Back To Square One

“Before drill, there was rap, and I’m taking it back there for this project,” Digga D tells Apple Music. “But there’s a double meaning, too. I’m also going back home to Powis \[Square\] in West London, where I’m from.” *Back to Square One*, Digga D’s fourth project and the first full-length release on his own Black Money Records label, finds the Ladbroke Grove MC in a state of flux. “I’m someone’s idol so I’m mindful when I talk,” he raps on the breathtakingly honest, soulful intro “Fighting for My Soul”—reflecting the newfound weight of responsibility he’s carrying. But if he’s worn out by the cycle of violence that has blighted his young life on “Cherish God More,” he hasn’t fully freed himself from it on “Bine on ’Em,” a chilling reworking of the Luniz classic “I Got 5 on It.” *Back to Square One* reveals a changing sonic palette, too: “Fighting for My Soul” begins like a piece of spoken-word poetry before blooming into Auto-Tuned crooning, he leans into trapwave with M Huncho on the boastful “Baby Mums Crib,” while much of the project’s production is couched in road rap—UK drill’s more meditative, slower forebear. For the most part, the choppy flows and supervillain energy that propelled Digga’s previous work is tempered into something slower and wiser. And *Back to Square One* ends as it begins, with maturity, as UK rap’s outlaw prince maps out his purpose. “I don’t wanna just like glorify the high life/I wanna let the younger n\*\*\*\*s know about the pain,” he raps on “West North West.” “A lot has changed for me as I’ve grown up and learned different things,” he says. “And I have more faith now. Not that I never had any before, but I feel like I’m more in tune with myself now, and you can hear it.” Here, Digga D goes *Back to Square One*, one track at a time. **“Fighting for My Soul”** “I must have been in a dark place when I made this track. When I play it now, I think, ‘Why did I say all that?’ It was a weird place, but also a deep one—in touch with myself. This sounds like a diary to me, laying out all of my feelings.” **“Me & Kinz”** “This is a little tale about me and one of my good friends. And it’s just the first part of \[the story\]. There will be more in the future, so I don’t want to ruin any surprises. Stay tuned for that!” **“I’m From…”** “I’m from the best place in the world! When I think of my area, I think of Notting Hill Carnival, playing basketball in the park, or Portobello Road—lots of things, and so many good memories.” **“Soft Life”** “I wrote this song about a special person, who I won’t name. Maybe not all of it, but parts of it they inspired. I’m sure they know who they are, so I’ll keep the rest to myself.” **“Facade” (with Potter Payper)** “This track came together in a way that was kinda staggered. I laid my verse on, then linked up with Potter at a studio in North London for his—that’s where he gassed me to throw on another verse! We just tried to give it that bit extra and it came out really well.” **“Energy”** “I deactivated my Instagram account and stopped posting on Snapchat for maybe two or three months earlier this year. Around that time, I made this track, but also ‘Fighting for My Soul.’ so you can hear that mind state is reflected in the songs I’m making. I’m just looking for peace. We shot this video everywhere—in Barcelona, Paris, and London. I told everyone, ‘Come outside, let’s meet at Piccadilly Circus and turn up.’ And they all came out to meet me!” **“Braids”** “Now, this song *is* specifically about someone. Here’s a clue: she’s got braids in her hair, with a heart on the side!” **“Baby Mums Crib” (with M Huncho)** “Funnily enough, this was Huncho’s song first. He sent this to me, and I thought it was so cold, as soon as I heard it. So I asked for it. That’s not usually how it works, though—but me and Huncho are locked in, obviously, so it depends. I remember AJ Tracey didn’t just allow me to have \[2021 single ‘Bringing It Back’\], we had to break down the splits. It all depends on your dynamic.” **“DTF”** “After putting this out, I’ve realized that a lot of people don’t know what DTF means! Which is cool, if you don’t know, then you just don’t know! I had the song with these lyrics over a different beat. Then I kept playing Nardo \[Wick\] and Lil Baby’s ‘Hot Boy’ that whole week, and I knew we needed to recreate that sound here.” **“Fuck Drill”** “Yeah, eff drill. I still feel like that. And I don’t care about backlash or any of that shit. Who’s going to tell me I can\'t say something if that’s how I feel? I grew up listening to so much different music. Whether it’s my dad with nonstop reggae, or my mom with the slow jams and dancehall. Then you’ve got my cousins with the street music. That’s how I was raised, growing up listening to so much different music, and you can hear it in the music I make right now.” **“Bine on ’Em”** “I really enjoy performing and touring now. So far, the most memorable were at Reading and Leeds \[Festival\] in 2022. Also Rolling Loud in Portugal—that was crazy, too! So I’m looking forward to playing this track later this year. It’s hard.” **“Kindness for Weakness”** “I meet new people every day and always try to take their approach where it’s like, ‘smile, shake hands, keep everything levelheaded’, which opens you to disrespect sometimes. It seems like, in anything I do, there will *always* be one person that will take my kindness for granted. So I just have to remind them, really. This is the announcement: ‘I’m no longer allowing people to take my kindness for weakness.’” **“Burn Bridges”** “I don’t like a weak bridge. Would you cross a bridge with hellfire underneath—and you know that it’s weak? That’s why I say here: ‘Before I beg friend, I’ll burn a bridge for my safety.’” **“Cherish God More”** “There have been a couple of times where I’ve gotten closer to God. Maybe the biggest time was on holiday in Jamaica. I was going to church a little bit more, and I had the words \[‘Cherish God More’\] tattooed on me—as a reminder.” **“West North West”** “The song is about my upbringing and how I came up—mostly around West and Northwest \[London\], obviously. This is me, and my life, so I can’t talk about anyone else! You get me?”