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Tiggs Da Author On Football, Music & Being Reintroduced To His Tanzanian Roots

We had a kickabout in our local park with the 'Swear Down' singer - who told us about getting onto the FIFA soundtrack, going back to Tanzania and more...

*Check out our full video interview with Tiggs Da Author above.*

Meet Tiggs Da Author. He’s a 26-year-old singer, songwriter and producer who – if you’re a big fan of playing FIFA – you’ll already be very familiar with.

Currently living in South London – following a few early years spent inTanzania – Tiggs got his track ‘Run’, featuring rising star Lady Leshurr (check our interview with her here)onto the FIFA 16 soundtrack. This meant that Tiggs could listen to his own song before smashing his friends on the game.

“I don’t even know how I got ‘Run’ on FIFA. It just happened," Tiggs told us.“I got an email one day saying it was going to be on there, and at first I didn’t believe it until I played the game… and it was on there. Ultimate gas. Ultimate gas.”

Music isn’t Tiggs’ only passion. Before he signed with Sony and things 'really' got going for the ‘Georgia’ singer, Tiggs used to play for Gravesend and Northfleet, which is now Ebbsfleet United.

“I’ve always been into football. That’s all I really cared about. It [playing for Ebbsfleet] was just sick for me. I got to meet new people and learn a lot about life in general, so I loved it, man. When I started college, that’s when the transition started.”

“[After a while] I just didn’t have as much enthusiasm. It took a lot more to go and train and play football. It took a lot of money, and at the time, that was something I never had. So I thought, “What’s the next thing?”

“There was something in myself that I needed to find. It was at that teenage age where you don’t know what you want to do, or who you want to be,” Tiggs tell us. “So I went back to Tanzania and I got reintroduced to my roots, to the music, to the culture. It made me wake up and realise: this is who you are. You need to embrace it in order to move forward. And that’s exactly what I did.”

Tiggs grew up listening to pirate radio stations, where he was exposed to MC’s and rappers like Dizzee Rascal and So Solid Crew. But it’s only after that fateful trip back to his birthplace, Tanzania that his uncle introduced him to jazz clubs there and Tiggs’ current up-tempo and melodic sound came about.

Tiggs' latest EP, 'Glenville Grove,'is out now, and features 'Swear Down', whichsaw him collaborate with fellow South-Londoner Yungen (whose beef with grime MC Chip was perfectly detailed by 1XTRA’s Sian Anderson). Yungen isn'tthe last person Tiggshopes to work with.“I’m sure that, somehow, the energies are going to come across, and I’m going to be able to do something with Wiley, or Skepta, or even with Dizzee Rascal. ('ed- who, Tiggs told us, people at school used to say he looked like.') So, hopefully, the stars align.”

*Check out our full video interview with Tiggs Da Author above.*

'Tiggs Da Author’s EP 'Glenville Grove'is out now.'

'Filmed & edited by Max.'

'You can follow Lucas Fothergill on Twitter.'

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