{"id":717032,"date":"2026-07-29T09:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T09:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/717032\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T09:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T09:49:09","slug":"uk-drill-pioneer-ps-hitsquad-on-his-solo-debut-i-feel-like-ive-spent-my-whole-life-on-license","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/717032\/","title":{"rendered":"UK drill pioneer PS Hitsquad on his solo debut: “I feel like I’ve spent my whole life on license”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Looking back, the dark, claustrophobic brand of UK drill pioneered by Peckham collective Zone 2 in the late 2010s is miles away from the more sanitised and commercial offshoots of the genre that have blown up in the years since. With members facing prison sentences, others fading into obscurity, and the likes of Kwengface<\/a> and PS Hitsquad<\/a> only recently finding success with solo pursuits, the group burned bright and fast; but their role in pushing UK drill into the mainstream is undeniable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see our influence in a lot of places, and it\u2019s truly humbling,\u201d PS tells NME over video call following the release of his debut album \u2018Life on License\u2019 earlier this month. \u201cRight now there\u2019s hella subgenres of drill, but you\u2019ve gotta evolve with the times, and that\u2019s what post-drill is about. There\u2019s a bit of everything in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Post-drill, a rough conceptual label that\u2019s been attached to PS Hitsquad\u2019s recent creations, takes centre stage on the 26-year-old\u2019s debut. It weaves in the suffocating menace that defined early beats by pioneering UK drill producer Carns Hill, adds bumpy percussive club elements that align with artists like UK jersey drill artist Pozer<\/a>, and at times lightens things with nods to the crowded, pitched-up textures favoured by new gen rappers like Jim Legxacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PS brings these wide-ranging sonics together with a sharp, crisp vocal tone and a commitment to powerful, emotive storytelling. One of several factors that prevented other early UK drill pioneers from cementing firmer, more widely respected positions within British rap culture was a lack of cohesive, thoughtfully constructed LPs or projects. With help from indie label House Anxiety and an ambitious team that includes visionary manager Ian McQuaid (Diplo<\/a>, Tim and Barry) \u2013 \u201cEveryone around me has been pushing me to think bigger,\u201d he says \u2013 PS was intent on addressing this scarcity and \u201cbuilding something timeless instead of just another moment\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

He explains: \u201cThe last thing I wanted was to just put together a bunch of random songs. I wanted every song to feed into the next one, and into an overall narrative, like chapters in one story. People know bits of my life from headlines or YouTube clips, but they don\u2019t really know what it\u2019s like mentally. The trauma, prison, coming home, getting banged up again, trying to change, fucking up, still carrying certain things with you. I feel like I\u2019ve lived my whole life on license. I wanted people to go through all of that with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The devil is in the detail with PS\u2019 lyrical output; tracks like \u2018Induction\u2019 vividly articulate the rapper\u2019s experiences inside, with lines that inject both comedy and hope into the bleakest of circumstances: \u201cI\u2019m rocking prison issue clothing like the newest drip\u2026 I\u2019ll be by the fences with my dogs talking about bigger shit\u201c. On \u2018Glorified Gangster\u2019, he dissects the contradictions of his character with sharp lyrics like \u201cI be bopping around like I\u2019m not on tag \/ Still I\u2019m helping out women with their shopping bag\u201d.<\/p>\n

Across the album and in conversation, the drive to make the best of a tumultuous situation is clear. PS confronts past mistakes and current attempts to deal with them in lines like \u201cI went to war PTSD for what I\u2019ve done in life\u201d (\u2018Free Your Mind\u2019), while honest spoken word skits like \u2018Equation\u2019 and \u2018Frontal Lobe\u2019 (where PS asserts \u201cI\u2019m a different person\u201c) feel like a firm commitment to maturing and prospering.<\/p>\n

Still, there are traces of regret, most notably on the highly rhythmic bop \u2018Coulda Woulda Shoulda\u2019, where he raps \u201cI coulda been this, I shoulda been that \/ I coulda still been on the corner\u2026 Came out of pen but it coulda been uni \/ Could be an actor, still hitting movies\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re growing up, you spend the whole time fighting to get out of the hood, but now I\u2019m desperate to go back there, and I\u2019m not allowed\u201d<\/p>\n

The track\u2019s music video \u2013 the work of visual artist and director Billy Howard Price, a close collaborator who\u2019s added a real punch and storytelling edge to the rapper\u2019s visuals in recent months \u2013 distils how different things are now for PS. Wearing a bright yellow jacket that cuts across the grey river sloshing behind, he stands on the northern banks of the Thames and looks toward south London, a place he\u2019s currently barred from entering.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have massive restriction zones [due to being on license],\u201d he says. \u201cI can\u2019t go to any postcodes beginning with \u2018S\u2019. I can\u2019t visit any of my family or friends. Every day when I leave the house I can\u2019t escape the implications of my punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now PS is living in Kent, and initially he\u2019s reluctant to talk about how difficult he\u2019s found that separation from his old blocks, responding unconvincingly: \u201cI try not to notice it.\u201d Eventually he opens up: \u201cIt\u2019s weird, \u2018cause when you\u2019re growing up, you spend the whole time wishing and fighting to get out of the hood, but now I\u2019m desperate to go back there, and I\u2019m not allowed. Then with prison, you spend so long living by rules, routines and restrictions that parts of it stay with you. You almost have to teach yourself how to live again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PSPS Hitsquad. Credit: Simon Wheatley. Stylist: Shammi Popat<\/p>\n

The value of \u2018Life on License\u2019 is the honesty with which PS documents this experience of de-institutionalising himself and re-learning how to function healthily. His murky beats, cut-throat vocal tone and long-standing commitment to social documentation ensure a sense of continuation from those heady days of early UK drill that he played such a key role in; but in terms of sonics, world-building, and personality, an impressive evolution has taken place.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusic\u2019s helped me because it\u2019s somewhere I can actually process everything instead of just carrying it. I\u2019m trying to build something now instead of just surviving day to day,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not pretending I\u2019ve got everything figured out because I definitely haven\u2019t. But I\u2019m definitely growing up and figuring shit out. I\u2019m trying to move forward instead of being trapped by who I used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

PS Hitsquad\u2019s \u2018Life On License\u2019 is out now via House Anxiety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Looking back, the dark, claustrophobic brand of UK drill pioneered by Peckham collective Zone 2 in the late…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[112904,96,128,678,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-717032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-drill","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-rap","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}