*Original Press Release*

The pioneering duo have been through a rollercoaster couple of years. The highs have been numerous. They have sold out multiple UK tours, had triumphant appearances at Reading and Leeds Festival, crashed into the iTunes hip hop charts at #1 (above Stormzy and Jay-Z), collaborated with drill Godfather Chief Keef, recorded the all-time most watched episode of Mad About Bars (currently on 19 million views), addressed parliament on the power of drill to prevent crime, performed in the Saatchi gallery, contributing music to Rapman's forthcoming debut feature film, and amassing over 70 million streams by constantly pushing forward the drill sound they have pioneered.

This success has come at a price. As the standard bearers of drill Skengdo x AM found themselves the focus of a shrill campaign of moral panic led by the police and press. Their harsh lyrics, drawn from life experiences, were deemed too real, and specifically blamed for London’s rising crime. This resulted in an historic low for British legal history; in December 2018, Skengdo and AM - who had no previous convictions- received suspended prison sentences for the “crime” of performing iconic beef track Attempted at their sold out Koko London show.

The ruling caused widespread uproar with sympathetic media coverage coming from around the world. With the police showing no sign of backing down, the sentencing and related injunction on what the duo are and aren’t allowed to rap about effectively led to an enforced break from music.

Now they’re back.

Back Like We Never Left is their first full length release since their game-changing debut 2 Bunny. Still defiant, still inspired, and still both only 22 years old, Skengdo and AM pack a lifetime of experience into every bar, two artists ready to bare their souls to the world. Recorded in South London in the months following the police injunction, this is an artistic response to everything they have lived through in the last 18 months - good and bad.

Not content to be limited by genre, BLWNL sees the duo chopping through cold drill bangers, club ready rap, wavey, lyrical bombs, and the occasional burst of RnB, raising the bar throughout. The end result is a timely state-of-the-nation overview of young London, shot through with all the ambition, humour, and pain that runs through the city streets. They take shots at the police who harass them and at their opponents in South London, painting crime tales as vivid as Tarantino films, alongside songs dreaming of different lives; of girls, of parties, of any world away from the darkness. They veer from the party bars of club anthem Brixton Boy, to bleak humour; banned from naming any real life locations, on the track Wizards of Waverly Place they substitute South London boroughs with the name of Disney kids show, highlighting the ridiculous level of censorship they face.

Dedicated to keeping-it-real, the features on the project are proudly local, with appearances from Brixton rap legend Sneakbo, Peckham’s hotly tipped Zone2 member PS Hitsquad, much-rated duo Stickz x M24, all of Skengdo x AM’s original 410 crew, Davido protege Oxlade, drill originator Grizzy (most famous for Look Like You aka "trap, trap inna bando"), and more.

With beats coming from the UK’s hottest young talents, including BKay (currently riding high in the charts with Krept & Konan’s I Spy), Gotcha (Russ - Gun Lean), Yoz Beatz (Pop Smoke) and more, BLWNL is a tape made by the streets, for the streets, with all the innovation and hunger that entails.