“I didnāt expect the love would be this much, early on. I thought Iād do a lot more grinding ā I still need to,” says Pozer over a Zoom call with NME, wearing a slate-grey Nike Tech fleece tracksuit. āThe whole thingās surreal. I donāt even go to the clubs, I donāt party. Iām socially selective, not antisocial.ā So, how did this introverted 21-year-old from Croydon ā who would rather spend his evenings learning about Black history than attend club nights in Shoreditch ā infiltrate TikTok, the charts, and afterparties across the capital?
Well, Pozer happens to at the forefront of a UK Jersey drill wave that’s spreading online. This transatlantic sub-genre can be rooted from UK drill, which in turn was derived from the likes of Chief Keef, Lil Reese and Young Chop of the Chicago drill scene. By the late 2010s, a beguiling dance-rap phenomenon ā first inspired by 1990s New Jersey club culture ā took the world by storm; Lil Uzi Vertās Platinum-selling hit āJust Wanna Rockā helped push it further into the mainstream in 2022.
Pozerās dance sound is on the more chilled end of the spectrum, the yin to the yang of Americaās current high-octane club rap craze. His debut single āKitchen Stoveā smoulders with a blue heat as it melds four-to-the-floor drum patterns, glowing synths and bed squeaks. Follow-up āMalicious Intentionsā turns the drama up a notch, as Pozer looks back at his past, battling with his conscience before going tunnel vision on his ambitions over a floor-shaking bassline. Recently, he became the first UK rapper in history to have their two debut singles chart in Top 40.
All metrics aside, his music offers a staggering, vivid depiction of an adolescence spent in Croydon, a city within a city where Pozer grew up playing pounds in school hallways, while also dealing with father who was in and out of prison. Earlier this year, his focus and hard work paid off when Pozer signed his management contract while on shift at a decoratorās shop.
āIt was like a new chapter of my life, signing that contract,” he candidly tells us. āI didnāt even know how to use TikTok [to tease music] before ‘Kitchen Stove’, but you see things in a different way, you become a supplier instead of a consumer.ā His slightly guarded demeanour warms up as we talk about his musical journey, from how he quietened the “drill is dyingā naysayers to positioning himself as a unique contender for UKās next rap star with a few bold moves.
Youāve released a total of four songs so far. Are you intentionally leaning on quality over quantity with your musical output?
āI donāt like putting out rubbish, thatās just me still ā less is more you know? I donāt wanna talk too much about projects right now because itās not concrete but itās in the talks. [With this project], I want to show the people I can rap, so every single song needs to be heavy hitters, no skips.ā
Thereās an upper echelon of UK rappers ā like Digga D and Central Cee ā who did a Next Up? freestyle before gaining more international success. Did going on Mixtape Madness feel like ‘that moment’ for you?
āMixtape Madness has been around for a long time so I have been watching their videos since I was a teen. Thatās culture. So yeah, it was a befitting moment when I was finally on the Next Up?. Itās a lot colder [near the water] than I thought it would be though.ā

JS x YD introduced you for your Next Up? freestyle. What does your friendship with them mean to you?
āWorking on the track with YS and JD was a full-circle moment. Theyāre both [from Croydon] and I was checking out them from the start since they dropped āDrunk and Confused Freestyleā, that was the driving effect, seeing them get to one million views and go to these label meetings.
āIām seeing [JS x YDās] success happen in front of me, not on the internet or in some qway ends. Iāve been writing bars together since I was young but never took the music ting seriously until last year. The music industry seems to be set on who knows who but seeing them go through it with no handouts and achieve something from nothing was inspiring.
āWith the remix, it was what needed to happen, when a song blows, gotta do a lil remix treatment.ā
“I’m a rapper’s rapper”
What made you want to fuse UK drill with Jersey club?
āI was paying attention when the New York drill scene was coming up. Thereās a batch near Harlem called The Sweepers ā and they do this Jersey-style drill, full-on ā so Iām bumping their tunes, taking in how energetic the songs are. But Iām also taking in how atmospheric Jersey club can be, deeping how jumpy the drum patterns are.
āIām feeling the Jersey-style beats but thought, ‘Hah I canāt do the full on American style ā the screaming ā because thatās not me.’ If I do my ting in the typical UK drill sense, itās not going to be widely acceptable and itāll be oversaturated. I thought I could merge the Jersey club wave with my UK heritage and see what happens.
āWith my beats, I met [producer] RA [āMalicious Intentionsā] through my manager. I dug through a lot of these beats and his beats stuck out to me the most. Young Madz [āKitchen Stoveā] is a magician too, I tell him what I want, we run through drums, pick which ones we like the most and he makes the magic happen.ā
Are there any other types of experimental beats youāve rapped on?Ā
āIām a rapperās rapper. I did it boom-bap style but it goes over peopleās heads. I got a song where I remixed Luther Vandrossā āNever Too Muchā too.ā

Who’s on your Mount Rushmore of UK rap?
āSkepta, JME, D Double E, Ghetts.
āMy favourite is JME but I rate the whole of BBK. [JME] really set the lane, he would rap about nerdy shit but you could tell he grew up in ends. When I was young, me and my uncle would watch Channel U and thatās where it came from ā the sets on the rooftops, Crazy Titchās flows, bare man squashed in a basement spitting ā thatās the essence. It set the tone for me to be in the position with the advancements and with the internet, theyāve already paved the road for me to run.ā
Have you done any live shows?
āIāve done one or two little open mics before Kitchen Stove. It was good, I got a lot of love. Itās nerve-wracking when you first start but thatās why I needed to push through and just do it – you canāt get too comfortable in your comfort zone in situations like that and I learned thereās many levels to performing, engaging with the crowd and breath control.
āMe, personally, Iāve never been gone to shows really but allow going to a show as a fan and Iām having to sing your songs to your face when I can do that at home for free? I want people to make me stay on the stage. I want them to experience something and think, āRah my man performed, the show was banging, the tunes were litā.ā
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