Bristolian born and raised, Datkid also lived between London as a youngen. The rise of his music career stemmed from finding early motivation to write and rehearse rhymes, inspired by friends and family to take his passion for music seriously. Becoming tight with local hip-hop artists as he grew older, a teenaged Datkid formed the rap collective known as Demorus around 2008. A few years later, Datkid dropped his 2011 debut, Dkay and Gramma. Around this time, as he began attaining more acclaim he became acquainted with another rising Bristolian hip-hop collective - Split Prophets. Months after releasing his debut, Datkid also featured on Split Prophets debut Scribbled Thoughts which further raised his global rap renown. This led to the release of his second solo album Home By 8, as well as more project features. After Datkid was imprisoned for a year in 2014, he returned with yet another solo classic called Teeth Ledger released via Split Prophets bandcamp. Later that same year, Split Prophets also dropped their second album, Delta Bravo Kilo which provided Datkid more fan appraisal. In early 2017, Datkid visited rapper/producer veteran Leaf Dog at his studio, where together they wrote and recorded the foundations of Datkid’s most recent album - Confessions Of A Crud Lord which released May, 2019. Boasting features from Westside Gunn, Roc Marciano and released through High Focus Records, Confessions Of A Crud Lord was the basis of this interview taking place. After meeting at Balter Festival, Datkid agreed to speak in depth on his music career, from the beginning to now. 

“Where I grew up was rough, where I’m from.” Datkid paused momentarily, relieving his upbringing. “But my family, I've always had good family. Know what I'm saying? I was lucky like that, I had no shit family. People that cared about me and that. So we never had much, but my family were cool so I was lucky like that. I've lived all over Bristol, all my friends are from there and shit.” 

Finding hip-hop relatable whilst growing up, listening to rappers like Eminem and 50 Cent, Datkid became musically influenced by what he describes as the ‘second generation’ of hip-hop - 2000’s onwards. “50 Cent,” recalled Datkid, citing the main inspirations for his early hip-hop passion. “Probably that ‘Guess Who's Back’ tape he put out before the ‘Get Rich Or Die Trying’ one, I used to listen to that a lot. Probably some early, early Eminem shit - what he did with Outsidaz and shit like that. Redman, I used to listen to a lot of Redman. But I was listening to grime and shit at the same time, I used to like garage and that - my mum used to listen to garage. I used to like drum and bass back then a lot more as well. I felt a lot of hip-hop was relatable, I just liked it. I just liked the bluntness of it and just how greazy it is, know what I mean? My friends got a big, big impact in that. Baileys Brown, Confusion, the Split Prophets boys a little later on and that. A lot of other people around me, that was a big impact in making me start making music and actually doing something with it, other than just liking it and fucking about. Of course, my family always backed me properly and whatever.”

From Datkid’s inception into Bristol’s hip-hop community, his long-term friend and producer Baileys Brown was instrumental to Datkid’s early interest and dedication to take spitting seriously. Despite Datkid having a passion for grime which was a growing genre at the time, Baileys essentially persuaded Datkid to practice rhyming over hip-hop more. As their musical talents mutually grew, together they formed their first local rap collective known as Demorus. “That's my boy, but he's older than me init,” said Datkid, providing a deeper insight into his friendship with Baileys Brown. “He's probably like six or seven years older than me. So I think I met him when I was 17/18, something like that. I met him through my boy Confusion, who was my boy at the time - still is, that's my boy. Hold tight Confusion. That was Demorus and a couple other people that come and gone, we [Datkid, Baileys & Confusion] were Demorus. That was the first sort of shit I ever released and recorded properly. If you just search Demorus on YouTube, shit will come up. A lot of it's old, we were bare young and that. Confusion still raps, but he's an actor doing his own thing. Jose is kinda Demorus as well, he's a producer from Bristol, he's sick. Demorus had a couple tunes out. This was like, probably 2006/7 or 2008, they were releasing tunes but it wasn't really online like that. It was more just grimey CD's and that, you know what I'm saying?”

