No Jumper - The Central Cee Interview: Blowing Up During COVID, West London Upbringing, Drake & Big Sean CoSigns

Episode Date: July 19, 2021

Central Cee sits down with Adam for his very first official interview! Cee talks about his come up, the UK, connection with Drake, Big Sean cosign and more! || https://www.instagram.com/centralcee/ ----- NO JUMPER PATREON http://www.patreon.com/nojumper CHECK OUT OUR NEW SPOTIFY PLAYLIST https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5te... FOLLOW US ON SNAPCHAT FOR THE LATEST NEWS & UPDATES https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_... CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE!!! http://www.nojumper.com/ SUBSCRIBE for new interviews (and more) weekly: http://bit.ly/nastymondayz Follow us on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nojumper iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/n... Follow us on Social Media: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_... http://www.twitter.com/nojumper http://www.instagram.com/nojumper https://www.facebook.com/NOJUMPEROFFI... http://www.reddit.com/r/nojumper JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Q3XPfBm Follow Adam22: https://www.tiktok.com/@adam22 http://www.twitter.com/adam22 http://www.instagram.com/adam22 adam22hoe on Snapchat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No Jumper, coolest podcast of the world. Today we got probably the hottest rapper out the UK right now. Probably not, probably, either. Probably. Central C in the building, how are you feeling, man? I'm feeling good, bro. Yeah. Yeah.

First interview. Yeah. To be fair. How's that feel? It feels cool. Okay, because this is my take on you, is that you seem like kind of like a viral marketing genius. on top of the music stuff.

Yeah. Maybe, maybe. I do like the business side of things. I do like the market side of things, maybe more so than the music sometimes. So maybe that explains why you see something going to vary on shit. Right. That's interesting.

Because, yeah, like when I was watching, like, you know, English YouTubers who've made videos about your come-up and stuff, that's one thing that I kind of saw. over and over is that people seemed like they were kind of in awe of how well you sort of executed this whole rollout that realistically has probably been happening for less than a year now. Yeah, yeah. It was only a year ago I dropped like my first song that picked up. It was a lot of years prior to that I was making music, but it just didn't happen to really pick up for me. So a year ago, it started going crazy. I dropped the tape in March this year.

and that's what everybody like appreciated the marketing for we didn't really do too much like in my head like I got a lot more ideas I got a lot more in stock but um they appreciated it nevertheless right I was grateful for that I mean it's interesting because like you feel like a lot of times the music industry is kind of like addicted to new shit and they don't want to like embrace somebody who's been grinding for years and like you've you know you got videos from years and years ago on YouTube, restiling and all this shit. And it's like interesting

that you were able to sort of reinvent yourself and that the audience would actually react to it so well. Yeah, no, you're right. You're right for a bit. I wasn't like, I weren't really trying to, I still don't try to push nothing. I'm always just on a new thing.

I'm trying to always push for the future, I guess. But yeah, I'm not hiding that. I'm from the past. People definitely, I still got fans like from back in the day like 016, 017 that still rock with me and yeah, I definitely appreciate

that. It occurs to me watching these like old videos are you freestown about selling drugs that you probably were actually selling drugs at the time? When? Years back? Yeah. Not now. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever I had said, yeah.

I'm not wanting to incriminate myself too, though. For sure. Well, you're in America. They can't do anything for shit you say out here, right? They can't in the UK But the America It's a blessing to even be here to be fair They're quite strict on the borders So was it hard to get through

You ought to be careful It was smooth for us It was smooth You don't have to quarantine when you go back or anything I'm not too sure I ain't even looked into it I think that they In England they might just tell you

You have to quarantine And then they don't actually They've been doing certain things Like certain countries you go to though When you get back to the UK They put you in like a quarantine hotel And they keep you there you can't leave you got to stay there for 14 days or 14 days you have to pay them you got

pay them as well so it's like yeah you got to pay them to do that it seems like a money scheme to me right do you think covid in any way for your come up like do you feel like maybe it gave you time to focus on your craft more and figure out some shit or maybe just like the public you know I feel like the public during COVID was kind of like craving new shit shit to pay attention to? Yeah, it was perfect timing. When did Corona hit again? Maybe April.

March. March. Yeah, March, April. So, yeah. The song that popped off for me was in June, right? I had the song maybe in March, though, or earlier than that. And it was just all perfect timing, but it was a blessing, though. Yeah, for sure.

I came up during Corona. It's rare to everybody else's come up because I haven't even had a chance to perform my shit. Really? I've done all of this, and I haven't really, I haven't touched the streets in the UK at all, I haven't done any shows, I haven't really got to meet my, like, my newer fans, which is the majority of my fans. Right.

So it's different, yeah. When we watched the videos of you back in the day, were you always really confident that you were going to end up making it and that you just had to figure out how to put the puzzle together? Like, did you always have that sort of inherent confidence? Yeah, for the most part That's interesting A lot of people don't have that

But I could kind of see it even back then When I'm watching this old stuff I'm like I wouldn't have been doing it otherwise But the music wasn't maybe like Where it needed to be then But I could just see that you had this like Passion and hunger

And it just felt like Damn That's like a young dude Who seemed like he was gonna figure it out Yeah No thank God Thank God Is that how you feel about making it?

