FEATURE:
Spotlight
on the sensational Pozer. Tyrone Paul is a British rapper from Croydon, South London. The artist gained success and attention after his debut single, Kitchen Stove, peaked at number twenty-two on the UK Singles Chart. His E.P., Against All Odds, was released in February. It is an incredible release. Pozer is a Drill talent that incorporates Jersey Club. A unique and fascinating artist who is going to go a long way. I am going to get to a few interviews. I want to start out with one from last year from NME. I only recently discovered Pozer but I can recognise he is someone who is a vital and powerful voice in modern Drill:
“What made you want to fuse UK drill with Jersey club?
“I was paying attention when the New York drill scene was coming up. There’s a batch near Harlem called The Sweepers – and they do this Jersey-style drill, full-on – so I’m bumping their tunes, taking in how energetic the songs are. But I’m also taking in how atmospheric Jersey club can be, deeping how jumpy the drum patterns are.
“I’m feeling the Jersey-style beats but thought, ‘Hah I can’t do the full on American style – the screaming – because that’s not me.’ If I do my ting in the typical UK drill sense, it’s not going to be widely acceptable and it’ll be oversaturated. I thought I could merge the Jersey club wave with my UK heritage and see what happens.
“With my beats, I met [producer] RA [‘Malicious Intentions’] through my manager. I dug through a lot of these beats and his beats stuck out to me the most. Young Madz [‘Kitchen Stove’] is a magician too, I tell him what I want, we run through drums, pick which ones we like the most and he makes the magic happen.”
Are there any other types of experimental beats you’ve rapped on?
“I’m a rapper’s rapper. I did it boom-bap style but it goes over people’s heads. I got a song where I remixed Luther Vandross’ ‘Never Too Much’ too.”
Credit: Press
Who’s on your Mount Rushmore of UK rap?
“Skepta, JME, D Double E, Ghetts.
“My favourite is JME but I rate the whole of BBK. [JME] really set the lane, he would rap about nerdy shit but you could tell he grew up in ends. When I was young, me and my uncle would watch Channel U and that’s where it came from – the sets on the rooftops, Crazy Titch’s flows, bare man squashed in a basement spitting – that’s the essence. It set the tone for me to be in the position with the advancements and with the internet, they’ve already paved the road for me to run.”
Have you done any live shows?
“I’ve done one or two little open mics before Kitchen Stove. It was good, I got a lot of love. It’s nerve-wracking when you first start but that’s why I needed to push through and just do it – you can’t get too comfortable in your comfort zone in situations like that and I learned there’s many levels to performing, engaging with the crowd and breath control.
“Me, personally, I’ve never been gone to shows really but allow going to a show as a fan and I’m having to sing your songs to your face when I can do that at home for free? I want people to make me stay on the stage. I want them to experience something and think, ‘Rah my man performed, the show was banging, the tunes were lit’”.
I am going to move on to a conversation with i-d. After Pozer’s first two singles set records, with the release of Puppies, this artist was stepping into the big leagues. Pozer plays Reading & Leeds in August. I can see him playing a lot of festivals in years to come. If you have not followed Pozer on social media then make sure that you check him out. The sound he is creating is unlike anything I have heard. I am excited to see where he heads:
“His confidence in his voice is unmistakable, bolstered by the fact that he became the first UK rapper to have his first two singles chart simultaneously in the UK charts — no small feat for an artist still in the infancy of his career. But “Puppies”, for Pozer, is more than just another song. It’s a statement of intent. “I’ve worked very hard to be here,” he says of his rise. “Everything else before was an introduction.”
Growing up in an estate in Croydon, south London, as the eldest of 11 siblings — he has ten younger sisters — Pozer slipped easily into the role of older brother. “I was very responsible,” he says. “I wouldn’t call it a burden. Pressure makes diamonds, and even before the rap, I was under pressure.”
Pozer’s first foray into music came from informal cyphers with friends. “We’d just spit bars on the way to places, but no one was recording anything,” he says. “I didn’t do open mics, and I didn’t go to many concerts.” When most of his peers were out partying or hitting the club, Pozer stayed home. “My parents always wanted to know where I was, so I kept it low-key,” he says. “When I should have been out partying, I was working, writing. My music is my life.”
“I was working and this man recognised me from TikTok. I couldn’t get my head around it.”
Pozer observed the stark wealth disparity that existed in London, and how “the fine line between having and not having” influenced everything around him; that divide would go on to drive him to keep his head down and write about his experiences and his life. “Life moves fast,” he says. “Either you’ve got money, or you don’t, but you learn from the struggles: I wrote about my day-to-day, about the experiences I’ve been through.”
