Octavian wins BBC Sound Of 2019

South London artist Octavian has won BBC Music‘s Sound of 2019.

“That’s lit,” the rapper said on finding out he’d won. “I don’t even know how to feel right now… Mum, I made it!”

He released his first full-length mixtape Spaceman in 2018 but was receiving some pretty impressive accolades months prior to that. In February last year, Drake posted Instagram photos captioned by lyrics from ‘Party Here,’ the then 21-year-old’s breakout song which was recorded in a friend’s living room.

Real name Oliver Godji, Octavian spent most of his teenage years homeless after being thrown out of school and his family home.

“A year ago I was poor, I had no money,” he told the BBC.

“But I was never depressed. I was never in the mode to give up. Around me it was bad, but I kept motivated.”

Octavian blends genres with a mix of house, hip-hop, dance, trap, and grime. He’s the first rapper to win Sound Of… since 50 Cent in 2003.