Yeah Really and truly after all those years of working for it yeah took a while there was a time though there was a time that i didn't really there was probably a few little periods like bumps in the road where i started to think oh maybe maybe this isn't like the move so i would like get distracted here and there and just focus but maybe that was like what what i needed certain time that just before this all happened I started like getting mad I got like proper demotivated

I just thought fuck it let me not I'm getting old like what I'd always used to do yeah so I started making music maybe was like 14 like going to the studio I'm actually recording

I had been writing from younger than that but I started recording like 14 and like 15 I really I realized that it's a business and we can make money off of it and I started seeing how you can distribute

the music and whatever so I was trying to I was trying to blow I wasn't just making music for the sake of it I was actually really trying to blow So I kept saying to myself Like setting goals that

Oh if I get to 17 I'd probably say like if I get to 18 And I'm not where I want to be Then I'm just going to call it a day Because I don't know I just always knew I don't know So I kept saying that I got to 80

But I'd get to 18 And I'd be somewhere better than last year So I'd be like Cool And I just keep it going Fuck it Even though I'm not really where I want to be I'm better than last year

So let me just keep it going, keep it going. And then maybe like 21, I said, all right, cool, this is getting a bit long. Or even earlier than actually, like 18, 19, I said, this is getting a bit long. And then I started, I had to make money elsewhere, isn't it? So music wasn't really making me no money.

But we had to eat. So we started doing other things. Like even I had a job, one little period, I had a job, and I was still doing music. I remember I had a headline shows. I started putting on my own headline shows. I done one in the Hotson Square, but in kitchen is like 300 people.

But we just rent, I done the venue myself. I rented the venue. I sold it out and I made like a good few thousand pounds, which was a lot to me back then. But I was still had a job on the side and I was just hustling. I was doing everything that we could do. But yeah, there's always times where there's always times There was a couple of times where I thought maybe it wasn't going to work, so it's definitely a blessing.

Did you grow up around much, like, musical influences, where your parents listening to a lot of music in the house? Did you have anybody from your area who was succeeding with rap music? Not much people in my area, like, succeeded with rap music. I'm, like, still one of the first, like, this year, these recent years is, like, the breakthrough for my art area, West London before that it was a lot of people in South London that would make music

and blow my dad used to play a lot of music around me when we would be around them my mum not so much I didn't really go yeah so there definitely was some musical influence though West London as well being the home of like Notting Hill Carnival

there's a lot so like West London is like a very right area for that music and I don't know what you're going to call it, black music or whatever. Right. Because there's not in all carnivals right there. There's a lot of like Caribbean influence in the area and shit. Right. When you think about all those years that you spent sort of like grinding towards where you're at now,

was your focus primarily on improving your actual rapping and the music? Was your focus on, like, were you sitting back and looking at the careers of a lot of your peers in the music world and like trying to figure out what stopped them from getting to the level that they maybe could have? Because I feel like you're somebody who's looking at it from both a musical side as well as a marketing side or a strategic side. Yeah, I definitely analyze the game a lot. I see what people do, right, and what people do roll. and I take it and do my own thing with it. Because it's kind of like a cap on how big you can get as a English rapper to a certain extent.

And it's probably like kind of in people's heads. I feel like you've already kind of like blown past that a lot of ways in terms of just getting an amount of attention that I haven't really seen from a lot of UK rappers. Not to disrespect any of the people who have obviously come before you, have done incredible things. but it feels like you sort of like figured out how to make your shit hit on a bigger level Yeah, kind of It's weird

It's like a mixture of watching other people's thing And they're just not watching it as well I don't really watch no one's thing In a sense where like I don't ever like cap my ear I don't cap myself So if I I don't really inspire

To it's a lot of people would always ask When I'm going into some of these meetings And shit back in London I'd be saying to me what kind of trajectory do you want to go in a blueprint like another artist or whatever I could never answer that question that there's no other artist

that I would really aspire to go down the same road or really be like I think seeing is believing though as well so what people see people do they believe they can do but if they didn't see no one do it then they just believe it's impossible I never really saw it like that I just think anything is kind of possible

Right. Because, I mean, yeah, it's hard to imagine yourself being bigger than everyone who's come from your area necessarily. You know, it's like it's one thing if you're from, and you see it all the time where the cities that have had really popular rappers in America tend to just produce more. Whereas you have certain cities, like look at Chicago, like pre, you know, pre-Chief Keefe. It was really only a couple of success stories that ever came from Chicago. Then Chief Keekeek comes out and you just have rapper after rapper who I think are like, you know, pre-cheaf, you know, probably motivated by the success that they saw he had and that, you know, allowed them to envision, like, somebody like Polo G, I think it allowed somebody like him to see himself as being able to be this big star because he had seen other people from the same exact situation as him blowing up. Hopefully I can do the same lot for people in my area, though, too. For sure. Do you feel like, okay, so sonically, you were fucking with the auto tune shit for a while.

was it like a very deliberate decision that you were like you know what i'm going to sort of put that to the side and go with more of like a straight rapping style and because that was kind of like the moment when your shit really started to blow up right yeah um kind of but like when i made that song day in the life that was like my first like time jumping on a drill beat yeah if you want to call it that um so that was like the first time i jumped i was like the first time i jumped When I dropped that song even, I didn't have nothing to follow it up with. I didn't know what I was doing. I had a good feeling about the song and I knew I could make more songs like it.

