Sheffield born, Plymouth based rap artist Sniff became iconic in UK hip-hop culture following multiple releases alongside Trellion on Bad Taste Records between 2009-2012. Their earliest music struck chords across the country, compact with dumb soundscapes that are bolstered by murky, experimental hip-hop tempos. Renowned projects such as North Luna and their acclaimed Parker Place Sagas 1-3 are often listed as UK classics, putting Sheffield on the map in a region where Bassline rules over the South Yorkshire music scene. Although life has changed significantly since that earlier chapter in Sniff’s life, he recollects those times as a motivation that continues to propel his workrate. “Sometimes when your back's against the wall, you work better,” began Sniff, attempting to detail his mindset a decade ago. “That's all I can say about that time, it propelled us to a new level. Me and Trell realised the work we had to do, to stand out and to fucking get our shit out there.”

Speaking via phonecall, sat comfortably on his sofa. Sniff was open to discussing any details regarding his past and present music accomplishments, for what would become his very first published interview to date. He had a relaxed tone, without a trace of hesitation, making for an open, honest conversation. As such many topics were discussed, revealing exclusive insight into his decade long rap career. However the primary focus was to provide a context for Sniff’s two latest, interlinked projects: 100 Vices & Later Than Never. Both overseen by the same producer, Formz, the answers he gave in his earlier in depth led to this interview taking place in October 2020.  

The earliest recordings of Sniff are featured on Bad Taste Records, being brought in around 2008 by two artists called Trellion and Dullah that spearheaded the label. Based in Sheffield during this time, Sniff met Trellion whilst rapping with his cousin as the A-Street Cartel. “I rapped with my cousin,” confirmed Sniff. “We linked up with Trellion and another guy. We merged our two little crews, that's how I met Morriarchi and Trellion. Trellion and Dullah were setting up the Bad Taste label anyway before I'd even come along. Then obviously, Trellion had that Shadow People project, we were a little clique back then with Figment - big up Figment, that's my guy.” In 2009, Sniff contributed his first Bad Taste features on Trellions debut Dive By Night album, on the two singles Muddy Track & Cardtrix. “What can I say, I was homeless,” laughed Sniff, recalling his circumstances at the time. “I was just free wheeling at that point in my life. It's crazy to think how I was living back then, but what came from that adversity was the music.” At the time, Sniff often stayed at Trellion’s place. “I've never been so on it as I was then,” continued Sniff. “We were living, breathing the music at that point.”

When it came to musical influence, Sniff was a fan of Children Of The Damned and Blah Records. “We were bumping a lot of Children Of The Damned at that point, me and Trellion,” said Sniff. “Blah and Children Of The Damned was the vibe we wanted, that was the shit.” The pair ended up meeting Blah artists Lee Scott, Milkavelli and Salar at a gig in Cardiff, hosted by Squid Ninjaz around 2010. “Yo, that was a crazy night right,” began Sniff. “That was the first time we met Lee and I think Salar, Monster Under The Bed aka Milkavelli now. But check this one - at night, after the show. They went back to some yard to get on some music and stuff, I ended up in some fucking bar with Scammer from Squid Ninjaz. I got stranded in Cardiff, I ended up staying the night rough in Cardiff. The funny shit, I didn't even get to meet them guys that night. But I know my cousin, Trellion and Morriarchi went back to a yard, they ended up making music with them guys. But I fucked it up, flopped it and missed it all.”  

Over the following years, Sniff and Trellion received viral recognition off a succession of releases between 2010-2012. These include Die Squirrel Die, their Parker Place Sagas 1-3 and North Luna. Afterwards, Sniff and Trellion took a hiatus from releasing music and without parting ways, the pair went in separate directions for a time. Whilst Sniff stayed in Sheffield, Trellion commuted to and from London to pursue the creation of a collective called Cult Mountain, featuring Blah emcees Lee Scott, Milkavelli and producer Sumgii. A momentous single called Puta lifted from Lee Scott’s Tin Foil Fronts (2014) album features the first collaboration between Lee, Sniff, Milkavelli and Trellion - and was later remixed by Sumgii. Following this, Sniff was asked to contribute a feature to the Cult Mountain self-titled debut. “Trellion went to London and started making the Cult Mountain stuff,” explained Sniff, revealing how he became involved in the Cult Mountain EP. “We were still talking, we'd link up here and there. Then he said Cult Mountain wanted me on one of their tracks, so I jumped on the Ay track. They took it to a fucking new level with that shit, so I was proud of them man for doing it, it was some sick shit.” 

