On April 4, 2025—the day after my mother’s 71st birthday—we put our family’s cat to rest. She was 19. JINX could be moody and quick to draw claws, but she was loyal, mischievous, and I loved her. With her passing, I was reminded of her unlikely journey into our home.

In 2001, I was a young photographer captivated by a new sound beaming out of London’s council flats and rooftops. One of my first shoots was with a young Dizzee Rascal, who, at the time, was still recording what would eventually become Boy In Da Corner (for one image, he had pulled a knife from his waistband and attempted to slash the tires of a sports car). If you went to a grime rave between 2003 and 2006, you saw one of my images on a flyer or poster. If you picked up a free copy of VICE or RWD, or bought NME or The Observer—in what would have been the earliest mainstream coverage of the grime scene—you have seen my images. And if you stream a classic grime dub or set on YouTube today, you’ll likely see one of my shots in an accompanying thumbnail.

Through this, I came to know many of my subjects whom I consider friends to this very day. These include legends like Jammer, who called me in 2005 and recommended that I book Skepta—who was known only as a producer back then—to MC an event for VICE Magazine in Italy alongside Wiley (Jammer would DJ). This was Skepta’s first overseas MC booking and I still remember the waiters’ faces at the Italian bistro when he removed his T-shirt during dinner to avoid staining his outfit. (“Where’s Wiley? Heard that he went to Japan, but now he’s with Jam in Milan, at the VICE Magazine launch party, cash in hand,” Wiley would later spit on “WD25”).

In 2006, Tayó Jarrett—better known by his MC moniker Scorcher—from Enfield, North London, was serving a short prison sentence for driving offences. I had already photographed Scorcher and was taken by his menacingly sharp flow and natural charisma, sitting somewhere between Kano and Esco Big Bars. I was also probably relieved to not have to trek to East London to take pictures—I’m from Finsbury Park, also in North London, and my mother worked for the Enfield Council—and the camera also loved him, which helps. I had arranged to drop off some books, which would be sent to Scorcher in prison. When I arrived, his mother answered the door and a pair of kittens pounced at my feet. “Would you like one?” How could I say no?

On the drive home, my new tabby cat lodged herself on the dashboard of my then-girlfriend’s BMW 3 Series, batting the car’s air freshener. I don’t know who or why we named her JINX, but it seemed to fit. She would attack anything that wasn’t me or my mum—like a bee, which stung her nose and caused her head to swell to the size of a grapefruit. Once, she climbed into the fridge when we weren’t looking, and my mum found her asleep with her head in a dish of butter. She was mischievous and I loved her.

I left London for New York in 2008 and JINX moved to Norwich with my mum, who spoiled her with fresh cold cuts from Waitrose. During her first week in the countryside, she brought home an egg, straight from a bird’s nest, still intact. My mum returned it and the resulting bird also became a beloved resident of the garden. She was loyal and I loved her. Overseas, I continued devouring classic radio sets from the scene’s golden era, knowing that I could always rely on the genre’s sonic intensity to take me home.

To listen to one of these sets now is to know that somebody within a two-mile radius of Tower Hamlets or Hackney (or Edmonton, where Axe FM, Scorcher’s alma mater, broadcast from a garage), turned the dial on their radio until they found a sound as calm as a bomb and decided to press record. I hope these amateur archivists know how important they are. There is an mp3 titled “Scorcher showering” which has traveled with me through laptops, iPods and iPhones for almost two decades. As the title suggests, it features Scorcher live on radio, flowing for 5 minutes and 44 seconds. Listening to it now, he still sounds brilliant, deftly putting his street-life into the context of his family-life, the one which produced our JINX.

I’m tryna get a little mixtape selling
Help my little sis with spelling
Sell class-A for the day, pray cats ain’t telling
I come from a good family, so my parents think I’m rebelling

More than anything, this recording captures a young MC having fun, which was not always a given in grime, where artists could be made to feel like crabs in a bucket, battling for attention (at one point, Scorcher pauses to just listen to a beat by DJ Mondie, concluding: “You know what? That tune is fucking sick!”). As someone who was in the room when a baby-faced MC called Tinchy Stryder first demanded an audience to not “stop popping off gunfingers”, I can confirm today, even all these decades later, that there is nothing more exciting than watching a young MC, freed from all expectation, just living through the music. Scorcher was exciting and I can remember myself laughing at the explosion of freedom and joy in that recording.

His career since then hasn’t been so straightforward: he joined and disbanded two crews, Cold Blooded and The Movement; released a slew of mixtapes, starting with the now-classic Simply The Best series in 2006; clashed Wiley; signed an ill-fated major label deal with Geffen in 2010; became a father to Sienna and Monroe; served another prison sentence; made a star turn as Kamale, the main antagonist in season one of Top Boy; and now, in 2025, is the owner of a MOBO Award for Best Grime Act. At 38, Scorcher is still exciting and still, it appears, having fun.

