Octavian

Bridging drill, R&B, house, and British rap, Octavian crafts an ambitious, wide-ranging blend of inward reflection and confident poise. His breakthrough arrived via the 2018 mixtape Spaceman, after which BBC Music named him the Sound of 2019 winner; charting team-ups with Skepta and Future followed, along with guest spots on Diplo and Gorillaz tracks.

Octavian Godji entered the world in Lille, France, before relocating with his mother to Camberwell in South London during childhood. He studied at the BRIT School in Croydon, whose earlier graduates include Amy Winehouse, Adele, and Jessie J, then departed to develop his individual approach. Drawing from Chief Keef and Drake, he began fusing hip-hop, house, and London’s emerging drill sound. The fragmented, woozy “Party Here” surfaced in 2017 and quickly gained traction locally; Drake soon referenced the track on his social channels. Several further releases—“Little,” “100 Degrees,” and “Hands”—appeared in 2018, leading to a contract with Black Butter.

Spaceman, his first mixtape, dropped that September and refined his personal version of British hip-hop. Early the next year, BBC Music again highlighted him as Sound of 2019 recipient. He then joined Diplo’s Europa EP. Endorphins, the second mixtape, followed in June and featured Skepta, A$AP Ferg, and Theophilus London. The 2020 Skepta collaboration “Papi Chulo” went viral and entered the U.K. Top 40. Additional singles arrived later that year: “Rari” with Future and “Famous” alongside Gunna and SAINt JHN, while Gorillaz included him on “Friday 13th.”