As a boy, I was known for reciting whole songs after one listen. I've always had a good memory for lyrics. It's weird because I don't have a good memory for other things. I remember lyrics easier than the shopping list.
Kano
I'm a thinker as much as I'm a talker.
Lyrics came quite easy early on in my career. But I always wanted to push it further and stand out a bit more. We were coming from the garage era when lyrics were simplified, purposefully, to work in the club environment. They were about hyping up a crowd or bigging up a DJ. Moving into grime, our lyrics became more in-depth.
You know, I was going to be a footballer at one stage, but... nah.
The Wire' was from a police perspective - in terms of the streets and that, it was probably like, thirty per cent. 'Top Boy' is really from the perspective of the quote-unquote criminal. It's getting into the mind of these people and why they do what they do. It's bigger than just 'Woke up and wanted to be bad one day.'
That is part of the problem, that lack of belief in yourself because you don't see success around you. I guess that breeds defeatism, so yes there does need to be resources out there and support that will nurture talent that I believe is there, and passion that I know is there.
I don't agree with any form of butler, so definitely not a robot one. It's lazy, so a bad idea.
Reggae was always playing at home in East Ham when I was growing up. Loud music would be coming from the bedroom, and downstairs all you'd hear was the bass. My uncles had sound systems and we used to go to Jamaica a lot as a family.
I believe in education, but I think the balance has to be right between theory and practical experience. I think from secondary school onwards it should be more about preparing you for life and work in the real world.
I do feel that it's very important to see positive imagery.
I can't say that I am not driven by success or have a fear of being successful. But for me, the ultimate thing is just about being good at what I do. Because if I made an album that I didn't really like and it was super successful then I wouldn't happy within. That's the kind of person I am.
I recorded my first song at 15. But I started rhyming a few years before that. At first it was trading lyrics at school. We'd get in a circle in the playground with a beat-boxer and spit rhymes. Then it would turn into a big gathering after school.
I would go to college and people would know me from the rave they went to at the weekend. So I would get a bit of respect. But I would always go to class and do my work. My mother made sure of that.
Grime, in particular, is not really about pirate radio and local raves on top of pubs anymore. There are things I miss about those times but as an up-and-coming MC, back then, I would have loved to have had SoundCloud and YouTube and all these platforms to promote my music.
I'm laid-back. Sometimes, I think being laid-back will be my downfall; I'm a little too good at sitting on the sofa and doing nothing. But what can I say? It's who I am, how I am, how I've always been.
I would continue to try to make songs how I did at the start. Wherever that be, like in your bedroom or coming up with ideas on the bus, as you grow that's gonna change. Sometimes it can get forced.
I'm definitely not a nerd... but maybe I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to music and lyrics and things like that. Other than that, I'm definitley not a nerd. I wish I was, though.
I hate PCs, and I hate using the mouse.
I think great art poses questions and doesn't necessarily give answers and solutions - that's not what I'm trying to do.
When we started out we didn't expect anything would come from it, definitely not money. We'd pay to go on pirate radio: twenty quid a month just to go on and spit for an hour.
I've got a friend who went to jail in 2004 just before my first album came out. I'm on TV, and they're inside, looking at me like I'm 50 Cent. They think I'm killing it, earning mad dough every day. I'm sending him trainers and that, but it's not enough, because he thinks I should be doing more.
Most raves used to end by getting CS gassed. It wouldn't be like: 'Last orders! We've gotta go!' It'd be: 'Sigh, it's been CS gassed, we've gotta leave.'
There were eras of English music where people tried to rap in American accents and we lost our way.
We grew up and I feel like we're achieving a level of success through music that's allowing us to see the world. I want that for people where I come from. I want them to achieve that same thing through their passions. It's important that when we reach these places, that we still are who we are, and we never forget where we come from.
I love the building and the history. I understand not many people like me have played there. But the aim is not to conform to that building. It's to bring the Albert Hall into my world.
I started writing lyrics to clash with other people in the playground. Now I've developed my own voice and my own style. There's no one out there that does the same thing as me.
As an MC, I come from a background where the onstage experience is freestyle-based: you never know who's going to join you on stage, or what you're gonna do, or how long you can stay on. You kind of lose that, once you get on to recording albums and going on tour. Doing Africa Express has brought me back to that excitement - for the unexpected.
Grime don't mean nothing, we never called it grime. It's just a word someone associated with us. I wouldn't say all my music's grimy.
We're always going for it and trying to raise the bar and achieve more and more and just be as creative as we can.
Hip-hop is the art of story-telling.
My mum and dad weren't together when I was born. When I was a teenager, dad brought this girl round: here's your sister. She was only two years old, and I never saw her again from that day.
People used to say if you really want to crack it you have really got to go to America. But with the Internet and the scene how it is... Americans are coming here more and more. They are looking at what we are doing. I think it's important that we all remain here, that we stay here and keep this scene thriving.
Starting out, when I was on pirate radio, or even around 2005 when I was supporting Mike Skinner at Brixton Academy, I never really saw myself being able to play my own show there.
Everybody has flaws, and every country has flaws. But you can still love something even though you know it's been so wrong before, and sometimes is now, and probably will be again.
I know how important imagery is.
Probably as young as 10 I would take songs and just change the lyrics.
Garage has been the big influence in my life. It was the first music that I started MCing to and I really used to look up to Heartless Crew.
I'm not into releasing throwaway music for the sake of it.
You may think it's weird working with a cartoon band but there are a lot of characters in grime, especially since the early days.
My favourite lessons in college were when we would have a professional teach us, or when we went out of the classroom for the day. You take in so much more when someone who's been there and done it is telling you.
Biggie has definitely stood the test of time. He's the reason Jay-Z and loads of other rappers are who they are. His flow and wordplay is brilliant - the stories he would tell are just nuts.
I like Jay-Z for his lyrics, his flow; he's always forward thinking.
When you come out, and if you're saying something worth taking note of, then people will give you their ears. If you're not, it's whatever.
It's really important to me to still spend time in the ends - I'm there all the time. I do my videos there, I still talk about it. It's important for me to be an inspiration to the youth of the area and not just leave now I've blown up.
New Banger' is a statement, but it is more about giving the DJs something for the clubs. I think it should have a lot of club longevity as a tune.
Both are about telling stories and bringing truth to those stories. In most of my music it's firsthand experience, and some of the same rules apply in TV. The difference in music is the control, whereas doing this, it's someone else's words that you can play in your own way.
The first time I ever played Glastonbury I would have never have thought that a grime artist would have ever headlined it.
Initially we were spitting lyrics over garage beats, in that eight-bar gap where there wasn't a vocal. But we were rebellious towards garage because they were rebellious towards us; a lot of their gatekeepers said grime was too violent.
Drake can do that well, he can have the hottest tune every summer for the next 20 years, and that's how he does his things. But naaaaah, I might go away for three years, you know what I mean?
Jermaine Defoe was from my area. Rio Ferdinand used to come into my barbershop.
