The 5-Minute Interview: Akala, Musician

'I'm getting too old for going out. Really. I'm 23 and I'm worn out'

British rapper Akala (real name Kingslee Daley), 23, beat 50 Cent and the The Game to win the best hip-hop Mobo in September last year with his debut album "It's Not a Rumour". "Bit by Bit", his new single from the follow-up album "Freedom Lasso", is out on Monday

If I weren't talking to you right now I'd be...

Probably doing some stuff on my Myspace site. Or just working, running the company. There are lots of meetings, publicity people to deal with, that sort of thing.

I wish people would take more notice of...

What's going on in the world – just the way people behave, the things they do to each other.

The most surprising thing that happened to me was...

Nothing. I don't find anything that surprising. Nothing that ridiculously incredible has ever happened to me. I'm just plodding along, trying to establish a steady career.

A common misperception of me is....

That I'm moody, but I'm not. I just have a grumpy-looking face.

I am not a politician but if I were...

I'd bring back people power. The country's major decisions need to be made by people, not by the government. Things like joining the EU, going to war – those affect people, not the government, so they are the people's decisions to make. People pay taxes and if the government makes all the decisions for them it's not a democracy. It's a dictatorship, just in disguise.

I'm good at...

Well, rapping, but that's a given. Also talking. And sports. I used to play a lot of football. So talking and sports.

I'm very bad at...

Listening. Because I'm always bloody talking.

The ideal night out is ...

A quiet night in. I'm getting too old for going out. Really. I'm 23. I went out too much as a teenager and now I'm all worn out. I was raving at 13. Now I'm a really old man. I like having friends over and just talking rubbish with them. The only time I go out now is on holiday.

In moments of weakness, I...

Try to be strong. I try to put my problems into perspective. I haven't really got much to complain about. Life's pretty cushy.

You know me as a rapper but in truer life I'd have been ...

An astronaut.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is this:

My mum told me not to say "I can't." I'd get in real big trouble. So I grew up with this outlook that anything is possible.

Alice-Azania Jarvis