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I actually really like DJ Assault - a Detroit a ghetto tech DJ, who's produced good music that's influenced me a bit.
I made hardcore music and that came kind of easy - it was what I knew. But it was a challenge for me to make a big pop tune.
I'm not that guy in the suit, speaking the Queen's English. I don't need to be. I've done enough. I can go on 'Newsnight' as me.
I grew up on the pirate radio scene which started out as drum 'n' bass music. U.K. garage picked up and got bigger on the back end of that.
People classify things and that's fair enough. But if somebody wants to make something different, that doesn't make them any less of an artist.
Music's something that I really wasn't pushed into, it was something I just kinda chose, I just kept pushing myself, and it was all down to me.
I don't think I was ever really a normal kid. I always wanted to do it big, and so I was always on the lookout for strong people I could learn from.
Politicians... say what they say - you might get every now and again a genuine one, innit? But I think people, like, as a whole make the difference.
In the end, music was the only option open to me. It was a blessing I pursued it. I put all my energies into it. I didn't care about no other subjects.
There's so much to London, so many different kinds of people and people are the key to life, but my favourite part? It's got to be Bow, where I come from.
There's a lot going on music-wise in L.A. It's a wicked place to wake up, there's sunshine, you go to the studio, see all these really talented producers.
Seeing different sides of life, seeing different sides of society, that's what London's all about. When I was young my mum always tried to make me do that.
The name Dirtee Stank came from a lyric I had when I was 17 or 16. Lyrical tank, like my name was Frank, going on dirty, going on stank. It sounded like a good name!
If you are going to work, you might as well follow your heart, because nothing in life is easy and if it's going to be hard, it might as well be what you really want.
I quite like thai boxing. But then I'm not surprised because I did taekwondo and karate and judo and all of that when I was a kid, and then just stopped when I got a bit older.
Everything kind of happened like: 'Bam!' for me. One minute I was living on a council estate somewhere, then I won the Mercurys, then all of a sudden press and people were in my face.
There's things that I say that people wouldn't say. And just putting across my vulnerability as a person in my music as well. A lot of people wouldn't do that, everyone wants to be hard.
When you hear 'I Luv U,' that's me doing Three 6 Mafia. That actual track is a mix of 'What's Your Fantasy?' by Ludacris and 'Is That Yo Chick?' by Jay Z. That's my version of that track.
No U.K. rapper has been in my position; there are loads of big rappers like Tinie Tempah or Skepta, but no one has done what I have: had mainstream success with underground music and pop music.
When I was growing up, it was 'All Eyes On Me' by Tupac and 'Doggy Style' by Snoop Dogg. I've met Snoop and he's the best. They say you shouldn't meet your idol - that definitely doesn't apply to him.
Other than my Instagram - very recently - I'm not out there. I'm not in the papers every week, I've managed to curb all that. I've never turned up at a party just to be snapped. It's not my kind of thing.
For a bit I was going mad trying to do martial arts twice a week and go to the gym and do weights, but that can make you ill if you balance it with flying around and living like I do, so I narrowed it down.
Sometimes you might get inspired by something, write about it, then later that lyrics sounds better on another beat. That's happened a few times. Like 'Dance Wiv Me' - those lyrics didn't start on that beat.
When you're doing things like Glastonbury main stage, and there's 80,000 people and your hits are going off, it's at those moments you sit back and breathe and take it in, man, cos it might never happen again.
In each genre, I've been around the biggest. In pop I toured with Justin Timberlake, with reggae it was Sean Paul; I toured with Jay-Z and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It's all an education for me, to see how they do it.
I like that the sight of me can make people happy. That's nice innit? I like that people like my music. I like that you get perks sometimes. Sometimes people treat you better, but through that there's the opposite as well.
I grew up and learnt to hold my own. My mum was doing two people's jobs. It makes you grow up early. There's less people to talk to, less close people, innit? You're going to end up being lonely because you think a bit more.
Sometimes people chat loosely. Sometimes people just speak their minds and what's on their mind ain't necessarily real or facts, so I don't take it too serious. I'm more interested in making the music, I don't really play that.
I'm definitely not proud of some of the stuff I did as a youth, but that's where my mind-frame was at one point in my life, and I can't pretend those things didn't happen. I'm not glorifying them, I'm trying to make them into art.
I'm not gonna lie; I don't always like everything about Bow and I don't always like everyone in Bow and they don't always like me but on the whole I love where I come from. I'm proud of where I come from and I'm proud to represent that area.
As a kid, I felt I had it bad - and people where I came from did - but if I'd been in a similar position in America, it could've been 10 times worse. We have the NHS. We don't have slums like I've seen in the Deep south, or shocking intolerance.
I don't really class myself as a musician, I can make music but I'm not the greatest technically. There were other people who were technically better than me in school but I knew how I wanted to sound and all I needed was to work out how to do it.
I found it easy to produce. I'm not the musical guy. I can't read and play music like that, but put some drums and a sample in front of me and I can whip it up nice, and I'll work out some keys and find some interesting instruments to put under it.
The world's a jungle in my eyes, innit? Everything's tribal. If you see someone who don't look like you - especially the colour of your skin - you're going to be suspicious, or not as welcoming or warming, innit? I've learned not to take it too personal.
Where I'm from, there ain't a lot of other options, you know what I'm saying? Entertainment or football or crime. I don't want to spread the message that all you can do is music or sport. You can be anything. Anything. That's the message I like to spread.
Every summer in my old area, Bow, these kids from across the road used to bring out quad bikes in the park. They let me have a go, and I don't know what was wrong with me, but I drove straight into a gate and fractured my big toe. I had this mad limp for ages.
America is the land of the hustler: it's bigger, bolder, flasher, more in your face, whereas England's more about attention to detail - trying to be refined and classy, and I think a lot of people in the urban scene in this country have had trouble accepting that.
When you're actually boxing, unless it's a proper grudge match, it's less about beating the person up and more about being better within yourself. Being patient, timing things, like chess, so really, it's as much down to you as what the other person does - and that's life.
I see all that celebrity stuff now as whatever, man. What's more important is that everyday people are liking my music, it's got to that stage. I've worked really hard for a long time for it to come to this point, where I'm putting smiles on people's faces, and I'm loving it.
I think there's loads of undiagnosed depression where I came from. Post-traumatic stress disorder as well. Some of the things you see as a kid are like the things you'd expect to see in a war zone, but there's no one to talk to about it because running to a psychiatrist ain't the thing.
The important thing for me is that I try to understand the culture. Everything I thought I knew about the country was either through TV, music, movies or hopping in and out when I did shows. You can't just get the US through being in Miami, LA and New York. Middle America is the place to understand real America.
Grunge, like Nirvana and all that. Heavy metal, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Guns and Roses, drum and bass. I like to listen to it and try and break down what makes a fan of that music say 'Ah fuck that other music', do you get me? Trying to figure out what makes them tick, I always try and break that down with every piece of music. But the energy in that music, I love it.
I just know that he's Robbie Williams - he's massive, that's all I know! He nailed it. Working in the studio with him was cool. I got there at about six in the afternoon and then stayed until six in the morning. We only worked for like two hours, the rest of the time we were just chilling out the back. The way Robbie handles everything... he's a star, but there were never any pretensions, no ego. He put effort in.