How did you first get into making music?

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When I was a kid my mum taught Indian classical music. She had instruments around the house that she used to play; all of her harmoniums and tablas and stuff like that. We created our own entertainment at home. So we used to play a karaoke game and watch Bollywood films, my mum loved them.

Did you have any specific favorites when you were growing up?

One of my favorite Bollywood films is Donga, where an Indian actor imitates Michael Jackson. Bollywood's known for a lot of imitation of the west. I started dancing from watching that and I always used to watch all Michael Jackson's films.

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When did your parents first come to Britain?

1985. And I was born in 1987. So I was this Asian kid whose parents have just come to the U.K. from civil war in The Punjab. I’ve grown up in this weird way where I'm meant to be in India, really, but I'm in England and I'm discovering music through my ancestors. I’m the first one in my family one open to the west. I was listening to loads of pop music on [U.K. TV show] Top Of The Pops every week, that was standard. I think I was about nine years old, my brother bought a pair of decks and started DJing drum and bass in the house. That's when I started to hear music being played loudly. That and the bhangra music and Bollywood stuff at home. Once I got my own room, I started finding my own music. That’s when the internet came in. Napster and Kazaa. I used to sit there for four hours downloading Blackstreet songs. Whatever the fuck it was.

When did you discover hip-hop and grime?

I grew up in a very diverse area [the London borough of Forest Gate]. My next door neighbors were Jamaican and used to have a sound system. D Double E was starting out when I was younger too. I was just influenced by so many people in my social life. I started studying Dr. Dre after I heard The Chronic and 2001 for the first time. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was enjoying grime but when I heard Dre and I was like ‘How does he make that snare?’ I started asking questions.

And when did you start making beats?

I was 13 or 14 years old and I got Fruity Loops. I would just sit in my room and make beats all day. I was addicted, it was mad. Now that I think about it, it's crazy how little time I spent outside after I got Fruity Loops. That never changed.