Though Jawnino’s face might often be obscured in press photos, his music presents the textures of London life in vivid detail. The British rapper’s debut mixtape, 40, is an assemblage of slice-of-life sketches set to music that dips into the rich history of British street-level dance and rap music. It’s a considered, varied debut from an artist to watch—even if you can’t always make out his face. We sent a few questions over to Jawnino; his unedited email answers are below.

What role does mystery play in your music and your presentation as an artist?

I don’t really think about it too much but I like to play with different ways of concealing my face I guess I got some more cool ideas 4 that too

There are a lot of great slice-of-life lyrics on 40. Do you feel like you are telling a larger story throughout the course of the project?

I feel like it’s a collection of stories rather than one large cohesive story. Just things I’ve seen n experienced over the last few years cos my memory doesn’t stretch past that

We’re interested in one line in particular: “Broken Britain / But that's how we like it, isn't it?” Could you talk a bit about that lyric?

Everyone always complains about this place but it’s about seeing the beauty in the ugly,, I talk about that a lot actually 

You seem to move through a bunch of different scenes, especially in London. How do you navigate that?

I get bored quickly

We’re curious to know about your songwriting practice. Do you write your lyrics? Do you freestyle in the booth?

I prefer writing @ studio cos u can hear everything better,, I think I’ve only freestyled 2 songs before 3styl3 + lady on a train 

Do you consider 40 to be a grime record? We hear a pretty eclectic bag of influences.

Yh not really, there’s grime songs on there but there’s a mix of a whole bunch of genres from jungle to garage to drill it’s more a uk record 

What are some of your earliest memories listening to grime music? 

I think the first thing I found was a tunnel vision tape on my dads computer but yh I dunno which 1 it was but that and Logan’s show on kiss back in the day is what put me on 

What is your take on the grime scene in London right now?

Kinda washed rn unfortunately but what travs presents is doing is refreshing n was kinda necessary big up chamber sibl renz babydoom mic kibo duppy crafty n kruz