Theodor Black didn’t come to play – unless that’s playing his music, of course. Having established himself as one of the most exciting names in underground UK rap at the moment, the London creative is at the forefront of music and fashion.

Incorporating multiple musical references and twisting it into his unique and distinct sound, Theodor’s ability to deliver a frank portrayal of his experience as a young black male in the UK has captured the industry’s attention: signing to Friends of the New for his new project PARADISE FM. From the genre bending lyricism of ‘TOP DOWN’, the latest single that saw a video released last week, to the monotony-breaking beats in ‘LOOP’, Theodor has managed to carve an exciting and promising path for himself.

We caught up with the artist himself to talk through how he got started, his favourite of his tracks, and the highs and lows that come with the territory.

Yes Theodor! Talk us through your background – how did you get started with music?
I grew up in Charlton in South East London, just a little bit outside of Greenwich. My parents moved to this country in the 90’s from Sierra Leone.

Music has always been a part of my life, whether it’s being played at home or whether it’s me and the mandem sharing songs via bluetooth in the school playground during lunch times when I had a Sony Ericsson Walkman. I eventually just fell in love with music and at a certain point in time I knew it was something I wanted to do, I just needed that spark. But that wouldn’t come till later in life, when I was 15. 

Who are your greatest creative influences, and have they changed over the years?
King Krule is definitely up there as one of my favourite artists, his music triggered something in my head that made me wanna get up and start making music. Around that period of time I was also really heavy into Pro Era, Sub luna city, Odd future and a lot of other smaller rap groups coming up at the time. 

With time all things grow, flourish or die and most of these things happened to or within these groups, but the nuances of that era will always remain nostalgic for me and will always be something I can go back and reconnect with even though so much has changed within the past decade. 

How would you describe your sound in your own words?
My music is definitely unique, I don’t believe that there’s anyone out there making music that sounds like mine, and that’s because of my influences and how they all merge together in my mind. My music is a melting pot of different genres. Sometimes I find it hard to pinpoint my own sound, but I’ve grown to learn that genre doesn’t matter. I guess I could say I’m genre fluid. 

I focus more on tones and textures as opposed to notes and scales, I’m not really a theory based musician. I never had that training which is why my music has so many loose ends, there’s really no defining it. 

A bit of a tough one – do you have a favourite track of yours, and why?
Loop is probably one of my favourite songs. I made the beat a year before I even started writing and recording it, and when I drafted my first demo I was completely obsessed. For me Loop marks the start of a new era for me and my music, it sounds more whole and mature and it provides a space for me to release a lot of pain. You can feel all the emotion, you can hear the frustration, you can hear it all. 

That’s the beauty of expression, that’s the beauty of what we do as musicians. Loop really felt like I was breaking a cycle of torment, and a lot of good has come since I released that track so for me it signifies something special.