I know I can jump on any kind of beat really. So I had that song there. I dropped it and it done well. I didn't know what to put out next because I had like a few other songs in my bag, but they weren't like that song. So I had to jump in the studio quick and just follow it up with, I dropped the song after it called Molly. And that was a similar sound.

And I've just carried on that similar sound ever since. It was kind of like, as this is in like, the UK was mad saturated, everybody was doing the Oortune thing. So I didn't want to do that. Like everyone had kind of covered that lane, like the big artists like D Blot Europe, M. Hunt or a good few other artists that had already covered it.

So I was like, I ain't gonna do that. Even though I was like, yeah, I ain't gonna do that. I wanted to, call him branch off and find another lane kind of right shout out m huncho because i through research in you i realized that there's like people very invested in trying to like de-mask him on the internet yeah i was like god damn i didn't know that they were gonna come from like that because i kicked with him for like hours one day and never saw him without the mask and i appreciated that commitment to it for sure yeah for real he i did see them them headline shows that i was telling you about that i

put that i was putting on myself m huncho came to one of them that one of them it would have been like like his first show I think and he came like I remember him I remember thinking like I'm obviously going to see him without his value like but he came backstage ballet on the whole time I was like yeah he's doing it properly he's really incognito

you never considered being a masked rapper no there's so many in the UK it's like just coming to America where we got a couple dudes who are kind of doing it now I think yeah yeah it's probably only so far you can get with that though right do you feel like

because I feel like you sort of like took the drill sound that has sort of like just completely like taken over the UK and you sort of like figure out a way to make it like a little bit more clever a little bit more witty a little bit less aggressive it doesn't sound like straight fucking gang murder anthems like some of these UK artists who've blown up is like it's a little bit too you know niche for like one sound i feel like you sort of managed to take the drill sound sort of use some beats that are maybe like a little bit more lighthearted you're not scared to use samples, shit like that, and you kind of figured out how to make that sound

have a wider appeal in a way? Yeah, I'm kind of just telling my story. I was telling my truth with it, so that's how I come out. I ain't done no crazy shit on the roads. I'm just telling it how it is, really. The beat choice, though, for sure. I always try to pick,

I need to hit something different melodies. Like, the melody always needs to be different. I can't jump on that. I hate that dark, dark. rock drill beat like I wanted to switch it up a bit yeah because I love that that sound but it just feels like it's you know I had somebody tell me the other day it was sort of like a normie who like doesn't listen that much rap and he's like you know what I love I love that fucking English drill shit like I can listen to any of that shit and I'm like I was like not me man I'm like I heard way too much like you know

I like the best of that genre for sure but I just heard so much repetitive as drill not even just from England, but from every fucking city in America and everything, too. And then when I heard your shit, I was just like, that right there, that's exactly the breath of fresh air that this fucking style needed, in my opinion. I appreciate that, bro.

Sure. Okay, can we talk a little bit more about, like, just you coming up, like, the area that you were from and shit, and just how what your upbringing was like in general, like, what kind of kid were you in elementary school and shit like that? And did you always

think that you're going to be doing. What's elementary school? Elementary for us is like first through sixth grade so you're out of there by like 12 yeah we call that primary school okay fair enough um go and carry on the question because I don't know what I'm answering right now um like back in that time period when you were young and shit like did you always see yourself as being somebody who was going to pursue something creative or what kind of kid were you when you were real young? Yeah where like the area that way that I'm from is like west. London, right? So it's like, it's uptown. It's, um, obviously,

we're not from the uptown part of it, but West London as a whole is like, is uptown, right? So it's the closest, like, part of London as to like, um, central London, like, also circus and shit like that. So it's, it's, um, I don't know the word, but yeah, it's uptown. So, like, you can come out, you can come out my house and you can see, you can see some like realhood shit. And then you can turn right and then you can be like in Holland Park, which is going to be like billion.

You could be on, you could go, what's it called? Kensington High Street and be on billionaire's road. It's probably like the most expensive road in, I think maybe in the world. Like it's High Street, Kensington. That's where you're going to see the maddest of things. So that opened my eyes from young that like all of this stuff is like attainable. So I always knew. I always kind of like had like high aspirations.

as a kid, no matter what, if it wasn't for the music, I'm pretty sure just the way my mind was set, like, I know I had to go get something. That's my area, kind of, briefly. Yeah, I was motivated, though. I was always motivated as a kid, probably. Do you, like, did you feel like you were, you know, sort of like I feel like in the UK it seems like there's a lot of sort of societal pressure

to conform and to not be a creative or not be somebody who goes outside of the box. Is that accurate? Do you feel that way? Did you feel like people were hating on you for trying to make something out of yourself at a young age? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought that was like everywhere. Maybe you're right.

There was probably more so in the UK. Now you say it when you come to that L.A., I haven't been here for that long. And I don't know anything about the school system. I don't really know much about the society as a whole. but when you walk down like Melrose and that it's like a big it's like a big um it's almost like camden like an area in london which is like um more free it's more open-minded which is only a small part in London and the rest is not like that everybody's closed-minded and you're right they don't they don't they do try and cut your dreams it's too like corporate and shit it's they don't want

anybody to go and do anything outside of the box you're right because like i have a friend uh mike Taylor who's like a BMX pro from Warrington and I remember we were in London one time and he was just looking around and there's all these people with fucking crazy ass haircuts and shit and he's just like you would never see that in Walsa and where? In Warrington it's a small ass town in England that he's from

and he just was like trying to explain to me like I know you think that this is what England is like what we're seeing right here in London but you got to understand that this is the most creative out there all alternative part of England by far. He's like where I'm from, you would never be able to walk around looking like this.

