Whether or not he wants to accept the title, Mowgs is Birmingham’s new prince of rap.
While his relationship with the second city has been rocky over the years—from both a music and street-level standpoint—Mowgs’ contributions to its music scene have been integral to its growth since the release of his breakout single, “Erdz Boy”, in 2017. “In Birmingham, the city’s all against each other so it’s kinda hard to prosper,” Mowgs tells me over Zoom. “London’s a lot bigger than Brum, so even though people have disagreements, you’re still able to do your thing comfortably. But here, there’s just a lot of politics. My advice for any up-and-coming rapper in Birmingham is just stay in your lane, keep your head down, and you will be alright.” This pushback comes from experiences that haven’t always been so great for him. The 24-year-old artist has been shot and stabbed in the place calls home—with the effects of that trickling over into his music business—so, understandably, it hasn’t been so easy for Mowgs to put his ends on his back with complete confidence. For fans of his music, however, he’s flying the flag high for that authentic, pain-fuelled rap in a scene full of drillers and inconsistent 0121 legends.
The history of rhyme in Birmingham is indeed a rich one. From 1995-formed outfit Moorish Delta 7 to chart-invaders Mist and The Streets to Queen of the ‘net, Lady Leshurr, the city has given us a number of acts for UK rap’s history books—and Mowgs is hoping to make the cut next. “I’m trying to get to a point in my life where I’ve built up my brand,” he explains. “I’ve got a whole label team now: A&R, marketing, artists—everyone! Man’s doing this ting properly. I want to take yutes from the hood and make them see real money… I think some people think I don’t care about music, like I just drop one tune and I’m out, but it’s not that: I’ve been dealing with a lot. This year, though, I’ve got a system in place so I’ll be banging the tunes out.”
While talking about some of the struggles he’s been through—i.e. getting stabbed and shot—I can’t help but ask if he’s in therapy for what is clearly a case of PTSD. “Getting shot… That’s a hard one to talk about,” Mowgs tells me. “I’ve got mad anxiety, madparanoia. If I don’t know you, I can’t be around you. I’m never in the mix, I’m never at parties, because I don’t know what could happen. If people want to meet me, I need to be 100% comfortable with my surroundings. Once someone tries to take away your life, you think different and you move different to how you did before… I’m dropping a mixtape soon and if you listen to that, that’s my therapy.”
Bare Necessities—a play on The Jungle Book’s theme song sung by the character Mowgli—is the title of Mowgs’ forthcoming mixtape, one filled with the kind of laid-back road rap that’s been missing since the hazey days of Joe Black. We get the lowdown on that, and also how Mowgs is navigating his world today.
“I’m about to have another kid, another daughter. It’s about them now. I’m trying to leave a legacy behind for them.”
COMPLEX: Easy, Mowgs! I’ve been meaning to chop it up with you for a while now, but here we are. So tell me: when and how did this rap thing begin for you?
Mowgs: Yeah, man! So, the first track I ever recorded was called “Truth Be Told”. I made that when I was 18, so around 2017. I started with that, and then I told the mandem: “Oi, you man! I’m gonna start rapping you know.” I got 5K plays in a week and I was gassed! I couldn’t believe it. Five thousand people listening to me!? Boom! It kept rolling and it got to a point where I was getting 10K spins a week. See when that got 50K in a week, I said to my niggas: “Yo! We are gone.” After that, I dropped a filler tune called “In The Bando”, and then I dropped “Erdz Boy”. That’s when I got 300K views in a week. It was crazy, bro.
Can you remember the first time you came across a piece of music that grabbed you?
Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to listen to music because I lived in a Muslim household. I used to sneak downstairs at 5 in the morning, put on MTV Base and listen to them man there. But my mum never used to let me listen to all that.
Growing up in a strict Muslim household, how was that? You didn’t know anything different, but did certain restrictions make you want to rebel?
I went to a Muslim school and some of the guys there would be like, “I know we’re not allowed to listen to music, but have you heard this guy called 50 Cent?” I’m thinking, “Bro, who is this guy?” So I’m back at my yard one day, watching MTV Base, and 50 Cent’s “Window Shopper” comes on. When that came on, I said to myself: “I am going to be a rapper one day.”
If you weren’t allowed to listen to secular music at home and at school, when did you realise that you could actually spit?
Properly, in 2017. I was with my guys one day and they all do drill, but I don’t do drill—I do straight rap. So they’re freestyling now and then I did a little thing and they were like, “Rah, Mo! You’re actually hard.” I’m like, “Yeah?” I wasn’t really too sure about it, but then I went to the studio for the first time and when I was there, I was like, “Yeah, this is me!” Actually, tell a lie: I secretly freestyled in school, Year 7 times. I put the freestyles on YouTube and man were like, “Yo! How come his balls ain’t dropped?” I stopped right after that [laughs].
[Laughs] What made you decide to jump back on it again?
See the life I was living at the time? I had a lot to say. I wanted to get my point across to people living the same life I was, through my music.
Makes sense. So, coming up, who would you say were some of your main influences? Any of the local rappers in Brum catch your ear early on?
Nah, there weren’t many local rappers that I listened to. I was listening to Giggs, K Koke, Krept & Konan—just the originals in the game. N-Dubz! Oh my days. N-Dubz were wavey, fam.
They had a few jams, I can’t lie.
N-Dubz were the hardest! Man has to give them respect.
You’re mixed: Black and Asian, right? What was it like growing up in those two cultures, and what was family life like more generally?
