Before there was Stormzy, before Central Cee, before a whole generation discovered UK rap through a TikTok loop, there was a North London kid behind a pair of decks who fell in love with music at 13 and never looked back.
Ironik came up the hard way and the homemade way. Before Instagram, before TikTok, an artist’s whole world was MySpace, MSN, and a single submission CD posted off to Channel U. He started DJing as a teenager, was producing for some of the biggest names in the country before he could legally drink, and by 19 had stepped out as an artist in his own right. The breakthrough came with Stay With Me, which hit number 5 in the UK charts, followed by Tiny Dancer (Hold Me Closer) with Chipmunk and Sir Elton John, which climbed to number 3. He sampled Westlife. He sampled Elton John. He turned the sound of the suburbs into chart records, and he did it during what a lot of people now call the golden era of UK music.
Now he’s back with Nostalgia, an album that does exactly what the title promises. It’s out now, and it’s less a throwback than a love letter, a modern artist reaching back to the era that made him and handing it to a generation that wasn’t there to live it. The lead single Channel U Luv featuring Scorcher, with a video directed by Smila, has already made its mark.
We sat down with Ironik to talk about all of it. The come-up, the album, the man behind the music, and where the scene goes next. Everything below is in his own words.
Take us back. How did UK artists actually break through in the 2000s… the radio plays, the mixtapes, channels like Channel U? What was the real route to the top back then, and how is that path completely different for an artist starting out today?
In the mid-2000s, when I first started creating music as a producer, the only outlet we had was through MSN and MySpace, which was, I guess, the equivalent of Instagram and TikTok today, in terms of being able to reach an audience outside of your friends. MSN gave you the option to send music to other people from around the world, and then naturally music would just spread. MySpace was basically the same: you had a music player on your page, you could edit and design your page like a website, upload photos similar to Instagram, and also have a Top 8 to add your friends in.
After that, I started watching a channel called Channel U (or Channel AKA) and realised a lot of UK artists were being heard and discovered on there. So naturally it was another avenue for my music to be heard. I did some research and found out you can submit your music video via CD for £50 to Channel U (big shout out to Darren Platt and Cat Park). Once I did that, the rest was history. My first single, So Nice, became one of the longest-charting songs on the Channel U chart at the time.
After that, we got in touch with Warner Records (Atlantic), as I guess all labels were paying attention to online presence (MySpace, Bebo, etc.) and also the Channel U hype.
When did you first fall in love with music, and which artists shaped you most growing up?
I first fell in love with music at the age of 13. I remember my step-dad taking me to his friend’s house at the time, seeing his friend messing around on a pair of decks and being amazed. I couldn’t believe you could just play music on these records. Almost every week from that day, I went to the record shop to buy some of my favourite songs. From there, my whole life changed. I started DJing at 13, was producing for some of the biggest in the UK when we were all only young… Tinie Tempah, Chip, Black The Ripper (RIP), Wiley, and others… at 17 years old, and then became the artist I am today from 19 years old.
Growing up, I was heavily into UK garage and grime music. I would come home from school, put on pirate radio and just sit and listen to Dizzee Rascal or Wiley on the radio, not knowing I would become the artist I am today. I was always amazed by the greats that came before me, whether it was Wiley, Kano or So Solid Crew. To know they looked like me and could become superstars always gave me the drive to want that one day.
In your opinion, who was the greatest UK artist of the 2000s? And who wears that crown today?
It’s hard to put it down to just one artist, because I think at the time they were all great and did amazing things to shape where the UK scene is today. If it wasn’t for So Solid Crew, Kano, Wiley and the rest, there would be no Ironik, Stormzy, Tinie, Central Cee, and so on. I’m such a fan of UK music and culture that, deep down, I love every part every single artist has played, right up to today.
What were you trying to capture or say with Nostalgia? Why this album, why now?
Nostalgia, for me, was less about recreating a moment and more about trying to give a modern twist on what it was like when I first came out. A lot of the new generation post my old music on TikTok and it goes viral almost weekly, but I wanted them to have a feeling of what it was like when we had Channel U, or with the pitched-up samples in tracks and love songs. Although we have a bit of that today, I haven’t heard anyone do it exactly the same.
That’s why I made Channel U Luv featuring Scorcher, and the video, amazingly directed by Smila, has made such an impact, because this is where it started for a lot of us, and the new generation can feel how it was. I still love creating music like this, with feeling and samples and meaning behind the records, so that’s a big part of why I made this album too.