It's true. But West London though is like that though. If anywhere like it wouldn't be north-south east, it would be west that's kind of like that. Camden is kind of west. It's near west. It's fucking Portobello Road. They're the type of places you will see that shit though. People do get a bit more creative.

It's the most probably creative part of London, to be fair. It's a lot. It's artistic and shit. For sure. So, okay, once your music starts, and we're jumping all over the map here, but once your music starts picking up, like, where does your brain go in terms of how to keep this shit going? And did you have any kind of team in the lead-up to, like, had you started to have, like, a manager

or any kind of people behind you when these songs started popping off? Yeah. I met my manager in like a year before we dropped that song. And he hit me like YB's? Yeah I heard that he was a Like I heard from a friend of mine That he's like pretty respected

And that they think he's kind of Pretty integral and you being able Pull all this off would you agree with that? Yeah no he is for sure But it's like he's got a unique story as well Like me and him we um We met he had no He's not here by the way he's in the UK

I was wondering I'm like These guys managers? I can't really tell No, they're just my bros. Right. But they've been with me from the beginning too. But my manager, I met him like a year before we dropped that song, right? But I didn't have no music really, like at all. And I didn't know what I was doing.

I was more so on the roads. And he was meeting me here and there, just trying to, like, encourage me to do music, to do music and take it more serious. But I didn't have, like, the right song. I was going to studio here and there, but I knew all of the music on my phone at the time wasn't right. So when I came with that song, came to him, I said, look, this is the one.

He's like, sure. I said, yeah, cool. I said, yeah, this is the one. Let's push it. I want you to help me work it. He said, all, cool. And me even saying that to him was kind of like, it was like a leap of faith for me too. I didn't really trust no managers or not.

And prior to that, I've met quite a few people in the industry already. Even though, like, I hadn't made too much noise. I had met a lot of people like in the period of me trying to blow all that time like maybe what was it 16 to 20 I'm 23 now I just turned 23

so 16 to like whatever age I was 22 I had met a lot of people in the industry and I didn't like how they move and there's like it was I could tell that I can tell people's energy like right away so when I met my man we

I could tell he was genuine almost straight away but he didn't the weird thing was he had no experience in music he was just telling me how it is he was telling me I don't really have too much experience in

in managing or anything but I'm a quick learner and whatever whatever and he didn't tell me like you see when you meet a lot of people in music and whatever they sell you a dream and they tell you what you want to hear he wasn't doing any of that and I hate that stuff like when people do that and try

to sell you a dream tell you what you want to hear and all that. So when he was just keeping it, like 100, it was refreshing to me. I said, okay, cool, maybe this is the guy I want to rock with. And, yeah, it was. It was a blessing to meeting, really, and truly.

Because look what we've done. And he had no experience in this thing. He wasn't lying. He's a quick learner. He's a genius, really. He's a genius still. And that's just my team, me and him. We really got no other team members too tough.

I got my brothers with me that obviously play a big part. But yeah, it's a small, small team. Yeah, you got a song where you talk about turning down six figures, but I heard it through the grapevine. Like, have you signed now at this point? No. No?

I mean, you talk now. The rumors are out there, man. I'm hearing crazy numbers. Like, oh, he signed for this many millions of dollars, etc.? No? I'm sure that those offers are out there at this point, though. Yeah, some good offer. Well, they sound good.

They sound good, but, nah. that's probably smart because you know that that advance is we're not against it though we probably might sign I'm due to drop another tape so we dropped the tape in March we done that independently we did it with ADA so it's with distribution of

see right we're going to do that again I'm about to drop another tape and then I'll probably sit down and sign maybe to make it make sense it's not really about the advance for me it's not about the millions or anything like that's just about the actual infrastructure or the deal of being able to do what we want to do

and the way it's all broken down it's not really about what I get up front. I don't care. Yeah, do you sometimes talk to these labels and you feel like your vision is bigger than what they've sort of got to offer? I don't know what they have to offer.

They say, they just tell me what's your vision and they say, we'll make it happen. We'll do it, yeah, they always, it's yes on everything. Yeah. They're cool, though. I like a lot of people that I've met in these labels. There's a good few people. There's some good people that I've met in them. Right. Is it crazy having dudes like Fredo getting contact and want to work together? I'm assuming you were like just listening to him even just like a year or two ago.

