At only 21 years old, London’s Rhys Herbert, a.k.a Digga D, is already one of the biggest forces in UK’s thundering drill scene. With his distinctive, beyond his years flow and impressive wordsmithery, the rising star is making drill more accessible to larger audiences, earning himself a whopping 1.1 million followers on Instagram and over 300 million global streams to date.
Starting out in 1011 officially in 2015, the drill group he formed with some friends when he was just 15, Digga showed talent too good not to be recognised and fans quickly started flocking to see what 1011 were doing. Before their unfortunate arrest and disband in 2017, the group’s music videos (that have since been taken down but reuploaded by fans) were said to have amassed over 10 million views combined. When Digga finally jumped solo a couple years later, he already had a dedicated and loyal fanbase watching his every move and when his debut mixtape Double Tap Diaries dropped in 2019, it charted at number 11, making it the highest charting debut for a UK solo drill artist ever.
View this post on Instagram
But with the 2017 arrest of 1011 also came some complications. Digga is believed to be the first artist ever to receive a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO), which essentially means any music, lyrics and visuals he wishes to create from then on have to be policed and filtered. As a drill artist, it hasn’t exactly been ideal, but Digga has found ways to still talk about his honest experiences from growing up on UK’s streets without triggering the rules in his CBO. And while the constructs of something like a CBO on an artist reflect more of a systemic issue rather than Digga himself, he’s committed to changing his ways and becoming a better, cleaner artist.
Since his 2019 solo rise, Digga has been making waves both in the UK drill world and out. His 2020 hit single ‘Woi’ became viral on TikTok, earned a nomination for ‘Song of the Year’ at the MOBO Awards and was listed by Complex as one of the best songs of 2020. His second mixtape Made in the Pyrex dropped earlier this year and reached number 3 on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the highest charting project for a millennium-born UK rapper and the highest charting independent UK drill project on the chart ever. His latest single ‘Red Light Green Light’, a metaphorical hit and video inspired by Netflix’s Squid Game, is a clever play on words and has already amassed over 6 million streams and views combined on Spotify and YouTube.
With his pure talent, oozing ambition, and the interesting shackles that confine him, Digga D is quickly becoming UK drill’s most exciting figure. He represents something much bigger than himself, rather a whole generation of teens who feel as though they too are misheard, misjudged, and mistreated. As he continues to make music, he upholds his steady rise to the top and his loyal connection with his fanbase. There are people out there who desperately need to hear Digga’s words, and he won’t stop at anything until they’ve heard them.
Digga D’s latest single ‘Red Light Green Light’ is available to listen now!
Liked this article? Sign up to our UMUSIC newsletter to hear more from us!
