Exercising the influence he currently has within UK culture, it is no surprise the Big Zuu commanded such a huge feature list for a debut album. Despite the amount of contemporary artists on the album, the track “Offline” has a particularly old-school feel, with grime veteran JME delivering a very straight forward chorus between grimey verses. Novelist, known for his old-school style, reinforces this feel, over a dub-like Sir Spyro beat. Truly we have travelled back in time to grime’s golden era.

The well-made video features stop motion versions of Big Zuu, JME, and Novelist each showing up at the houses of internet trolls to give them a proper thrashing. Bad-mouthed trolls are getting tied up, heads smashed in, and eyebrows shaved off by the three musicians, juxtaposing the childlike and juvenile style of animation with violence.

Video makers Edem Wornoo and William Child collaborated for the first time to produce the video for “Offline”. William Child’s studio, Gravy Mercedes, hosted Edem Wornoo for the first time. Edem Wornoo was highly complementary of Child’s attention to detail, telling llbonline that “he [William Child] should have his own TV show because every time his Claymation brought one of our scenes to life I genuinely laughed out loud.” Speaking on the creative process, William Child says: “It was my first time sharing directing responsibilities with someone else, meaning a totally different workflow to that I’m used to. Edem is incredibly talented and the clarity of his initial vision for the video made it super easy to understand and then execute”.

Listen to Big Zuu’s most recent album Navigate below:

The programme concludes with a keynote delivered by rapper and television personality, Big Zuu. Speaking on the new scheme, he said: “The launch of this initiative, hosted by Ditto Music, is so important for this industry. I feel proud to be a part of it and any advice I can offer to young people wanting to kick start their careers, especially those from minority backgrounds, I hope is one step further in the right direction. I’ll be talking to Vital about my journey and how I’ve approached my career.”

Thanks to @ItsBigZuu and everyone helping with our new industry access initiative as part of our $100k #BlackLivesMatter fund and thanks @MusicWeek for the coverage today. https://t.co/vRsTxLkxex

— Lee Parsons (@ceoleeparsons) February 17, 2021

In 2020 Ditto music pledged $100,000 to support the Black Lives Matter movement as well as other minority campaigns, but soon conceptualised Industry Access as a means of making a longer lasting difference within the industry.

“After we pledged to $100,000 in 2020 to support Black Lives Matter causes and underrepresented people across the music industry, it was clear that we needed to use our position to create real opportunities that would make a real difference,” CEO Lee Parsons said. “That’s why we created Industry Access, to give those who feel underrepresented in the industry the opportunity to learn from the best, develop their skills and excel in their own careers.’”   Once the successful applicants have completed the training programme, Ditto offer one-to-one mentoring, as well as inviting a selection of the scheme’s participants to learn directly from key industry figures and musicians.

“Industry Access is an opportunity I would have run to at the start of my career,” added Vital Powers, video content creator at Ditto. “There can be lots of knock-backs for young black people trying to break into the music industry no matter how eager they are, so it’s a breath of fresh air to see Ditto tackling the issue and offering support to try and better the situation. Plus, it feels great for me personally to be a part of the solution, rather than just hoping something gets done.”