After a year of internet-breaking singles that have brought him under the spotlight of the industry, Nori prepares to drop his first mixtape this October. In our conversation with the ‘video game’ rapper, we discuss the project’s themes, sounds and what he wants listeners to take away from his music.
If you’re a rap or grime fan in 2026, the year has been treating you well. Countless drops from the scene’s next generation of MCs have been capturing audiences far and wide, bringing in eyes and commentaries on the UK rap scene renaissance. Once on the periphery listening to Skepta, Chip, AJ Tracey and more was Nori, and with the announcement of his debut mixtape file_1, he finds himself at the centre of the conversation.
Joining a call from Westfield after handing in his upcoming project and sporting a trademark fitted hat, he reflects on his journey so far. “I think the best way to describe it is surreal and normal at the same time. You kind of have to show up for yourself everyday and when it starts working, you realise you’re not crazy. All of my older aspirations are now real life goals that are doable,” he says.
Nori’s dreams of becoming a successful artist were always meant to happen, even when life made it impossible to have that foresight. That empowering delusion carried him through his time experiencing homelessness, through personal losses and repeated cyclical uncertainty. Having a chat with the St. Albans-born rapper or seeing his Instagram, you’d think the adversities that surrounded him never existed.
Combine a multitude of genre-varying tracks with this mindset and you have the Nori method to going clear. Starting off with his 2025 release miss_u_2, the producer and occasional DJ has been building the world that fans across the UK have become citizens of this year, dropping garage banger i_ain’t_fly (G6) with Kori, dark synthy number hell0_hi and bassline throwbacks with shake_leg and latest single the_1, produced by veteran TS7.
The latter’s been accompanied by a music video directed by frequent collaborator Rino Sison and sees the rapper moving between stark urban backdrops, firing bars at the lens while warped visual effects and retro film textures give the whole thing a raw, analogue feel reminiscent of early Channel U music videos. It stands as the last entry to his Zelda-inspired project, which drops on 23 October.
We caught up with Nori ahead of a busy season of dropping music, touring and redefining what it means to be a rapper…
Alongside announcing your project, you’ve also dropped the music video for “the_1”, how did that collaboration with TS7 come about?
Nori: It was honestly a case of many stars aligning. He’s obviously a legend and we’d already interacted with each other’s posts online after which his manager reached out to mine because he needed vocals for his tracks. I’ve always produced everything for myself so to do one of my first proper collab sessions with TS7 was so sick, he’s a lovely guy and we had great chemistry in the studio. The_1 is actually the second song that we made ‘cause we finished one within 45 minutes. We started this one from scratch and it was really fun because the stress of making an official track was gone. We actually recorded it in the same studio space where G6 was mixed!
This marks your second experiment with bassline after April’s shake_leg. What makes the genre so fun to work with for you?
Nori: Bassline is one of the most fun genres to ever exist. I’ve always loved it because the soundscape is very similar to grime, it’s just a skippier version of all the sounds that I really love. To me it’s the fun cousin of grime and since I’m always so grime-centric, it’s always fun to put my head back and do some bassline stuff. I love mixing it as well when I’m DJing. I get comments all the time, where people are like, this is the stuff I used to listen to on the way to school back in the day. I love to see people that were part of that era before, tap in with what I’m doing.
Apart from “the_1”, almost all of your tracks are self-produced. What is your personal method of producing? Do you like to produce more at home or on the road?
Nori: The way that my brain works, I have a sample-esque way of operating when constructing a song. I find a sound that I like, sample it, maybe sing some vocals and play around with the pitches to make the song really interesting. A lot of my songs have a lot of structure, there’s breaks, beat switches, a lot of different elements that I like to play around with. With this project, that process will be very evident. I do most of my production at home to be fair. I’m very grateful that I’m travelling a lot now so I’m slowly getting into the swing of being able to produce while I’m on a flight or train, adjusting my brain to produce in different scenarios. Ideally, I’d usually rather be in my room, with complete silence, have my phone off and just get to work.
