From his East London roots to becoming a pioneer for early UK grime, DJ Target’s journey is a testament to passion, resilience, and an unshakeable commitment to music. A founding member of the collective Roll Deep, Target, was instrumental in shaping the genre’s foundations, helping transform grime from a raw underground sound into a globally respected genre.
As a presenter on BBC Radio 1Xtra, Target now uses his voice to champion new talent. Whether spotlighting emerging artists or celebrating the legends who paved the way, he’s carved out a space that bridges generations. “It’s about creating a balance,” he says, reflecting on his role as both a tastemaker and a gatekeeper of the culture.
Now, as he continues to star alongside fellow artists Krept and Konan on a record-breaking sixth season of The Rap Game UK, Target is redefining what it means to mentor. The show isn’t just a platform for rising stars—it’s a space for discovery, storytelling, and pushing boundaries. “It’s amazing to watch these young artists find their voice and share their truth”.
For DJ Target, it’s always been about the bigger picture: lifting up the scene he helped build, celebrating the voices shaping its future, and ensuring its legacy is one of authenticity, creativity, and community.
1883 spoke to DJ Target about his career, his influence on UK music and what it means to support a culture that he himself helped shape.
What were some of the key moments or turning points in your early life that led you to pursue a career in music?
I was always interested in music from a very early age, hearing it around the house, my mum, and my Nan love music.
I was exposed to music and sound system culture from a very early age. Before I even went to secondary school, I was already kind of looking, seeking out my own music and finding my own favourites.
It wasn’t long before I discovered jungle music. I mean, that was a real turning point. Once I discovered that and pirate radio in particular, I was just obsessed with it. That’s all I wanted to do at the time was be like those guys I heard on Kool FM.
You’ve had a long and influential career in UK music, from radio to writing and even some acting. What are the key differences within these industries, especially in terms of helping new artists break through?
Art in general, I think there’s so many similarities. Whether that’s visual art, painters, sculptors or whether it’s musicians who create music. Obviously I was into music originally and stepped outside my comfort zone to write a book.
But at the same time, it’s based on the musical life that I’ve led. So in that way, they kind of both lean into each other. Overall, I think I’ve just been somebody who’s passionate about the music and where the music has led me to. I’ve always been up for a challenge. I’ve always been up for trying to grasp an opportunity that’s there to grab.
Radio has been my main source of helping new artists break personally. I’ve been on the radio for so long now and I’ve helped so many artists early in their career.
Even when we’re doing a book like Grime Kids, which documents a lot of the history, I think that has gone on to inspire, you know, another generation of artists. I get so many messages from artists and just people who have read it saying, It inspired me to want to do the same, or I didn’t know about the history, and knowing it now has made me want to take up music myself.
Growing up in East London, how did your upbringing influence your love for music and your eventual career in the UK garage and grime scenes?
I owe a lot to East London. I lived in Bow, in Tower Hamlets and it was a poor borough. It was very multicultural, it was very diverse, it’s very authentic.
I think that realness just instilled some really good early foundations for me growing up, not as a musician but just as a human. I think it helped me to build resilience. There’s a lot of challenges. you see from an early age, you see what you don’t want to become.
For so many reasons it helped to shape who I was. At the time Kool FM, jungle music, the pirate radio scene, a lot of it was just plastered all across East London. I was on its doorstep. I think that again had a big part to play in me wanting to be a DJ in the first place. The birthplace of grime is hailed as East London and Bow in particular where I grew up, so East London has everything to do with why I am able to be and do what I do today.
Were there any specific artists or musical influences during your upbringing that helped shape your style and approach to music?
There were so many artists growing up. From listening to reggae and dancehall, New Jack Swing, R&B to rap from the US in the 90s. DJs like DJ Brockie and MC Det and producers like Shy FX and Roni Size- those guys were my first early inspirations.
There were artists that I loved, but the heroes or idols that I looked up to were definitely DJs, MCs or underground producers; some of their names are still ringing to this day. Some of them we’ve lost as well, like MC Skibadee.
