Blackout Exclusive: Interview with Oliver Whitehouse (Sektion Red)

Birth of hip-hop, the world, especially Europe, was real quick in receiving and practicing the new sound coming from The Bronx in 1973, spreading to all 5 boroughs of New York City, and later the whole US. Like many cultural movements in certain genres, like jazz for example, hip-hop was connecting neighborhoods, cities and even countries. Today, with the help of modern technologies, artists (and producers for that matter) are connected with each other more than ever, and hip-hop has been giving birth to many extremely quality artists in probably every country in the world.

A certain fella, going by the name of Oliver Whitehouse, who was born and raised in the UK, figured to take that connection to a whole new level. From that idea, in the year of 2012, the Sektion Red project was born. Then living only on social media platforms, today Sektion Red unites a large number of Hip-Hop artists on their website through music video directed and filmed by Oliver.

We got in touch with the dude and asked him questions on the what, the whys and the hows. Click Read Whole Post for the complete interview.

Re:tro flava : First of all, Oliver, I want to thank you for sharing your spare time for the interview knowing that you’ve been busy a lot lately, flying around from country to country making videos.
I have been following Sektion Red for quite a while now and through it I have found out about many fantastic MC’s around the globe. I suppose that was the original idea of the project; gathering various worldwide artists at one spot, some kind of a hip-hop union, and supporting underground MC’s by getting them a better reach through your music videos. Can you share more details about it?

Oliver : Hey, what’s up Irvin, thanks for taking your time for the interview.
I’m glad you’ve been discovering a bunch of international MC’s through Sektion Red. So yeah, that’s the point, by having many dope worldwide artists on one platform the audience will come across; artists they might not otherwise discover, which should lead to more international shows for the MC’s, music sales and so on. Also it’s a way for the rappers and producers to network with one another. The best example of this is when I brought together similar artists from 15 different countries to make “The Red Album”, but I also do more casual introductions when I feel it makes sense, or if an artist asks me to link them with a producer or rapper they noticed on Sektion Red.

Re:tro flava : Given the fact that artists are coming from all parts of the world, like Greece, Japan, United Kingdom, Lithuania, USA and Serbia… Are artists usually contacting you for collaborations or is it the other way around?

Oliver : It’s a combination of both. For example, with Japan I hadn’t ever been to Asia before, so Sektion Red really wasn’t well established. I was contacting MC’s (via Google translate) before I travelled and actually one of the crews I filmed with ‘LafLife’ I met on the street in Harajuku, Tokyo. But I’m sent a lot of messages from places where Sektion Red is more well known, like the UK or Greece, as well as the occasional unexpected place I hadn’t even started to consider filming like India. Hip-Hop really is global now, anywhere you can find people you’ll find hip hop. I keep getting messages from fans in Chile, asking when Sektion Red is coming. I get the feeling the scene must be really alive there, need to go check it out… You know, once the pandemic is over and we’re able to move around again.

Re:tro flava : Now that you’ve mentioned it, there’s probably a number of people that wonders about the same thing as I do – how much does the current coronavirus situation effect the usual work flow of Sektion Red, as for Chile, some ideas and projects are probably postponed?

Oliver : Well I didn’t have any flights booked for Chile or South America, it’s just somewhere I’ve had in mind to go for some time. I am however supposed to be in Greece right now, but evidently that trip has been put on hold, so I’m in the UK for now and will be until everything clears up. But I’ve been filming a lot these past months, so there’s plenty of editing for me to do and music videos to drop in the coming weeks. Also I started a series ‘Quarantine 16’ for rappers from anywhere to send mobile videos of them rapping 16 bars to Sektion Red e-mail and then posting the best ones; to keep everyone at home entertained and the MC’s active and relevant. It’s also a cool way to show that we may be isolated in our homes, but we are all in this together, strength in unity.

Re:tro flava: Yeah, those ‘Quarantine 16’ videos are cool. Some of them bars are pretty dope.
Tell me though, how was the very concept of the Sektion Red born? Where did the idea for the name come from anyway? Does it have a back story to it?

Oliver: I wanted a name that could be interpreted in different ways, so I don’t want to define it. I have my interpretation and that’s what drives it forward, but it’s cool for it to mean different things to different people, to take what they want from it. I can say for certain though, that I came up with the name shortly after walking through the red light district in Amsterdam with my parents, it was the only time I’ve ever been embarrassed to be with them as an adult. The ladies were waving and smiling; “Oh I think she likes you Oliver” my mum said at one point. But yeah, that was where I was before I came up the name, but clearly that’s not the meaning, theme or motivation behind the brand ‘Sektion Red’!

Re:tro flava: Haha that’s a good one. Big up to your moms! What about the very idea of Sektion Red? What made you start such a project?

Oliver: At around 20 [years old] I started making hip hop videos in the London rap scene, filming with Giggs, Krept & Konan and a bunch of other big names in that scene. Pretty soon after I formed a business with my friend and fellow artist Nick Donnelly. We had loads of fun and worked really hard but business wise it wasn’t quite clicking for us. Then at 23 I found out I was going to become a father and decided to part ways amicably with Nick and build a business that was purely mine, to be able to make all the decisions and not have to factor in anyone else, just build something that only I was responsible for. One day my daughter can have and run Sektion Red if she wants, without any pressure. Being half Norwegian and a big fan of travelling I’ve always been interested in other cultures and languages, so I’ve built Sektion Red around my tastes, attracting fans and artists who have a similar mentality. I just keep making stuff that I would like as a fan of the culture for myself and anyone else who feels the same way. Uniting people through art has been really rewarding.

Re:tro flava: Besides you, how many people are directly involved in Sektion Red’s operations?

Oliver: It’s just me who is responsible for running Sektion Red on a consistent basis, but along the way I’ve collaborated with people on projects of course, Laura Green for example on the ‘Artemis’ series about female rappers in UK Hip Hop. It’s a lot to be managing; as well as the consistent video releases. There’s “The Red Album”, the clothing range, the occasional international live shows, the website to maintain and so on.
Another person who I want to thank and biggup in particular, who I’ll refer to as ‘my Greek associate’, is responsible for maintaining quality control amongst the Greek hip hop releases. I’m sent so many songs from Greek rappers, and without fully knowing the language I need to make sure what they are saying is line with the Sektion Red ethos and meets the high standards that have already been set. This individual needs to remain nameless because even though the average standard in Greek hip hop is very high, they’ve also said no to a lot of requests!

Re:tro flava: As much as I’ve seen, almost every visual has your name as the video producer. How do you manage bounce from one part of the world to another in such short period, film everything, spend time in the software and finally drop the video, not to mention to adequately advertise the whole thing. Is it tiring?

Oliver: Yeah, all the videos on Sektion Red so far are videos I’ve filmed, with the exception of two submissions. I think the key is just loving what you do. I don’t feel like I’m working. As Sektion Red grows I just become more and more passionate to keep building. I also don’t really do anything else, just working on Sektion Red and looking after my daughter. The extra motivation is not having a boss. I can’t imagine being told what to do, I never have and I’m determined to keep it that way. The internet and affordable technology has enabled a lot of this, for me and for artists and entrepreneurs in general. Now we can build our own platforms for mainstream or niche interests and build sustainable business around them.

Re:tro flava: Serbian rapper Škabo is in one of your videos. Did you ever bump to some other MC’s from Balkan countries you’ve wished to work with?

Oliver: When I was making The Red Album I wanted to make sure the Balkan countries were represented, so did some digging. From what I found it was Škabo who initially stood out. I also checked his crew Beogradski Sindikat, they’re dope clearly very much loved in Serbia and abroad too. But I need to educate myself and learn more. When I was around 19 I did a big trip around Europe and that included visiting the Balkan countries Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. But the only Balkan country I’ve filmed a music video in is Serbia. I guess you have a lot of recommendations for me to check out, hopefully you can send me a list of MC’s after the interview, maybe that will lead to something.

Re:tro flava: But of course! I can write down a list of my all-time MC’s from ‘round here. We have a lot of them. This is, of course, an invite for all quality artists to reach out Oliver for collaboration. With that being said, do you know the exact number of artists you’ve worked with?

Oliver: Ahh, if you want to try and count through the artists in videos on the channel you’re welcome bro, but it might take a while, it has to be in the hundreds. There were 35 MC’s on The Red Album alone! But that being said, it’s only dope artists I’m interested in working with, so don’t hit me up with any wackness! But yeah, anyone with skills who is reading this feel free to hit me up at @oliverwhitehouse on Instagram, or email your music to sektionred@gmail.com

Re:tro flava Haha. Don’t worry, it’s all about quality hip-hop, no gimmicks! The mentioned compilation, The Red Album, features artists from 15 European countries staggered in 10 songs. Did you have a hard time choosing which song to include in the album? Could you even single out a favorite video project?

Oliver: So, the album started off as the ‘Street Fighter’ single with 5 MC’s from different countries that I put together. I was really happy with how it turned out so decided to turn this international theme into an album and put together another 9 tracks. All 10 tracks made it to the album, so there was nothing cut. It’s not a compilation of random songs, all the songs were made specifically for the album. I contacted producers I liked, some sent beat reels for me to choose instrumentals from, others constructed beats specifically for themes I wanted to cover. Then I contacted the MC’s and told them about the project, pairing them up with similar rappers from other countries on beats I thought would suit their style and language, telling them all the theme of the track and then giving them freedom to see what they came up with.

Re:tro flava: Sweet. The album turned out really good. I have enjoyed it fully. Any plans for a second album?

Oliver: Ahh I’m glad you enjoyed it. When I started out filming I never planned to make an album, or a clothing range for that matter. So who knows where this will go, but now that I’ve made one album, I don’t see why there wouldn’t be “The Red Album 2″, but the first was a lot of work to put together, especially considering I filmed a music video for all of the tracks. The first album was strictly European collaborations, I would want part 2 to be something even wider, but we’ll see!

Re:tro flava: That would be dope, having MC’s from all around the globe on one project, representing their cities and countries on their own languages. Many artists you have worked with are signed to some record labels. Did that ever make you any problems?

Oliver: Nope! I guess they realized it was a cool project that their artist was eager to be involved with, due to the uniqueness and the opportunity of reaching new international listeners.

Re:tro flava: Given the fact that primarily Sektion Red is all about music videos, and with it you make documentaries and sell merchandise, do you have any concrete plans on widening the business on other areas in the future? Maybe opening your own label?

Oliver: When I started filming, one of the main goals was to make films, so at some point I’m sure I’ll make one, or some, but only when I’m really inspired to do that because it’ll take a lot of time and effort to do it properly. These last years I’ve been more excited about the idea of making a music video, then going on to the next one, rather than working on one film for months and months, or even years. Also my daughter gave me the nice idea of writing a book about all my adventures on filming trips. There’s no shortage of ways to develop the business, the only issue is time, and committing to the right projects at the right time.

Re:tro flava: I have to say that I’m looking forward to that book. I reckon there’s a truckload of fun and interesting stories to be said!
Well, I think our interview is closing to an end, but there’s one question I’m willing to ask, off topic; since you’re a hip-hop head through and through, beside filming, did you ever grab a mic, spin a record or produce a beat?

Oliver: Haha. Every once in a while I’ll freestyle if that’s the vibe amongst friends, but just messing around. I do have a 16 [bars] in Norwegian which if a live show needs saving I’ll get up on the mic and spit, or more likely be drunk and forget most of it and fail miserably! But I have no plans right now to start rapping seriously, I’m content being the other side of the lens.
Thanks so much for having me on. Much respect to yourself for putting the time in to help build and document the culture we love, and everyone who is still reading. Much respect!

Re:tro flava: Thank you for your time, brother. Wish you all the best in your future endeavors!
Any last words for our readers at Blackouthiphop?

Oliver: Thank you! So people… If you want me to film with any specific artists in your area and have recommendations of MC’s to check for then feel free to just hit me up and let me know. Go subscribe to the Sektion Red channel on YouTube to be notified of all the latest drops. Plus everything Sektion Red I’ve spoken about from the album to videos and to the clothing range, you can find it all here: www.sektionred.com
Peace!