Rebel Noiz: Interview #11 With LvStong aka Gregory Satimin

LvStong aka Gregory Satimin was born on November 28^th, 1984, in Rotterdam NL. He started the B-I-C (Bubble In Crew) in 2004. Now he is not only an MC, but a DJ and a beat producer. He produces his beats using on Propellerhead Reason and The Roland MV-8800. He has his own studio called ‘The Garage Studio’, there he works tirelessly with many young individuals to teach them how to make their own music and build the music in their lives so that they can go on and become successful artists themselves. He likes to help people with their music because many artists out there are selfish and don't particularly like to show love to other artists.

His life is all about peace, love, and community. His group, B-I-C, do a whole different style that is a style of their own, Grime (and they use it well). Why do I say it is a style of their own, because you don't hear many MCs spitting verses over beats that sound like theirs. LvStong, Massif, and all the other UK producers, have brought their electronic style of music (Grime and DnB) and structured it for Hip Hop to create a style that is very unique in it's own way. The energy that they bring to the mic is also top notch and very crafted, you can tell that they have been doing this for a while. Most Hip Hop artists wouldn't bring what is needed to the songs and LvStong and his B-I-C group, do and do it well. You either have to be original in music, or do it better than anyone else. I think they bring a little bit of both. Hats off to them and the music they create, I think they are on to something here.

The Interview...

How did you start out with music, what was your experiences in life that drew you to it?

"As a young boy, I saw my cousin workin on a DJ set and asked him what that was and he said that is a DJ set for mixing music. It was that moment when I thought.. “what???!!! So Sick!” A few years later, I bought my own set and I started making my own mixes. I became a DJ for school parties and private parties. Wherever I've been, music has always been at my side. My homies and I used to listen to many instrumentals and we started to rap to them, but it was always for fun. People started to listen to us and said that we had talent and that we should do something with it."

Who were the artists in music that really drove you and influenced you?

"I've always been a big fan of Michael Jackson, always looked up to his work, so he was the start for me in wanting to do something in the music. I began to learn from many artists like Notorious BIG, Bob Marley, Alpha Blondy, and R.Kelly, but when I heard Wiley (London UK) for the first time, I converted to Grime/ UkGarage/ DnB music. The sounds on 140 BPM did it for me."

How did you get your MC name?

"Music is in my blood, so it flows in my veins and “LV” stands for Lyrical Veins which was my name till 2005. But people from my hometown call me “STONG”, because I was a young aggressive boy and Stong is a Suriname word and it means “Stone”. So I called myself LvStong.

What are the main life experiences that you bring to your music?

"I have no main life experiences that I bring to my music. I just live day-by-day and so is every experience in life that I bring into my music."

What does music do for your life?

"Music is my life, cuz music makes my heart beat. Life is a melody, without my heart, there is no rhythm. Music makes me smile, so it makes me stronger in everything I do!"

If you didn't have music what do you think you'd be doing?

"I think I'd be a soccer player because in my youthful years, I was training 6 days a week."

How does your family influence your life?

"Well, I have 2 sons and they keep me standing. And because of them I am still working on music. Because I have learned that no matter how old you get, you will always have to live your life and one must do something with your life, so the next generation will learn that there is more in life, but it's hard work. My family is why I still make music."

What are some of the projects you have been in?

I`ve worked on 2 mixtapes that I dropped online the last year, the first one was in 2013 called, TheGarageStudio EP (the ep is named by my studio). The second was last month's, It`s All Grimy EP.

Who are some of the people you have worked with?

Massif Beatz [BE] – DonDeBaron [NL] – Dare[NL] – Loiston Lapper[NL] – Kenny Oost[NL] – FritteDeFritta[NL] -- Dr Krank [NL] – H-B [NL] – Meck-O-Leck [NL] -- L2K [NL]--" but mostly I work with Laupi D [NL]."

How did you and Laupi D meet?

"Me and Laupi D, we`ve been homies from years ago. We played soccer on the street in our hood. 9 years ago we made our first track called “DanDangMan”, and 2 years ago we started with a remix of DanDang and since that time he joined the B-I-C and became a true member of the crew."

How did you guys come up with your name, Bubble In Crew?

"It was Rafa Skyla who came up with this name. He always said to us, 'WHEN WE COME IN, WE BUBBLE IN!!', so we called our crew, the Bubble In Crew."

What would you say the factors are that make you and Laupi D work so well together?

"Hard work, to be honest with each other. We listen to each other and most of all is love."

You just came out with an EP, what are you trying to say to the world with this EP?

"Yes, the name of the EP is, “It`s All Grimy”, and it’s a tape with dutch vocals and many producers from the UK and MassifBeatz from BE. It's all about teamwork and love and it’s a new start for most of my crew, GRIME. So what we wanna tell people mostly is, do you like the hype and the vibe, just book us!"

What are some of the projects that we can look forward to the Bubble In Crew and you to come out with in the future?

"We are working on some instrumentals for a “B-i-C - Instrumental EP” and I am also working on my solo mixtape named StongTijdPerk EP. But for now it's time to promote, It`s All Grimy EP."

Who are some of the people you plan on working with still into the future?

"It`s All Grimy with the B-I-C, so I will work on many things with my crew the next year. I don`t to work with other MCs outside my crew, because our homie Rafa Skyla is comin' back next year from Peru, so we will work with him a great deal."

What are you trying to establish with your ever growing musical community?

"I wanna learn more about music so I will learn about music even more through other people."

What do you want to accomplish with your music career and what is your ultimate goal?

"I just wanna do music. Because when I work on music there is no goal to reach, cuz every time you reach your goal there is a new goal to reach. I say I make music for the love and the fun. Then we will see what comes from it, day to day.

Bookings: lvstong.bic@gmail.com