Nori (UK)

Born in Radlett just north of London, breakout grime artist and producer, Nori, grew up in St Albans amidst a backdrop of cyclical upheaval, moving between houses and often struggling to find peace and security at home. Shaped by this uncertainty, he channelled his feelings into creativity, citing music and fashion as two of his earliest passions. Inspired most by Zelda and Mario Kart, Blackberry Messenger and a pre-loaded iPod Nano his older brother gifted to him when he was 15, Nori began writing grime 16s at school at the behest of his friends, later downloading Ableton to help flesh out his bars into fully-formed songs. He started tentatively releasing music in 2020, but took his time to land on a sound and visual aesthetic, instead finding his feet with shot-in-the-dark releases like ‘Lilac Skies’ and ‘After 12’. Now often decked out in custom grills, Nike golf gloves and astro trainers — already a stylistic calling card — Nori is a confident, driven and capable barsman, with grime clearly coursing through his veins. A series of both IRL scene and URL algorithm-busting tracks have since won him an army of fans who are streaming his music into the millions, with the audacious, cut-and-paste revisionism and gun-finger blasting bars of ‘i_ain’t_fly (G6)’ clocking well over 1M on Spotify alone. He’s also not afraid to cast his creative net wider either, dropping bonkers bassline stomper, ‘shake leg’, earlier this year, as well as charting introspective, heart-on-sleeve grime moments like recent cut, ‘hell0_hi’ and new single, ‘make_it’. Despite Nori’s current ascendency being completely DIY and independently mapped, he’s already making big moves on the live circuit too, with appearances at Simple Things and Airwaves Festival on the horizon, as well as slot supporting Songer on his six-date WHAT IF I SAY TOUR? UK headline run in November. With a load of new music also firmly en route, look out for more from Nori soon. - Tomas Fraser