“You know when you're somewhere for so long, you get bad habits?” began Sniff, revealing why he left Sheffield in 2016. “I'd got into a lot of bad habits, I went through some positive stuff with the music and I just wanted to get out of Sheffield really. Between Sheffield, there's not much stuff for what me and Trellion were trying to do.” Sniff decided to stay in London after meeting artists from Blah Records at the final Boom Bap Festival, staying with artists who were returning to London afterwards. “Danny Lover was there,” added Sniff, “He'd been booked to play. I recorded the first song off my fucking album, which is crazy, with Danny Lover. You'll see that video - that was directly after Boom Bap, that was the first track on the Later Than Never album that stood the test of time. It was six months to a year after that, then I went down to actually meet Keith (Formz) in London.” 

Formz is a renowned West London producer, the founder of Shadow Player Records and a contributor for collectives such as London Zoo, Cult Mountain & more. In our exclusive in depth with Formz earlier this year, he revealed details about the time Sniff stayed with him. “It was when he made Lyza Janes's EP - Baby Blue Champion,” said Formz. Lyza Jane is an independent vocalist currently affiliated with Blah, however she has known Formz since around 2015, after meeting whilst recording with Alabama 3. Despite not knowing Lyza long-term, she and Sniff had a mutual music respect and were keen to work with one another, after meeting at Boom Bap Festival 2016. “You know like I said, I was starved of influence in Sheffield,” explained Sniff. “So when I got to London, I had a bunch of people saying we should get on some shit - Lyza was one of them people. The first time I met Lyza was at Boom Bap, when we met up with Danny Lover - in fact, she kind of held the camera for some of the Song Of The Year video actually.” So whilst Sniff was in London, Lyza’s was one of the places Sniff would stay as well as Formz’s. Despite Baby Blue Champion being released in 2018, the acclaimed album had an eventual vinyl release earlier this year for a celebratory reason. “On Spotify, it's had over a million hits,” revealed Sniff. “So I think to celebrate that, we re-released it and put it on vinyl - just because of popular demand, really.” 

Another artist who put Sniff up was Jack Chard, a classically trained multi-instrumentalist. During this time, both Sniff and Jack Chard were working with Lee Scott to create some unique music. Merging into a collective called Nobodies Home, the trio released their collaborative debut album, ADHD Concerto 77 in July 2018. “A lot of my production before that was sample based stuff,” said Sniff, recalling the creation process. “So it was nice to meet Jack, I didn't have to worry about clearing a sample. Me and Lee would fuck with a drum break, we'd get Jack to play and then say, 'we like that part, loop that part.' So it was a new way of production for me, more hands on than just looping a sample.” The ADHD Concerto 77 project features two weighty musical compositions, each surpassing 10 minutes in duration. “It was just a madness, we just wanted to do something no-one had done,” explained Sniff. “We wanted to do a big, long project. It was kind of like, you know when me and Trellion did the sagas? So that was kind of the inspiration, we just kind of flowed with it. And obviously, Lee Scott is the guy man - he's got the hooks, he came up with a lot of the hooks and stuff on there.” Along the process of making this album, lessons were learnt that benefited each artist individually. “We were learning off Jack, the keys,” continued Sniff. “He was learning off us on the beats side of things, now Jack Chard is making sick hip-hop beats himself now since that project. So I think we all kind of helped each other out in different ways, if you know what I mean.”

The next project which Sniff released was SUPERGANG, a collaboration featuring Lee Scott, Milkavelli and Sumgii. A natural process, the idea sparked off a joke phrase, ‘Super Gang!’ which stuck. “See, I was so busy, this is what I craved,” sighed Sniff. “From being so static in Sheffield where I only had Trellion to do music with, to having people where everyone wants to get creative… Yeah, so Milk's was another one of the places that I was staying in my little bubble in London. It started as a joke, literally. We were just saying 'Super Gang!' and it just materialised into some real shit.” Sumgii handles production for the entire EP, impressing Sniff with the way he recorded synths. “He does some mad shit,” exclaimed Sniff. “He assigns his guitar to like, synth sounds. So he was kind of playing the keys, like playing a keyboard you know, with the synth. But he was doing it with a guitar - I was like, 'what? That's crazy.' For me, he's the number one producer right now.” The 6 track EP, featuring an additional bonus single called BUBBLEWRAP, was recorded in one session at Sumgii’s. Released May 31st 2019, the project received an incredible reception from the fans. “We had good feedback, yeah,” continued Sniff. “But then obviously you get people saying 'is this the new Devil Gang? Where's Trellion?' or, 'Is Trellion not doing it now and Sniff's replacing him?' It's like, nah... It was a very loose project. It just is what it is, that project. But I am going to London soon to stay with Milk, so there will be more.”

