BackRoad Gee
(Picture: Photography Natasha Pszenicki, assisted by Monty Vann; styling Alice Hare and Neesha)London rapper BackRoad Gee lights up when Jay-Z comes on the playlist in the studio where we’re sitting together. “Not many people can say ‘Yo! I made a tune with Jay-Z’”, beams the only UK rapper to ever feature on a track from the hip hop legend. “There’s a lot of people who really do this rap thing and a lot of people were hurt when he chose me,” he laughs mischievously. “But what can I say? I’m the chosen one and that’s the way it had to be,” he deadpans. “I’m sorry to all the others... I mean though not really, I loved that I was the chosen one!”
BackRoad Gee, whose real name remains a closely guarded secret, featured on Jay-Z’s King Kong Riddim, which appeared on the soundtrack to Idris Elba’s film The Harder They Fall in 2021. He still pinches himself that it happened at all. “I didn’t think any of this was real until the premiere,” he smiles through his diamond encrusted grill. “At that moment, then it became real. I met Jiggs [Jay-Z’s nickname] and I didn’t know what to call him. Jay-Z, Mr Jiggs? Mr Carter? I wasn’t sure! I introduced myself and he said he f***ed with my thing [which in hip hop speak means he loved what BackRoad was doing]. He’s a busy man and that meant everything.”
