UK rap: Last News

Rizzle Kicks have spoken to NME about the release of their first single in eight years, ‘Javelin’, mental health and their legacy in UK rap music.Back in 2008, Jordan Stephens and Harley Alexander-Sulé formed Rizzle Kicks. The two went on to have major success throughout the 2010s with their fresh and unique take on UK rap, blending hip-hop with pop rather than the rising grime trend of the time.They scored two UK Top 10 albums (2011’s ‘Stereo Typical’ and 2013’s ‘Roaring 20s’) and two platinum singles before taking a break from the limelight in 2016 due to Alexander-Sulé being diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder.Both Stephens and Alexander-Sulé embarked on solo careers, with the latter released music under his pseudonym Jimi Charles Moody.They both found success in acting too: Alexander-Sulé had lead roles in the crime drama Unforgotten and the 2014 film The Guv’nors, while Stephens starred in the Star Wars spin-off Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Mae Martin’s sitcom Feel Good.Eight years later, the Brighton duo are finally ready to release music again – kicking off their return with the funky and light-hearted ‘Javelin’.“We’ve been writing for a long time, maybe three or four years on this music,” Alexander-Sulé told NME.

Aitch, Sugababes, Jonas Blue and Caity Baser have been announced as performers for Team GB Paralympics Homecoming event.The National Lottery’s ParalympicsGB Homecoming event is set to take place at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on Thursday September 12. It will be hosted by The Last Leg’s Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker and will be a golden celebration in welcoming Team GB’s Paralympians return from France.According to a press release, the event promises to “combine the worlds of music, entertainment and sport to celebrate our Paralympians.” It added that the event will “feature collaborations and performances from some of the UK’s best loved artists, and will be a moment for the nation to celebrate the team’s incredible achievements, dedication and passion.” Additional artists who are set to perform will be announced within the incoming weeks A post shared by The National Lottery UK (@tnluk)The event will be broadcast on Channel 4 on Saturday September 14.

ArrDee has spoken to NME about his new single ‘Different’, his highly-anticipated debut album, and the state of UK rap.The Brighton star is set to dropped his fifth song of the year later earlier this month – with ‘Different’ flipping The Shapeshifters’ iconic debut single ‘Lola’s Theme’ as the 21-year-old fuses the house classic with his signature pop-drill sound.Talking to NME at Silverstone Circuit, he joked that the song was about “these girls that keep telling [him] they different [and] not like these other women” and was “bored of hearing it”.A post shared by NME (@nmemagazine) He continued: “It sounds kind of dark and [‘Lola’s Theme’] is quite uplifting. I mean, you play that at the end of most raves and parties anywhere and everybody comes to life and I wanted my take on it to have the same effect, so we played about with the beat a little bit more.

Sampha has released ‘Satellite Business 2.0’, an expanded version of his ‘Lahai’ track, now featuring Little Simz. Listen to the track below.The new single expands upon ‘Satellite Business’, which served as an interlude on Sampha’s 2023 sophomore album.

Bashy has spoken to NME about ‘Being Poor Is Expensive’ – his first studio album in 15 years.Last week, the Kensal Rise-raised star has made his return to music after taking a break to pursue an acting career. Bashy – real name Ashley Thomas – initially rose to fame by being an emerging star in the then-burgeoning grime scene back in the early 2000s.

Headie One has performed at Glastonbury 2024 to support the release of his second album, ‘The Last One’ – which he described as “a masterpiece”.The June 28 appearance was his second at Worthy Farm, following his blockbuster debut in 2019 when he had his own set on the Wow stage. He also joined Dave during his now-viral performance to perform their gold-certified collaboration, ’18Hunna’.Headie One – real name Irving Ampofo Adjei – kicked off his set with the seminal UK drill track while on stage today (June 28).

Headie One has announced a UK and Australian tour for later this year, as well as a string of European dates to take place in 2025 – read on for the full list of shows.With the Tottenham rapper’s album ‘The Last One’ due out later this month, he has announced an extensive tour to support it, including his first non-festival UK shows since 2021.He will play in Manchester, Dublin and Glasgow in November, before a huge hometown show at OVO Wembley Arena in London on November 29. Tickets for these shows go on general sale at 10am BST this Friday (June 21) – you’ll be able to buy yours here.Before that, he will be heading down under for his first-ever Australian shows, in Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, in October.UK + AUSTRALIA + IRELAND.

