Hip-Hop Lives Here
Hip-Hop Lives Here
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Hip-hop and R&B musician Penny Taylor drops his latest single, the catchy and vulnerable track, “Cuff.” Exploring a softer side with deep R&B roots, Penny Taylor unveils a side of his music that listeners are sure to love.
From a young age, Penny Taylor developed an appreciation for all different types of music. “Around age 7 or 8,” he shares, “I really started to enjoy music more than hearing it and it being background noise.”
What began as dabbling on Audacity with friends—trying to rap and imitate his favorite artists of the time—became a devotion to the craft. Not long after, Penny Taylor adding singing to his resume. “I moved towards singing because of the melodies,” shares the artist. “I don’t classify myself as a singer—I’m a harmonizer.” He slowly began cultivating his passion into a skill, and the rest is history.
Penny Taylor credits several musicians for impacting his work over the years, including Drake, J. Cole, Timberland (for production/beat making) and Kanye. “…Bryson Taylor, Party Next Door.. SZA is amazing… there’s so many I can name that I pull inspiration from,” adds Taylor.
How was the name, Penny Taylor, born? At the time, Penny was intrigued with 50 Cent and the number one. The combination culminated in the name coming together. “Friends started calling me ‘Penny.’ I adopted the last name from Wiz Khalifa and the Taylor Gang group. It just stuck.”
Known for his hip-hop sound, Penny Taylor ventured into R&B for the creation of his latest record. “Cuff” isn’t just a single. It’s the best song Penny Taylor has ever made, and he intended for it to be so. “I really wanted to create the best song I ever made if I included a well-structured song with lyrics and something catchy that could be played in summertime, wintertime, any time of the year. Something that could be enjoyed by different demographics.
Listening to beats, Penny Taylor came across the instrumental that would soon become “Cuff.” The beat sets the tone for a catchy hook, which informed the rest of the song. “It’s funny, because I actually had the pieces of the song made from different songs and pieced them together to fit the beat / theme of the track,” adds Penny Taylor. “Typically, I listen to the instrumental, and it’s a feeling. The beat has to speak to you. If you can’t have a conversation with it, then it’s difficult to write to it. It might be the second or third or however many beats you go through, but then the words come out of you. For this one, I didn’t have to try too hard to find the words—there were kind of just there.”
“‘Cuff’ came about because I wanted to challenge myself to make a hit record with the R&B side of myself,” shares Penny Taylor. “I’m definitely happy and grateful the listener gets to enjoy it and get what they take from it. I’m cook with whatever they get from the song, even if it’s the feeling evoked when the listen to it.”
So far, the feedback for “Cuff” has been overwhelmingly positive. “People have loved the song. I’ve heard things like, ‘this is a hit. This is a platinum record,’’’ shares Taylor. “It’s surreal. It’s crazy that I wrote this thing completely and so many people enjoy it. That’s what’s special to me. I often think, ‘I used to do this in my bedroom on a laptop and I wasn’t good, just trying my best.’ From that to this is insane.”
Penny Taylor is enjoying the moment, weaving through the unfamiliar territory that comes with widespread success. In addition to the release of his single, Penny Taylor looks forward to bringing his show to live audiences.
Make sure to stay connected to Penny Taylor on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.
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Tinie Tempah has opened up to NME about being committed to supporting the UK’s grassroots venues, and plans to drop what could be his first new album in nearly 10 years.
The London singer, rapper and producer caught up with us on the red carpet for the 2026 Ivor Novellos, where he is a member of the Ivors board and works to “continue to uplift and promote and protect songwriters” across the country.
Speaking about how the industry has changed since then, the rapper – real name Patrick Okogwu – explained how he and countless others owe their success to the grassroots venues across the country.
As a longtime supporter of the Music Venue Trust and their efforts to help protect grassroots gig spaces, Tempah has joined their bill for Everywhere At Once – a festival taking place at hundreds of vital venues across the UK next month.
“When I think about my time coming up, I think about the 10,000 hours that I put into going around the UK and performing in all the small venues from 100 capacity to 500 capacity,” Tinie said. “I think of all the times I got cheered, all the times I got booed, all the times there was no one there, or when there was one or two people in the crowd.
“I think it was really my rite of passage, because it helped me to build a core fan base, most of whom have stuck with me to this day,” he added. “Obviously we now have social media and you can cast your net out into the wider world, but there is something so important about being in front of people in real life.
“Think about all the scenes that the UK has been able to bring to the forefront over the years – they typically start underground and they typically start in places and spaces like that. So if we lose these spaces, I worry for the next generation of artists.”
He continued: “On top of that, live music is where a lot of musicians make the lion’s share of their income, so if we don’t have these venues to perform in, we’re screwed. Considering how much UK music has impacted around the world, it’s almost our duty as the British population to preserve some of these venues and spaces. Some of them should be institutions.”
Despite years of hard gigging, he has not released any new music since 2020, when he dropped the single ‘Top Winners. His last album was 2017’s ‘Youth’.
Speaking to NME at the Ivors, the ‘Written In The Stars’ singer revealed that he has finally completed work on new music with a renewed and sharpened focus.
“I took a long hiatus and I just went to figure out my life. But I’m definitely back now,” he shared. “There’s a lot of new music coming your way. I’m going to drop the project in September, so I’m super excited for people to hear that and take it in.”
“A lot of it is inspired by what I was just talking about: nightlife culture,” he continued, adding that it will be an album that takes listeners “on a journey through the night from the start – when you even have the idea of wanting to go out – all the way to the messy 4am that we all know and we’ve all experienced.”
“I’m super excited for people to hear it. I’ve worked super hard on it. I’m super proud of it as well.”
More details about the new release are expected to be shared soon, with Tinie Tempah playing at intimate venues across Newcastle, Norwich and Southampton as part of the Everywhere At Once festival next month.
Others on the bill include Becky Hill and The Lathums, and the festival is being spearheaded by Music Venue Trust, The National Lottery, Save Our Scene, and Association of Independent Promoters. Audiences will be given the opportunity to help support various music charities too, with donations distributed to War Child, Nordoff and Robbins, Help Musicians UK and Teenage Cancer Trust. Find remaining tickets and more information here.
The news of the festival’s launch arrived at a vital time for the UK’s live music sector, as reports show that 30 grassroots venues were lost forever between July 2024 and July 2025 – and last year alone saw more than half of those remaining making no profit, with over 6,000 jobs lost.
There is currently an ongoing push for a ticket levy to be introduced, which would see smaller venues and rising talent across the country receive a contribution from arena and stadium gigs to ensure their survival. The pressure is now on for the live music industry to ensure that 50 per cent of these shows are voluntarily paying in by June 2026, or else the government will step in to make it mandatory by law.
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