stood and watched as the flame that some artists had lit just slowly died away, only to replaced by a generation of spastic sounding social rejects, all being patted on the back like "special" kids at school by our slime ball radio DJs. If anyone tries to defend the creativity of such droning, car accident survivors as Giggs or SAS to me THATS when I realise that not only has the UK urban scene fallen to pathetic lows, that even a Euro-vision song contest would be ashamed to air -  but it now also believes its own sick little lie. I am not clinically depressed, contemplating a Kamikaze, self-perpetuating suicide but if I ever am, I promise I am going on a killing spree through the dirty, dream-littered streets of London to annihilate these British A&R's whilst they play Guitar Hero in their mum's bedroom. We have some astonishing artists here in the UK that are painfully overshadowed by this Tsunami of baby-clothed retards. The UK is full of great artists and producers, some of the best in hip hop, it is also full of the worst examples of radio shows/TV channels in the entire world.

Menace: I think Montana just hit the nail on the head. Although the ‘biggest difference’ between the US and UK is Conspiracy Worldwide of course!


HHUG: Mista Montana, you have your own official personal site - MontanaUK.com - what can you tell us about your site? 

Montana: All famous people have their own site. No, I just wanted to have a platform that made me and Conspiracy even more accessible and search-friendly. The current site is just a simple outline of what I intend to do with it in 2011 and provide a new outlet for the music and artists whose music I love. 


HHUG: MessengerMenace.blogspot.com is Menace's personal blog site.  Elaborate more about your blog. 

Menace: Messenger Menace is an extension of Conspiracy, focused on highlighting unknown and under-recognised talent in Hip Hop that we might not have given shine to on the show due to timing etc. The platform is used to present, promote, and distribute both local and international music to new audiences using word-of-mouth buzz and a strong independent work ethic. It’s recently featured a few guest writers including an upcoming producer who goes by the name Tokyo Cigar and Delphina who runs a Hip Hop night called Blue Cheese in London and is actually Rodney P’s cousin. In addition it enables me to promote things I feel are worth of shine visually i.e. music videos etc.


HHUG: What inspires you or continues your drive for bringing us CWR?
Montana: Pleasure. Just pure pleasure at what we do each week and to be able to sit back and watch the stats as people come flooding in to hear all of this great new music and hear from the artists they may have never heard speak the way they speak to us on CWR. I could go deeper and talk moral crusades and Guy Fawkes-esque plots but in essence I will continue to do CWR for the same reasons that humanity will continue to have sex - it feels amazing. Especially with two people involved ain't that right Menace??  

Menace: Love for the culture, genuine talent and people such as yourself. Red Bull and Doritos help too!


HHUG: Thank you for taking your time for this interview. Any closing thoughts?

Montana: Don't do drugs kids whilst on the radio - you may end up threatening to murder your guests' entire family. On a serious note , thank YOU for taking time out to ask us these questions and giving us another channel for Conspiracy to be heard. Highly appreciated! People no longer have to "keep their ears peeled" for updates on Conspiracy Worldwide Radio in 2011 - we will be placing it all in front of you on every site you go and soon, every radio you switch on. Keep the faith.

Menace: Thanks for the opportunity and thanks if you’re reading this! We appreciate every one of you. Lots of changes coming this year! Keep watching this space.