East London rapper Jeshi curates 10 essential tracks that defined his journey towards creating his sophomore album, Airbag Woke Me Up.

‘Hell Is Round The Corner’ by Tricky

I listened to this album a lot while working on Airbag Woke Me Up, and it inspired me to create a strong mood throughout the album. He’s a big inspiration for me.

‘Brand New Day’ by Dizzee Rascal

One of my favourites off of another key album for me. I love how he made something feel so London but like a completely new chapter in music.

‘Break & Enter’ by The Prodigy

I love how alive and in your face The Prodigy’s music feels. This one’s a personal favourite, the energy was really inspirational for the opening track of my album.

‘In My Bed’ by Amy Winehouse

Her songwriting has always been inspiring to me. She writes so autobiographically, it feels like you know her after listening to her music.

‘Five Man Army’ by Massive Attack

I always found it so sick how collaborative Massive Attack’s music is, so many different voices and so much different energy. It’s something I try and carry while working on albums.

‘Hunter’ by Dido

It’s sick when pop is done so well. What an album. It’s also mad how aligned this is with trip-hop and everything going on at the time. This one is a big inspiration for ‘OVER YOU’.

‘Together’ by Ruff Squad

Pure nostalgia. My childhood plays a massive part in what I make and songs like this were a really important part of it. Still sounds so ahead of its time.

‘Only You’ by Portishead

So eerie and haunting. Production-wise, it’s mad to me how it’s so simple but feels so big. That’s something I thought about a lot on this.

‘Could Be Well In’ by The Streets

Sick storytelling and super relatable. I see sub-concious similarities between this and ‘Love Songs’ from my album.

‘Idioteque’ by Radiohead

Insane, insane song. I watch the video of them playing this live at Glastonbury religiously. I’d been thinking about playing live a lot while making this album and wanted everything to translate in that space and this helped a lot.