"I think I was brainwashed by Jack Black in School of Rock": not what you expect from a young black Hackney-raised jazz musician/producer/vocalist making, broadly speaking, abstract hip hop. But Rarelyalways doesn't really do the expected. From the earliest age, he's walked his own path, absorbing culture and music from even the most unlikely sources, lending his skills and fearsome work ethic to the widest possible range of projects, always focused on the big picture. Not only a dizzying array of musical education and practice but a whole ethical framework and worldview carefully constructed as he's felt his way through life, are encapsulated in every bar of every track. It's a lot in every sense: but somehow, as you’ll hear on his debut EP, this is all boiled down into a clear, concise and easy-to-grasp expression.

Rarelyalways was always absorbed by the music. His single dad was a drummer, playing mainly gospel. He would book rehearsal rooms so the pair of them could "beat the hell out of the drums" for three hours at a time: straight away music was associated with being fun and therapeutic. The services his dad played in could last six hours, though, so the commitment and sweat required in music were also clear. At home, he heard Motown most of all, but also reggae, and thanks to his family's West African background lots of Fela and other Afrobeat. At school, he played percussion in Samba bands and learned classical instruments, from the radio...