Wordplay Magazine had the pleasure of spending a morning with critically acclaimed actor, comedian, screenwriter and songwriter Ben Bailey Smith, aka Doc Brown, a torchbearer for UK Rap.

Doc comes fresh from releasing his highly-anticipated project Do More, Say Less in collaboration with producer Tony Bones. The project has enabled Doc to assert his stature and persona as one of the UK’s bonafide underground icons with the kind of effortless style and authority that has made him such a celebrated figure in the UK landscape.

Continuing to set the benchmark of what’s possible across the creative arts, having first burst onto the scene in 2005 with his infamous Friday Night Live events at the Deal Real Records store on the Carnaby Street of the early 2000s - and subsequent involvement in Mark Ronson’s live collective alongside the likes of Amy Winehouse, Santigold and Lily Allen - Doc returns to his first love and calling with a slew of brand-new releases and this electric new body of work.

Growing up surrounded by music, Doc’s artform morphed from the underground into the Grime and Road Rap scenes of the early 2000s. Through the underground battle, mixtape and open mic scene, Doc was unwittingly honing skills that he would transfer to Stand Up Comedy in 2008. Stand Up led to acting, with Doc starring in over 60 TV shows and Movies including Star Wars: Andor, The Split, Cinderella, Boiling Point, The Sixth Commandment and the forthcoming series of Black Mirror set to release in 2025. On many productions Doc Brown either performed or composed song lyrics, subsequently creating a business making music for TV and Film, forming his company Bust-A-Gut Productions in 2011.

In 2015 Doc met Razorlight’s Andy Burrows whilst writing with Ricky Gervais on the movie David Brent: Life on the Road; helping write various songs for the soundtrack leading to collaborations between the pair ever since, releasing their first official collaboration “Light Your Way” in 2021. The following year, they composed a bespoke piece for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee which Doc performed at Buckingham Palace.

With critical tastemaker attention already coming from the likes of THE GUARDIAN, THE TIMES and BBC, the North West London native is set to garner a huge amount of attention with this first body of work since 2017’s widely acclaimed Stemma album, which included hugely powerful singles “Corruptible” and “Lights Out” — arguably Doc’s most popular and important tracks so far.

Paying his tribute to a cross-cultural scene that helped shape his worldview and musical mindset, Do More, Say Less' sense quality, its natural instinct to collaborate and to create are key – they are also the characteristics that have furnished Doc Brown’s own rise into the upper echelons of UK musical influence, and a small part of its history forever.

1. So tell me how did it all begin, what sparked your passion for music?

Our parents had a Yamaha HiFi system in our living room when we were kids – one of those old, stacked ones from the 80’s. It had wooden sides and a glass door, a turntable on top, graphic equaliser beneath, double tape deck under that, then at the bottom it had space for vinyl. It was like this mystery machine that me and my sister would play with when our parents were out. And they had great taste in music: Jazz, Reggae, Soul, even folk and early rock and roll. We were fascinated by the technology of vinyl and would make our own radio shows using the double tape deck. When we started getting £1 a week pocket money, we immediately went to this little record shop on Willesden High Road in North West London where you could get 7 inchs for 99p and cassette singles for 69p so that was our obsession. One time my sister bought a record by Queen Latifah called Mama Gave Birth to the Soul Children which featured some rappers called De Las Soul and we were hooked from there. I started writing my own rhymes as a teenager in the late 90s and started battling rappers around 2000.

2. How would you describe your sound?

It’s kind of jazz infused rap basically. Melodic and celebratory. It’s definitely inspired by the rap I grew up on but using very modern production techniques to give it more of a timeless feel.

3. Who/what do you consider to be the biggest influence on your music?

The 1990s. Bear in mind I was 16 right in the middle of that decade and music was just incredible, right at the time I was sort of discovering who I was. The alternative rap music and alternative indie music of that era was so good that it had become mainstream. You think about Nas with Illmatic, Wu Tang, indie bands like Pulp – these were complex, essentially underground artists getting major label deals and chart hits. It was such a creative time for music and I experienced it first-hand. I saw artists perform in their prime in 94,95,96: Oasis, The Pharcyde, the Roots, Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Blur, Pulp, Wu Tang, Jay-Z, Radiohead. I broke into Glastonbury with my mates aged 14/15 – it was an inspirational time all round.

4. What’s the proudest moment to date for you as an artist?

I rapped on Pall Mall in front of Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee right before she died. I’m not a royalist but the sense of recognition was incredible. I also rapped at the Hollywood BAFTAs in 2016 in Beverly Hills for Samuel L Jackson, Tom Hanks, Jodie Foster, Jennifer Lawrence and more. Jake Gyllenhaal told me my bars were dope. Definietely a high point lol.

5. Name three things you can’t live without?

My family, my friends and the M&S mixed nut selection. That shit is like crack.

6. Name 3 people you would love to work with and why?

Would love to do a track with Ghetts mainly because he’s my favourite rapper and the challenge of having to try to be as good as him on a song would be the ultimate test of my intelligence. Writing jokes with Sean Lock (RIP) would’ve been amazing because he was just the funniest, most economic gag writer I ever performed alongside. Lastly, to be directed by Steven Spielberg – just to have the chance to witness how he tells his stories – that would be an all time dream.

7. You’ve just released “Do more say less” talk us through your new work and what we should expect in the future?

It’s a celebration that I’m still here basically. I didn’t wanna make anything that was too moody or downbeat because I felt that being in showbusiness for 16 years is actually an incredible feat and something worth celebrating. And I wanted the whole thing to have a consistent sound and concept so I worked with the same producer and musicians throughout, which is why it’s actually credited as an album by me and Tony Bones the Producer – it was a very collaborative project.

8. What’s the album you’ve played more than any other?

Over the course of my whole life it’s probably It’s a Shame About Ray by the Lemonheads. I bought it on a whim as a little kid when it came out in 1993 and I’m still playing it 30 years later and I’m still not even close to bored of it. Right now it’s a toss up between Doechii’s and Bashy’s new albums. Both masterpieces in very different ways. 

9. Do you have any advice for our readers who may be trying to play the mad game of music?

Just get out there and test yourself. There are open mics everywhere and a myriad of social platforms so there’s no excuse for not performing! If you consider yourself a perform, get out there and perform, don’t wait for some magic moment or golden handshake from some gatekeeper, just build from the bottom, starting with your friends, family and local community and grow from there.

Pictures & Interview: Silvia Fox