Me and Fredo even so I don't know what year it was. Maybe like 017 when I was doing them headline shows that same headline show that M. Huncho I was just talking about. Fredo Dund came there and came out for me on the strength. of um i knew his people with we're from a similar area they're not too far right so we know the same people and shit he came out for me that he done his i think that was like his first show he would he came out for me so i already knew fred or what it was just a matter of time and to get in the in the booth and actually come out with something crazy that we did so it wasn't nothing crazy like that though word yeah but that's that's got to have been a crazy transformation for you like did you feel like you

just one day you were a normal guy and then all of a sudden you couldn't really walk down the street especially since you were probably fucking trapped in the house with COVID, or not with COVID, but during COVID for all this time, not really seeing people. And then all of a sudden, we were seeing people though. Oh yeah? Yeah, we were still outside during COVID. We always hear that like the UK lockdown was a lot more intense than how it was here. It probably was. It's probably still, I mean, it is all now because I don't think clubs are open over there. I ain't been home in a minute, but I don't think it's open over there. It's a lot more open here. but we were still maneuvering them times

when COVID came about and then I still feel normal though to answer your question I still feel normal I think because of COVID and it being quiet about I haven't really, it's only like a I could count the amount of times on my hand that I've like been out and got like overwhelmed by like fans

like oh I need to jump back in the car there's not many times like that it haven't had many experiences like that because everybody's been inside. I haven't really, I ain't done no shows yet. So I haven't felt, I haven't felt crazy. Like, I've just been feeling normal still. Did you have TikTok before all this blew up? Because I know that that's a big part of how your songs were going off is that people just really embraced it on TikTok. Um, I think it did, TikTok helped my song commitment issues.

People going on, like, um, some sort of like TikTok rapper, which I'm definitely not allowed and it's got 50 million views. God knows how many streams before any TikTok shit. Because there are songs, though, will be like the biggest song on TikTok and it won't even have a million views on YouTube. But yeah, you're definitely not an example of that. But, I mean, I feel like...

I ain't even got that much TikToks on my shit. Like, if you go on my thing, I know, like, there's a lot of people that they got, like, a million TikToks. I think the most TikToks I've got is that 150,000. It's good, though. I like the app. I like it now.

A lot of people were telling me that I was going to these meetings and shit. I'm always talking about it. meetings like I'm signed like I'm signing anything but we're really not but we just we do go to a lot of meetings though that's the thing with us we're not against these labels we we went we still do we liaise with all of these people and have conversation with them all the time but um I mean is having conversations with them like before I had TikTok it was always telling me like do this TikTok shit I was against it though I didn't really like the sound of it because I think a lot of people think that to do shit on TikTok you have to like do some fucking corny ass dance yeah

which is I'd like to think that my TikTok's not too corny. I ain't done no dancing. That's for sure. That's a big decision, I feel like if you're going to be a TikTok dancer early in your career, you know? Yeah, I ain't done that crazy.

My TikTok's, yeah, but I did one video. I put the commitment issues song out and I did one TikTok and it got like a million views overnight. And then that's what made me think, fucking I need to take this app a bit more serious. These times I've had Instagram for for however many years

and I've nearly just overlap my followers overnight. Like, just of downloading the app yesterday. I've got more followers on TikTok than I have on my Instagram, which I've had for so many years. So that's what made me realize. But I still don't really know how to use the app. Yeah, me neither.

Yeah. I haven't really, like, posted that much stuff myself on it. Yeah. It's weird. Has there been anybody who reached out to you through all this that has kind of blown your mind? Like, when I'm looking through your feed, I'm seeing Drake liking all your photos and shit.

I'm like, oh wow, they see what's going on for sure. Yeah, Jay, it's cool. That one was, that, I don't really ever get, like, I always manage to stay composed. But that one, that one kind of rattled me a bit, though. I remember the message, he messaged me at like 7 a.m. My time, I woke up, I see the message. I'm like, I replied to it. And then I'm like, cool, I'm going to go back to sleep because it's still early.

I might have only went sleep like four o'clock. So I've been sleeping for like three hours. I put my phone down. I'm trying to go back to sleep. I couldn't even get back to sleep. I just woke up and I started my day from them that motivated me for real. Right. Yeah.

I think you're allowed to feel good about that one. I know there's a big, there's a big like desire to stay normal, stay grounded, not get too caught up in the hype and shit. I very much hear that from you. But yeah, at a certain point, I think you got to kind of pat yourself on the back a little bit and be like, yeah, you know, that's pretty cool. Yeah. I don't try to do none of that. That's just my personality, bro. Right.

Yeah. you don't feel like you're at risk of developing a big head and becoming a cocky asshole or anything? Because that's kind of like par for the course for rappers in America at least. Nah, God forbid. I don't think it's impossible though. Not for me. I can't do it. I mean, you come from, and you could tell me more about this than I could tell you,

but it feels like in England the culture is so much of like just people don't respect people who get bigheaded. It's just kind of like look down upon to sort of, develop a big ass ego it's very much thought of like you want to stay normal you want to stay close to the people yeah maybe maybe probably right people don't like you see the UK culture is a bit fun like there's not like a lot of people don't brag too tough like you don't see no crazy jewels you yeah you can't really get away with bragging too hard like flex too hard I don't know. It's not really gonna end well for you. Like in the long run. It's gonna put a disconnect between you and the people.

Yeah, I don't know what the thought process is behind it. Me, I'm doing what I'm doing regardless. I think in the UK it's more like you just get a lot of muscles once you get money. I've seen a lot of the rappers backstage of wireless and they were just walking around and just yelked up, just big ass biceps and shit. Yeah. You're gonna go down that route? Nah.

