{"id":2105972,"date":"2025-10-21T15:43:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T15:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2105972"},"modified":"2025-10-21T15:43:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T15:43:19","slug":"on-home-ground-knucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/on-home-ground-knucks\/","title":{"rendered":"On Home Ground: Knucks"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The blockbuster music video for Knucks<\/a>\u2019 recent single \u2018Goldtooth\u2019 sums up the vision behind the north-west London rapper\u2019s second studio album, A Fine African Man, due for release on 31 October. Flashing with gold jewellery, decadent club scenes, glamorous women and high-speed chases \u2013 brought to life by esteemed Nigerian filmmaker Director K \u2013 the highly cinematic Bond-themed film focuses on \u201cshowing Nigeria is a beautiful place\u201d, according to Ashley Afamefuna Nwachukwu (aka Knucks).<\/p>\n

After being sent away from London by his parents due to bad behaviour, the rapper spent a year living with extended family members in Enugu, Nigeria, between the ages of 11 and 12. Since then, the give-and-take relationship between Knucks, now 30 years old, and his ancestral home has continued to develop. In the past, he\u2019s touched on those connections in certain lyrics and skits like \u2018Bayteze Marriage Counselling\u2019 (which featured on his debut 2019 EP NRG 105) and \u2018Enugu\u2019 (part of 2020 follow-up London Class). But A Fine African Man \u2013 with its proud title that abbreviates to Nwachukwu\u2019s shortened Igbo name \u2018Afam\u2019 \u2013 is dedicated to documenting that relationship in greater depth than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was there originally, I was a meek little boy,\u201d he reflects, before discussing the \u2018Goldtooth\u2019 video. \u201cBut filming that video, I had a big crew working for me. There was a guy whose job was literally to show up behind me with a chair any time I was standing too long: it was a mad juxtaposition! That\u2019s what this project symbolises: how different I\u2019m now being seen because of all the work I\u2019ve put in. It felt good to be somebody that people looked to like, \u2018He\u2019s representing us over there.\u2019 I was proud to be coming back and giving work to my people.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long journey. After growing up in north-west London, spraying bars on his estate with mates and looking up to grime heroes like Ghetts and Wiley (as well as heavyweight US lyricists like Nas and MF Doom), Knucks released debut mixtape Killmatic in 2014. Having showcased his impressive storytelling skills, he started gaining serious plaudits outside his pocket of London when he landed on a smooth, jazz-flecked style of UK drill, developed in the late 2010s on tracks like \u2018Vows\u2019 and \u2018Home\u2019, alongside young saxophonist Venna, a longtime collaborator.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made a sound that didn\u2019t really exist, and to staple it, I had to make a project that solidified what I\u2019d brought to the table,\u201d recalls Knucks, sitting down with Rolling Stone UK in a plush scarlet studio space in north London. When the door swings open, he\u2019s hunched over a piano, locks hanging beneath a red Supreme cap, and a gold ring on one finger emblazoned with the tagline \u201cNoDaysOff\u201d, Knucks\u2019 record label and merch outlet. \u201cAlpha Place was that project,\u201d he says, referring to his 2022 debut album.<\/p>\n

While tracks like \u2018Vows\u2019, \u2018Home\u2019 and \u2018Standout\u2019 (featuring Loyle Carner) had blended jazzy horns with elements of hip-hop and drill production, and EPs NRG 105 and London Class established a smooth, laid-back rapping style, Knucks\u2019 debut album rubber-stamped the recipe that helped him break through: skippy hi-hat triplets, warm saxophone sequences and nuanced, intricately woven tales from the Alpha House estate in London\u2019s south Kilburn.<\/p>\n

\"(Picture:<\/span><\/div>\n

(Picture: Michelle Helena Jannsen)<\/p>\n

It was a huge success: Knucks\u2019 dedicated fanbase helped catapult Alpha Place to number three on the official UK charts, which, as an independently released debut record (dropped via NoDaysOff), is a serious achievement. The cohesiveness of the project \u2013 which uses skits, field recordings and clever lyricism with a razor-sharp understanding of when to withhold pieces of narrative and when to swing them like an axe \u2013 is key to that success. Alpha Place potently marked the story so far, but once it was out in the world, Knucks wanted to move on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t gonna fall into the trap of realising people liked me for one thing and leaning all the way into that and forgetting my identity before that,\u201d he explains. \u201cI knew I was gonna make a conscious effort to make the next project sound different. I needed to make something that has a different theme, with African influences, so people know \u2018OK, he does sonic concepts,\u2019 an overarching story that gives a theme, an experience rather than just listening to songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

