Meet the Professor

Not only is Professor Green a platinum-selling urban music artist, he's just been nominated for his first Brit award. I spoke to the fiery Londoner on his visit to Paris

To a French person who doesn’t know you, how would you describe your music?

I always leave that to other people to decide. Rapper, essentially, is what I do but it has melodies as well. I’d say it’s broader than just rap music because there are other influences in there as well.

Can you speak any French?

I’ve been to France before. But I left school when I was 13 so all I can remember is that “gomme” means eraser in French. Don’t know why that stuck in there but it did.

What’s it like rap-battling?

I’m surprised it didn’t send me grey! You don’t know what’s going happen going into it. You have ideas of what you’re going to say but you make things up on the spot. You never know which way it’s going to go.

Journalists compare you to Eminem. Does this comparison annoy you?

It doesn’t annoy me. Comparisons always come from people who are fans of Eminem not fans of the genre because they don’t know any other rappers to compare me to and then also there’s the skin colour thing. It seems too obvious.

Tell us about the influence that Lily Allen had over your career.

We met a couple of times through mutual friends and we were chatting on Facebook and I mentioned I had the rights to use the words for Dub Be Good to Me and she said it was one of her favourite songs. She wanted to sing the chorus so that we could sing it live together … then she asked me to go on tour with her to Australia!

If you could do a duet with anyone who would it be?

The idea of something might be really good but you have to have chemistry. I’d love to sing with Adele. I also really wanna collaborate with the Prodigy. That’s top of my list for the next record.

What’s it like to be nominated for a Brit award?

To be amongst them is wicked, man. Ed had a phenomenal year. Noel Gallagher has done incredibly well. I’m happy to amongst them. The important thing to me is that people keep responding to the music. The Brit nomination is a sign of that. It’s not the be all and end all but it’s good to get the nod and the recognition.

Journalists have described your work as “music for post-riot Britain”.What do you think of this?

Well my first album was released pre-riot, so unless I’m Nostradamus… It’s strange to be associated with the riots. I don’t preach but I do come from about five minutes from the place where the riots all began.

It seems like the UK is an angry place at the moment?

Yeah Britain is angry but a lot of a people don’t know how to communicate that anger. They’re not aware of what that anger is for.

What do you think of Twitter and Facebook?

Twitter and Facebook are strange beasts. I find it quite funny. It’s so easy to wind people up. It’s also sometimes a bit uninspiring. People who you've never met have access to messaging you. It makes me lose faith in people because there are so many idiots out there.

Does breaking America interest you?

We’ll be going to America. I’m really interested in it. It's the home of the music I make, however different. It’s what inspired me to make music. I’m excited to get out there. I've worked with a couple of American producers already [Eric Hudson of Kanye West's Flashing Nights track]. I was bouncing off the walls.

What do you think of British rap at the moment?

British rap is in a good place. We’re really finding our voice. There was that House, R&B fusion stuff that I hate, but it did open doors.

What do you do to relax?

On tour there’s so much promo. You might have to get from Newcastle at 1.am to London for T4 Stars of 2011 at 8.am, then the next day Top of the Pops…

You played Glastonbury this year. How was that? (laughs) Erm…

Not much memory of it?I remember a lot of it. Some of my friends and band members probably remember a little less than I do.

First published on Wordpress. Photo: EMI.