| THE VOICE JUNE 28 - JULY 4, 2012 23

Forever DenchForever DenchForever DenchForever DenchForever Dench

Rihanna forced to cancel tour dates

Pul

l-Out

LETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BILETHAL BIZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEZZLEEnglish Frank

apologises

BRANDED RACIST

SICK LEAVE

24 ! THE VOICE APRIL 25 - MAY 1, 2013

JONNY ROSE, from Purley, southLondon, founded Croydon TechCity, a movement to make the bor-ough an attractive home to techni-cal and digital start-ups. The 26-year-old aims to steer Croydonaway from its negative imageheightened by the 2011 Londonriots.

Like east London’s ‘SiliconRoundabout’, formally known as TechCity – the Government’s scheme topromote the area as a technology hub

- Rose’s ambition is to make Croydoninto “the Silicon Valley of southLondon” where developers and peo-ple with ideas can come together.

In addition to monthly communitymeetings, Tech City Croydon supportsCode Club, a volunteer-led after-school scheme that teaches coding tothe next generation.

So far, 12 out of 90 primary schoolsin the south London borough havesigned up and embraced theprogramme.

8 Mile actor Anthony Mackie hasbeen cast to play Harlem hero Falconin Captain America: The WinterSoldier, which is scheduled forrelease in 2014. Real name SamWilson, Falcon is recognised as oneof the first fictional black superheroes

Antwone Fisher star Derek Lukehad a minor role in CaptainAmerica: The First Avenger as sol-dier Gabe Jones. Created byMarvel in 1963, Jones is widelyrecognised as their first regularblack character, fighting in thearmed forces alongside Nick Fury

Hollywood star Kerry Washingtonplayed a small role as the blindAlicia Masters in both of theFantastic Four films. A love interestof the super strong Thing, Marvelcomics are arguably colour blindtoo as Masters is a Caucasianwoman in the comics

Although he did not physically featurein Fantastic Four: Rise of the SilverSurfer, veteran actor LaurenceFishburne provided the voice of theSurfer who could travel through galax-ies with the aid of his surfboard. Thesurfer debuted in the comics in 1966

Kevin Bacon is perhaps remem-bered best in the UK for hisannoying EE adverts but in X-Men: First Class he was the evilwarmonger Sebastian Shaw, whowrecked havoc and blew up new-bie X-Man Darwin, played byKenyan-born Edi Gathegi

Another voice of reason in thecrazy world of Marvel is Joseph‘Robbie’ Robertson. Played by BillNunn, journalist Robertson wouldalways calm the situation when-ever Daily Bugle boss J. JonahJameson would blow his top

Comedian, singer and now comicbook film villain, Jamie Foxx has beenchosen to be Electro in The AmazingSpider-Man 2. The film is scheduledfor release in 2014 and Electro willhopefully not be wearing this ridicu-lous green outfit from the comics

Dania Ramirez is no stranger to theworld of sci-fi, having appeared inhit series Heroes. The Dominicanactress portrayed Callisto in X-Men:The Last Stand. Callisto possessedsuperhuman speed in the flick, apower that her comic book counter-part does not have

Bossing the world’s greatestheroes is no easy job, but SamuelL. Jackson was up to the task inThe Avengers as SHIELD figure-head Nick Fury. Jackson has alsofeatured as Fury in two Iron Manfilms

In his major film debut, recording artistWill.i.am portrayed the teleportingcombatant John Wraith in X-MenOrigins: Wolverine. Alias Kestrel, theknuckleduster-wearing Wraith madehis first comic book appearance in1992

The late 6ft 5in, 22 stone actorMichael Clarke Duncan was the per-fect fit to play the humungous villainKingpin in the Daredevil movie. It isworth noting that the larger than lifecrime lord is Caucasian in thecomics

Oscar winner Halle Berry has beencast as Ororo Munroe, also knownas Storm, in three of the X-Menfilms. The African Queen is one ofthe leading female comic bookcharacters, regardless of race

