Headie One on how his No Borders project came together
Just from a lot of traveling. You see, when I was doing my album, a lot of stuff on my album, I’ll go Germany. I’ve done an interview with 16BARS. And so I was in Germany for a while and I was just feeling it out. They was keeping me updated about the artists over there, and same with France. I was traveling a lot on the lead up to my first album, EDNA. That’s when I got familiar with a lot of artists and met a lot artists, was in the studio with a lot of artists and just kept the link. Along the way, even after the album, I was introduced to new people. I’d go to Paris for Fashion Week. And then just from all of my ups and downs, we managed to get a lot of music together and a lot of recording done. And obviously when I realised that the quality of it was good and I had so much of it, I thought I wanted to make a project out of it.
Headie One on his favourite travel destinations
Probably somewhere random, you know. I’ve been to Switzerland. I went to Switzerland, a place called Andermatt. Andermatt’s like small little town. I was unprepared. My socks was getting all wet. I had to figure it out when I got there, because I didn’t know how crazy it was. But it’s like a mad… There’s just snow everywhere. I went there to just chill, like a little getaway. I thought I was just going to try to ski but I ended up proper skiing. We ended up getting an instructor. I had to do lessons for three days. On the fourth day, I was just up and down on my own, really. Literally, the kids were skiing better than me and that’s crazy. But they’ve got a few nice spots as well, like other hotels that you can eat and that. The vibe is very small and intimate over there.
I went to Antigua as well. That was up there. This is new territory. Antigua’s my first time I’ve been to the Caribbean. I could not believe it. It was crazy. I like to be isolated. Just go and just chill. I met some friends on the island. They invited me to their crib. I went to the museum in Antigua. I learnt about sugar, about how they was exporting sugar back in the day. It was tiny. It was like the size of this room or something. They tried though, init.
Headie One on his craziest travel experience
I’ve ended up stranded in Dubai before. Lost my passport, and then had to do all of this embassy stuff to get back. It was crazy. Only for a couple of days more, but I had a show in Preston on the same night. When the plane landed, I had to sort out my passport and then the plane landed and the tour bus was waiting at the airport. Then I had to drive straight from… Get off the eight-hour flight and do another five-hour flight to Preston. And then perform! I was knackered!
Headie One on traveling to France
I’ve been to France quite a lot. Probably the most, yeah. I step off the plane. I usually have my driver waiting. I’ve got my driver over there. And he’ll just take us back to the hotel. It’s a very small, intimate hotel. There’s a pool table downstairs. We know all the staff in there and that. It’s fun. It’s nice. We go to Cesar’s. The owners of Cesar’s is good peoples and that, so we go there a lot. I’ve been in Georges. There’s a lot of different places. A lot of eating, a lot of shopping. We go to Champs-Élysées or Avenue Montaigne. There’s shopping, a lot of shopping. Chanel store, Dior store. Last time I went, I went to the hood. It’s crazy. It was something like you see from old-school… something in America or something. It’s like all the kids come out. It reminds me of how it was in where I’m from, but a long time ago. It’s not like that no more. But it was like euphoria, it’s nice.
Headie One on his love for Venice
I went to Venice. That’s one of my favourite places I’ve been as well. Been on the little gondola thing, all the water and that. Venice is my vibe. Sophisticated. They have nice shopping there as well, and restaurants, and the food tastes fresh.
Headie One on his plans for next year
I’ve been working a lot, recording a lot of music. I’m going to do that for the rest of the year, just keep working. And then going into the new year, I’ve got a European tour that I’m doing in February. After that, hopefully finish my next project.