A Rapper. A Foodie. A Football Fan. This Is Loyle Carner.

This 24-year-old’s been through a lot already and he tells stories through rhymes like few others.

Imagine warming the stage for rap god MF DOOM. Then imagine warming the stage for MF DOOM for your first official live appearance! Almost hard to believe…but for an 18-year-old British kid by the name of Ben Carner-Loyle, it was all too true.

Fast forward 7 years and this classy lyricist has been nominated for the UK’s prestigious Mercury Prize (only losing out to the Sampha and his album ‘Process’), played Glastonbury…oh and been handpicked by Joey Bada$$ and Nas as support.

However, it wasn’t always fun and rainbows. At age 2, his biological father upped and left, at age 13 he was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia and at age 20, his step-father, to who he was very close, suddenly passed away. Talk about a tumultuous time. Although a devout Liverpool fan, still to this day, Ben wears his step father’s Eric Cantona jersey (Man Utd.) draped over his shoulders when performing.

Sharing these peaks and troughs is what’s captured fans from all corners of the globe. Bearing his soul and lamenting on life itself is something Loyle Carner has a real knack for.

‘Born and raised
Made attempts to crawl away
Find a way to exist and hide your face, some relate
Leave everything in yesterday’ (taken from latest single ‘Ottolenghi’)

These lyrics are taken from a track named after famous Israeli chef Yottem Ottolenghi. Carner is a passionate foodie and has even had the opportunity to cook alongside Yottem. Oh, and he’s also been over to Heston Blumenthal’s for mango lassies. For him, cooking is a therapeutic process, something to focus on and calm his often hyperactive mind. Heck, when Ben isn’t writing rhymes he heads up his very own cooking school — Chilli Con Carner, which teaches teenagers dealing with ADHD how to make simple and delicious meals.

With his second album ‘Not Waving, But Drowning’ set for release on the 19th of April, the double-barreled Englishman is hitting the road, allowing us, as he explains ‘to take a close look into the last three years of my life’. If 2017’s ‘Yesterday’s Gone’ was anything to go by, this new album should be a home run!

Be it Amsterdam, Dublin, London or Barca, I’d recommend seeing this young man open up on a mike. At just 24, he’s an individual well beyond his years. This is Loyle Carner.