London, UK · UK hip-hop

Loyle Carner

1 upcoming festival

Confessional South London hip-hop — jazz-warm, tender, and quietly huge, verses about family and flaws delivered like conversation.

Loyle Carner is a rapper from south London, born Benjamin Coyle-Larner. He emerged in the mid-2010s with a style built on unhurried, conversational delivery over soul- and jazz-sampling production, often handled by his longtime collaborator Rebel Kleff. His writing is unusually personal for British rap, returning to his mother, his late stepfather, his younger brother and his own experience of ADHD.

His debut album Yesterday's Gone appeared in 2017 and was nominated for the Mercury Prize, as was its follow-up Not Waving, But Drowning. Later work has widened the palette toward live instrumentation and more direct reflection on race and fatherhood. Outside music he has run cookery courses for young people with ADHD.

UK hip-hop