Words BEN TIBBITS

From being a founding member of legendary grime collective Roll Deep to establishing a decorated career across radio and broadcasting, the legacy of DJ Target is unparalleled within the UK rap scene. A pioneering figure throughout the last two decades, the polymathic presence has championed Black music and culture and aided the rise of many of the movement’s biggest players.

These days, Target sits firmly in the driving seat when it comes to steering UK rap in the right direction. Since 2019, Target has—alongside esteemed duo Krept & Konan—presented and judged one of the UK’s most prominent music talent shows, The Rap Game. The project, now deep into its sixth season, sees the three industry heavyweights searching for the UK’s next best unsigned rapper, with contestants going head-to-head for a series of challenges to test their musical, lyrical and performance acumen.

The final of this season is airing on Tuesday 10th on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer, and with a £20,000 cash prize up for grabs and a mentorship scheme to help the winning artist create and launch their own music, the stakes are high.

Man About Town caught up with Target ahead of the climactic showdown, discussing the growth of the show across the years, dissecting the importance of tastemakers in the current climate, and reflecting on his own soaring legacy.

 How are you and how has your year been?
Yeah, I'm good. It's been another very busy year. I feel like this year has just gone so quickly as well. I've blinked and it's already November, so yeah, usually that's a sign that I've been really busy, so yeah, it's been a good year. It's been productive.

Congrats on the new series of The Rap Game UK. How are you feeling about sharing the new outing with the world?
Thank you. Yeah, this is series six. We've worked really hard on making this series the best one yet, making it fresh and exciting and we've got everything from brand new challenges to format plot twists to some amazing talent on the show. So, yeah, super excited for everyone to see the new one.

For Series 6, how has the show grown throughout its tenure and what is new for this specific series?
Every year we try to outdo the previous series and keep it exciting and fresh for the viewers and for the artists and for ourselves, being on the show. So, whether that's tweaking challenges, introducing new challenges, new elements, switching up the format. The last couple of years we've really got stuck in with, catching people off guard with plot twists and keeping people on the edge of their seats and letting the artists know that their position isn't safe in the competition. I think this year we go even deeper into that. And this year especially we wanted to focus really on the artistry and the creativity and try to really develop these guys as finished artists rather than just some talented rappers who deliver in challenges.

What does it mean to you, especially as a tastemaker, to be able to help launch the careers of the next generation of artists?
For me, it's always been so important to help to nurture new talent, to showcase it. I'm lucky enough to be in a position where I have multiple platforms now where I can share and showcase new music.

So The Rap Game UK has been incredible for being able to do that on a different type of platform, i.e. TV. And yeah, it's always exciting to see these guys enter the competition, fresh faced, a lot of them don't have a big following, they don't have massive experience. By the end of the show, their following's grown, their confidence is sky high, they're developed as an artist. The Rap Game UK really allows us to get stuck in in terms of mentoring these artists, helping them to become their best version of themselves.

When you’re judging the show do you have a criteria that you follow or do you go on instinct or perhaps a mixture of the two?
Definitely a mixture because we're dealing with different individuals, different artists.

No two artists are the same, so to have a strict criteria, we don't feel like it would make too much sense. Us being in the game for as long as we have, and gaining the experience we have, and Krept & Konan being artists, me being a DJ, showcasing new music, we feel like we've just got a lot of experience and a lot of, knowledge and we try and just bring that to the show in all aspects of whether that's in terms of judging the challenges, coming up with ideas for the challenges, or mentoring the artists, helping them to be better artists.

Yeah, it's definitely a mixture. We go into it open minded every year and every year we're dealing with six completely new artists who need different mentoring, who have different goals, who have different questions and advice that they want to get from us. So yeah, we just go in open minded every year.

Talk us through the process of working alongside Krept & Konan for the series. Why are the duo the perfect counterpart to yourself?
I think between the three of us, we manage to cover all bases. We've been doing this a very long time so, in terms of experience, achievements and having been there and done it and got the t-shirt, the various t-shirts, I think that alone brings a lot to the show, but then our dynamic as well, like we're actually friends outside of the show. Although we met through music, we met through me supporting their music early on back in the day, in the same way that I would be supporting these new artists, but our relationship blossomed and grew over the years. And doing the show with the guys every year brings us a lot closer. We just have so much fun doing it. We take it seriously, but we don't take ourselves too seriously. At the end of the day, this is an entertainment show as well. We don't go into it with a strict way that we work. We just kind of bounce off each other and our energy just kind of guides us to what we're going to do next. But yeah, we have a lot of fun filming the show.

Each episode features a guest mentor, what is the importance of these industry figures on the process as a whole?
I think the mentors are paramount as well. I think we, myself and Krept & Konan, are one thing that we bring, one aspect, but having a specific mentor for each challenge that's coming on to the show to help with that specific challenge, I think goes such a long way. And these guys are meeting, sometimes it's their idol, their favourite artists, or it's somebody who they look up to, respect, and somebody who has been there and done it, is talking from experience.

