The rap years: Deep Impakt
Before the races, the fights and the agency, I rapped as Deep Impakt. I left a tax job at Deloitte to do it properly, built a recording studio in my parents' spare room and turned it into Deep Impakt Recordings. These are the stories from that time and what it taught me about putting work out in public.
The original stories
Written close to the time: the first raps, the battles and the studio.
Looking back
The career pivot and the practical lessons, using my own interview transcripts.
Where it started
I recorded my first raps at 16 at a school friend's house, after months of spitting at the back of a design and technology class. At around 18 I started recording properly at Bollo Studio on the South Acton Estate, then moved on to battle rapping at live sets.
Leaving Deloitte to make music
Around 2009 or 2010, in my early twenties (I was born in 1986), I handed in my notice at Deloitte. I spent the 30-day notice period reading everything I could about running a studio, then converted a 6 by 3 metre spare room at my parents' place on a £3,000 budget, with help sourcing kit from Ren at Bollo.
Deep Impakt Recordings
The studio recorded my own music and charged other rappers and singers for sessions. It became my first real business, and it taught me the basics I still use: find customers, deliver, get referrals. Over those years I recorded around 150 songs, including mixtapes still on SoundCloud.
What the music taught me
Rapping in front of people who expect you to fail is a fast way to stop fearing judgement. I didn't make it as an artist, but nothing about it was wasted: the discipline of writing every day, the nerve to perform and the first business all came out of it.
Three videos from the Deep Impakt years
Watch and listen
My Life as a Musician, the Deep Impakt playlist on my YouTube channel, plus the mixtapes still on SoundCloud.
Reader questions
- Was Deep Impakt Recordings a record label?
- It was a DIY home recording studio and production business, not an incorporated, registered record label.
- When did you leave Deloitte?
- Around 2009 or 2010, by my own recollection, when I was 23 or 24.
The published stories
From Recording My First Rap In School To Battle Rapping At A Live Set
Building Deep Impakt Recordings: My First Business W/200+ Clients- Starting an independent studio and label-style business: what I learnedDeep Impakt Recordings began as a studio in my parents' house. The lessons I would pass on to anyone starting an independent music business, studio or label.
- How to become a rapper: lessons from recording around 150 songsI rapped as Deep Impakt from my teens, battle rapped, left Deloitte to do it properly and recorded around 150 songs. What that taught me, honestly.
- From Deloitte tax consultant to rapper: why I left in my early twentiesIn my early twenties I resigned from Deloitte's tax graduate scheme, during the recession, to rap and build a recording studio in my parents' house.