The north Londoner is rooted in grime and hip-hop, but brings a world of other sounds to the party
When BenjiFlow was a youngster in Edmonton,
London, he aspired to be a grime MC – but you wouldn’t know it from how smoothly he sings, or how omnivorous his tastes are. The 24-year-old has been turning ears since his 2018 breakthrough single Deep End with songs that fit within the ever-evolving melange of the UK’s MC-led genres, R&B and West African-flavoured pop, but bring Brazilian samba and Afro-Cuban rhythms into the mix.
It took BenjiFlow time to find his voice, despite growing up in a Caribbean family where everyone sang. He played keyboards in church. He studied
music technology at uni and has worked with Wretch 32 and Avelino. You can tell he has a strong ear for beats from his recent, largely self-produced EP Benergy, on tracks like Can’t Lose, a galloping, flamenco-licked tune that shuffles like house and sashays like salsa.