A series of freestyles in 2018 on TikTok found Pozer a bit of a following. There were early comparisons to UK heavyweights like Fredo, Nines and Skrapz. With gritty beats and raw lyricism, his sound echoed the sounds of Chicago drill pioneers like Chief Keef, Lil Reese and Young Chop. But it was the breakout hit “Kitchen Stove”, released this past February, that truly established Pozer’s place in the UK rap scene, peaking at No 22 on the singles chart. Two months later, he followed it up with “Malicious Intentions”, a sharp, sleek track that landed at No 41.
These two songs touch on the quintessential Pozer style: music that blends the kinetic energy of Jersey club with the realism of UK drill, creating a sound that’s tense and visceral, and which prioritises ceiling-threatening basslines. “I can just hear it – the pocket. I’ve always had that ability. Play anything, even Rick James, and I’ll find the pocket to rap over it,” he says. “Writing has always come naturally to me. Music was always loved in my family, but no one took it seriously. I did.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Nelta Kasparian
True to that bravura, Pozer’s flow feels effortless, but it communicates vivid depictions of the life he’s left behind: “I sauced my first blade at nine / At the age of 12, slap bine, 15, beat a court case,” he raps on “Kitchen Stove”.
After the success of his first two singles – as well as a warm response to their follow-up, “I’m Tryna”, the veil between fame and obscurity started to wear thin. Suddenly, Pozer was leading a double life: working at a paint store while also seeing a new path unfold before him. “It was crazy, you know,” he says. “One day, I was at the store and this grown man recognised me, and said, ‘I see you on TikTok.’ I couldn’t get my head around it because a lot was happening very quickly.”
He’s now found himself in increasingly rarefied spaces: earlier this year, Pozer was in Paris for fashion week, hanging out with AJ Tracey, a longtime inspiration. “When I first heard him, I was like, ‘Oh, he’s hard’,” Tracey says. “Reminds me of me a lot: deep voice, that cadence and flow, clarity where you can hear every word. It sounds like proper British music.”
When Tracey and Pozer met, Tracey gave him a piece of advice: to take care of his newfound wealth by learning financial literacy skills. “I’m not trying to big bro him,” Tracey says via phone interview. “He’s his own man, but I just thought it would be helpful if I say to him, ‘Yo, look, there are a couple of the things that you need to be working on to make sure that all this success that you’re due to have, God willing, the funds are channelled into the right places.’
“It’s very important that I pass that on to people who are going through the same kinds of motions,” he continues. “When I was younger and I was coming up, no one did that for me, bro. It’s about paying it forward.”
For Pozer, who spent his first paycheck from music on “rent, buying out JD and Foot Locker”, it was wise counsel. “Rap doesn’t last forever,” says Tracey. “So you need to make sure that you know on the flip side you’re good, otherwise you don’t want it to be for nothing.”
Even as Pozer’s star has risen, he’s stayed committed to perfecting his craft. Every detail, whether in his music or his visuals, is meticulously planned. “I know who I am and what I’m trying to get across. I set the foundation, and my team and I build from there. We’re perfectionists, always pushing ourselves to raise the bar,” he says. “Whether it’s a Jersey beat or something different, it has to be at 110%”.
I am going to wrap up with an interview from Rolling Stone UK from earlier this year. Blending the harder-edged and moody U.K. Drill with the syncopation of Jersey Club, it has allowed Pozer to engage with a wider audience. Against All Odds is a lighter and perhaps more accessible version of Drill. It still holds huge power. Pozer is now an award-winning artist and chart success. It is clear that his sound has struck a chord with so many people:
“Meshing together the moody atmosphere of UK drill and the upbeat, bouncily syncopated kick formulations of Jersey Club (which emerged from Newark, New Jersey, in the early 2000s) has allowed Pozer to appeal to a wide audience. Before the release of ‘Kitchen Stove’, he built huge anticipation by posting snippets of the track on social media, and when he shared his second single ‘Malicious Intentions’ a few weeks later, he became the first UK rapper in history to have their first two singles chart in the Top 40.
The 22-year-old tends to keep a low profile, but this kind of success doesn’t go unnoticed. In February, he beat big-name nominees like Central Cee, Headie One and K-Trap to win Best Drill Act at the MOBO Awards, and his position at the forefront of Rolling Stone UK’s Future of Music list for 2025 represents another landmark achievement. Elsewhere, on collaborations with artists including AJ Tracey, Nemzzz and JS x YD, he’s stuck to his distinctive sound while reaping the lyrical rewards of hours spent chilling with friends as a teenager, competing over who had the best eight-bar.
