Photo by Alex Sturrock
I was having dinner with my estate agent the other night and we got talking about the glory days of property relocation, when influential young media types were flocking to East London and Foxtons commanded a fleet of pimped-out Minis. This seemed to coincide with every broadsheet claiming that E3’s Roll Deep were the “future of young London” and soon Dizzee Rascal’s “Fix Up, Look Sharp” became the unofficial anthem of modern loft conversions. Fast forward three years and these first-time buyers are sick of picking Perfect Fried Chicken boxes out of their front gardens and getting jacked for their iPods on the 55 bus route. It seems the time has finally come for the yuppies to migrate North. So step forward N15’s Scorcher, who along with his Cold Blooded crew, happens to be the hottest and hardest MC on road right now. With lyrics like “Man carry big heavy metal like Guns N’ Roses / I’ll open your chest like it was the Red Sea and my butterfly knife was Moses”, we’re convinced this guy is the next Kano and if my estate agent is correct you’ll be reading about him in The Guardian any day now. The only problem is, unlike Kano, when he says he’s going to cut your face open, we believe him, and the kid can’t seem to stay out of trouble. We met up with him the night before a court appearance, where he was facing a possible lockdown. He was really nice and even played along with our Food theme.
Vice: Nigella Lawson is my favourite chef. Her book has taught me everything I know about food. Do you know much about food?
Scorcher: I know everything about food. I know about moving food [selling drugs]—big bits to little bits, hard food to soft food. I can cook you up anything. I can supply all kinds—if it’s food for your belly or food for your pocket. I used to move food, now I move units. My favourite food is chicken and class A.
My family are Irish, so I grew up on Irish stew. What do you think of stew?
I love a bit of stewed chicken. Any time my mum’s cooking stew, I make sure I’m involved with that still. Music’s a bit like stew—it’s not always the quickest process, you’ve gotta be patient and simmer it down. It takes time, ya know.
If you have to go down tomorrow, are you having stewed chicken as your last meal?
Nah, I’m gonna keep it righteous, ya get me? I’m gonna go out Jesus-stylee—fish and bread like the Last Supper. Or if it’s early, maybe just some cereal.
SHANTY MEDDLER
Scorcher’s mixtape Simply The Best: Volume 1 is out in March. Scorcher will be out very, very soon we hope.
