South London native Kojo Kankam, aka Novelist, is almost infuriatingly talented for a man of his age. At 21, he’s made a name for himself not only as one of grime’s most thoughtful, poignant young MCs, but also as one its most exciting producers.
His back catalogue is already impressively eclectic, from anthemic crew tracks like Lewisham McDeez – alongside his group The Square – to his killer Mumdance collaboration 1 Sec and forward-thinking instrumentals like Thrones and Powers.
He’s recently dropped his debut album, Novelist Guy, which eschews collaborations in favour of a fully independent approach, entirely written and produced by Novelist himself, and released on his own label MMMYeh.
The only outside input on the LP came from Abbey Road in-house engineer Gordon Davidson, who took the reins for the final mix and master sessions. We caught up with Kankam and Davidson in Abbey Road’s Front Room studio to break down the creation of one of the LP’s most instantly memorable moments, the politically-potent Stop Killing The Mandem.
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