“He did, that's true,” confirmed Datkid, when asked if Baileys truly encouraged him to rap more over hip-hop. “I used to like hip-hop, I've always loved hip-hop. But to rap on, I used to prefer grime just because of rapping a bit faster. That was the thing at the time as well, UK hip-hop had died out a lot then. So them times - probably around 2008/9 - UK hip-hop had died out a lot really for a couple years, I wanted to do grime tunes. But yeah, Baileys loved hip-hop and made hip-hop as well as loads of other shit. He's a producer, he'll make anything so he won't get bored. So yeah, I just kept up doing hip-hop with him as well. Then eventually... Yeah.”

In 2011, Datkid dropped his rough and raw solo debut, Dkay and Gramma on Baileys Brown’s bandcamp. The project was created between 2009-2011, lyrically reflecting on the illicit lifestyle and extroverted perspectives which raised him. By the date of it’s release, the 11 track album was released during a period where UK hip-hop was seeing a revival. More and more rough and raw releases were dropping, from all corners of the country. “Some of those tracks on that whole thing are like…” Datkid paused, remembering the creation process of Dkay and Gramma. “We recorded bare of that on a SM58 and that's why it's bare fucked, the sound of it. We were using like Reason or real basic Cubase or something. I was young and this was my first shit really that I'd done. So I wasn't really thinking about what everyone else was putting out, I just wanted to record some shit, make some CD's and make some money. Know what I'm saying? I was like, 17 or 18 when I started writing it. Shit was pretty peak, a lot of it was down to my own dong. My mum moved away, I lived at my nans for a bit. But I got her house raided and obviously I couldn't live there no more, so I was in hostels for a couple years back and forth. Shit like that, in and out of trouble. So that's what was going on at the time, and that was going on for a long time, until I come out of prison really.”

As Datkid’s local notoriety increased, he soon became acquainted with another rising Bristol rapper at the time - Res One. It was through this affiliation that Datkid and Baileys became involved with Split Prophets, an eight man collective of up-and-coming rhymers. A few months following the release of Dkay and Gramma, Split Prophets unleashed their debut Scribbled Thoughts unto the world. “I met Res, Bill and Bewbonik,” reminisced Datkid, remembering when he first met Res One. “I met them all pretty much at the same time, other than BadHabitZ. I was with a couple boys, we've always had mutual friends anyway but I'd just never met them really. Maybe I had but I didn't even realise or whatever. I met them through a mutual friend of theirs, we were just walking through somewhere and they were sat on some bench, bunning zoots or whatever. My friend seen them, noticed them so he walked over. Then we ended up jamming with them for the night, spitting bars and getting drunk. That was it, that was where it all started. That was when we were like, 18 I think. Baileys met them through me - obviously because Baileys got the ill beats, so we were working together.”

Following the consequences of choices which led to madness, Datkid ended up on tag which inevitably prohibited his movements and ability to function normally. Using the inner frustration pent up inside his mind, Datkid made use of the time by writing the project which would forever solidify him as a Bristol hip-hop icon - Home By 8. Receiving huge acclaim from hip-hop blogs and fans alike, the project’s standout, self-titled single Home By 8 became an anthem for people caught up in chaotic times. “Not at all,” Datkid replied humbly, agreeing that even he hadn’t foreseen the Home By 8 single becoming as successful as it became. “Do you know what, even the day I put out the video, I think it got over 10,000 views in the first 24 hours. I was like, what the fuck? You know what it was, I put in a lot of work with that video. I didn't know what the fuck I was doing, I didn't have a clue back then what I was doing. But the day before I put out the video, I thought on the day I put it up to send it to loads of people and went in like that. With Home By 8, me and Baileys just got a proper mic and I think Baileys just got his first MPC - maybe just before that. We fucked up, uploaded it raggo and just put up the wrong mix on the Bandcamp. I'm pretty sure that's what happened, then we just left it there. I think the computer which had all the shit on it got broke or lost, think it broke init. Baileys has been a victim to that a lot, which means by proxy I've been a victim of it as well. Broken computers man, we lost so much shit. That's why we never put Home By 8 on vinyl, because back then we didn't have the money to do that. Now we're trying to do it, we're figuring it out how to do it. But all we've got is WAV's, so we're going to try figure it out and shit.”

