Coventry is a place where you’ve got to survive.
It’s the belly of the beast. It’s the middle of England.
Belly of the beast.
A place like this will dishearten you.
Too many stupid run-ins with the devil, fam.
Still can’t defeat me.
People get shot in the head and die. One bullet.
I’ve got 19 in my head.
It’s the journey of an African rebel.
They don’t know about the block life
Still doing mazza inna frontline
They ain’t on what I’m on right
Still doing mazza inna frontline...
24-year-old British-Gambian artist Pa Salieu
exploded onto the scene in 2020.
When his breakout hit,
it was the most popular track on Radio 1Xtra that same year.
He was born in the UK,
but his mum sent him to live with relatives in Gambia
when he was a kid.
Since his return to England,
he’s lived in Coventry in an area called Hillfields,
known as one of the most deprived areas in the British Midlands.
In early 2020,
Pa was targeted in a shooting that left him hospitalized.
19 pieces of shrapnel were recovered from his head.
From hospital, he posted on Instagram, saying,
“You can’t defeat a man with pure energies.”
Yo, yo, it’s Pa Salieu.
This is C-O-V. Right now, we’re in Yardley,
know what I’m saying.
I’m going to show the way I went to primary school.
I was raised in a place called Hillfields.
I came to Coventry, what, at the age of eight, nine.
Eight or nine, straight from Gambia, know what I’m saying.
But I was born in Slough.
..What’s your name? King Salieu
Where you from?
C-O-V, hashtag City of Violence...
My grandmother’s house burnt on fire.
That’s the reason I got sent to Gambia, innit.
Know what I’m saying.
My mum, a young woman, an immigrant, and she needed to work,
and having me would have been...
extra as well, you know what I’m saying.
Coventry’s different from Gambia, but... it’s a place of culture.
You’ll find so many different people as well, so...
..Look, my name is Pa and I’m from Hillset
Bust gun, dodge slugs, got touched, skipped death
Fuck gyal, get money, and I don’t take threat
I’m an opp, opp boy, and I know that well
Will I die by the sword? Only time will tell (Come on)
How many glidings with S and R?
Never drawn out by the cameras (No sir)
Repent for my sins, I still pray Salah...
I was born in Britain, but my first language is Wolof.
Which is who I am, anyways. That’s my past.
So I learnt a lot being back home.
I was raised by my grandparents.
They gave me wisdom. That’s very needed.
And it got me prepared for these trenches, innit.
If you’re going to survive here, anything negative, you’ve got to--
You get me. You’ve got to...
you’ve got to turn it into something powerful, man, something powerful.
Places like this create powerful people, man.
What you telling me, fam?
-Out here, yeah. -What you saying?
We’re there, man, we’re there.
Breezee.
That’s my brother there, still.
When I was leaving hospital, fam,
this is the guy that picked man up, fam.
Know what I’m saying.
Picked man up from the hospital, my n***a.
Know what I’m saying. The realest.
That situation happened,
and, I mean, I’m breathing.
People get shot in the head and die.
One bullet.
I’ve got 19 in my head, that’s it.
C’mon, fam, Alhamdulillah [praise be to God], that’s it.
This is all expected.
This is a little jungle, innit.
Shit happens, you move on, innit.
I discharged myself from hospital after I got shot, you know?
I made the “Frontline” video four or five weeks after.
..Bad man run up in your bando
Knick knack, mash that work like Rambo
Whip that white, I feel like Django
Shut down, lock off, now them man dem know
Real bad man, who you talking to?
He got soaked by the dark black yute
See me, I’m that big bad wolf
How many bandos did I run through
They don’t know about the block life
Still doing mazza inna frontline
They ain’t on what I’m on, right
Still doing mazza inna frontline
They ain’t grow around the block side...
RIP, my fucking n***a AP, fam, my brother.
Spent most times here.
Frontline was always that place, even as a youth,
going to primary school, you know what I’m saying.
You’re going to have to pass frontline.
That’s where fiends, nightworkers--
It’s the main strip.
This is frontline right now, know what I’m saying.
The flats here.
In every part of the world there’s frontline.
It’s relatable.
Coventry’s a place where you’ve got to survive.
I’m glad it resonated with people.
I listened to a Senegambian artist called Youssou N’Dour,
a lot of Senegambian artists, you know.
It’s not till I came back to England...
[that] I found out about Vybz Kartel, yeah.
I started making music when I was... I think when I turned 18.
I came from a religious household, yeah.
Yeah, I didn’t grow up on music, man.
This is spiritual. It just came.
I just heard a beat.
I was around a studio once, you know what I’m saying.
I just fell in love with it.
My auntie was a folk singer.
That’s the earliest form of music I can remember.
And folk, there is griots, innit.
Telling the past, telling stories, innit.
They’re factual, you know.
They’ll tell you about your great grandfathers, this and that.
That’s the kind of music I’m used to.
It’s spiritual, you know what I’m saying.
A place like this will make a brother spiritual as well, fam.
Your people will look out for you, innit.
It’s like any other jungle, innit.
You know, step wise.
This is a bit better now. Usually, it was needles and shit.
It’s probably hella needles here now, but...
it’s better than before as well.
This is just better than before, so you can imagine.
My accent was the main ting
that I was in so much mazza when I came back from Gambia.
Too bad I came with pride about this Gambian ting.
Know what I’m saying? So people will make fun.
I’d always be fighting. I never let it slide.
I’ve been proud of this accent.
This is who I am.
My dark skin, this is who I am.
This music ting is me.
My first mad performance, this was a festival, Lovebox.
I was at my mum’s house. I got a call,
“You’ve got two hours to get to London.”
It was my first time, just straight in the deep end.
My heart was [going] “duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh.”
I was focused on my performance.
That moment, I can never forget for the rest of my life, you get me?
It was just mad to even experience that.
I met Slowthai there.
I appreciate music and a lot of artists, like Sneakbo,
another pusher of the Afro ting, you get me, fam!
Nines, you know.
There’s Ghetts.
There’s KG from Nottingham.
You get me—Aitch.
I’m loving the whole UK scene right now.
We’re in frontline right now, recreation.
You know what I’m saying. Jimmy Fallon.
You know what I’m saying. Taking over.
Then there was Jimmy Fallon.
C’mon, man, I’m doing
Get me.
The background is Gambia, back home.
We have a Kankurang,
and it’s getting released in fucking... in America.
This is the dream.
This is what I was hoping for but not expecting.
This is bigger than what it is, bro.
I’m showing my culture to the world, you know what I’m saying?
..You bad, then rise up your Glock
Came from di block
Your gyal don’t need you, you di backup plan
She wan’ get high, get drunk, and fuck...
This is my home, but it’s a gateway, you know what I’m saying?
My real home is back home.
Child of an immigrant, so my plan is not just the ends.
It cannot just be the ends, so...
I take what hurt me in any way,
see what fixed me,
and let the energy heal myself, that’s it.
Any suffering don’t really mean nothing.
Just push it.
It’s the journey of an African rebel,
just like any other African rebel.
African rebel is a crown you place on your head.
Embrace the stubbornness, knowing you have culture.
I’m not a rapper, you know what I’m saying?
I’m not a grime person, you get me, fam?
This is spiritual. I am my ancestors’ tongue.
My DNA,
I’m from a people where we have generational trauma,
so what we do counts.
You know.
I feel what my ancestors would have felt.
Maybe this anger, this whole music ting coming out of nowhere,
it’s all for a reason, that’s it.
It’s the voice of my past, that’s it.
So the intention is nothing but greatness.