SBK: "Being Alone Is My New Favourite Drug"
SBK is in India when we speak. Nature is done. The next project has already begun.
His new album was written nomadically across Southeast Asia, finished in Thailand, filmed in Bali and Hanoi, released entirely on his own terms. It is a record about what remains when you stop chasing everything you were told to want. About survival, clarity and the kind of freedom that only comes from losing almost everything first.
We sat down with him to talk about it.
To start: how important was it for you to take full control of this project?
Not having full control is not an option.
There's a real sense of detail across the whole release, not just the music but the visuals too. When you're working like that, handling everything yourself, does it feel freeing, or does it come with pressure?
I am free, and pressureless in my career for the first time since I was a child. Full Circle.
You've mentioned almost losing your mind during the process of making this. How much of this album came from trying to work through something internally, and do you see creating as a way of pulling yourself through those moments?
I didn't go into it thinking about how it was going to help me, I just know that music and art does. I don't really worry about how or why.
The album feels very intentional sonically. It's not straight grime, not straight rap. It sits somewhere deeper, more reflective. Did you consciously push yourself away from your earlier sound, or did this come naturally from where you were mentally?
My earlier sound was who I was then, and this is who I am now.
There's a strong feeling of space in the project, and the visuals show you in Hanoi and Bali. Was much of the album written out there?
I basically live nomadically throughout Asia, so I soak up the energy of the places I'm in. I finished most of the album in Thailand, Bali, and by Hanoi everything was done. Now I'm in India working on the next thing.
How did moving around like that affect the music? Did being away from home give you a different kind of clarity or freedom?
Asia is my home. Clarity and Freedom doesn't really scream UK. The freedom people are chasing there is a dead end, money is the only freedom. In Asia life is very different.
Life in places like Vietnam or Bali compared to somewhere like Stevenage is a completely different pace, a different energy. What did you take from those environments creatively?
God is alive. Great people exist everywhere though. Stevenage is a dystopian place, so is London to be honest. Imagine escaping the Truman Show, that's how Asia is to me. So creatively I am free from any shackles or mind virus that exists in the west.
And did they change how you see your life or your direction as an artist?
I didn't expect to live here in previous years, it's changed me but to be honest it makes sense and suits me, the way my life is set up. Being alone is my new favourite drug.
You came back to the UK for a brief spell. Do you see yourself going back out there to create again, or was that period something specific to this project?
I really came back to see my family and give my fans one show, but I'm doing it for them, not me. I will never look at the UK the same after losing one of my best friends to suicide, he jumped off of London bridge. I nearly died a few times in the UK. I've been arrested, I went bankrupt, girlfriend left me, all in a very short time. But what I just mentioned was just in one year, I've had a whole lifetime of pain and trauma in the UK, even trying to make it in the UK music scene completely tore me apart. People in the industry are pure evil.
I don't chase anything anymore and I'm lowkey ready to cut ties musically from the UK. Because I have learned I am not going to compete for coverage and attention when I didn't care about anything they make you want to chase when you're there, when I was 14 years old on my laptop making beats. I am now that 14 year old again, in my adult life, and that's what I care about.
Visually, the project is strong all the way through. The videos feel considered, cinematic at times. Is videography something you have been building over time, or did you step into that properly with this release?
I have the vision, I've always made videos since I was a kid, and it started from not having money to pay videographers. Now I'm a cinematographer, and I've learned the craft, I would say I'm better at filming myself and making videos than any of the people I wanted to pay back then.
What drives you to stay so hands-on across everything you do?
I don't like people. I spent years chasing people and trying to get people to notice or care, the truth is, no one will ever care or put as much love into my art as much as me. I also happen to be better at it and like what I make more than anyone else, so in that sense why would I settle for second best. I wanna do things the way I want to do it and it will be like that until I'm dead and buried.
You've come from grime, clashes, radio sets, but now you're building something that sits outside of that box. Do you feel any tension between where you came from and where you're going creatively?
I am Grime, but no one in Grime is like me. What I'm making is on the cusp of not being Grime at all. I have no tension when I'm not necessarily around or a part of peoples friendship groups, in which they support each other etc. I support myself because out of the thousands of people I've met, only two people hit me up when I was at death's door.
There's a point in your journey where grime opened the door, but now you're clearly pushing beyond it. Do you still feel connected to that scene, or do you see yourself operating in a completely different space now?
I am connected, I love people in the Grime scene, but the truth is people don't like me / understand me. So why would you want to be around a bunch of people that don't like or understand you. I hate competing, everyone acts as if they aren't but black people are pitted against each other as if we can't all win. No one wants you to do better than them, and I can't help but keep doing that, all just by leaning into who I am. All the older generation are legends who have done nothing but help me. That I'm grateful for. But it's crabs in a barrel and I am not even in the barrel let alone would I describe myself as a crab.
You've made moves outside of music as well, working with Fred Perry, appearing in stores globally. How does that feel, being an independent artist and still reaching that level of visibility?
It of course feels amazing by the grace of god that it's even possible. But I have a lot more to do in the world, regardless of music, I am a visionary.
From the outside, it looks like you are operating very independently. Do you have a team around you, or are you still handling most of this yourself?
I am the shepherd and the only person I need.
How important is that independence to you?
Very important. People say it to me as if being dependent is an option.
A lot of artists talk about wanting control, but not everyone actually follows through on it. What have you learned from doing everything yourself on a project like this?
I've done everything myself for most things I've ever done, every album. I've just learned to take time and polish, and create stronger singles. Every album improves in quality.
On the album you mention trying therapy. How did that compare to the therapy of creating art?
When I make music I don't wanna die anymore, it's as simple as that, I've done every possible thing to get support with mental health, the way the system tells you to, to no avail. God and music is the only medicine.
Right now we're seeing more artists move towards full independence, building their own worlds rather than fitting into existing ones. Do you feel like that's the future, or do you think there's still a place for the traditional system?
Surely that's a question for the labels who are all turning into distribution anyway. The jig is up, people know that the 'traditional system' is robbery. I wish that these business people realised that people just want something real.
And looking forward, what does the next phase look like for you after a project like this? Not just musically, but in how you live and create.
I just want to get on top of my health and continue healing, I am not UK-centric, I've been lied to my whole life that life there is as good as it gets. The internet is very powerful and I want to use it to my best. I just want to keep levelling up and keep being me.
If someone's coming into your music for the first time through Nature, what do you want them to take from it?
I don't know, it's a bit weird the way I think about it. I'm glad my music helps people but I don't do it for them or make it for them. It's for me.
SBK made Nature alone. The music, the visuals, the decisions. All of it, from the other side of the world, on his own terms.
It shows.
Nature is out now.
