Digga D’s story originally appeared in i-D’s The New Worldwi-De Issue, no. 363, Summer 2021. Order your copy here.
Digga D, one of Britain’s brightest young musical stars, wasn’t able to talk with me for his i-D cover story – his debut cover story – due to restrictions surrounding his license conditions. A Criminal Behaviour Order was placed upon the 20-year-old rapper (he turns 21 in June) in 2018, after being sentenced to a year in prison for conspiracy to commit violent disorder with members of his drill collective, 1011. This has meant that Digga is no longer allowed to see the friends he grew up with in West London’s Ladbroke Grove and, perhaps more shockingly, his art must be shared with the establishment, with detailed lyrics, within 24 hours of him releasing it to his fans.
Can you imagine being one of the hottest names in music, with the world at your feet, and not being able to live out your dreams to the fullest? The artist born Rhys Herbert knows his past is a tarnished one – he’s been locked up a number of times for breaching the suffocating constraints of his CBO – but this ongoing fight to silence his voice feels personal at this point. “I’m just used to it now,” Digga told me when I spoke to him last year. “It’s still stressful but it’s something that you learn to adapt to.” In November 2020, Digga D released a documentary with BBC Three, aptly titled Defending Digga D. The hour-long film went into great detail about the Criminal Behaviour Order and how he navigates through the world with it hanging over his head.
“At this stage of his career, Digga should have had a face-to-face interview with someone like you, JP, and been on radio up and down the land,” says Kwabs, co-founder of Mixtape Madness, over Zoom, in a room which also includes Digga D’s lawyer, Cecilia Goodwin, and his manager, Bills. “I think Covid, plus all the restrictions he’s had, has made it really difficult for even him to comprehend how big a musician he is in this country.”
Cecilia Goodwin, who works full time with Digga D and his hands on team, was one of the driving forces behind last year’s gripping documentary (whose director, Marian Mohamed, received a BAFTA nod off the back of it). His case, she says, was like nothing she had ever worked on before – he was one of the first artist’s to receive a CBO that directly affects his music – but it was a challenge she was ready to take on. “Digga was referred to me through another Black lawyer I know, who gave Kwabs my details,” she says. “Kwabs contacted me and basically said, ‘Here’s an artist who needs help, who hasn’t got bail, and he needs a solicitor.’ I ended up working with him when he was in custody, having been arrested for violent disorder and breach of his Criminal Behaviour Order. That’s how our journey started. But what drew me to Digga was just how ambitious he was; how talented and how much of a nice person he was. Such a nice kid. He had everything against him, but he had a lot to win. And I just thought, ‘I want to be a part of this journey,’ because I felt it was going to take us somewhere in history. And it did, because he’s doing amazing things right now.”
Indeed, he is. To date, Digga D’s two mixtapes – Double Tap Diaries from 2019 and this year’s Made In The Pyrex – have both charted high, the latter at number three and the former in the Top 20. And that’s saying nothing of his batch of Top 40 singles, most notably “No Diet” and “Woi” – both of which he has Silver plaques for – and his AJ Tracey collab, “Bringing It Back”, which charted at number five.
Digga D started out in music six years ago alongside his 1011 cohorts (now known as CGM), just as UK drill was kicking through the door as a force to be reckoned with. Influenced by the reggae and dancehall played in his Jamaican household as a child, his style of rapping – hard-hitting, leaving no pocket unturned – was a perfect fit for UK drill. The movement, inspired by the Chicago drill scene of the early 2010s, with elements of grime and road rap, fit the reality of life in London in the mid-to-late 2010s. It was in 2017 that everything changed for Digga D. He dropped a Next Up? freestyle with 1011 on Mixtape Madness, his star shining the brightest, and his career sky-rocketed from that point on. “I came across Digga on YouTube,” says Bills, who’s been managing the artist since 2017. “The track that drew my attention was a 1011 song called “No Hook”. He had some mad verse on there. I was working at Mixtape Madness at the time and I got him to do the Next Up? freestyle. The rest is history.”