You’ve been touring quite a lot this year, doing festivals home and abroad, and you’ll be supporting Kibo and Songer on their tours later this year. How important is it for you to take your music live as an MC?
Nori: It’s super important for me because no matter what people see online, I’m still a human being at the end of the day, I’ve still got work on Sunday. I hate the traditional tropes of how rappers should act online. I’m a very outgoing person and I love meeting new people and to be able to connect with people over my music makes this whole thing feel very real. I want to be able to build a relationship with my fans in a way that even if Mark Zuckerberg shut off Meta, I’d still have a community.
What’s been your favourite moment on the road this year?
Nori: I did a show in Czechia on the Poland border where I thought the people wouldn’t recognise my music and it’d be their first time hearing what I make. There’s about 200 people there and these four guys come up saying they’ve driven all the way from somewhere to come see me. After a while almost everyone in the venue said the exact same thing and I was just blown away. It went from, it’s pretty cool I get to play in Czechia to what do you mean there’s people out here that know me and came to see me? That whole experience was pretty surreal.
The project is going to be out by the time you start touring in November. What themes are you going to be exploring through it and what do you want people to take away from it?
Nori: The project will deal with a lot of stories and lessons that I’ve learned about my life and experiences that have made me feel certain ways and portraying that through song. Being a big Zelda nerd, when you start the game and click on the first save called file 1, it’s the first time you’re entering that world and I want people to have that same feeling. I want people to be able to see things in themselves by listening to me being vulnerable. A lot of the music people find relatable is when someone’s just talking about their lives, that rawness brings the best out of me.
Often times people get so caught up in their lives and if there’s something I want my project to do, is to remind people to live. Sometimes you get so caught up in life that you forget to live, living for the next paycheck, that job, uni, whatever it is. I talk a lot about my aspirations and reflecting on my own hard times so I hope people feel alive after listening to the project.
Every song is super important, even if it’s a silly one like shake_leg, because you have to remember to have fun in life. Being present in your own life is something that I’m always advocating for and I hope with this project people are able to step back and look at their lives a bit more closely.
A big part of your personal story is experiencing homelessness. How do you think that period affected the way you see rapping?
Nori: That situation had two effects. First, it made me very grateful for life. Secondly, it gave me a second chance, seeing everything was in front of me. Rarely in life are you given an opportunity to have a factory reset. Weirdly, I got the chance to figure out my path again and it instilled a hunger within me that I need to do everything I can to make this work, especially seeing some of the earlier tracks blow up.
It also gave me the foundation for this project. If I was going to be vulnerable and share my struggles with people, I had to give people a body of work they can be a part of. When I was finally in a position where I had a place to stay, could afford videos, I was on go, making sure everything’s in place, dropping as much as possible. I literally planned this project since the start of last year. I’m also a very driven person so I knew I was going to get up and change things regardless of someone telling me to or not. I’ve got so much more to do, so much more to prove, so much more to say.
You’ve certainly built up the Nori brand this year, singles, music videos, socials, radio freestyles have all been on the table. How important is creative independence and are there any other creative outlets you’d want to try your hand at?
Nori: A lot of the creative direction for my world came as a result of studying fashion at uni, it really instilled in me how to properly create and direct. Since I creatively direct all the music videos and social media content, it all starts with me and makes it really fun, I enjoy making things that people really resonate with.
I would love to do clothes and create more merch but I’m just so busy. If at some point I’m not working on all the other stuff, I’d be eager to start doing my own fashion line, that’s definitely an aspiration to work for. For the time being, I’m just gonna be wearing the clothes.
Finally, if you had to describe the project in three words, what would they be?
Nori: I’ve really never thought of that before, you’ve put me on the spot! Taking into account the stories and production, I’d say the best words would be: raw, honest and powerful.