Satiating fans’ calls for new music, Pozer has just dropped his debut project Against All Odds, a four-track mixtape focused on the significant changes he’s been going through lately. It’s purposeful and forward-thinking, laced with hopeful bars like “Trials, tribulations, strife and struggle / I come from the dirt, mud, rubble… take risks and I make stacks double” and “I used to bruck down packs in tens / And now I get paid for spitting out gems.” At a poky cafe/bar in Hoxton — a slightly confused cross between a cocktail-centric tiki bar and a gentrified east London cafe — Pozer explains the project’s key objectives.
“The whole tape is there for inspiration value,” he says. “It’s for every yout from the ends that’s tryna do more than what is stereotypically shown. Against All Odds is on the lighter side of what we know as drill… most guys don’t wake up in the morning listening to drill, so I wanna shine a light on the other side of the people who come from these places but don’t 100 per cent resonate with everything drill as a subculture has to offer. I’m shining a light on me and everyone else living normal lives, talking about your habits, and [about] breaking bad ones.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Ryan Saradjola
That theme is central to tape opener ‘Habits’, which sees Pozer rap: “Badness, from a yout I’ve been on badness / I’ve shed blood, sweat, tears / And still I ain’t shed these bando habits”, storming through confessional bars on top of a chunky, industrial, Mumdance-esque beat. The Croydon-raised rhymer recently followed through on this desire to break habits by moving to north-west London, in search of a fresh chapter in his life.
While Pozer didn’t view music as a serious career option until last year, he’s been creating it for as long as he can remember. “My earliest step was drums, I used to bang on everything, so my mum bought me a drum set for my birthday. That was my first introduction to music; then I hit seven, eight or nine, and I started seeing my uncle using [production software] Fruity Loops and listening to music on his iPad. I grew up on the essence: poor recording quality, hearing guys spitting bars, and being like ‘Yeah, I know him from down the road, fam,’ you know when it hits home who these people are and where they’re coming from.”
A love affair with grime ensued. Pozer started hoovering up old DVDs of rooftop clashes, high-energy live sets and behind-the-scenes footage showing MCs like Crazy Titch chilling on the block or walking their dog. Since he was young, he’s loved the raw energy and dynamism of artists like JME, Skepta, Wiley and Kano, and in his clean, urgent delivery you can spot solid traces of this heritage. Sonically, there are also parallels with the kinds of dark, ominous flavours that define grime beats by producers like Rude Kid or Sir Spyro, lurking in the murky synth chords of tracks like ‘Malicious Intentions’ and ‘Puppies’. The man responsible for crafting most of Pozer’s instrumentals is RA.
“You have to shout out RA the God, he’s pivotal!” Pozer enthuses. “I met him through my manager sometime after the ‘Kitchen’ snippet was doing well. He’s a magician. For the sound I was trying to make, he understood everything, and he understood what I wanted to portray on the beat. For me, you have to talk to me outside of music to understand what I’m trying to do with the music, and he’s a man I can have those conversations with.”
Pozer’s close relationship with RA has helped spawn a futuristic sound that’s often guided by long, drawn-out synths that ooze and fizz, and tightly compressed, generously scattered kicks that build tension. The focus on creating suspense is replicated in recent visuals; the blockbuster music video for ‘Shanghigh Noon’ (directed by Red Moons and Arseni Novo) takes the track’s East Asian-inspired central melody and constructs a dramatic, fast-moving shootout sequence that speaks to the high production quality of UK rap videos today. For Pozer, it’s all about making the videos “a strong depiction of the lyrics”, building a world that extends beyond the four tracks of his debut tape.
There are certain parallels to be made between Against All Odds and other recent UK rap projects with an experimental sci-fi-esque tint, like CASISDEAD’s Famous Last Words or Jawnino’s 40. It’s not outlandish to say that what links these sounds is a desire to reach beyond a difficult or underwhelming reality, and grasp something otherworldly.
So, what does success look like in 2025? “I’m adjusting on the go, brushing shoulders with people who are setting the tone for my behaviour, and trying to soak up as much information as I can wherever I go and apply it elsewhere afterwards,” he says. “I just wanna do more musically, and I wanna have bare fun with everyone that’s got man to the position I’m in now”.
I am going to end things there. If you are new to the amazing Pozer – like me -, then I would urge you to check his music out. Having completed a strong of gigs and more ahead, this is a very busy time for him. I know the rest of this year is going to see new fans and success come his way. I think that we all should investigate and respect an…
INCREDIBLE voice in British Drill.
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Spotlight Pozer