One of my best friends was DJ Trend, aka TNT. He was a big inspiration to me. There’s artists that influence me and inspire me every day.
What changes have you seen in the UK rap and grime scenes since you started?
Jeez, where do we start? So much has changed. Seriously, we’ve gone from being a pirate radio- an unheard, but undiscovered, bunch of kids- to a billion pound industry where you’ve got people selling out stadiums and arenas, headlining festivals, making movies, having books and having crazy amounts of success.
I think it’s testament to the hard work that the early pioneers put in, which then was followed by the next generation. The talent, creativity and the artistry just keeps growing and getting better. We have a real solid UK identity now which is going all around the world and is represented.
The Rap Game UK is heading into its sixth season, how does the show reflect those shifts within the industry?
We’re trying to make sure that the artists that are on the show are representative of what’s out there.
This will be like its sixth season, like you said, over five or six years. Even in that five or six year time, we’ve seen a big change in UK rap music and UK music in general. So the show is constantly trying to reflect that and keep itself relevant, stay exciting and keep the audience on their toes as well as keeping the artists guessing what’s happening next. I think the show does a great job of keeping up to date with what’s going on within the rap scene outside of the show.
Six seasons is a great run! What do you think has contributed to the longevity and success of the show?
Six seasons is actually record breaking, if we’re honest. The only other show that the UK has ever had that’s from a black space that has run longer than five seasons is Desmond’s.
If we do one more series, we’re the actual longest running black show in the history of UK TV. When we started, we weren’t even looking that far ahead. We just wanted to make a show that was authentic and credible and fun and enjoyable to watch.
You, Krept, and Konan have been working together on the show throughout. How did your relationship with them start, and how has it evolved over the years?
I first met Krept and Konan well over ten years ago. They were kind of just coming up, doing their thing and their names were ringing bells. They came onto my radar and we just met organically. Ever since then it’s been a blossoming relationship.
Since we’ve started doing the show, we spend a chunk of the year together, every year. The relationship has grown. While we were making The Rap Game, me and Krept were both expecting daughters at the same time. I remember having to rush off set when my daughter was born in season two, then Kreps’ daughter was born three months later.
They’re both my guys. Then as far as rappers and artists go, they’re just top tier legendary artists for me.
You, Krept, and Konan have been working together on the show throughout. How did your relationship with them start, and how has it evolved over the years?
As much as we love the fact that we’re in Season six, each year the challenge is, let’s outdo last season. This year we wanted to really focus on not just the ability to rap and be able to deliver these challenges, which are really intense and hard, but we wanted to really focus on the artistry, the creativity, the finished kind of artist product this time.
We’ve got some incredible talent this year and I think this year we could, who knows what the winner might be able to achieve afterwards as well.
With previous seasons bringing in a younger and more diverse audience, what makes The Rap Game so appealing to that demographic, particularly the harder-to-reach iPlayer viewers?
I think in 2024, there’s so many options in terms of where you consume content. The younger end of the audience, they have so much access to everything, from online platforms, TV shows to social media. There’s so much, so you have to give them something that they’re going to want to travel for, not physically, but electronically.
I think it’s reflecting a culture and a scene that is so popular at the moment. Not even at the moment, just so popular. Then as much as it does showcase these great unsigned records, there’s also a human element and people get invested in the artist’s personal stories and their personalities.
We’re reaching audiences that I didn’t expect the show to reach, like older, mainstream, middle England who were not interested in rap music before. I thought that we would pull in the younger rap fans but I’m more surprised at the fact that we’re reaching all types of demographics and backgrounds with this show.
The show emphasises mentoring alongside competition. What’s your approach when it comes to guiding and developing young talent on the show?
As much as we’re the hosts of the show, we’re the judges, so to speak, we always want to just be there. We want all of these guys to develop and to be able to carve out a successful career.
