Courtesy.
Formerly known on the schoolyard at “Knuckles,” London born and raised rapper-producer Knucks aged up, dropped two letters, and released his first mixtape at age 21, giving birth to his buzzing rap career. Now, at 25, the deep cutting lyricist has only two goals: bridge the gap between the UK and the U.S. and get rich doing it. A man proud of both his Nigerian linage and UK upbringing, Knucks isn’t here to blend in but stand firm in who he is until the day it’s over.
Solidifying his artistry with a release of a new song and newfound optimism for life, his latest song, “Jubilee” digs into his life’s timeline as he reminisces over past summer days over a nostalgic beat. Giving homage to what was, he steps into the present with big ambitions and even bigger skillsets. His dedication landed him in the position to expand, and there’s not a thing that can hold the young and knowledgeable artist back.
A student of grime and hip-hop, he combines UK rap with U.S. energy to create a sound that is his own. Inspired by greats from both regions, Knucks teases with music videos, fashion and more that attracts the eyes and ears regardless of the accent.
**When do you start doing music?**
When I was 12 we started making on like pure grime songs back in school. From there was like a group, almost like a little, I don't want to say a gang but like a little group of us who used to do music together. I think maybe around when I was 14, that's when stuff started to change and rap was more prevailing than grime, purist grime. So, yeah, I started rapping at like 14, 15.
**What made you decide to like actually take it on as a career?**
I always knew that it was something I was interested in. But at the time I was at university doing a degree in arts and CG. But on my 21st birthday, I just so happened to release a freestyle and the freestyle got me a buzz. It's kind of like, that's what made me do it properly. It's like I just reacted off of the buzz of that song. And I was kind of thrown into it where I was actually planning to give music a try when I finished my degree but putting that out during uni, it just threw me in to do music full-time.
**Did you finish school or you quit once that happened?**
Yeah, no, I had to add to finish it. So African parents, you know.
**What inspires your music?**
Everything, everything around me. I like to put my experiences into my music. Like the things that I watch, I like to put in little references or Easter eggs of things that I might be interested in, an artist that I appreciate. For example, I've got one of my first songs is called the “Big Kahuna Freestyle”. Obviously, because you know it’s like the restaurant franchise that was in Pulp Fiction and a lot of other Quentin Tarantino films and I like Quentin Tarantino films a lot. So just doing little things like that to let people that are interested in my music know a bit about myself and what I'm interested in, I think is the best way to get my message across.
**Describe in one word how would you describe your sound?**
I would say it is smooth, old school reminiscent. I don't know if that counts as like one word, let's just say counts as one word, please. Deep, deep as in there's levels to it.
Courtesy.
**So what was the grime scene like and then when you switched over to hip hop, what was that like being from London?**
The grime scene, grime culture is very it's basically just almost like the UK rendition of hip-hop. It takes things from hip-hop, but then it takes things from genres that were prevailing in the UK before grime came like garage and what's it called, that lo-fi jungle drum and bass, one of those genres. It’s basically writing and spitting to that tempo. There's a lot of repetition and it's a lot to do with flows. Like in early phases or whatnot like Wiley, D Double E, Skepta, Jimmy, and those kinds of artists.
Then, like I said, around the time that when I was 13 and 14 I started to see more interest in UK rap. I think Giggs was the first UK rapper that I really heard about ‘cause when I was 12 I got sent back to Nigeria to do a year in a boarding school. When I left, I was doing grime and everyone was into grime, but then when I've come back, everyone's telling me about this guy called Giggs. So for me, it was like, bruh, what is this new thing that everyone's into? And that's when I started to do my research on it and started to listen to the legends and the Nas’s and Jay Z’s and all of that stuff and started to apply my knowledge. That's what got me into doing rap myself and producing rap beats and all of that stuff.
**Outside of Jay Z and Nas, who are your other influences whether it’s in the UK or in America?**
Biggie, of course, Curren$y. I feel like for Curren$y, I always just like that kind of style of rap where it doesn't have to be ... like you don't have to be that gangster. The smooth and laid back, just the whole persona was something that I gravitated to. I used to listen to a lot of MF DOOM. Feel like I got a lot from MF DOOM in terms of just style and flow. I mean, in the UK, there's a rapper called Youngs Teflon who I was listening to when I was in my late teens who I thought like I got a lot from as well. Wretch 32, Skepta, that's just to name a few.
**What's interesting about the guys you put on your list and then Curren$y, is he has what they call a cult following, he's not even a mainstream star. So I feel like as an artist, that's also really great. He doesn't have to switch out, people really listen to him and love him to just be himself.**
100 percent. That's one of the things that attracted me to Curren$y’s music and to him as just a persona. Like that was how I wanted to be when I was younger and I was listening to his music. I just wanted to be the guy who didn't have to prove themselves to anyone or didn't have to like say, ‘I have this, I got these guns.’ He doesn't have to do any of that but people still love and respect him and appreciate him for just doing him. So that's what I've kind of built my whole persona kind of around.
**Absolutely. So, what does the future look like for you in your eyes?**
Everything! I’m trying to do everything! All the festivals. I'm trying to come to you, I'm trying to make the U.S. my second home. I've got a project coming out soon like it's in the works at the moment. I think the project is going to do a lot of things, especially off the back of the “Home” video that has been doing well recently as well. So yeah, man, it's just to do what I'm doing now, but bigger and better.
**Define success for you?**
Success for me would be to have the respect from the hip-hop community. Also, be in a place where I'm making a lot of money from just from doing music that I make, shows and all of that stuff. And be able to have my brand, my No Days Off Brand, have it where everybody knows about it, like a household name kind of thing. I think that’s success for me.
**Who is Knucks?**
I'm an easygoing 25-year-old rapper-producer. You know I’ve got big ambitions but I feel like my main thing as a rapper is I'm trying to be a bridge artist. Trying to be an artist that there’s no box like you can't put me in a box. I can work with anyone, you know the type of rappers where it doesn't seem like it makes sense.
Also, be that bridge that can allow the U.S. to respect UK rap because I feel like a lot of the UK rappers no disrespect to any of them that have been mentioned in that conversation, but a lot of the ones that get put forward, they're just not respected by the U.S. I don't know what it is. But I think maybe it's just the fact that they feel that we don't have that musical knowledge, that genuine, genuine musical knowledge in the history of hip-hop and stuff like that. So I feel like I've got a lot of that. I've got the ability to spoon-feed them on music and our ways of life and our culture.
