I respect anyone who's honest to themselves and able to bring that into their work in an entertaining fashion.

Breaking up monotony is key to life and it doesn't matter whether I'm stacking shelves or writing songs, if I was doing the same thing every day I just couldn't take it.

I try not to make social consciousness a massive part of my music or comedy because I prefer to be an entertainer first and foremost, then do actual grassroots work when I can.

I never gave up rapping - it gave up on me. There was no industry and no appetite for UK rap back then and I had a daughter to feed. I couldn't keep doing something full time that didn't pay the bills.

I try not to be influenced when it comes to being creative, just in order to sustain my own voice and character. However, I do have many inspirations from the worlds of literature, music, comedy and film.

I'd always written rhymes but I was scared to share them. They stayed on paper or in my head, until I started going to watch battles and eventually thought to myself, "I'm definitely as good as some of these guys, and maybe even better than them".

Standup is tough; if you are going through a hard period in your life, it is very hard to get up in front of people and be the happy guy in the room.