So it always goes such a long way. The artists always get really excited and motivated and inspired to perform well. We think it's another great aspect that the show brings.

Who do you think has been the best success story of the show so far?
It's hard to call it because there's been various artists who are still doing great things out there. I've seen people like Graft. I'll turn on the TV and he's on a Virgin Media advert, or I'll turn on the radio and he's on BBC World Service, or he'll drop a bunch of records, or he'll be working with Leeds United Football Club, and these are all massive opportunities that may not have happened if people didn't have the access to him via The Rap Game UK. Or we could talk about Lady Ice, who I know is constantly performing, and she's been putting in non-stop work since the show and has really gained a big following and is doing some great work.

As much as we haven't had a mainstream success story in terms of an artist that's come out of the show and gone to be number one in the charts or sold out an arena yet, I think the success so far for us has been seeing these artists become serious artists who can be outside of the show and have a career, can make some money and have great followings and enjoy themselves doing something they love.

So I think as much as we're always striving for the artists who win the show and all of the artists on the show to go on and do incredible numbers and have the like the real big success stories. I think we're still, you know, working towards that this year. I feel like you could see somebody who will come out of the show and do something crazy in terms of a real success story.

I think there's been various different levels of success that come from artists that featured in the show. And at the same time, some of the artists that have been on the show maybe haven't put in the necessary work post the show to really boost themselves, so they can work in both ways. I think the show is just the real starting point for these guys and the springboard, but the work kind of starts there and we're constantly saying to the guys, just being on this show isn't enough. When this show ends, you have to continue to just put in the work and work as hard as all of your peers, if not harder to make yourself a success. So I think we're well on our way to seeing someone do really big things though.

For you, what are the three main characteristics of a top-class rapper?
I think authenticity in terms of being true to yourself, whether that is talking about your challenging background or whether that is being the person who has a big female following and just caters mainly to females, wherever your authentic true self is, I think artists should look at that. And I think especially in the day and age we live in now, people want to see and hear authenticity.

Then there is the ability to rap well. I know that sounds silly, but that isn't necessarily a thing in all of the success stories we see today. And I'm not mad at that, you know, there's so many ways now people can become successful. But I think for me personally, I want a rapper who is able to wow me with their rap talent, whether that be their wordplay, their bars, their delivery, their voice, all of that goes into that category for me. So that's important.

And I think confidence, I think you've got to be able to, you've got to be able to show me that you believe in this before I can believe in it. And I think that goes from confidence when making your music in the booth, in the studio, to confidence on stage, to being able to show a crowd you are who you say you are, and I think all that comes with your confidence. So, yeah, authenticity, rap ability and confidence, I think are three very important factors.

If you had to pick three artists or DJs for a support slot, a headliner and an after party for the perfect show, who would they be?
You’re going to put me on the spot here. OK I’ll keep it UK rap specific to make it easier, since we’re talking about The Rap Game UK. So the support slot I would give to one of the artists who I think has had a great breakout year this year, I think a lot of people are excited about him including myself, so I'd put LeoStayTrill as a support slot. And the headliner, I'll put Krept & Konan because that makes perfect sense. And the DJ for the after party, uh, hello! I think we're going to have to go with DJ Target.

As a pioneer of grime and a champion of British black music, how do you reflect on your own legacy?
Wow. That's a big question. Um, I don't know, you know, I haven’t had that many opportunities to reflect and I'm always trying to look forward—it might sound a bit like a cheesy answer. I think people would probably say that my legacy is that I've been one of those guys who have always been there. I think people can see that I've always been somebody who supports new music. I've tried to help lift this culture, this whole UK thing as long as I can remember. I think 99 percent of the people that know me, know me for doing that. And just being true to the music, true to myself. But other than that, I'm trying to look for the next thing. I'm like, yeah, I'm a bit hyperactive like that.

What else have you got coming up personally outside of the show?
I've got a baby food brand that we launched earlier this year. So the healthiest, tastiest, most nutritious baby food brand that contains no sugar, salt, sweeteners, emulsifiers, preservatives, or any of the crap that's in everything else. So feel free to check that out. It's called Eden's Bloom. Other than that, all my music stuff is constantly ongoing, I'm on the radio five days a week, and we're doing some exciting things on the show. We're working on some other TV ideas that could come through next year. We're talking about potential, Rap Game UK spin off shows that, you know, we'd all love to see.

I'm making an album as well next year, so I'm going to be working with a bunch of artists, putting together some collaborations and putting out some music. So that's something I've not done in a long time, beyond the kind of production side of things. So I'm excited about that happening. And yeah, there's just always something going on, there's always something to juggle so Yeah, we'll see what else I can fit into next year.

The Rap Game UK continues on Tuesdays at 9pm on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer.