Strandz is the type to stand unapologetically in his own lane. The South London artist raps, produces and crafts a uniquely open-hearted brand of hip-hop. To even categorise his music as one genre misses the point, though. Really, Strandz riffs on sonic textures rooted in his multinational and multicultural childhood, to create a dynamic sound that’s all his own. “My parents kept all of his different musical knowledge embedded in our lives’ – even though, for me, it felt subconscious at the time,” he says, reflecting on growing up with his German mother, Nigerian father and younger brother. “That’s now reflected in the things i’m interested in, and in the ways I like to fuse genres and combine sounds”.