Richard Botchway set the music industry on its ear when he launched Spit on Channel U. Presented by Ras Kwame, one of the UK?s foremost champions of homegrown black music, Spit, the latest bit of brilliance from Channel U, successfully recreates the vibe of ciphers ? be they on street corners or in your mates? bedroom/shed/garage.

Interviews with the great and the good are mixed with good old fashioned spitting from the likes of Kano, Lethal Bizzle, Sway, Skinnyman, 50 Cent and Roll Deep who have all appeared on the show so far.

Many more interviews are scheduled for the current series. But it doesn?t stop there. Look out for the ?Spit World Cup? and the ?Spit Comedy Sessions?.

The whole shebang is brought to you lucky people by Richard Botchway?s R-Way Productions. He tells us more...........

How did Spit come to be?
I?m actually a producer by trade, music producer, and I?ve done everything from pop to R?n?B stuff. Everyone from So Solid to Kele Le Roc to pop artists like Cathy Dennis. I co-wrote a tune for O Town, do you remember them? They?re the original Making The Band.

I did stuff that was just for America ?cos I actually lived in Florida for four years. I was on a soccer scholarship. But TV-wise I produced the theme music for Footballers? Wives. I do a lot of music for computer games and stuff as well so I?ve always been around the TV people.

But bearing in mind I?m from an urban background I obviously saw what was going on in the scene and I thought there?s a big gap in the market for Spit. So I put it to the people at Channel U and they went for it straight away. And that?s how the show started.

How did Ras Kwame become involved?
I?ve been DJing in London since I was about 16 and that?s how I got to know people like Ras Kwame. I?ve known Ras since I was 13 years old and I?m 30 now. I?ve been in it for a little while still.

Break down a little bit about R-Way Limited productions. Is it the only black-owned production company?

It is! We?ve got so many things going on with Spit and we?ve only been on the air since last November. But as well as Spit, we?ve got Spit Comedy Sessions that we?ll launch in the second week of April.

What?s happening with that?
It will be very similar to Def Comedy Jam. But with a few twists that I might put in here and there. We?ve got Richard Blackwood fronting that. We?re trying to give people exposure ?cos there?s hundreds of comedians about. At the same time we?re trying to bring back the same vibe we had with The Real McCoy. We?re bringing in people like Felix Dexter and Robbie Gee and all The Real McCoy boys. That way the show will appeal to the older and the younger audience.

And the Spit World Cup?
Right now Channel U are right behind us, and with 1xtra we?re just sorting out little meetings and that, but everyone knows it?s a good idea. Basically, it?s gonna be an event like a club night, a one-off ? at the end of May. We?re gonna get a venue and things.

There?s gonna be four teams: Ghana, Nigeria, England and Jamaica. There?s gonna be five people in each team and it?s pretty much confirmed. I?ll give you a rough idea.

The Ghanaian team is: Sway, Lethal B, Tinchy Stryder and Skibadee. The Jamaican team is: Bashy, Gappy Ranx, and we need to confirm Akala and Ms Dynamite. Nigeria is like SAS, Bigz, JME and Skepta. England is Skinnyman, Bruza, Nolay, Nikki S and Nyke. It?s not a clash. It?s more of an entertainment clash. It?s not about lyrics it?s about how you can get the crowd going.

If Lethal comes out and he does his Pow! and the crowd goes mad? That?s points there for him. And cos? there?s only four teams it?ll be like a semi-final straight through to a final.

They?ll be sharing the mic like how you see on Spit. There?s a club night which we?ll mix into it and 50 per cent of the profits will be donated to the charity of the winning team?s choice.

Spit is broadcast on Mon, Wed & Fri at 9pm on Channel U (Sky number 467)