Apart from its appropriateness for obvious reasons, grime artist Lincoln Savage is blessed with a name that is perfect for transforming into a hip-hop moniker. Linc, as he is known, is perhaps Lincolnshire’s premier urban music artist.
Putting Linc ahead of similar acts is his willingness to amalgamate multiple genres. From dance to indie, little is off limits: “It’s the ultimate mix of experimental music,” says Lincoln. “I put no floor between underground and over-ground music in my sound.”
Although his sound is unique, Lincoln acknowledges the influence that certain artists have had on him. For his lyrics however, he is less generous “to be honest, though I have studied so much music from all platforms… I have just become my own lyricist. I’m cheeky, arrogant, humorous, sentimental. I’m every personality and character rolled up into one rapper/song writer.”
Some people might see his confidence in a negative light, as egotism rather than just belief in his own abilities. However, where numerous hip-hop artists fall into the trap of repetition, it’s due to these traits that Linc has the potential to, in time, out-do the competition. Add that to his refreshing take on the usual hip-hop sound and it makes for a compelling combination.
As a genre, hip-hop is thin on the ground in Lincolnshire. While no reason has been forthcoming, Savage has his own explanation: “Where we live, it seems people are too concerned for what everybody else is thinking, we all follow the crowd too much… we need to start being ourselves and exploring, because there is so much out there to be discovered, so many different cultures, different fashions and music that could inspire us to do much greater things.”
For Linc, the lack of a scene in Lincolnshire for his preferred genre has proved to detrimental to his music: “I’m not the most in-the-know person as it is,” he says, “but it’s so much harder to interest people. Club owners and event managers aren’t going to want me to play if no one is going to be interested.” However Linc sees the bright side, and his cheekiness kicks in: “Oh well, if N Dubz can make it, I think the futures [bright].”
Whether there is a bright future for Linc remains to be seen. The potential is there in abundance, but the Skegness-based artist’s budding career has hit a slight hitch: “The plan was to make it to the BBC Introducing stage by next year and be bigger than Chipmunk, Master Shortie, Speech Debelle all put together. Then this thing called college popped back up onto the radar and all of a sudden I didn’t really have a dream to follow.”
College or no college, this isn’t the last we’ll hear of Linc. Although he hasn’t recorded material past the tracks available on his MySpace page, he has kept himself active: “I must have written another album’s worth of tracks in the last couple of months. It’s just finding the right producer, place to record, and all that.”
For now though, education takes precedence, so the music will have too wait. Linc, ever the wordsmith, puts it better than anyone: “My ears are overflow taps for hits, I just don’t have the canvas to spill my lyrics onto right now.”