“I was just pissed bro,” continued Datkid, revealing personal insights into his mindstate whilst writing the Home By 8 album. “Because I was young and it was all my fault because I was acting up. I was getting caught doing shit all the time, then I'd get caught and I didn't care. So I ended up doing tag, but I ended up on it for like, 11 months in one go. I breached it like twice, ended up getting nicked for some other shit before I'd even finished it anyway. At the time, I was just on a bit of a war path of self-destruction. Home By 8 changed the way I realised I could do this music thing properly. That's when I properly started jumping on the hip-hop a lot more as well, doing a UK hip-hop thing. Them times we didn't have no money, we didn't make much money off it. But it's not even a fact of what I've made off it, it's more a point of what it's done for me. In roundabout ways, it's made me everything I've ever made off music. It made me realise that I could do that, that's sort of what changed. It was the beginning for me, that's all I can say.”

Home By 8 was the last solo project Datkid released, before eventually being imprisoned in 2014. “I don't mind talking about it,” Datkid shrugged, after being asked about his time in prison. “I got arrested for ABH and intent to supply class A, that's what I went to jail for. I did a year in jail altogether, I got 24 months and I had to do half of that. Then I got two months tag off of the half as well. I did like, a year and a month or something in jail. I can't remember the exact dates to be honest, I try and leave the past behind me. But I think it was around September time or something that I came out. I wrote Teeth Ledger and more in jail, it was fine bro. Obviously it's long as fuck and it's shit, but it wasn't a bad, horrific time for me. Know what I'm saying, it's a waste of life and I ain't going back.”

Upon his release, Datkid jumped straight back into a booth to record his solo comeback Teeth Ledger. During this time, Split Prophets were also preparing to release their Delta Bravo Kilo album. Whilst Datkid was imprisoned, the rest of Split Prophets prepared their verses before Datkid returned, contributing his rhymes to record a couple more tracks which completed the project. “We had some good times at video shoots,” said Datkid, remembering a highlight from making Delta Bravo Kilo. “We always do because there's bare of us, it's always a gang thing. There's eight of us, but the whole actual gang is huge. So yeah, it's always a party man. Split Prophets did a few bits off that album, I think we did Boomtown and Nozstock that year. We did quite a lot that year, we’ve always done quite a bit abroad as well.”

In his own words, Teeth Ledger was Datkid’s “return” as well as “the proper beginning. I know I had DKay n Gramma before, but that was more just like a mixtape sort of thing - even though it wasn't a mixtape, it was more just a little... Throw it together, throw it out, throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. Know what I mean? Home By 8 was more the very beginning for me, then Teeth Ledger was like, my return after all the madness in between. I’m pretty sure I did a launch show in Bristol, I did quite a few shows after that man - it wasn't an official tour, but I got a lot of shows off the back of it. By then I was off license as well, so I was allowed to leave the country. I had like a year where I couldn't leave the country or none of that shit. I had about two years of that really. We put it out on Split Prophets, I think it got a good reception - I'm happy with it man.”

“We just tapped him up, to get him to do it.” Datkid continued, answering how Sumgii became involved by mixing and mastering Teeth Ledger. “Just because the sound of Teeth Ledger, the sound of the beats Baileys made at the time. From the sound of it, we felt like Sumgii fitted that sound. We felt he would be a good person to mix and master the album. I'd met him before this and it's been love and whatever, I knew him yeah. I don't know, know him but I knew him a bit before that. Now we do a lot more shit, Baileys is dropping his next album on Potent Funk, I've got a lot of shit on his album and that.”

