A compelling writer and musician who has expressed his realm of creativity in many ways. If you’ve been lucky enough to immerse yourself in Jordy’s musical tapestry, then you’ll quickly understand why artists such as Kojey Radical, Wretch32, Russ and Ghetts have sung his praises. 

Aside from making music, Jordy is also recognised in the footballing world for his appearance on the airwaves in the form of the Filthy Fellas podcast. Amongst the electric company of Poet, Stevo The Madman, Specs Gonzalez, and Harry Pinero, to mention a few, the podcast is an ever-evolving saga of football coverage that is filled with passion and laughter. We caught up with the North London artist and chatted about creativity, music, football and his latest project which is a nod to a word that makes even the most confident of people awkward, love.

How would you describe your sound in music?

Erm, I don’t know if I describe it in one word. This is probably the hardest question for me because I think I try a bit of everything. I would say left of centre, honest and direct.

Do you think your sound in music kind of stemmed from the music you were into when you were growing up?

Yeah, I definitely started off listening to a lot of rap, garage and grime. I moved to Essex where there wasn’t a huge amount of music being made in the form of those genres, so I started listening to a lot more indie music. I found that indie artists generally have a fantastic pen meaning that they are usually very good with words and I took some influence from that. Obviously, when I went to music college for like two weeks, or whatever it was, I delved into the history of soul and other bits that have stuck with me since.

When you say indie, you mean actual indie? 

Yep, indie rock, indie pop, I’m not sure of the technical names outside of the bands themselves. 

What kind of bands would you listen to?

It started when I actually went to watch Foo Fighters, I didn’t know what I was watching but everyone around me went mental. I went home and did my homework and from there got into lots of bands. James Morrison sticks in my head because he’s a fantastic lyricist. 

A lot of artists tend to find inspiration in certain types of music, or the ones that they specifically make, but you seem open to everything. 

First of all, I loved English lessons in school, which is probably why I started rapping. I was drawn to Wretch 32 and Jay Z and it didn’t occur to me that you could find great lyricism outside of rap. Then I found Bon Iver and I was like flippin' heck, how can you say things in such a way? It taught me to appreciate all kinds of music. 

It’s interesting that you loved English in school and then turned that into making music and therefore a career, something that most children dream about. Most children however hate the thought of being taught English because let’s be honest, the things you learn about are boring. The idea that learning could be more in touch with children doesn’t seem like an impossible task to me. 

That’s a great point, instead of learning poetry, you can probably learn music and lyricism because I definitely remember learning poetry for a bit but we were like what are we doing here? We were just learning about things we didn’t care about and held no relevance. 

There’s a complexity to being creative and having loads of different creative outlets going on at the same time is often tiring. How do you balance the different projects you work on?

I guess I keep everything balanced because I have no other choice. Not to sound morbid but if you throw yourself into water you’re gonna fight to not drown. Understanding that this is my life and everything needs to be presented properly, I work hard to give enough attention to each of those things. I know music is my bread and butter but I don’t want to perform lacklustre in any department. I guess you could say I take it all very seriously.

How do you feel each creative outlet feeds into each other? 

The people that know me and follow me across all of my projects will probably know my character more, so the story is a bit more personal to them. There are just little references that I may say on a podcast and take that into my music. I do that for the people who follow me because I like the idea of someone feeling close to my story. I don’t want to push anyone out, I know a lot of artists don’t talk to their fans and I've never understood that.

That’s really interesting that there are small elements to your personality in everything you make without it being too obvious. I’ve never thought about the fact musicians nowadays can be so 360 in the way that they sell themselves as a brand. 

Years ago before social media, artists used to go missing, come back when they had something to promote, drop it, promote it, and go missing again. With social media, there’s no getting away with that because you just look like you’re using people. The fact is I don’t want to pretend I’m mysterious or anything. I talk to my friends and my fans every day, I follow football news daily just like everyone else, so why not just be myself? 

How did your love for Man United start?

I’d say around the 2002 World Cup and Beckham, that is where it properly started. My older cousin who I looked up to supported them and it just seemed right. My dad supports Arsenal so I don’t know how happy he was with that decision. 

Whos your favourite player past or present? 

My favourite player is Wayne Rooney, hands down. He’s the only guy I’ve not met which pisses me off because I’ve almost met everyone I want to meet or need to meet. I need to make that happen.

Relating to your new project, The Love Ting, you asked PK his favourite celebrity couple. Who’s your favourite football couple? 

If it’s not Mick McCarthy and Terry Connor, then I'm not sure. It’s either them or Wayne and Coleen because she’s stuck through it, man. Mick McCarthy and Terry Connor, they follow each other to every club and I respect that. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a picture of them in Pajamas together. Yeah, I’m going to say they are the ultimate power couple.

What do you think football could learn from football or vice versa? 

I think football could learn from music to maybe lighten up a little. It’s probably at its best now and lightened up a lot in recent years, with the likes of Micah Richards, Jamie Carragher and Thiery Henry. 

I believe they could just create more of a relaxed atmosphere, be less rigid, and show a bit more personality. Seeing Jack Grealish as much as it pains my heart to celebrate that treble, it’s refreshing to see someone allowed to be themselves. We should encourage it more without knocking these players. You’re turning them into robots. 

Yes, it’s totally wrong. Marcus Rashford felt the brunt of that when he was campaigning for children to be able to simply eat food. It’s disgusting really that people see football as being more important than caring for each other. 

Yeah, I don’t understand it. Jack Grealish is flying right now, but a few bad games and they’ll always come back to this. Football definitely needs to just lighten up and let people be themselves. Less critique like in the world of music, makes it more enjoyable for the people who exist within it. 

Is that what you guys try and do with the Filthy Fella’s podcast?

Yeah, so with us, there’s already a lane for all that lark about technical football rubbish. We are just like barber shop banter for your casual football fans and your fans that are deep into football. There’s already a Neville and a Carragher, why would we want to do what they’re doing? We don’t want to take it too seriously, we don’t want to be scared of making a mistake, and we want to make it funny and approachable. 

What would be the ultimate achievement in life? 

My ultimate achievement would probably be in music. It would probably be just having the ultimate freedom and independence that I have now. Having everything belong to me still, not having to answer to anyone. I don’t care too much about awards or that chart bollocks. If I have that and I'm in a comfortable position then I’ve probably done something right. 

What’s next for you? 

We touched on it earlier, My new project is called The Love Ting, it’s my first themed project on love. The good the bad and the ugly, the highs and lows of love. It touches on commitment, issues, losing your girl, loving her, not loving her, and all that kind of stuff. I decided to work with love because I just wanted to do something different, challenge myself, talk a new language, and become more vulnerable. The one thing that we all have in common in this world, is love. Everyone has that story about them. 

What have you learnt from the project? 

Honesties the best policy. Good or bad. 

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See more from Jordy on his Instagram.

Photography: Jonathan Tomlinson