Rap polymath Jim Legxacy is the runner-up

Jim Legxacy rose from “poverty to pop star” in a very short time.

This is his own statement, offered on last year’s shape-shifting, hugely ambitious mixtape Black British Music (2025).

Critics called it “not to be missed“, “A fantastic snapshot of black British culture” And “A landmark moment for UK music“.

And the 25-year-old came second in BBC Radio 1’s Sound of 2026 list, which highlights the new year’s most exciting musical talents.

“Many artists can have a narrow view of love and relationships, but Jim has a very broad viewfinder,” says Radio 1’s Jack Saunders.

“Walking down the street you hear him talk about things you wouldn’t normally consider or even see, but he brings a certainty to the subject that’s impossible to ignore.”

Legxacy is a variable figure; defiantly original, a musical polymath who has largely abandoned public speaking in part due to the tragic backstory behind his last mixtape.

While doing the project, her mother suffered two strokes, her brother was treated for psychosis, and her younger sister died of sickle cell anemia.

In one of the few interviews he gave for the album, he said he didn’t feel “developed enough to talk” about the situation to reporters.

Instead he let the music do the talking. More precisely, music accelerated his recovery.

“I think sometimes your emotions will speak to you in a different language.” he told Rolling Stone. “But when I start making beats or creating, I feel like Google Translate. I can write something that connects to me.”

The songs on Black British Music are vibrant and evocative, finding light in the darkness but never quite dispelling the deep-seated sadness.

“I shed tears when my sister died“Gentle, guitar-driven 3x confesses.”Almost done [me] to lose [my] grind“

In Dave’s next verse, he consoles her, and Dave tells him: “Jim, you’ve already made your sister proud.“

“Before my little sister died… she really wanted to be an artist.” Legxacy told YouTube channel Kids Take Over. “And there’s a part of me that’s so fucked up that it wants to see this end.

“I think it gives me purpose, it gives me strength and I feel inspired.”

Legxacy (x is silent) was born James Olaloye in Lewisham. The child of Nigerian immigrants, he paints a bleak picture of the south London borough. He once said that he grew up “with the fear of the block”, where he was “surrounded by deportations, prison sentences”. [and] stabbings”.

Money and opportunities were limited, but there was a “good feeling of brotherhood” in his group of friends, and he has fond memories of cycling and playing basketball.

Her mother “tried so hard to accommodate me” and filled the house with feel-good music: gospel songs, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson.

But as a child, he said, “I had no interest in it.” “Maybe because of the intense emotion it made me feel.”

He didn’t let his guard down until he was 17.

His friends at school introduced him to rap, specifically Kanye West’s dazzling The Life of Pablo, and his world opened up.

“This is the first rap album I’ve reviewed from top to bottom.” Brick told The Mag.

“It’s crazy that this is my first because so many things [of albums] It has structure and organization… But the first album I found was the most chaotic Kanye album yet.

“There was no coherence, no real sense of identity, other than the fact that it was chaotic, and I think that shaped a lot of the work I did.”

Inspired, he began creating his own beats, combining samples and genres to create a collage of sounds that reflected his turbulent existence in London.

It’s an approach inspired by a graphic design class in college.

“My teacher would always make me do things and then say: ‘Okay, great, since you’ve done this, cut that out and then try turning it into something completely new’.” Legxacy told the New York Times.

However, the first results were not very good.

“I started off really bad,” he admitted, “but every week I would send my kids a voice note of me rapping and they would critique my technique, delivery, beat selection, etc.

“After a few months, I started rapping like it was second nature.”

He uploaded his first song, Plethora, to TiKTok in 2019 and was “gasped” when it was played 1,000 times a day.

But as his music rose, it became harder to keep up. Legxacy was homeless for a time – a byproduct of the legal situation his father found himself in – sleeping on friends’ floors and (in one case) in their offices.

He addressed this on his first mixtape in 2022.”There’s no silver spoon in my hoodie, I just have empty pockets‘ he thought.

Yet the majority of the songs were about a broken relationship, desperately analyzing what went wrong.

Prompted by her subject, she began to sing more, her smoky timbre adding emotional depth to the fragmented, impressionistic soundscapes.

“What’s been missing from music in London for a long time is vulnerability, because I think most of us are trying too hard to get to a certain path,” he told Kids Take Over.

“Everyone falls into that cycle, especially when you grow up where you grew up. But I always try to emphasize that there’s a sensitive side to music. I try to put as much honesty into everything as possible.”

As his fame grew, Legxacy was invited to collaborate with Dave and Central Cee, producing their chart-topping hit Sprinter in the summer of 2023. However, family tragedy delayed his own music.

“Sorry the mixtape took so long,” he wrote to X in November 2024. “My mother had a stroke, so I spent the last few weeks taking care of her.”

When he came back, it was with his standalone single. Aggressive. Despite its title, the main message of the track was about fighting negativity.

“I feel like everyone’s going through a tough time at the moment… so I wanted to do something that didn’t ignore that,” he told Radio 1.

“But I think it’s important to try to be optimistic about the things we do.”

Like many of Legxacy’s songs, Aggressive sampled a classic UK rap track – in this case Chipmunk’s Oopsy Daisy. He frequently adds lyrics to other rappers’ lyrics, quoting artists like J Hus and Skepta. But his magpie tendencies go further, casting artists ranging from Paramore and Miley Cyrus to Daniel Bedingfield and Bon Iver.

He uses references as a nostalgic trigger, a sonic shortcut, and builds something futuristic from the past – but his larger motivation is to celebrate the rich history of black music in the UK.

“We’ve been shaking our asses since Windrushhe screams in the outro of Black British Music’s standout track Father.

In interviews, he expressed how important it was for other black musicians to own this story.

“I think rap is becoming gentrified” He told New Wave magazine. “I’m wary of how the industry has gravitated towards making music for the white male gaze. I don’t think that necessarily represents black people higher up in the apparatus.”

Black British Music is his answer. A statement of intent. The arrival of a uniquely British voice.

Don’t expect it to repeat itself.

“One of the most important things for me is development,” he said.

“When I look back at my discography in five years, I want to dislike some of it, but I want to be happy with what it has become.”