Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
One of my biggest influences is Fela Kuti.
Prison, I don't want to go back there again.
Everyday I look back at my history and feel regret.
My friends used to call me ugly. Even my mum would say it.
I don't like to believe in star signs and all of that stuff.
It's just common sense that everyone should be listening to J Hus.
Jhene Aiko, I like Zara Larsson, I like working with female artists.
To me now, I don't really categorize music - I see music as all one.
I've had a million hats - snapbacks or whatever. I'm really into hats.
I don't like to be put into a box. I don't wanna be given a title - nothing.
I don't think anyone can do what I already do. I just do it and it's unique, yeah.
Being ugly didn't offend me. It's like: Yeah, I'm ugly. What? Make me ugly-sexy. Embrace it.
I think people can learn from my experiences, and I hope people can look at me and be inspired.
I wanna keep rapping, I intend to. It's good to mix it up, but I'm still gonna stay true to rapping.
I was a bit of a hothead. But I've changed my ways now. My bad years were probably from 2009 to 2014.
My mum used to play afrobeats, my dad used to play Caribbean, my sisters and brothers played hip-hop.
I was feeling 'Lean & Bop' in the moment. It's brought me the most money. And when I'm doing shows, it goes off.
I'm a Gemini, so my mood always changes - one minute I'm dance-dancey, the next I'm in the corner minding my own business.
My absolute earliest influences would be people like Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Outkast, 'Get Rich Or Die Tryin' era 50 cent.
I think I make ugly sexy and attractive. If I didn't do music, the girls that like me wouldn't like me, but I think I make ugly look good.
In year 10 or 11, I used to buy packs of doughnuts for 50p from Morrisons, and sell them for 50p each. I made loads of money. So I was a doughnut hustler!
Everyone sounds like me now. But they know who they are. It's a game changer. I started this sound, I'm the head of it. You can do it, but I'll do it better.
People look at kids like us and think we have no morals because we're from 'the street.' I want to show that we do live by certain standards, that we are moral people.
The women are my biggest supporters so I have to make good music for them too. Afrobeats is also often always about sexy women; we are simply celebrating the female form.
When I was growing up in my area, the worst problem for us was we never had a purpose, I'd just be looking for stuff to do, I would be bored, that's how we would get into trouble.
People always say I'm shy! But I'm not even shy! Like, if you knew what I'm saying in my brain. I'm in my own mind a lot. Even though I'm quiet I'm thinking about a lot of things.
Even with me going to prison, it could have put a bad stigma on my name. But you keep going. When people see you in a low situation, when people see you fight, they respect you for it.
People are always surprised when they meet me. I was in Nigeria and I went to one of the radio stations and they were like, 'Aww you look cute!' They were expecting me to look more rough, and I was like: 'Yeah, I'm polite!'
I put my mum through a lot of stress; police would be coming to the house... It just seemed normal to me, to be up to no good; it's what everyone did. But then you start to see friends dying and going to prison and suddenly it's not fun anymore.
My little brother is four years old and he listens to all my music. I don't know how he finds it, but he knows how to use an iPad and he's always online. So one day my mum said: 'You know what, you have to make something for your little brother,' and that's how I made 'Lean & Bop.'
I feel like I'm bipolar. I have my different moods and that. That's why my music exists in so many different worlds - this moment I'm feeling all raw, this moment I'm wanting to talk to a girl, the next moment I'm wanting to talk about spirit and be deep. Then I'm back to being angry.
'Cause it's jail, everyone thinks they're bad. So this one guy was like, 'What're you gonna do, 'Lean and Bop' for us?' I was cocky, I was like 'Oh yeah? It costs five racks to see me lean and bop, It costs five racks to see me lean and bop.' But deep down inside it was hurting. It's moments like that make me hate - I feel like I sold out.
