Me and Skepta, we're kind of from the same world but have totally different-sounding albums. That's why I get funny sometimes when people say I'm a grime artist. Not in a negative way, but I don't feel it's a true representation of the music I'm making.
The videos are sometimes the only way for people across the country and different places to see and hear the music. They may not get the same radio stations or they don't get the same TV channels, they don't have the same MTV that plays the same music. People will use to the Internet and that's why YouTube and stuff like that is so important.
I think the best thing about music is that someone could be writing a song that's so personal, and it tells so many other people's story at the same time. It kind of exemplifies that we are all kind of on the same wave[length] - it's amazing how comforting somebody else's story can be, because we have experienced their story in some way or another, and I can totally relate, and I get to feel that feeling and the expression of that emotion. I get to feel like as a listener, that somebody understands me, which is pretty incredible.
I don't feel that way now. I don't want to make movies for the 10 people who feel exactly the same way about the world that I do. I want to make movies that many, many people see, and I want to say something that I believe is important in a way that people who don't agree with me can hear. And that involves making different kinds of choices, but it's not like a compromise that I'm making. It's that something else interests me, something else is appealing to me.
I'm on the rise and whatnot, but I'm not the man to say, 'All right, world, here's grime.' It's gonna take me, Skepta, JME, Novelist and Lethal Bizzle, to say, 'I'm sick, he's sick, he's sick, he's sick'. Not one man can do it.
You're never going to release the next album and have it be different from your other two, three, four, five albums. People give them a hard time, but it's like, 'I'm an artist, I'm trying to grow. I don't want to have the same album for 10 albums in a row!' Same thing for a martial artist.
Sometimes, I don't like making emotions your career; something about it is kind of gross. But, at the same time, I want to move people the same way the songs make me feel.
The artist must ask you to think of the world in a different way, and sometimes it's a more abstract way; sometimes it's a completely different kind of colouring.
I didn't get played on radio or TV for 3 years. They all told me the same thing: it was too urban. They don't see grime music as commercial music, but all music is commercial; it's how you make it. That's what I'm trying to say.
My personal success would be that people understand what I was trying to do. It was the most palatable when I watchmen_7_mdid Dawn. With Watchmen, too, I feel the same way. The movie's ironic and satirical and it's funny and serious and that's kind of the same way I felt about Dawn. Like I really was making a movie that knows it's a zombie movie and enjoys that and wants the audience to say, yeah, that's okay.
We have all this digital equipment, and sometimes this analog stuff comes back and people say "Oh my god!" It makes a different sounding music.
I feel that I want what allows me to reach the largest number of people as possible, and I don't feel ashamed of that. I think I'm the kind of artist that's meant to be on a major label because my music is different.
I like to work with people of different cultures, different points of view. But yeah, I feel much more comfortable. That's the problem I sometimes have with going to Hollywood. I feel like they don't share the same values as I do. They aren't interested in the same things. It's not always true, but sometimes, I feel it deeply, because as an industry, they celebrate things that I'm less interested in, and it's all about the business.
Sometimes, being different feels a lot like being alone. But with that being said, being true to that and being true to my standards and my way of doing things in my art and my music, everything that has made me feel very different... in the end, it has made me the happiest.
Some people say we have thirteen albums that all sound the same. That isn't true. We have fourteen albums that all sound the same.
I've gone through many phases in music in my life. Before I was signed, I was making completely different music, and my fan base has followed me. They continue to follow me as the music progresses and as I grow as an artist. As long as I stay true and don't pretend to be someone I'm not, I hope they'll come along with it.
As I've grown as an artist, I've learned that my mission statement is really self-expression. I don't want anybody to classify my music. I want them to say, "This is somebody who's recognizing his true feelings, his true emotions, ideas, thoughts, opinions, and views on the world, all on one record." I want people to recognize that and to take it and apply it to their own lives. You know what I'm saying? The more and more I get out and talk to different people, I realize they appreciate that - me being unapologetic in whatever views and approach I have.