There’s a certain type of artist—common in rap but not limited to it—whose relentless drive makes you feel like you’re not doing enough. That’s exactly the effect of speaking to rising talent Kgrindz.
Born in Islington and raised in Hertfordshire, he grew up surrounded by music. His father was a DJ with an extensive vinyl collection, though he rarely spoke about it, quietly nurturing his son’s love for sound. While that upbringing laid the foundation, it was 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ that truly ignited the spark.
A short stint behind bars could have derailed everything for Kgrindz, but instead it became a turning point. There, he met Zone 2’s BGody—a connection that led to one of his biggest tracks, “TRAP”. That song opened the door to working with Kwengface (“What’s Goody”) and Sneakbo (“So Much Gyal”). With that wind in his sails, Kgrindz is already looking ahead—not just to the next step, but to three, four plays ahead. Having recently hit the charts with two of his drill-infused singles, we caught up with him to see what the future holds.
COMPLEX: The last few months have been a bit of a whirlwind for you, but let’s start with the basics—who is Kgrindz: the person vs Kgrindz: the artist?
Kgrindz: Kgrindz: the person, that’s someone who is always hustling, grinding, making money, living the London street life. As an artist, I’m just rapping about the experiences that I live. Basically, with my artistry, I’m giving listeners my day-to-day life in lyrics, but obviously styling it out.
What music was playing in the family home when you were growing up? What was the soundtrack to your childhood?
Growing up, my dad would always play a lot of Bob Marley, a lot of reggae around the house. I ended up falling in love with that music. And then there we heard all the other classics from the radio: Kiss 100, Magic FM, things like that. We actually listened to a lot of Magic FM, all the old-school tunes. I know a lot of the classics because of my dad.
Did your pops encourage you to get into music?
You know what? I’ve heard stories about my dad, but not through him. People used to say he’s the best DJ that ever lived, but I never actually saw or heard him touch the decks. Whenever I asked him about it, he’d just say he’s a music lover [laughs]. He’s got a lot of vinyls and stuff, but he never took music as a job. He just likes music, I guess.
Are there any specific rappers that inspired you to pick up a mic and start rapping yourself?
When I was little, I watched Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ with 50 Cent. After I watched that film, I watched it another hundred times. It inspired me in a way where it was like: “I feel like that’s me. That’s what I want to do.” I got straight to it: I started writing lyrics, and then I bought a mic… It’s like it opened my eyes up to something—it awakened something inside of me that I think was just sleeping.
Who would you say are your peers? Who would you put yourself next to in the scene?
Well, I’d say BGody, Kwengface... I always give props to BGody, in particular, because he gave me my start. The South-East London lot, the Peckham lot, they supported me the whole way through, always promoting my stuff. They didn’t have to do that, but they did. So for them to be showing me love like that, it’s genuine. I was even shocked at first, because I know what they’re like: I’ve been in jail with them, so I know what their MO is, what they’re about. So I placed myself with BGody in that because that’s who gave me my start in this thing. He didn’t take no money off me or nothing.
So how did you first get your start? Take us on that journey.
I used to go by a different alias. I don’t really want to say what it was, though, because the video is still up there, but I used to be fat with an afro [laughs]. There was a thing called Who’s Got Bars? in my area, which was where a lot of unknown MCs would clash each other, so I opted into that. I was 13 and I had a clash with a guy who was twice my age! So that was good. But then I stopped making music for ages. I got involved in the street life, hustling, selling, just up to no good. And then, because of that, I ended up going to jail. And when I was in jail, I met BGody and, at the time, I didn’t even know he was a rapper. He was in Zone 2 and they were the guys at the time and I had no idea until I got out of prison. When I got out of prison, I was like, “Oh my days, he’s a rapper! I was in there with him and I didn’t know this whole time.”
I’m watching a Kwengface video one day and I’m like, “Wait there! I know that guy next to him.” From there, that’s when I was like, “Yo, I do music as well. I haven’t done it in years, but we should do something.” And we built our music relationship from there. Our track together, “TRAP”, actually did numbers in the U.S. because people thought it was KSI in the thumbnail [laughs]. They thought BGody was KSI. We ended up getting 30K views in less than 24 hours on that song. I was telling my friends, “I’d be happy with 10K views,” but when I woke up the next day, I saw it was on 33K views. It went off!
