The best thing to hit the UK rap scene opens up on his surprisingly grimey past.Words: Sebastian Vargas Portrait: Lynn Wall

One of the biggest misconceptions about young grime and urban rap artists is that they are all ant-social, rude, gang related boys. Whilst the content of their music may refer to such things, it is simply a reflection of their harsh reality. Most of these young artists may have had to go through life changing experiences in their past, and as a result maybe got misguided into a whole other world filled with violence, drugs and gangs. However, this is not life that they chose, but more a life that they were born into out of chance. Fortunately, we had the chance to interview one of the biggest Urban artists in the UK right now. MOBO award winner, MANZO, real name Andrew Pemagbi, let us in on the secret to the success of his music and where he gets his content from. He takes us on a journey from his past to his present and future.

Interviewer: What is your music about?Manzo: My music is based on the struggle of growing up in urban London where crime is an everyday thing. I use my own life to write my bars, which makes even more powerful.

Interviewer: How do you want your music to make the audience feel?Manzo: I want people to feel my music, I want them to say “that’s a banging tune” and hopefully I will get enough success to carry on making more tracks for them. I want to make them reflect on the lyrics and understand where the music is coming from.

Interviewer: Where did you grow up?Manzo: I grew up on a massive estate in North West London. It’s one of the biggest estates in London and one of the most crime-filled and dangerous. When I was younger I tried to stay away from trouble, but as I got older trouble found me. In my teens I started chilling with the mandem, and getting involved in silly things that I thought made me bad and at the time that’s what I thought would make known in the ends. It got out of hand but I think these experiences have made me into the person I am today, and instead of focusing on the negatives I take all the good things that I learnt and channel them into my music. I’ve made my experiences the source of my music, that’s what makes me sound so raw and real. I think that that is the reason people like my music so much, because they hear the bars and can relate to it.

Interviewer: Tell us about your future plans in the music industryManzo: I’ve kept it a secret but after all the love I got from my last mixtape, I’m looking to release an album by the beginning of the upcoming year. I’m looking forward to working with some other rappers to make this album the best thing in 2016. It’s definitely something my fans should be looking forward to, it’s gonna be big. I’m gonna release further details about name and release date closer to the time.

Interviewer: Is there a particular message that you’re trying to send through your music?Manzo: I’m trying to outline the lifestyle I had and emphasise that it’s not worth it. I’m especially trying to show the younger generation that they should stay away from that life. I want my music to influence them and show them that there is more to life than staying in the ends and wasting their time on the roads.

Interviewer: When did you start making music?Manzo: When I was like 14, I was just chilling with a couple of my bros, and these times grime just blew up and everyone used to have the beats on their flip phones. We was just chilling and started messing about, just dropping freestyles. From that day I felt that I had talent in making music so I started writing my own stuff, then I put it on a beat and uploading it on to YouTube and soundcloud and here I am today.

Interviewer: Do you hope to get signed by a record label?Manzo: With grime being a small genre and not having as many artists as rap and hip hop it would be good to get signed and get grime out there. But there is no way I’m selling out like some of these other guys. I mean I started with grime and urban rap I ain’t changing my style just to get a record deal, that ain’t me. I’m gonna stick to grime and urban rap for life cause that’s where I came from. I think grime and urban rap represents where I come from and the life that I lived, so I’m gonna rep it.

Interviewer: How do you feel about winning the best newcomer Mobo award?Manzo: I’m actually gassed, it feels unreal. I’m happy that I got to represent my ends and I felt like I made mum and my guys proud. They’ve all supported me through my journey, so it’s good that I won the Mobo as a result of all the work that’s been put in by me and my team. Now it’s time to carry on with the hard work and look to next year and see if I win another Mobo, maybe best grime act is in the cards.

Interviewer: Who inspired you to make music?Manzo: I would definitely say my inspirations were the makers of grime themselves –Skepta, Wiley and Dizzee Rascal. Mostly Skepta, he came with some raw grime and it was something I never heard before, so when he started making his tracks, I was really into them. I remember I used to go school with all the grime instrumentals and I would just chill with my boys at lunch and drop some bars.