In early 2017, Datkid met with long-term friend Leaf Dog, a world-renowned rapper/producer that co-started RLD Records and is signed to High Focus Records. Together Datkid and Leaf began writing and recording the project which would be unleashed unto the world two years later, Confessions Of A Crud Lord. “I just went to Leafs yard,” began Datkid, looking back to how Confessions Of A Crud Lord came to be. “I stayed there for like a night or two, made a couple tunes and that - the first few tunes. I went back to Bristol, jammed for a couple days. I called him up, he was going through some personal shit. So I said we should leave it then, but he said no, come through. So cool, I went there. I ended up staying there for like, a week, five days or maybe even longer than that. It was like a week, and we just made the whole album basically. We made more than what's actually on the album, made like 25 tracks or some shit. Just everyday, writing and getting waved. Smoking, making the beats. Writing the bars, recording it. Next one, make a beat, stop making a beat. I'll write the bars whilst he's making the beat, bang. Record that, know what I'm saying? I think after we recorded and touched things up, we just did it like that in a couple weeks pretty much. Then he sort of pitched it to Fliptrix of High Focus, he was on it. We decided to get some big features for it, I was feeling the whole Griselda a lot at the time - I still am. We decided to try and get them, we managed to get it. We got them features, we had to wait a little bit to sort the features out and whatever. So that's why the whole time from doing it, we made the whole album real quick, within a couple weeks. But it took so long to come out because we had to get videos, features, masters and mix everything. We got other shit to do as well, know what I'm saying?”

“They are brand new,” Datkid replied, when asked why he and Leaf decided to feature Westide Gunn, as well as Roc Marciano over anyone else on Confessions Of A Crud Lord. “I never heard of them before I went to jail. Then I come out of jail, a few of my boys showed me them and I was like, 'Who the fuck are these? These guys are sick!' They're making hip-hop, like boom-bap hip-hop but it's ill now, they're brand new, they're real and I just like it. That's what I'm about, I rate that shit, I got time for that. So that's why I wanted to get them. We could have gone for an American legend or something, but who's to say these guys ain't gonna be legends init? To get them at the beginning, before they were signed to Shady Records - we got them just before they signed. It happened around the same sort of time, so we were lucky man. That's the kind of shit that I'm into, that's the kind of shit I've always been into. For me, they're like a reincarnation of late 90's gangster, boom-bap shit. Westside Gunn fucks with a lot of people, they fuck with Purist. The guy who does all their artwork, Ral Duke is from Cardiff, from Barry. Big up Ral Duke, he's a producer/rapper. He does their artwork, he does that shit. They fuck with it over here man, and they've got a big following over here too.”

Once the music was recorded, the concept for the album cover was thought up. Originally intended to be a photograph of Datkid in a confession box to coincide with the album title, once he and photographer Chris Lucas finally found the ideal church to do a shoot in, they ultimately decided on the image they thought spoke the most. “It was at a Catholic church in Bath,” recalled Datkid, relieving the day the album cover / Scheme On music video shoot took place. “Hold tight Chris Lucas who did the video shoot, he found the church basically. I told him what I wanted to do, I had the idea and originally I wanted to be in a confession box. So he was trying to find churches with a confession box, he went to about ten churches or some shit. Eventually we found this one in Bath, we got the keys off the priest and went there - did the Scheme On video there. That picture, the front cover was like, the standout one. I still wanted the confession box, but when we saw that, me Fliptrix and Leaf agreed to use it. But yeah, shouts to Chris Lucas. He's a genius, he's got an eye for that.”

Overall, Datkid agreed that releasing Confessions Of A Crud Lord has been “massively beneficial. The album's been received better than I ever thought it was going to be received, also High Focus are mad easy to work with. I'm probably the hard one to work with, Leaf did a lot for me as well. So yeah man, it's been massively beneficial to my whole shit.” At that moment Datkid was sat in a studio with Leaf Dog’s younger brother, a producer known as  Illinformed. He says, "Wuddup cuz?" before Datkid revealed they were working on an album together right now. “We've got a lot of things recorded now, we're putting an album together at the moment - I'm working on an album with Skinzmann as well. It's sort of like grime, but a bit different - it's sounding sick. I got a project with Baileys Brown which is different again, it's hip-hop and some sort of grime, sort of stuff. But yeah, I'm working on quite a bit of shit man.”

Our final question for Datkid was a random one - if he could work with any emcee who he hadn’t worked with before, who would it be? “Bro, that’s a hard question.” Datkid continued, “Any rapper that I haven't met yet? 50 Cent man, all day.”

Datkid, thank you for your time.

Words by Evo @ethanevo
Photography by Dom Q @thisandthatmedia