ON HOME GROUND

After charting at number three with his sharp, London-centred debut album Alpha Place, Kilburn rapper Knucks has expanded his vision for second record A Fine African Man, to explore his ancestral home of Nigeria

- FRED GARRATT-STANLEY

The blockbuster music video for Knucks’ recent single ‘Goldtooth’ sums up the vision behind the northwest London rapper’s 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 — brought to life by esteemed Nigerian filmmaker Director K - the highly cinematic Bond-themed film focuses on “showing Nigeria is a beautiful place”, according to Ashley Afamefuna Nwachukwu (aka Knucks).

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’s touched on those connections in certain lyrics and skits like ‘Bayteze Marriage Counselling’ (which featured on his debut 2019 EP NRG 105) and ‘Enugu’ (part of 2020 followup London Class). But A Fine African Man - with its proud title that abbreviates to Nwachukwu’s shortened Igbo name ‘Afam’ - is dedicated to documenting that relationship in greater depth than ever.

“When I was there originally, I was a meek little boy,” he reflects, before discussing the ‘Goldtooth’ video. “But 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’s what this project symbolises: how different I’m now being seen because of all the work I’ve put in. It felt good to be somebody that people looked to like, ‘He’s representing us over there.’ I was proud to be coming back and giving work to my people.”