Potter Payper

When: 27th February 2024
Location: O2 Academy

Potter Payper is an uncompromising UK rapper with an unrivalled flow. Coming to Glasgow’s O2 Academy on 27th February 2024.

An Essex-born rap luminary whose raw lyricism paints vivid narratives of street politics and its pitfalls. Potter Payper has been on a slow-burning ascent to rap superstardom, facing his fair share of adversity along the way.

Whilst Jamel Bousbaa musical journey as Potter Payper didn’t officially start until 2010. The promising rapper’s life experiences up till that point paved the way for his career in road rap to flourish. His childhood growing up in Barking miles apart from from the type of glamour associated with the county from the outside looking in. Born to an Irish mother and an Algerian father. Bousbaa was brought up by his grandmother on Gascoigne Estate, recognising he was living in poverty at a young age. Whilst his upbringing was vibrant and loving. He felt he had to grow up fast to make a meaningful change in his circumstances.

Having been kicked out of school before he’d reached his teens, Bousbaa took to the roads to make a living. Realising that pursuing a career in rap was his only way out. Inspired by grime pioneers Kano and Dizzie Rascal. Bousbaa dropped his debut self-released mixtape, The Philosopher’s Chrome, in 2010 as Potter Payper, though it didn’t set the world alight initially. 

That was until the unconventional and uncompromising rapper began uploading freestyles to YouTube, which racked up views in their millions. By the time he released his follow-up mixtape, Training Day, in 2013, Payper garnered sizable praise for his unflinching portrayal of growing up in a community mired by poverty. As well as what choices you’re given to success. His momentum gathered pace and his musical maturity developed with the release of 2015’s Training Day 2 and EP, Pay Per View, with Big Watch. Though, a stint in jail threatened to derail Payper’s burgeoning career.

Inspired by his Idol

Whilst incarcerated, he continued to write. Spurred on by being name-dropped by Stormzy during his Glastonbury Festival headline performance in 2019. Primed to get back into the studio after his release. Potter Payper released his next EP, 2020 Vision, that same month. With stand-alone single ‘2020 Vision Freestyle’ scoring the rapper his first bonafide UK charting hit.

“Everyone makes street music now. Everyone likes it; it’s popular. But when I say it, I seriously mean it and I’ve been through it. You can hear it in my voice,” Payper said in an interview that year, the pain and subsequent resilience of experiencing jail-time evident in his delivery. Entering the charts with ‘2020 Vision Freestyle’ opened the door for mixtape Training Day 3 to achieve similar success, peaking at number three in the UK charts after its release, propelled by lead singles ‘Purpose’, ‘Science’, and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

After signing to the UK division of Def Jam Recordings in 2021, label 0207 Def Jam, more success came Payper’s way the following year, with ‘Gangsteritus’ featuring Tiggs Da Author giving him his first UK top 40 single after its use in Top Boy. Despite being arrested again in 2023, the rapper dropped two albums that year – Real Back in Style and Back To Square One – as he awaited his sentence, ensuring that his focus remains firmly on writing authentically.