Jermaine Defoe was from my area. Rio Ferdinand used to come into my barbershop.

I do feel that it's very important to see positive imagery.

I'm laid-back. Sometimes, I think being laid-back will be my downfall; I'm a little too good at sitting on the sofa and doing nothing. But what can I say? It's who I am, how I am, how I've always been.

Drake can do that well, he can have the hottest tune every summer for the next 20 years, and that's how he does his things. But naaaaah, I might go away for three years, you know what I mean?

Everybody has flaws, and every country has flaws. But you can still love something even though you know it's been so wrong before, and sometimes is now, and probably will be again.

Biggie has definitely stood the test of time. He's the reason Jay-Z and loads of other rappers are who they are. His flow and wordplay is brilliant - the stories he would tell are just nuts.

I would go to college and people would know me from the rave they went to at the weekend. So I would get a bit of respect. But I would always go to class and do my work. My mother made sure of that.

You know, I was going to be a footballer at one stage, but... nah.

I don't agree with any form of butler, so definitely not a robot one. It's lazy, so a bad idea.

The Wire' was from a police perspective - in terms of the streets and that, it was probably like, thirty per cent. 'Top Boy' is really from the perspective of the quote-unquote criminal. It's getting into the mind of these people and why they do what they do. It's bigger than just 'Woke up and wanted to be bad one day.'

Lyrics came quite easy early on in my career. But I always wanted to push it further and stand out a bit more. We were coming from the garage era when lyrics were simplified, purposefully, to work in the club environment. They were about hyping up a crowd or bigging up a DJ. Moving into grime, our lyrics became more in-depth.

Reggae was always playing at home in East Ham when I was growing up. Loud music would be coming from the bedroom, and downstairs all you'd hear was the bass. My uncles had sound systems and we used to go to Jamaica a lot as a family.

I'm a thinker as much as I'm a talker.

As a boy, I was known for reciting whole songs after one listen. I've always had a good memory for lyrics. It's weird because I don't have a good memory for other things. I remember lyrics easier than the shopping list.

I feel like I am the outsider on the inside, if that makes sense. But I have coped with it.

Color does matter, even though people don't see it. I've lived it my whole life. It's just what I know.

Chris Young was a big influence of mine, and he's one of my good friends now.

Some people have tried to change me and tell me what to do, but I haven't done it, and it's worked for me.

I could help a lot of people's kids that are going through racism or getting bullied. That's what I wanna do.

I'm not a mean person, so it kind of hurts when people are mean to me, but that's life.

I just want to help people, especially with the platform I'm on. I try and help people as much as possible.

I just like to see people smile.

It can beat an artist down when people say bad things about you.

A lot of people say I inspire them or I've helped them - kids who have been bullied in school or parents coming up to me because their kids have been bullied or anything that they've went through. It really touches me.