Kenny Allstar

Kenny Allstar works as a DJ, producer, and broadcaster with a focus on linking the varied strands that shape London's urban music environment through explorations of dancehall, grime, and U.K. drill. More notably, he assembles participants from separate London districts who might otherwise have remained adversaries, persuading them to set rivalries aside for the benefit of the music itself. Although he champions harmony through every outlet at his disposal, his first album Block Diaries from 2018 most clearly shows the effectiveness of such cross-group efforts.

Allstar entered the world in South London during 1993 and spent his childhood in a household without a television, so radio served as his main source of diversion and introduced him to music and broadcasting. In his teenage period, when grime stood at its height, he often traveled to the nearby youth club to lay down verses with companions. After deciding that MC work did not match his rhythm, he concentrated instead on DJ duties and production, taking cues from Logan Sama and Mistajam. As time passed and youth clubs grew fewer, he pledged to establish outlets where younger creators could develop their skills, which produced the ongoing Mad About Bars series carried on the Mixtape Madness channel. That series aimed to pair performers who would not normally collaborate by preference or situation, and its reach earned Allstar presenting roles at Reprezent and Radar Radio. Rising visibility then attracted BBC interest, resulting in a program slot on BBC 1Xtra. By then Allstar had earned recognition across the scene, enabling him to gather a broad range of contributors for the full project Block Diaries in 2019, created to gather every dimension of London-rooted urban music. The album incorporated work from many producers, MCs, and spoken-word segments, with contributions from Headie One, Hardy Caprio, Nafe Smallz, Mike Skinner, and M Huncho among others.