THEY HAVE THE POWER!Actor Jamie Foxx was recently pictured in the role of villain Electro for thenew Spider-Man film. Here, Ben Lettman takes a look at other celebs that

have taken on comic book roles for Hollywood

ANTHONY MACKIE > FALCON

DEREK LUKE > GABE JONES LAURENCE FISHBURNE >SILVER SURFER

KERRY WASHINGTON > ALI-CIA MASTERS

EDI GATHEGI > DARWIN BILL NUNN > JOSEPH ‘ROB-BIE’ ROBERTSON

WILL.I.AM > JOHN WRAITH

JAMIE FOXX > ELECTRODANIA RAMIREZ > CALLISTO SAMUEL L JACKSON > NICK

FURY

HALLE BERRY > STORMMICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN> KINGPIN

Leading British actor Idris Elba wasNorse god-like character Heimdall inThor, which caused minor contro-versy due to Heimdall beingCaucasian in the comics. Elba willreprise the role in the Thor sequel,which will be released in November

IDRIS ELBA > HEIMDALL

Being the voice of a reason to mil-lionaire superhero Tony Stark cannotbe an easy task, but Don Cheadle’scharacter James ‘War Machine’Rhodes has done a good job so far.Terrence Howard was War Machinein the first Iron Man

DON CHEADLE > JAMES ‘WARMACHINE’ RHODES

Blade is arguably the catalyst forthe surge in popularity of comicbook films. The 1998 film featuringWesley Snipes as the vampire-hunt-ing ‘daywalker’ opened the door formore films of the genre to be cre-ated. A quirky fact is that Blade isactually born in London

WESLEY SNIPES > BLADE

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje will liter-ally be locking horns with Elba inThor: The Dark World, playing the vil-lainous Kurse, who was created in1984 and will be making his on-screen debut towards the end of theyear

ADEWALE AKINNUOYE-AGBAJE > KURSE

ZOE KRAVITZ > ANGEL SALVADORE

Zoe Kravitz, daughter of rocksinger Lenny, went from fledglinghero to villain in the making asAngel Salvadore in X-Men: FirstClass. With similar powers to a fly,minus using her saliva as an explo-sive weapon of course, Salvadoreis definitely no angel

Dear Kat,

I’ve recently put on a lot of weight and I think my boyfriend doesn’tfind me attractive anymore.

He used to be really affectionate and would always want to hold myhand and kiss me in public, but now he seems distant.

I don’t know what’s going on, but the only thing that has changedin the past few months is my weight.

My friends say I should ask, but I don’t want to draw attention to thefact just in case that’s not it.

What do you think I should do?

Lisa, 19

Hi Lisa,

I’m with your friends on this one. The only way you’re going toknow what’s on your man’s mind is by asking him.

Communication is key in all relationships - this one is no different.Whatever his response is, at least you will know.

How he is treating you is unfair, but it could be down to a numberof things; money worries, family issues, work problems… But onething is for sure, you’re only going to know once you ask.

If you do find out that it’s about your weight, I would first ask whyhe didn’t communicate that with you and then I’d ask whether that’ssomeone you want in your life anyway.

Your weight shouldn’t determine his love for you. However, if, forwhatever reason it does, he should’ve been able to communicatethat with you kindly and considerately.

APRIL 25 - MAY 1, 2013 THE VOICE ! 25

LETHAL BIZZLEhas managed tobuild a businessempire from oneword - Dench. A

seemingly simple term meaning'good,' has now become aninternationally famous clothingrange and has seen Bizzlemove from musician to suc-cessful business entrepreneur. Inadvertently creating thebrand in August 2011 withcousin and Arsenal footballerEmmanuel Frimpong, the pairdecided to put Dench, one oftheir most-used expressions,on a t-shirt. They had no ideahow popular the term wouldbecome or that they would sellmore than 10,000 units in thefirst month alone.

Speaking on the rise of thelabel, Bizzle admits that

although the brand has donewell on its own merit, theendorsement from actressDame Judy Dench has notonly made his clothes moreaccessible, but has also madethe Dench brand way coolerthan it was before.

“That woman has made thebrand go crazy,” he laughs.

“We were doing well, but sheopened a whole new marketfor us. Because I'm a grimeartist and my cousin's a foot-baller some people pigeonholeus. Dame Judy opened it upand made Dench even cooler -although I thought it was coolbefore.”

