What started as a small movement amongst a group of North London mates is now turning into an online phenomenon. Picture it, you’re in North London, Tottenham. A queue of young people waits in line to enter a bright pink corner shop. Heads down, practising their bars; listening to beats, waiting to be given their moment to shine. Welcome to a new take on ‘open mic’ in the age of technology.

'FIRE IN DA SHOP' was started by four members of the Tottenham music community and aims to shine a spotlight on a new generation of young, underground music artists. Their ethos, “We give everyone a chance, we’re for the people'' underlines that promise.

FIRE IN DA SHOP started with the group posting short clips of friends and familiar faces from the area freestyling against the bright backdrop of their local Off Licence on TikTok: and has now accumulated over 61k followers on TikTok alone.

Pushed by a passion for music, giving back to their community and exposing unsigned artists to a wider audience, one of the founders of FIRE IN DA SHOP sat down with WORDPLAY Magazine to discuss their foundations as well as their vision for the future of the project.

1. Your videos have been hugely popular on TikTok and have amassed thousands of views within such a short space of time. Tell me, how did the project start in the very beginning?

It all started when my friend and I walked into our local off-license one day and the shopkeeper decided to record us rapping. We were reluctant (to perform in front of the camera) at first but giving our passion for music we did the freestyle in the end. Just before we started rapping the shopkeeper shouted out 'FIRE IN DA SHOP'! which is how we came up with the idea for the name.

As we left the shop we started speaking about the potential impact this type of content could have on the community if we brought more artists in.

A few days later an artist called 'Pratty' walked into the shop and was asked to do a freestyle by the shopkeeper, his freestyle eventually went viral reaching a million views within 2 days! The shopkeeper immediately reached out to us and told us the news, we then went back and did another freestyle together going back-to-back. Eventually, we went viral which is currently on 250,000 views.

Days later the 3 of us decided to team up and talk about how to turn 'FIRE IN DA SHOP' into a platform.

2. The idea of hosting the series in your local Off License is so imaginative and highlights an aspect of British culture previously unfocused on. How did you manage to pull that off?

We're familiar faces in the community and have close relationships with quite a few of our local off-license shopkeepers.

In terms of pulling it off, our confidence followed by our vision had the most impact in levitating the platform to the next level.

FIRE IN DA SHOP - PRATTY FREESTYLE

3. What was the driving force behind wanting to start FIRE IN DA SHOP in the first place?

Our driving force was the fact nobody else, to our knowledge, had done this before. We felt like we weren't being heard enough as solo artists and also felt like there were a lot of up-and-coming artists that feel the same way as us.

So, we built a platform to cater for other artists in the same position to give them a better chance to be heard by the masses.

4. You mentioned previously that you are passionate about giving back to your community through music. Can you tell WORDPLAY readers more about this?

'FIRE IN DA SHOP' is a platform for up-and-coming artists to showcase their talent. The population of rising talent is increasing immensely with maybe not enough platforms available for them to be heard. So, we felt compelled to create a space for them.

5. How and why do you think FIRE IN DA SHOP has gained so much exposure and popularity?

We think that the popularity of the platform is down to the concept and authenticity of the idea that we came up with. Nobody expects to walk into a corner shop to see people performing to the shopkeeper before or after selling you your items.

6. Do you think there’s a recipe for success to follow when posting videos to social media?

Yes, we believe consistently uploading and promoting good content and creating a solid fan base whilst interacting with followers is a strong recipe.

7. Can anyone come to claim their spot to perform, or is there an audition type selection process to go through before the cameras start rolling?

No, not everyone can come in and claim their spot. Artists who are interested in participating need to get in contact with us via email or social media @officialfireindashop.

8. For young people wanting to progress in any creative field, what is your advice?

Believe in yourself and stay consistent.

9. What has been your most memorable experience whilst being a part of the FIRE IN DA SHOP project?

Our most memorable moment is getting our Tik-Tok account verified with the help of Adam Burchill, Alice Razack and David Mogendorff to whom we owe a lot of gratitude. Also, seeing the growth of our platform, in general, is memorable in itself.

10. What are your plans for the future of FIRE IN DA SHOP?

We have many projects up and coming, so stay tuned, but something we can reveal is that we will soon be starting our YouTube show.

Words: Jessica Holmes