You'll be looking like bugsy soon? No, not any time soon. not anytime soon for sure how did you link up with that dude rondo from Italy because that's kind of crazy hearing you on like that song sounds amazing but it's also kind of like

confusing to my mind to hear you rapper right alongside somebody who's rapping in Italian I can't remember it must have just been through social media Rondo hit me yeah but like I generally like my man

a lot like I like his music and we we caught a very vibe too and he's just motivated I think he sent me the song next thing you know he came straight to the UK I think it was like the first time he's ever left here on your hands yeah he came to my he came to my area and then I've been to his area too um so yeah this is a genuine relationship but yeah it's a bit it's a bit different no one really done it like that before with the europe thing that's what I really like I'm focused on doing that more too um I did another song with uh

French artist called Freeze Collillon which is a very big song it's obviously similar like he's just rapping in French I'm rapping in English but it went crazy too

that's something I really want to do like kind of bring Europe together as a whole because Europe's massive we shouldn't just be looking at London I had done the Rondo feature was probably my first feature I wasn't focused

I didn't care about doing no features in the UK like that no one was really grabbing my attention It didn't make sense to me either. So I just went across the pond and went to Italy and done music with them. It makes more sense. Me and Rondo can both capitalize off it more.

Whereas if I'm doing a song with someone in the UK, nine times out of ten, their fans already know me and my fans already know them. So what's the point really? And I don't know them like that. And we don't know. Maybe it's an ego thing in the UK as well. that no one really hit me like that anyway.

Right. So. Do you, like, in your mind, how much has your music really connected with the U.S. audience? Like, do you see a lot of the comments suggesting that, like, they're in America and that they really fuck with your shit? Yeah, there's a few, you know. There's a few. I think maybe there's more girls, though. Yeah, I don't know what, I don't know if they care about the music or they just, I don't know. That's interesting.

You feel like that's a big part of your fan base is the girls who have a little bit of a heart on? for you? That's probably that's a percentage too. There's a percentage for that but that's just a small of it though. There's really it's like 80% mill to listen to my shit. Interesting. Yeah, I would assume most rap is probably like that. Yeah. Do you, um, when you think about like America, because that's kind of like the holy grail, like we had so many amazing UK rappers over the years, but none of them have ever like really truly like broken through in the US. A lot of the rappers they can't get here. So a blessing that I'm able to be here. Hopefully they more can come out here.

But that's probably what plays a big part. I think you need now coming here as well. We're already supposed to be gone. We were supposed to leave like four days ago. But I didn't have a, it's not enough time. Even, I probably stay for another five days. It's still not enough time. You need to come out here and really,

I've realized you've got to come out here and spend a lot of time out here to really like, nurture the relationships that you are and shit. So I don't know. Hopefully I can spend more time out here. What's the biggest thing that sort of surprised you about America in terms of just, you know, just what's different about out here? I don't know.

Something going on every day. But it's probably like that in London too, though, if I just cared about that. I just don't go out. Like, I'm out here. I'm moving completely different how I do at home. Right. Because I'm on a whole different time.

I'm on a different mission. So I don't know, but there's something going on every day. I don't know. I don't know what else, really. It's taking it and taking it in every day as it comes. But when you're out here, do you feel like you're, like, sort of able to grasp what it might take for you to truly, like, get accepted by the U.S. audience?

Or, like, does your mind work that way where you, like, would want to sort of alter some of what you're doing to sort of fit a different market? or is that taboo? You would have run across that line as sort of making music for a different market? Not right now. I don't care about really changing my sound too tough right now. I don't know, though.

I don't know what I'd need to do. I think I just need to spend more time to know. That's what I need to do. I just spend more time out here and just get to know people more. Before you know, something will click in my head. That's all it takes one thing. Something will click on head at,

okay, cool, that's what I need to do. And then I reckon it would be a rap. Yeah, because I feel like it's only a matter of time, like, given the way that so many U.S. artists have basically embraced U.K. beats. It's like, it's only a matter of time until they find the artists that they're willing to sort of fully recognize and relate to. And I don't know.

To me, it feels like you've kind of get the best chance of that happening. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll see. Definitely. What was it like when you saw Big Sean? Shouting out your music on Twitter. Oh, yeah, that was hard. He was the first, yeah.

He was the first America artist to show him you love, I believe. That was hard. I thought it was fake at first time. Because that was still mad early. I think that was like the first song I dropped and I see that. Yeah, that was hard. That was hard. Yeah.

I mean, hey, Big Sean. He was a great rapper. I used to fuck with Big Sean. Really? Yeah. Finally famous or something. Right. Them epit tapes or something.

them days a long time ago. And a lot of rappers, like, if you're him, you're not really, like, co-signed a lot of rappers that you don't have, like, a vested financial interest in, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess that's why it kind of surprised me, too. It's like, oh, this ain't some industry shit. This is just real appreciation.

Everything around me is just real, bro. No industry shit. Yeah. It's crazy because in this day and age, everybody thinks that if something seems a little too perfect. It's industry. There's a lot of rumors of it. that shit around my name.

Real. Speculation, yeah. How's it feel to, like, it feels like you getting this amount of success in a short period of times causing, you know, certain, certain rappers from your country to take issue and to sort of want to throw salt at you and stuff. How's it feel? I mean, that's just part of blowing up, but how does that feel seeing that? Is it disappointing?

