麻豆社

Ahead of new album 'Revenge Is Sweet', Krept & Konan sat down with DJ Target for a special in-depth chat, where they talked everything: the new album, breaking world records, selling out arenas and finding positives in tragedy.

• Listen to DJ Target's in-depth with Krept & Konan

Here are some of the standout moments:

Target wanted to address the "elephant in the room", and immediately asked Krept how he was holding up after 1Xtra Live.

“I’m good bro," he replied. "Just staying positive and keeping it moving. A lot of people let stuff like this affect things that they’ve got going on, but we’ve got things to do, moves to make, fans to please. That’s the main objective."

"Things could be worse, like a lot worse. Man’s lost Cadet this year," he said, referring to the death of his cousin in February. "I’m still here. I’m able to keep it moving and tell man’s story. I’m just grateful, bro. I’m recovering."

"The only downside is it affecting the tour," he added. "Unfortunately, we’ve had to move the regional tour til January. Luckily, we can do [London] O2 in December, but everything else we’ve gotta do in January. Man’s got a strong support system. The team said they’ll make it work. They locked down venues for January dates, in a short space of time. Everyone’s understanding as well. Big up everyone. We’re here, can’t stop me."

Krept & Konan's career up to now has been full of amazing twists and turns that they daren't dream of: Picking up a Guinness World Record when 'Young Kingz' became the highest-charting UK album by an unsigned in 2013, winning a BET Award for Best International Act over the likes of Rita Ora and Dizzee Rascal in 2014, scoring the highest-charting independent UK rap album in history back in 2015 with 'The Long Way Home' and selling out London's Alexandra Palace in 2018.

Speaking to Target, they were honest about the pressure they felt when rising to prominence.

"When you're getting the Rick Ross, Wiz Khalifa, Ed Sheeran features, it's like: 'Yo, how are you gonna top that?'" said Konan, remembering "living in a studio" until they got the album done. "It's a crazy feeling."

The album itself narrowly missed out on No.1, when collaborator and longtime friend Ed Sheeran's 'x' pipped them to the top spot. "He made his album a discount that week. He done us. Ed, bruv, you know what you done," Konan joked.

Krept opened up about the tragic loss of his cousin, and how the duo are working hard to boost Cadet's legacy.

"People are always like: 'How do we get through things?' It's about seeing the positive in every situation. I've lost my cousin, and now the thing that drives me is keeping his name alive and doing him proud, because I know how much this meant to him," he said.

"Anybody that knows Cadet knows how hungry he was. And he was just getting there. When he [released] 'Advice', he had a big record that was charting and doing well. Everything was just taken. So it's like, 'Who else is gonna represent him?' No-one else is but us. So we have to rep him and make sure his music gets out there."

He confirmed Cadet had unreleased material that they were putting together, "to give people a proper project from him."

"Now we've got another purpose, to keep going."

'Revenge Is Sweet' lands this Friday (1 November), and Target isn't the only one who can't wait for it to drop.

"We tried to do everything we've done in the past, [but] have it compact on one project," Konan claimed. "We just tried to capture every vibe that people like us for, but still tell a story and show you where we're at mentally and emotionally. That's it in a nutshell."

It's an album for every situation, said Krept. "You're gonna press play and want to smash the TV up, then we're gonna make you think about life. Then we're gonna make you think: 'Ooh, who is this about?'"