With subjects as vast as childhood friends who have been involved with gang violence, Notting Hill carnival revellers, council estates, everyday characters you see on the street to leading grime and rap artists, his work culminates in a dark, gritty and unique look at modern life in London. His pictures for this project come from the grime and rap world, with all photographed on the streets where they’re from. “This project is a brilliant way of celebrating two elements that feed off of each other – music and the street,” he says, adding he hopes it inspires others on the streets too.

“Every shoot is a space for experimenting and learning – bringing whatever I’ve learned from the previous into the next. In this shoot there were a lot of things I’d never done before. I’ve never worked with a stylist so closely, for example. Shooting on film is my go-to and very natural for me – however, in this instance, I used a lot more push processing to get something a little bit grittier, or a little bit creamier. I also experimented with flash on the shots and I like the way it’s come out. I’m very new to the flash game, man!”

“I just saw this young boy with a cardboard guitar and thought it would make a great shot. It was on the streets, not in a studio obviously, but I can shoot anything, anyone, anywhere. When I was young and just starting out, I got interested in a photographer and artist called Man Ray. He was one of the prime surrealists in Paris in the 1930s. He could take a picture of some dust, or a bit of dirt, and make it look like art. I guess that inspiration was in here when I took this..."

Conceptual artist Pogus Caesar was born in St Kitts, West Indies and grew up in Birmingham, England. While beginning his career as a pointillist painter, the purchase of a 35mm camera in the 80s changed Caesar’s life. Indeed, it’s the very same camera that he works on to this day. Caesar has documented prominent figures in the music industry alongside key historical events including the Handsworth Riots in 1985. He often reworks 35mm negatives into new forms, challenging the notion of religion, sex, history and identity from a Black British perspective...

To coincide with Record Store Day on June 12th, BUILDHOLLYWOOD will unveil its one-of-a-kind street gallery with billboard images from legendary photographers Mick Rock and Pogus Caesar displayed alongside those from up-and-coming photographers Denisha Anderson and Steven M. Wiggins in London, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff and Edinburgh...

A new film from Studio Ghibli is always a cinematic event, but their latest feels even more so: Earwig and the Witch is the first ever CGI movie in the studio’s history. Despite the new look and feel which bears little resemblance to any films from their past, many of the features you’d find in a traditional Studio Ghibli film are still here – from its good-versus-evil plot to the characters who find magic in the ordinary...

Nelson-Joyce grew up watching Jimmy McGovern-penned shows like The Street. When he first began acting, Nelson-Joyce emailed McGovern’s agent for a job. “I always wanted to work with Jimmy McGovern. He’s one of the few writers that puts your community on the screen,” he explains. “He’s just got his finger on the pulse of everything. Marvel is great, but I’d much rather do Jimmy McGovern scripts for the rest of my life. Getting to tell stories my dad and my grandad can watch and relate to is a dream. I just want to do stuff that’s got meat on the bones.”

There’s no-one like him; what he’s doing is very unique. He’s very poetic, he wants to tell stories about the big things — life, death, religion, Satan, God — all the questions that we ask ourselves in our early teenage years and keep asking ourselves until we die. He wants to twist and turn them up in the air [and] wrap them up in insanity. I love his universe, which is almost like a fairy tale [combined] with his very down-to-earth, pragmatic way of looking at life. I think it’s a beautiful, poetic combination.”

“Haven’t seen family or friends / From Rugby to Essex / Feels like the walls are caving in,” Loraine James sorrowfully whispers over the title-track from her third full-length album (and the second for label Hyperdub), Reflection. It’s perhaps no wonder James sounds mournful: 2020 was meant to be her breakthrough year, following the success of 2019’s critically lauded For You and I. Instead, the world came to a crushing halt and for a time, James’ prolific creativity did too...

Last year, The Lexi decided to put lockdown to good use and get on with a series of planned refurbishments. After years of fundraising and grant applications (they received £50,000, the biggest amount ever awarded by the London Mayor’s Fund), renovations were well under way until everything came to an abrupt halt last autumn: the building was gutted by a fire...

“There will be no change in the world unless people are willing to be uncomfortable. Not only ‘be uncomfortable’ as a blanket statement, but be uncomfortable with themselves. To look in the mirror and say, ‘Wait: maybe I’m a part of the problem?’ I feel like Disney, and so many other big studios, are continuing to highlight and [continue to] give young women of color roles that are impactful and meaningful and roles that will go down in history...”

“I can’t really walk past a crumbling industrial building without my heart fluttering a little bit,” Campbell told NME, explaining her love of austere cityscapes and how they’ve influenced her work so far. “I still daydream about owning a big, crumbling mill. I wouldn’t renovate it: I’d just let it crumble slowly around me..."

“He always knew exactly what he wanted. The style he shot all the documentaries in was extremely simple. For him, it was all about the story and all about the people. It was about allowing people to say what they thought in a very direct, candid manner. He asked really brilliant questions. He never listened to the sound of his own voice; he was only ever interested in what people had to say to him. He was immensely proud of Up."

After a breakout performance in last year’s gritty social drama County Lines, rising star Conrad Khan continues to go from strength to strength. As well as landing his “dream role” in the sixth and final season of Peaky Blinders, he’s made a short film, is set to appear in new BBC drama Baptiste and just received an EE Rising Star Award nomination at this year’s BAFTAs...

It’s late afternoon in Paris and L’Impératrice’s Flore Benguigui and Charles de Boisseguin join NME on video call from a pretty garden in the 18th arrondissement, close to bohemian Montmartre and Benguigui’s apartment. They’re sat on a bench against light blue skies, bright spring sunshine and they’re surrounded by cherry blossom. “We’re also being very French, drinking white wine,” Benguigui laughs...

It’s a clear, calm day in Toronto, Canada. Tamara Lindeman, aka The Weather Station, is speaking there from her home, a place she’s been largely confined in for several months as the long winter lockdown continues. How is she passing the time? “Just going for lots of long walks,” she smiles over video call, grateful she can appreciate the natural landscape close by...

Away from his day job as bassist with Vampire Weekend, Chris Baio is no stranger to side-projects, performing with experimental rock project C.Y.M. and under his electronic pop solo moniker, Baio. In between finishing his main band’s 2019 double album ‘Father of the Bride‘ and the start of last year’s lockdown, Baio wrote and recorded this third solo album. It’s the New Yorker’s most confident and cohesive solo record yet...

Last January, Arlo Parks was just beginning a massive year. Top of all the major ‘ones-to-watch’ lists, the south London singer-songwriter quietly amassed a very famous fan base, including Billie Eilish and Phoebe Bridgers. Little did she know that a whole summer of festivals, her US tour supporting Paramore’s Hayley Williams and a slate of headline gigs would soon cease to exist once COVID hit...

ALEXA RAISBECK WAS studying film and media at college in London when her career took a surprise turn. Curious about how things operated behind the scenes in her local cinema, she started working as an usher and, after being asked to help track down some film, trained as a projectionist. So began a life-long love of projecting films and now, 17 years later, Raisbeck works as the BFI Southbank’s Technical Supervisor. Here, she gives Empire an insight into the high points of the job, and reveals how it can be both thrilling and pretty nerve-racking, too.

The follow up to Welsh multi-instrumentalist Catherine Anne Davies’ debut ‘Confessions of a Romance Novelist’ deals with the multiple losses and trauma that she has faced over the last few years – including the loss of her father and several miscarriages. To launch the new video, Davies spoke to NME about the challenge – and joy – of writing an upbeat album about grief...