Rapper SL: ‘When I was coming up, there was nobody else on my level’

You would be hard-pressed to find someone who raps more clearly than the 19-year-old SL. “If you rap slower, people take you in more, they understand what you’re saying. Especially if we’re talking about breaking into American audiences. They hear us and they think about grime and fast rapping, but the way I do it is slow,,” he explains, ahead of the release of his new 10-track mixtape, Different Dude.

While still studying for his GCSEs, SL shot to internet fame in 2017 when the DIY-style video for his eerie street anthem Gentleman went viral (it now has 44m-plus views on YouTube). Following it up with the delicately catchy single Tropical, SL has marked himself out as one to watch, carving out his own crisp, melodic lane in an ever-densifying UK rap scene. “Coming up, everyone was on them violent drill beats. So I’d listen to Drake-type beats, or Lil Uzi Vert-type beats – something different,” he says.

SL grew up in Croydon, south London, its northern suburb the inspiration for his last EP’s title, Selhurst SE25 , a collaboration with American producer Kenny Beats. It featured single Little Bird, whose cinematic video was filmed in lockdown, and Hit The Block, with Coventry-based breakout star Pa Salieu. Unlike other drill rappers, who often start off as part of a collective, he explains that his trajectory was always as a soloist: “When I was coming up, it was always just me in my local area. There was nobody else on my level. I was by myself.”

SL has always worn a mask, which he plans to take off one day. “It keeps my personal life and my music life separate,” he says. “Some people love being swarmed but that’s just not me.” Ironically, now that he is expected to wear a face mask like everyone else, he says it has become easier for people to recognise him in public, “because of my eyes”, and, more broadly, because of how well-known his ski-mask image has become.

Different Dude features guest appearances from Manchester’s Ayo Britain, the London drill flagbearer Unknown T, and Luton’s Auto-Tune-enhanced Nafe Smallz. The euphoric first single, Felt Tips, sees SL commentate on adolescent life through his blend of cheeky wordplay and hard raps. In the song’s video, he navigates school corridors, evades the police, protests against far-right nationalists and delivers a political address.

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But his activism extends beyond his music: he recently visited a secondary school in Croydon to give out book bags, and last year he visited the Nigerian village where his grandparents are from to donate money to charity. Inspired by his own experiences as a teenager needing guidance, he has started a foundation to invest in better youth services in London.

“Growing up in Croydon, there was one local youth club two minutes from my house. But I never went there once, because there were a thousand other things going on. Why is that?” he says. “I thought it was the best thing to give back in some way.” SL’s talent and vision are crystal clear – just like his raps.

Different Dude is out now