Huncholini the 1st

Huncholini the 1st

“I call myself Huncholini, and one day I just thought, ‘Yeah, I’m Huncholini the first,’” M Huncho tells Apple Music about the royal title of his second mixtape. “You know Henry VIII? He might have done some shit in his life and left his mark, but he’s still the eighth, he’s not the first to do it. I like to stay under the radar and I don’t like to boast about my accomplishments, but I realized that I am the first person to do what I am doing—being fully anonymous with love and respect for music.” Across these 13 tracks, the masked MC details his story of street life, scrapes with the police, and success on verses sung and rapped over trap beats. Despite his expanding profile, helped here by collaborations with D-Block Europe and Headie One, the Londoner won’t be stepping out into the spotlight soon. “If I had my mask off from the beginning, I would have achieved way more than I have,” he says. “But I just thought about the greater good. The fame bubble, it’s not really existing. You’re looking over your shoulder because of past mistakes and you’re looking over your shoulder for the people that you’ve left behind. I have goals like making a family, having a wife and kids—and frankly I just don’t have the time for the fame.” Here, M Huncho lets us in on his life and the stories behind Huncholini the 1st, track by track. Growth “I had to put that solid foundation there with the first track. I have grown from when I first came into the scene to where I am now. So my opening line is ‘When I go through shit/I grow through shit.’ And I wrote a speech for the lovely gentleman that came to do the intro at the studio. He was an old geezer, because we had to give it that regal feel.” Pee Pee “I was in a session with a producer called Zdot. I’m hearing the beat for ‘Pee Pee’ playing from [producer] ADP’s studio upstairs, so I just called him and said, ‘Bro, put that beat to the side, I’m going to be with you soon.’ I finished one session at midnight, then worked on this till six in the morning. It was just crazy.” Huncho for Mayor “I released a track not too long ago called the ‘Leader of the Tribe (Freestyle),’ and I said, ‘Huncho for mayor/Fuck the elections.’ I’m not trying to say that I’m going to take over the city and sit as a mayor, even though I guarantee I’ll do a better job! This is for the people that are envious and didn’t expect me to get to where I am. To let them know that yes, Huncho can be the mayor if he wants to.” Eagles “One of my songs from [2019 mixtape] Utopia was called ‘Birds,’ so it’s growth, yet again. I went from just being a bird to now being an eagle, being a predator, hunting for prey. When you go onto the second part of the production, bro, the beat just goes absolutely crazy. I always imagine my shows to be very lit with mosh pits. This track will go crazy live.” Head Huncho (feat. Headie One) “We were in a studio in Paris at a writing camp and I got my first verse and I told Headie, ‘You know what? We should go back-to-back. Let's go into the booth together.’ It was a good experience, and this was done in early 2019 before Headie dropped his record [Music x Road]. It’s one of my favorite songs on the whole tape.” Hit & Miss (Interlude) “This just felt like it had a crazy interlude feel to it—it was very short and it was very sweet. But it’s something I can see getting performed in shows.” Thumb “The first song me and Nafe Smallz ever jumped on was [The Plug’s 2018 single] ‘Broken Homes.’ It’s kind of like we just went on a roll, man. We were in Barcelona making music, and we genuinely had fun making ‘Thumb.’ I really like Nafe, man. He’s my brother!” Dishonourable “People being two-faced, cunning, and selfish is something that I come across in life quite often. The more friends you have, the bigger headaches you have. So it’s just about a lot of dishonorable people. I’m 26 years old, so I’ve been through my fair share of it.” Blow Off My Cover “‘Blow Off My Cover’ is just like a real-life mirror of me. I’m giving them my emotions! I say, ‘I ran from the law/It wasn’t worth it.’ Going through that stress, putting your family through that stress of having the police turn up at your front door and running from the law, it’s not ideal, man. I’ve come a long way where right now I might drive past you and you might think, ‘Did this guy win the lottery?’” Indulge (feat. D-Block Europe) “I think D-Block are pioneers at what they do. I feel like we have a completely different sound, but the thing is sometimes being so different can bring you together, and we both make the wavy type of stuff. Sonically, we sound good together. They had me on their first mixtape and then the second one. Their work rate’s incredible as well.” Bando Ballads “When I put my emotion into something, especially onto a slow beat, it gives me goosebumps. I have a line where I say, ‘If I hurt your feelings, I told you the truth, can’t you see that?’ I’m a firm believer in being a truthful person. It might hurt my feelings, but, shit, if it’s the truth, then I appreciate it more than a lie.” True Colours “In the first half I’m talking about one type of female that I’ve encountered, and the second half is about a female that understands me more. I don’t tend to see a lot of the people that I have relationships with, so I say, ‘Baby, we both grown/Why you acting crazy with me/You’re trying to control/I’m in the studio/I can’t be playing Romeo.’” Wait Til’ I Finish “I just felt like it had a sick name to end the album with. On this I’m just picturing myself living in the hills and just talking about how I love the grind. I can’t wait until I finish, bro. I can’t wait until I retire. That’s the day I’ll have my family together and I’ll have my kids.”

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