We always say off camera, if you’ve got a question or there’s a piece of advice… we always chip in. Krept and Konan have been doing their thing for a very long time. I’ve been doing my thing even longer and we’ve seen and done it all really between us.
It’s clear you really believe in the power of mentoring, and guidance from people who support you. Who were some of your mentors, and how did they help shape your career?
Coming up we didn’t have too many direct mentors. We had inspirations and people that we looked up to and wanted to emulate, but you didn’t really have too many people you could go to for advice or direct mentoring.
And I think that’s part of how grime came about. which obviously then opened up the whole UK rap world. I think Grime was about having no choice but to be self sufficient and do it alone and make it for yourself using little resources. The fact that we didn’t really have mentors like that actually helped to build the genre that it was.
Krept and Konan have had their own impressive journeys in the music industry. How do your backgrounds and experiences complement each other when working on the show?
I’m from East London and they’re from South London, but we’re both from inner city, council estate type backgrounds and didn’t have it easy coming up. They’ve been rappers, so that adds a different dynamic to what they’ve done. I’ve been part of Roll Deep, but I was never kind of like a front facing rapper guy.
I think we complement each other because we have slightly different experiences in terms of the music industry. We’ve kind of covered all the bases between the three of us. So I think we compliment each other very well.
What’s the dynamic like between the three of you when it comes to mentoring the contestants? Do you each bring different strengths to the table?
I think so, because we’re all different people and we all have different approaches to things in general. Even those two, they’re very different people. Between the three of us, you’re going to get three different mentors that give you different takes and different perspectives on whatever that particular situation is. Like I said, we’ve had similar but different experiences as well through our career. All of that makes something for rounded, structured, mentor advice.
Can you share any memorable moments or behind-the-scenes stories from your time working with Krept and Konan on The Rap Game?
Being on set and me waiting for a phone call to say my daughter might be born any minute.I think every year there’s been some amazing moments on the actual show, some of the challenges that we’re blown away by or we’re constantly having so much fun making the show.
It’s like being in college with your mates and it’s like concert banter. Whether that’s winding up the production team or just constantly like finding things hilarious.
Another thing that I’ve found working with those two- they’re actually so funny behind the scenes. Even though they’re serious about what they do, we just constantly are catching jokes on the set.
How has The Rap Game UK evolved since its inception, both in terms of the challenges for the contestants and the mentorship you, Krept, and Konan provide?
Like I was saying before, we’re constantly trying to outdo ourselves when it comes to the show in all aspects. As much as there are some staple challenges- like the class challenge- even with that, we want to keep that exciting and keep it different.
This year, especially, we’ve done some challenges that we’ve never done before, that are bigger, that are more impactful, that have more growth, I guess, results for the artist.
It’s constant, us all sitting down with production and just going over what could benefit the artists and what we haven’t done before, what we might have done before, but we could do better and bigger.
The challenge is constantly us trying to just level up and each year we’re dealing with six different individuals who all need different levels of mentorship, or have different goals, or have different questions to ask.
How do you balance the creative freedom of new artists with the commercial realities of the music industry, both on the show and in your other roles?
I think in this day and age, having to pander to mainstream requirements is not something I push . Artists should sit in their creative freedom and not have to worry about ‘Will the radio play this type of record or will I get shows if I do this type of record?’.
I think an artist needs to just lean into their creativity. I’m seeing more and more that that is taking people a lot further than trying to figure out what you should do because it’s trendy or current.
We always say to the artists especially on the show and even outside the show, do what makes you happy. Do what you feel you do well. I’ve seen artists that have tried to follow trends and after a while you can’t keep up with the trends or people kind of see through that whole thing. People just want authenticity now so the more of that you can give people the better.
What’s next for you outside of The Rap Game? Are there any other projects or collaborations you’re particularly excited about?
I’m making an album myself, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a while. I’ve not had the time to get into the creative headspace for it because it takes a lot.
The pentultimate episode of The Rap Game UK airs tomorrow on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer.
Follow DJ Target @djtarget
Interview Bex Whitley
