"I'm basically saying that we've all got something inside of us. It's not just about being black or white – it's a song against labels. If you are labelled as having an ASBO you behave in that way," he says, speaking of Coloured Souls, a song that he says isn't about race.

Alex, aka Natty ("everyone calls me Natty") got into music as a teenager, blagging his way into a studio by pretending he was an engineer.

"I only did it once," he says, "but I did end up working in a studio – and that taught me how to mic up a drum kit and do what I wanted in the studio."

Being involved in music, he says, was a way of escaping an otherwise less creative, potentially more violent teenagehood. "It was a good way of escaping – I played a lot of football as well but these things can't be the answer to everyone. There needs to be social enterprises for young people."

But putting social reform aside for a moment, Natty looks back on the past 12 months: "It's all happened in the last year, really. Even when I'm walking down the street now people recognise me. You have to get used to it. But I'm not complaining. It's great."

Natty plays at Plug, Matilda Street, on Wednesday.

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