Dizzee's just my childhood hero. He's definitely the inspiration. He's got himself to a very good place. He's defied the expectations of what British black urban music was like. He was the first person who made the rest of Britain realise it wasn't just a one-album-type situation. You've got to take your hat off to somebody like that.
Me and Stormzy. We're gonna do an album. We're gonna do an album of Nelson Riddle arrangements in grime form. It's gonna be called 'Griddle'.
I'm into my grime, hip-hop, dance, and house music.
With most electronic music I hear now, the things I like will be the things that have soul. It has to have a feeling in it, where it feels warm, or feels epic. I like to play with that in my music as well, there will always be a piano chord or something underneath it to make you feel at home. I always try and make sure even with vocals and layering that you still feel like you know me, no matter whether you're into grime or hip hop.
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 don't even think of it as a strategy. It's me in my element; it's my forte. Me being with all the mandem on the ends, spitting to an old school grime riddim, is me in my element; that's when I feel I'm at my best.
If you grew up in London's East End you'd probably be inclined to be into something like grime music. But if you're removed from it, like in Guernsey, you can have a wider set of influences, and you're not tied down to any genre or any scene. I think that affects my sound, for sure.
My older sister was into grime, so she got me into it. When I was ten, I begged her to take me to my first house party, where there were decks and a mic. I ended up falling asleep standing up in the corner.
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.
Grime is a particular style of music. You've got electro, funk and garage; grime is its darker side. It's constantly evolving.
We've been ahead for so long in the U.K., we're so multicultural, and that's the beauty. That's why grime was formed, from this mix, this understanding of different people.
I've always wanted to work with Klashnekoff. He's been around for years! He's sorta my age but he is dope. The flow, the lyrics, it's just dope music.
Grime's always been big at festivals. Grime's always had an underground crew.
I didn't get played on radio or TV for 3 years. They all told me the same thing: it was too urban. They don't see grime music as commercial music, but all music is commercial; it's how you make it. That's what I'm trying to say.
I've never been massive on rap, but there's that whole kind of culture of U.K. rap.
Becoming a commercial scene? I don't think people in grime would be happy about that.
People can't look down on grime anymore, it's an established British genre.
I have a cousin called Flirta D who was big in the grime world, which made me really cool at school. 'Flirta D's your cousin?' 'Yeah, buddy.' 'He must be a millionaire!'
Yeah it would be great to do something with Stormzy.
I don't think grime has ever been respected; it's not seen as a nice sound.
When I got a little older I was obsessed Lil Wayne. But then it was just as many British rappers - Dizzee Rascal I would always listen to.
'The Big Narstie Show' is, basically, Channel 4 gave me a good amount of dough to be myself.
I was like, 'If I bang your thing, will you bang my thing? Will you sing on my album?' And he was like, 'Yeah, of course.' So I've got Robbie Williams on my album. Robbie Williams on grime.
When I first started acting, I was actually working with the National Youth Theatre in London doing anti-knife crime workshops, so I was listening to a lot of music that was around us all the time, around the guys I was working with, and the kids - lots of young grime artists from London.
Grime reminds me, if there is an echo, of sort of near enough like Liverpool in the very early Sixties. It's a lot of kids obsessed with music - obsessed with it.