Jamaican and Indian. My mum’s Indian, my dad’s Jamaican. When my mum got with my dad, her family disowned her so I don’t know any of them. I don’t really know any of my dad’s family either, so it was always just me and my brothers and sister. My dad’s got bare kids—he’s got, like, 17. I don’t chat to all of them, but I chat to a couple of them.
Talk to me about Birmingham, especially the Erdington area where you’re from. People don’t really talk about Erdington much. Apart from Mist, everyone else I know from Brum are either from Handsworth or Aston.
Erdington’s the biggest area in Brum. You know how you’ve got Brixton and there’s loads of areas in Brixton? That’s Erdington. There’s so many people in Erdington, you could be in Erdington your whole life and not know this or that person lives there. That’s how big it is. When I was coming up, I never used to live in Brum. We used to move about a lot, so when I moved to Erdington, I didn’t know no one so I met a guy called Luco, who’s one of my dons currently in jail. He showed me everyone—where to go, where not to go—and I started to get a feel for it. One thing I realised in man’s hood is that, because it’s so big, the ego ting’s crazy! Everyone’s got an ego. Coming up, there was nothing for man to do; that’s why man’s done what man’s done with the music. In Birmingham, the city’s all against each other so it’s hard to prosper. London’s a lot bigger than Birmingham, so even though people have disagreements, you’re still able to do your thing comfortably. But here, there’s just a lot of politics. My advice for any up-and-coming rapper in Birmingham is just stay in your lane, keep your head down, and you will be alright.
“Fuck the hype! Fuck the clout! When people hear ‘Bare Necessities’, all they’ll be able to say is: ‘Rah! This is good music.’”
I’ve got some friends up there so I know how it can get, to an extent. It’s not so easy to just keep your head down, though.
Nah, it’s the hardest thing. You know what it is? In the Bible, it says a prophet’s not recognised in his own city or his own home. That’s exactly what it is. Once people start thinking you’re going somewhere, they start hating, like: “He thinks he’s too good, he does.” It’s tekky!
In your music, it’s clear that the roads have had a major impact on your life. But when did the street kid element come into play?
With my parents, there was bare domestic violence going on, so my way to escape that was to hit the roads. Then, when I hit the roads—remember when you’re at that age when your friends are literally your family, and you’re with them every day? That’s how it went. I was just trying to get away from what was going on at home and got drawn into a whole different situation.
I’ve read reports that you’ve been shot and stabbed before.
Getting shot… That’s a hard one to talk about. I don’t know what to say, bro.
Do you have PTSD from those situations?
Yeah: I’ve got mad anxiety,mad paranoia. If I don’t know you, I can’t be around you. I’m never in the mix, I’m never at parties, because I don’t know what could happen. If people want to meet me, I need to be 100% comfortable with my surroundings. Once someone tries to take away your life, you think different and you move different to how you did before.
Do you think you can ever get out of that way of thinking?
Wallahi, bro, it’s mad that you said that because I was with my guy the other day, and I was like: “Bro, I’m sick of this!” It’s hard to break it. You can go to therapy and that, but therapy’s only so good for so long.
I was about to ask you about therapy—do you have a therapist or anyone like that you can talk to? You’ve been through a lot and you’re still only 24.
I’m dropping a mixtape soon and if you listen to that, that’s my therapy. I can’t lie: I know people say live life with no regrets, but when you don’t know no better, you don’t know no better. See now, I’m older and I know better so I do better. If I was to make a decision now that I made back then, I’d think to myself: “What am I doing?”
You’ve got a young daughter, too, so you have a whole other human being to live for now. How has your daughter impacted the way you think and move today?
I feel like I’ve got something to lose now. It’s not about me anymore. Before, it was all about me and I could do what I want, but when you have kids… I’m about to have another kid, another daughter. It’s about them now. I’m trying to leave a legacy behind for them. I don’t want my daughters seeing what I saw growing up. You’ve gotta protect them, especially daughters.
I want to talk about a comparison I’ve heard and seen a lot over the years—between you and Nines. Can you see where people are coming from with that? I think it’s mostly to do with the cadence.
Bro, listen. Obviously, I’ve come up listening to Nines and Potter [Payper]. I’ve been listening to Nines for a long time, but Nines is Nines and Mowgs is Mowgs. They’re different. When man hears man’s tape, man’s gonna understand what I’m talking about. It’s been four years since I dropped a tape. I’m 24 now. I’ve lived, I’ve learned, and you’re gonna hear it all in the music.
Let’s talk about your new project, Bare Necessities. Your manager, Guv, sent me some tracks and you’re really putting that pain on wax.
Fuck the hype! Fuck the clout! When people hear it, all they’ll be able to say is: “Rah! This is good music.” It’s my life story. We really came up on the bare necessities.
Is it straight pain/road rap, or can we expect a bit of drill and Afroswing in the mix?
Nah, I’m doing straight rap. I’m good at bars and I’m good at verses, but with certain songs, you need a really good hook to catch the people. So I’ve done a few songs with singers, different rappers, people I make music with now. I’ve got Rimzee on there, S1mba, Country Dons, Ard Adz and one or two more…
—anyone from Brum Town?
Oh, yeah! I’ve got Mist on there as well. My brudda! Apart from that, nah, because a lot of them aren’t really taking me in.
It’s a shame because having an all-star Birmingham rap tune would be a complete madness.
Trust me.