BERWYN has announced his hotly-anticipated debut album ‘WHO AM I’ and shared moving new single, ‘DEAR IMMIGRATION’.Following the release of the powerful single ‘I AM BLACK’, the new album offers what is described as a “vivid and vulnerable journey through BERWYN’s search for meaning and freedom”.News of the NME Award-winning singer-rapper’s debut is accompanied by the release of ‘DEAR IMMIGRATION’, a spoken word battle cry against a corrupt immigration system.On the song, BERWYN sings: “You make me look at the mirror in horror, you took my tomorrow / I want you to know since I was nine I felt like a crime / I used to imagine you coming for me every day of my life” – watch below.His lyrical honesty has become a signature of his sound, which he previously told NME was “a double-edged sword“, saying: “The sick part about it all is that for my day job I stand up on a wooden stage and people are like ‘Your life is hard? Tell me more. Give me more.'”But that hasn’t put the Trinidad-born artist off being emotionally frank, with his debut studio album promising “crafted and cohesive reflections on faith, on the tugs of addiction and the embrace of love, on what it means to be demonised for your immigration status or skin colour”.In 2021, the Mercury Prize nominee told NME his work was intentionally “solemn, musical and explorative,” going on to say these attributes were “tools relative to every human being inside of the matrix we live in.”The debut album follows BERWYN’s EP, ‘Bulletproof’, and two previous mixtapes, ‘Demotape/Vega’ and ‘Tape 2/Fomalhaut’, which NME wrote had “a beautiful twilight quality” in a four-star review.‘WHO AM I’ is out on July 12 via Columbia Records.

J Hus has pulled out of his headlining slot at this year’s edition of Parklife Festival, citing “unforeseen circumstances”.The festival’s organisers took to X/Twitter to announce that the rapper will no longer be performing at the bash. The announcement comes just three days before the festival is set to take place.

BERWYN has released a powerful new single called ‘I AM BLACK’ – you can listen to it below.The Trinidad-born singer-rapper returned last month with the triumphant comeback track ‘Neighbours’. He released two versions of the soulful song; he first dropped a piano-driven solo take, before DJ and Producer Fred again..

NME about his new mixtape ‘Where Should I Start?’, having a song on the Top Boy soundtrack, and how his drill-inspired music is “motivational”.Tomorrow (March 29), the Hackney-born rapper will drop his long-awaited second full-length record – boasting features from Potter Payper, Alchubbino and longtime friend V9. ‘Where Should I Start?’ will serve as the follow-up to Jimmy’s 2022 debut mixtape ‘Risk It All’.Speaking to NME, the east Londoner said he had been “continuously making music” after releasing ‘Risk It All’.

Tiffany Calver has shared her advice to aspiring music industry creatives, encouraging them to “fail as much as you can.”Speaking on a panel in celebration of International Women’s Month, the UK rap trailblazer collaborated with Sondr to host a talk with fellow DJs and UK club titans Bossy LDN founder Izzy Bossy and Hannah Lynch of Girls Can’t Sync. The event was held at east London creative hotspot BeauBeaus and was part of the Telford native’s Tiffany Calver & Friends series – in which she highlights her talented peers.Calver spoke about her humble beginnings in the north of England where she “started a music blog because there weren’t really any opportunities” and thought she “could use it [as leverage].” She further revealed how she got to work for the late UK rap visionary Jamal Edwards and vlogged for his seminal music blog SBTV – which she said was her “foot into the industry.”She told the audience that the internet has made it so “there is so much at your fingertips” that can give you a fighting chance to succeed no matter where you’re from.

Dizzee Rascal has revealed that he was originally given the beat to Beyoncé‘s 2013 single ‘Partition’, but gave it up because he “couldn’t come up with” anything.The grime pioneer was the first-ever interviewee on GRM Daily‘s new YouTube series Thoughts In A Culli. While chatting with the blog’s founder Posty, Rascal reflected on the time he spent in LA in the early 2010s and how he stumbled upon the instrumental that is now synonymous with the Houston singer.“This time I was around in LA – it was 2011, 2012 or something,” he began.

Potter Payper has announced that he will be releasing a new mixtape later this month called ‘Thanks For Hating’.Last week (February 7), the 26th MOBOs saw the likes of Central Cee, Dave, Asake, RAYE, Shygirl and more picking up awards. At the ceremony, Ghetts was honoured with the MOBO Pioneer Award, Soul II Soul earned the Lifetime Achievement Award and Sugababes took home the MOBO Impact Award.East Londoner Potter Payper won the Album Of The Year award for his critically lauded debut, ‘Real Back In Style’.