Kwabs was grateful for Bills’ eye for talent. “He was creating a lot of content, A&Ring and bringing the talent to Mixtape Madness, and he was mad excited about Digga D. The rest of us felt that. West London and drill just wasn’t on the map. There were one or two drill artists that were kinda making noise from that side of the city, but we hadn’t really had any drill artists from inner West London, like the Notting Hill or Ladbroke Grove areas. From that premise, he was a point of curiosity. But when we uploaded the Next Up? freestyle, there was really no looking back from there. It went crazy!”
Working closely with Digga’s day-to-day management team, Kwabs is committed to the cause. “In terms of my bond with Digga and his family, that came from a more unfortunate place: when he got recalled and the Next Up? freestyle got taken down,” he explains. “I had to go to court in June and I argued why Digga is such a bright young talent, and how music can play a key part in transitioning his career. We brought his 10 million plays plaque for his Next Up? and, at the time, I think it’d done like 30 million views in five months. So, we’ve gone there, and the minute they’ve given the verdict, the police remove the Next Up? from our YouTube channel. That kinda put things into context for me, like: ‘That’s how the system’s working in relation to this young man? I’m fully involved. Let’s get cracking.’”
This campaign to silence Black art is far from new. Remember Form 696? It was the racist risk assessment form that venues and club promoters had to fill out when grime, garage and bashment (i.e. Black music) was being played and performed. That was created in 2005 during a clampdown on grime, also once deemed a ‘violent’ genre, which was scrapped in 2017 after London Mayor Sadiq Khan reviewed its existence. Two years later, the Met Police gave Brixton drill duo Skengdo x AM a suspended jail sentence for performing the song Attempted 1.0 – they were given a gang injunction for it in 2018, but it was rightfully scrapped at the top of this year. “Instead of muzzling what drill is trying to tell us, we need to see it as a rich, organic resource with which impactful conversations between educators and the most anxious, angry young people can be mined,” journalist, author and youth worker Ciaran Thapar wrote in a piece for The Guardian, and I couldn’t agree more. With so much to carry on his shoulders, Digga’s team says he’s doing the best he can for someone in such a restricting position.
“Working with him, I’ve probably got a few extra grey hairs and a few more wrinkles,” Cecilia says, “but I wouldn’t change it for the world. He drives me mad sometimes because he’s just one of those people who has so much energy for whatever it is he’s doing and is very impulsive. But that’s not to say that he’s reckless or anything; there are just times when, because he’s so excited and in such a hurry, he wants to do everything right away. He doesn’t necessarily see tomorrow the way we see tomorrow.”
Bills concurs. “What Cecilia said about him wanting to do everything now, I think that’s the biggest challenge dealing with him as a person,” he says. “With him going to jail a few times, I think he’s just trying to catch up – trying to find a balance of at least letting himself feel like he’s catching up to a degree, but not overdoing anything to the point where he’s ruining the trajectory of his career or putting his freedom in jeopardy.”
Through it all, Digga D’s story – though unfortunate in parts – is an inspirational one. Obstacles will stand in your way, but only you have the power to remove them and set yourself free. Now in a happy relationship with the British model Mya Mills, and with droves of new fans coming in with each play, Rhys has a lot to live for and to be happy about, and no opp can stop his ascension. “Digga D is at a certain place in his career where he’s about to break big time,” Bills says when asked for details on his upcoming debut album. A lot of exciting things are being planned, which, for obvious reasons, they can’t divulge just yet. “But the fans need to bear with him so he can try and find a balance between keeping them happy and also doing what’s best for his life and his career. Just know that he’s got everyone in the long run, innit.”
Credits
Photography Liz Johnson Artur
Styling Max Clark
Grooming Bari Khaliue using Mac Cosmetics.
Photography assistance Mathias Karl Gontard.
Styling assistance Marina de Magalhaes and Giulia Bandioli.
Production Yasser Abubeker.
Special thanks Rachel Campbell.
Casting Director Samuel Ellis Scheinman for DMCASTING.