Which track, the second it comes on, instantly drops you back into a moment in time?
I think Channel U Luv, I would have to say, the most. That was the lead on the album in putting it in the direction I wanted. Then people will say songs like Both Of Us II with Chip are very nostalgic… hearing myself and Chip together on a song again, as we haven’t collaborated since Tiny Dancer in 2009.
If you could live through any era, which would you pick, and what pulls you to it?
I would choose the era I came from. Some people call it the golden era, the era just before social media went crazy, although we still had hints of it with MySpace and MSN.
Which song on Nostalgia means the most to you, and why?
I definitely have to say Both Of Us and also Regrets were the deepest songs I’ve written since Stay With Me, as both were coming from the perspective of a man now… not having a dad, but also still having the greatest and strongest mum ever. Lyrics that most people can relate to, similar to Stay With Me. Big up my mum, my wife, my team, my sister, and my niece and nephew. All the ones I talk deeply about on this project.
Also, big up Marnz Malone for featuring on Regrets, because he’s an artist from the new generation that I really respect and appreciate. I’ve heard him say in many interviews that Stay With Me was one of the songs he grew up to, so as soon as I made Regrets, I knew that was for him, and he gave me a really meaningful, deep verse that I appreciate.
Who’s the toughest artist you’ve worked with in the booth, the kind who tests your patience but always leaves you with a banger? What makes them difficult, and why is the payoff always worth it?
I rarely work with artists that are difficult to work with… I’m quite an easy-going producer and artist. In terms of getting the record to perfection, or to where we want it to be, I’m willing to do 100 takes lol. It can be a long process, but this is the great thing with music. Myself and Ayo Beatz always have fun in the studio making music. It can be hours of debates, and then in the last 20 minutes we’ll make a banger. Ayo Beatz always seems to push my musical journey every time, in terms of trying different sounds, different lyrics and sonics.
What’s a record from the 2000s that the new generation slept on but deserves a second life?
I think one of my favourites, a classic record that I’m surprised hasn’t been sampled yet, is Swiss’s Cry. What a tune!
What does nostalgia actually mean to you… longing for the past, or appreciating how far you’ve come?
Definitely the latter. Appreciating how far we’ve come as a scene and musically. I think people also want nostalgic moments in life to relive a moment or a feeling, which is fine too.
What do you hope a Gen Z listener, someone who wasn’t even born during your first run, takes from this record?
I hope the new generation are inspired again… in production, in songwriting, in meaningful lyrics. Even in terms of creativity in music videos. Big up Jim Legacy, but there aren’t many other creative videos I see these days that I love. I also hope the new generation just appreciate the era that I came from, not just my old songs that go viral on TikTok.
Is there a UK artist, old school or new, you’d still love to get in the studio with before it’s all said and done?
I would still love to work with Kano one day, as we’ve never worked together, and one of my favourite artists at the moment, Potter Payper, too.
The Last Word
There’s a line in this conversation that stays with you. Asked whether nostalgia is about longing for the past, Ironik doesn’t hesitate. It’s about appreciating how far we’ve come.
That’s the whole record in a sentence. Nostalgia isn’t a man trying to climb back into 2008. It’s an artist who helped build the foundations looking at the scene he came up in, So Solid, Kano, Wiley, Channel U, the pirate radio sets, the £50 CD posted off in hope, and recognising that the line from there to Stormzy, to Central Cee, to whoever’s next, runs straight through him. He named that lineage himself: no So Solid, no Ironik. No Ironik, and the bridge to the new generation looks a little different too.
What makes him rare is that he’s still standing on that bridge, facing both ways. He’ll do 100 takes with Ayo Beatz to get a record right, and he’ll hand a verse to Marnz Malone because a kid who grew up on Stay With Me deserves his moment. He’s a fan first, an archivist of his own culture, and Nostalgia is him passing the feeling forward… not as a museum piece, but as something living.
The scene moves fast. It forgets quickly. Ironik’s whole point is that it shouldn’t.
Start with Channel U Luv featuring Scorcher, directed by Smila. Watch the video, then play the album front to back. It’ll take you somewhere. That’s the idea.
Nostalgia is out now.
We interviewed Ironik directly for this feature. All answers are his own words, lightly edited for clarity.
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