NOTION The Artists Vol. 1: Bashy

The long-awaited sophomore album from Bashy, Being Poor Is Expensive, released this summer to critical acclaim. 15 years after his debut, the record explores themes like love, loss, community and childhood, reflecting on the parallels between his upbringing and the life he’s living now as a successful actor and musician. Here, he talks his second musical coming, standing the test of time and where he hopes the future takes him next.

It’s difficult to know where to start with Bashy, so maybe we should start in the present. The multidisciplinary rapper, actor and artist released his second studio album, Being Poor is Expensive this summer, a whole 15 years after his debut, Catch Me If You Can. A lot has happened in that time. The man born Ashley Thomas has been riding high off a successful stint as an actor, meanwhile UK rap and grime has gone from a niche subculture to a movement respected globally. When we catch up, though, he’s keen to talk about the now. And he has every right to; two nights ago, Bashy played a teaser show ahead of two sold-out dates at the Bush Hall this November. “People were rapping back my songs bar for bar, which is always mind blowing, because it means people have really listened to the music,” he says humbly. “To see people from different walks of life rapping back the lyrics felt good.”

He’s going to have to get used to this. Just days after our chat, Cross the Tracks festival announces him on their line-up for 2025, where he’ll share a billing with legends like ‘70s funk group Cymande, Channel One Soundsystem and Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 – company he deserves to be in, given the reception of this record and his immortalised role in the tapestry of UK rap.

All Bashy asks of people, is for them to give 38 minutes of their time to listen to the project with no distractions and take in what he has to say. “It’s good that the work has been able to cut through,” Bashy explains from the comforts of his living room on our 10am, Monday morning video call. “When something is authentic and real, it stands the test of time. It might not have the bells and whistles, but I know it’s been impactful.” Understandably, he was nervous about releasing it, when you consider the themes he discusses and how far removed he’s been from music for so long. From the minute go, you’re transported to north west London, where Ashley grew up in a working-class Caribbean household; the sound of an overground train stopping at Kensal Rise is drowned out by people going about their day, making you feel like you’re there, standing on the platform waiting to board the train with Bashy.

Going from the hyper-surrealism of Hollywood and back to his ends, over 11 tracks, the Brent native details the strain his community has felt throughout his life. “Some of it was written during the pandemic, so I could wear a mask and walk around incognito, just taking in real life: what the place looks, feels and smells like,” he says, moved by the experience. “I really wanted to take people home, in the same way a film like City of God takes you to the streets of Rio. I hope that my album has that effect on people.” Like Nas placing you in New York on Illmatic or Kano inviting you to East Ham in Made in the Manor, Being Poor is Expensive is similarly introspective; he makes Harlesden feel familiar, whether you’ve lived there or not.

While shooting the TV series THEM, and as a way of escaping the banalities of the pandemic, Bashy started writing lyrics that reflected his feelings, isolated in LA and unable to go home and visit family. Then he got calls from producers Toddla T and PRGRSHN, who told him that he still has a valid voice in UK rap culture. He was unsure at first but then something clicked. “I started to think, maybe I could offer a different perspective to others out there. I came back and started writing down thoughts – some of it reflecting on my life growing up, but it was more about my community, what my friends and family have gone through,” he considers. “I felt that the music would do the talking for me; I didn’t feel like I needed to say that much.”

The record’s title has two interpretations that allude to both the stresses of not having money and the extreme lengths people go through to get out of poverty. It also reflects Bashy’s own experiences of how money can put strain on families that is irreparable. “Going outside and seeing what being poor looks like, seeing people that have and people that don’t, people taking from others or finding ways of making money or starting to navigate their path out of their environment. That was my upbringing. But a lot of people from our area step up and make something of themselves. You find a lot of resilience and ingenuity in our communities.”

Before Being Poor is Expensive, Bashy’s magnum opus wasn’t an album or one of his lauded mixtapes – it was rather the single ‘Black Boys’, released in 2007 and instantly becoming a hit on the fabled Channel U TV station. The empowering anthem illustrates Black pride in a time when negative portrayals of Black stars were particularly rife. “This goes out to all the Black boys growing up, yeah, there are bare positive Black boys around you making movements,” he raps on the opening line before reeling off inspirational Black figures and what they’ve bought to our country. Musicians Omar and Jazzie B, Top Boy actor Ashley Waters, TV funny man Lenny Henry, Trinidadian-British journalist Sir Trevor McDonald and ex-Arsenal striker Ian Wright OBE are a few names you hear, especially in the last two verses. Despite its positive messaging, the single didn’t come without controversy – people wrote complaints to Ofcom about its context and visibility in the mainstream media, but Bashy only sees the good that’s come out of it. “I’m just glad that it resonated and people are still talking about it 17 years later. It had a message and that message is still relevant today,” he says.

The subject matter in Bashy’s early freestyles and on mixtapes like Ur Mum Vol. 1 are similar to Being Poor is Expensive, detailing the trivialisation of the Black experience in England, but he extends the narrative on this record. ‘How Black Men Lose Their Smile’ is particularly poignant, as the rapper breaks down his childhood and the significant moments of prejudice he faced growing up. From failings of the education system to police scrutiny and the sterilisation of Afro-Caribbean culture, over triumphant horns, dub sirens and a sound system-ready bassline, Bashy leaves no stones unturned. Other profound moments come on the nostalgic ‘Sweet Boys Turned Sour’, where the rapper begins by looking at his life through rose tinted glasses before acknowledging the moments where it could have all gone wrong.

“Ithinklifeisaboutchoices.I don’t separate myself from people; I’m the same. When you get older you realise that you’re still here because you didn’t make certain choices; one choice can change your whole life, which is crazy,” he says. “I try and leave it in the art and not talk about it too much because I don’t want to glorify anything. I have come from a relatively stable home but people in that environment can still get caught up in the trappings of growing up in the ends. People who come from less stable environments can find a way out and be a success story. The ends is the ends, anything can happen to anyone.”

So, what’s next for Bashy? Beyond his two sold- out dates at Bush Hall, he’s back working on a new acting role, which he can’t discuss yet, but above all else, he’s going to continue revelling in being a rapper again. He clearly had unfinished business in the music game and he’s keen to make up for lost time: “I’m glad that the show is sold out; It’s a testament to the project and the love I’m getting from the community. To be doing all this independently is the biggest accolade I could have, getting love from my people and hearing everyday how Being Poor is Expensive is having a positive effect on them, in London, the UK and around the world. That’s always going to be the most important thing to me.”