To guide the process, he listened to old Nigerian and Ghanaian music, \u201clooking to find the patterns\u201d that would allow him to create an authentic sound that combined UK and Nigerian flavours. \u201cI feel like each genre has rules or patterns that make the genre the genre,\u201d he explains. \u201cWith drill, I found out what the rules were and used the hats, certain snares, a certain tempo\u2026 Now I know [the rules], I know how to adapt my style to it. [For A Fine African Man], I listened to a lot of current Afrobeats, just to understand vocally what I wanted from features, and what makes people think, \u2018This is a sick Afrobeats song.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

To sculpt this sound, he employed trusted producers like Beat Butcha, a close friend based in Los Angeles, who\u2019s known for making original samples from scratch for use in other people\u2019s tunes. This process helped create the hypnotising string loop that runs through album opener \u2018Masquerade\u2019. He also brought in renowned UK producers like Emil, Swindle and TSB, with the latter pair flying out to Jamaica for an inspiring period spent recording at GeeJam Studios in Portland. \u201cIt puts you in a different space just being in a hot country, where at night the environment has a life of its own,\u201d says Knucks.<\/p>\n

A Fine African Man\u2019s sonic landscape marks a significant change from Alpha Place, but in terms of narrative, there\u2019s a firm sense of continuity. Knucks points to his debut album\u2019s de facto closer \u2018Three Musketeers\u2019, which pays tribute to the rapper\u2019s dynamic trio of childhood friends and their reconnection.<\/p>\n

Referring to the song\u2019s lyric, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t ever have up and left if there wasn\u2019t a reason to,\u201d he says, \u201cI\u2019m talking specifically about my experience of going back to Nigeria. The friends that I had before I left, when I came back, they weren\u2019t living in my area anymore,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see this as me now directly addressing that and covering that part of my life, and giving people more context [as] to how they got the last album. Being in Nigeria was the first time I really listened to myself think and thought about things before I did or said them. When I came back, I was a lot more mature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"(Picture:<\/span><\/div>\n

(Picture: Michelle Helena Jannsen)<\/p>\n

It makes sense, then, that when putting together the album and its accompanying videos, Knucks was committed to giving back to the place that helped shape this more mature persona by working closely with Nigerian creatives. Rappers like Blaqbonez and Phyno feature on the record, while Director K\u2019s cast of creatives included a wide range of Nigeria-based photographers, art directors, stylists and makeup artists.<\/p>\n

This is part of a broader mission to reframe the country, subverting and countering ignorant European narratives about Africa. \u201cWhen I was younger, we weren\u2019t proud of where we were from because it was always depicted as the Oxfam adverts: kids with big bellies and flies on their faces \u2013 that\u2019s how people saw Africa and Nigeria,\u201d he explains. \u201cShowing it in a different light is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Central to that process of celebrating roots and finding pride in identity is Knucks\u2019 embrace of his Nigerian name. \u2018My Name Is My Name\u2019 sees him explore the sense of shame he used to associate with his name, reckoning with his own identity in lines like \u201cWas in the back of the lecture room getting my name wrong \/ Feeling like A-A-Ron \/ Now I\u2019m indoors with a bunch of awards with my long-arse African name on.\u201d <\/p>\n

Laced with a typical sense of humour but conveying a serious message about the journey he\u2019s embarked on over the years, it\u2019s lyrics like these that show why Knucks has built a reputation as one of UK rap\u2019s most immersive storytellers. He excels when it comes to painting vivid portraits of human connection, whether it\u2019s smoothly sketching out late-night liaisons with women or burrowing deeper into stories of generational exchange and grief. <\/p>\n

\u2018Yam Porridge\u2019 (featuring Tiwa Savage) uses comforting, homely food as a lens through which to explore these latter themes. \u201cFood is like music; it marks a point in time. If you listen to a song lots when you\u2019re going through an experience, when that song comes on, the feelings, memories and experiences come back up,\u201d reflects Knucks. Meanwhile, a track like \u2018My Name Is My Name\u2019 directs listeners\u2019 attention to an even more personal space.<\/p>\n

