PROFESSOR GREEN is readying himself for a comeback – five years after his last album Matters Of The Heart.
The rapper, real name Stephen Manderson, hasn’t been sitting round twiddling his thumbs though.
He has been busy juggling music and being a dad to his adorable son Slimane, who he affectionately calls Slim.
As Stephen Facetimes me from his London home for a catch-up, he sounds and looks the happiest and most content I’ve ever seen him.
“Next year we’re releasing new music,” he says with a smile.
“I mean, a lot has been happening.
“There’s genuinely probably three albums now after all the recording I’ve been doing.
“I wrote a song for Slim called Blue Blanket. I started writing that in 2014 but I didn’t have kids then. Then I had him and I could finish the record.”
Teasing what is to come, Stephen adds: “There’s a song I wish I could play you.
“I don’t feel like anyone’s really doing social commentary without being really f***ing boring.
“It gets too political and I don’t think it speaks to everyone. But I’ve got a record where I play a character.
“His name is Terry, and good old Tel doesn’t really understand the world. And that’s all I am going to tell you.”
Fans clamouring for a taste of new tunes from the Lullaby star will get a single today, in the form of Moola In My Wallet (Satnav Rap).
Stephen wrote the track after being asked to work with car loan app Carmoola and I have to admit after hearing it once, it’s a proper earworm.
And it’s got the seal of approval from Stephen’s No1 fan, Slim, thanks to its brilliant chorus and catchy hook.
Stephen says: “I put on some of my new stuff in the car and Slim’s like, ‘Nah’.
“I played this and he loves it. He gives me an unfiltered truth. There’s no airs and graces with kids.
“With songs, once I put them out it is someone else’s. But he wants to hear it so I’m having to listen to it all the time, which means I am walking around and singing it.
“It came together in 45 minutes from start to finish. Instead of going big budget on the video, I called this amazing videographer, Lawrence, that I know and just asked if he could film me while I was driving around.”
Laughing he adds: “I really let go in the car, I feel like I’m having the time of my life. “I feel like people will see me and think, oh, he listens to Green Day.”
Along with working on this tune, and his upcoming fifth album, Stephen spent the summer back on stage playing festivals around the country, along with working on his new digital TV show Chattoo with Arabella Drummond.
And while it’s been 13 years since his first No1 single Read All About It, Stephen said he was humbled by how many youngsters knew his music when he got back on stage.
“It’s weird seeing your audience mature but then I did Boardmasters and there were 10,000 kids who knew every word,” Stephen explains.
I did a freshers’ gig in Lancaster, the kind of gigs I’ve been doing for 15 years.
“And I said, ‘You lot were three years old when this album came out’. I was joking with them, calling them a bunch of snowflakes and taking the ps and they f***ing had it.
“This generation of 18-year-olds, like the kids I performed to this year, they are f*ing wicked.
“As an artist, to know you still have the youth is really important.”
I’m sure they will be as excited as us day-one fans to hear next year what Stephen has been working on.
