Wretch 32 wants to inspire troubled youth

Wretch 32 hopes his new single can help troubled youngsters turn their lives around.

The 28-year-old rapper got into trouble over a string of petty crimes when growing up in Tottenham, north London, and his latest track, ‘Doing OK’, explores how he changed and got away from the "dark part" of his life by making better choices.

He told the Daily Star newspaper: "It’d be so wrong of me to glorify the dark part of my life.

"Everything I’ve gone through has helped make me what I am today, but I wouldn’t want anyone to go through any of the bad stuff I did.

" ‘Doing OK’ is about me looking back and realising that I’m OK now – but it tells you how dark it was and why it wasn’t a great way to live.

"Rather than glamorise it, I’m saying: ‘You can do this instead.’

"I did what I did to pay for making these dreams I’m living possible, but that doesn’t justify it."

The ‘Blackout’ singer teamed up with Beanie Man for a track on his forthcoming new album, but was more excited about working with new talent on some of the songs.

He added: "It would be easy to get big collaborations for the sake of it, but I get a bigger kick out of hearing someone fresh and new.

"I found Shakka, who sings on ‘Blackout’, because he covered my hit ‘Don’t Go’ on YouTube. When I phoned to say I wanted to work with him, he thought it was a wind-up."