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How the Home Counties took over UK rap

  • The Huck Long Read
  • Music
  • Fred Garratt-Stanley
  • 9 min read

Queen Millz: “Getting kicked out of school changed my life”

What Made Me — In this series, we ask artists and rebels about the forces and experiences that shaped who they are. Today, it’s leading Leicester wordsmith Queen Millz.

  • Music
  • Queen Millz

Joe James: “I will never be absent in my children’s lives because I know it doesn’t feel nice”

Hard Feelings — As the silky MC prepares to release his debut album ‘The Ends Never Ends’, he joins our column on fatherhood and masculinity to discuss leaving his childhood home at 16, the manosphere and his risk-embracing approach to life.

  • Music
  • Robert Kazandjian

Kibo’s compendium of Kwengletarianism

Kwengletaria:Ragamyff — As UK rap’s latest prodigious MC announces his most ambitious project to date, Rob Kazandjian spends time with Kibo in a north London pub to chat about his rise, as well as the inspirations and ideologies underpinning his music.

  • Music
  • Robert Kazandjian

Why is the Met Police using EsDeeKid for ‘copaganda’?

Slop Enforcement — Among the AI slop and ragebait of late-stage social media, newsletter columnist Emma Garland has noticed a jarring trend – London’s police force appropriating criminalised subcultures for engagement purposes.

  • Culture
  • Emma Garland

DJ AG has redefined DJing. Festivals are next.

From small streams, mighty rivers flow — The London streamer has democratised an art traditionally hidden away in clubs and basements with his easy-to-access, spontaneous, open platform street performances. With AG Fest lined up for the summer, Oliver Keens speaks to him about staying humble, the importance of community, and his dream to open a care home.

  • Huck 83: Life Is A Journey Issue
  • Oliver Keens

Wu-Tang Clan forever, and ever

The Final Chamber — RZA, the spiritual leader of one of the most important hip hop groups of all time explains why they won’t rest until their legacy is secured.

  • Huck 83: Life Is A Journey Issue
  • Yoh Phillips
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POZER: “Music was like an anchor”

What Made Me — In this series, we ask artists and rebels about the forces and experiences that shaped who they are. Today, it’s UK Jersey-drill purveyor POZER.

  • Music
  • POZER
Black and white image of man in leather jacket and cap against concrete wall. Red and blue text reading "HARD FEELINGS" in bottom right.

Scorcher: “There was anger towards the establishment”

Hard Feelings — The grime originator joins our column on masculinity and fatherhood to catch up with his old school friend Rob Kazandjian. He talks about his relationship with his dad, raising his own children, and what he learnt from his time in prison.

  • Music
  • Robert Kazandjian
Person in hooded jacket holding microphone in dimly lit room with purple and blue lighting, industrial ceiling visible above.

How teaching in prisons and a new mixtape is inspiring UK rap innovator Jords

Inside tracks — Two years since releasing his sophomore album Dirt In the Diamond on the legendary Motown Records, the South London MC returns with Mixtape J – a bold, independent, 10-track statement. We caught up with him to talk about the new project, his creative process and running writing workshops in UK prisons.

  • Huck 82: The Music Issue
  • Niall Smith
Asian man with moustache sitting in wooden chair against black background, wearing white waistcoat and shorts, tattoos on legs.

“An Asian rapper? It feels like an impossible reality”: Jianbo on doing it for the family

East x South East — As the pandemic drove a wave of ESEA xenophobia, Jianbo realised that he couldn’t pretend to be anything other than himself. Zing Tsjeng sits down with the South London MC – vanguard of a burgeoning creative movement.

  • Huck 82: The Music Issue
  • Zing Tsjeng
Group of young people dancing at nightclub with raised arms, purple and blue lighting, crowded dance floor.

Tension and togetherness at a rare Syrian hip-hop open mic night

Latakia levels — After half a century under a bloody dictatorship, Syria has endured massacres on an unprecedented scale in recent times, fuelled by sectarian conflict. In the port city of Latakia, Haydar Daoud and his friends spend their days making rap music, an art form mostly misunderstood by Syrians, yet an essential therapy for disenchanted youth.

  • Huck 82: The Music Issue
  • Aubin Eymard

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