In amongst the release of those pre-mentioned projects, Sniff also made history by cementing himself as a Cult Of The Damned member, contributing a verse to the viral single Civilised from their second album, Part Deux. “You know what,” Sniff paused, reminiscently. “The Part Deux single, me and Trellion are in that video - we're in the fucking background in that video. I'm sure I had a verse on that, but for some reason it got took off. I can't remember what reason there was, but I'm sure both of us had a verse on that.” Civilised was one of a few videos released to promote the Part Deux album, which over time has amassed over 1.6 million YouTube views to date. “What it was, that video…” began Sniff, recalling how he became involved. “I think Bisk had a verse on it, but Bisk couldn't make the Civilised video. So I'd recorded a verse a long time ago, Lee asked if I wanted to put it on there. I was like, 'yeah, why the fuck not?' That was literally the day before, because Bisk was originally on the last verse of Civilised, but because he couldn't make the video they took his verse off and put my verse on. So a day before Civilised, I wasn't on the song but that kind of cemented my place in Cult Of The Damned.”

During this period Sniff was also working prominently with Formz, who oversaw the production of Sniff’s two latest releases: 100 Vices EP & Later Than Never LP. Released in July 2019, 100 Vices was a 7 track accumulation of singles created whilst Sniff was staying on Formz’s sofa during 2018. The project was released on Formz’s label, Shadow Player Records. “If I'm honest - they're the tracks that didn't make the cut of the album,” confessed Sniff, speaking on 100 Vices. “We just had bare tracks, we were like, 'these are still good tracks,' so we may as well put these tunes out as something else.” This meant that essentially, 100 Vices & Later Than Never are of the same project. Both had been close to ready ever since 2018, however Later Than Never took until October 2020 for its release on Blah Records. “I can't even tell you why it's taken that long,” shrugged Sniff. “It's been kind of frustrating for me, really.” Originally the album had a different title: ‘607 to White City.’ “It was good at first,” explained Sniff. “But then we were like 'nah, we can't roll with that. I can't name my album after a bus journey in London.’ Then obviously it's taken a while, so we just thought 'Later Than Never? Fuck it, that's perfect.'” 

Later Than Never is a 14 track album, detailing Sniff’s thoughts and experiences whilst staying between places in London during 2018. In his own words, “it's just spontaneous and I think you get the theme of how I was living at that point.” Turbulent times, the album rawly reflects Sniffs circumstances with a variation or relatable themes and riveting instrumentals. After the introductory, sample-based single End Of Story eases the listener in, Sniff comes through on Cold Sweats, a dark yet melancholic track. ”You know what,” began Sniff, providing insight into Cold Sweats. “That tune's crazy because at that time, I was having cold sweats. I had real bad back pain. At the time I got mad ill in London, I was waking up literally in sweats. So there's a realness to that story as well, it's mad.” Like much of the album, Cold Sweats provides clues that reveal Sniff’s journey to ending up where he was. It is followed by Dust, the first single which contains features, by CW Jones and Taurean Antoine Chager. “Taurean is actually the saxophone player from Rudimental, believe it or not, it's a mad collab,” said Sniff. “Keith hooked that up, I don't know whether they had worked on stuff before, but that's how I met Taurean - big up Taurean. We ended up doing numerous other things as well, he's a cool guy.” Taurean has been collaborating with Keith, aka Formz since they were introduced by Aynzli Jones, a renowned bluegrass artist around six years ago. The first project Formz used Taurean to contribute to was Lyza Jane’s Nobody But You EP which released 2017. 

“Like we were saying,” continued Sniff, when asked to describe the following single, 607 to White City. “We'd made a bunch of tracks, then we were actually sat on the 607 to White City, we were literally sat on that bus and I was like yeah, let's call it that - which seemed a good idea at the time.” In this track, Sniff almost seemed to be having a conversation directly to the listener, however he is actually conversing with himself. “I'm glad you said that because a lot of the album is like that,” agreed Sniff. “I'm talking to myself, if you know what I mean. The track, Speaking To Ghosts as well... rest in peace Lil Peep.” Sniff paused, solemnly. He then revealed that he wrote the Speaking To Ghosts single the day after Lil Peep passed away on November 15th, 2017. Lil Peep was a rising American music artist who knew Sniff personally through Milkavelli, a close friend to Lil Peep. Prior to this interview in early 2019, I had interviewed Blah Records producer Reklews at his Liverpool studio. During my visit, Reklews allowed me to listen to an unreleased single that features Lil Peep, Milkavelli and Sniff which was recorded before Peep’s untimely passing. “Bro, thank you,” exclaimed Sniff. “Do you know how many people I've said ‘yo, I'm on a track with Lil Peep’ to? And they're like, ‘fuck off!’ It's crazy, I don't think that will ever be released. I met him a couple times at Milk's yard, I also spoke a couple times when he was talking to Milk on Skype because he always used to call up. Them two were tight, it's really sad.” 

