This is the fourth instalment of Lee Brasco’s tour around the bits, E3. It’s nearly all over so, if you need reminding of where we’ve been or fancy a catch-up, then you can read the first part here, the second piece here and the third just here.

But we manage to catch Mercston by a primary school. He’s in his Nike tracksuit and joggers, just about to head off to the gym. He stops for literally a minute, and it’s just enough time to ask what he’s working on.

M: I’m working on my debut album at the moment. I’m about sixteen tracks deep right now.

So it’s nearly finished then? Out soon?

M: Well there’s no release date, but maybe, maybe it could be out by the end of the year. If not then next year, before the Movement album which will also be dropping next year.

Have you decided on a name?

M: Nah nah, there’s no name yet – I have a few ideas but they’re being kept on a low. Anyways Lee you coming gym fam?

L.B: Nah fam I’m taking it easy today, you know I’m not a gym guy.

And off Mercston drives off to the gym.

LB: Basically, I grew up with Mercston. Like I’m not even trying to milk it, like oh ‘Mercston Mercston’, because ask Mercston, he knows. Really I’ve known Mercston since I was a baby, like more or less he was the first person that I consider my friend. This was time ago, because I used to live with my nan, and he lived right next to my nan so we grew close.

We carry on walking down Roman Road and, like most places in the area, it’s overlooked by Three Flats.

LB: Ruff Sqwad filmed Anna in there. Oh and Rinse used to be in there back in the day – the second block.

The talk of Ruff Sqwad makes me think about a more recent collective that they’re all affiliated with – Flee Gang.

LB: Flee Gang is just a bunch of us that are together because we’re all friends. We’re just under the same roof called Flee Gang.

So is it like a bit of Ruff Sqwad and-

LB: A bit of Ruff Sqwad, a bit of the roadman, there’s others as well like Wordz, Young C, Roachee-

So is that mostly like a music thing?

LB: It’s not even nothing to do with music really – it’s not even a music crew. Like it’s not even nothing like The Movement for example. We’re just a bunch of friends and we’re Flee Gang because we’re ‘flee’, and flee means dress good, look after yourself and be presentable, so we all just represent that.

And that’s kinda what I Wanna Let You now was about? But anyway, you’re doing your own thing, but on an 8-bar tune like that there must have been pressure, maybe a different kind of pressure to solo work?

LB: Rapid phoned me and said yeah there’s a track I’ve done, and I really want you on it because we need a bit of that Lee Brasco fire on it. Actually, it was Rapid idea, but Dirty said to me there’s a tune for you to jump on and then Rapid spoke to me and it was just a good look. And then I heard everyone’s verse and I was just like ‘nah man, everyone’s just come hard on it’.

Tinchy in the charts and that, Roachee did a lot on it, other guys as well.

LB: Yeah exactly, but I wrote my verse in the studio. I went to Danny C’s with Young C and Stutta and I just got it cracking.

How long did it take you to write that 8-bar?

LB: To be honest it didn’t really take me long – not long at all. It all came out automatically really, I could have done it without writing it down. That’s the truth.

You mention Dirty Danger – you have this habit of getting Dirty Danger beats that no-one else gets. Like you vocalled Shower Kids, which was the first beat he made, and you done something on Maximum Profit as well on ‘Drastic Measures Volume 2′ as well.

LB: See Dirty Danger yeah, I go to his yard and I say ‘yeah bruv, whack me up some beats’ and Dirty will give me some beats. Because see me and Dirty, we’re both geniuses in our music. Trust me, Dirty’s a genius man. Even when he vocals his tunes it’s genius. People might not think it, about me and him, but we make genius music. We’re making tunes no-one else in the grime scene is making. For example, Dirty made Bethnall Green. That’s a big tune – people might not like that in the grime scene, but that’s a big tune. His new tune Hardbody, which is gonna be set for release soon so watch out for that, and all the other tunes, Dirty is just a genius.

We carry on down Roman Road. Brasco recognises various people – a woman across the street, a guy outside a newsagents locally referred to as the ‘bossman’. Also, just next door to the graffitied shutters of what was Dee Cee’s, a guy stands outside. It’s Brasco’s boy, who’s been out for two days after a five year sentence.

But we have to talk about Dee Cee’s – Wiley’s red and yellow garms in his clash with Lethal Bizzle came from there, and it featured on the Movement Documentary as well as on various other underground DVDs. What happened to it?

LB: It’s gone, they couldn’t keep up (with the payments) so they just went. But I respect them, even back in the day, like this is young -

You got some nice garms from there yeah?

LB: Yeah, I got a lot of Air Max 97s in there, like the man Darren knows about me, I used to spend bare p there. I was going Dee Cee’s even before MCing and that. I respect Dee Cee’s man, they’ve been another part of Bow, but the only thing was that they brought a lot of troublemakers to the area. That shouldn’t really happen. But obviously it’s a clothes shop, people are gonna go to a clothes shop anyway, but they should just be getting their clothes, be happy and just go home, you what I mean? But they wanted to come round and start thinking they can rob people and that, and people weren’t happy with that about Dee Cees.

But on to Tredegar Road next. This seems to be the wealthier part of Bow, in comparison to areas further south like Bromley-by-Bow and Old Ford. In Tredegar, one of the places references at the end of Wiley’s Bow E3, is the Heart of Bow development.

We stand in the car-park around the front, nice cars reflecting the sunshine off their clean windscreens.

LB: Heart of Bow? What’s that? It’s only been here for five minutes. It’s a disrespect.

We walk further into the development. We come up to an open, square space, with Levefre Walk just to our left. The green has tidy grass, and colourful flower-beds are near where we stand.

Lovell Homes’ flagship development, The Heart of Bow, created from the redevelopment of a council estate called Lefevre Walk, is just east of the square along Tredegar Road. Now in its penultimate phase, it will eventually offer a total of 279 one to three bedroom apartments, all with balconies or terraces.

“The old estate was dark and dismal, now it is bright and sunny with beautiful landscaped open spaces,” says Lovell’s Tracy Maile. “The apartments have been popular with both investors and young professional city workers. It is definitely the location, views and secure parking that are the attraction, as well as the ongoing regeneration.”

Brasco points into the middle of the green.

LB: Do you remember a pirate called Mission FM? Well that used to be right there. There used to be like loads of terraces going all the way down here, and a big block right in the middle of the grass. And now what’s there? A bin where you have to put dog shit in. It’s funny.

Social regeneration. Brasco has a few more stories before the buzzword landed in E3, and there’s still a few more places to visit. Catch those in the final part of the series tomorrow.

Brasco’s Myspace
Brasco’s Blog
Brasco’s Twitter
Fullygrown Grime

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