Novelist interview: 'I must speak the truth, I'll die for it'

Talking up: MC and producer Novelist
Daniel Hambury/@stellapicsltd

Leaning back in a booth amid the burble of Five Guys in Westfield Stratford, grime star Novelist is calmly telling me about the benefits that come from having a manager who also happens to be your mum.

“She only started managing me like a year ago but it’s the best thing I’ve done in my career,” says the 21-year-old musician with a smile and, notably, no embarrassing tales of having his face cleaned with a licked thumb in front of record-industry bigwigs. “I know my mum’s integrity levels and I’m very open and honest with her. She’s been managing me since I was born, so why wouldn’t she take over the music side as well?”

In truth, it’s not wholly surprising that Novelist — born Kojo Kankam and dressed cosily in a grey hoodie and joggers when we meet — would make an outwardly unconventional decision about his career. Since he burst onto the underground scene four years ago as a teenage producer and MC, this talented Lewisham native has carved a path of his own as grime’s politically engaged, preternaturally wise conscience. He has spoken out against violence, lent his support to Jeremy Corbyn, become a wholesomely positive presence on social media (sample tweet: “Have a wonderful day and make sure you treat yourself to something you don’t normally do”) and, in April, he released Novelist Guy, a long-awaited debut album that doubled down on his thoughtful, uncommonly sunny personal manifesto.

Entirely self-produced, expletive-free and lacking any credited guest artists, it was a record that, as he acknowledges today, found him “swimming against the tide”. But it paid off, with rave reviews rightly noting that its formally inventive beats, urgent rhyming and steely thematic focus comfortably put it in the same tracksuited league as grime classics such as Dizzee Rascal’s Boy in da Corner and Skepta’s Konnichiwa. This Saturday sees a victory lap of sorts as he plays Gunnersbury Park’s Lovebox (“I’ve got a whole hour set so I really get to go in and give people their money’s worth,” he says) and, unsurprisingly, he has no regrets about putting out an album that swaps all the usual club-ready signifiers (girls, money, more girls) for something more challenging, more vital.

“This [music] is food for the soul,” he says, after a thoughtful slurp on his Fanta. “I’m not one of those people who doesn’t know better so I’m obliged to give the knowledge that I have and speak the truth. I’ll die for the truth.”

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The issue of death and supposed truth in music is a timely one. Last week a Radio 4 documentary (presented by former rapper Simeon Moore) became the latest vessel for an exploration of the link between London’s ongoing youth violence and menacing rap sub-genre drill. In the past, Novelist has described drill as “murder music” and his new song, Stop Killing the Mandem — which takes its name from a spray-painted sign Novelist famously held at a London Black Lives Matter protest in 2016 — is an unambiguous call for a stop to senseless killings of all kinds. Did he feel it was important, with the continued public debate, to address the issue on record?

“These are things I talk about in conversation anyway, so I didn’t feel any obligation because the media is interested,” he says. “I’ve lost many of my friends, I’ve been stabbed, I’ve been through different things… So I thought, let me talk to the youts. Let me subconsciously change their mentality. Because it doesn’t matter what accolades I get, if I ain’t impacting the youts in a righteous way.” That stabbing came when he was 13 and had just emerged from church not far from his current home near Brockley and, though he says he never carried a knife, he acknowledges that it gave him a unique understanding of the psyche driving territorial attacks.

“Some of these dudes ain’t ever experienced love,” he says. “It’s been animosity in their homes and their friends getting killed as long as they’ve been living. When my first [friend] got killed that broke my heart.” He fiddles with his straw, pauses. “And after I got stabbed my mentality became violent. I always wanted to fight because I wanted to protect [myself]. But because I was raised in an environment of love, that saved me.” As well as his tight-knit family (he is the second-eldest of his Antiguan mother and Ghanaian father’s four kids and he has a half-sister who lives in Ghana), Christian faith and music and a lifelong interest in politics can probably be partially credited with keeping Novelist on a positive path. In 2012 he became deputy young mayor of Lewisham and, having joined in 2016, he still “donates to the cause” of the Labour Party.

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He describes Corbyn as a man who “understands basic morals” but doesn’t rule out ending his membership if the Labour leader ever leaves his position. “I ain’t on picking sides,” he admits. Novelist won’t be at this Friday’s demonstrations protesting at Donald Trump’s UK visit (“Nah, man, I would talk to him. Go and educate him,” he says) but he reasons that Kanye West — who he joined onstage at the 2015 Brit Awards — may have, with his outlandish statements and fervent Trump-backing, recently shown how not to engage with politics as a musician. “Kanye’s approach with the things he’s had to say is a bit radical,” he adds. “They’re not always based in knowledge and love.”

Knowledge and Love might not be a bad name for the second record that Novelist is already at work on. “Once you complete the first one you’re like, ‘Oh, I know what to do now,’” he says. So presumably, this will be the record where he expands his scope and, perhaps, lobbies for guest verses from acquaintances such as Skepta, Kanye and Drake. Maybe not. “I don’t really affiliate with anyone,” he says. “I’ve turned down things that people brag about. So if you ain’t got nothing to add then I ain’t taking.” He breaks out that grin again. “I ain’t doing this for money, I ain’t chasing accolades. I just focus on the art now.”

Novelist’s album, Novelist Guy, is out now. He plays Lovebox on Saturday (loveboxfestival.com)

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