Listen: Grap Luva & Skye – Touch The Sky (1998) | New 7″ Record
Originally released on Blind Side Recordings’ Wide Angles compilation in 1999, “Touch The Sky” by emcee Grap Luva and producer Skye has now been remastered from the original studio tapes and put out as a 7″ (limited to 200 copies) via London-based imprint Backatcha.
Listen to the track below, followed by Backatcha’s full story about the recording session in a rural countryside house in the UK.
Recorded in 1998 in a rural countryside house where there are “no neighbours for a mile” outside the village of Peasenhall, producer Steve Pickton a.k.a. Skye had relocated at the time from his native East London hometown to set up his studio The Otherworld. This track is one of many he collaborated on with fellow hip hop heads from across the pond during this period.
Grap Luva was in town so with the help of Steve’s housemate and engineer Tom Giles, they made the most of Grap’s visit and laid down the recording. Steve explains; “We padded out the big cupboard under the stairs adjacent to the studio room with duvets and stuff to make a pretty good vocal booth, although Grap said it was warm in there! We hired a tape machine and a high-quality mic and Tom engineered it and I produced it. Well, in truth I think the vocals were recorded in early 1998 but the beat was 1997.”
“It was quite a late night and the next day Grap and Wes from Seven Heads had left. They drove back to London at about 3 AM in the morning and we did the cuts. They were a little spooked about how rural it was. I remember them joking about it saying about weird old country customs!”