\"(Picture:<\/span><\/div>\n

(Picture: Michelle Helena Jannsen)<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though I try to be like an open book in my music, I\u2019m not the type of person to put too much of my personal stuff out there,\u201d he admits. \u201cBut I thought, \u2018If I\u2019m gonna do this, I have to put my whole self in it.\u2019 Funnily enough, my Nigerian name is Afamefuna, which means \u2018my name will never go away\u2019 or \u2018my name will never be forgotten.\u2019 But the first bit of my name literally translates to \u2018my name\u2019, so when I introduced myself at boarding school, I\u2019d say \u2018Afam bu Afam.\u2019 So the English translation is literally \u2018My name is my name.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s these layers of meaning, subtly obscured to many until you dig a little deeper, that make A Fine African Man a special project. While Alpha House was a sharp, targeted portrayal of an insular world, grounded in the cold, drizzly realities of a London housing estate, the scope of Knucks\u2019 second album is expanded massively. It encompasses multiple cultural identities, complex family histories and personal narratives. While there\u2019s an understated quality to his expression, Knucks is clearly aware of this lofty ambition \u2013 and the fact that it\u2019s lacking in some quarters of the UK rap scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like UK rap is in a weird place,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re very braggadocious in our music, and it\u2019s very hard for people to soften their hearts for someone who\u2019s bragging and boasting. But if you\u2019re on a more humble and relatable vibe, where you\u2019re just telling your honest truth, you\u2019ll reach out to people\u2019s human nature, and they\u2019ll see where you\u2019re coming from. That\u2019s why I made \u2018Home\u2019: to show an alternative perspective, to put a story behind the mugshots you\u2019re always seeing.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of artists make music based on what they think people wanna hear; they\u2019ll lean their music towards what seems to be popping,\u201d he continues. \u201cBut if it seems like nothing is really popping, it\u2019s kinda confusing for artists, and when something blows, a lot of people will just jump on it\u2026 There\u2019s not that much creativity or risk-taking. But hey, that just makes it easier for someone like me who\u2019s trying to take risks and be creative.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to help try to develop an imaginative generation of new artists, Knucks wants to create a team of innovative producers working under his NoDaysOff umbrella. \u201cThere\u2019s a whole generation of sick young producers with their own way of doing things, like Kare, who produced \u2018Nkita\u2019,\u201d he says. \u201cThese guys are the future. I wanna use my platform to help them, put them in the right spaces, and build the brand by finding people who are as hungry as I was at their age.\u201d<\/p>\n

That hunger \u2013 just like the pride he now has in his name, and the humility and gratitude that came from spending time washing his own clothes and living without comforts that are taken for granted in the UK, as explored in \u2018Cut Knuckles\u2019 \u2013 can be traced back to Knucks\u2019 year in Nigeria. At its core, A Fine African Man is an attempt to pay homage to that formative time.<\/p>\n

\u201cLearning how to live without the privileges we have here gave me a solid foundation, a sense of pride in the culture, and in doing things for myself,\u201d he says. \u201cWithout any of the possessions that I\u2019ve got since I started to get money, I was already blessed just to be here. When I deep it, I\u2019m proud of what we\u2019ve done, and I think this project is a good reflection of my home and my people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source uk.news.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The blockbuster music video for Knucks\u2019 recent single \u2018Goldtooth\u2019 sums up the vision behind the north-west London rapper\u2019s second studio album, A Fine African Man, due for release on 31 October. Flashing with gold jewellery, decadent club scenes, glamorous women and high-speed chases \u2013 brought to life by esteemed Nigerian filmmaker Director K \u2013 the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2105973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[346997,398540,25741,398542,398541,349076,26934],"class_list":["post-2105972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-debut-album","tag-knucks","tag-london","tag-london-class","tag-michelle-helena-jannsen","tag-nigeria","tag-uk"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/On-Home-Ground-Knucks.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2105972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2105972"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2105972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2105974,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2105972\/revisions\/2105974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2105973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2105972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2105972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2105972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}