The following single is Song Of The Year, featuring Danny Lover and Lee Scott. Written and recorded spontaneously after the trio returned to London after Boom Bap festival, it was also the earliest single written for this project that stood the test of time. “If you'd have said to me then that it would be out two years later,” laughed Sniff. “I would say that kind of defeats the object of the song. But then again fuck it, it's cool - that represented a time when I first met Danny Lover, it just got boxed off really quick.” His third collaborative highlight was making the Loony Tunes single, which also features Lee Scott as well as Jehst and Stinkin Slumrok. “When I came to London the first time and we got the majority of the album done,” began Sniff, recalling how the artists became involved. “I think that was one of the tracks where I'd just done a verse and Keith was like, 'I can ask Jehst if he'd get on this?' His verse on that was on point, obviously there's references to North Luna on there. It was like listening to some old school Jehst. Slummy came through I think the day after, then he put his verse down. I think Lee was not long after that as well, so that was sick. I was well happy with that.” 

The last lyrical collaboration featured on Later Than Never is 4 Words 4 U alongside Milkavelli, an artist who Sniff has particular musical chemistry with. “Yeah, I like the process of making music with Milk,” said Sniff. “When I was chilling at his, there were a bunch of other things that we did that are just on his computer. He's got people going around there like Elliot aka Ell Boy, he's a producer as well - he produced some of the songs on Cult Mountain. So I used to go around there and jam, me and Elliot would be having little beat battles. It was just creative, lyrics were getting wrote, it was just a good vibe, Milk's a cool guy to work with.”

Another project which Sniff created whilst staying in London was made with legendary Mud Fam emcee Mongo, alongside Formz who produced the project, ‘Ogre Flame’. The album was created over the course of six Wednesday’s, the days which the trio arranged to meet and record at Formz’s studio. “It must have been Keith that showed him some of my stuff,” mused Sniff. “Mongo DM'd me on Facebook saying we should work. I was like, 'what?' I was listening to Louis Slippers mixtape when I was like, 17/18 years old with Mongo tracks on it. So yeah, that became another weekly session thing - it was Wednesdays.” During our in depth interview with Formz, he revealed how Sniff had an unconventional yet productive writing style. For an insight into Mongo’s writing style, Sniff explained how Mongo spends more time being creative whilst driving his car. “He's always driving around London,” continued Sniff. “Obviously, he's got a PC/laptop and a mic set up in his car. So the guy just drives around listening to instrumentals, freestyling. That's an insight into Mongo's writing styles, he's very quick. ‘Ogre Flame’ is done, but we just need to shoot a couple videos for that really.” 

There is one more album which Sniff was involved with in 2018 that is currently Sniff’s next release, Cult Of The Damned’s third project, second album; ‘The Church Of’. Back when Sniff was staying at Jack Chard’s, they started producing this album with Lee as the Nobodies Home trio. “But it's changed so much since then,” revealed Sniff. “I think Lee's added bits, changed beats and produced little bits himself as well from it.” During this time, there was a week where every Cult member came through to record their verses. “One day we'd have like, Barebase and Tony Broke there doing their bits,” reminisced Sniff. “Then they would go back, then we would get Sly Moon there, Bill Shakes... So every day for like a week, we had every Cult member come through and do their verse - it was testament to how quick a big crew like that can put something together.”  Although it was difficult to gain exclusive insights, Sniff revealed that he personally contributes to the album lyrically as well as on production. “I just found out when it’s coming out,” added Sniff. “March 1st, 2021.” 

"Whilst I've been in Plymouth," continued Sniff, revealing details about his latest collaboration with a UK rap collective called Slum Government. "I've been working with these guys doing the Slum Government stuff - Wyattearp, Teno, Mal and Skintman. Wyattearp, he lives in Plymouth. So I've pretty much got 10-15 tracks with George [Wyattearp] and I think Teno and Mal are going to jump on. So big up all them man as well.”

Sniff, thank you for your time. Any final shout outs?

“I want to big up anyone that bought the album and anyone that's followed me from day dot, everyone that's supported this. Obviously, I want to big up every member of Cult Of The Damned - gang, gang. Blah Records, gang. Everyone who contributed to the album, I want to big up Jehst. I want to big up Formz first and foremost as well, for putting up with my shit while I were living on his sofa. His daughter, C. Shout out Skintman - Slum Government.”

“Rest in peace, Filth Mitchell.”

Words by Evo