You're an anarchist.



Yeah, because it's bullshit! Everything we live by and everything we follow is constantly pushing you down and putting you in your place — the sunken place. You can't do nothing. It's all to kill your inner child. You have this little voice in you that runs around, we've all got it. And from the moment you're born, it's stamped out. You go to school — stamped out. Follow this, listen to the bell, do this, you have break at this time, follow this, all schedule and routine. You do it your whole life until the day you die. How does that benefit anybody? No one really wants to live like that.

Do you have to work to keep that alive?



Yeah, even myself, as much as I say these things, I fall victim to it. Like I wanna get a house!

Do you think Albert Einstein was ever that serious where he was just stressing and hating? When he was figuring stuff out, he was having a laugh! I have moments where I'm not in touch with it and I'm all depressive and shit, like I hate life. But then I get hyped. The key example is Damon Albarn, I’ve seen him working. You can be talking to him, he don't care: play this, try this, some mad shit. And then out of it, something good comes. Any time I'm doing that and I'm fully free and following what's in here, just letting that be paramount and take control, I'm just having the best time of my life. I make the best music. For a moment I'm thinking about how I'm meant to be perceived and what I've gotta do, and I think like a grown-up — I never have any fun! It's all shit; it's all jarring and I don't like listening to it.

You've got collaborations with Skepta and Slaves on this on this record. How does that mentality play out when you’re working with others?



Slaves are the same, man. They're just playful. It's like jumping in the ballpit and you meet another kid, and you end up running around. If you don't have that with the people you work with, you shouldn't work with them. I was in a shit place in my life, and now I can make music and sit in a studio where I always dreamed of being. What the fuck have I got to be sad about? Why am I gonna be negative? I'm gonna abuse everything in this place and have as much fun as I can.

I learned on building sites — in the morning you leave the house at 5 a.m., and in the van we'd be banging tunes, having a laugh, playing around on the site, flicking cement or putting it down the back of someone's trousers and shit. Being little twats. Because that's what's fun; that's what makes you have a good time. Life shouldn't be something that's draining and long. If you've got such a short time here, why should you spend most of it depressed?

Even Skep, he's very like that. He's very in touch with like, whoah, looking at everything like it's something brand new. With him, he's just one of them people who's always looking for what's fresh, what's new, what's going on. Growing up listening to him, then to have someone like that giving me advice, teaching me things, giving me props on what I'm doing and saying — it's the biggest blessing.

You’re testing out new music already. What’s different now?



I'm definitely staying away from politics. With that sound that I've got now, I've hit the ceiling of that. The next project I want to do, I just want it to be all gas. Hype shit. Bangers. I've given you this introspective thing, a look into my life. Now I just want to party. I want to go out and get fucked up again. I think I'm gonna do three projects next year, followed by another album. But the next album, I want it to be more alternative. So all the heaters and the slappers and shit, they'll be on these mixtapes. It's not gonna be as deep, but it's still gonna be about everyday life. I can't move away from that. It's gotta be fucking real.

That's what else. After this album run, I'm gonna spend some time just figuring out where I'm at.

Go back to Northampton?



Yeah, go back to Northampton. And I wanna go Palestine. I wanna go try to do something, try to help. I got money now, so I can go and see what needs doing. I'm just trying to grow, man.