Hop Topics

THEY are the unlikeliest of moral guardians; the last people you’d expect to hear pontificating on sex education, discussing the truth about knife crime and extolling the importance of voting.

But if kids are going to listen to anyone, it’s more likely to be a pair of wide-eyed hirsute electro hip-hop artists with a ready wit and a bag full of killer beats.

Eccentric rhyme and bass duo Dan le Sac and Scroobius Pip are musicians with a conscience.

They know society is broken, and in their gentle, sympathetic way, they are determined to fix it.

They first grabbed listeners’ attention with their hit single Thou Shalt Always Kill, in which they knocked music fans’ slavish devotion to their rock idols (“Radiohead: just a band!” they reminded us).

Now, two years on from debut album Angles, they are back with more beat-led polemics courtesy of The Logic of Chance.

And they are tackling some big subjects.

Take Get Better in which they share their wisdom on youth pregnancy and sexual health – with an entreaty to not rush into anything and be careful.

“I remember being a kid and those first fumblings in the sexual arena, just thinking of the end goal of excitement – and not of the longer consequences,.” says Dan. “Kids are playing around because there’s nothing better to do.”

Then there’s their analysis of the issues behind violent crime stats on Great Britain, a call to arms for participatory democracy in Stake A Claim, and the hazards of late night rail travel on Last Train Home.

“I can see how it might sound preachy or like a sermon, but if people don’t want to listen, they don’t have to. But if you’re going to discuss a problem, you should offer a solution.”

Take knife crime. “There’s so much hand-wringing about the whole knife crime thing,” he explains.

“People will shout that a kid has been found with a knife, but no one questions why. Do people need them to feel empowered in a world where they feel unempowered? Or do they just like a bit of stabbing!

“We’re not trying to tell people how to live, just how we live our life. Pip’s lyrics are all about creating discussions. People shouldn’t just believe anything.”

Their work is rooted in the everyday experience of growing up in a dull, if fairly typical small town, with nothing much to do. In their case, Stanford Le Hope, near Essex’s Canvey Island. Dan is talking to The Guide, while putting together the stage set for his current tour. “If we’re expecting people to pay £12 to come and see us, we want to give them something to look at,” he says. “And anyway, at least it should distract from how much weight I’ve put on… service station food, man!”

Despite growing up in the same village, Dan and Scroobius only got to know each other while working at a local HMV one Christmas. And their creative courtship has flourished, with the pair signing to BBC Radio 1 DJ and Bestival organiser Rob da Bank’s Sunday Best record label.

“We are bit ‘Marmite’ for some people. Some people go ‘they’re amazing’ and others go ‘they’re terrible’!”

The pair sell themselves, in good hip-hop style, as Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip “The clue to what we do is in the name,” Dan explains.

“We are two separate entities working together. We represent the two halves of what music can be, socially and politically as well.

“Pip’s the intellectual, but is into cage fighting, so spends most of the time watching men fighting in their pants. While I just make beats.”

And it is not unknown for the pair to fall out. “I agree with what he says but not always how he says it. But it’s like any band. The drummer and guitarist don’t have to agree, as long as it sounds good as a whole.

“It’s that kind of relationship; we butt heads occasionally. I’m the spin doctor – but I also make sure there’s some public protection from Pip!”

Dan le Sac. left, vs Scroobius Pip, right, play the Oxford 02 Academy on Sunday.

Album The Logic of Chance is out now.