Drip N Drill

“This isn’t something I’m completely new to,” M24 tells Apple Music. “But it’s because of my background and where I\'m from that people don\'t really expect me to come with different sauce. They just expect drill, and this is where I\'ll surprise people, because I can jump on anything. Even on drill I\'m gonna add some of my drip to it.” As Brixton continues to play an instrumental role as a hotbed of rap talent in London, it came as no surprise to see M24 become the latest name to explode from the area’s infamous Angell Town estate with 2019’s “We Don’t Dance.” Setting off a meteoric rise for the MC, the single’s blend of frosty rhymes and deep guttural ad-libs proved an inspired combination. “We didn\'t dance in parties. It would just be us in a corner,” he says. “There weren\'t really any dancers out of us, which was funny to me, so I went with it and the track just took off.” The MC understood, however, that his debut mixtape would only connect if the full scope of his influences were properly reflected. “There\'s recordings of me when I was eight years old, making music in my dad\'s friend\'s studio,” he says. “That\'s what I\'m saying, I\'ve been waiting for this. During lockdown I was in apartments recording literally every day. What else was there to do? I was working so hard on the tape because I wanted it to be hard but at the same time really true to me. I think this is it.” Here he walks us through his first release, track by track. **Intro** “This is an introduction to my story since everything\'s taken off for me. I wanted to shout out my son too because he\'s the most important thing to me. I\'ve been thinking of ways to put him into my music for a while, so I just thought, ‘Yeah, let me put him on from the start.’\" **Hood** “This is about the hood and all the type of stuff that happens here. I start with the line \'There\'s way more to life than the hood.\' You know what I mean? Because I want people to know that. Anyone who\'s from the hood or grown up in one will instantly relate to this.” **A Town Matters (feat. Stickz, M Dargg, Tookie & Sneakbo)** “Everybody on this track is someone that I\'ve known from my area, A-Town, and they\'re people that I love making music with right now. Bringing people that I\'ve known before this music journey the whole way with me only makes sense. When you\'re from A-Town, that\'s just what you do.” **Passion** “Nyge and Lekaa Beats produced this, and it’s one that really, really hits me. It’s a story about what I\'ve been through and the rest of my guys, because when we do things—we do it with passion! That stands for anything, whatever it is. That\'s the message at the end of the day.” **Morning** “I wanted to show that it’s not just drill you can expect from me. I can switch it up. I don\'t want to be looked at as only a drill artist. So I\'ve added different flavors on here for you to see that, and hopefully this will open up different doors for me. The title comes from when I made this one, I think it was probably 5:00 am. We were recording in an apartment but everyone else in the house was asleep. It was only Lekaa still up, and he played the beat for me and I was just messing in my head, putting together lines. I came up with \'As Well\' that morning too—a few hours earlier.” **Sweet 1** “I made the first verse and the chorus, and then I was trying to put Lil Mosey on the end of this track. We sent it over to him and it seemed like he was about to do a verse but in the end it fell through so I had to think up a second verse, just to match the levels of the first. I was working on that for a couple days and then it just came to me. This is one for shows that I can just air it and see all the sweet ones dancing to it. I can see them posting to this one all over Snapchat.” **Deli (feat. Tookie)** “Tookie is my little bro from my area. I’ve grown up with him and he’s very talented, he’s on the come-up as well. We made this just off of the vibes at the time during the lockdown. It was just a vibe thing, and that’s how the majority of my songs come to me. I don’t like to think about them too much before I lay them.” **As Well** “I came up with this that day in the studio when I recorded ‘Morning.’ I was just in that zone. Whenever I hear a beat that my spirit just connects with, that\'s when everything comes to my mind for the lyrics. I’m always ready to write when I get that inspiration. I don\'t think I\'ve ever experienced writer’s block.” **Come Again (feat. Stickz)** “The majority of these songs I recorded around the same time but I didn\'t know they were going on a project. There weren\'t plans for this, but I was going to the studio every day. When I heard the beat for this, I started writing a quick verse; I didn\'t even finish it when I was already thinking about who to get on it. Stickz came in and laid his verse and we were rolling, it just went together from there.” **Real Life** “This song hits me the most because it\'s just truly about real life to me. This one here\'s my favorite track on the project and I think I wrote it in about 10 minutes. The moment I heard the beat, I loved it and I knew this is what I needed on here to really take people somewhere when they listen to it.” **Peter Pan** “This is another one of my favorites. It was the first single because I knew about its potential to cross over. Having big tracks and getting them on the radio—that\'s the aim and that\'s why us MCs have to be extra creative with it. That\'s still where the money\'s at.” **Drip N Drill** “Right at the end of the process, after I finished all the tracks, it hit me that I still need a song called ‘Drip N Drill.’ I knew I needed a song that illustrates the name of the tape so people can understand this style. I was waiting for the right beat to come in, and after waiting and hoping, Chris Rich came round and the beat just fit me like a glove. I told him, ‘Yeah, this is it!’”

Repping pioneering crew 150, Brixton driller M24 is blessed with the combination of certified street credibility and crossover appeal which often points