“I’m not exactly selling sex so it isn’t that deep,” BXKS laughs, dispelling a narrative so often synonymous with her scene. If UK Rap was at one point a boys club, the emerging Rap connoisseur and her new wave contemporaries haven’t taken much notice. “I feel like my male peers respect me as a rapper, so I’ve never had to fight those battles and I feel like I’m very much listened to. Maybe it’s also the kind of way I carry myself,” she muses. “I’m kind of tomboyish.”

I’m in Wrexham, holed up in a less-than desirable Premier Inn, clinging onto what little connection my phone can muster as means to catch up with the Luton-born rapper. On the other end of the line BXKS is chirpy, breezily distracted. She has been busy of late after all, lending her feature acumen to the Alt-scene’s finest, releasing her third and by far most impressive EP, “One Time”, in late February 2024, and already working on a follow-up project. “The EP’s reception’s been great, so I’m feeling good. I just want to drop some new music to be honest.”

Over the past 18 months or so, thanks to features with Len, Joe James and p-rallel and the success of her new body of work, BXKS has become one of the most sought-after young British rappers outside of London. Her “character building” Luton upbringing allowed her to be close enough to the capital to travel in “for bants, for house parties and all that stuff,” in her teen years, but she’s never felt the need to move directly into the City’s postal enclaves, instead now residing in nearby Northampton, a town close enough to the big smoke to still easily commute in. She does, however, understand the significance that London has for a rising artist. “It’s the whole ‘big city, bright lights’ that’s London. If you want to make music you kind of have to come. You’re living in a dream world if you think you don’t need to be in London.”

BXKS’ musical origins revolve around freestyling with her friends. “We would link up, chill in the car. I didn’t know how to rap, it just used to be freestyles and I would never join in, I would just rap in my head. Then I realised that I was kind of good at it, and started writing bars,” she remembers on her unassuming pathway into the profession. “It happened quite randomly. I never wanted to be a rapper but here I am.” Since her inaugural days navigating the craft, Grime has proven a substantial influence for BXKS, as it has with a majority of post-Wiley British rappers. “I’ve been heavily inspired by Grime,” she says. “I was an MC when I first started, and one of the first features I did was on a [Grime legend] Capo Lee project. That was my first entry into the music industry. Grime music taught me how to rap.”

To read the full interview, pre-order the issue here.