‘I didn’t know why’: Rapper Giggs on being banned from shows for 10 years

Rapper Giggs has said he “didn’t know” why he was unable to perform on TV and radio shows for a decade early on in his career.

The 42-year-old said the UK’s mainstream music scene was uncomfortable with him rapping about gang culture when he was starting out.

Speaking at Advertising Week Europe, he said: “Obviously, I was coming from like the gang culture, rapping about that when I brought that into the UK mainstream.

“Now I’m older, I know there was a lot of fear. It was on their doorstep now, like it was alright to watch it in America and stuff like that, but now it was like, ‘no, no we don’t (want that).

“And then there was a lot of the police getting involved and saying, ‘yes, stay away from him’, so it was hard.

“I was banned from a lot of stuff and I didn’t know why, like it was a lot of radio or TV.

“I couldn’t do shows for like 10 years.”

The rapper went on to say that despite it being “frustrating at times” it was “better than the streets”, which motivated him to keep going.

He added: “That stuff was nothing to me, if I’m completely honest, it was a bit frustrating at times, but if I failed, no one was going to end up dead or in jail or anything.”

Giggs has had two top five albums, 2016’s Landlord and 2017’s Wamp 2 Dem, which both reached number two in the UK album charts.

He is also known for his 2007 song Talkin’ Da Hardest, which was produced by Dr Dre as well as 2010’s Don’t Go There featuring BOB.

The rapper also features on Drake’s 2017 songs KMT and No Long Talk.