Jeshi’s debut album Universal Credit cemented him as a name to note in the British rap scene, delivering a narrative record documenting life in London, societal struggles and quintessentially British references (remember that Loose Women namecheck?) Three years on, the East London musician has returned with his sophomore record, Airbag Woke Me Up, channelling the same unflinchingly authentic storytelling but with a heightened tempo, propelled by electronica and rampant bass lines. 

Inspired by The Prodigy, Dizzee Rascal and Trip Hop, the inflexions of Jeshi’s sonic influences can be felt in defining tracks such as HURRICANE, EVERY DOG and YOU SNOOZE YOU LOSE. With a reputation for outstanding cross-genre collaborations – the likes of Celeste, Fredwave and Obongjayar – this record boasts another set of stellar partnerships, including Louis Culture, Sainté and J. Caesar. In the conversation below, we caught up with the musician ahead of his album release to chat about his sound evolution and London’s ever-shifting landscape.

Ella Joyce: How and when did the album begin to take shape?
Jeshi: The album all came together over a few months at the start of last year. I did a week in the studio here in London with a lot of close friends and collaborators, then did the same just outside of Paris.

EJ: What’s the story behind the album’s title, Airbag Woke Me Up?
J: It came from me explaining to a friend the story of falling asleep and crashing my car when I was eighteen, and it just stuck. It’s really a metaphor for how bad things in life give you that awakening and charge you up, which is how I wanted to make this album sound.

EJ: This album feels different to your debut record Universal Credit, how do you feel your sound has evolved over the past few years?
J: While there’s still a lot of emotion and storytelling in the writing, I wanted to experiment with more abrasive and electronic sounds on this record to create a new sonic world – something that still feels really relatable, but charged up.

“It’s really a metaphor for how bad things in life give you that awakening and charge you up”

EJ: Who were your sonic influences when you got into the studio?
J: I was really inspired by The Prodigy, Dizzee [Rascal] and Trip Hop on this album.

EJ: There are so many standout tracks on the album but STUCK ON LOOP and CALLED ME INSANE are some personal favourites, what can you tell us about the influences behind these tracks?
J: Those are two of my favourites as well. CALLED ME INSANE was Elijah [Waters] re-sampling a demo he’d done, it came together really quickly with Dom [Valentino] working on it too. STUCK ON LOOP was the last song we actually did for the album. It was the night before we had to leave the house we were staying at in Paris, Dom started going through the record collection and stumbled across This World on Selah Sue’s album [Raggamuffin], which had us all going mad. When we got back to London we had LEILAH come to the studio and finish it with us. It’s a very special song to me.

“London is my biggest influence… It’s important to me that it sounds like the city.”

EJ: You’ve recently released an accompanying video to the track SCUMBAG and the visuals are great, what was the inspiration behind that?
J: SCUMBAG is all about childhood and running around getting up to no good, there’s a certain beauty in that which you lose as you grow up. Will Dohrn directed the music video, and the idea behind it was really bringing the image of the album cover to life in a special way.

EJ: You’re from London, how does the city translate through your music?
J: London is my biggest influence, its sounds and feelings are absorbed into the DNA of my music, and everything I do. It’s important to me that it sounds like the city.

Airbag Woke Me Up is out now, check Jeshi out on Instagram here.