He went on: “She's a worldfamous star and for someonelike that to endorse us is price-less. It's something marketingcan't buy. I had people email-

ing me from Fox News in theUS [requesting items] so theycould wear it on TV.”

Reflecting on the diversity ofhis customer base, the 29-year-old said: “Now peopleknow that it's not just a blackthing, it’s not just a street thing,it's for everyone.”

And Dench's success does-n't stop with endorsement fromthe Skyfall actress, it is nowstocked at leading departmentstore Selfridges and was soldon the official Arsenal footballclub website.

Looking back, the eastLondon grime MC, who rose toprominence with the top 20 hitPow, which later won him aMOBO award for 'Best Single'and 'Best Newcomer,' finds ithard to believe how far hiscompany has come, especially

when he considers that itstarted on a whim.

“I didn't know Dench wasgoing to be so big. I didn't gointo it thinking I was going tomake a clothing businesswork. We just had a word fromback in the day for somethingwe thought was hot. We wouldsay, 'Yeah, that's dench.' Fromthere, it went into the songsand online blogs and mycousin [Frimpong] started say-ing it. People would ask uswhat it meant and it grew fromthere.”

“We thought, ‘Why don't wemake t-shirts that say Dench?’When we did, they sold out. It'sbeen a natural process.”

While he can now add entre-preneur to his expandingrepertoire, Bizzle still remem-bers the barriers that he andfellow artists used to face inthe public eye.

“A hell of a lot haschanged,” he says.

“There are a lot more oppor-tunities now. When I started,the only people getting theattention were the rock andpop artists. Now we are gettingmore chances and moreoptions - in terms of being anartist and a businessmen.”

“I couldn't see my productbeing stocked in Selfridgesyears ago, I couldn't see a UKgrime artist selling in that store.But society today is a lot moreaccessible. If you like some-thing, you can get it online -that has given a lot of powerback to the artists. Dench

does so well online that ifSelfridges decided to pull themerchandise, it would be aloss, but it's not the be all andend all.”

Speaking about his manydifferent roles, the star admit-ted that another accolade he'schasing is that of clothingdesigner.

“I would say you could addclothing designer in there, Ilove clothes and they aresomething I am interested in. Idon't design everything myself,I have designers who work forme. I can give them my ideasand tell them what I want, butit's no different from manyclothing designers who have awhole team working for themwhile they are probably on abeach somewhere. “

With over a decade of expe-rience in the grime scene, theGo Hard hitmaker has man-aged to remain relevant in an

ever-changing industry. His lat-est musical offering is testa-ment to that.

Alongside fellow grime sta-ple Wiley, Bizzle is gearing upto release They Got It Wrong.Putting to bed any doubts thathe's fallen off musically andsquashing all rumours of along-running rift between himand the 'Godfather of Grime',he adds:

“They Got It Wrong wassomething that we had beenspeaking about for a very longtime. It was important on apositive tip to show people thatwe have grown up, and I thinkit makes sense both of usbeing on a track together. Wecan show people that we'vemoved on from the beef.”

They Got It Wrong will be released April 21 through DenchRecords. Follow @LethalBizzle onTwitter

UK grime MC Skepta was just one of the namesto hit out at fellow rapper English Frank afterhe branded an African security guard �“dumb�”

"He needs to make a publicapology for his stupid dumbignorant stereotypical racist

comment, because the last timeI checked none of my African

family are �“Dumb�”

ENGLISH FRANK:The UK rapper was

forced to apologise afterhis comments about anAfrican security guardwere branded racist

RIHANNA:The Bajan singer wasforced to cancel tourdates due to ill health

CHRIS TUCKER:The Rush Hour starwas revealed as thisyear�’s host for the

annual BET awards

EMELI SANDE:The British singer has

been nominated for twoprestigious Ivor Novello

awards

Confused, crushed, crazy

KERRYWASHINGTON: Weird, unflattering, why?

ZOESALDANA:

TWEET OF THEWEEK

Skepta

UK rapper Lethal Bizzle talks to YV’s HazelannWilliams about expanding his empire, therise of ‘Dench’ and working with Wiley

BUFF OR BUSTED?

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26 ! THE VOICE APRIL 25 - MAY 1, 2013

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