Scroobius Pip, best known for his hip-hop due with dan le sac, has just released his debut solo album Distraction Pieces this week.
The album immediately started to climb up the iTunes Chart, taking on the big names despite being released on his own independent label.
We got the chance to talk to Scroobius Pip about everything from Distraction Pieces and his lyrics to the state of UK hip-hop and the London riots.
On the topic of the album, he was clearly pleased with the initial reaction.
He said: "It's amazing, completely unexpected," admitting: "It's the first record I've put out on my own label, so I didn't expect it to get that kind of reaction."
The praise it's received is completely justified, and whilst Scroobius admits that part of the appeal has come from his previous work with dan le sac, it's still surprising.
"It's nice that it seems to be selling on the back of the music, rather than expensive ad-campains," Scroobius said.
With the rise of the internet and the affect it's had on the music industry, Scroobius released his own fake torrent version of the album, featuring him talking over every track.
"It was just to put people off torrenting it a bit," he explained, but added that it was "very light-hearted and friendly".
Putting out the album on his own label has meant that the money comes out of his own pocket, but it gives him a freedom not often allowed on a major label.
"I wanted to not feel any need to make it commercially viable and accessible, and just to have complete control".
After a hands-on approach from Sunday Best (who put out his records with dan le sac), Scroobius felt he'd learnt enough to try it on his own.
He added: "I also didn't want to go the traditional routes", prefering to spread the word on Twitter or with a good video rather than by spending "tens of thousands on billboards for advertising".
Scroobius is smart enough to realise that the industry is changing, and admitting than the album was an excercise in looking at how the business model has changed.
Thankfully, one trend sees the importance of major labels decreasing, with the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Adela and now Scroobius Pip making a dent in the charts on independent labels.
On the subject of Adele's success, he said: "It's beautiful that the biggest-selling artist in the UK, and I think the biggest-selling female British artist ever, is on an independent label."
However, he was also quick to admit that whilst the label (XL) are technically independent, "they've kind of got the power of a major label."
That said, he's keen to get across the idea that things have changed.
"It doesn't matter if you've got this huge label behind you," he explains. "If the music's good enough, it'll spread by word of mouth and it'll get out there."
Independent labels were dealt a huge blow during the recent London riots when a huge amount of stock was destroyed in a fire.
Whilst it didn't affect Scroobius Pip's solo record, all vinyl copies of dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip albums were burnt.
Naturally, he seemed disappointing to reveal that "the label haven't got the means to pre-press them, and aren't going to."
The wake of the riots saw community spirit both in and out of the music industry, which Scroobius said was "a beautiful side of it all".
As the conversation shifted to the album and his solo career, it became clear that he is much more diverse than people would expect.
"I take infulence from everywhere", he explained, before naming the likes of Kate Bush and Prince alongside his love for storytelling in his music.
He said: "I have as big a love for cinema as I have for music, really. So, it's literally just taking influence from anywhere and everywhere."
Scroobius also noted his punk roots, which may surprise some people.
"It kind of crafted this album. The reason I wanted to do this was all the music I'd done so far hadn't really put across the punk influence I grew up with."
Surprisingly, he wasn't too integrated in the UK hip-hop scene, although noted he was glad that it was starting to find his voice.
"For a long time I thought it was either mimmicking American hip-hop too much, it didn't have its own style," he revealed.
Lyrically, Scroobius Pip tackles a lot of heavy, hard-hitting topics, but is keen to get the point across that he doesn't pick a taboo subject just to appear shocking.
When asked whether he'd avoiding writing about anything, he left it open for the future.
"I've not found anything yet", he admitted. "It's stuff that's interesting, and so far I've not come across anything that I feel is inappropriate".
One area of society he attacks on the album is the media (on the aptly-titled 'Death of the Journalist'), as he raps about the rise of blogs and the future of print journalist.
"I still haven't come to a conclusion on it really", he admits.
He continued that while some blogs are written well, and "by people who are truly great jouranlists", there's a lot of poor ones around too.
He explains: "Generally the blogs that get the most attention aren't necessarily going to be well-researched or sourced."
One area that hit close to home (for both this writer and Scroobius) was his attack on music journalism.
"You'll see a lot of reviews, and the wording will be similar," he said, before mentioning how a lot of journalists will simply re-write a press release and pass it off as a review.
"Bad reviews and people who aren't into it, that's totally fine", he explained.
Where his issue lies, it seems, it with poorly written pieces, rather than those who may simply misunderstod his work.
Despite how personal some of Distraction Pieces is lyrically, Scroobius admitted that, by the time the album's out there, he feels a bit disconnected from his records.
Once it's released, he said, "it loses it's meaning a bit anyway," as he spends time learning them as words rather than the story he was telling.
Looking to the future, Scroobius Pip will be hitting the road later this year for a full UK tour.
"I'm really excited about it," he enthused.
"I can't wait to get out there to now the album's out," he continued. "I want to see how they react, what they enjoy and get that live reaction."
The future seems to be unclear, although a third album with dan le sac is certainly on the horizon, with work planned to begin late this year, or early 2012.
What's certain is that Scroobius Pip has launched his solo career with a phenomenal record.
Down to earth, he comes across naturally on record and in conversation, and will only go up from here.
Check out our review of Distraction Pieces here.
Female First - Alistair McGeorge
Scroobius Pip, best known for his hip-hop due with dan le sac, has just released his debut solo album Distraction Pieces this week.
The album immediately started to climb up the iTunes Chart, taking on the big names despite being released on his own independent label.
We got the chance to talk to Scroobius Pip about everything from Distraction Pieces and his lyrics to the state of UK hip-hop and the London riots.
On the topic of the album, he was clearly pleased with the initial reaction.
He said: "It's amazing, completely unexpected," admitting: "It's the first record I've put out on my own label, so I didn't expect it to get that kind of reaction."
The praise it's received is completely justified, and whilst Scroobius admits that part of the appeal has come from his previous work with dan le sac, it's still surprising.
"It's nice that it seems to be selling on the back of the music, rather than expensive ad-campains," Scroobius said.
With the rise of the internet and the affect it's had on the music industry, Scroobius released his own fake torrent version of the album, featuring him talking over every track.
"It was just to put people off torrenting it a bit," he explained, but added that it was "very light-hearted and friendly".
Putting out the album on his own label has meant that the money comes out of his own pocket, but it gives him a freedom not often allowed on a major label.
"I wanted to not feel any need to make it commercially viable and accessible, and just to have complete control".
After a hands-on approach from Sunday Best (who put out his records with dan le sac), Scroobius felt he'd learnt enough to try it on his own.
He added: "I also didn't want to go the traditional routes", prefering to spread the word on Twitter or with a good video rather than by spending "tens of thousands on billboards for advertising".
Scroobius is smart enough to realise that the industry is changing, and admitting than the album was an excercise in looking at how the business model has changed.