When I was growing up, hip-hop was still a pretty specialised thing.

I am a black British female artist, so I must be like Ms Dynamite, I must be like Shystie, I must be like Jamelia, but we're all different.

I'm the female Jay-Z. I never compared myself to other women artists. I compared myself with the best, and the best is Jay-Z.

When my career slowed, I knew deep down it wasn't over.

As a child, William Beebe was my hero, and I used to read about him going down in the bathysphere, and I wanted to do that too. And I told my family, I said, 'I'd like to go down and be like William Beebe,' and they said, 'Well, maybe you can take up typing and get to be the secretary of William Beebe or somebody like him.'

I had the most reversed education possible. Every parent wants their son to be a businessman, respectable - me, it was the opposite. When I had an artist career my mum was like, 'Oh finally, I'm proud of you!'

I love all of it, thinking up the plots, getting to know the kids in the story, their parents, backyards, pizza toppings.

For me, family and football are the most important things. They are in the same level.