Taken from the summer 2024 issue of Dazed. You can buy a copy of our latest issue here.

Tom Austin was your average happy-go-lucky suburban teen in 2020 when he was featured in a Milton Keynes local newspaper, following the chart-hitting success of his lockdown anthem, “Who’s That What’s That”. Since then, under the musical alias of Niko B, he has opened for NSG, performed at Reading and Leeds festivals, and blown up our phones with the meme-rap freestyle “Love Island”, packed with quotables about being picked last around the firepit and crying in the back of the tour bus.

“I was watching a ton of cyphers at the time and my mate [Joe McDermott] who runs Victory Lap let me go crazy on the show,” Niko warmly remembers in a suave management’s office in King’s Cross, wearing a black Stüssy jacket, baggy jeans and a slate-grey sweater. “I linked up with friends, got some beats and mucked around. It became this moment which is hilarious because we were all just having fun.”

Niko hails from the small town of Newport Pagnell on the outskirts of Milton Keynes; its white picketfence suburbia was the canvas for the young rapper’s burgeoning ambitions. It’s here where the teenage Niko would write bars to Chief Keef instrumentals and create his own fashion brand, CROWD, because he didn’t want “to keep paying so much for one shirt”.

Four years after his breakout, Niko is a little bit older and a little more serious. Now aligned with a Gen-Z-powered London scene including the likes of Kibo, Brian Nasty and Dexter, his debut, dog eat dog food world, explores the ecstasies and agonies of getting older and finding contentment along the way. A chilled rap suite full of “happy songs for headfuck times”, the album showcases a talent who prefers to keep the crowd laughing through the tears. “I could never be prime minister; I’d probably have a panic attack,” Niko cracks on our call, laughing to himself as we discuss hopefulness, growing up in the 00s and bad weed experiences.

There’s a unique inner-child-ness to dog eat dog food world that’s refreshing to hear. In a scene where rappers are flexing to be top dog, what makes you go against the grain like that?

Niko B: : Just shit that I’m interested in, like nostalgia. I was the same as every other regular kid who grew up in the UK so if I mention these random niche things that people will recognise or remember again, it makes them feel more connected to my songs.

Little details like that are everywhere on the album. Like ‘Miniclip’ – that title is a throwback! Which games are you rebooting, by the way? Gravity Guy?

Niko B: Fancy Pants Adventures, basically – with all the different colour pants. That was the time.

What was life like growing up in Milton Keynes?

Niko B: It was nice growing up with everyone, going out and doing dumb stuff every week because there’s not much of a nightlife. I loved MK, the smallness of it all. Now I live in London; you need to go to London for the best of both worlds.

You’re known for being a funny guy on the internet but what type of kid were you in school?

Niko B: I wasn’t naughty. Naughty kids would be telling teachers to fuck off and throwing chairs; I was trying to make people laugh, being disruptive. I feel bad for teachers now, looking back.

What kind of music did you listen to growing up?

Niko B: My dad listened to a lot of rock [when I was young]: Green Day, Foo Fighters, Sex Pistols. Then he showed me his old iPod, I went through his albums and he introduced me to ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, who makes these parody songs, like ‘Eat It’. Then he showed me more rap music and I got into it through that.

Tell us about the album – [grime photographer] Simon Wheatley shot the cover, didn’t he?

Niko B: I’ve always been a fan of Simon, his name holds a lot of weight. I never thought I’d work with him because he was up there and I felt that I wasn’t at the time. Simon was doing some photos with Victory Lap so there was a connection; I met him a few times and thought fuck it, I’ll just ask him, and he was super down. He came to MK and we spent the whole day shooting pictures. He said it didn’t feel like a shoot day, it was just hanging out. Shoutout to George Muncey, too.

The cover art reminds me of The Streets’ A Grand Don’t Come for Free. People have called you a Gen Z Mike Skinner, how do you feel about the comparisons?

Niko B: I think they’re great, Mike Skinner is a legend. Keep ’em coming.

Do you think there’s a Lil Yachty and Yung Lean sort of trajectory too? Like, artists whose careers blew up with kind-of gimmicky songs before going on to create more ambitious pieces of work? Is that what this album is for you?

Niko B: When I started, it was always about having fun. Back then it was the only thing I was thinking of. With this album, it’s still about having fun but having a goal in mind, like trying to build a whole world. The beats by Yokic too, I feel like they’re YouTube-type beats. YouTube is so sick, kids in their rooms making beats because they love it and they whack it online.

That’s not to say you’ve stopped being funny. Your tongue-in-cheek optimism is all over the album, how do you stay positive while the world burns?

Niko B: I tell myself everything that ever happened is meant to happen, basically. The more I try to change things that can’t be changed, the more stressed I get. There’s been loads of times when something bad has happened, but if it hadn’t happened then maybe it wouldn’t have pushed me in a certain direction for [something good] to happen in the future.

Stoicism?

Niko B: Yeah, sort of. I also have a list of quotes that I make up on my phone. Here’s one for today: there is nothing quite like a good bench.

It was nice growing up with everyone, going out and doing dumb stuff every week because there’s not much of a nightlife. I loved MK, the smallness of it all” – Niko B

You rap a lot about having bad weed trips, so what’s your weirdest one?

Niko B: I tried smoking weed when I was 14 and it was the most horrifying experience. My friends would be like, ‘Everyone goes through that the first time, try again.’ And then I would try again and it would still be horrible. One day they were like, ‘Yo, we’re gonna hotbox the shed, if you just stand in there the second-hand smoke will get you high and you might feel better.’ I was like, ‘OK, cool,’ and when we went to the shed they turned around like, ‘You can’t leave, if you leave you’ll get digs.’ I thought it’ll be fine and two minutes later, I’m like, ‘Let me out now.’ I left the shed and sat in the living room playing Fifa – I felt so high, the ball was moving like ten frames per second. Then I hear a door open and my heart drops and everyone starts punching me; that was my worst experience.

Sounds horrible. What else is going on right now?

Niko B: This album, maybe some more shows. I’m going to promote this album for years, I’ll never get tired of it. I love it.

And you may end up on a Chicken Shop Date during the press run.

Niko B: That’ll be a good episode, someone should make that happen.