No, I'm not disappointed. Comes to the territory, you know. But you don't really want to engage it? I don't engage in nothing on the internet. My social media, my, my shit that I've built up is for music. It's for me to interact with the fans

and people that support my music. It's not to go back and forth with people, like rappers or anybody. I don't use that tool. That's tools not for that. Right. It's funny because, like, the fan base is so trained to want to, like, view conflict

Like, that's the most interesting thing, you know? Any of them fans, they're not really, more time just fans of the scene. Like, not really fans of me. Like, fans of me, they don't care about that shit. I hope they don't anyway. If I don't entertain it, they can't be a fan of that anyway. Have you not gotten to the point yet where the cops are giving you a hard time? I know it was a big problem for a lot of rappers,

but I'm not sure if your content is necessarily, like, violent enough that they would give a fuck. No, I ain't saying, no, I'm not. I ain't saying that I'm mad for them to want to trouble me. I think I think I'll be alright. Yeah. But like I said, I haven't done any shows or nothing, so I'm yet to see. I haven't really been outside too tough. It's all been on the net right now.

Right. On the commitment issues song, I really like that you said that, you know, this is some real shit. You're like, you know, if there's a handbag that you want and I can't afford it, basically I'm going to steal it for you. Yeah. That's really relatable. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's funny

I was going to change that line I reckon if I'd change that line That song would not have done How it went how it went I sent it to one girl And I said What do you think of the song Because I was a bit skeptical

About the song at the time I didn't know if it was The right move or whatever Because it's a female song And I was doing Like every other song Before that was like Targeted at the mandem

And she said She said that line's weird You should change Really? Yeah And I was going to change it. Luckily, I didn't. Why, is that the one you see, like,

in all the Instagram captions and shit like that? Who? That lyric? Is it, like, you see people making it their captions? No, not really, but it's like a talking point. You just mentioned it. People have mentioned it before. I think, like, that's what maybe made it pop off on TikTok.

A lot of people didn't realize what I was saying. I think some people, maybe a lot of American people, for what I was saying, if I can't afford that bag there you want, then I would lick, like, lick that way. talking about some sort of oral set. I mean, normally I would think like Nick is still not a lick, but I just put it together in my head.

I figured you weren't going to. I'm glad you understood. Yeah, I ain't going to say that. If I was going to say something like that, it wouldn't sound. That sounds weird. I mean, shoplifting is very relatable. Like, I feel like everybody kind of goes through a period in their life where they're doing at least a little bit of five-finger discounting.

Yeah. But they don't like romanticize it in songs, whereas like, you know, There's five million songs about selling coke. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got the party drugs. I'm the one who keeps the party turn. Yeah, I got the party ton. I like that too, because a lot of people want to be a fucking mob boss in their lyrics, you know?

There's a lot more relatable to just be the guy with a, you know, pocket full of Molly and Coke, you know. Not that you ever did that, but... Yeah, can you decode this lyric for me? I'm in a beater with an ounce of sniff and a bit of MD so I don't get gripped. Why would having the MD make it less likely for you to get caught? Am I decoding this wrong? Why would it make it less likely? No.

Say again? I'm in a beater, a shitty car. With an ounces. With an ounce of sniff and a bit of MD so I can't get gripped. And I assume gripped means arrested. No, yeah, no. So what I meant is with an ounce of sniff and a bit of MD. And this is not snitching.

This is all art. So I can't get, yeah, exactly. So I can't get grip. And with both of those Norgutics And I can't get gripped With neither of those things. Hmm

You're not decoding it, right? No. No. You understand it. It feels like having both drugs Would be even a bigger arrest. Yes, that's what I mean. Oh, so I can't get next.

I just, I can't allow myself. I'm not saying I've got MD on me so I can't get gripped. I now feel stupid, yeah. Yeah, yeah. If you're, okay, hypothetically though, if you knew a drug dealer in London, what's like number one most requested on the menu? Probably cook, really. Okay.

What about ketamine? What number would that be? Is that still huge? Yeah, yeah, no, still huge. We got a guy who co-hosts on this podcast who's got a real thing with ketamine. Yeah, is that big up here? Not as much. You've got to be like a certain level of hipster.

it? Yeah. Yeah. It's popular out there. It's definitely popular, but not, it's not mainstream. Like, COVID. Mm. Mm. I think there's a lot of different drugs out here as well, like, that we don't have out there. Like, um, Percies and now, we don't really, we don't really sell that type of shit. You guys don't have pills in the same way? That's interesting.

Yeah, no, we don't have them type of pills, like, um, um, op. Um, them, where did, like, opiots? Yeah, not too much opiots. Do you not hear about people dying from fake pills out in the UK? as much because that's like a massive thing out here. Yeah, I hear it out here. Not as much. Are you a smoker, a drinker?

No, neither. Neither? Mm-hmm. Interesting. You've always been like that? Yeah. Is that because you feel like you are just so focused on your sort of end goal that you just don't want to distract yourself?

I'm not sure. I was just never really interested in it from young. Mm-hmm. Interesting. I respect it I feel like a lot of people who I see making it at the very least take it easy on all that

Yeah I don't think I ever really I'll never really get involved in that Respect Um You said on one song that you think your people skills Need improving Probably

Why do you think that's the case I don't know I don't know I don't know I'm just not really... I think my communication, I could work on it better. That's something I need to work on my communication skills, people skills. But maybe I don't. Fuck knows.

