“Let's Dance” stuck out for me, because this sample's been used so many times in hip hop culture, in dance culture, which is why it's stayed with me more than the rest. Diddy remixed, y'know? I don't remember the first time I heard it, but it would have been through my auntie.

“My auntie was a … big-boned lady. And she never really went out much, she never had any children. She passed away few years ago, but she was like a mother to us. And there were so many pop artists that she loved. Out of the whole household, my uncle Eric, my uncle Mark and my auntie Pat listened to all the white cultural big pop songs at that time. Whereas my dad's side was reggae revival, and at my grandma's house it was more gospel stuff.

“My auntie was always home. She didn't have much of a personal life - I guess we were her personal life. And out of all the songs she would play - George Michael, Duran Duran, Boy George - I would have to give this one. This represents her joy... her carefree-ness of not wanting to grow up or wanting to be a mother herself. It's touching still because I could have chosen another song that was more loving and emotional. But she never had a relationship until late into her life, so I didn't know even if she experienced that until much later.

“Like I said, we were her kids. And when we walked into that living room, there was a selective number of songs she would play - and because we were young, we were dancers, she picked this one.”

“When I was younger, everybody used to just wanna go out and party and drink and not really think about things, maybe not look at the environment around them. I always felt like... 'What did it take to put this on? How did this work?' You couldn't put me in a room, a city, a car, on a bike or anything without me thinking 'How did somebody put this together?'.

“I think this was [Soul II Soul founder] Jazzie B's mindset too. Because when you looked at pop bands back then, you didn't know who was the person behind it all - who was writing the songs and producing. You just looked at the person with the mic. But we all knew who Jazzie B was. When he stepped up and started speaking on this tune - I won't say singing, just speaking and educating people – that was something... that was the mindset I took into everything. When I was walking into a label or a video shoot or anything.

“The first video shoot I ever walked on was “Bound 4 Da Reload” (by Oxide & Neutrino) and the first thing I said to G Man was like, 'Yo... how does this work? Who's that? What does this brother do?' And this was before I was signed. I was just asking those questions. I would say Jazzie B in Soul II Soul is how I am in So Solid. I might not have produced everything behind that brand, but most of the hits I was involved in writing and producing.

“It's cool to learn everything, but it's not cool to be everything. I didn't wanna be on the stage forever, or the producer forever or the businessman forever. One of these sectors I'd have to fall back and focus on. I always thought far ahead, and I knew that I couldn't be on that stage and sell myself forever. Like, I'll have more longevity in this business if I help to create artists rather than try and sell myself. Y'know? So … that's another thing Jazzie B helped me understand.”

“After primary school, going into secondary school... there wasn't much urban music on the radio at these times. If there was any popular song when you were growing up, or you were watching Top Of The Pops, you'd hear those songs played over and over again. And it was only when we got to secondary school when we started to realise just how much of a rebel we could actually be. That song sat with us the most.

“I was a rebel in school. I didn't finish my GCSEs. I always bunked off, I had numerous fights. I got kicked out two weeks into my fourth year. So leaving school at 15... then 16, 17, and at 18 starting So Solid. I was signed two weeks after that.

“That song definitely helped me, man. For the time when it came out, it was the most rebellious song. Like, I'm not even sure if it got banned, or if there was any talk about banning it in schools, but it was similar to the Sex Pistols I guess. Rebel music man, rebel music.”

“When this tune came out, I didn't even like the artist that much. But the song … there wasn't much to his videos, but the words really sat with me.

“People used to say 'you're mad' to me a lot. Like 'Bro, you're crazy, why would you wanna go do this? Why would you wanna go do that? You're taking on too much'. I was always looked on different. And this is the difference in me – to this day I would wanna help people before I help myself.

“And the mindset of how Seal spoke, about being forward, about being wired differently. Even if people call you crazy, you might be the sane one. You might be intelligent. It was one of those songs, just like Bob Andy, that made me think outside the box. Most of my friends didn't wanna set up a limited company at 18, you know what I mean? And those were the things I was into. I didn't wanna be in the system, I didn't wanna work, I didn't wanna think about a J.O.B.

“In school, they put us in a special class. And it was all the kids who were either heavily influential in the school - in the wrong way - or all the snappy, bipolar kids. They put everyone who was seen as bad in the same class. And I guess 'crazy' is how those classes made me feel. And yet, a lot of those kids grew up to be artists and football players and stuff like that. A lot of those people were wired differently, and later they really made something of themselves.”