Drifter’s journey started back in 2006 as part of south London grime crew, Grimey Cadets, which established his underground buzz. That was then. Now he is back and on a one-man mission as a solo artist, cementing himself within the scene by appearing on various Rinse FM sets alongside the likes of Boy Better Know, OG’z, Merky Ace, Kozzie and Maxsta as well as featuring on Grime veteran, P Money’s, Money Over Everyone mixtape. SuchATune got a chance to chat to him about his debut mixtape ‘Catch My Drift’ ….
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For those who don’t know about Drifter, give us a brief insight into your story up to where you are today.
When I was younger, from the age of 16 to 18 I was playing professional football for Barnet, once I got released from Barnet I was just out there doing the naughty things young teenagers do. I started making music at that time but what really opened my eyes was my friend passing away. Just before he died we spoke to each other and said we needed to take music more seriously. So what I’ve achieved so far is dedicated to him.
If we had to put your sound in a box, how would you describe it?
You couldn’t put it in a box. It’s a mixture of a couple of things. I wouldn’t say it’s out and out grime, I’d say it’s urban.
How much did it mean to have Bars & Flows premiered by Logan Sama on Kiss FM? And get the mixtape exclusive to SBTV? That’s two massive names!
It meant a lot for both of them, I mean SBTV co-signing it and Logan Sama, that’s major. But I can’t reveal the secrets of how it all went down *laughs*
Where did the inspiration come from to film the video for Only If You Knew Featuring P Money in Camden?
It was all Verena’s work from Kids Of Grime, she let her imagination run with her and she came up with a great video. It was the events of the day that took place that made the video special, with a sick line up; Mic Righteous, Roxxxan, Scorcher, Yasmin and obviously my friend P Money came to help me out.
What was it like getting Dot Rotten on the production on Bars & Flows?
I grew up with Dot, I knew him before I knew P Money, so it was sick getting him involved on the production side because we’ve been friends for years.
What’s the story behind my personal favourite track which is “Feel You” featuring Larissa and Lil Dee?
That’s what happens sometimes when you get into that zone *laughs*. At first it wasn’t even Larissa singing on the track, I had a little singing cameo myself basically talking about an experience that happened. But then I thought who better to reach out to than Little D to talk about girls? I saw him on his 21st Century song and he went HAM about a girl, so I linked up with him and with another engineer who put me in touch with Larissa. She’s a sick singer, she’s been touring, doing her thing, so that’s how everything kicked off.
What’s the next step for you after “Catch My Drift”?
I’ve been writing a masterplan to see what to do next. There’s a few things I want to do, but nothing’s concrete yet. I know what direction I’m going in, but I don’t know whether to do another mixtape of an EP. There’s music stacked up, so some new music will be coming soon.
What state do you see the UK music scene being in right now and where do you think it will go from there?
It’s very healthy, but it’s done a 180°. All the people who were big on the underground scene 3 or 4 years ago, are big on the mainstream now. If you look at Logan Sama a couple of years back, he was on Rinse FM with Boy Better Know and even Skepta, have all crossed over to the other side. Look at Dot, he wasn’t out there getting number 8’s in the chart, so it’s given space for artists like Kozzie, Merky and me to follow their footsteps, but in our own different ways.
Where do you see you and your music being in 5 years time?
Global!
Any shoutouts?
I don’t wanna miss anyone, so big up everyone and R.I.P Change, because without him, I don’t think I’d be doing music right now.
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