So, in a final tribute to JINX, I decided to speak to Scorcher and thank him for the great joy he brought our family and to me, as a listener.

Jamie-James Medina: What’s up, Scorcher?

Scorcher: I’m alright, man. How you doin’, sir?

I don’t know how much of this you remember, but you gave me a cat in 2006. You had just gone to jail and I dropped some books off for you with your mum and your cat had just had kittens. And I took one home.

Oi, that’s cold! My cat was a real street n*gga, you know.

Well, 19 years later, that cat just passed away, but she was a huge part of our family.

Ahhh…

And I thought of you and wanted to ask you some questions.

That’s cold. I’m with that.

Growing up, did you always have pets?

From baby times, I remember being at my gran’s and there being a cat called Tiger, so I kinda grew to know cats from young. When I got older, I knew I wanted a cat of my own and one day I came back home with one from my bredrin’s house. Shout-out Chris! Chris’ cat had kittens and I said, “I need one, bro.” And I came back home with the cat. A black-on-black ting.

So, was my cat’s mum your cat or your mother’s cat?

Nah, nah. The black cat—that was my cat. She was my key spar, and she had three kittens: Patch—that was my sister’s cat—you got one, and one died.

We called my cat JINX and she lived to be 19. What can you tell me about her mother?

She was a real street n*gga, bro! Real, real street n*gga. She was probably too young when I first got her, but she used to go outside and kill stuff and bring it back. We had to teach her, like: “You can’t bring the dead animals inside.” We used to let her out at night and she would come back in the morning—she had her own separate life going on. Sometimes, in the morning, when we’d go to buss the door to let her in, she would come in and then go back outside straight away. We used to think, “Why are you messing about, bro?” But when you’d go out and follow her, you’d see a bird with its head missing, or a little squirrel mash-up in the corner.

What was her name?

Annabel.

In grime, you’d see Crazy Titch with his dog or someone would have a rottie on the estate. I remember thinking it was sweet that you had cats. What do you think the difference is between dog people and cat people?

I’m not looking for no dog, because that’s like having another child. I’m not on that. Me and a cat can get along because a cat is on what I’m on. A cat has its own thing going on: its own life, its own bredrens, its own beef, its own little ends and all that. When the cat comes in the house during the day, it’s just chillin’—just there to eat its food and cool off til the nighttime, and then they’re doing up road. So me and cats are basically on the same ting.

Do you have pets now?

Nah. I’ve got two kids now, so it’s not really a pet thing. My son used to have goldfish and that, but I think he mashed them up by accident. I swear to God, this is a true story: my son had goldfish and one of them disappeared, bro, like: disappeared! I don’t know if my babymum was being weird, but one of them disappeared and then it reappeared.

Would you ever get them a cat?

Well, my daughter’s mum’s not on that. And my son’s mum, she deffo ain’t on that. But if they make a move and take one home one day, I will facilitate the badness. Obviously, when you get upstairs, it’s nothing to do with me. This is between you and your mum. But if you wanna make that play, we can go and get a cat.

You’re a cat guy.

100%.

I was excited when you won the MOBO Award this year. What keeps you going?

I’m not part of a scene. This is actually who I am. You would know, because you’ve seen me before there was any money involved. This is what I do! I do road and spend my money on trying to do music. It’s in me. I didn’t go outside to learn any of this; I’m born in this! They used to take me pirate radio at, like, 2 years old.

Your dad was a musician, right?

A DJ, a real soundman! I don’t know life without it—music, and making music. I played the piano until Grade 6. Making music is just part of my default setting. I just made a song here today for no other reason than I wanted to, because I like it. And guess what? There’s a high chance you probably like it as well.

There is one piece of music that you made that has been very important in my life. I’m from Finsbury Park, but I’ve lived in New York City since 2008…

—you’re from the Zone, come on! You’re from the district.

I discovered you through this freestyle called “Scorcher showering”, which was clipped from the radio and must have been posted on the RWD forum. But I think it's an important piece of music and I use it whenever I need to feel closer to home. Can I play it for you?

[Laughs] Wow! That’s old-school bars, bro!

What can you remember about that set?

I’m not 100% sure, but I think that was a Rinse session with Ruff Sqwad. Slix is my guy, so I used to go link them man. At the time, my little set, my crew and all that, there was always something going on—he’s going jail, that one just got locked, people going through things—so I kinda got accustomed to MCing by myself. Sometimes me and Terminator would go on Axe FM—that was the first internet station—and we went on there because we couldn’t get on Rinse or Deja.

Because you were from North?

Not only are we from North—we are from the Nine! It's not even like we’re from Tottenham, where everyone’s tryna link us because it sounds cool and there’s olders. It’s just me.

You sounded so free and alive on that recording. It makes me so happy whenever I listen to it. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for giving me such a wonderful cat and for the music.

This was dope. I actually remember the books you gave me as well. It’s crazy! Thank you, my guy. Much appreciated.