Skepta has teamed up with Idris Elba and Odumodublvck to create ‘Jangrova’, the first song from the Tribal Mark soundtrack. Check out the single below.Released yesterday (January 19), ‘Jangrova’ sees Skepta, Idris Elba and Odumodublvck rap in English and Nigerian Pidgin.

Sean Paul has asked Stefflon Don and Jada Kingdom to end their online feud and “live better.”Earlier this week, Kingdom and Don exchanged diss tracks after the latter allegedly indirectly called the other out in a song snippet. Don was the first to release hers with ‘Dat A Dat’ before the Jamaica-born singer replied with the disrespectful ‘London Bed’. It is believed that the conflict started over a spat concerning Don’s ex-boyfriend, afro-fusion superstar Burna Boy.Yesterday, Paul commented on the Don-Kingdom feud in an Instagram post.

Ghetts has teamed up with London rapper Skrapz on his latest single ‘Twin Sisters’ from his forthcoming LP ‘On Purpose, With Purpose‘.Produced by frequent Ghetts-collaborator TenBillion Dreams, the track opens up with a cheeky and explicit verse with the rapper saying: “One night I stayed round / Now I know my way round / Used to wonder what the pillow saw when you’re faced down / I’ve been fucking twin sisters / they don’t make the same sound”.The song also comes with a head-spinning visual by Dutch director Geerten Harmens (A$AP Rocky, Lil Wayne, Gunna). The video sees Ghetts sitting on an invisible chair in a puffer jacket in a white room.It features trippy camera movements as the rapper walks around and is surrounded by other things, such as a couple dressed in what appears to be Victorian garb, a butler holding a plate of spaghetti bolognese and more.‘Twin Sisters’ follows Ghetts’ previous release, ‘Laps’ featuring the South African singer Moonchild Sanelly, which marked his first new single in two years.

Potter Payper has announced that he will tour the UK and Europe next year in support of his debut album ‘Real Back In Style’. See full dates and tickets below.The Barking-raised star announced on his Instagram that he will be going on a 14-stop tour next year, promising fans that the shows are “going to be a crazy experience like you’ve never seen before.”It will start in Dublin on February 25 before hitting cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and his hometown of London.

Little Simz has brought out Cleo Sol as a special guest at her Ally Pally show – watch the fotoage below.The rapper has just rounded off her ‘NO THANK YOU’ tour performing the album of the same name. In our NME review, we praised the album saying: “The case for Simz to be recognised as a true modern great has only been strengthened with this release.”Finishing her tour at London’s iconic Ally Pally, Simz had a surprise in store for concertgoers.

D Double E has spoken to NME about the hardship of early grime stars, Jamaica’s influence on the scene and UK rap’s evolution as a whole.The East Londoner became synonymous with the UK grime scene as a part of the Newham Generals alongside Footsie, before having a thriving solo career and releasing grime classics such as ‘Street Fighter Riddim’ and ‘Bad 2 Tha Bone’.While many grime stars have become household names – such as his longtime friend and frequent collaborator Ghetts as well as the likes of Kano, Asher D (better known as Ashley Waters) and Skepta – the MC and producer, real name Darren Jason Dixon, hailed how the scene had “come a long way”.I love when people can and do what they want to do,” said the MOBO Award winner. “When I hear Kano’s album [2019 ‘Hoodies All Summer’] and he’s got the tunes with Popcaan [‘Can’t Hold We Down’], then I’ll hear Skepta with A$AP Rocky [ on 2017 track ‘Praise Da Lord’] or Wizkid [on 2016 ‘Ojuelegba (Remix)’] – I just love it that everyone is free and that’s what I’m trying to do for myself.”However, when it came to figures from grime becoming more well-known for their successful TV work away from the scene – such as Kano and Asher D playing Sully and Dushane in Top Boy – Dixon said: “I don’t really like that, man, but it adds a little bit more sauce to the person, I guess.

Ghetts has shared his first single in two years, ‘Laps’ – featuring South African singer Moonchild Sanelly.Earlier this month, the east Londoner announced his fourth studio album, ‘On Purpose With Purpose’, the follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2021 album ‘Conflict Of Interest’. Now, he has shared the opening track to his upcoming LP.‘Laps’ was produced by TenBillion Dreams and has the same ominous sound as much of the MOBO winner’s previous work.