The UK, especially outside of London, owes Jah Digga a huge debt.

A visionary MC, rapper and poet, Nottingham-born Jourdan Blair was flying the flag for the Midlands at a time when it was incredibly difficult to catch a break if you weren’t from the capital.

Besides being one of the best to ever do it, his lyrics have tackled addiction, mental health, violence, racism and more. Away from the mic, he works with schools, youth groups and charities to address knife crime, while the No Blacks, No Irish podcast he co-hosted with Derry Shillitto—which explored many of those same issues—was essential listening.

In this Sidewinder session, recorded at Blacks Studio, a young Jah Digga joins Vader, Flex and Jeneye for a hectic cypher that showcased his formidable talent from an early age. From the outset, you can see he already had the blueprint figured out, and his abilities as an MC are second to none.