NFTR have come through yet again and “finally managed” to land a sit down interview with the Landlord himself, Giggs. The South London rapper, who sat down with Posty, Vis and Chams, gave one of his most frankest and honest interviews to date and spoke on every thing from his humble beginnings, his notorious career and his upcoming release, Landlord, which drops tomorrow.
With the longest interview in NFTR history, its clear that Giggs had a lot to say. But in our instant gratification era, we know that you haven’t all got the time to sit down for over an hour and a half – but GRM and our man Natz have got your back. So kick back and pree the “11 things we learnt from Gigg’s NFTR below, as well as watching the full interview here;
1. He started off with his own radio station
Giggs was the DJ of his area, with everyone in his estate listening in; “I just payed ragga, I always bought bare records, and run records outside my house”. He even had his own radio station, Spare No-one FM.
2. Initially, he didn’t know the impact of “Talking Da Hardest”
Giggs admitted that he didn’t even know that his track was getting played in clubs, because he was still in the streets and in his “own little bubble”. But after a few performances and a trip to Ayia Napa [which he got paid £300 for Mr Play], it all became clear; “In that moment, I felt like Jigga!”
3. Mega gave him early advice
Talking on the aforementioned Napa trip, Giggs said that So Solid’s Mega came up to him and told him to “know his worth”, which is a piece of advice he’s held on to throughout his career.
4. The fur jacket
In the video for “Talking Da Hardest”, Giggs bust a fur coat in the heat of summer [which tbf, was rarely seen in a UK rap video!] When asked if this was usual wear for the SN1 general, he said that it was a designer Amarni coat he bought himself from Bond Street, which he actually wore to the party he refers to in the track.
5. He nearly walked away from music in 2012
Talking on the times when the police would call his label, XL Recordings, to pressure them to drop him, Giggs admitted it was frustrating; “I used to get pissed off. I was like, if they fuck this up for me, I’m done with music”.
6. The police are still trying to lock off his shows
On the topic of the police, Vis asked if his shows are still getting shut down in 2016 and if this is why he held the secret event. “I don’t know, sometimes they’re cool and sometimes they’re not” Giggs said “But police know that the people who come to my gigs are good people so I don’t know why they not. If they feel the threat is that bad, just put police outside my show”.
7. Dubz is his favourite rapper
Giggs has always showed love to Dubz and this NFTR was no different, stating that Dubz is his favourite rapper; “Because he is just sick. He’s got mad flows and he says the maddest shit. I don’t know what he’s gonna say or do”.
8. His favourite body of work
After being pushed for answer, Giggs couldn’t pick between Hollow Grind and Take Your Hats Off. He said that each project has his own story and it all relates back to personal experiences.
9. “The Last Straw”
When asked about his infamous track (in which he went at both former MTV Base head Jasmine Dotiwala and 1Xtra producer Ray Paul for trying to sabotage his career), he said that Buck saw Ray Paul openly tell DJs not to play his track while Jasmine advised him to go on record saying he had “left the streets behind him”. He then found out that people were trying to have him removed from the BET nominees and was simply the “last straw”.
10. Chip put him in touch with Westwood
The North London rapper was the link between Giggs and Westwood and Giggs said that he is “just that type of guy” who helps people link up. When he first rolled to Westwood, there was police surrounding the building.
11. He doesn’t care about awards
“I don’t care. Because so much has happened and I have seen behind it and I dont give a fuck about it. I just wanna make music.”
12. His relationship with Skrapz
“Just before I went jail, I heard Skrapz and I thought he was hard. Then we used to see each other in jail but no-one would say anything to each other” Giggs told the trio. But they got talking and Skrapz asked Giggs if he could do it which Giggs encouraged him to do and they speak regularly.
13. His opinion on the Yungen video
Always the asker of the harder to answer questions, Chams asked Giggs for his opinion on the Yungen video doing the rounds on social media. While Giggs didn’t have a firm opinion, he said that he saw it as bullying and DM’d personally telling him “don’t watch that man, just keep going”.
14. His “year off”
Posty said that Giggs text him back in January 2015 saying he was taking the year off but went ahead and dropped “Man Don’t Care” alongside JME and a ton of other collaborations. When asked why he went back on what he said, Giggs laid it out; “I love music!”
15. The album recording process
“Half of this album, I recorded in the countryside” Giggs said on the recording process for Landlord. “I wanted to get it out in August and I only had six tunes… I went to the studio to see if I still had it and I made three tracks and I was like ‘this could be an album’. And then I went back the next day and made “Whippin Excursion””.
16. Working with Kano
“Kano is probably the most recent friend through music I’ve got…We have got a lot in common – we’re both miserable, we both think think we’re heavy at spittin’. It’s cool working with him”.
17. His score with Ghetts
This past week, Giggs featured on 60 Minutes Live alongside Ghetts. The live session saw the pair arguing over who took each of their collaborative efforts. The NFTR saw Giggs admit that he “went home to think about it” and that Ghetts might be leading him, but it’s certainly “not over!”
18. Where the Landlord name come from
On his new nickname, Ghetts said that he tweeted one of Section Boyz video and that Swift called him the Landlord, and he liked it and wanted it for his next album.
19. Culture Clash rumours
Rumours circulated that Giggs was set to perform at this year’s Culture Clash. Giggs confirmed that it was true but he was focused on getting his album complete. He also said that he would take it too seriously and one of the reasons that he wasn’t on it.
20. Gunna Dee
“I think Gunna is the best out of all of us but obviously, he is so ahead of the game. He is got his own fan base and of course, I’m gonna be proud of my brother”. He also said that Gunna knows he is the best.
21. Landlord drops almost exactly 8 years after his first album
Landlord drops on August 5th, almost 8 years after his first album Walk in da Park [August 4th 2008], which was a dilebrate move on his part; “I felt like I had to pay homage to Walk in da Park“.
22. He isn’t bored of performing “Talking Da Hardest”
Although he said he has performed it over “a million times”, he said that he will never get bored of playing the track and that every time he performs it and they sing it back to him, its a lasting memory.
23. He hasn’t seen Casisdead’s face?
After saying that his favourite guest verse was his feature on Casisdead’s “What’s My Name”, he said that he has never seen the man without his mask – before retracting it and saying that he couldn’t work with him without knowing who it was – and the fact he is a massive fan.
24. You won’t see him acting any time soon
Unlike other artists like Asher D, Scorcher and Kano, Giggs says that he’s “not into acting”. As he says in his own words; “I’m a shit actor. I’m blessed from god to be a bad boy rapper. My acting is wack”. However he did have a little role in Buck’s film Victim.
25. The feature he wasn’t quite feeling
When pressed on features he did for the money but wasn’t quite behind, Giggs was quick to remember a time when he first came out of prison [“I was starving”] and featured on a track with a “african brother”. He claims that the track will never be found but here’s hoping! [GRM Exclusive perhaps?]
26. His reluctance to sign to another label
Giggs isn’t heading down the route of signing another label; “If I want something done, I want it done now. I can’t really work with other people – I’d rather build my own thing. No disrespect to my old label, I just like to move fast. Labels have got enough to deal with then to deal with me wanting my thing fast”.
27. What to expect from Landlord
“I think it’s one of the greatest body of work. I can’t lie – that’s how I honestly feel.” – Nuff said.
The interview was certainly one of the best NFTR interviews to date and as expected, builds hype for the upcoming album. Giggs has never been one to shy away from talking about his life but this interview let us into the stories we may have never heard about before.