How Strandz became London’s most romantic rapper

Welcome to a weekly instalment of 100%, where we ask some our favourite rising musicians a bunch of questions to get to know them (and their weird habits) a bit better.

Rapper Strandz knows a thing or two about romance.

“Yeah, I’d call myself a hopeless romantic,” he says, Zooming in from the driver’s seat of his car (don’t worry, he’s parked). The 21-year-old is dropping in for a quick interview before hitting his local London gym.

Over the past few months the German-born Strandz has blown up on TikTok with his single Us Against the World. It’s a Smokey Robinson-sampling earworm reminiscent of golden era ​’90s hip-hop that just so happens to sound like a love letter to his girlfriend: ​“It’s us against the world /​Us against the ghetto /​Us against the police /​Us against this hellhole /​Damn, I love you girl”.

Determined to reach virality, Strandz has used the song to soundtrack almost every video he’s posted on the platform – usually ones of him and his girlfriend visiting Amsterdam, London’s Winter Wonderland or climbing in the Peak District. You know, #couplegoals stuff. And his fanbase can’t get enough. In fact, Strandz just got back from shopping for his girlfriend’s birthday gift. ​“I got a couple things…” he says, coyly.

The rapper’s grafted hard to get his music heard. After moving to a ​“rough area” of South London from Nigeria as a kid, Strandz decided not to partake in some of the ​“stuff” that was going on around him. Music was more important.

“I didn’t have that mentality that a lot of people around me had, that the ends or London is the world,” he continues. ​“I think that helped me from early on. I ended up being the guy that was fully legit.”

And so, aged 14, he took up part-time engineering by working in a recording studio, then later enrolled at the BRIT school, around the corner from his house. Strandz learned the piano just for the audition, and got in. ​“That opened my eyes to different genres and I started to understand music from a technical perspective. From there, I’ve been working, working, working.”

Strandz’s own musical taste is unexpected, running the gamut from Afrobeats legend Orlando Julius to R&B princess Jhené Aiko and, unexpectedly, Canadian folk-pop singer, Feist.

“That’s thanks to my mum!” he says, laughing. ​“I didn’t used to be that into her, but when I rediscovered Feist a couple of years ago I was like, damn, this is actually hard. Her music just calms me down.”

Less of a wild card, but no less exciting, the Digga D remix of Us Against the World dropped yesterday. Stream, share, go wild – there’ll be plenty more where that came from. But for now, get the lowdown on Strandz below.

10% Where were you born, where were you raised and where are you now based?

I was born in Germany and lived there until I was around five or six. Then I moved to Nigeria for six months – I learned English there. Then from Nigeria I came to South London, where I’m based now.

20% If you were cooking food to impress someone, what would you make?

I’m a bit of a cook, actually! So probably some jollof rice, honey and garlic lamb chops, avocado and garlic-infused mayonnaise or something.

30% What’s a piece of advice that changed your life?

I don’t know if there’s a specific piece of advice that changed my life, but definitely reading [classic 1937 self-improvement text] Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill [and Rosa Lee Beeland]. That had a big impact on how I see stuff.

40% If you ruled the world for a day, what would go down?

I’d probably focus on the motherland, you know, stopping a lot of the corruption there, the extortion, neo-colonialism and that.

50% What’s a bad habit that you wish you could kick?

Sometimes I can’t enjoy my free time. I always feel like I should be doing something, like I’m on overdrive. I need to stop doing that.

60% Love, like, hate?

I love my girl, I like food, I hate parking tickets.

70% How did you celebrate your last birthday?

My girl took me out to do bare things that I enjoy. We went to some VR place, for food and ice-skating.

80% Do you believe in horoscopes?

I love that stuff.

90% If you could go back in time and watch a musician perform, who would it be?

Either Michael Jackson or Fela Kuti, ideally both at the same time. Or Bob Marley.

100% What do you think artists can do to help save the world?

Call out the bullshit and be the voice of the people.