STORMZY

On the microphone, I'm not scared to step up and say, 'This is my ability, this is how good I am.' In other areas of life, I'm not so confident; I'm still adjusting to the photo shoots, all that stuff. But behind the mic, I'm fully confident.

Grime is still quite new. You can't expect national radio and national media to get it straight away.

I need to just make as much noise and bang on as many doors as possible 'til men are, like, giving you the recognition.

I grew up as a British kid - I went to school in London, roamed the streets of London - but having these interactions with my roots and going back to Ghana, I'm like, 'Yeah this is sick.' I love my country and my people, and the energy and vibes that they bring back. So I want to rep that and be a part of it.

I was MCing in the playground, spitting lyrics over mobile phones - Sony Ericsson, Walkmans, W810s, the Teardrop Nokia phones, all of that. Vital equipment! I never even had a DJ set where a DJ's playing vinyl, and I'm spitting.

I went to pick up my nephew from primary school, and one of the teachers there stopped me and said, 'My son listens to you.' That's quite an awkward thing.

Britain is not just One Direction, Little Mix, and James Bay. There's Skepta killing it, there's Krept and Konan killing it.

It's not always about convincing your parents of what you want to do, but just saying, 'This is what I'm doing; this is what I love.'

Even if you don't like me, you know me because I'm just in your face.

Wiley has given me wise words a few times.

I don't care if it's a white millionaire kid from Oxfordshire who comes to my show, buys my record, supports me and rates me. It's cool.

When I'm good at something, I always try to be the best at it and claim that throne. Even in school, I never let anyone say anything to me; I would always be the smartest.

In school, all my teachers and my mum were super routing for me to study at Oxford. I picked music as a career choice, and this didn't sit too well with them!

My mum's always had big aspirations because I'm an academic. I always got good grades at school. GCSEs were just a breeze for me.

In British music, you have indie, rock... Grime is now one of those pillars. It's a foundation of British music.

I would love to say I grew up on 2Pac and The Beatles, but I didn't.

I'm not mad into raving, to be honest. If it's not music, I'm chilling. But most of the time, it's music.

I grew up in south London, and I remember watching the scene pop off in East and think, 'Ahhhh, I would love to be in Bow E3 right now spitting wid Wiley and Dizzee.'

I was doing without for so long, not knowing the things that are normal for musicians. I was getting bookings regardless, people phoning or emailing me direct, and journalists were writing about me anyway.

Our parents don't always know what's right. It's a new age.

Most middle-aged white men probably don't know about little old Stormzy from London.

Every single thing that I was told that I couldn't do without a label - get in the charts, get on to the Radio 1 playlist - I've done.

I'm on the rise and whatnot, but I'm not the man to say, 'All right, world, here's grime.' It's gonna take me, Skepta, JME, Novelist and Lethal Bizzle, to say, 'I'm sick, he's sick, he's sick, he's sick'. Not one man can do it.

If I'm not working on music, I'm usually with my friends playing FIFA. We just kick back - I'm proper chilled.

I like flipping Coldplay. And I like Jessie Ware. But I'm sure how we grew up was totally different.