Doncaster grime artist makes comeback with new track

Kieran Hannan from Intake has already made a name for himself within the grime scene, but after taking some time out he's back with a new sound and determined to involve his hometown in his dreams of making it big.

The 22-year-old, who performs under the alias Kannan, first found his love for grime and rap music when he was 14, after hearing songs on the internet.

But it wasn't until two years later when he became immersed in the Sheffield grime scene, after moving into the city with friends who made music.

He said: "In my head I always knew I was going to do it. The love for music was always there even before I knew it.

"Others fizzled out, they got jobs and weren't feeling as serious as me. I always knew I wanted to do it. Even when I've had jobs music has always been in the background."

Fast forward to 2015, and thanks to a friend, life changed for Kannan after his track 'Grime' was featured on SBTV, a YouTube channel created by Jamal Edwards MBE which works as a platform to discover and break emerging artists.

Kannan said: "To get on SBTV is a challenge in the genre. I was one of the biggest in the Sheffield scene, and a friend who had a link to Jamal Edwards showed him the video and he put it on the channel. It blew up from there it was crazy."

It received over 900,000 views on YouTube and over a million on the SBTV Facebook page, and his music was supported by both BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra.

"It was surreal, it wasn't about the money. It was a dream come true, I felt so proud," he added.

For over a year and a half he kept making music but 'life hit him in the face', and in 2016 his daughter was born, so he decided to take a step back from music.

However, this year he's vowed to make a comeback and has been working harder than ever to achieve his dreams.

He said: "Since March I've put a hundred thousand percent into it, I've never took that leap of faith. My son was born in July and that's been a big motivation to work hard."

His new track GOAT launches today and has already been selected as 'The Coldest Track of the Week' by Toddla T on his BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra show this week.

"I feel like God's blessing me so much," he added.

"I'm ready with my EP, which is like a mini album, I've got three singles which I'm going to release one after another.

"I want to bring it back to Doncaster, every song I've ever recorded has been in a garage in Kirk Sandall and I will be recording every video in Doncaster.

"I want to involve Doncaster fully and I want to reach out Doncaster Rovers to get them involved with my next single because I mention Rovers, it has football references throughout."

The grime artist is also set to feature as the first artist on Toddla T's radio show in the segment 'Bus Bars' on September 7, where artists will have to freestyle a rap over a beat.

"This is the best music I've ever made," Kannan said.

"I've not released a song in about a year, God sees me working hard and is giving me these blessings. I believe in good energy and want to spread to positivity about Doncaster."

His new track GOAT is available to stream via Spotify and buy via iTunes and Google Music.