D Double E is a wiry presence on London’s grime scene, regularly delivering idiosyncratic verses and high-energy radio sets. Despite clocking over a decade in the game though, the east London MC has never released a solo album. That is set to change with the relentless Jackuum! due later this month. The energy running throughout the album is present in new single “Nang,” a collaboration with long-time collaborator Skepta for which the video is premiering via The FADER today.
“Nang” shows D Double E’s unique ability to utilize the energy of both a veteran and a newcomer at the same time. That energy is evident in “Nang,” a grime banger with a warehouse rave video to match. In the visual D Double E and Skepta lurk underneath blue lighting, delivering their verses with muscular precision while chaos rules around them.
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Speaking to The FADER over the phone in early January, D Double E says he feels he has something to prove, having waited so long to put out a full-length project. “This is the time where I come and give people music,” he said. “We’re going to package it up and it’s going to be the sickest shit.”
Read on for the full interview and watch the “Nang” video above.
“Nang” features Skepta who you have worked with many times before. What is your relationship with him like?
Me and Skepta have been friends for the longest, but we’ve never made a song that’s just me and him. I wanted to get closer with the artists I work with, so this is me and him going in back to back, keeping the energy tight and true to back in the day.
The song is taken from your debut album. Why is now the right time to be putting out your first full-length project?
I’ve been building a lot over the years and always felt like it was there. I just want to get my work out now. In some ways Jackuum! is more of a project than a full album though. To me, this is a batch of tunes that are going to get reloads in the club. When I think of an album I tend to think of something a little different. I call it an album because it’s not an EP and it’s not a mixtape. It’s the first of many though…
The first of many releases this year?
Yeah, I’ll be releasing another project this year. The next one is going to have a different feel. A smoker’s mood. I need to find a name for it.
Where do you see yourself in the grime music landscape. To a lot of people you’re an underappreciated figure…
I definitely consider myself as one of the greatest of all time. I can’t give myself that title though because of the work rate. You can’t get all the props if all you do is go on stage and spit. I want to be known for music and so that period is behind me. I need big music, big songs. I want to be running shit. I’m known as the greatest but when this [album] comes out it will show people why that is the case.