Maybe that's part of the charm. Yeah. Do you think... Because, like, one thing that I was impressed by when we were talking about doing this interview is that you were sort of like... You know, because you hadn't done an interview prior to this, and you were like, oh, no, if I wanted to... do an interview right now. You kind of like openly

acknowledged like I'm brand new to so much of this shit and I'm not trying to like jump into anything. I thought that was wise. I didn't want to do an interview too tough. Or just that you were cautious about it. Yeah. You sort of realize that you know you're giving away a lot of yourself when you do an interview and it's something you can't take back.

And sometimes I see people who will do 100 interviews and it feels like the level of interest from the fans sort of dissipates as there's just too much content out there of you. For a long time I was thinking, like, who am I? Like, what have I done to be doing an interview? That's what I see a lot of people. That's how I think I look at it like that. Or I think maybe some people are looking at like that.

What have you even done to be sitting there talking? Even now, what I say don't really matter. I don't want people taking my shit for gospel or taking everything. I say, like, mad literally, literally or anything. I'm just normal. I'm not anybody to look up too crazy. See, I mean, you've definitely, like, earned the position of, like, being worth interviewing. But that's basically, like, what I want to communicate to people sometimes when I have labels, like, hit me and just trying to get me to interview some guy that they signed two weeks ago who's got, like, 100,000 views on one song.

And it's, like, for me, I'm like, you don't want this dude doing an interview right now. He hasn't done enough to, like, warn an interview that people are going to be bored by it. It's just not going to, like, really do much for him. so I just thought that was really interesting that you seem to like understand that dynamic in a way that a lot of these fucking labels and shit just don't really get that's how I look at it

where do you see this going from here like you have any like big steps in mind you have a big tour in mind it's kind of like the world's your oyster right now huh? Yeah I guess so

no I'm not thinking too far ahead I got a little tour coming up in London, in the UK, that we sold on the back on my last, my tape that come out. We still ain't done that yet. So we got that coming out. It's small, though, like, we kind of played it down. I wanted to do it like that.

I think, is it called the headline, the one that you do right at the end? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the headline show, we could have done, like, Brickston, probably. We could have done something massive, but we just played it down. I'm doing Shepherd's Bush. It's my hometown. And it's a smaller show. But I prefer it like that.

Anyway. But yeah, next time around, we probably do it a bit bigger. But I don't know. I'm not planning too far ahead. Headline is kind of a big decision too. Like, I've realized that over the years. There's a lot of comfort in being like the second to last. Because a lot of times, like, the headliner,

the people who were there to see the second to last artists are going to leave. so sometimes the headliner like you really don't want a headline until you're ready to be the headliner basically yeah yeah I didn't mean that I meant like the last show so it's the last show

I'm a headline in the whole it's my tour right right right but the last show I thought they call it the headline the one that you do right at the end finale yeah whatever you call it

they're supposed to be like the biggest one I think it's probably the biggest show on the tour but it's still small I don't know how much Shepard Bush Empire is but it's not a big capacity. That's another thing too though.

It's very, very, it's way better to do a smaller show and sell it the fuck out and have, you know, hundreds of people wishing they could get in. For sure. And I've blown up so far so it's like I haven't got to do like the intimate shows with like my real fans like my core fans like so hopefully that show there can be full up with like my core fans rather than and I can really like try and interact with them more so than doing a big show

where it's just like a bunch. You know when you you start doing like like ali pali for example is i think it's like 10 000 people when you start doing shows like that cool you're going to have your fans there right but you're going to have just like random people that are just trying to enjoy their night too and just come in for the sake of it kind of thing so yeah i wanted to do a few intimate shows first for sure um you got a girlfriend so was that malu thing real or what were you actually like hanging out with her at one point or was that all kind of imaginary? Yeah, I was chilling with her for a day.

She's cool, though. And it just got taken out of proportion where everybody thought you were dating or something? Yeah, the incident's weird. Yeah. Definitely. There's going to be more and more of that, man. Yeah, I'm prepared for it. It lasts for like a day.

It's just, well, actually it doesn't because you're here asking about it. But it's nothing that I'm prepared for them things. Right, for sure Can you help me I would get in the fucking exclusive Trappstar package? Yeah, yeah, yeah

We'll do that I would just go to the website and order it But I want to just make sure I'm getting the freshest shit You can't even go on the website Or the nothing nowadays Everything sold out

Really? Yeah, you gotta go To, I don't know Where you gotta go Resale prices But we ain't gonna do you like that But they've really been Fucking you since

Super early on Like that's pretty interesting Trapp star from my area too Yeah So they're the first people. I think you asked me actually, like, did someone that inspired me from my area. They're the only people that actually kind of like

was doing shit like from time as well. Like, they're the only people that man could look up to in man's area and be like, cool. These lot are doing something like positive and they're doing it well. So yeah, they're from my area. For sure. Anything that the people should be looking out for?

Anything that you want to let people know was on the way? What's your message to the people? My next tape coming out, 23, hopefully September or the month after that. What's that? November. October, then November. Oh, yeah, October, probably. September or October, my tape coming out. Other than that, no, really.

That's all I really got to say to them right now. For sure. Well, you know, I'm a big fan and I don't know. You got a big thing cooking right now, man. Yeah, no, hopefully, man. Thank you, bro. Definitely appreciate it. For sure.

Much respect. I'm a good mic. Central C. No Jumper. Check us on YouTube, Patreon. Like, comment, subscribe. Nojummer.com if you want to support. Appreciate you, man.

My bro.