Battle rap UK title on the line for Corbyn-backing champion
Bristol wordsmith Craft-D is about to defend his crown as the UK’s battle rap champion, and has found viral fame with an unlikely ode to a politician. meets the man behind the mic
YVONNE DEENEY
RAPPER Danny ‘Craft-D’ Carlo became active on the Bristol battle rap scene eight years ago and first won the UK battle rap championship in 2020.
Soon after that he released his first single independently which topped the iTunes hip hop chart and made it into the Official UK top 40 downloads chart.
When Craft-D moved to Bristol as a student he set up an events organisation called Raise the Bar to showcase the talents and give a platform to spoken word poets. He also works as an educator, visiting schools, prisons and community centres to deliver workshops on poetry and music.
The immediate success of his first official single, Letter to Corbyn, has led him to release further tracks as an independent artist.
His latest single pays tribute to all his musical heroes but he said that the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is one of his ‘biggest inspirations.’
When Craft-D posted a video of himself performing Letter to Corbyn on Twitter, the video went viral and he was encouraged to release it as a single. He then set up a crowdfunder and raised the money needed to officially release the track and make a music video.
Craft-D said: “I dropped it [on Twitter] two days after Keir Starmer suspended Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party because I just wanted to show support and solidarity. Luckily a lot of people identified with what I was saying and were moved by the track and because of the massive number of people asking me to release it, I got moving on that quite quickly.
“I had never released a song in an official capacity but we managed to fundraise to make it all happen. Theo Marlow who shot and edited the video approached me because he saw it all taking off and said it was something he could relate to.
“As the song explains, I was at the Stop the War march when I was seven years old and Jeremy Corbyn was one of the speakers there. I’ve always been a staunch supporter of the work he does and the policies he has.
“As a lifelong anti-racist campaigner, he’s one of my biggest inspirations. I was absolutely disgusted by the way the media twisted the perception of him and vilified a really incredible human.
“I just wanted to produce something a little more truthful to balance out the narrative. I’ve always written that kind of stuff but never had a response like that.”
After Craft-D shared the video on Twitter, Jeremy Corbyn’s son was one of the first to share it. Craft-D met Tommy Corbyn for the first time when he invited the Islington MP’s son to appear in the video.
Jeremy Corbyn also joined them in the recording studio in London and he said they had a “really nice chat.”
They have since kept in touch and Craft-D says Tommy Corbyn, who shares his love of hip hop music, is now a friend. Although the political rap song in support of Jeremy Corbyn was very different to the often aggressive and provocative lyrics of battle rap, for Craft-D it largely involved the same skill set.
Craft-D said: “As an artist I’ve always been socially engaged in my music, writing stuff that comments on the world around me, on the social ills and the injustices in society. It’s always been the kind of music that I liked to listen to when I was younger.
“Going from a rap battle to a political rap song, it’s a completely different vibe but you’re using a lot of the same skill set. Bristol over the last few years has been building a scene for battle rap.
“There’s a really good crowd and a mix of funny people and more serious people. It’s naturally become a bit of a mecca for battle rap and I’m champion and I live here.”
On November 12, Craft-D will be defending his UK battle rap title after winning the UK ‘Don’t Flop’ contest two years consecutively.
He will be up against the rapper Quill who won the ‘Don’t Flop’ world title in 2019 but lost in a nontitle battle match against Craft-D in the same year.
Although the scripts for battles are largely prepared in advance, they can give a ‘rebuttal’ where they freestyle a few lines, before going into their pre-rehearsed character assassination. Quill wrote on his Twitter recently that he had a dream about the upcoming battle with Craft-D where he “consciously wasn’t there” but in his dream he won the battle.
“Quill is a very interesting writer, he’s known for his punchlines, wordplay, quickfire style of battling and on his best days. I battled him once before in a non-title match in 2019 and I won quite comfortably but I’m aware he can be quite dangerous and he is quite popular with the UK battle fan base so definitely a big challenge and one I’m preparing for,” added Craft-D.
From rap battle to a political rap is a completely different vibe but using a lot of the same skill set
Craft-D