So that was the catalyst that made you take this seriously as a full-time career?
Yeah, most definitely. Seeing BGody and them boys doing their thing, it motivated me to get back into making money and music because there was a time where I took some time out from everything. But then I’m seeing them all cleaned up, looking drippy, and it kinda inspired me to get myself together and go for it. I’m generally an ambitious guy, so when I saw that, it just ignited the fire. I was like, “I’ve got to do this.” I saw the blueprint and ran with it, obviously without copying anyone’s style or swag. I’m doing my own thing: with the drip, with the lyrics and the flow. I’ve got my own style. I rap completely differently to them players, but that’s how the music thing started. From there, I got introduced to Kwengface. We had each other on socials for years, for about four years. When he was in prison, I helped him out in that situation, and when he got out of prison, I was like: “We should make a song together.” But with Kweng, because he’s signed to Warner, it’s different. I paid them a little fee and we did the track “What’s Goody?”, which is doing crazy numbers.
You also recently collaborated with Sneakbo on the track “So Much Gyal”. Tell us how that connection came about.
So, this is how it played out: I first made a song with BGody, then after that came “Brick Boyz” with Q2Trappy from Ice City, Nines’ lot. Through that song, I connected with S. Wavey. He was like, “Bro, you’re cold. I like your style.” So we linked up and made “Get Money”. About a year later, I got a DM from Sneakbo—he was down to collab. From growing up listening to him to now this, I was like, “What the hell? Sneakbo just followed me and DM’d me.” I replied, he sent me a few songs, and I was feeling them. I told him, “Yeah, let’s do it.” When Kwengface saw the video for “So Much” with Sneakbo, he said it was the best video I’d done. That’s when he really started taking me seriously. Before that, I had asked him to make a song but I was still up-and-coming so he said, “Not yet.” But once he saw the Sneakbo vid—the mansion, the Lambo, everything done properly—he was like, “Oh, you’re taking this seriously.” So the Sneakbo track actually led to the Kwengface track, even though he’d already been in the picture by then.
That’s interesting, because when I was putting my questions together and looking through your work and the numbers, I was trying to identify a clear turning point. But it seems like there wasn’t one defining moment—more a steady process of building and building over time.
It happened gradually. If you look at my Instagram, I’m followed by a lot of verified artists and people in the game. The industry knows who I am more than the fans do. I’ve worked more with street figures than fully established artists, and those connections naturally made others take notice. I’m known within the scene—I’ve got songs planned with MIST and Twin S—but features cost money, and I always fund the videos myself. My strategy is simple: leverage established artists’ fanbases to build my own. I’ve only released two solo singles; everything else is features. People might question the approach, but they’re not seeing the long-term vision.
It hasn’t been that long since you fully committed and became a full-time artist, but you’ve already charted—twice: for “Still Trappin” and “What’s Goody”, your collab with Kwengface. How does it feel to see your name up in the charts?
It was actually my friend who showed me that “What’s Goody” charted. It got to, like, No. 26 in the Official Top 100. It was a pinch-myself-moment. Proper surreal. Then I showed Kweng and he never even realised he’d charted before, so that got him looking at the charts and he noticed he’s got so many songs in the charts. I was like, “You didn’t even know you charted? Bro, you’ve got 10 songs in the charts!” [Laughs] These guys were oblivious! I posted it to my story and he’s like, “What the fuck?” I’m like, “Yeah, we’ve charted bro!”
What’s the plan for the rest of this year?
I really wanna get this album out—it’s gonna be called The Last Lap. I’ve named it that because I’m trying to make it the last year of being involved in the streets and just take it to music 100%. Essentially, it’s the last lap on the roads, but the beginning chapter for music. I’m planning on getting quite a few good features on there. It’ll have the features I’ve already got out, with a few additional ones.
Besides the album, is there anything else that you’ve got coming up that your fans can look forward to?
I’ve got a new single coming out very soon. We’re just working on the visuals, but I’m looking to drop that one within the next two months. It’s a solo track. I’ve got three more music videos to do, and then the album is basically complete. I don’t make songs without music videos. So every song I’ve made has a video to it. That’s one of the things I always tell people: “If you’re making a song with me, we’re doing a video—or we're not doing a song!” No video, no point. I’ve got a vision for myself and my career and it is going to work.