Believe it or not, I wasn’t always this massive. I couldn’t rap either. I learnt to rap in 2000. Myself and my friends were sat in a pub on Upper Street on the first day of the new millenium, musing on the revelries of the night before, drinking pints and smoking fags, which you could do simultaneously in those days.

Anyway, For various reasons, we decided we wanted to rap. So we started doing just that, in the basement bedroom of the Camden flat I shared with Som from My Vitriol and Little Sarah (who recently found fame reciting a racist ditty with Amy Winehouse on Youtube). We’d just freestyle for hours and hours, and we did that for years. Initially it was me and Druze - I was called Kid Shifty and he was called Kool Kid Fresh, and soon enough Pete, AKA P$ joined in the fun. We would book rehearsal rooms in North London and just run around in circles rapping off the top of our heads over Dre and Wu-Tang instrumentals, and later our own beats.

I hardly ever freestyle any more, which is a shame. I rap a lot - and communally - but rarely in that unthinking, Mallets Mallet style of old. I was reminded of all that by this video, in which The Game, Busta Rhymes and Reek Da Villain engage in some impromptu spittage on Rap City over Wayne’s A Milli beat. It is so dope, they’re obviously having so much fun.

The Game, Busta Rhymes, Reek Da Villain on Rap City from 2dopeboyz.com on Vimeo.

I think I’m gonna have to dust off the ole freestyle chops again. Maybe start doing some cypher sessions. That shit is what made me love rapping, and while I’ve gotten mad pro at recording now, I feel it might be time to get back to the essence.

• You’re gonna love yourself in the morning
• ATD7
• Sum 41 kick ass!
• MUSIC: DJ Drama & Luda Drop Mixtape
• ATD5
• ATD 7

Tags: akira the don, busta rhymes, crack village, freestyling, kid shifty, kool kid fresh, p$, reek da villain, the game